[GreenYouth] Arundhati Roy and Her Radicalism: Another Reading from the Left
[The observation that the Booker-winning novel, *The God of Small Things*, pitted Roy against the Left is a bit problematic. Of course she was targetted by the CPIM. Apart from unsympathetic portrayal of EMS, the venerated icon, the CPIM local secretary in the novel was shown up as one of the two most villainous characters. But, arguably, she made the character credible. So the relation that followed could have not been otherwise. But, to be fair, she donated a part of the award money to various organisations / NGOs fighting for social causes. And even the novel itself - its portrayal of caste oppression in enlightened Kerala, and Left hypocrisy - helped her score brownie points with large sections of the new social movements and the Left, other than the official Left of course. But soon a brief period of honeymoon followed in the wake of the *The End of Imagination*. Then emerged a more complex picture. Roy was a prized presence at both the WSF 2004 and Mumbai Resistance. Two bitterly fighting camps, of asymmetric proportions though. Then, her engagement with the NBA was also not quite uncomplicated. Her chic radicalism: her status as an international celebrity and championing of the cause - acting the crusader, adds further to the web of complexities. The story continues ...] http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\05\07\story_7-5-2010_pg3_4http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C05%5C07%5Cstory_7-5-2010_pg3_4 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C05%5C07%5Cstory_7-5-2010_pg3_4 *HUM HINDUSTANI:* Authoring another debate *—J Sri Raman*** *The state’s war on the Maoists, in fact, has served to focus attention on the subject. It has even made the elite media send out reporters to discover the mysterious eating habits of people in tribal terrain without discernible sources of normal food* The proposition has held true for 13 long years now: come to India anytime, and you will find the country engaged in a furious debate over a female writer. This column is not about to take sides in the polemics raging currently over Arundhati Roy, but only to look at it in a larger perspective with its conspicuous ironies. Everyone who is anyone has switched sides, more than once sometimes, in the debate or the series of debates over the prominent publicist of poetic as also popular prose. The ongoing debate, triggered off by her typically passionate and provocative observations on the Maoists of midland India and the state-declared war on them, has seen similar shifts among articulate onlookers. It all started way back in 1997. That was when an almost unknown Arundhati Roy catapulted to fame as the author of the Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, published a year before. Earlier, she had caught some eyes for her screenplay of a film, ‘In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones’, a success but no Bollywood biggie. She had made more of a ripple by critiquing Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Bandit Queen’, a former outlaw and a future member of parliament, reputed to have avenged her rape by 22 upper-caste men by killing them before fleeing into the outback. Roy called the film, which features some frontal nudity, “the great India rape trick” and questioned Kapur’s right to portray the sexual crime without the living victim’s permission. Phoolan followed suit by suing Kapur and winning an out-of-court settlement before being killed in a case of return revenge. Roy’s stand did cause a debate but no political rifts of the kind she was to provoke in subsequent instances. From the furore over The God of Small Things, few could have foreseen her later development as a firestarter of debates. The novel, set in a Kerala landscape, pitted her against the Left, incensed over her caricatures of some of its leaders in the southern state. That, automatically, made the Right adopt her as a loved and long-awaited icon. Literary critics of this camp made her advent on the scene appear a phenomenon parallel to the country’s political fortunes: the first ever BJP-headed government had assumed office in New Delhi in 1995. Roy’s tenure as the Right’s icon, however, proved remarkably short-lived. It took barely a year for its hopes from her to be blasted away. In May 1998, India conducted its Pokharan nuclear-weapon tests, proclaimed as the political achievement of a BJP-led regime that had been beyond its pusillanimous predecessors. Roy, however, did not respond to the machismo with mellifluous prose. She greeted it, instead, with an essay of grim indictment titled the ‘End of Imagination’. It was the leftist rallies around the land that reverberated with her words against the weapons that could, very conceivably, lay a subcontinent waste. Instantly, the Right became her rabid enemy, going to ridiculous lengths in its attempt to demolish its erstwhile idol. Her declaration, “If protesting against having a nuclear bomb implanted in my brain is anti-Hindu and anti-national, then I secede,” was one
[GreenYouth] Fwd: ANDOLAN: Whom are the houses for under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme? (fwd)
-- Forwarded message -- From: Shiva Shankar sshan...@cmi.ac.in Date: Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:21 PM Subject: ANDOLAN: Whom are the houses for under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme? (fwd) To: '... the reason for bulldozing these dwellings was that the UP state Governor was to pass through the road alongside which these people were living, to inaugurate the building of State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). ...' Whom are the houses for under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme? Urban poor people from both these communities will stage an indefinite demonstration from 4th May 2010 onwards at the Shaheed Smarak, Lucknow In the list of those who were alloted houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme last month, not a single urban poor figures from the two slum dwellings that were bulldozed last year in state capital Lucknow of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The urban-poor people, who were living on the banks of river Gomti beneath the Daliganj bridge, close to Mankameshwar temple, were forcibly removed and their dwellings bulldozed on 19 February 2009. Since the district administration said that these urban-poor people will get houses allotted under the Central government's scheme to provide basic amenities for urban-poor people, these homeless people went to Dubagga where houses were being constructed under the aforesaid scheme. The construction work of these houses is lying incomplete because of the demand from the farmers who are getting displaced for a higher compensation. These people who were displaced from Daliganj, began to live in the houses constructed under the Homeless Housing Scheme of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) in Peer Nagar, Vasant Kunj, that were lying vacant. The quality of construction of these houses is so bad that the people who were allotted these houses earlier don't want to live in them. From this community, 180 people have submitted their applications for allotment of houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme. Those urban-poor people who were living on the land of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) in new Gandhi Nagar ward, behind Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Vibhuti Khand Gomti Nagar, had to face the bulldozer on 29 September 2009. We were told that the reason for bulldozing these dwellings was that the UP state Governor was to pass through the road alongside which these people were living, to inaugurate the building of State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). However, these people are still residing at the same place, and the Vice Chairman of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) Mukesh Meshram had written a letter to the District Magistrate of Lucknow requesting him to consider these people for allotment of houses under the urban poor housing scheme. 150 people from this dwelling in Gomti Nagar have submitted their applications for allotment of houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme. Last month when the list of those who were allotted houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme was released then it was found that not a single person from both these groups of urban poor in Lucknow figured in the list. People of both these communities are extremely poor. Most people living in Dubagga are stone cutters or do other daily wage labour, and in Gomti Nagar area, most people are either `dholak' makers or do other daily wage labour to sustain themselves and their families. The question that arises is that if poor families like in these two communities will not get the houses under the Kanshiram Urban Poor Housing Scheme, then who will get the houses? Also we want to know the background of the people who were allotted the houses under this scheme. Urban poor people from both these communities will stage an indefinite demonstration from 4th May 2010 onwards at the Shaheed Smarak, Lucknow. Munnalal (stone cutter, Dubagga), Abdul Nabi (daily wage labour, Dubagga), Shakeel (cart, Gomti Nagar), Feri (`dholak' maker, Gomti Nagar), Kiran (9453479083), Santosh, Ashish Srivastava (9473896465), Sandeep Pandey (2347365) Asha Parivar and National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.com http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send an email to greenyo...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
[GreenYouth] Maoists have no growth mantra for tribals
Maoists have no growth mantra for tribals By Kancha Ilaiah Decrease text sizeIncrease text size Tags: Arundhati Roy, corporate exploiters, Land grabbing, Maoists in Dandakaranya, Walking with the comrades In her impressive article Walking with the Comrades, Arundhati Roy gave us both the salt and pepper view of Maoists in Dandakaranya as well as the lives and hardship of tribals. She definitely made more than a journalistic effort to tell the story of tribal conditions, conflicts and the way the Maoists stood by them in times of trouble, exploitation and land grabbing. There is no doubt that the Maoists are working as their saviours from corporate exploiters and the oppression of other agencies. But do the Maoists have an overall developmental strategy for tribals? To find an answer, we should try to understand the history of tribal development in the Northeast, particularly Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur. About 50 years ago, the tribals of this region were as illiterate as those of Dandakaranya. But today Mizoram has 95 per cent literacy (more than Kerala), Manipur has 68.87 per cent, Meghalaya 63.31 per cent and Nagaland 66.11 per cent. The amazing thing is that English, which is seen as an alien but desired language by many plain people, has become their common communicative and administrative language. Anybody in India knows that knowledge of English is a kind of power in itself. This educational development has to be seen in the background of the committed activities of missionaries. They averted violent struggles and at the same time, ensured the uplift of tribals. It was a slow but sure process of development and empowerment. But what is the Maoist vision to develop the Central Indian tribes? Roy knows that the Maoists moved into Dandakaranya after they lost ground in plain regions of Andhra Pradesh. They did not start their movement just to protect the tribals or to liberate them. They launched their movement around 1967 with a theoretical formulation that India was a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. The Maoists were of the view that India should go through a process of new democratic revolution on the lines that Mao proposed. Their main idea was to liberate the agrarian villages and encircle the urban areas with a twin strategy of guerrilla warfare and mass mobilisation. Having failed in this strategy and also having lost hundreds of leaders and thousands of cadres they withdrew into this thick forest zone. They have not changed their understanding of India since then. Does Roy agree with their view of Indian capital, state and society? I support her if she is sympathising with them for their fight against “corporate invasion” but she seems to suggest that they are like gods who have gone there to change the life of tribals. There is something basically wrong with that understanding. Maoism as an ideological agency does not have comprehensive liberation and developmental agenda for tribals. Even in China it did not liberate and develop them, in spite of Maoism being in power for so long. The Chinese tribals are not as much developed as our north- eastern tribals. Yes, ever since Mr Chidambaram took over the home ministry, as an aggressive agent of liberalisation and globalisation, the question of the Maoist strategy of converting Dandakaranya into a war zone has acquired critical importance. There is a view that the Maoist problem is basically a law and order problem both among the governing agencies and a vast number of civil societal forces. It is actually a socio-economic and ideological movement. It has developed as part of the larger communist ideological development. It is one of the shades of the Indian Communist movement with a history of 43 years. There are intellectuals in this country who believe that it has been working for the development and uplift of the tribals of the Central India. But both in terms of practice and theory the Maoist movement does not have a reformist agenda for tribals. Ever since its main ideologues — Tarimela Nagireddy, Devulapally Venkateswar Rao and later Kondapally Sitharamaiah, K.G. Satyamurthy — started the Maoist stream they have been waging a war against the Indian state. Charu Majumdar provided its “Annihilation of Class Enemy” theory. But they could not succeed even in one state. They are now focusing on the tribal areas as they are the most underdeveloped. Some sort of semi-feudalism and semi-colonialism exists in the tribal regions and the forest gives Maoists a cover that plain areas cannot. Nagireddy wrote his famous book India Mortgaged in the early 70s. Today India’s position even in the world has changed. The nature of its capital has changed quite drastically. Since Maoists as well as the exploiters of the tribals bank upon their illiteracy, poverty and unemployment, the state must study the development pattern of north-eastern tribals and employ some of those strategies in Central Indian tribal regions. Mere
[GreenYouth] WORLD: The world's forgotten
Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Asia Sentinel Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong - *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* AHRC-FAT-021-2010 May 7, 2010 *An article from the Asia Sentinel forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission* *WORLD: The world's forgotten* Jo Baker Monday, 19 April 2010 *Millions of detainees across the globe remain in filthy, crowded and unsanitary prisons * As the UN's top investigator into torture and punishment prepares to end his term later this year, he has focused on a group people whom he has long called the globe's most vulnerable to discrimination and to neglect. Detainees, says Dr Manfred Nowak, have become the world's forgotten. The theme has become central to the Austrian professor's six-year tenure, and in the most recent session of the Human Rights Council this March he strongly reiterated his call for a new convention to protect them. Where other forms of discrimination are strongly represented in global social movements, the plight of those considered criminal tends to raise much less interest and certainly less sympathy. Media coverage is sporadic. While it took sexually explicit photographs to raise interest in US-led abuses in Abu Ghraib, and a steep increase in suicides a few years ago in France (which remains infamous for its shabby prisons), headlines are even harder to make in many Asian countries. Here, accountability remains low and the death count in prison is generally high and poorly documented. In Indonesia the issue flared up last year when a corruption task force discovered wealthy VIPs in a Central Jakarta prison who had been living in air-conditioned comfort for years, complete with LCD televisions and queen-sized beds, despite overcrowding in many of the country's facilities. The Minister for Justice and Human Rights acknowledged last year that there are up to 130,000 prisoners in prisons built for 80,000; audits are now being undertaken across the country. Indonesia has featured on watchdog lists for its treatment of the incarcerated for decades, as noted in Caveat, an Indonesian human rights e-journal in a January 2010 article calling for transparency. Many of Indonesia's prisoners are stripped of their rights, it notes. are consequently forced to live in filthy unsanitary conditions; become subject to disease; are placed under sever levels of stress due to overcrowding. Cries for attention from prisoners in Sri Lanka have been less successful. One last year – in which inmates held a five-day hunger strike on the roof of Bogambara Prison, Kandy to demand that they either be tried or allowed bail – was covered by just one news outlet. The strikers are reported to have since been charged with violating prison rules. Many of Sri Lanka's pre-trial inmates are housed along with convicted prisoners and can wait for a trial for years, often under the draconian (and with the war over, arguably redundant) Prevention Against Terrorism Act. In general there is a belief or a mentality, even among judges and lawyers here, that the detainees deserve bad conditions as a kind of punishment, particularly those accused of being connected to the LTTE whether they've been convicted yet or not, disclosed one Sri Lankan who works on humanitarian programmes in prisons. In short there is a widespread tolerance of the closed, often-murky machinations of prison systems that, in many countries, has encouraged standards to creep towards and beyond the inhumane. As soon as they are behind bars, detainees lose most of their human rights and often are simply forgotten by the outside world” Novak reiterated this March in Geneva. . A similar point was made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in 2008. Some rights (such as the right to liberty) are necessarily restricted by detention, she wrote during a campaign to highlight the issue. But regardless of the reasons why they have been deprived of their liberty, individuals in detention are more vulnerable to human rights violations. The protection of the rights of those in detention is often not deemed a priority by the public, which in turn can dampen government efforts to increase protection. Novak's recent reports to the UN have been drawn from his missions to 15 countries, including encounters with detainees in Nigeria who had been penned in cells with more than a hundred other inmates and tortured in front of one another, and in Nepal and Sri Lanka where cells were so crowded that inmates couldn't lie down to sleep at the same time. In Uruguay Novak found conditions inhuman for both prisoners and guards, particularly in the maximum security Libertad Prison. Small metal containers had been built there as a tool of punishment for one person, yet were penning in three with barely any light or air (on his recommendation they were dismantled). Also significant was the evidence that staff in some places of detention such as police stations don't
[GreenYouth] Fishermen threaten stir
Fishermen threaten stir http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050759330500.htm Staff Reporter KOCHI: Fishermen across the country will embark on an agitation demanding better treatment from the Central and State governments. Kerala Swatantra Matsyathozhilali Federation president T. Peter said here on Thursday that fishermen who had a television set or a fan at home had been categorised as above poverty line (APL), thereby denying them the welfare benefits given to below poverty line (BPL) families. “We are not getting our due share of kerosene and diesel because of the apathy of the Central and State governments. But foreign trawlers are getting diesel at a subsidy. The ban on constructing houses near the coast has hit us in a major way,” he said. Attempts were being made to scuttle the trawling ban during monsoon. Traditional fishermen would not allow the ban to be lifted. The proposed Central Bill regulating fishing along the coast would affect small and medium fishermen, while encouraging foreign vessels to exploit our coastal resources. The proposed Kerala Inland Fisheries Bill 2010 too would badly affect fishermen. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send an email to greenyo...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
[GreenYouth] Nepal Upstates: Breaking News: UCPN(M) Withdraws Indefinite Strike
[Quote Nepal is evidently again at the crossroads. This week is going to be decisive. ... The Maoists, no doubt, have very large organised strength. But they have as yet repeatedly failed to trigger off a mass upheaval *a la*Janandolan II. That's a very notable point. While they are apparently in control of the physics at the moment, the chemistry is still missing. ... In case, the stalemate keeps dragging, the agitation would start losing steam. Unquote [Excerpted from earlier comments of this commentator, available at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/india-unity/message/36730.] While the UCPN(M) have obviously overplayed their hand, one can now conclude with the benefit of hindsight; it goes to their credit that they've decided to cut their losses by withdrawing the indefinite strike, not too late in the day, given the mammoth peace rally this morning, the sporadic clashes breaking out with the locals at various places since yesterday, in particular, and the security forces deliberately keeping low and thereby refusing to offer the badly needed spark. The uncertainties and turmoil would, however, continue. Further outcome now would much depend on the responses of the NC and the CPN(UML) - their collective political sagacity and how personal ambitions of their mutually feuding leaders play out. It remains to be seen whether they can snatch defeat from the jaw of (even if not too decisive) victory. But, for the moment, the UCPN(M) have definitely suffered a significant setback.] I/III. http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/5900-ucpn-m-withdraws-general-strike-considering-public-woes-and-govt-conspiracy.html http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/1-top-story/5900-ucpn-m-withdraws-general-strike-considering-public-woes-and-govt-conspiracy.htmlUCPN (M) withdraws general strike 'considering public woes and govt conspiracy'Friday, 07 May 2010 21:18 After choking the nation for six consecutive days, the Unified CPN (Maoist) has decided to end its 'indefinite' general strike. A meeting of the UCPN (M)'s standing committee held Friday evening at party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal's Naya Bazaar residence decided to end the general strike in view of the difficulties caused by the general strike to ordinary people and the violent confrontations taking place during the demonstrations. The party will organise mass meetings followed by demonstrations in the capital other major other cities across the country on Saturday and will picket Singha Durbar on Sunday. We have decided to stop the general strike considering the difficulty caused to the ordinary people, and also in view of the conspiracy hatched by this government to instigate violence. But we have not stopped our people's movement-III, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal told media persons after the meeting. Dahal informed that the party would carry out a series of protest programmes until May 28, the deadline to issue the new constitution. Describing the 22-party government as a curse to the nation, the Maoist chairman, however, claimed that the protests were not aimed just to get the party in the power. The Maoist party had enforced nationwide general strike from Sunday, a day after a it staged a major demonstration in the capital. The general strike brought the nation to a complete halt with transportation services, industries, educational institutions and marketplaces remaining closed down while the bandh was starting to cause shortage of food and vegetables in the capital and outside. Initially, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, but as the general strike went on, there was increasing violence between the Maoist agitators and those defying the bandh. The Maoists had brought tens of thousands of cadres from around the country for the agitations. Earlier today, thousands of people participated in a peace rally organized by the Professional Alliance for Peace and Democracy (PAPAD) at Basantapur, calling for immediate solution to the political stand-off. II. http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2010/may/may07/news15.php http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2010/may/may07/news15.php Protest strategy will be changed if govt remains unmoved: Bhattarai Maoist vice chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai Friday said his party will have to find an alternative to the peaceful agitation, hinting that the Maoist party is not in a mood to relent the ongoing general strike. We will have to change the ways if the government continues of ignore the peaceful protests, Bhattarai said addressing a corner meeting at Kalanki Friday evening, adding, We are prepared for any kind of movement. The Maoist leader also accused the government of sending 'vigilantes' in the peace rally organised earlier today by the professional groups. He also argued that that the mainstream media have failed to read the ground reality and they are supplying biased information. He also talked of a conspiracy being hatched to dissolve the Constituent
[GreenYouth] convention of RTI activists of Kerala on 9-5-2010
Dear sir We propose to have a convention of RTI activists of Kerala on 9-5-2010 at 4.30 pm at Chavara Cultural Centre auditorium, Ernakulam (Near south Rail way station). Mr. Aravind Kajrawal, pioneer in RTA movement and National RTA icon has consented to be present in the meeting and inaugurate the function. Your esteemed presence is solicited. The Convention is aimed to provide a plat form to RTI activists in the state to strengthen its movement and join part of the national initiatives under stewardship of Mr. Aravind Kajrewal. This is a public commitment which will go a long way to strengthen our democracy as RTA and RTI activists can collectively make the government accountable to the people by making their actions transparent REGARDS Adv.d b binu jacob lazer -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send an email to greenyo...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
[GreenYouth] Dalits against Khap Panchayats: Protest against Mirchpur Killing
*Haryana Dalit Bachao Sanghursh Samiti* *F-15,Bhagat Singh Market, GoleMarket, New Delhi-110001* *Phones: 23367602, 039972, 9958766625* Press Release *Killing Of Mirchpur Will Be Protested By “Jharu Down”* *New Outfit Launched To Save Dalits In Haryana And To Teach A lesson To So-called Khap Panchayat.* *Chief Minister Must Resign* New Delhi, 6th May, 2010 Dr. Udit Raj said that some Jat musclemen burnt the houses of Dalits on 21.4.2010 at Mirchpur, dist. Hissar, Haryana, right in front of the policemen. The house of a disabled girl, Suman who was hiding in her house, was set on fire and she was burnt alive and her father sustained 90% burn injuries and died next day. On the 19th April, some Jat youths who were in an inebriated condition were creating nuisance in the Valmiki Basti. A dog in the basti started barking at them which was beaten by the jat youths who were drunk. When the people from the Valmiki community objected to their behaviour. Next day when some elders of the Valmiki community went to meet the Jat leaders to tender apology and restore peace, one of their men, Vir Bhan, was given lathi blows by some Jat youths and Vir Bhan had to be taken to district hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital authorities refused to admit him. Afterwards, people from the Valmiki Samaj met Thana Incharge, Shri Vinod Kajal, and narrated the entire sequence of events. Thana Incharge came to the place of incident at about 9 PM and just when the Valmiki community people started explaining the position leading to the incident, people from the Jat community also assembled there and launched an attack exactly at that point of time. From the above, it is evident that the houses were put on fire right in the presence of the Thana Incharge resulting in the death of two Dalits. Tara Chand was being set on fire in front of the policemen when he was desperately trying to save his life but could not do so. He was brought to the hospital on 22.4.2010 where he succumbed to burn injuries. The whole area is so much gripped with fear that the entire Valmiki community have left their homes and hearths and taken refuge in the district headquarter. This ghastly incident has terribly shaken not only the entire Valmiki community in the country but also dalits and other people having respect for human values. Earlier also, houses of Valmikis were set on fire at Gohana in Haryana. Prior to that, five Dalits were slaughtered at Jhajjar, Haryana. India got Independence 63 years ago. Instead of working for their welfare and raising their standard of living, Dalits are struggling hard to save their lives. Are we living in a civilized society ? Medieval age is known for its cruelty but this incident has probably taken us to primitive ages. Haryana Dalit Bachao Sanghursh Samiti has decided that now it will be a fight to the finish. The Convenor of the Samiti said that very soon “Jharu Down” agitation will be launched to express our protest against the ghastly killings in Haryana. In the first phase, the agitation will be started in Delhi, which will throw the entire city out of gear so far as cleanliness is concerned. If tangible security to dalits in Haryana is not provided and guilty are not punished, there will be reprisal by Safai Karmcharies to keep off from the work during the Commonwealth Game. The Haryana Government and the Central Government will be squarely responsible for this state of affairs. It is demanded that Haryana Government should be immediately dismissed for this fiaasco. The cases relating to the killing of Dalits should be dealt by the fast-track courts for expeditious justice. The people who have left their homes and hearths should be given flats at the district headquarter and mere compensations and job will not suffice. All these cases relating to the killing of Dalits in Haryana should be transferred to Delhi. So called Khap Panchayats must be banned. There is no SC/ST Commission in the State of Haryana which should be constituted immediately. A judicial probe may be ordered into the matter by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court. *(Sanjay Raj),* Media Incharge 9654252076 -- Thanking you, Vinod Rawat __ Swords will always sharpen, bullets harden and retaliation fasten, but none shall ever equal the power of knowledge. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Our Media group. To post to this group, send email to our-me...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to our-media+unsubscr...@googlegroups.comour-media%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/our-media?hl=en. -- Ranjit -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send an email to
[GreenYouth] The ban on SIMI and Indian democracy
http://kafila.org/2010/05/04/4128/ The ban on SIMI and Indian democracy Dr Shahid Badar, national president of Students Islamic Movement of India, recently decided not to contest any more the ban on SIMI, his stated reason being: “to put an end to this mindless, futile, unequal, unethical and unjust exercise in which the Government has shamelessly used the Judiciary to achieve its ends of casting a shadow of criminality on the entire muslim community. I have therefore chosen not to contest the declaration of the central govt.” This is the full text of the affidavit filed by him before the *Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal.* ** *BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA,* *Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal,* *Delhi High Court Building, Sher Shah Road, New Delhi * *In Re: Students Islamic Movement of India* I, Shahid Badar, son of Shri Badre Alam, aged about 38 years, resident of Village Manchobha, P.O. Kakrahta, P.S. Sadar, District Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, presently at New Delhi, do hereby solemnly affirm and state on oath as under: 1. I was the President of the Students Islamic Movement of India (hereafter, SIMI) on 27/09/01 when for the first time the Central Govt declared the organisation an ‘unlawful association’. The declaration by the Central Govt. under Sn. 3 (1) was accompanied with a direction under the proviso to sn. 3 (3) that the declaration was to have immediate effect, i.e. even before it was adjudicated and confirmed or cancelled by the Tribunal under sn. 4 (3). Being a law-abiding organisation, from the date of the declaration, i.e. 27/09/01, the organisation ceased to exist. 2. On the date of the declaration itself, the govt. of the day ensured that all the offices of the organisation were sealed and its bank accounts frozen. 3. On the intervening night of the 27th and the 28th of September 2001, before I was informed that SIMI had been declared an unlawful association, I was arrested and charged with being a member of an unlawful association, a cognizable offence under sn. 10 of the UAPA, 1967. My lawyers advise me that this is in violation of a basic principle of ‘Rule of Law’ every law student is taught as part of their course on jurisprudence – criminal sanction cannot be retrospectively applied. 4. While I was still in custody, I was served with a notice by the tribunal constituted to adjudicate the validity of the declaration of SIMI as an unlawful association. As the last president of SIMI before it was declared an unlawful association, I engaged counsel to contest the proceedings on my behalf. When the tribunal upheld the validity of the declaration, I petitioned the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, which was pleased to grant leave to appeal and admit the appeal as Civil Appeal No. 9208 of 2003. 5. The declaration of 27 September 2001, of SIMI as an unlawful association, was to expire on 26 September 2003. However, on 26 September 2003, the govt. issued another notification, once again declaring SIMI an unlawful association. I was still in custody, but once again, contested the declaration and then appealed the decision of the tribunal upholding the declaration, before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court. Vide order dated 04 January 2008, the Hon’ble Supreme Court was pleased to transfer the petition to itself and have it tagged alongwith pending Civil Appeal No. 9208 of 2003. 6. On 8th February 2006 the Central Government once again declared SIMI an unlawful association. When the Tribunal constituted to adjudicate the validity of the notification was pleased to uphold the notification, I once again filed a Special Leave petition. The Hon’ble Supreme Court was pleased to grant leave and the petition is currently still pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court as C.A. No. 1323/2007. 7. SIMI has therefore been more or less continually banned since September 2001, making a complete mockery of the intention behind the UAPA and the safeguards supposedly built into the statute to prevent abuse. 8. As yet, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has heard none of the three appeals filed by me. 9. On the occasion of the last declaration by the govt. of 07th of February 2008, I once again appeared through counsel and this time the tribunal constituted in terms of the UAPA and presided over by Hon’ble Ms. Justice Gita Mittal, returned a resounding verdict clearly holding that the central govt. had no grounds to declare SIMI an unlawful association. The tribunal therefore cancelled the declaration of the central govt. 10. However, although the tribunal’s report answering the reference was sent to the Central Govt., neither my counsel nor I, were intimated about the fact of the report or the cancellation of the central govt’s declaration of 07th of February 2008. I gathered the news only the next day from media reports. 11.
