BRP BHASKAR
Gulf Today
With only one and a half years left to complete its term, Kerala's Left Democratic Front government is under pressure to go ahead with controversial projects with a view to improving its image.
Non-governmental organisations which have objected to certain projects on the ground that they will disturb the state's delicate ecological balance are concerned over the government's attempt to implement them without even fulfilling statutory obligations.
Recently the state committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which heads the government, directed the government to grant speedy clearance to projects which have been awaiting sanction since long.
The directive was intended to overcome the resistance of Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, who has frustrated Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem's plans to sanction the controversial projects.
The Smart City at Kochi and the Vizhinjam deep-sea port near Thiruvananthapuram, two prestigious projects which were on the anvil when the LDF took office are still to take off.
On the eve of its first anniversary the LDF government signed an agreement with the Dubai Internet City authorities for setting up Smart City. Its terms were more favourable than those negotiated by the previous United Democratic Front government.
Work on the project has been held up by a dispute between the state government and the Dubai authorities over registration of land allotted for it. The delay has resulted in dissipation of the enormous amount of goodwill that had accrued to the LDF as a result of the Smart City agreement.
Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan indicated recently that the government is willing to go in for a new partner. This has cast doubts on the future of the project.
The global tender launched for the Vizhinjam project led to protracted legal proceedings. Since no collaborator is in sight at present, the LDF government may not be able to carry the project forward in the limited time at its disposal.
Among the projects caught up in the tussle within the CPI-M between Achuthanandan and state party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan is one promoted by Sobha Developers, a real estate group with interests outside Kerala.
In August 2007 the company had informed stock exchanges that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government to set up Sobha Hitech City on 400 acres of land with an investment of Rs50 billion.
The project envisages the construction of a township with 38 million square feet of accommodation in the form of commercial space with hospitality, amusement and entertainment facilities and residential complexes. It will include a knowledge park spread over seven million sq ft and a marina of international standards.
Also caught up in controversy is the real estate group Salarpuria's proposal to set up another knowledge city.
Achuthanandan's opposition to these projects stems from his assessment that these are real estate projects, and not industrial projects. After the CPI-M leadership neutralised his opposition, Revenue Minister KP Rajendran and Forest Minister Benoy Viswam, both of the CPI, have come forward with objections.
Like the CPI-M leadership, the state CPI leadership has thrown its weight behind these projects. Following this, Rajendran and Benoy Viswam have sought the intervention of the party's national leadership.
The site identified by Sobha and Salarpuria for their projects are the small islands of Valanthakad and Thanthonnithuruth. These islands are ecologically important as they have a rich treasure of mangroves.
The promoters have already acquired much of the land in the islands either directly or through agents. They probably reckoned that since only a few families live there it may not be difficult to obtain vacant possession. However, when they started destroying the mangroves, people came forward to protest.
Critics have alleged that the industries minister is trying to give clearance to the controversial projects through the single-window system, short-circuiting the process of obtaining sanction under various laws.
The single-window law, as it now stands, applies only to manufacturing industries. The industries minister wants to amend it to cover the service sector also.
Another step the government has taken under party pressure to help real estate interests relates to grant of permission to take sand from river beds, relaxing the rules which were framed in the wake of study reports which pointed to the damage caused by unregulated sand mining.
Builders have been complaining that the high price of sand, resulting from shortage, was hampering construction activity. The CPI-M set the stage for relaxation of rules by organising a series of demonstrations under the auspices of trade unions. One of the demonstrations was inaugurated by the party state secretary himself.--Gulf Today, Sharjah, November 9, 2009
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Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
‘Love Jihad’ reports point to polarisation in society
BRP BHASKAR
An allegation that a campaign is on to lure young women into romance with a view to converting them to Islam has brought various Hindu and Christian organisations in Kerala on a common platform.
The first to take up cudgels against the campaign, dubbed Love Jihad by the media, was Vellappalli Natesan, general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharmaparipalana Yogam, an organisation of the Ezhava community.
On Saturday PK Narayana Panicker, general secretary of the Nair Service Society, said it was the government’s duty to check Love Jihad. If it failed to act, the people would take up the task, he added.
The NSS, which champions the cause of the ‘forward’ Nair community, and the Yogam, which speaks in the name of the ‘backward’ Ezhava community, are Kerala’s largest caste formations.
Some Christian organisations have also come out against Love Jihad. The powerful Catholic Church has alerted parents and teachers against attempts to convert young faithful through marriage.
What could have been dismissed as media sensation acquired a serious dimension when the Kerala high court asked the state police chief to file an affidavit stating whether an outfit called Love Jihad was trying to entrap and convert young women.
The allegation about conversion through romance originated a year ago. The first to talk about it was the Maharashtra-based Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), which claims to be a global platform of Hindus. The HJS was promoted in 2002 by the Sanatan Sansta, founded 12 years earlier.
Some members of Sanatan Sansta are now in custody in connection with the blasts that occurred in Goa on Diwali eve this year.
In a report from Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, HJS said in December 2008 that an arrested Muslim youth had told the police that there was an “ordinance” asking young men to charm Hindu girls and convert them to Islam. Each person volunteering for such service was paid Rs 200 a day, it added.
The HJS quoted an unnamed Marathwada daily as saying similar “ordinances” had been issued in Parbhani, Nanded, Beed and Latur as well.
In the report, posted at the organisation’s website, the editor made two interpolations reeking with communal venom. In one of them he asks Hindus to decide whether or not “to keep contact with Muslims any more”.
The term Love Jihad probably appeared in print for the first time when a Malayalam daily reported that an organisation by that name was trapping non-Muslim girls in a web of love and converting them.
It claimed Jihadi Romeos had converted more than 4,000 women in six months. It raised their compensation package from a daily wage of Rs 200 to a lump sum grant of Rs 100,000.
The Haindava Keralam website picked up the story. It pointed out that Kerala Kaumudi, which published the report, is a secular daily.
Love Jihad caught headlines nationally when the Kerala and Karnataka high courts, while hearing two cases, referred to it. The Kerala court asked the Central and state governments to investigate all reported Love Jihad marriages of the past three years. .
Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose’s affidavit in response to the high court’s directive did not help clarify the situation. He said there was no evidence of an organisation called Love Jihad but there were unconfirmed reports about some groups actively working among youths encouraging conversions feigning love.
The Bharatiya Janata Party quickly joined the campaign against Love Jihad. The Viswa Hindu Parishad expressed readiness to join hands with the Church in the fight against it. ,
Initially the state’s major parties said nothing on the subject for fear of offending one religious group or another. The silence of the secular forces, especially the Left, invited taunts.
Last week the Congress and the Democratic Youth Federation of India, an affiliate of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, publicly rejected the Love Jihad theory for the first time.
Young people in Kerala generally find partners from their own castes and religions through marriages arranged by the family. Matrimonial advertisements appearing in newspapers bear this out.
When individuals break with this tradition, usually there is opposition from their families and sometimes the bride’s parents seek the intervention of the police or the courts. Elevation of such complaints from the level of individual or family disputes to that of caste and religious disputes points to growing polarisation in the society.--Gulf Today, Sharjah, November 2, 2009.
An allegation that a campaign is on to lure young women into romance with a view to converting them to Islam has brought various Hindu and Christian organisations in Kerala on a common platform.
The first to take up cudgels against the campaign, dubbed Love Jihad by the media, was Vellappalli Natesan, general secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharmaparipalana Yogam, an organisation of the Ezhava community.
On Saturday PK Narayana Panicker, general secretary of the Nair Service Society, said it was the government’s duty to check Love Jihad. If it failed to act, the people would take up the task, he added.
The NSS, which champions the cause of the ‘forward’ Nair community, and the Yogam, which speaks in the name of the ‘backward’ Ezhava community, are Kerala’s largest caste formations.
Some Christian organisations have also come out against Love Jihad. The powerful Catholic Church has alerted parents and teachers against attempts to convert young faithful through marriage.
What could have been dismissed as media sensation acquired a serious dimension when the Kerala high court asked the state police chief to file an affidavit stating whether an outfit called Love Jihad was trying to entrap and convert young women.
The allegation about conversion through romance originated a year ago. The first to talk about it was the Maharashtra-based Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), which claims to be a global platform of Hindus. The HJS was promoted in 2002 by the Sanatan Sansta, founded 12 years earlier.
Some members of Sanatan Sansta are now in custody in connection with the blasts that occurred in Goa on Diwali eve this year.
In a report from Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, HJS said in December 2008 that an arrested Muslim youth had told the police that there was an “ordinance” asking young men to charm Hindu girls and convert them to Islam. Each person volunteering for such service was paid Rs 200 a day, it added.
The HJS quoted an unnamed Marathwada daily as saying similar “ordinances” had been issued in Parbhani, Nanded, Beed and Latur as well.
In the report, posted at the organisation’s website, the editor made two interpolations reeking with communal venom. In one of them he asks Hindus to decide whether or not “to keep contact with Muslims any more”.
The term Love Jihad probably appeared in print for the first time when a Malayalam daily reported that an organisation by that name was trapping non-Muslim girls in a web of love and converting them.
It claimed Jihadi Romeos had converted more than 4,000 women in six months. It raised their compensation package from a daily wage of Rs 200 to a lump sum grant of Rs 100,000.
The Haindava Keralam website picked up the story. It pointed out that Kerala Kaumudi, which published the report, is a secular daily.
Love Jihad caught headlines nationally when the Kerala and Karnataka high courts, while hearing two cases, referred to it. The Kerala court asked the Central and state governments to investigate all reported Love Jihad marriages of the past three years. .
Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose’s affidavit in response to the high court’s directive did not help clarify the situation. He said there was no evidence of an organisation called Love Jihad but there were unconfirmed reports about some groups actively working among youths encouraging conversions feigning love.
The Bharatiya Janata Party quickly joined the campaign against Love Jihad. The Viswa Hindu Parishad expressed readiness to join hands with the Church in the fight against it. ,
Initially the state’s major parties said nothing on the subject for fear of offending one religious group or another. The silence of the secular forces, especially the Left, invited taunts.
Last week the Congress and the Democratic Youth Federation of India, an affiliate of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, publicly rejected the Love Jihad theory for the first time.
Young people in Kerala generally find partners from their own castes and religions through marriages arranged by the family. Matrimonial advertisements appearing in newspapers bear this out.
When individuals break with this tradition, usually there is opposition from their families and sometimes the bride’s parents seek the intervention of the police or the courts. Elevation of such complaints from the level of individual or family disputes to that of caste and religious disputes points to growing polarisation in the society.--Gulf Today, Sharjah, November 2, 2009.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Cucumber City Bulletin/October 29, 2009
In today’s editions, the leading newspapers of Kerala made no mention of the discharge of three injured Dalit women from the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital yesterday under pressure from the police and the Shiv Sena.
The newspapers had reported in yesterday’s editions that seven women were admitted to various hospitals after a sword attack in Thoduve colony of Varkala the previous night.
The three women whom the Shiv Sena took out of the Medical College Hospital and dumped in Thoduve colony last night were able to move out this morning to seek treatment. They are now in a hospital at Vamanapuram.
When they showed the discharge certificate issued at Thiruvananthapuram, the doctor at Vamanapuram asked why they had refused treatment at the Medical College hospital which was better equipped.
They told him that they were discharged forcibly from the Medical College Hospital. He informed them that the certificate says they were discharged as they did not want to be treated there.
Malayala Manorama, in a report from Thiruvananthapuram, said the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes Coordination Committee demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the continuing violence in the Dalit colonies after the recent murders in Varkala.
The meeting, presided over by P. K. Sukumaran, demanded tracing of the anti-social elements responsible for stripping and assaulting two innocent Dalit women after B. R. P. Bhaskar’s visit to Thoduve colony and for the sword attack on about eight women who had participated in the dharna organized by the Dalit Janadhipathya Munnani outside the Varkala police station.
The newspapers had reported in yesterday’s editions that seven women were admitted to various hospitals after a sword attack in Thoduve colony of Varkala the previous night.
The three women whom the Shiv Sena took out of the Medical College Hospital and dumped in Thoduve colony last night were able to move out this morning to seek treatment. They are now in a hospital at Vamanapuram.
When they showed the discharge certificate issued at Thiruvananthapuram, the doctor at Vamanapuram asked why they had refused treatment at the Medical College hospital which was better equipped.
They told him that they were discharged forcibly from the Medical College Hospital. He informed them that the certificate says they were discharged as they did not want to be treated there.
Malayala Manorama, in a report from Thiruvananthapuram, said the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes Coordination Committee demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the continuing violence in the Dalit colonies after the recent murders in Varkala.
The meeting, presided over by P. K. Sukumaran, demanded tracing of the anti-social elements responsible for stripping and assaulting two innocent Dalit women after B. R. P. Bhaskar’s visit to Thoduve colony and for the sword attack on about eight women who had participated in the dharna organized by the Dalit Janadhipathya Munnani outside the Varkala police station.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Shiv Sena spirits away injured Dalit women from Medical College Hospital
Under pressure from police and Shiv Sena, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College authorities today discharged three of the four women who were brought there with injuries following last night’s attack on Dalit residents of Thoduve colony in Varkala.
According to reports published this morning, eight Dalit women were injured in the attack by Shiv Sena men. The police and the media, following the practice of the past five weeks, scrupulously kept the Shiv Sena's name out of the reports.
According to the police story, the attack in which swords were used, was a clash between two groups over drawing water from the spring.
From early today the Medical Collehe Hospital came under pressure from the police to send out the four women who were admitted there, apparently to lighten the gravity of the case that has been registered. The pressure became intense after Shiv Sena men converged on the hospital.
Initially the doctors resisted the pressure but eventually they buckled. They said one woman was not in a fit condition to be moved but agreed to discharge the others.
The Shiv Sena men took the women away in a hired vehicle. They told friends and relatives of the injured that they would be admitted to the Chirayinkeezh hospital. This was a matter of some relief inasmuch as it meant that they would not go without treatment. However it turned out to be a false hope. Instead of taking the women to the taluk hospital, the Shiv Sena men dumped them in their Thoduve colony homes.
When the women tried to leave for the hospital on their own late in the evening, the police, who have been posted in the colony after yesterday’s attack, stopped them, saying it was unsafe for them to go out of the colony. They are now hoping to be able to move out in the morning.
This report is based on information conveyed by Dalits of Thoduve as well as human rights defenders who are in touch with them. Bits of information were posted in network sites as and when received.
According to reports published this morning, eight Dalit women were injured in the attack by Shiv Sena men. The police and the media, following the practice of the past five weeks, scrupulously kept the Shiv Sena's name out of the reports.
According to the police story, the attack in which swords were used, was a clash between two groups over drawing water from the spring.
From early today the Medical Collehe Hospital came under pressure from the police to send out the four women who were admitted there, apparently to lighten the gravity of the case that has been registered. The pressure became intense after Shiv Sena men converged on the hospital.
Initially the doctors resisted the pressure but eventually they buckled. They said one woman was not in a fit condition to be moved but agreed to discharge the others.
The Shiv Sena men took the women away in a hired vehicle. They told friends and relatives of the injured that they would be admitted to the Chirayinkeezh hospital. This was a matter of some relief inasmuch as it meant that they would not go without treatment. However it turned out to be a false hope. Instead of taking the women to the taluk hospital, the Shiv Sena men dumped them in their Thoduve colony homes.
When the women tried to leave for the hospital on their own late in the evening, the police, who have been posted in the colony after yesterday’s attack, stopped them, saying it was unsafe for them to go out of the colony. They are now hoping to be able to move out in the morning.
This report is based on information conveyed by Dalits of Thoduve as well as human rights defenders who are in touch with them. Bits of information were posted in network sites as and when received.
Concerned over Varkala developments?
Some Facebook friends and Twitter followers, responding to my accounts of Varkala developments, have voiced their concern on those social networks.
I wish to inform them that voicing their concern in these forums may not serve any useful purpose since those who have the power to curb the atrocities are not among our friends in these networks. They must convey their concern to those who the power to act You may take your pick from the following:
The Chief Minister: chiefminister@keralacm.gov.in fax 91-471-2333489
The Home Minister: minister-home@kerala.gov.in fax 91-471-2327016
The Director General of Police: dgp@keralapolice.gov.in
CPI-M State Secretary: cpmkerala@asianetindia.com
I wish to inform them that voicing their concern in these forums may not serve any useful purpose since those who have the power to curb the atrocities are not among our friends in these networks. They must convey their concern to those who the power to act You may take your pick from the following:
The Chief Minister: chiefminister@keralacm.gov.in fax 91-471-2333489
The Home Minister: minister-home@kerala.gov.in fax 91-471-2327016
The Director General of Police: dgp@keralapolice.gov.in
CPI-M State Secretary: cpmkerala@asianetindia.com
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Dalits stage peaceful, orderly protest outside Varkala police station
About 1,000 Dalits, mostly women, staged a dharna outside the Varkala police station this afternoon to protest against the police-Shiv Sena assault on Dalit colonies.
The dharna was under the auspices of an umbrella organization called Dalit Janaadhipathya Aikyamunnani (Dalit Democratic United Front).
The protestors marched through the main road, raising slogans, before converging in front of the police station. Both the march and the dharna were peaceful and orderly.
The preponderance of women in the demonstration is easily explained. The Dalit men are hiding fearing arrest and torture.
A notice distributed by Aikyamunnani says, “Sivaprasad, an ordinary person, was killed while on a morning walk in Varkala. Whoever committed this inhuman murder, democratic society has to condemn it. Also, the culprits must be brought before the law and punished. But following the murder the leaders and workers of Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) have been jailed. They have even been refused bail. Besides, under cover of the Varkala incident, the entire Dalit community is being portrayed as terrorists. They have even coined a term Dalit Terrorism. What are the facts that prompt them to do this? It is nothing else. All across Kerala today the message is spreading that Dalits are no longer willing to drink the bitter juice of neglect and remain as slaves. The stamp of terrorism is put on Dalits in order to nip these awakenings in the bud. The Savarna strategy of mobilizing the entire society against Dalits is also behind it. The ruling establishment had earlier fabricated the false equation Muslim equals Terrorism. Today, through the Varkala incident, it is being extended to the Dalits.”
I inaugurated the dharna. PUCL state secretary Advocate P. A. Pauran and several Dalit leaders addressed the meeting. Pauran and I took the opportunity to reassure the Dalits that in the state and the country there is a civil society which understands their problem and is with them in their struggle for equality and equal opportunity.
During the weekend the Aikyamunnani had put up posters announcing the dharna. The posters had said I would be inaugurating the dharna. This provoked the Shiv Sena to launch a poster campaign of its own. Its posters called for investigation of my links with “NDF extremists”, the sources of my finances and the presence of “an ISI spy” during my visit to Dalit colonies as a member of a fact-finding team on October 18. I was for ignoring the Shiv Sena’s silly campaign but some young activists thought the vicious campaign needed to be countered. It was their effort that resulted in a joint statement by some prominent persons deploring the campaign of communal fascists.
The dharna was under the auspices of an umbrella organization called Dalit Janaadhipathya Aikyamunnani (Dalit Democratic United Front).
The protestors marched through the main road, raising slogans, before converging in front of the police station. Both the march and the dharna were peaceful and orderly.
The preponderance of women in the demonstration is easily explained. The Dalit men are hiding fearing arrest and torture.
A notice distributed by Aikyamunnani says, “Sivaprasad, an ordinary person, was killed while on a morning walk in Varkala. Whoever committed this inhuman murder, democratic society has to condemn it. Also, the culprits must be brought before the law and punished. But following the murder the leaders and workers of Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) have been jailed. They have even been refused bail. Besides, under cover of the Varkala incident, the entire Dalit community is being portrayed as terrorists. They have even coined a term Dalit Terrorism. What are the facts that prompt them to do this? It is nothing else. All across Kerala today the message is spreading that Dalits are no longer willing to drink the bitter juice of neglect and remain as slaves. The stamp of terrorism is put on Dalits in order to nip these awakenings in the bud. The Savarna strategy of mobilizing the entire society against Dalits is also behind it. The ruling establishment had earlier fabricated the false equation Muslim equals Terrorism. Today, through the Varkala incident, it is being extended to the Dalits.”
I inaugurated the dharna. PUCL state secretary Advocate P. A. Pauran and several Dalit leaders addressed the meeting. Pauran and I took the opportunity to reassure the Dalits that in the state and the country there is a civil society which understands their problem and is with them in their struggle for equality and equal opportunity.
During the weekend the Aikyamunnani had put up posters announcing the dharna. The posters had said I would be inaugurating the dharna. This provoked the Shiv Sena to launch a poster campaign of its own. Its posters called for investigation of my links with “NDF extremists”, the sources of my finances and the presence of “an ISI spy” during my visit to Dalit colonies as a member of a fact-finding team on October 18. I was for ignoring the Shiv Sena’s silly campaign but some young activists thought the vicious campaign needed to be countered. It was their effort that resulted in a joint statement by some prominent persons deploring the campaign of communal fascists.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Political contamination of state service is showing
BRP BHASKAR
Gulf Today
TWO controversies that rocked Kerala last week provide fresh evidence of political contamination of the official machinery, affecting its ability to discharge its functions impartially.
One controversy related to the enrolment of bogus voters in advance of the Assembly by-elections scheduled for Nov.7. The other related to the inclusion of a question that betrays political bias of teachers.
The first controversy grew into a messy affair before the Election Commission of India intervened and provided partial relief. The possibility of its erupting again after the polling cannot be ruled out.
The second controversy ended quickly with Education Minister MA Baby graciously acknowledging the mistake.
The Assembly by-elections in Kannur, Ernakulam and Alappuzha were necessitated by the election of their representatives to the Lok Sabha. All the three seats were held by the Congress, which heads the opposition United Democratic Front.
The outcome of the by-elections will not affect the stability of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, which has a comfortable majority in the Assembly. However, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which heads the coalition, is eager to grab at least one seat to boost its sagging image.
The party considers Kannur its best bet. Although Kannur town has been out of its hands for more than three decades, Kannur district is its stronghold. It also happens to be the home district of party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Congress's decision to put up AP Abdullakutty, a former CPI-M member of the Lok Sabha, as its candidate in Kannur was a taunt which the party could not ignore. It fielded MV Jayarajan, a close lieutenant of Pinarayi Vijayan and architect of many successful electoral strategies.
K. Sudhakaran had won the seat in 2006 by a margin of 8,376 votes over his CPI-M rival KP Sahadevan. The Congress party alleged that the CPI-M had enrolled about 10,000 new voters with the help of pliant officials to offset its winning margin. It also charged that several hundred Congress voters had been dropped from the electoral rolls.
The CPI-M claimed it was the Congress which was guilty of enrolling bogus voters. It said the party, sensing defeat, was levelling false charges.
Media reports highlighted several instances of irregular enrolment. They pointed out that some of the addresses given by the new voters were non-existent.
The CPI-M may not be the only party which resorted to illegal enrolment but its involvement is clear from the fact that scores of newly registered voters are shown as living in premises under its control.
The revised rolls published last Wednesday shows an increase of 9,357 in the electorate. According to the electoral rolls officer, a total of 12,631 applications had been received.
The Congress took its complaints against the revised voters list to the Election Commission. The party asked that District Collector VK Balakrishnan, who was acting in collusion with the CPI-M, be removed.
The Commission directed the state government to replace the Collector but rejected the Congress demand that the by-election be postponed or held on the basis of the earlier voters' list.
The Commission's inability to ensure the elimination of all ineligible voters points to its limitations in the context of widespread political contamination of the official machinery.
The controversial question set for the half-yearly higher secondary examination cited a newspaper report on the death of Mercy Ravi, wife of Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, as an instance of the media giving undue importance to rich and influential persons and asked the students to write protest letters to the editor against the excessive coverage.
A former legislator and nationAl level leader of the Mahila Congress and the Indian National Trade Union Congress, Mercy Ravi was a public figure in her own right.
When the LDF is in power the task of setting question papers is entrusted to the pro-CPI-M Kerala State Teachers Association.
After the minister conceded that the question was inappropriate, KSTA general secretary C. Usman claimed the organisation was not aware of the contents of the question papers, prepared by the academic councils constituted by it.
Over the last decade several instances of government employees holding membership of the CPI-M in violation of the service rules have come to light.
The posts they occupy range from those of college professors and executive engineers to those of policemen.
It is almost certain that other political parties, too, have attracted government employees through service organisations under their control.
Gulf Today
TWO controversies that rocked Kerala last week provide fresh evidence of political contamination of the official machinery, affecting its ability to discharge its functions impartially.
One controversy related to the enrolment of bogus voters in advance of the Assembly by-elections scheduled for Nov.7. The other related to the inclusion of a question that betrays political bias of teachers.
The first controversy grew into a messy affair before the Election Commission of India intervened and provided partial relief. The possibility of its erupting again after the polling cannot be ruled out.
The second controversy ended quickly with Education Minister MA Baby graciously acknowledging the mistake.
The Assembly by-elections in Kannur, Ernakulam and Alappuzha were necessitated by the election of their representatives to the Lok Sabha. All the three seats were held by the Congress, which heads the opposition United Democratic Front.
The outcome of the by-elections will not affect the stability of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, which has a comfortable majority in the Assembly. However, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which heads the coalition, is eager to grab at least one seat to boost its sagging image.
The party considers Kannur its best bet. Although Kannur town has been out of its hands for more than three decades, Kannur district is its stronghold. It also happens to be the home district of party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Congress's decision to put up AP Abdullakutty, a former CPI-M member of the Lok Sabha, as its candidate in Kannur was a taunt which the party could not ignore. It fielded MV Jayarajan, a close lieutenant of Pinarayi Vijayan and architect of many successful electoral strategies.
K. Sudhakaran had won the seat in 2006 by a margin of 8,376 votes over his CPI-M rival KP Sahadevan. The Congress party alleged that the CPI-M had enrolled about 10,000 new voters with the help of pliant officials to offset its winning margin. It also charged that several hundred Congress voters had been dropped from the electoral rolls.
The CPI-M claimed it was the Congress which was guilty of enrolling bogus voters. It said the party, sensing defeat, was levelling false charges.
Media reports highlighted several instances of irregular enrolment. They pointed out that some of the addresses given by the new voters were non-existent.
The CPI-M may not be the only party which resorted to illegal enrolment but its involvement is clear from the fact that scores of newly registered voters are shown as living in premises under its control.
The revised rolls published last Wednesday shows an increase of 9,357 in the electorate. According to the electoral rolls officer, a total of 12,631 applications had been received.
The Congress took its complaints against the revised voters list to the Election Commission. The party asked that District Collector VK Balakrishnan, who was acting in collusion with the CPI-M, be removed.
The Commission directed the state government to replace the Collector but rejected the Congress demand that the by-election be postponed or held on the basis of the earlier voters' list.
The Commission's inability to ensure the elimination of all ineligible voters points to its limitations in the context of widespread political contamination of the official machinery.
The controversial question set for the half-yearly higher secondary examination cited a newspaper report on the death of Mercy Ravi, wife of Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, as an instance of the media giving undue importance to rich and influential persons and asked the students to write protest letters to the editor against the excessive coverage.
A former legislator and nationAl level leader of the Mahila Congress and the Indian National Trade Union Congress, Mercy Ravi was a public figure in her own right.
When the LDF is in power the task of setting question papers is entrusted to the pro-CPI-M Kerala State Teachers Association.
After the minister conceded that the question was inappropriate, KSTA general secretary C. Usman claimed the organisation was not aware of the contents of the question papers, prepared by the academic councils constituted by it.
Over the last decade several instances of government employees holding membership of the CPI-M in violation of the service rules have come to light.
The posts they occupy range from those of college professors and executive engineers to those of policemen.
It is almost certain that other political parties, too, have attracted government employees through service organisations under their control.
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