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महात्मा गाँधी, नस्ल और जाति

ScribeShah
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महात्मा गाँधी, नस्ल और जाति

राष्ट्रपिता महात्मा गाँधी ने दुनिया के सबसे बड़े जनांदोलन का नेतृत्व किया था। यह जनांदोलन ब्रिटिश साम्राज्यवाद के विरुद्ध था। गांधीजी के जनांदोलन ने हमें अन्यायी सत्ता के विरुद्ध संघर्ष करने के लिए दो महत्वपूर्ण औज़ार दिए – अहिंसा और सत्याग्रह। उन्होंने हमें यह सिखाया कि नीतियां बनाते समय हमें समाज की आखिरी पंक्ति के अंतिम व्यक्ति का ख्याल रखना चाहिए। जिन विचारों के आधार पर उन्होंने अपने आंदोलनों को आकार दिया, वे विचार गांधीजी अपनी मां के गर्भ से साथ लेकर नहीं आये थे। वे विचार समय के साथ विकसित हुए और उन्हीं विचारों ने भारत के स्वाधीनता आन्दोलन की नींव रखी। वे कहा करते थे कि उनका जीवन ही उनका सन्देश है। उनका व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व, दुनिया भर के औपनिवेशिकता और नस्लवाद विरोधी आंदोलनों की प्रेरणा बना। वे भारत में सामाजिक समानता की स्थापना के पैरोकार थे और जाति प्रथा का उन्मूलन उनके जीवन का प्रमुख लक्ष्य था।

ये बातें याद दिलाना आज इसलिए ज़रूरी हो गया है क्योंकि लेखकों और बुद्धिजीवियों का एक तबका उन्हें नस्लवादी व जातिवादी साबित करने पर तुला हुआ है। यह कहा जा रहा है कि उन्होंने भारत के दलितों के हितों को क्षति पहुंचाई। ये तत्व महात्मा गाँधी की पूरी जीवन यात्रा को समग्र रूप में नहीं देख रहे हैं और उनके शुरूआती लेखन के चुनिन्दा अंशो का हवाला दे रहे हैं। वे उनके जीवन के केवल उस दौर की बात कर रहे हैं जब वे नस्ल और जाति के नाम पर समाज में व्याप्त अन्यायों के विरुद्ध लड़ रहे थे।

हाल में जॉर्ज फ्लॉयड की क्रूर हत्या के बाद शुरू हुए ‘ब्लैक लाइव्स मैटर’ आन्दोलन के दौरान, अमरीका में कुछ प्रदर्शनकारियों ने गाँधीजी की मूर्ति को नुकसान पहुँचाया। इसके पहले, घाना में उन्हें नस्लवादी करार देते हुए उनकी एक मूर्ति को उखाड़ फेंका गया था और ‘रोड्स मस्ट फाल’ की तर्ज पर ‘गाँधी मस्ट फाल’ आन्दोलन चलाया गया था। गाँधी को किसी भी स्थिति में रोड्स और उसके जैसे अन्यों, जिन्होंने अश्वेतों को गुलाम बनाने में मुख्य भूमिका अदा की थी, की श्रेणी में नहीं रखा जा सकता। गांधीजी के बारे गलत धारणाओं के मूल में है केवल उनके शुरूआती लेखन पर जोर। दक्षिण अफ्रीका में रह रहे भारतीयों को उनका हक़ दिलाने के लिए शुरू किए गए अपने आन्दोलन के दौरान गाँधी ने कुछ मौकों पर अश्वेतों के बारे में अपमानजनक शब्दों का प्रयोग किया था। ये शब्द वे थे जिन्हें औपिनिवेशिक आकाओं ने गढ़ा था, जैसे ‘अफ्रीकन सेवेजिस’ (अफ्रीकी जंगली)। दक्षिण अफ्रीका के भारतीय श्रमजीवियों के पक्ष में आवाज़ उठाते हुए उन्होंने कहा था कि औपनिवेशिक शासक, भारतीयों के साथ ‘अफ्रीकन सेवेजिस’ जैसा व्यवहार कर रहे हैं।

दक्षिण अफ्रीका में भारतीयों के हकों की लडाई के समांतर उन्होंने वहां के अश्वेतों की दयनीय स्थिति को भी समझा और उनके दर्द का अहसास करने के लिए उन्होंने यह तय किया कि वे केवल थर्ड क्लास में यात्रा करेंगे। इसके काफी समय बात उन्होंने कहा कि अश्वेतों के साथ भी न्यायपूर्ण ब्यवहार होना चाहिए। नस्लवाद के सम्बन्ध में उनकी सोच का निचोड़ उनके इस वाक्य में है, “अगर हम भविष्य की बात करें तो क्या हमें आने वाली पीढ़ियों के लिए विरासत में एक ऐसी सभ्यता नहीं छोड़नी चाहिए जिसमें सभी नस्लों का समिश्रण हो – एक ऐसी सभ्यता जिसे शायद विश्व ने अब तक नहीं देखा है।” यह बात उन्होंने 1908 में कही थी। समय के साथ उनके विचार विकसित और परिपक्व होते गए और 1942 में उन्होंने रूज़वेल्ट को एक पत्र में लिखा, “मेरा विचार है कि मित्र देशों का यह दावा कि वे दुनिया में व्यक्तिगत स्वतंत्रता और प्रजातंत्र की सुरक्षा के लिए लड़ रहे हैं तब तक खोखला जान पड़ेगा जब तक कि ग्रेट ब्रिटेन भारत और अफ्रीका का शोषण करता रहेगा और अमरीका में नीग्रो समस्या बनी रहेगी।”

गाँधी के नस्लवादी होने के आरोपों का सबसे अच्छा जवाब नेल्सन मंडेला ने दिया था। उन्होंने लिखा था, “गाँधी को इन पूर्वाग्रहों के लिए क्षमा किया जाना चाहिए और हमें उनका मूल्यांकन उनके समय और परिस्थितियों को ध्यान में रख कर करना चाहिए। हम यहाँ एक युवा गाँधी की बात कर रहे हैं जो तब तक महात्मा नहीं बने थे।”

जाति का मसला भी उतना ही टेढ़ा है। अपने जीवन के शुरूआती दौर में गांधीजी ने काम पर आधारित वर्णाश्रम धर्म की वकालत की। उन्होंने मैला साफ़ करने के काम का महिमामंडन किया और दलितों को हरिजन का नाम दिया। कई दलित बुद्धिजीवी और नेता मानते हैं कि गांधीजी ने मैकडोनाल्ड अवार्ड के अंतर्गत दलितों को दिए गए पृथक मताधिकार का विरोध कर दलितों का अहित किया। गाँधी इस निर्णय को भारतीय समाज को विभाजित करने की चाल मानते थे। उनका ख्याल था कि इससे भारतीय राष्ट्रवाद कमज़ोर पड़ेगा। इसलिए उन्होंने इसके खिलाफ आमरण अनशन किया जो तभी समाप्त हुआ जब बीआर आंबेडकर ने आरक्षित निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों का प्रस्ताव स्वीकार कर लिया।

जहाँ कई नेता और बुद्धिजीवी इसे महात्मा गाँधी द्वारा दलितों के साथ विश्वासघात मानते हैं वहीं आंबेडकर ने गांधीजी को इस बात के लिए धन्यवाद दिया था कि उन्होंने आरक्षित निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों के जरिये दलितों को और अधिक आरक्षण देकर समस्या का संतोषजनक हल निकाला। उन्होंने लिखा, “मैं महात्मा गाँधी का आभारी हूँ। उन्होंने मेरी रक्षा की।” आंबेडकर के निकट सहयोगी भगवान दास ने आंबेडकर के भाषण को उदृत करते हुए लिखा कि “बातचीत की सफलता का श्रेय महात्मा गाँधी को दिया जाना चाहिए। मुझे यह स्वीकार करना ही होगा कि जब मैं महात्मा से मिला तब मुझे यह जानकार आश्चर्य हुआ, घोर आश्चर्य हुआ, कि मुझमें और उनमें कितनी समानताएं हैं”।

संयुक्त राष्ट्रसंघ में 2009 में हुई एक बहस में नस्ल और जाति को एक समान माना गया था. दोनों मामलों में गांधीजी, जो मानवीयता के जीते-जागते प्रतीक थे, ने शुरुआत उन शब्दावलियों के प्रयोग से की जो तत्समय प्रचलित थीं। जैसे-जैसे सामाजिक मुद्दों से उनका सरोकार बढ़ता गया उन्होंने नस्लवाद और जातिवाद के सन्दर्भ में नए शब्दों का प्रयोग करना शुरू कर दिया। जाति के प्रश्न पर वे आंबेडकर के विचारों से बहुत प्रभावित थे और उनके प्रति गहरा जुड़ाव रखते थे। यहाँ तक कि उन्होंने सिफारिश की थी कि आंबेडकर की पुस्तिका ‘जाति का उन्मूलन’ सभी को पढ़नी चाहिए।

नस्लवाद के मुद्दे पर उन्होंने उतनी गहराई से विचार नहीं किया जितना कि जातिवाद पर। अस्पृश्यता के विरुद्ध उनके अभियान ने आंबेडकर के प्रयासों को बढ़ावा दिया। नेहरु ने आंबेडकर को अपने मंत्रिमंडल में शामिल कर उन्हें नीति निर्माण करने का अवसर प्रदानं किया। नेहरु ने समान नागरिक संहिता का मसविदा तैयार करने की ज़िम्मेदारी भी आंबेडकर को सौंपी और महात्मा गाँधी की अनुशंसा और सलाह पर ही आंबेडकर को संविधान की मसविदा समिति का मुखिया नियुक्त किया गया।

केवल वे लोग ही गाँधी पर नस्लवादी या जातिवादी होने का आरोप लगा सकते हैं जो उनके जीवन के केवल उस दौर पर फोकस करते हैं जब महात्मा अपने मूल्यों और विचारों को आकार दे रहे थे। आगे चल कर गांधीजी ने संकीर्ण सामाजिक प्रतिमानों को त्याग दिया और एक ऐसे राष्ट्रीय और वैश्विक बंधुत्व की स्थापना का स्वप्न देखा जिसमें नस्ल और जाति के लिए कोई जगह नहीं होगी।

 

(हिंदी रूपांतरणः अमरीश हरदेनिया) 

Giridih does it again, gives second Diana Award winner from India

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Giridih does it again, gives second Diana Award winner from India

Giridih/Ranchi: For the second year in a row Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation has won the coveted The Diana Award. And both the winners, who won the laurel for India, hail from Giridih, Jharkhand.

Established in the memory of the late Princess, The Diana Award is supposed to be the most prestigious recognition for a young person aged 9-25 years for their social or humanitarian work. 22-year-old Neeraj Murmu, a tribal youth and resident of Tisri, in Giridih district, has won the award for his significant contribution to society for the year 2020.

Till 2011, Murmu, son of a small time farmer, used to rag-pick mica with his family members. Last year’s winner, 13-year-old Champa Kumari, a resident of the adjacent block Gawah in Giridih district, who also used to rag-pick mica waste, had won the award for her resilience and working towards the betterment of society.

Both Gawah and Tisri blocks are among the most backward areas in India. Thousands of children continue to pick mica waste in Giridih and Koderma districts of Jharkhand. Internal media, particularly Reuters, had visited the areas and had reported about the living conditions there. Every year several children die when mica mines cave in. The Thomson Reuters Foundation had even run a campaign to create awareness aimed at the world’s major corporate houses who use mica as their product. They persistently strive to stop illegal mining where children are used and are dying because of it as well as losing their childhood to this cruel practice. But all in vain.

Kailash Satyarthi’s Children’s Foundation and Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in particular have worked extensively in these areas and have saved many lives apart from providing them education. It won’t be far fetched to say that it was his endeavours through BBA that played a pivotal role in Kailash Satyarthi winning the Nobel prize in 2014.

The diana award tribal child labour mica labourer neeraj Murmu Giridih Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation BBA
Neeraj Murmu I Picture arranged by KSCF

The Diana Award, established by a UK based charity organisation, aims to promote the causes that were close to the heart of the late princess, and recognises young change-makers across the globe in two categories—United Kingdom and International. For 2020, among the international category, India has sprung forth 23 young Change Makers.

Who is Neeraj Murmu

Murmu is among the 7 children of Kulmani Besra and Ramjit Murmu. Both his parents are involved in farming as well as picking waste mica to sell in order to supplement their meager income. Murmu, who did not start schooling till the age of 12, used to pick mica waste with his parents. It was Kailash Satyarthi’s Children’s Foundation which got young Murmu to join school. Later, Murmu cleared his matriculation (secondary school) examination and followed it up with intermediate (higher secondary) examination, securing 69 and 58 per cent marks respectively. This is quite a feat in itself for children coming from such underprivileged  backgrounds.

“Now I am in the first year of my graduation from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). My honors (major subject) is Political Science. Along with my study I run a school which has around 100 students from Standard I to V,” shared Murmu with eNewsroom.

Now married, Murmu’s wife Lalita Kumari, who is also pursuing graduation in History, helps Murmu as they teach together at the school.

On asking about other activities apart from studies and teaching, Murmu informed, “I have encouraged some child labourers to continue their studies and there are 20 such students in my school. I have also helped villagers in getting their pensions, apart from helping them get the requisite certificates and other official documents from the Block office on a regular basis.”

When asked about his aim in life, Murmu added, “I want to see everyone, right from a child to the aged, to become literate, to be educated. I want to make people aware about the importance of education. And I want to do social service like Kailash (Satyarthi) sir.”

Global event held through virtual platform

Incidentally Prince Harry sent a surprise video message during the virtual ceremony held in his mother’s name. It would have been Princess Diana’s 59th birthday on July 1, 2020, the day of the ceremony.

As per reports, Prince Harry said, “I am so incredibly proud to be part of these awards, as they honor the legacy of my mother and bring out the very best in people like you.” He poignantly added, “Like many of you she didn’t take the easy route or the popular one or the comfortable one. But she stood for something and she stood up for people who needed it.” The Prince also touched upon the present circumstances and said, “I see the greatest hope in people like you, and I’m confident about the world’s future and its ability to heal because it is in your hands.”

Indo-China conflict: A Renegade’s Reading

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Indo-China conflict: A Renegade’s Reading

Can a student of history afford a sense of sadness, a subjective feeling over the past and its present spillovers? Knowing very well that counterfactual history hardly helps in understanding realpolitik at home as well as global geopolitics over resources and defense, the question still comes to my mind in the context of the latest Indo-China border clashes in Ladakh amid a global pandemic. The brutal mutual murders of uniformed youths of missile age with spiked clubs and iron rods, the weapons of iron age on the icy roof of the world reminds me how hollow are the claims of two neighboring ‘Civilizational States’ of Asia and two most populous countries of the world.

Going through the exchange of hatred in social media and mainstream media in India and Pakistan— hysteria over injured pride of the first and wanton glee of the latter over the humiliation of Hindustan as well as glimpses of cold but arrogant Chinese assertion of their arrival on the world scene as the superpower of 21st century – I won’t attempt a wistful requiem for the five thousand years of exchanges of knowledge and culture, trade and technology across the ancient Silk Route, frosty Himalayas and tumultuous waves of Indian ocean that Tagore, Iqbal and Nehru were so fascinated about. Tibet, which was the meeting ground of Buddha and Lao Zsu, Fa Hien and Shilbhadra, has become the bloody killing ground for their great-great grandchildren again. The hegemony of hard nosed national security strategists and military-industrial deep states in all three countries will never allow the popular discourse to widen their horizon beyond jingoist nationalism.

So it will be also preposterous to the children of post-nineties India to remind the Indo-Chinese mutual solidarity during our freedom struggles when they are clamoring for ‘Badla’ from our Mota Bhai on their cheap Chinese smart phones while missing TikTok. Same will be the likely responses of their Pakistani counterparts who are congratulating their proxy avengers on the same devices and the post- Tiananmen Chinese youth who have now lined up behind their ‘Xi Dada (Papa)’ to assert the centrality of the ancient ‘Middle Kingdom’ in today’s world. Nevertheless, I hope that the irony of our shared word ‘Dada’ across the misty mountains will not be lost on all of them.

It would be rather easy for me to address my generation of late fifties and sixties who were euphoric about the essential unity of Afro-Asian-Latin American liberation struggles against Western colonial and neo-colonial powers and our collective marches towards the dream lands of political and economic democracy by the name of mixed economy, new democracy and socialism. But it will be also risky for me to trace the trajectory of the current Indo-Chinese border clashes from the era of Mao Zedong and Jawaharlal Nehru and what went wrong, although I don’t intend to present a linear history to the days of Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi as the difference is between the cheese and chalk.

On the other hand, neither Ashoka nor Akbar’s Indian armies ever tried to cross Kailash or Karakoram ranges while extending their realms to eastern Afghanistan close to Hindu Kush. Ladakh was conquered by the army of Jammu’s Dogra king Gulab Singh in 1834 before British forces dismembered the Sikh empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and awarded Kashmir valley to the vassal of the Sikh ruler for his service to the colonial power in 1846. The Baltistan and Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu valleys further north, now under Pakistan were nominally parts of pre-1947 Jammu and Kashmir but effectively in British control. All these areas were the parts of the Himalayan geo-cultural landscape that created the mosaic of Greco-Persian, Buddhist, Islamic and Saivite Hindu practices.

What provokes me immediately is the hypocrisy of my fellow Liberal and Left milieu in India, mainly represented by the Congress and the likes of The Wire online portal. They know well that patriotism/nationalism has been the last refuge of all rascals/ scoundrels in the modern age and both Modi and Xi are far more adept in using that weapon for their respective political and personal purposes. Even then, they are trying to outsmart Modi and Sangh Parivar in their game by nitpicking over the perceived or real loss or gains of a few meters or kilometers of desolate land in the Tibetan plateau along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China.

Neither country can afford a full-scale border war for political-economic reasons. But eventuality of another war or brinkmanship a la 1962 will be more disastrous for Indian Liberal-Lefts and resistance against global neo-cons and neo-Fascists Trump- Putin-Salvini-Orban in the West and Bolsonaro – Netanyahu as well as Xi and Modi in other parts of the world. Yet, the desire to score brownie points over Modi, the 56-inch chest-thumper, appears to be irresistible in the ranks of peaceniks. Outside the mainstream political parties, Liberal-Left and ultra-Left opinions are still largely divided between Nehruvian and Maoist legacies. But I think it’s time to call a spade a spade.

Chinese Indian indo-china conflict sino-india border china india stand-off face-off xi jinping Narendra modi Ladakh Himalayas
Courtesy: inventiva.co.in

Neo-liberal Resource Wars on the Himalayas

My readings of history and current affairs tend to accuse both Indian and Chinese expansionisms in Western and Eastern Himalayas at the cost of Buddhist people of greater Tibet including Ladakh and Aksai Chin and neighboring Muslim East Turkestan or Xinxiang Uighur region close to central Asia. Both were in the outlying areas of great ancient Indian and Chinese, Greco-Persian, Mongol as well as post-Columbus European empires. Heavily pregnant with water, oil, gas and mineral resources, both regions which were mostly annexed to China were only tenuous and temporary parts of earlier Chinese empires. People here are ethnically, linguistically and culturally different from the Han majority of mainland China.

On the other hand, neither Ashoka nor Akbar’s Indian armies ever tried to cross Kailash or Karakoram ranges while extending their realms to eastern Afghanistan close to Hindu Kush. Ladakh was conquered by the army of Jammu’s Dogra king Gulab Singh in 1834 before British forces dismembered the Sikh empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and awarded Kashmir valley to the vassal of the Sikh ruler for his service to the colonial power in 1846. The Baltistan and Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu valleys further north, now under Pakistan were nominally parts of pre-1947 Jammu and Kashmir but effectively in British control. All these areas were the parts of the Himalayan geo-cultural landscape that created the mosaic of Greco-Persian, Buddhist, Islamic and Saivite Hindu practices.

The nomadic and tribal peoples of this veritable paradise on earth with snow-peaked mountains, pristine emerald lakes and blue rivers came under the political control of sub-continental, Chinese and central Asian mainlanders only intermittently, though religion and culture flowed through trade almost freely. Even modern-age British army and officialdom could not subdue them totally. But their strategic locations and natural resources have put them in the vortex of political and military avalanches by regional and global powers since the 19th century.

This is the main backdrop of Indo-US-UK-Australia-Japan axis for Asia-Pacific cooperation to contain China while Russia is aligned to China and EU major France and Germany playing cautious. Not only the major regional and global powers, many of China’s small neighbors in south-east Asia and around South China Sea as well as larger Pacific-Indian ocean regions are apprehensive as the new behemoth is flexing its economic and military muscles to control the onshore and offshore oil and gas reserves while aggressively pursuing its OBOR project. Independent studies have also revealed the huge flow of Chinese money as investments, loans and bribes from Sri Lanka to Solomon Islands, Gabon to Greenland.

The Partition of Indian subcontinent in 1947 and subsequent Indo-Pak and Indo-Chinese wars as well as proxy wars between India and China-Pakistan axis have only added to the woes of these Himalayan people. Warmongers in distant plain-land cities will never understand how the growing militarization has made daily life miserable for these frontier highlanders.

The recent Indo-China border clashes can be partly explained by the intensified resource war between India and China with a crucial role of Pakistan. The control over the Himalayan glaciers (including Siachen, contested between India and Pakistan) that give life to major rivers in China and south Asia across Tibet is crucial for all three contenders. Also Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh have their legitimate worries. The construction of massive hydro-power projects in the Chinese side of the plateau to serve the water-starved mainland did not stop even during the peak period of Covid-19 Pandemic. Neither did the exploration of minerals, oil and gas reserves in Xinxiang which were crucial for gigantic Industrial- urban-military ‘development projects’ in other parts of the country.

Heavily militarized and repressed under Beijing, these two‘autonomous’ provinces of China, which are crucial for its energy security are also connected by Chinese-built highway runs through the Aksai Chin part of Ladakh which has long been contested between India and China. However, the ongoing extension of the massive Karakoram highway not only runs through Gilgit-Baltistan in the north contested by India and Pakistan but also pierces across Pakistani mainland all the way to Baluchistan in the west giving China access to the port of Gwadar on Arabian Sea. Officially known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, it has heightened the India-China resource and strategic contest. Earlier, Pakistan has acceded some of its mountainous but strategic territory to its ‘all-weather friend’ to contain their common enemy. India too has retaliated by helping Iran which has border disputes with Pakistan to develop Chabahar port on Gulf of Oman close to Pakistan’s Makran coast. Iran’s opening to the ocean will provide an alternative route of oil supply to the world and India as well as maritime trade linked to new railways and road projects in Iranian Sistan.

The Galwan river valley is also strategic both for India and Pakistan as the river joins Sheyok river to become a tributary of the mighty Sindhu river system that is also the lifeline of Ladakh. Farther north to Galwan, the volatile Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan runs through the area up to highly contested Siachen glacier and India’s highest airstrip at Daulat Beg Oldi is located close to both the LOC and LAC. The region is not far off Karakoram highway, the main artery between Chinese Xinxiang and Pakistani seaports that runs through India-claimed Gilgit-Baltistan.

The latest flare up in the Himalayas apparently has been triggered by the Narendra Modi government’s decision to abrogate the constitutional special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its division into two Union Territories with Ladakh being centrally ruled more. Further, the new maps of two UTs have shown Pakistan-occupied parts of Kashmir in J&K while Gilgit-Baltistan and Aksai Chin in Ladakh that connect Chinese Tibet and Xinxiang. Both the UTs are resource-rich with Gold and other precious minerals as well as fossil fuels as they are parts of the larger Tibetan plateau. Both Pakistan and China have protested vehemently. Though India had never accepted the Pak claims on the POK and Chinese claims on Akshai Chin, the contest has been largely dormant, more diplomatic than military in the last few decades. But the advent of two ultra-nationalist regimes across the Himalayas which love to flex military muscles with Pak generals always ready to serve as mercenaries of greater powers hasled to bloodshed on the icy desert again.

The latest Flashpoint

The latest flashpoint, Galwan river valley is situated on the Karakoram pass that runs between China-held Akshai Chin and India-held Ladakh close to contested LAC. Both sides have constructed strategic roads, bridges, feeder roads as well as airstrips and fortified their forward posts for troop and artillery at places parallel to the undemarcated frontier on the dizzy heights. However, the inhospitable terrain is favorable to China since it occupies Tibetan flatland at his rearguard. The Chinese highway between Xinxiang and Tibet also runs through Aksai Chin.

The Galwan river valley is also strategic both for India and Pakistan as the river joins Sheyok river to become a tributary of the mighty Sindhu river system that is also the lifeline of Ladakh. Farther north to Galwan, the volatile Line of Control (LOC) between India and Pakistan runs through the area up to highly contested Siachen glacier and India’s highest airstrip at Daulat Beg Oldi is located close to both the LOC and LAC. The region is not far off Karakoram highway, the main artery between Chinese Xinxiang and Pakistani seaports that runs through India-claimed Gilgit-Baltistan.

The China-Pakistan axis wants to hold on to Gilgit-Baltistan and Aksai Chin in order to secure both the highways and adjoining areas crucial for their natural resource extractions, trade and military movements against India. If India gets closer to these areas, aggressively pursues its claim to both regions and succeeds in putting a wedge between China and Pakistan borders at the current tri-junction, the geo-strategic axis will be at great peril. At the same time, India fears that Ladakh and Kashmir will continue to be vulnerable to Chinese-Pak attacks and proxy wars unless New Delhi increases the pressures on the axis by bolstering its claims on Aksai Chin and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The power alignments over New Silk Route

India has become more alarmed as the Karakoram highway is a crucial part of the mammoth Chinese New Silk Road or One Belt One Road (OBOR) project. This project not only aims to connect Xinxiang to Europe through central and west Asia across the lands of 65 countries but also old and new ports across oceans in Asia, parts of Africa and Europe. China claims that this trans-continental complex land and sea connectivity project for global trade, unprecedented in human history, is the cornerstone of international cooperation in 21st century. But its regional rivals India and Japan as well as its global adversary and post-Cold War sole superpower USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies, UK and Australia perceived this project as the quintessential infrastructure for Chinese ambition for global hegemony, both economic and military. India has refused to join the OBOR project fearing it would tighten the Chinese noose around its neck.

Modi’s call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is only aimed at strengthening the cause of Ambanis and Adanis, not those poor millions who have lost or risked their lives in their desperate journey to home during the lockdown. Nevertheless, smaller border clash, preferably with China’s proxy, Pakistan little later would have suited him better in view of the coming Bihar and Bengal polls at his bravado at Balakot had helped him in last May. He could have tried to be the spokesman for the smaller kids in the bloc against the new big brother on water and other resources and market issues had he not squandered the chance by playing a bully himself.

This is the main backdrop of Indo-US-UK-Australia-Japan axis for Asia-Pacific cooperation to contain China while Russia is aligned to China and EU major France and Germany playing cautious. Not only the major regional and global powers, many of China’s small neighbors in south-east Asia and around South China Sea as well as larger Pacific-Indian ocean regions are apprehensive as the new behemoth is flexing its economic and military muscles to control the onshore and offshore oil and gas reserves while aggressively pursuing its OBOR project. Independent studies have also revealed the huge flow of Chinese money as investments, loans and bribes from Sri Lanka to Solomon Islands, Gabon to Greenland.

World’s old hegemons are threatened by the awakened Dragon after centuries of its slumber. But I find nothing to rejoice about despite its call for a multi-polar world since it’s not aimed at fundamental and radical change in global labour and wealth division in favor of the toiling poor and marginal multitudes as Che had once dreamt of. Umpteen independent reports have pointed to the fact that today’s China is only interested in mere redrawing of neo-colonial power centers for markets and materials control at the cost of further destruction and plunder of natural resources, rape of environment and cheap labor in global South after testing its heady but highly toxic success at home.

The new elephant in the room is running amok through thousands of community economies and cultures, bulldozing them with its homemade economy of scale. Personal or clan fortunes of ruling elites of smaller nation-states are being stashed with Chinese money to ensure their backward bending at the max. Both stick and carrots are being used to tame the local doubters as the old powers had done earlier.

The timing of the escalation of border conflicts have suited Xi more as he has wanted to rally domestic opinion around him following criticism over the current pandemic and emerge as a strong leader without risking a major war. But our home-grown holy cows are no innocent victims of Chinese resource war and Jingoism but active players in the same game but in the rival team. Nevertheless, they are the parts of global neo-liberal template, locally represented by filthy rich billionaires and their wannabe clones in the middle class completely cut off from the millions of their compatriots at the bottom.

Modi’s call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is only aimed at strengthening the cause of Ambanis and Adanis, not those poor millions who have lost or risked their lives in their desperate journey to home during the lockdown. Nevertheless, smaller border clash, preferably with China’s proxy, Pakistan little later would have suited him better in view of the coming Bihar and Bengal polls at his bravado at Balakot had helped him in last May. He could have tried to be the spokesman for the smaller kids in the bloc against the new big brother on water and other resources and market issues had he not squandered the chance by playing a bully himself.

But the problem is that our rulers, populist at exterior but elitist at corer, be they are of red and saffron, for that matter, tricolor and green hues are seeking legitimacy in the name of our civilizational continuity and national pride. These pretenders would have been less privileged today had the statesmen like Mao and Nehru not allowed the historical tragedies to happen in their times. I will deal with them in the next part.

Worried about police brutality abroad, but what about violence that takes place in your own backyard?

Shahnawaz Akhtar
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Worried about police brutality abroad, but what about violence that takes place in your own backyard?

Ranchi: The murder of George Floyd by the police has triggered a global movement that raises a voice against police brutality. In India, too, #blacklivesmatter was trending, with everyone from celebrities, social activists to the common man registering their voice and demanding justice. But by the looks of it, the movement has failed to make an impact in India, as we recently witnessed a father-son-duo (Jayaraj-Fenix) being brutally tortured to death in police custody in Tamil Nadu.

The multiple injuries on the bodies indicated the brutality inflicted on them was far worse than what Floyd had to endure while being choked to death. The case also highlights the fact that custodial deaths are a reality in India, to which many choose to turn a blind eye. Sadly, they often even fail to create outrage as in the case of Minhaj Ansari of Jharkhand.

Ansari’s murder is a prime example of police getting away with killing people in custody in India, unlike the four officers in Minneapolis, who have been charged with second-degree murder of George Floyd. The case is now under trial.

Ansari, resident of Jamtara, owner of a mobile repairing shop and a father of an eight-month-old daughter, died in police custody just because he was the admin of a WhatsApp group, in which someone had allegedly shared pictures of beef. For this, he was picked up by the police. Harish Pathak was then the officer of Narayanpur police station. Later, Ansari was brutally beaten up by police and also by the complainant — Sonu Singh, a Bajrang Dal member. Pathak and Singh allegedly assaulted Minhaj in front of his mother too. They mercilessly beat him to so much that Ansari succumbed to his injuries when he was rushed for treatment, just like the father-son duo who died in Tamil Nadu.

However, the injustice did not stop there, after a lot of struggle the family managed to get a murder charge slapped on Pathak, but eventually his suspension order was revoked. The trial against him did not begin and Pathak was able to get a stay on his case. Singh’s name was also erased from the charge-sheet filed by the police.

Four years down the line, the trial is yet to start. However, Pathak has now been posted in a police station which falls in the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren’s constituency.

police brutality custodial death jharkhand minhaj ansari
The torture marks on the body of Minhaj, before he was buried (file picture)

“My brother was made the admin of a WhatsApp group by his friend, and then one of the members sent the alleged picture of beef to the group. Sonu Singh complained to police about his religious sentiments being hurt. After which the police picked up Minhaj (Ansari) from his house along with several others in the Whatsapp group on October 2, 2016, around 9 pm. Later, all were released by the police barring Minhaj. All those released by police had wounds from being beating on their bodies,” recalled Hazrat Ansari, Minhaj’s brother while talking to eNewsroom.

He paused and then added: “Next morning, when Ammi (Ajhela Bibi) went to visit Minhaj at the police station, she saw both Harish Pathak and Sonu Singh beating Minhaj. When my father and the Mukhiya reached the police station and confronted them, they were abused and sent back.”

An NDTV report had also claimed that when the police had called a press conference, Minhaj was seen slumped against the wall, without much body movement. His face was also covered with a piece of cloth suggesting that he had been subjected to severe beating.

“When police were taking him to Narayanpur from Jamtara, there is a village named Pobia. It was here that he was taken out of the vehicle and handed over to Sonu Singh, who beat him again mercilessly,” alleged the brother.

police brutality custodial death jharkhand minhaj ansari
Autopsy report of Minhaj Ansari, clearly mentions grave external and internal injuries on his body

After Ansari was declared dead in RIMS, Ranchi on October 9, his post-mortem report said there were signs of torture on his body. Doctors had even pointed out that Ansari might not have been fed for long while in police custody.

Ansari’s lawyer accused the police of murdering the young man in connivance with outsiders and then suppressing the victim’s case. “Our case against Pathak was registered on 6 October, 2016, which is four days after Pathak’s FIR against Minhaj. However, with Minhaj dying on 9 October, a departmental inquiry was set up against Pathak. But senior officials who had to start the inquiry did not begin it. They maintained that the department would start the inquiry only when Pathak’s criminal case proceedings ended,” said advocate A Allam while talking to eNewsroom.

“Pathak had registered two cases against Minhaj, one for circulating the beef message and the other against the victim’s family for attacking him. So we initially demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) club all three FIRs and investigate the matter,” said Allam.

In the charge-sheet not only was Sonu Singh’s name removed, but the section 302 (murder) of IPC had been changed to 304 (unintentional murder). “However, in our fight, a supplementary charge-sheet was filed and section 302 of IPC was mentioned in the case,” informed Allam.

The senior lawyer added, “His anticipatory bail was rejected twice by the court. However, six months ago Pathak managed to get a stay in the case.”

When contacted, Jamtara MLA Irfan Ansari, expressed concern and mentioned the Tweets he had posted after Harish Pathak became the Officer In-charge of Barhait police station. “This police officer is a psycho. He does not deserve to be posted anywhere, leave aside the CM constituency. Wherever he has gone, he committed wrong acts, his career is full of misdeed. I have raised this issue and will keep raising it.”

Meanwhile, Minhaj’s father Umar Mia recalled Rajya Sabha MP and JMM President Shibu Soren’s promise. He had promised the old man that he would help him get justice for his son.

eNewsroom tried reaching out to Pathak, but he could not be contacted for a comment.

Covid-19 horror chamber that no one calls out

Sajeda Momin
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Covid-19 horror chamber that no one calls out

On May 28, Devram Bhisikar, a retired factory worker, complained of chest pain and was taken to the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.

After the 71-year-old patriarch was admitted, his family was told to leave and call the helpline for details of his condition.

Later that day, duty doctors at the Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI), a part of the Civil Hospital, helped Devram video-chat with his family. That was the last time they saw him.

Next morning, the Bhisikar family received a call saying Devram was doing well and could they bring certain things to the hospital for him.

As they returned home, the family received another call saying his condition was deteriorating. At 2.30pm, 22 hours after he had been admitted, Devram’s family was told he had died.

The devastated family was given his body, tightly wrapped in plastic sheets as is the practice for Covid-19 patients, without being shown his face. Devram was cremated by his two sons-in-law that evening.

Early on May 30 morning, the grieving family received a call from the GCRI control room saying Devram’s coronavirus test results were negative, he was doing well and could they please come and shift him to the non-Covid area.

They rushed to the hospital hoping their father was still alive, only to be told that the control room had made a “mistake” and the body they had cremated was indeed their father’s.

The macabre fiasco did not end there. Just as they returned home, another call came from the GCRI control room saying Devram was “doing well”. Another “mistake”!

This is just one of many traumatic and bizarre incidents that have emerged from Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, Gujarat’s largest government hospital and main Covid-19 facility.

ahmedabad gujarat covid-19 namaste trump
Crowd at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, Guajarat on Feb 25 I Courtesy: thehindubusinessline.com

When The Telegraph reached out to Dr J.V. Modi, medical superintendent of the Civil Hospital, to find out if any accountability had been fixed for the Bhisikar incident, his office said “some mix-ups were happening” but directed us to the Gujarat government for answers.

A Gujarat High Court bench had compared the Civil Hospital to a “dungeon” before it was quickly replaced with a new bench.

Ahmedabad has emerged as one of the worst pandemic-hit cities in India, with the district crossing 20,269 positive cases.

The death toll in the home city of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on Saturday was 1,410. Ahmedabad accounts for more than 65 per cent of Gujarat’s total cases and 79 per cent of its fatalities.

After Maharashtra and Delhi, Gujarat has recorded the highest Covid-19 death toll at 1,790 till date. And yet neither the Centre nor the Gujarat governor, Acharya Devvrat, has reprimanded chief minister Vijay Rupani or sought reports on why his government is doing such a bad job.

The Civil Hospital has recorded 50 per cent of all the coronavirus deaths in the city. That’s another red flag that the Gujarat government is papering over, particularly as the producer of the Dhaman-1 “fake ventilators” that were pushed into the hospital is a close friend of Rupani.

The friend is the same person who had gifted Modi a monogrammed suit that the Prime Minister wore during a visit by then US President Barack Obama in January 2015.

In the initial days of the Covid-19 outbreak, most of the cases in Ahmedabad were being detected from the old city, inhabited by Muslims and poor Hindus.

So, the government’s reaction was to completely seal off the entire walled city, ensure heavy deployment of police and paramilitary personnel, and blame the Tablighi Jamaat as super-spreaders.

“We have lived under curfew for two months and the police have treated us like criminals. They did not supply us with essentials and beat us if we ventured out to shop for them,” said Irfan Sheikh, a resident of Dariapur where the Tablighi Jamaat has its local headquarters.

It was only when the majority of the cases started coming from “new” Ahmedabad’s middle-class colonies — the backbone of the BJP’s support base — that the government sat up and took notice.

Over 1,000 fruit and vegetable vendors, shopkeepers and salesmen at grocery markets that had remained open throughout April tested positive and were identified as super-spreaders.

Rupani announced a seven-day curfew on the whole of Ahmedabad, closing all essential supplies except for milk parlours and pharmacies, which did not go down well with the public.

“When Rupani should have been gearing up to deal with the coronavirus, he was busy welcoming Donald Trump at Motera stadium. We spent Rs 100 crore on ‘Namaste Trump’ and invited the coronavirus into our homes,” said Kirit Desai, a resident of Satellite Road.

The mega event had gathered a crowd of 1.25 lakh in Ahmedabad, with thousands of guests coming from America at a time the virus had already gripped New York. Ahmedabad’s first Covid-19-positive case was recorded on March 17, just three weeks after Trump’s visit.

While the lockdown measures have been relaxed, Ahmedabad’s daily coronavirus-positive counts continue to breach their previous highs.

The city’s Covid-19 centres have reached their capacity and private hospitals are bickering with municipal authorities over the charges fixed by the administration.

Unable to deal with the rising cases, the state government has reduced testing substantially, hoping to fudge figures. While other states are increasing their daily testing, Gujarat’s testing graph is decreasing.

In mid-May, Gujarat was conducting more than 10,000 tests daily; by the end of May the number had fallen below 3,000.

The Telegraph contacted Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health), for comments on both the Bhisikar controversy and the allegations of government bungling on the Covid-19 crisis, but received no reply.

Rupani’s attention has now been diverted to politics, yet he is not accused of mishandling the pandemic by either Shah or Modi.

 

The story was first published in The Telegraph

PV Narasimha Rao the economic liberaliser was wary about taking credit

S Narendra
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PV Narasimha Rao the economic liberaliser was wary about taking credit

July 24, 1991. It was on this day the powerful chains controlling the Indian economic elephant were removed by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. Without much fanfare, not even a ministerial press conference, the Industry Ministry he was in charge of, announced the abolition of Industries (Development and Regulation Act 1951).

All licensing of new industries, barring a few sectors put in a negative list, was removed. The ‘licence-permit raj’ of nearly 40 years had ended, marking the beginning of massive economic reforms and the movement of EODB or ease of doing business.

Indians born after this date, generally referred to as the Liberalisation era children, do not know what it was like for anyone who wanted to start a business — small or big under the IDRA. It was the mother-goddess of a web of restrictive laws and regulations constricting innate Indian entreprenuership.

The following would give a glimpse of how the government controls worked.

Before this date, if one set out to be an entrepreneur, wanting to make something in India, the person had to first obtain a hard to get a licence from the  government to start any business. Then he had to apply to the government for approval for importing machinery and equipment, if they were not available in India, and that was the case in most instances.

The entrepreneur’s wait got further extended if he chose to import technology, as the person had to satisfy official regulators that the technology was unavailable in India.

A further hurdle had to be crossed if the person had to buy the equipment or technology abroad. That was because he/she would be required to obtain a rarely given foreign exchange permit.

The most difficult license to get was when an industrialist wanted to raise capital from the stock market. It was the government that decided how much capital he/she could raise, what to produce and how much to produce.

A whole range of bureaucratic institutions such as the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, Directorate General of Technology and Development, Import and Export Controller and a host of others could at any time interfere with any entrepreneurial activity.

A government-appointed committee (Hazari committee) in the 1960s had revealed that a handful of business houses with political connections had managed to corner a large number  of the industrial  licences in order to block competition, but had made no investment for production of licenced goods, thus creating shortages and a sellers’ market.

In the early 1980s, Texas Instruments, then the world’s leading makers of calculators and electronic business machines, wanted to start their production in India, in the so-called special economic zone at Santa Cruz, Bombay.

After a wait of 18 months, the Indian licensing authority permitted them to make fewer than 5,000 machines, because in the official mindscape that was the size of the expected market for calculators, officially regarded as a non-essential item.

This tale of woe was narrated to the Finance Minister of India, V. P Singh ( I was present as  a foreign news reporter) who was visiting Hong Kong for an investors’ conference in 1984.

An NRI from Hong Kong narrated his experience of operating a production unit in the Santacruz EPZ. According to him, it took him weeks to import vital components going into an electronic product and before he was allowed to export anything from this dedicated EPZ, he had to grease the hands of several customs officials.

On the contrary, his  export-import firm in Hong Kong was able to import an item required for making any electronic equipment all the way from Latin America and his final product with the imported part fitted in, he was able to export to Australia in a matter of five days.

The official policy did not allow  soaps, detergents, radio or TV sets to be marketed under foreign brands, as part of a severe import substitution and ‘self-reliance’ (self-denial?) policy.

Most consumer durables production was reserved for the small-scale industries which did not have the scale and technology advantage. But in an economy of shortages, the consumer had little choice.

Typical of the prevailing mindset was the declaration in a government budget (1970) that refrigerators and air conditioners (even bread ), were ‘luxuries‘deserving prohibitive taxes.

Advertising on the electronic media of such products and jewellery was banned as a way of shunning items of conspicuous consumption. Only public sector companies could be named in government-controlled news media, not private companies.

Investment bankers and stockbrokers did not have free access to economic and financial news from across the globe under an official restriction. And, there were a host of other such policies ostensibly to promote domestic entrepreneurship.

Decades later, India was and is being celebrated as the centre for manufacturing innovations and global IT hub.

The foreign exchange reserves that hovered around a few million dollars in 1991, requiring India to pledge its gold reserves to stave off a default of interest payment on foreign loans, and meet the cost of importing essential goods like POL, has grown to about $300 billion.

After the opening up of the economy by scrapping IDRA and other bold steps, India showed that it could grow annually at 8-9% and close the economic gap with China.

This new India now gets invited to the international high table such as the G-7. It caused the coining of an acronym BRICS for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, exciting investors and marketers (for a while), as these economies were perceived as potential engines of global economic growth.

The bold economic reforms, meaning opening up of the economy to the private sector and foreign direct investment, as some of Rao’s critics point out, was undertaken for averting a financial crisis caused by severe balance of payments crunch.

The difference between Rao’s government and predecessors was that the latter in similar situations went to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. They accepted the IMF loan conditions requiring the government to reduce its controls over the economy. But at the first sign of easing of the crisis, they reverted to their old ways.

Prime Minister Rao, on the other hand, acted swiftly to address the root causes of the recurring financial problem by removing the government controls over businesses.

Further, he gave political backing to his finance minister, Dr Manmohan Singh to implement fiscal and taxation reforms, and unprecedented changes in Export-Import policies by the commerce minister P Chidambaram.

Writing about the government’s totally unexpected bold measure of abolition of the Licence Raj, the Financial Times of London wrote: “One of the most fragile governments in India’s history has, paradoxically, started to make the bold economic policy changes that not even Rajiv Gandhi’s ostensibly the more stable administration could risk.”

Although prime minister Narasimha Rao’s five-year tenure witnessed policy reforms across most of the economic sectors, he chose not to be the voice and the face of those vital policy impulses.

This was not just part of his political strategy to deflect criticism of reforms away from himself. This was more due to his deep conviction that the rushing economic reforms, which were likely to put at a disadvantage large sections of the people, could destabilise both the core reforms underway and the democratic political system.

Very early in his tenure, in 1991, he told the World Economic Forum, an assembly of wealthy investors, that economic reforms and globalisation should work for the building of a more humane and caring society.

Revisiting the same forum in 1994, Rao propounded his ‘middle-path’, that simultaneously  allows market orientation of the economy, while offering government protection to  the poor and others who were likely to bear a bigger economic burden due to the change.

From mid-1992, he  substantially increased  the expenditure on rural development, asked for setting up a National Renewal Fund to assist workers who were likely to be affected by disinvestment, made the school mid-day meal programme a national scheme and put in place EAS or Employment Assurance Programme that later became MNREGA.

He cautioned against sudden withdrawal of farm subsidies. It was his government that laid the groundwork for the national highways programme  by setting up NHAI and paved the way for prime minister Vajpayee to take it forward.

The thrust was on employment-intensive sectors such as food processing linked to modern agriculture, infrastructure.

EODB or the ease of doing business in India is a work in progress that was begun with the scrapping of IDRA. In prime minister Rao’s own words, the direction of economic change had been set and irreversible, but the pace could vary.

But the prime minister’s own Congress party was unhappy with the opening of the economy.

The left parties and BJP and sections of industry and business were not only critical of Rao’s economic reforms but also had launched a campaign opposing India’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), requiring changes in several outdated laws like the Indian Patent Act, Copy Rights Act and Indian Telegraph Act.

As the prime minister’s information adviser, I was concerned. I did suggest that he appoint a separate industry minister so that there is a buffer between the criticism of the Industrial and Investment policy, especially prime minister.

Rao’s unexpected response was that if he were to appoint a separate minister, the latter would try to make his role more important by controlling industry. He added: ‘I want industry to be important, not this ministry or the minister.’

After holding this dual portfolio for three years, he did induct an industry minister (K. Karunakaran, erstwhile Kerala chief minister). Soon after taking office, the latter wanted FIPB to be placed under his ministry and showed reluctance to carry out further deregulation and opposed steps for disinvestment of government-owned companies.

It was prime minister Rao who gave the call for economic reforms with a human face — meaning protection for large sections of poor and rural people who were likely to be adversely affected in the short term by economic reforms, including globalisation.

He went before the WEF or the World Economic Forum and argued against demands by rich countries for unrestrained globalisation of emerging economies like India.

Some 20 years later, the same WEF was forced to recognise the wisdom of Rao’s words in the face of protests against globalisation that had made the rich richer and the poor, poorer.

The WEF meeting at Davos in 2010, after the global financial crisis, said in its report that economic globalisation should be ‘inclusive’ (not leave the poor behind).

‘The Trap’ grips audiences on a virtual stage across continents

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‘The Trap’ grips audiences on a virtual stage across continents

Kolkata: A bunch of theatre enthusiasts in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Tampa (Florida) turned a popular webinar application into a virtual stage across geographic bounds for a spectacular digital adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap– The Trap.

Though the all women cast of 16 performed in isolation — in screen slots provided to the actors — one could feel the flow of the storyline through the digital theatre that bridged the separation occasioned by the Coronavirus.

“With the pandemic making it impossible to curate theatre performances or conduct acting workshops, we thought of going the digital way. Keeping in tandem with the age-old adage The Show Must Go On, we went digital,” said Tathagatha Chowdhury, founder of The Theatrician.

“Well, the purist has not liked it, as digital performance lacks the physical presence of a stage,” Chowdhury admitted candidly. “But yes, the youngsters have liked this transition,” said of the play he directed from quarantine in Gurgram using new age tools.

Asked about why there were no men in the cast, he laughed. “Well, this show is a culmination of an online acting class that we conducted during the lockdown. Interestingly, all the applicants were women, so here we had an all-women play on offer,” he said.

So, how difficult is it for the actors to act their parts without having to face co-actors?

“Well, it’s a bit difficult, initially, but once you get to understand how it works, it becomes easier for the actors,” answered Anshu Daga, one of the actors. She explained that the digital stage experience was unusual but inevitable. “This virtual stage definitely makes it interesting for the artists to give live performances without really being present on stage.”

“The better the online rehearsal, the better will be the performance on the digital stage. However, I believe it’s not the core skills that challenge such performances but the dependency on internet connectivity and a lot more that goes on at the digital backstage,” said Daga.

Nandita Gangwal, curator of the online shows of the Theatrician, couldn’t agree more.

“Time planning and having a backup is the key for such performance. The age-old rule of trusting co-actors and production unit also plays a major role in delivering online performance. But if you are asking how we handle glitches, well, for that we try having backups and better internet connectivity,” she said

Reacting to the new experience, actor Madhurima Gupta, said, “ Virtual theatre is a different ball game, where the actors and the backstage team need to follow the golden rule of theatre – the voice must not drop.”

वंचित समूहों को कब मिलेगी घुटन से मुक्ति

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वंचित समूहों को कब मिलेगी घुटन से मुक्ति

अमेरिका के मिनियापोलिस शहर में जॉर्ज फ्लॉयड नामक एक अश्वेत नागरिक की श्वेत पुलिसकर्मी डेरेक चौविन ने हत्या कर दी। चौविन ने अपना घुटना फ्लॉयड की गर्दन पर रख दिया जिससे उसका दम घुट गया। यह तकनीक इस्राइली पुलिस द्वारा खोजी गई है। श्वेत पुलिसकर्मी नौ मिनट तक अपना घुटना फ्लॉयड की गर्दन का रखे रहा। इस बीच फ्लॉयड लगातार चिल्लाता रहा। ‘मैं साँस नहीं ले पा रहा हूँ’।

इस क्रूर हत्या के विरोध में अमेरिका में जबरदस्त प्रदर्शन हुए। प्रदर्शनकारियों का नारा था ‘ब्लैक लाइव्ज़ मैटर’। इन प्रदर्शनों में अश्वेतों के अलावा बड़ी संख्या में श्वेत भी शामिल हुए। मिनियापोलिस के पुलिस प्रमुख ने फ्लॉयड के परिवार से माफ़ी मांगीं। बड़ी संख्या में अमरीकी पुलिसकर्मियों ने सार्वजनिक स्थानों पर घुटने के बल बैठ कर अपने साथी की हरकत पर प्रतीकात्मक पछतावा व्यक्त किया। फ्लॉयड के साथ हुए व्यवहार पर पूरी दुनिया में लोगों ने अपने रोष, शर्मिंदगी और दुःख को विभिन्न तरीकों से अभिव्यक्त किया।

इस घटना के मूल में है श्वेतों के मन में अश्वेतों के प्रति नस्लीय नफरत। अश्वेतों के बारे में गलत धारणाओं के चलते उनके खिलाफ हिंसा होती है। इस घटनाक्रम से यह भी साफ़ हो गया कि अमेरिका में प्रजातंत्र की जड़ें कितनी गहरी हैं। वहां के कई राज्यों की पुलिस ने इस घटना के लिए क्षमायाचना की और श्वेत और अश्वेत दोनों इसके खिलाफ एक साथ उठ खड़े हुए।

अमेरिका दुनिया का ऐसा इकलौता देश नहीं है जहाँ समाज के हाशियाकृत समुदायों के साथ क्रूरता और हिंसा होती हो। भारत में दलितों, अल्पसंख्यकों और आदिवासियों को इसी तरह की हिंसा का सामना लम्बे समय से करना पड़ रहा है। परन्तु यहाँ ऐसी घटनाओं पर अलग तरह की प्रतिक्रिया होती है।

तबरेज़ अंसारी को एक खम्बे से बाँध कर एक भीड़ ने बेरहमी से पीटा। उसे पुलिस स्टेशन ले जाया गया परन्तु पुलिस ने उसे अस्पताल पहुँचाने में इतनी देर लगा दी कि उसकी मौत हो गई। पुणे में एक आईटी कर्मचारी की हिन्दू राष्ट्र सेना के कार्यकर्ताओं के समूह ने हत्या कर दी। यह घटना सन 2014 के मई माह में ठीक उसी दिन हुई जिस दिन मोदी सत्ता में आये। अफराजुल को जान से मारते हुए शम्भूलाल रेगर ने अपना वीडियो बनाया और उसे सोशल मीडिया पर डाल दिया। रेगर का मानना था कि मुसलमान लव जिहाद कर रहे हैं और उनके साथ यही होना चाहिए। मोहम्मद अखलाक की इस संदेह में हत्या कर दी गई कि उसके घर में गाय का मांस है। इस तरह की घटनाओं की एक लम्बी सूची है।

हाल में, उत्तरप्रदेश में एक दलित युवा को इसलिए अपनी जान से हाथ धोना पड़ा क्योंकि उसने एक मंदिर में घुसने की हिमाकत की थी। ऊना में चार दलितों को कमर तक नंगा कर हंटरों से मारा गया। इस घटना पर टिप्पणी करते हुए केंद्रीय मंत्री रामविलास पासवान ने कहा कि यह एक मामूली घटना है। दलितों के विरुद्ध अत्याचार की घटनाओं की सूची भी बहुत लम्बी है। परन्तु सामान्यतः ऐसी घटनाओं पर वही प्रतिक्रिया होती है जो पासवान की थी। फ्लॉयड के साथ अमेरिका में जो कुछ हुआ उससे कहीं अधिक क्रूरता और अत्याचार दलितों, मुसलमानों और आदिवासियों को झेलने पड़ते हैं।

अमेरिका में एक अश्वेत की जान जाने की घटना ने देश और दुनिया को हिला कर रख दिया। भारत में इस तरह की घटनाओं पर कोई प्रतिक्रिया नहीं होती। हां, कभी-कभी एक लम्बी चुप्पी के बाद प्रधानमंत्री हमें इस तथ्य से वाकिफ कराते हैं कि मां भारती ने अपना एक पुत्र खो दिया है। अधिकांश मामलों में पीड़ित को ही दोषी ठहराया जाता है। कुछ संगठन अलग-अलग मंचों से इसके विरोध में बोलते हैं परन्तु उनकी आवाज़ नक्कारखाने में तूती की आवाज़ साबित होती है।

भारत को दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा प्रजातंत्र कहा जाता है। प्रजातन्त्र में कानून का शासन होना ही चाहिए। इसी कानून के आधार पर अन्यायों को चुनौती दी जाती है। अमेरिका के वर्तमान राष्ट्रपति भले ही एक असंवेदनशील व्यक्ति हों परन्तु उस देश की प्रजातान्त्रिक प्रक्रियाएं और संस्थाएं बहुत मज़बूत हैं। इन संस्थाओं की जडें गहरी हैं। यद्यपि कुछ पुलिस अधिकारी पूर्वाग्रहग्रस्त हो सकते हैं, जैसा कि फ्लॉयड के हत्या के मामले में हुआ, परन्तु वहां ऐसे पुलिस अधिकारी भी हैं जो अपने राष्ट्रपति से सार्वजनिक तौर पर यह कह सकते हैं कि अगर उनके पास बोलने के लिए कोई काम की बात नहीं है तो उन्हें अपनी जुबान बंद रखनी चाहिए। समाज में अश्वेतों के बारे में गलत धारणाएं आम हो सकती हैं परन्तु अमरीकियों का एक बड़ा तबका मानता है कि ‘ब्लैक लाइव्ज़ मैटर’ और जब भी देश में प्रजातंत्र और मानवता के मूल सिद्धांतों का उल्लंघन होता है तब यह तबका खुलकर उसका विरोध करता है।

इसके विपरीत भारत में कई कारणों से तबरेज अंसारी, मोहम्मद अखलाक और ऊना के दलितों और उनके जैसे अन्यों के जान की कोई कीमत ही नहीं है। यद्यपि हम यह दावा करते हैं कि हम एक प्रजातंत्र हैं तथापि अन्याय के प्रति हमारी असंवेदनशीलता बढ़ती जा रही है।

पिछले कुछ दशकों में हाशियाकृत समुदायों के विरुद्ध दुष्प्रचार इस हद तक बढ़ गया है कि उनके विरुद्ध हिंसा सामान्य मानी जाने लगी है। आम लोग इन समुदायों के सदस्यों के साथ हो रहे अत्याचारों से विक्षुब्ध तो होते हैं परन्तु वे इन वर्गों के खिलाफ पूर्वाग्रहों से भी भरे होते हैं। सांप्रदायिक ताकतों का पारम्परिक और सोशल दोनों मीडिया में जबरदस्त दबदबा हैं और वे इन वंचित समूहों के बारे में इस हद तक गलत धारणाएं प्रचारित करती हैं कि आमजन उससे प्रभावित हो जाते हैं।

वैसे भी, हमारे देश में प्रजातंत्र के जड़ पकड़ने की गति बहुत धीमी रही है। प्रजातंत्र एक गतिशील व्यवस्था है। यह कोई स्थिर चीज़ नहीं। दशकों पहले श्रमिक और दलित अपने अधिकारों के लिए बिना किसी समस्या के लडाई लड़ते थे परन्तु आज यदि किसान विरोध प्रदर्शन करते हैं तो उसे ‘ट्रैफिक में बाधा डालना’ बताया जाता है। प्रजातंत्र की जडें इस हद तक कमज़ोर हो गयीं हैं कि सरकार की नीतियों का विरोध करने वालों पर राष्ट्रविरोधी का लेबल चस्पा कर दिया जाता है।

हमारी प्रजातान्त्रिक संस्थाएं धीरे-धीरे कमज़ोर हो गई हैं और अब तो कोई यह सोच भी नहीं सकता कि वे हाशियाकृत समुदायों की रक्षा में आगे आएंगीं। विघटनकारी और सांप्रदायिक विचारधारा – जो अल्पसंख्यकों, दलितों और आदिवासियों को नीची निगाहों से देखती है – का प्रभाव बहुत तेज़ी से बढ़ा है।

भारत में प्रजातन्त्र खोखला होता जा रहा है। कानून के राज को एक विचारधारा के राज में बदल दिया गया है। यह वह विचारधारा है जिसकी भारतीय संविधान में आस्था नहीं है, जो इस देश के बहुवादी और विविधवर्णी चरित्र को पसंद नहीं करती और जिसकी रूचि ऊंची जातियों और संपन्न वर्गों के विशेषाधिकारों की रक्षा में है। हमारे देश में प्रजातंत्र को मज़बूत होना चाहिए था। परन्तु सन 1980 के दशक के बाद से, भावनात्मक मुद्दों को उछालने के कारण, यह कमज़ोर हुआ है। यहाँ किसी फ्लॉयड की हत्या पर शोर नहीं मचता। जॉर्ज फ्लॉयड की हत्या पर वहां जिस तरह का विरोध का ज्वार उठा, उसकी हम भारत में कल्पना तक नहीं का सकते। हमें अमरीकी प्रजातंत्र से कुछ सीखना चाहिए।

(हिंदी रूपांतरणः अमरीश हरदेनिया)

Employment guarantee act makers believe MSY can build the ground for nationwide Urban Employment Guarantee Act

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Employment guarantee act makers believe MSY can build the ground for nationwide Urban Employment Guarantee Act

Ranchi: India’s noted social activists, who gave India employment guarantee act, praised Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for his initiation of Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojana (MSY), an urban employment guarantee scheme for Jharkhand. The social activists Aruna Roy, Annie Raja, James Herenj, Jean Dreze, Nikhil Dey, Jayati Ghosh, Anindita Adhikari, Rakshita Swamy, Amit Basole, Rajendran Narayanan and Nachiket Udupa wrote a letter to Jharkhand CM and while mentioning that the MSY can prepare a possible ground for Urban Employment Guarantee Act, which can be followed by other states, also put forward a road map before the CM on how to follow a transparent and consultative pre-legislation process. The concerned citizen highlighted the major points from eligibility, wage, types of works and emulation of Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) among others to incorporate in the proposed scheme.

The letter to CM Soren begins with, “We write to you as individuals who have been actively involved in campaigning for employment guarantee. We welcome the proposed launch of the “Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojna” (MSY), an urban employment guarantee scheme for Jharkhand. Such a scheme could be of great help to informal-sector workers and returning migrants in urban areas, and also create assets that improve the quality of urban life. This initiative is important not only for Jharkhand but for the country as a whole, because it charts a path forward out of the present crisis and sets an example for other states to emulate. We are hoping that this experience will help to prepare the ground for a possible Urban Employment Guarantee Act.

And further says, “Given the significance of this initiative we urge you to follow a transparent and consultative pre-legislative process to finalise guidelines for the scheme. As per the directive issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice (DO. No. 11 (35)/2013-L.1) the state government is required to publish the draft guidelines, along with requisite explanations for a minimum number of days to invite feedback from citizens. The directive also requires the state government to hold consultations and solicit feedback from citizens in general and potential beneficiaries in particular. Developing scheme guidelines informed by ground realities and experiences, will benefit the programme tremendously and will also ensure that it is implemented effectively.”

The team of experts, which helped made several important legislation to India including MNREGA, Right To Information (RTI), Right to Education (RTE) and Right To Food (RTF), suggested many important aspects needed to be in the proposed scheme. Which for our readers, we have carrying as it is:

Eligibility: The right to 100 days of urban employment should be an entitlement for each individual worker. We strongly recommend that workers whose names appear on MGNREGA job cards should not be excluded from the ambit of the urban employment guarantee, as is being suggested through news reports. Doing so will unnecessarily exclude deserving and vulnerable workers. Workers whose names appear on both MGNREGA and Mukhyamantri Shramik Yojna job cards, but are urban residents for the specified time period, should be entitled to avail of a total of 100 days of work over the year.

Wages: Wages for the new programme should be no less than the urban state minimum wage and there should be a provision to regularly revise this rate in line with cost of living changes. This is in line with the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act (1948) and successive judgements of the Supreme Court, including Sanjit Roy vs State of Rajasthan (1983). Moreover, in line with MGNREGA and the Payment of Wages Act (1936) timely payment of wages must be a legal right for the workers.

Role of the Urban Local Bodies (ULB): This scheme is a chance to truly strengthen the democratic functioning of the ULBs and realize the objective of the 74th Amendment of the Indian Constitution. ULBs should be the main implementing agencies of the programme. They should be empowered to finalize the list of works to be undertaken in a ward through participatory ward sabhas, identify eligible workers, accept demand for job cards and work, and implement works. Adequate personnel, financial resources and functions should be devolved for them to play the role. A full-time dedicated functionary at the ward level must be appointed to implement the programme, similar to a Gram Rozgar Sahayak under MGNREGA. Detailed protocols should be laid out to facilitate participatory planning of works at the ward level, thereby enabling ward residents to have a central role in deciding the works that will be undertaken in the concerned ward.

Types of works: A large variety of works that require a range of education and skills may be undertaken through this programme. These include:

● Public works such as building and maintenance of roads, footpaths, and bridges;
● Creation, rejuvenation, and monitoring of urban commons (e.g. water bodies and parks);
● Monitoring, evaluation, and surveying of air, water, and soil quality;
● Work in municipal offices, schools and health centres (for those with adequate education);
● Provisioning of care for children, elderly, specially-abled and those in correctional facilities.

Role of private contractors: Urban public works are generally carried out via private contractors. We strongly believe that the present scheme should not operate in this manner. Instead of private contractors, the ULB should be made responsible for implementing works.

Transparency and Accountability: To ensure that the implementation of the programme correspond to the needs and requirements of workers, the programme should have clear actionable provisions for mandatory disclosure of information in the public domain, time bound, independent and decentralized grievance redress and social audits.

Emulation of MGNREGA: We also recommend that workers under the MSY have rights to the following which MGNREGA workers are also entitled to:

– Right to demand work, individually and as a group, in writing or orally;
– Right to unemployment allowance, if work is not provided within 15 days;
– Right to basic worksite facilities such as drinking water, shade, creche and medical aid;
– Right to receive work within the same ward, and otherwise to a transport allowance;
– Right to receive compensation when injured at the worksite;
– Right to timely payment, and failing that, to compensation for delays.

Besides the letter, the authors also extended all support to the government on the issue.

Human rights body condemns the criminalisation of media persons and free speech in India

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Human rights body condemns the criminalisation of media persons and free speech in India

The Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties has strongly condemned criminalisation of media persons as the civil body claimed at least 55 journalists have faced criminal cases by different governments during Covid-19 pandemic in India. For the larger interest of society, we are publishing the statement of PUCL as it is. Please do read.

 

The Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties condemns the attempt at criminalizing the writings of journalist Supriya Sharma, Executive Editor of the Scroll, the most recent victim of state attack on the media. The article, “In Varanasi village adopted by Prime Minister Modi, people went hungry during the lockdown” was published on June 5th, 2020.

Among the people it reported on were Mala Devi and her family, who are Scheduled Castes from Domari Village. The Uttar Pradesh police filed a first information report on Scroll’s executive editor Supriya and the Editor-in-chief, on the 13th of June. Supriya Sharma wrote an 8 part series on the suffering imposed by the lockdown in Varanasi, exposing the loss of livelihoods and hunger faced by the marginalized: the Dalits, single women and informal workers.The criminal provisions slapped on the Scroll journalists are bizarre and do not even apply to the complaint made by the aggrieved individual.

These are: carrying out negligent acts likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life (Sec 269 IPC), defamation through print (Sec 501 IPC), intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a SC or ST within public view (Sec 3 (1)(r)) and abuses any member of SC/ST by caste name in public (section 3 (1)(s) of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act). In her police complaint Mala Devi denies saying she went hungry during the lockdown. Mala Devi has also alleged that Supriya has not accurately reported her employment status. The story says Mala is a domestic worker, while in the FIR Mala says she is a sanitation worker with the Varanasi Municipality. It is very conceivable that Mala Devi, being connected to the Municipal body, can be pressurised to state anything on threat of losing her job.

The FIR against Supriya is an attempt to harass her via the police machinery as she showed the failure of the state to protect livelihoods and provide for rations in the Prime Minister’s constituency. It is well known by now, that nobody is allowed to be critical of the PM or show his constituency in bad light.

The FIR on Supriya is not the first. According to a report by the Rights & Risks Analysis Group titled India: Media’s Crackdown During COVID-19 Lockdown, “At least 55 journalists faced arrest, registration of FIRs, summons or show causes notices, physical assaults, alleged destruction of properties and threats for reportage on COVID-19 or exercising freedom of opinion and expression during the national lockdown from 25 March to 31 May 2020.”

The highest number of attacks on journalists was reported from Uttar Pradesh (11 journalists), followed by Jammu & Kashmir (6 journalists), Himachal Pradesh (5), four each in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, two each in Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh & Kerala and one each in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Nagaland and Telangana.

The PUCL would like to highlight some of the cases, which exposes the motivated nature and political intention behind the prosecutions.

In the case of Vinod Dua, when the Delhi High court gave a stay order, a second FIR was lodged in Himachal Pradesh forcing him to approach the Supreme Court. The police however was literally on his door step on the same day, despite the Supreme Court giving an order stating that no coercive action should be taken. It is obvious that a very senior journalist who has been critical of not just this, but all, governments, needed to be silenced through police action so as to send a chilling lesson to other younger journalists, not to dare attempt to write against the regime.

Similarly, on 10th April, 2020, in the middle of the Lockdown period,  a police team from Ayodhya reached the home of Siddharth Varadarajan, the editor of The Wire, to deliver a summons to appear before the UP police on 14th April, for making an “objectionable comment” about the CM; this, despite the ban on travel during the  lockdown period. Nearly 2 months later in the 2nd week of June, 2020, a FIR was filed against Aakar Patel, a columnist and human rights worker, who when highlighting the ongoing civil unrest in America in the wake of George Floyd’s death due to police brutality, tweeted that dalits, minorities and adivasis should rise up against atrocities. His twitter account was shut down as a result based on legal demand by the Karnataka state officials.

In Gujarat, Dhaval Patel, the editor of a Gujrati news portal, Face of Nation, was booked and arrested on 11th May, 2020, for sedition for allegedly publishing a “speculative” report on the possible change in leadership in the state due to criticism over the rising Corona count. Patel was booked under section 54 (Punishment for false warning) of Disaster Management Act, 2005 and section 124A (Sedition) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

On 6th April, 2020, Pawan Choudhary, a web journalist, was arrested in Munger in Bihar on the charges of spreading misinformation about the death of COVID-19 patient. The Station House Officer of Jamalpur, Ranjan Kumar stated that the journalist was found to be spreading rumours through his social media account. He was sent to judicial custody in Munger jail.

Mahender Singh Manral, an Indian Express reporter was asked to appear before the police on the same day after he reported that Delhi police had found that an audio clip of Tablighi Jamaat leader, Maulana Saad, may have been doctored.

On 27 April 2020, Zubair Ahmed, a freelance journalist, was arrested by the police in Andaman & Nicobar for posting a tweet questioning why families were placed under home quarantine for merely speaking over the phone with Coronavirus patients. His tweet reportedly referred to a news article which reported that a family was quarantined as one of the members spoke to a Covid-19 positive person on phone. Dependra Pathak, DGP, A & N Administration stated that the journalist “posted an inciting, false and instigating tweet to disrupt public harmony, violating government order and to create panic among the public.” On 28 April, he was released on bail by a local court.

Even television anchors, who spew hatred against minorities, intellectuals and dissenters on their prime time slots have had FIRs lodged against them. Arnab Goswami of Republic TV, Sudhir Chaudhary of Zee TV and Amish Devgan of News 18, to mention a few. Although the PUCL does not agree with their views, it stands by their right to freedom of expression, except when it incites hatred and violence. PUCL believes that the right platform of censure is the Press Council of India and the peer body called the News Broadcasters association. We would insist that the FIRs lodged should be expeditiously investigated by the police which should file chargesheet if there is sufficient evidence and proceed to ensure that the trial is speedily concluded and justice delivered. This will generate confidence in the impartiality, independence and fairness of the police.

The worst scenario for the press is in Jammu & Kashmir, where in April this year, the J&K Cyber Police filed a case against a Kashmiri author and journalist Gowhar Geelani for “glorifying terrorism in Kashmir” through social media posts, days after a photo-journalist Masrat Zahra was booked under the UAPA for publishing “anti-national” posts on social media. The Hindu reporter and senior journalist Peerzada Ashiq was also questioned in connection with an FIR filed against his report headlined ‘Kin allowed to exhume bodies of militants in Baramulla”. With a new media policy in place the authorities will go to the extent of deciding on the content that can be reported and published, in the name of tracking fake and anti-national news.

PUCL expresses concern at the concerted and continuous attack on journalism and its practitioners, in different parts of India. PUCL also condemns the attempts to intimidate media persons, thereby stifling the media from playing its role as an independent and critical watchdog of liberty, democracy and governance. The cosy relationship between the political executive and the police is highlighted by the brazen impunity with which the police routinely break the law to crush dissent and silence criticism of ruling governments; the casual indifference of political leaders of the ruling party to even acknowledge, let alone respond to, complaints of abuse of law is symptomatic of the deep rot in the body politic of India.

There is a difference between implementing penal laws in an independent, accountable and legal manner and the deliberate and motivated abuse of criminal laws by the police, including in the use of special legislations like the SC & ST (POA) Act, 1987. Ironically, actual victims of caste atrocities and hate crimes find their complaints rejected, whereas the same laws are used against dissenting activists and journalists. When the State and the police abuse the law through fabricated prosecutions, their aim is not eventual convictions, but to lock up people for long periods of time without bail. Unfortunately, in many instances, the judiciary has failed to play a watchdog role.

The media is a vital part of democracy and plays an important role in holding power to account. India has had a proud tradition of free and fearless journalism, which played a very important role in the freedom struggle and this should be nurtured. A pandemic and the subsequent lockdown should not be excuses to clamp down on the media.

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