The following is a message from Sudha Bharadwaj (advsudhacmm@yahoo.co.in), which has been circulated by Rights Support Centre (humanrights.movement@gmail.com).
Dear friends,
This is an appeal to you to actively campaign for the freedom for film-maker Ajay T.G, who was recently arrested in Bhilai under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act (like Dr. Binayak Sen) on charges on sedition!
Ajay, who would be about 35, hails originally from Kerala. Coming from a very ordinary family, he has been involved in CPI politics and is still an office-bearer of the local youth federation. He learned film-making at "Jan Darshan" an effort of journalist Lalit Surjan (of Deshbandhu fame) to train local youth in the audio-visual media.
As a research assistant of the well known sociologist Jonathan Parry of the London School of Economics, Ajay made several films on the interface of caste and class among the permanent workmen of the Bhilai Steel Plant, which were widely appreciated
As a member of PUCL, he had the courage to accompany several fact-finding teams including into fake encounters, and capture on film the statements of victims. (Presumably it is this activity of Ajay's that is being dubbed "sedition"?)
He had started a foundation called "Drk Sakshi" (Eye-witness) to make socially relevant films and under this banner he made a number of films for various people's movements and organizations. For instance "Phool Nahi Chingari Hai" a film capturing the 8th March programme of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, and a film on the rich diversity of rice varieties in Chhatisgarh for social organization Rupantar. Ajay had also made an interesting film on the lathi charge on the Honda workers at Gurgaon in the wider context of liberalization based on TV footage, which proved invaluable material for educating workers. Just before his arrest he was planning a documentary on displacement.
Ajay also ran an informal education centre for women and children in one of the bastis of Bhilai. This unassuming, sensitive and courageous young man was the much loved "Bhaiyya", and always there for the people of Dabrapara - taking a cancer patient to hospital, intervening on the behalf of the girl children against patriarchal attitudes, helping to deal with insensitive authorities....
In the year 2004 Ajay had accompanied a group of researchers to Dantewada and there his camera was snatched away from him by youthful villagers, possibly frontal organization members of Maoists. Later an unknown young man came to him and offered that the camera or its cost would be returned and asked him to write down information about the make of the camera and its cost. Ultimately neither the camera nor its cost were returned to him, but it is possibly the seizure of some such letter that forms the flimsy basis that Ajay was the member of a the banned organization CPI (Maoist). It is pertinent that the Act under which this organization was banned itself came into existence in April 2006.
Of course, the real crime committed by Ajay was that he insisted on standing in solidarity with Dr. Binayak Sen even after his arrest. He made a film on Dr. Sen, ironically called "Anjam". In a recent hearing he had been unduly harassed when a pocket knife (cum nail cutter cum corkskrew - one of those handy kits) was found in his rucksack while entering the court. This was splashed in the media as a "weapon"! Interestingly the so-called "incriminating letter" is said to have been seized in January. It took the police five months to decide whether or not to book Ajay. There could be no greater evidence that there is no evidence!!
Be that is it may, Ajay is now in a jail. Clearly the Chhattisgarh government is hell bent on clearly giving the message: "Speak about the conditions in Bastar and you go to jail. Of course we know you are not Maoists, but so what .... rot in jail till you prove your innocence!"
And it’s not only Ajay. The journalists who tried to expose atrocities of the police or Salwa Judum were sacked, bashed up or otherwise threatened. Many TV journalists had their cameras and footage snatched away. Out of the 52 detainees under the Chhattisgarh Act, two are journalists.
If you think you can take up the campaign for the release of Ajay, we can send a detailed profile, a list of films and selected CDs etc.
The campaign of doctors in favour of Dr. Binayak Sen has gone far beyond the borders of Chhattisgarh, and even India, and has forced them to think deeply over their Hippocratic Oath which tells them to "treat a patient irrespective of political affiliation". It has also made them question "How should a doctor act in a conflict situation". This time it is the turn of the film makers to turn their attention to Chhattisgarh.
Hoping you will respond. With warm wishes,
Sudha Bharadwaj,
Advocate,
on behalf of Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, and Chhattisgarh PUCL
Kindly see reports on the arrest of Ajay T.G., posted in BHASKAR blog in May.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Those who frighten and those who get frightened
When the Communist Party of India first came to power through the ballot box, I was working in Chennai. The people of Tamil Nadu viewed the election results with surprise. There, too, the Congress party’s influence was on the wane. But the Tamil people did not have the courage to remove it and put another party on power. They did not hide their admiration for the Malayali who hard the courage to do it. “He is a real guy,” they said. They used that paternalist phrase only to denote courage.
Today the Malayali is a coward. The way we join hartals, whoever calls them, proves this. People get frightened when there are people who frighten. Fear of power, which flows through the barrel of a gun, is universal. In Kerala, there are others, too, who can frighten. Hartals succeed because people fear the muscle power of the political parties. These days the big parties rarely send their cadres to the battlefront. Usually they deploy members of affiliated organizations.
The first Communist government commanded a majority of only two votes in the State Assembly. If the Opposition could win over one member, the majority will be wiped out. If it could win over two members, it will have two more members than the ruling party. Placing their faith in this arithmetic, some persons were moving around with sacks to capture legislators. At that time, addressing a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, party leader M. N. Govindan Nair said, “Whatever happens, we will maintain the two-vote majority.” He did not say we will take two legs or two lives. But those who listened to him came with the impression that even that might be done. Today leaders hold out dire threats publicly. Did not one leader say the other day that if anyone tried to demolish the party’s building his legs would be chopped off? How can one not be frightened?
Even before political parties took birth, religious establishments had the capacity to frighten people. Later caste organizations also acquired that capacity. In Kerala, some other organizations like those of traders and businessmen also possess that capacity, though not in the same measure. Film industry organizations are now trying to develop that capacity.
Sometimes there are needless attempts to fright people. The declaration of war made by Church leaders in the wake of the State Women’s Commission’s recommendation to enact legislation to prevent young girls from becoming nuns is an example. Chairperson Justice D. Sreeedevi has said the Commission also proposes to recommend that parents who force daughters to enter the nunnery must be prosecuted, the property rights of nuns must be protected and those leaving the convent must be rehabilitated.
Spokesmen of several Churches have claimed they are already following most of the regulations the Commission wants to enforce. The head of the Syro Malankara Church said in a press release that it did not allow one who has not completed 18 years to become a priest or nun. Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council Secretary Fr. Stephen G. Kulakkayathil clarified that girls entered the convent after completing school education and no one became a nun before 18. Catholic Bishops Council of India spokesman Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph said no one became a nun before the age of 20, Orthodox Bishop Paulose Mar Milithios Bava said his Church too did not ordain nuns before the age of 18.
All Churches maintain that the girl and her parents have to give full consent before training as nun can start, that there is no compulsion to bequeath her share of the family property to the convent, that a nun can leave the order at any time and that they help in the rehabilitation of those who leave the nunnery. In other words, the Women’s Commission’s recommendations are in accord with the rules that the Churches follow or are bound to follow. What was then the need to declare war on the Commission?
There is no need to disbelieve what the spokesmen of the Churches say about the procedures they follow. At the same time we cannot forget that rules might be broken in the Churches, as elsewhere. Indeed, persons like Joseph Pulikunnel, who have been campaigning against undesirable practices in the Churches, have pointed to breach of the rules. The Women’s Commission’s mandate is to protect the rights pf women. It drew up its recommendations in the light of a study conducted after receiving a complaint.
The charge that the Commission’s recommendations constitute interference in religious affairs is absurd. As the Women’s Summit at Beijing declared, women’s rights are human rights. The Churches cannot claim the right to flout human rights in the name of religious freedom. The real issue involved in the controversy is who must have the right to frighten the people. If a law is enacted, that will become the last word. So long as it is not there, the Church has the last word. The people need fear it alone.
The way Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President Ramesh Chennithala, who is capable of understanding all this, has jumped into the fray to make political capital is highly deplorable. The dealings the political parties have made with religious and caste organizations at the national and regional levels for temporary gains have already caused immense damage. Chennithala may make a ruckus and Pinarayi Vijayan may turn his face away, but the constitutional machinery cannot ignore human rights violations.
One criticism levelled by those who have come forward to oppose the Women’s Commission’s recommendations is that there is no Christian representative on it. This is not sufficient reason to reject the Commission’s recommendations. However, it needs to be acknowledged that lack of representation for a significant section of the population on such bodies exposes a grave weakness in the political arena.
Based on 'Nerkkazhcha' column appearing in Kerala Kaumudi dated June 13, 2008
Today the Malayali is a coward. The way we join hartals, whoever calls them, proves this. People get frightened when there are people who frighten. Fear of power, which flows through the barrel of a gun, is universal. In Kerala, there are others, too, who can frighten. Hartals succeed because people fear the muscle power of the political parties. These days the big parties rarely send their cadres to the battlefront. Usually they deploy members of affiliated organizations.
The first Communist government commanded a majority of only two votes in the State Assembly. If the Opposition could win over one member, the majority will be wiped out. If it could win over two members, it will have two more members than the ruling party. Placing their faith in this arithmetic, some persons were moving around with sacks to capture legislators. At that time, addressing a public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, party leader M. N. Govindan Nair said, “Whatever happens, we will maintain the two-vote majority.” He did not say we will take two legs or two lives. But those who listened to him came with the impression that even that might be done. Today leaders hold out dire threats publicly. Did not one leader say the other day that if anyone tried to demolish the party’s building his legs would be chopped off? How can one not be frightened?
Even before political parties took birth, religious establishments had the capacity to frighten people. Later caste organizations also acquired that capacity. In Kerala, some other organizations like those of traders and businessmen also possess that capacity, though not in the same measure. Film industry organizations are now trying to develop that capacity.
Sometimes there are needless attempts to fright people. The declaration of war made by Church leaders in the wake of the State Women’s Commission’s recommendation to enact legislation to prevent young girls from becoming nuns is an example. Chairperson Justice D. Sreeedevi has said the Commission also proposes to recommend that parents who force daughters to enter the nunnery must be prosecuted, the property rights of nuns must be protected and those leaving the convent must be rehabilitated.
Spokesmen of several Churches have claimed they are already following most of the regulations the Commission wants to enforce. The head of the Syro Malankara Church said in a press release that it did not allow one who has not completed 18 years to become a priest or nun. Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council Secretary Fr. Stephen G. Kulakkayathil clarified that girls entered the convent after completing school education and no one became a nun before 18. Catholic Bishops Council of India spokesman Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph said no one became a nun before the age of 20, Orthodox Bishop Paulose Mar Milithios Bava said his Church too did not ordain nuns before the age of 18.
All Churches maintain that the girl and her parents have to give full consent before training as nun can start, that there is no compulsion to bequeath her share of the family property to the convent, that a nun can leave the order at any time and that they help in the rehabilitation of those who leave the nunnery. In other words, the Women’s Commission’s recommendations are in accord with the rules that the Churches follow or are bound to follow. What was then the need to declare war on the Commission?
There is no need to disbelieve what the spokesmen of the Churches say about the procedures they follow. At the same time we cannot forget that rules might be broken in the Churches, as elsewhere. Indeed, persons like Joseph Pulikunnel, who have been campaigning against undesirable practices in the Churches, have pointed to breach of the rules. The Women’s Commission’s mandate is to protect the rights pf women. It drew up its recommendations in the light of a study conducted after receiving a complaint.
The charge that the Commission’s recommendations constitute interference in religious affairs is absurd. As the Women’s Summit at Beijing declared, women’s rights are human rights. The Churches cannot claim the right to flout human rights in the name of religious freedom. The real issue involved in the controversy is who must have the right to frighten the people. If a law is enacted, that will become the last word. So long as it is not there, the Church has the last word. The people need fear it alone.
The way Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President Ramesh Chennithala, who is capable of understanding all this, has jumped into the fray to make political capital is highly deplorable. The dealings the political parties have made with religious and caste organizations at the national and regional levels for temporary gains have already caused immense damage. Chennithala may make a ruckus and Pinarayi Vijayan may turn his face away, but the constitutional machinery cannot ignore human rights violations.
One criticism levelled by those who have come forward to oppose the Women’s Commission’s recommendations is that there is no Christian representative on it. This is not sufficient reason to reject the Commission’s recommendations. However, it needs to be acknowledged that lack of representation for a significant section of the population on such bodies exposes a grave weakness in the political arena.
Based on 'Nerkkazhcha' column appearing in Kerala Kaumudi dated June 13, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
NGOs demand closure of golf courses
KERALA TOURISM WATCH, a coalition ofcivil society activists and local communities, EQUATIONS and KABANI –the other direction, have, in a joint statement, urged the Kerala government to wind up the Trivandrum golf club and abandon its golf course. They believe environmental and social impacts warrant a more fundamental approach of dissolution rather than changing the ownership from private to public.
The golf courses are being increasingly brought in to focus due to the environmental and social problems that they engender. Everywhere in the world golf courses have been a major threat for local communities primarily in terms of uncontrolled ground water depletion. Trivandrum golf course, for example, has been reportedly consuming lakhs of litres of water every day to maintain the grass turf.
Conservative estimates by various international agencies show that an 18-hole golf course would consume five million litres of water a day, enough for nearly 10,000
families in a state like Kerala. We must remember that the water consumption by the Coca Cola plant at Plachimada was 500,000 litres a day. It is hardly surprising that the arrears towards water charges of Trivandrum Golf Club ran in to several lakhs of rupees.
At a time when the common people in the city face acute water shortage, maintaining a golf course with direct and indirect state subsidies violate principles of social justice. The argument that the golf courses would promote tourism in the state is completely unfounded. While we are critical of state's tourism policies in general we would like to point out that this argument is particularly flawed. Studies have shown that tourists visiting destinations in developing countries including India belong to the low
spending segment of international travellers. It is unlikely that they will be interested in golf. Alternatively golf courses will not be an adequate incentive for high spending travellers to visit destinations in poor countries. Allowing golf courses to flourish disregarding their environmental and social impacts will only serve the interest of
the local elites.
We understand that the government has been forced to take over the golf course in Trivandrum due to repeated failures on the part the club to comply with the administrative, legal and social requirements. However, taking over the club from its current leadership while the space could continue to be used as golf course will not bring any fundamental change.
The coalition demands that government should take back this valuable property and sees this opportunity to convert it into a bio diversity park. The coalition strongly condemns the attempt by club authorities to use the tourism façade to legitimise their elitist biases and vested interests.
No more golf courses should be allowed in Kerala while the existing ones should be immediately closed down. In this connection we demand the closure of Trivandrum and Kochi golf courses and shelving of the proposed one in Nedumbassery. We note with extreme concern that the Nedumbassery project involves land acquired by evicting local people in the name of Nedumbassery international airport. Tourism department and government of Kerala should pay attention to the concerns raised by national and international movements which oppose golf courses on environmental and social grounds.
The coalition would initiate a state level campaign with the support of civil society organizations to highlight the harmful impacts of golf courses and for abandoning all golf course projects in the state.
EQUATIONS - 9447079763
KABANI – the other direction - 9388402948
Kerala Tourism Watch – www.keralatourismwatch.org
The golf courses are being increasingly brought in to focus due to the environmental and social problems that they engender. Everywhere in the world golf courses have been a major threat for local communities primarily in terms of uncontrolled ground water depletion. Trivandrum golf course, for example, has been reportedly consuming lakhs of litres of water every day to maintain the grass turf.
Conservative estimates by various international agencies show that an 18-hole golf course would consume five million litres of water a day, enough for nearly 10,000
families in a state like Kerala. We must remember that the water consumption by the Coca Cola plant at Plachimada was 500,000 litres a day. It is hardly surprising that the arrears towards water charges of Trivandrum Golf Club ran in to several lakhs of rupees.
At a time when the common people in the city face acute water shortage, maintaining a golf course with direct and indirect state subsidies violate principles of social justice. The argument that the golf courses would promote tourism in the state is completely unfounded. While we are critical of state's tourism policies in general we would like to point out that this argument is particularly flawed. Studies have shown that tourists visiting destinations in developing countries including India belong to the low
spending segment of international travellers. It is unlikely that they will be interested in golf. Alternatively golf courses will not be an adequate incentive for high spending travellers to visit destinations in poor countries. Allowing golf courses to flourish disregarding their environmental and social impacts will only serve the interest of
the local elites.
We understand that the government has been forced to take over the golf course in Trivandrum due to repeated failures on the part the club to comply with the administrative, legal and social requirements. However, taking over the club from its current leadership while the space could continue to be used as golf course will not bring any fundamental change.
The coalition demands that government should take back this valuable property and sees this opportunity to convert it into a bio diversity park. The coalition strongly condemns the attempt by club authorities to use the tourism façade to legitimise their elitist biases and vested interests.
No more golf courses should be allowed in Kerala while the existing ones should be immediately closed down. In this connection we demand the closure of Trivandrum and Kochi golf courses and shelving of the proposed one in Nedumbassery. We note with extreme concern that the Nedumbassery project involves land acquired by evicting local people in the name of Nedumbassery international airport. Tourism department and government of Kerala should pay attention to the concerns raised by national and international movements which oppose golf courses on environmental and social grounds.
The coalition would initiate a state level campaign with the support of civil society organizations to highlight the harmful impacts of golf courses and for abandoning all golf course projects in the state.
EQUATIONS - 9447079763
KABANI – the other direction - 9388402948
Kerala Tourism Watch – www.keralatourismwatch.org
Protests add to burden imposed by petrol price hike
Last week was one of double jeopardy for the people of Kerala. On Wednesday the Government of India, after long deliberations, raised the prices of petroleum products, placing a huge burden on them. The next day the Left Democratic Front, which is ruling the State, and the Bharatiya Janata Party organised separate but simultaneous hartal (work stoppage), putting an additional burden on them.
Ironically, on hartal day, activists of the parties that call the strike do not stay away from work. Actually, on that day they work harder than ever. They leave home earlier than usual and go around making sure that no one goes to work defying the party fiat.
Among those who stayed away from office on Wednesday, responding to the LDF's strike call, were the State's ministers. They also reportedly advised members of their staff not to report for work.
Transport Minister Mathew T.Thomas used the enforced holiday to pay a courtesy visit to his neighbour, Health Minister PK Sreemathy. His wife and children joined him on the outing. They did not use their government car for the trip. Television cameras followed them as they walked to Sreemathy's official residence.
The strike was from 6 am to 6 pm. Official functions scheduled for the day were either cancelled or put off until after hartal hours.
Co-operation Minister G. Sudhakaran, who was due to attend a public function at Kayamkulam, went from his official residence to the railway station on a borrowed bicycle and boarded a train.
The unwritten hartal code bars the use of motor cars and auto-rickshaws, but not two-wheelers and trains.
The petrol price hike has come when the country is experiencing mounting inflation. Last week the inflation rate rose to 8.24 per cent. Financial analysts expect the rising fuel costs to push it further - probably up to 9.5%.
As a consumer State which depends upon other States for most of its needs, Kerala is in a highly vulnerable to price fluctuations. Generally, commodity prices rule higher in the State than elsewhere. According to official figures, last year the consumer price index for agricultural workers in the State rose by 8.99% as against the national average of 7.63%.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which heads the LDF, is the leading member of the Left Front, which supports the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre from outside. It strongly disapproved of the petrol price hike, saying it was substantial and would push up the price of food and other essential commodities.
Even before the week ended, truck operators in the State announced an increase in hire charges to cover the hike in petrol and diesel prices. Their organisation had consulted industry unions before deciding on the increase.
Most of the workers in the transport industry are under the CPI-M banner. As far as is known, the unions controlled by the party went along with the truck operators' decision without raising any objection.
There is no official estimate of the loss suffered by the State as a result of the week's protests. The chambers of commerce and industry, which usually come up with unofficial estimates, has also remained silent.
Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac had provided more than Rs7 billion in this year's State budget to write off the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation's debts and set it on the path of economic recovery. The increase in diesel prices will hamper its efforts to achieve financial stability.
The KSRTC had suspended most of its services on the day of the strike. As a result, it suffered significant revenue loss. In all likelihood, it will be forced to revise passenger fares.
For the first time, the State Consumer Federation brought rice from West Bengal to meet the food shortage. The rice could not be unloaded from the rail wagons because of the strike. The railways charged the federation demurrages at Rs100 per wagon for every hour of delay.
The BJP did not stop with a day's strike. On Saturday, it organised road blockade at different places in the State. The CPI-M also has plans to stage more protests.
The two parties are sure to keep alive the issue of petrol price hike, which has come to them as a godsend as the nation moves towards the parliamentary elections, due next year. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, June 9, 2008.
Ironically, on hartal day, activists of the parties that call the strike do not stay away from work. Actually, on that day they work harder than ever. They leave home earlier than usual and go around making sure that no one goes to work defying the party fiat.
Among those who stayed away from office on Wednesday, responding to the LDF's strike call, were the State's ministers. They also reportedly advised members of their staff not to report for work.
Transport Minister Mathew T.Thomas used the enforced holiday to pay a courtesy visit to his neighbour, Health Minister PK Sreemathy. His wife and children joined him on the outing. They did not use their government car for the trip. Television cameras followed them as they walked to Sreemathy's official residence.
The strike was from 6 am to 6 pm. Official functions scheduled for the day were either cancelled or put off until after hartal hours.
Co-operation Minister G. Sudhakaran, who was due to attend a public function at Kayamkulam, went from his official residence to the railway station on a borrowed bicycle and boarded a train.
The unwritten hartal code bars the use of motor cars and auto-rickshaws, but not two-wheelers and trains.
The petrol price hike has come when the country is experiencing mounting inflation. Last week the inflation rate rose to 8.24 per cent. Financial analysts expect the rising fuel costs to push it further - probably up to 9.5%.
As a consumer State which depends upon other States for most of its needs, Kerala is in a highly vulnerable to price fluctuations. Generally, commodity prices rule higher in the State than elsewhere. According to official figures, last year the consumer price index for agricultural workers in the State rose by 8.99% as against the national average of 7.63%.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which heads the LDF, is the leading member of the Left Front, which supports the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre from outside. It strongly disapproved of the petrol price hike, saying it was substantial and would push up the price of food and other essential commodities.
Even before the week ended, truck operators in the State announced an increase in hire charges to cover the hike in petrol and diesel prices. Their organisation had consulted industry unions before deciding on the increase.
Most of the workers in the transport industry are under the CPI-M banner. As far as is known, the unions controlled by the party went along with the truck operators' decision without raising any objection.
There is no official estimate of the loss suffered by the State as a result of the week's protests. The chambers of commerce and industry, which usually come up with unofficial estimates, has also remained silent.
Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac had provided more than Rs7 billion in this year's State budget to write off the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation's debts and set it on the path of economic recovery. The increase in diesel prices will hamper its efforts to achieve financial stability.
The KSRTC had suspended most of its services on the day of the strike. As a result, it suffered significant revenue loss. In all likelihood, it will be forced to revise passenger fares.
For the first time, the State Consumer Federation brought rice from West Bengal to meet the food shortage. The rice could not be unloaded from the rail wagons because of the strike. The railways charged the federation demurrages at Rs100 per wagon for every hour of delay.
The BJP did not stop with a day's strike. On Saturday, it organised road blockade at different places in the State. The CPI-M also has plans to stage more protests.
The two parties are sure to keep alive the issue of petrol price hike, which has come to them as a godsend as the nation moves towards the parliamentary elections, due next year. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, June 9, 2008.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Chithralekha presented with new auto
CHITHRALEKHA WITH HER HUSBAND SHREESHANTHAt a simple function held at the Police Club auditorium in Kannur on Saturday (June 7), Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha president C.K.Janu presented the keys of a new diesel auto to Chithralekha.
Chithralekha, a Dalit woman, who sought to make a living plying an auto, was constantly harassed by male auto drivers. Her means of livelihood was lost when one of them set fire to her auto. Neither the auto drivers’ union nor the party that controls it came forward to protect her.
Concerned citizens formed the Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committee, with Dr. D. Surendranath as chairman, to help rehabilitate her. The June 7 function marked the culmination of its efforts. It proclaimed civil society’s firm resolve to extend to her all support in her continuing struggle for the right to work and live with honour.
K.M.Venugopalan, Convener, Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committee, writes:
A.Vasu (Vasuettan), Dileepraj, V.P.Zuhra, Advocate P.A.Pauran, Mini K Philip, M.K.Jayaraj and Munderi Balakrishnan spoke at the function. Dr. Surendranath was in the chair.
Jenny Roweena and Carmel Christy, authors of the much debated report "Chithralekha's Burning Auto: Caste and Gender in the Urban Space of Keralam" (published in Sarai), who had stood by the Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committee in its campaign, were present on the occasion.
After receiving the keys of the auto from Janu, Chithralekha said she would name the vehicle Mayilamma, after the heroic Adivasi woman who had led the anti-Coke
agitation at Plachimada until her death last year.
It was Mayilamma who had inaugurated the Convention for Protection of the Rights of Dalits and Women, held at Payyanur in February 2006. The convention, organized by the Citizens' Action Committee, was part of the early stage of the agitation sparked by the burning of Chithralekha’s auto.
Messages received from B.R.P.Bhaskar (senior journalist and human rights campaigner), Dr.A.K. Ramakrishnan (Jamia University, New Delhi), Prof.Shiva Shankar(Chennai Institute of Mathematics), J.Robin (Editor, Keraleeyam Monthly), Dr.J.Devika
(CDS,Thiruvananthapuram), Benjamin Paul Kaila (Ambedkarsholarships) and Dr.
Hari P.Sharma of South Asian Network for Secularism and
Democracy (SANSAD) were read out.
Messages expressing solidarity were also received from Dr.T.T.Sreekumar, Anivar
Aravind, Salim.T.K, Aftab Ellath, K.Ajitha, K.Venu, Sunny Kapikkad, P.V.Ayyappan, Rekha Raj, C.Padmanabhan, K.K.Kochu, Dr.K.M.Seethi (M G University, Kottayam), Dr.A.K.Jayasree, Sarathchandran, Mitesh Domania (US),Dr. Ranjith (Indira Gandhi Open University, New Delhi), Deepa V.N, Joy Charles(US), Prof. Alladi Sitaram (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), Prof. Sujata Ramodari, Stalin.K (documentary film maker) and many others who had reiterated their support to the 10-month campaign for Chithralekha’s rehabilitation on various occasions.
Earlier, K. M. Venugopal welcomed the gathering. P.K.Ayyappan, Treasurer, Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committee, proposed a vote of thanks.
PS:
A few words about the accounts:
A sum of Rs 1,53,700 was received as donations as against the targeted amount Rs 1,50,000. Some outstation cheques received in the later phase are yet to be credited to our account. Delay of several weeks in collecting money received as cheques considered normal!
There is already an understanding that the balance left after realizing the actual expenses of the campaign and the expenses incurred for the purchase of the auto, insurance, road taxes, body etc will be credited to the personal account of Chithralekha
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Behind the club-centred class war
In the none-too-distant past it was easy to identify the bourgeois in Kerala. They travelled by car. They alone did. The proletariat relied on their legs. Sometimes they also used the bicycle or the bus. But neither they nor their leaders used automobiles. The class enemy could, therefore, be recognized without much difficulty. That made class war easy. If the car hit a pedestrian, the driver could be pulled out immediately and beaten up. What if he is not a bourgeois? Isn’t he an agent of bourgeois?
When leaders of the working class started using motor cycles and cars, the situation changed. Today even the guy in an air-conditioned car need not be a bourgeois. So there is no class war on the national highways. In the circumstances, it is necessary to find other ways to distinguish the bourgeois from the adopted sons of the proletariat who travel by car. Here lies the relevance of golf.
Marx, Lenin, Mao and Ho did not play golf. One can’t be too sure of Jyoti Basu. After all, he studied in England. Although he ruled West Bengal for 30 years without the help of any Congressman, he did not close down the gold course in Kolkata. The China Line may have influenced him. In the 20 years since Deng opened China to foreign investors, 200 golf courses were built there. In the whole of Asia there are only about 500 of them.
Just as Krishna needs Kamsa and Bhima needs Keechaka to kill, the proletariat needs the bourgeois to exterminate. By and large, Kerala is a middle class society. The middle class cannot take the place of the bourgeois. Especially so when the proletariat looks to it for adopted sons. A recent study by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad revealed that a new rich class is emerging here. How can this section, which contributes liberally for the success of all enterprises from party channel and newspapers to football competitions, be put in the enemy camp?
Whatever may be the situation in West Bengal and China, it is possible to divide the classes on the basis of golf in Kerala. EMS and AKG did not play golf. Pinarayi Vijayan and Veliyam Bhargavan do not play golf. Research by Dr. TM Thomas Isaac or G. Sudharakan can be expected to establish that cricket and golf were introduced by Imperialism to destroy our traditional games. Cricket has been able to produce a brilliant player like Shreesant and earn the support of some cultural personalities like Sukumar Azhikode. Golf has no such achievements to its credit. So the party can certainly decide that businessmen and bureaucrats who play golf are the new reactionaries. But it cannot be said that such ideological calculations are behind the government takeover of the Golf Club at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
The legal validity of the government action is under the consideration of the High Court. Let us not go onto that issue here. Even if the action was valid, the question whether it was necessary is relevant. That the land belongs to the government is not in dispute. The government says the lease amount is in arrears. The club claims it is holding the land not on lease but under a licence. In either case, if the club owes the government money, the proper course is to collect the dues. There is no need for the club to lock up the place and take the keys away. The government has also alleged that the place given to the club for playing golf is being used for other purposes. The basis of the allegation is that a bar functioned there. In a State where bar licences are granted most liberally, it is ridiculous to treat the running of a bar in a club as a crime.
Former club secretary EM Najeeb was heard saying in channel discussions that six officers from the Chief Secretary downwards are on the 11-member executive committee of the club. If this is correct, the government can easily correct the club when it does something wrong. The Chief Minister has said facilities for playing golf will be provided.
But he has not said facilities will be provided at the same place. In the circumstances, one may infer that the government proposes to turn out the club and use the premises for some other purpose. It certainly has the right to do so. But it must act in a transparent manner.
Land is needed urgently for developmental purposes and to meet the needs of weaker sections like Dalits and Adivasis. But what Kerala, which has placed hopes in tourism, needs is not development which will turn the land into a concrete jungle. The State is witnessing large-scale urbanization. We must take particular care to retain open spaces which can serve as lungs of the cities. Leaders who have set their eyes on the land held by clubs must understand this.
Golf is a sport with economic significance. Scotland’s 550 golf courses attract a lot of foreign tourists. China, too, has built golf courses as tourist attractions. But there have been allegations that the huge building complexes have been built under cover of golf. There have been agitations in the United States against the building of new golf courses because of the environmental problems they pose. It is the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers and exploitation of water resources that create problems. The experience of the US, which has about 18,000 golf courses, need not scare us, but we must learn appropriate lessons from it. New methods permit the creation of golf courses without causing much damage to the environment.
How is it that the eyes of the rulers who are looking all around for land that can be seized have not caught the Mavoor property in the hands of the Birlas? Industries Minister Elamaram Karim recently said that the Birlas have submitted to the government a proposal which envisages employment of about 100,000 people. It is a real estate project similar to that of the Mumbai firm which got some land with Karin’s help. All this creates doubts about the government’s intentions.
Based on column ‘Nerkkazhcha’ appearing in Kerala Kaumudi dated June 5, 2008.
When leaders of the working class started using motor cycles and cars, the situation changed. Today even the guy in an air-conditioned car need not be a bourgeois. So there is no class war on the national highways. In the circumstances, it is necessary to find other ways to distinguish the bourgeois from the adopted sons of the proletariat who travel by car. Here lies the relevance of golf.
Marx, Lenin, Mao and Ho did not play golf. One can’t be too sure of Jyoti Basu. After all, he studied in England. Although he ruled West Bengal for 30 years without the help of any Congressman, he did not close down the gold course in Kolkata. The China Line may have influenced him. In the 20 years since Deng opened China to foreign investors, 200 golf courses were built there. In the whole of Asia there are only about 500 of them.
Just as Krishna needs Kamsa and Bhima needs Keechaka to kill, the proletariat needs the bourgeois to exterminate. By and large, Kerala is a middle class society. The middle class cannot take the place of the bourgeois. Especially so when the proletariat looks to it for adopted sons. A recent study by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad revealed that a new rich class is emerging here. How can this section, which contributes liberally for the success of all enterprises from party channel and newspapers to football competitions, be put in the enemy camp?
Whatever may be the situation in West Bengal and China, it is possible to divide the classes on the basis of golf in Kerala. EMS and AKG did not play golf. Pinarayi Vijayan and Veliyam Bhargavan do not play golf. Research by Dr. TM Thomas Isaac or G. Sudharakan can be expected to establish that cricket and golf were introduced by Imperialism to destroy our traditional games. Cricket has been able to produce a brilliant player like Shreesant and earn the support of some cultural personalities like Sukumar Azhikode. Golf has no such achievements to its credit. So the party can certainly decide that businessmen and bureaucrats who play golf are the new reactionaries. But it cannot be said that such ideological calculations are behind the government takeover of the Golf Club at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
The legal validity of the government action is under the consideration of the High Court. Let us not go onto that issue here. Even if the action was valid, the question whether it was necessary is relevant. That the land belongs to the government is not in dispute. The government says the lease amount is in arrears. The club claims it is holding the land not on lease but under a licence. In either case, if the club owes the government money, the proper course is to collect the dues. There is no need for the club to lock up the place and take the keys away. The government has also alleged that the place given to the club for playing golf is being used for other purposes. The basis of the allegation is that a bar functioned there. In a State where bar licences are granted most liberally, it is ridiculous to treat the running of a bar in a club as a crime.
Former club secretary EM Najeeb was heard saying in channel discussions that six officers from the Chief Secretary downwards are on the 11-member executive committee of the club. If this is correct, the government can easily correct the club when it does something wrong. The Chief Minister has said facilities for playing golf will be provided.
But he has not said facilities will be provided at the same place. In the circumstances, one may infer that the government proposes to turn out the club and use the premises for some other purpose. It certainly has the right to do so. But it must act in a transparent manner.
Land is needed urgently for developmental purposes and to meet the needs of weaker sections like Dalits and Adivasis. But what Kerala, which has placed hopes in tourism, needs is not development which will turn the land into a concrete jungle. The State is witnessing large-scale urbanization. We must take particular care to retain open spaces which can serve as lungs of the cities. Leaders who have set their eyes on the land held by clubs must understand this.
Golf is a sport with economic significance. Scotland’s 550 golf courses attract a lot of foreign tourists. China, too, has built golf courses as tourist attractions. But there have been allegations that the huge building complexes have been built under cover of golf. There have been agitations in the United States against the building of new golf courses because of the environmental problems they pose. It is the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers and exploitation of water resources that create problems. The experience of the US, which has about 18,000 golf courses, need not scare us, but we must learn appropriate lessons from it. New methods permit the creation of golf courses without causing much damage to the environment.
How is it that the eyes of the rulers who are looking all around for land that can be seized have not caught the Mavoor property in the hands of the Birlas? Industries Minister Elamaram Karim recently said that the Birlas have submitted to the government a proposal which envisages employment of about 100,000 people. It is a real estate project similar to that of the Mumbai firm which got some land with Karin’s help. All this creates doubts about the government’s intentions.
Based on column ‘Nerkkazhcha’ appearing in Kerala Kaumudi dated June 5, 2008.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Media scrutiny of ministerial performance proves embarrassing
Who is Kerala's best minister? This was the subject of an enquiry by a leading television channel during the Left Democratic Front government's second anniversary celebrations last month. Another channel looked for the worst minister.
Obviously, only one individual can emerge totally unscathed from a contest to pick the best minister. Even his closest competitor can only be the second best.
Malayalam television channels have established in recent years a reputation for caricaturing the political leaders mercilessly almost daily. The tallest leaders are perhaps the ones lampooned the most.
Most of the leaders have fans whose loyalty to them can put to shame the most ardent admirers of the superstars of Malayalam cinema. Yet the channels have not encountered any significant hostility on account of their political spoofs, possibly because the viewers treat them as mere entertainment.
The leaders, too, have raised no objection. Some of them even claim to enjoy the mimics' version of them. They would rather be ridiculed than ignored.
Asianet, which pioneered reality shows on Malayalam television, was the one which organised the quest for the best minister. The selection procedure closely parallelled that of the reality shows.
An account of each minister's work was presented and viewers were invited to send SMS to boost his chances. Low-scoring ministers were eliminated, three at a time. The process was continued until only one was left.
The winner was Water Resources Minister NK Premachandran, the Revolutionary Socialist Party's lone representative in the cabinet.
Premachandran is unlikely to feel elated by the honour since he had reservations about the fairness of the exercise. While the elimination round was still on, this writer had occasion to talk to him about the programme.
Labour Minister PK Gurudasan and Fisheries Minister S. Sharma, both belonging to Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan's camp, had just been eliminated. "They are both good ministers, working quietly," Premachandran said sadly.
The "worst minister" contest was organised by Jaihind channel, promoted by the Congress party, emulating the example set by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which set up the Kairali group of channels.
All ministers, including Education Minister MA Baby, who was voted the worst, suffered the electronic humiliation in stoic silence.
There was a lone exception: the garrulous Co-operation Minister G. Sudhakaran. He said he would get the State Consumer Federation, which is under his department's control, to pick the worst journalist.
In a sense, grading of ministers by the electronic media is an extension of the system of awarding marks to them, initiated by the print media a few years ago.
Newspapers gave up the practice, possibly because many opinion leaders, who were asked to evaluate the performance of ministers, disapproved of the system of awarding marks.
Is it proper for the channels to grade ministers on the basis of SMS messages? Media persons and others have discussed the issue in private in recent days, and many of them are known to view it an unhealthy practice.
In the first public discussion on the subject, former Additional Chief Secretary D. Babu Paul asked in a magazine article last week, "Who are we to line up the ministers who rule over us as if they are children competing to pick up lozenges at the school anniversary competitions and determine the winner?"
In a democracy, ministers are not the masters, although some of them seem to imagine they are. They must be ready to face public scrutiny at all times, and not just at the end of their five-year tenure.
While the media and even the general public are entitled to evaluate the performance of ministers, it is incumbent upon them to do so in a responsible manner, without doing damage to the dignity of the high office they hold. Viewed in this light, the procedures adopted by the channels to determine the best and the worst were clearly objectionable.
It is, however, unfair to lay the blame for the general lack of respect for high offices in Kerala on the media. Political parties have contributed more to devaluation of public office and the dignity attached to their holders than anyone else, and it is for them to take the lead to correct the situation.
The spurious contests on the small screen, like the spurious discussions the channels organise, are manifestations of the lack of sufficient professionalism. In a situation of declining values, competition brings out not the best but the worst. –Gulf Today, Sharjah, June 2, 2008.
Obviously, only one individual can emerge totally unscathed from a contest to pick the best minister. Even his closest competitor can only be the second best.
Malayalam television channels have established in recent years a reputation for caricaturing the political leaders mercilessly almost daily. The tallest leaders are perhaps the ones lampooned the most.
Most of the leaders have fans whose loyalty to them can put to shame the most ardent admirers of the superstars of Malayalam cinema. Yet the channels have not encountered any significant hostility on account of their political spoofs, possibly because the viewers treat them as mere entertainment.
The leaders, too, have raised no objection. Some of them even claim to enjoy the mimics' version of them. They would rather be ridiculed than ignored.
Asianet, which pioneered reality shows on Malayalam television, was the one which organised the quest for the best minister. The selection procedure closely parallelled that of the reality shows.
An account of each minister's work was presented and viewers were invited to send SMS to boost his chances. Low-scoring ministers were eliminated, three at a time. The process was continued until only one was left.
The winner was Water Resources Minister NK Premachandran, the Revolutionary Socialist Party's lone representative in the cabinet.
Premachandran is unlikely to feel elated by the honour since he had reservations about the fairness of the exercise. While the elimination round was still on, this writer had occasion to talk to him about the programme.
Labour Minister PK Gurudasan and Fisheries Minister S. Sharma, both belonging to Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan's camp, had just been eliminated. "They are both good ministers, working quietly," Premachandran said sadly.
The "worst minister" contest was organised by Jaihind channel, promoted by the Congress party, emulating the example set by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which set up the Kairali group of channels.
All ministers, including Education Minister MA Baby, who was voted the worst, suffered the electronic humiliation in stoic silence.
There was a lone exception: the garrulous Co-operation Minister G. Sudhakaran. He said he would get the State Consumer Federation, which is under his department's control, to pick the worst journalist.
In a sense, grading of ministers by the electronic media is an extension of the system of awarding marks to them, initiated by the print media a few years ago.
Newspapers gave up the practice, possibly because many opinion leaders, who were asked to evaluate the performance of ministers, disapproved of the system of awarding marks.
Is it proper for the channels to grade ministers on the basis of SMS messages? Media persons and others have discussed the issue in private in recent days, and many of them are known to view it an unhealthy practice.
In the first public discussion on the subject, former Additional Chief Secretary D. Babu Paul asked in a magazine article last week, "Who are we to line up the ministers who rule over us as if they are children competing to pick up lozenges at the school anniversary competitions and determine the winner?"
In a democracy, ministers are not the masters, although some of them seem to imagine they are. They must be ready to face public scrutiny at all times, and not just at the end of their five-year tenure.
While the media and even the general public are entitled to evaluate the performance of ministers, it is incumbent upon them to do so in a responsible manner, without doing damage to the dignity of the high office they hold. Viewed in this light, the procedures adopted by the channels to determine the best and the worst were clearly objectionable.
It is, however, unfair to lay the blame for the general lack of respect for high offices in Kerala on the media. Political parties have contributed more to devaluation of public office and the dignity attached to their holders than anyone else, and it is for them to take the lead to correct the situation.
The spurious contests on the small screen, like the spurious discussions the channels organise, are manifestations of the lack of sufficient professionalism. In a situation of declining values, competition brings out not the best but the worst. –Gulf Today, Sharjah, June 2, 2008.
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