Plea for professionalism

B. R. P. BHASKAR

 

Malayalam cinema, which scaled heights of glory ahead of its South Indian cousins, has been down in the dumps for some time, leading to animated discussions on ways to overcome the crisis that has gripped it. Against this background, the appearance of C.S. Venkiteswaran's writings, which appeared in various periodicals in the recent past, in book form, is timely.

Malayalam films made an early impact with realistic handling of social issues and popular resistance. Venkiteswaran, a perspective observer and critic, attributes the change in the character of cinema, which began in the 1970s, to factors such as breakup of the joint family and introduction of land reforms. The problems of the individual, especially conflicts within, now came to the fore. Commercial aspects of the cinema also gained prominence at this stage.

Later television arrived and cinema retreated to sex and comedy. Now, he says, instead of facing the challenge squarely and moving to a new phase, it is seeking shelter behind fading stars and trotting out excuses like lack of good scripts.

He warns the industry that if it does not address the problem of lack of professionalism, it will be relegated to a ghetto in this age of globalisation.

Besides informative articles on subjects like parallel cinema, Third World cinema, the film society movement and the state of film criticism, the volume includes assessments of noted film makers John Abraham and P. N. Menon and landmark films ‘Neelakkuyil' and ‘Nirmalyam.'

The book is profusely illustrated but the pictures are poorly reproduced.

MALAYALA CINEMA PADANANGAL: By C. S. Venkiteswaran, DC Books, Kottayam 686001, Rs. 125.

A centenary passing unnoticed

Year 2012 marks the centenary of the abolition of Marumakkathayam (matrilinear system) which prevailed in Kerala for centuries.

The event appears to have escaped the attention of the media and other institutions which celebrate with gusto the 90^th and 100^th birthdays of the successors of feudal rulers and take solemn note of the anniversaries of boat tragedies and tsunamis.

It was in 1912 that the Travancore Marumakkathayam Act was passed by which half of the intestate male’s self acquired property could be gifted to wife and children. This, in conjunction with the Travancore Will Act of 1899, tolled the death knell of Marumakkathayam.

The Travancore Nair Regulation of 1912, passed by the Maharajah of Travancore, legalized Sambhandham (conjugal union). It set the context for the 1925 Nair Act, the 1925 Ezhava Act, the 1926 Nanjanad Vellala Act and the 1932 Kshatriya Act – all of Travancore. It inspired the 1920 Nair Regulation of Cochin and the 1933 Marumakkathayam Act of Madras including Malabar.

Source: Directorate of State Archives, Government of Kerala 

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Kerala activists plan march from Nagercoil to Kudankulam

Anti-nuclear groups in Kerala have planned a march from Nagercoil to Kudankulam, beginning on Monday, March 26, to express solidarity with the people protesting against the nuclear power plant there.

The following is a statement issued by them in this connection:

The situation in Kudankulam has precipitated to an unthinkable repression.  More than 6,000 police personnel and paramilitary forces have been deployed around Idinthakarai village, where about 20,000 people from surrounding villages have gathered to protest. While 16 people have started a fast unto death at Idinthakarai, the police have cut down all essential supplies including food, water and electricity. They are demanding surrender of leading activists like S P Udayakumar, Pushparayan and others. Section 144 CrPC has been imposed on the majority of coastal villages in Radhapuram block. Media entry has also been denied in Idinthakarai.

A major intervention from the democratic sections of Indian society is required at this juncture. We have planned a joint march from Nagercoil to Kudankulam on March 26th (Monday). Different activists groups and organizations in Kerala are supporting this initiative and we hope to ensure participation of around 500 people.

People’s tribunal must go into Jayalalithaa’s allegation of land grab

The full-page advertisement under Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s signature, appearing in the national dailies today, makes a reference to the interests of land grabbers in Kerala in the Mullaperiyar dam controversy.

Following the concerns voiced by Kerala over the safety of the dam, the reservoir level has been kept at 136 feet for the last few years although the optimum level envisaged was 156 feet. After the Tamil Nadu government carried out certain repairs, which were recommended by the Central Water Commission, the Supreme Court had allowed it in 2006 to raise the level to 142 feet. The court said the level could be raised further after further works were carried out.

The Kerala government immediately got the Assembly to amend the Irrigation and Water Conservation Act to fix the maximum water level at 136 feet. The Tamil Nadu government questioned the validity of the law before the Supreme Court. Its petition is still pending before the court.

In the advertisement, Jayalalithaa states, “It is …reported that when the water level at Mullaperiyar Dam is 136 feet, the water spread area is 4678 acres and that if the water is stored to 155 feet, the water spread area will be 8591 acres. Since water has not been stored above 136 feet for a long time, the water spread area has been encroached upon by land grabbers in Kerala who have built resorts and other buildings on the lands leased to Tamil Nadu. If the water level is increased from 136 feet, these resorts will get submerged in water. This is also cited by some as the possible reason for the plea to decommission the Mullaperiyar Dam.”

We who know well about the activities of land grabbers and their political links cannot dismiss her statement as mere grist to Tamil Nadu’s propaganda mill.

Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan told the Kerala Assembly on Friday that rough estimates of the likely damage in the event of a dam break showed that 21,540 people would be directly in the danger zone where the time would be too short for rescue operations and 1,28,460 people more would be affected in the evacuation zone.

Quite obviously the figure of loss of three million to four million lives bandied about by he and his colleagues during the past few days was a gross exaggeration. Those who made such irresponsible statements must not only be kicked out of the government but also prosecuted for spreading rumours.

The ministers who have been most actively building up a scare by painting a doomsday scenario belong to a party which has always vehemently championed the cause of forest encroachers. As the aborted Munnar eviction campaign of the last few years has shown, land grabbers and their patrons are there in all the major parties.

In these circumstances, Jayalalithaa’s allegation needs to be examined. Considering the influence of land grabbers across the political spectrum there is no point in asking the government of Kerala to conduct an investigation and place the facts before the public. Civil society must set up an independent people’s tribunal to ascertain the facts.

One question that legitimately arises is why did Tamil Nadu allow the leased land in its possession to be grabbed by resort builders. The short answers is that those who bribe politicians and officials of Kerala can bribe those of Tamil Nadu as well.

Mullaperiyar: wasted opportunities

Kerala’s current agony stems from the fact that there is on its territory a dam which is under the control of the government of another state.

In 40 years the government of Kerala has not been able to convince the government of Tamil Nadu that the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam has outlived its life and that if it collapses the lives and livelihood of millions of people will be in jeopardy.

The Indian government has been in the picture all through. Tamil Nadu’s intransigence has frustrated its efforts to help resolve the issue through talks so far. Maybe it has also found Tamil Nadu’s argument that there is no threat to the dam more convincing than Kerala’s stand that it poses a threat.

For several years now, the Supreme Court too has been in the picture. Tamil Nadu has met with a measure of success in that forum. The apex court allowed TN to raise the water level of the reservoir, which had been lowered to 136 feet at Kerala’s request to reduce the risk of dam burst, after it had carried out some maintenance works proposed by the Central Water Commission. It also said TN could raise it further to the optimum level of 156 feet after taking further steps to strengthen the structure.

A series of earth tremors which rocked the Idukki district, where the dam is located, in the past few months has aggravated Kerala’s concerns about the safety of the dam. Responsible leaders and the media have played up the issue and spread fear. This has resulted in an emotional upsurge, which is very uncharacteristic of Kerala.

Whether the fear of dam burst is real, as the Kerala government insists, or it is artificially created, as the Tamil Nadu government maintains, there are some questions that need to be addressed squarely. Must the people of Kerala remain perpetually at the mercy of the government of another state? Must the government of Kerala, which has a constitutional obligation to protect the lives of its people, wait upon the goodwill of another state government to discharge its duty?

The Mullaperiyar dam stands on land leased by the Maharaja of the erstwhile Travancore state to the British government under an agreement signed in 1886. The Dewan of Travancore signed the agreement for the Maharaja and an official of the Madras Presidency for the Secretary of State for India, who was the British minister in charge of Indian affairs.

The agreement uses the term ‘lease indenture’. That term conclusively establishes its colonial character. Indenture makes it clear that the agreement was not between equals. The Maharaja of Travancore was a vassal of Britain, which had taken over the administration of India from the English East India Company in 1858.

The agreement set the period of the lease indenture at 999 years. The British presumably imagined India would be at their heels for all time. The Maharaja of Travancore certainly was reconciled to remaining a vassal for 1,000 years.

Under the lease agreement, Travancore made available 100 acres of land for the dam and 8,000 acres for the reservoir. The dam was built by British military engineers and it remained under the control of the Madras government.

The legal position is that the indenture ended when India became independent in 1947. Thereafter the government of Travancore and those of Travancore-Cochin and Kerala, made several unsuccessful attempts to sign a new agreement. The government of Madras and that of Tamil Nadu were determined to keep the advantage the colonial-era agreement gave them. Since the Travancore government and its successors scrupulously adhered to all terms of the lapsed agreement the authorities in Madras were in no hurry to go in for a new one.

The situation changed somewhat in 1970. Tamil Nadu wanted a new agreement as it wanted to use the waters of the Periyar for power generation also. The original agreement only provided for their use for irrigation.

The government of Kerala failed to use the opportunity to end the anomalous situation of another government controlling the dam located in its territory. The responsibility for the lapse lies at the door of the political parties which wielded power in the state at the relevant time. They fell in line with the wishes of their national leadership, which backed Tamil Nadu's demand. Ironically, the leaders of these very parties are now vying with one another to be recognized as the most vocal champions of the state’s interests.

People's Convention to demand moratorium on death peanlty

K. Girish Kumar, Convener, Organizing Committee, People’s convention Against Death Penalty, writes:

A people’s convention demanding moratorium on death penalty will be held on 28 November 2011 at VJT hall, Thiruvananthapuram. Various civil society groups, intellectuals and political activists will attend the convention.
Local level meetings and campaigns are also planned in different districts.

Following the Tamil Nadu legislative Assembly's adoption of a resolution demanding commutation of the death sentence awarded to the convicts in the Rajeev Gandhi assassination case, a resolution also came before the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly with a similar demand regarding the death sentence awarded to Afsal Guru in the Parliament attack case. This is quite an unprecedented development in the country.

The land of Kerala has the legacy of abolishing death penalty in 1940s. In continuity with this step, members from here had also voiced, in the Constituent Assembly the demand for enactment of a progressive law for the nationwide abolition of death penalty.

In 2005, the Vadhasiksha Virudha Samithi (Council Against Capital Punishment) submitted a mass representation, ‘human rights memorial’ before the central and state governments , urging them to abolish the death penalty and take legal and policy measures to protect the human rights of prisoners, including the right to life.

Though the demand that the Kerala Legislative Assembly adopt a resolution against death penalty is yet to materialize, campaigns and protests have succeeded in ensuring many rights of prisoners, like restoration of the precedence of releasing prisoners after serving a certain period of life imprisonment.

As mentioned above, a new scenario is evolving in the country. Political parties, legislative assemblies, states and people are joining the protest bloc created by human rights activists and civil rights activists against death penalty in connection with particular cases.

We request all political parties, social organizations, groups and individuals to take part in the convention

Mr Girish Kumar can be contacted at 09947787523

B.R.P.Bhaskar

MOVE OVER, your lordships.

The stargazers have taken over. Speaking through them, Sree Padmanabhaswamy, the presiding deity of Thiruvananthapuram ( in picture), has made it known that he is not amused by the opening of the temple’s underground cellars which has revealed him as the nation’s richest god.

The decision to requisition the services of five astrologers to conduct Devaprasanam ( divine consultation), the traditional method of ascertaining the wishes of Hindu deities, was taken by Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma ( who controls the temple administration) in consultation with the Thanthri, the head priest who is the final authority on matters concerning temple rituals.

The sequence of events leaves room to suspect that the astrological findings are a command performance aimed at nullifying the SC’s directive to set up a trust to administer the temple, and thus perpetuate the erstwhile Travancore royal family’s control over it.

Marthanda Varma, who is the younger brother of Travancore’s last king, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma and would have succeeded him if the state and kingship had survived, had taken over the temple administration after his brother’s death — assuming the title of Sree Padmanabha dasa ( servant of Padmanabha). The governments were apparently unaware that he was not entitled to do so.

He would have been able to keep the temple under his control without challenge but for certain remarks he made to a Malayalam daily, claiming the temple treasures were the property of the former royal family and revealed that arrangements had been made to photograph them.

Infuriated by the claim, some devotees moved civil courts seeking injunction against those in control of the temple.

One court, after hearing the plaintiffs, who included the Temple Employees Union, granted an injunction against opening of the treasure rooms.

Marthanda Varma and the temple’s executive officer approached the high court seeking legal sanction for his defacto control over the temple. In a judgment delivered in January this year, justices C. N. Ramachandran Nair and K. Surendra Mohan refused the plea.

The judges concluded that Marthanda Varma did not have the right to administer the temple since he was not the ruler of Travancore. They said Balarama Varma ( Marthanda’s brother) had never claimed that the temple was his property or that of his family. The temple did not figure in his will.

The SC upheld the high court’s findings and constituted a committee to open the cellars and catalogue the treasures.
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As the committee was proceeding with its task, Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif> a relative of Marthanda Varma, filed a petition objecting to the cataloguing of the treasures and seeking a Devaprasanam to ascertain the deity’s wishes.

The court didn’t say anything on this but deferred the opening of the last cellar.

The attempt to prevent the opening of the sixth cellar raises questions and curiosity about what valuable assets or secrets it may contain. The treasures revealed so far have been informally valued at ` 100,000 crore. -- Mail Today, New Delhi, August 16, 2011