Human Rights India

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!!!

2012-01-26T09:53:00.001-08:00

Four key aspects to reflect and ACT upon as we enter ANOTHER YEAR

of the guiding Spirit and Principles which should bind ALL INDIANS:THE CONSTITUTION...

(1)What am I doing to ensure JUSTICE for ALL-very specially the poor and marginalised???

(2)Do I defend every dimension of LIBERTY for all citizens..or is it the prerogative of only a few??

(3)How do I treat others?Are they my EQUALS?Do I celebrate DIVERSITY?

(4)Who is my brother? my sister? Do I discriminate against someone who is not like me???What do I understand by FRATERNITY???..

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!!!

--

PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Street Address : (For COURIER)

Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address (ONLY for ORDINARY MAIL):

P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

Today(Jan 24th) is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales :the Patron of Journalists,Authors,Writers in fact ALL COMMUNICATORS!

2012-01-24T04:08:00.001-08:00

Today is the Feast of St Francis de Sales..The patron of Journalists,writers,authors..in fact of ALL COMMUNICATORS!!! If communicators take their role and responsibility seriously then they certainly play an important part in the establishing of a society that is free,fearless,just,truthful and transparent!!! Fr Cedric Prakash
St. Francis de Sales \| Saint of the Day \| AmericanCatholic.org Source: americancatholic.org Saint of the Day offers daily inspiring saints' stories and presents ways to apply their example. Send free Saints' e-greetings.

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PRASHANT (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

--

PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Street Address : (For COURIER)

Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address (ONLY for ORDINARY MAIL):

P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

Pope's Message on World Communications Day 2012:"Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization"

2012-01-24T03:53:00.001-08:00

Pope's Message on World Communications Day 2012

Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. When word and silence become mutually exclusive, communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning.

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of 'eco-system' that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds.

The process of communication nowadays is largely fuelled by questions in search of answers. Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive. Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.

Ultimately, this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life – all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever: "When people exchange information, they are already sharing themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals" (Message for the 2011 World Day of Communications).

Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God. In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives. It is hardly surprising that different religious traditions consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things. The God of biblical revelation speaks also without words: "As the Cross of Christ demonstrates, God also speaks by his silence. The silence of God, the experience of the distance of the almighty Father, is a decisive stage in the earthly journey of the Son of God, the incarnate Word …. God's silence prolongs his earlier words. In these moments of darkness, he speaks through the mystery of his silence" (Verbum Domini, 21). The eloquence of God's love, lived to the point of the supreme gift, speaks in the silence of the Cross. After Christ's death there is a great silence over the earth, and on Holy Saturday, when "the King sleeps and God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages" (cf. Office of Readings, Holy Saturday), God's voice resounds, filled with love for humanity.

If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. "We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God's silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born" (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God's grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation "to communicate that which we have seen and heard" so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.

In silent contemplation, then, the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, divine revelation is fulfilled by "deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them" (Dei Verbum, 2). This plan of salvation culminates in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. He has made known to us the true face of God the Father and by his Cross and Resurrection has brought us from the slavery of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God. The fundamental question of the meaning of human existence finds in the mystery of Christ an answer capable of bringing peace to the restless human heart. The Church's mission springs from this mystery; and it is this mystery which impels Christians to become heralds of hope and salvation, witnesses of that love which promotes human dignity and builds justice and peace.

Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak. This is especially important for those engaged in the task of evangelization: both silence and word are essential elements, integral to the Church's work of communication for the sake of a renewed proclamation of Christ in today's world. To Mary, whose silence "listens to the Word and causes it to blossom" (Private Prayer at the Holy House, Loreto, 1 September 2007), I entrust all the work of evangelization which the Church undertakes through the means of social communication.

From the Vatican, 24 January 2012, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj
PRASHANT (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052,
Tel :079-27455913/Fax:079-27489018

--

PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Street Address : (For COURIER)

Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address (ONLY for ORDINARY MAIL):

P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

India: Disappointing Year for Human Rights

2012-01-23T02:00:00.001-08:00

----- Original Message -----

From: HRW Asia

Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 3:27 PM

Subject: India: Disappointing Year for Human Rights

For Immediate Release

India: Disappointing Year for Human Rights
Failure to Address Impunity, Police Reform, Torture, Women's Rights

(New York, January 23, 2012) The Indian government during 2011 failed to hold rights violators accountable or to carry out effective policies to protect vulnerable communities, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012.

The government took no action to repeal the widely discredited Armed Forces Special Powers Act, disregarding the recommendations of political leaders and advisers, Human Rights Watch said. The government also ignored the urgent need for police reform despite widespread complaints of torture and unlawful killings as well as deplorable working conditions for police personnel.

"The Indian government took few steps to prosecute abusive soldiers, undertake needed police reforms, or bring an end to torture," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Internationally, India missed opportunities to be a leader at the United Nations Security Council and Human Rights Council in protecting the rights of vulnerable people abroad."

In its World Report 2012, Human Rights Watch assessed progress on human rights during the past year in more than 90 countries, including popular uprisings in the Arab world that few would have imagined. Given the violent forces resisting the "Arab Spring," the international community has an important role to play in assisting the birth of rights-respecting democracies in the region, Human Rights Watch said in the report.

In India, violence in Jammu and Kashmir state dropped significantly during 2011. The state human rights commission's investigation of 38 sites in north Kashmir and the discovery of 2,730 unmarked graves was a good first step for providing justice to the victims, Human Rights Watch said. While the government maintains that most of the bodies are those of unidentified Pakistani militants, many Kashmiris believe that victims of fake "encounter killings" or enforced disappearances may also have been buried in those graves. Although the government has promised a thorough inquiry, a credible investigation is impossible without the cooperation of the army and federal paramilitary forces, which hide behind the immunity provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and other laws.

The government belatedly addressed the epidemic of killings on the Indo-Bangladesh border by the Border Security Force (BSF). Although the government ordered restraint and provided rubber bullets to reduce casualties, there were continued reports of torture leading to deaths and other abuses by BSF soldiers. No BSF soldiers have been prosecuted for the unlawful killings of over 900 Indians and Bangladeshis over the past decade.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's call for 'zero tolerance' of abuses by the armed forces has been undercut by the near zero progress in holding the abusers responsible," Adams said. "The government should no longer allow the army to hide behind claims about troop morale or operational needs as an excuse for impunity."

Residents of areas facing a Maoist insurgency, which in 2011 was active in nearly 80 districts across 11 Indian states, complained of being squeezed between state security forces and Maoist rebels. Security agencies carried out numerous arbitrary arrests and were accused of many instances of torture. The Maoists frequently demanded shelter and information from villagers, who were then punished by security forces for collaborating with the rebels.

Activists working in these areas are at risk from both the Maoists and government forces. Maoists have tortured and killed activists and others they suspected of being government informers, and police in several instances have charged activists with conspiracy and sedition for supporting the Maoist ideology. The Maoists recruit children into their forces and attack schools, often putting students at risk. The government has not fully carried out court directives to end deployment of security forces in schools in areas threatened by the Maoists.

"While the government agrees that the Maoist movement is rooted in failed government policies and speaks of winning hearts and minds, it allows the security forces to commit abuses with impunity," Adams said. "At the same time, the Maoists claim to speak for the marginalized yet punish anyone who might disagree with their violent methods."

The government adopted long overdue measures to compensate rape victims and revised its medico-legal protocols to exclude the humiliating "finger" test to investigate rape cases, Human Rights Watch said. Yet the government did little to address the widespread problems of "honor killings," dowry deaths, and sexual violence. A further decline in India's sex ratio because of sex selective abortion and other abuses against girls and women points to the economic and social disparities that lead families to prefer sons over daughters, and the government's need to expand educational and economic opportunities for women. The failure to extend maternal health care programs to all mothers below age 19 or with more than two live births also reflected poorly on the government's commitment to protect women.

The Medical Council of India took an important step in 2011 by recognizing palliative care as a medical specialty. But more than half of government-supported regional cancer centers still do not offer palliative care or pain management, even though more than 70 percent of their patients need it. The result has been severe, unnecessary suffering for tens of thousands of patients. Internationally, although India served on both the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, it let opportunities pass to support independent, international investigations into conflict-related abuses in Sri Lanka and Burma. Instead of using these memberships to show leadership to protect human rights abroad, India remained silent on even the gravest abuses. While expressing concern about the increased violence in Syria, for example, New Delhi failed to support policies that would ease the suffering of the Syrian people.

"India is now watched closely for signs of responsible global leadership," Adams said. "Its silence on human rights violations by abusive regimes because of its reluctance to interfere in the so-called 'internal affairs' of other countries sits uncomfortably alongside its international human rights commitments and its self image as a rights-respecting nation."

To read Human Rights Watch's World Report 2012 chapter on India, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/india

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on India, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/asia/india

For more information, please contact:
In Mumbai, Meenakshi Ganguly (English, Hindi, Bengali): +91-982-003-6032 (mobile); or gangulm@hrw.org

In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-7908-728333 (mobile); or adamsb@hrw.org

In Washington, DC, John Sifton (English): +1-202-612-4341; or +1-917-721-7473 (mobile); or siftonj@hrw.org

The Lokayukta deception

2012-01-21T04:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article2818868.ece

> THE HINDU
>
> 21JAN2012
>
>
> The Lokayukta deception
>
> In an extraordinary judgment that must count among the sharpest
> indictments
> ever handed out to any State government, the Gujarat High Court has upheld
> Governor Kamla Beniwal's appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta as the
> Lokayukta
> over objections by Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers. The single
> judge bench of Justice V.M. Sahai ruled that, although the Governor was
> otherwise required to act on the aid and advice of the Council of
> Ministers, she had become obliged to exercise her discretionary powers in
> this case, because it fell in the rarest of rare category where a
> "spiteful" Chief Minister and his "brazen" and "irrational" Council of
> Ministers had put democracy in peril by obstructing the appointment of the
> Lokayukta. The Gujarat government has expectedly moved the Supreme Court
> against the judgment. Regardless of the final outcome, what clearly
> emerges
> is the divergence between the Bharatiya Janata Party's strongly argued
> theoretical position in favour of a powerful and independent
> anti-corruption ombudsman, and the wilful disrespect shown to the same
> institution by one of its own Chief Ministers — a man showcased as a model
> chief executive at that.
>
> The Gujarat Lokayukta has been headless since 2003, thanks to a protracted
> battle over the choice of nominee that saw Mr. Modi ranged against the
> Governor and the Chief Justice of the High Court. Mr. Modi not only
> insistently contested the primacy of opinion implicitly granted to the
> Chief Justice by the Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986, but remained stuck on a
> single name: Justice J.R. Vora, who figured in the panel initially
> proposed
> by the Chief Justice, but who subsequently rendered himself ineligible by
> virtue of his May 2010 appointment as a director of the Gujarat State
> Judicial Academy. The Chief Minister's intransigence unavoidably led to a
> situation of confrontation with the Chief Justice, who, after factoring in
> the State government's objections to Justice Mehta, concluded that he was
> a
> better choice for the office. Significantly, one of Mr. Modi's objections
> to Mr. Mehta was that he took part in a public hearing critical of the
> Gujarat Government's rehabilitation measures for the victims of the 2002
> anti-Muslim pogrom. The High Court ruling has admittedly raised genuine
> concerns about federalism and copycat activism by other State Governors.
> And yet the BJP cannot easily turn this into a case of Central overreach,
> ignoring Mr. Modi's own disregard of institutional due process. After all,
> who can overlook the ironic coincidence of the BJP joining forces with
> Anna
> Hazare at a time when its own government in Gujarat was giving shape to a
> Lokayukta ordinance that ousted the Chief Justice from the consultation
> process, appointing instead the Chief Minister as the chairperson of the
> selection committee?
>
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> PRASHANT (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
> Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road,
> Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
> Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat,
> India
>
> Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
> Fax : 91 79 27489018
> Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in
>
>
>
>
>

Statement condemning detention of Ms. Shabnam Hashmi & others in Godhra..20th January, 2012

2012-01-20T04:42:00.001-08:00

Prashant .A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Post Box No. 4050, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380 009, Gujarat, India

Tel. : +91 (079) 66522333, 2745 5913 . Fax : +91 (079) 2748 9018

Mobile : 9824034536 .e-mail : sjprashant@gmail.com. www.humanrightsindia.in

STATEMENT CONDEMNING DETENTION OF MS. SHABNAM HASHMI & OTHERS IN GODHRA

We condemn the detention of Ms. Shabnam Hashmi and other activists who were detained by the Gujarat police, in Godhra, this morning.

In a democracy, everyone has the right to voice their opinion or to express their dissent in freedom and without fear.

This detention of Ms. Hashmi and others who were protesting peacefully far away from the site of the 'Sadbhavna tamasha' is indicative of the fascism that is prevalent in Gujarat State.

Delivering his judgement with regard to the Lokayukta, Justice V.M. Sahai of the Gujarat High Court on January 18^th 2012, very strongly states that, "the pranks of the CM…...demonstrates deconstruction of our democracy…."

Taking a cue from this, all right thinking citizens, from across the board, should come out fearlessly to protest the fact that human rights are being violated and that democratic traditions are being severely eroded in Gujarat.

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj

Director

20^th January, 2012

GUJARAT LOKAYUKTA A SIGNIFICANT JUDGEMENT ..19th January, 2012

2012-01-18T23:35:00.001-08:00

GUJARAT LOKAYUKTA: A SIGNIFICANT JUDGEMENT

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

On January 18^th, 2012, Justice V.M. Sahai of the Gujarat High Court upheld the appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta as the Lokayukta of Gujarat.

The significance of this judgement has to be viewed from several aspects and the most important one being the fact that on August 25^th, 2011, the Governor of Gujarat, Kamla Beniwal, using her discretionary powers, appointed Justice Mehta as the Lokayukta of Gujarat.

In November 2003, Justice Soni relinquished office as the Lokayukta. Since then, inspite of repeated demands from civil society, the Gujarat Government did not find an 'appropriate' successor to him. Finally, early in 2010, four names were proposed which were not accepted by the Governor. However, the Chief Justice of Gujarat then proposed Justice Mehta as a suitable candidate. In March 2010, it was duly approved by the Governor.

Justice Mehta did not seem to fit the bill for Modi and his men and they immediately objected to this possibility saying that he was not only 75 years old but he was also associated with some NGOs and social activists. However, after due consideration and having the approval of not only the Chief Justice but also the leader of the Opposition, the Governor finally appointed Justice Mehta as the Lokayukta.

The main reason why the Gujarat Government did not want Mehta as Lokayukta was because of his remarks on the 2002 Carnage and of holding the Government responsible for not doing enough for the displaced victims. Besides, since Gujarat is steeped in corruption, any Lokayukta that is not pliable by the Government is bound to create problems for them.

In a stinging 79-page indictment of the CM, Justice Sahai asserts, "The only effort of the chief minister was to hamstring the appointment of lokayukta…..The delay in the appointment of lokayukta may have helped in hampering complaints and investigations against public functionaries who may still be walking scot-free with their chin up. The government's apathy is visible as it went into a slumber in the matter of the appointment of lokayukta……The letters dated 18.8.2011 were warning bells for our democratic system. The pranks of the chief minister who is the head of council of ministers demonstrates deconstruction of our democracy, and the questionable conduct of stonewalling the appointment of Justice (Retired) R.A. Mehta as lokayukta threatened the rule of law…….The refusal of the chief minister to perform his statutory or Constitutional obligation, and the effort to metastasize the procedure for appointment of lokayukta by issuing the Gujarat Lokayukta (Amendment) Ordinance, 2011, to amend the Act, were depraved and truculent actions…..The clear refusal of the chief minister to accept the primacy of opinion of the chief justice had the velocity which had shattered the faith in rule of law which is the essence of democracy and integrity the institution of lokayukta….."

This Judgement is bound to have wide-spread repercussions. The Gujarat Government has already planned to knock at the doors of the Apex Court.

Whatever the final verdict is, one thing is evidently clear that this indictment is bound to have a far-reaching impact on the so-called invincibility of Modi and will definitely hasten the process of his crimes catching up with him!

19^th January, 2012

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Memorial to a Genocide (Gujarat 2002 - 2012) Nationwide Call to participate

2012-01-18T02:58:00.001-08:00

Gulberg Society, Ahmedabad

February 28, 2012

2 p.m. onwards

How do we commemorate such a cataclysmic series of violences, lives torn asunder, narratives of depth and despair, callousness and courage, struggle and hope?

Together we hope. As we near the Ten year mark of the genocidal carnage in Gujarat we appeal and call to all of you to join us on February 28, 2012 in the Live Memorial at Gulberg Society, Ahmedabad, physically or through countrywide protests and memorials all over India. From 2 p.m. onwards that day we shall be observing the Memorial. Through Reminiscences and recordings, Panels and Exhibits, Music and Words, Acknowledgements and Tears.

Nationwide Resonance A Call and Appeal

When we do so in Ahmedabad we hope that each and all of you in different parts of India will share the experience and in turn interact with us through a technologically linked endeavour. We shall be linking the Memorial through live web cam links and internet connections so that it can be viewed and shared at a few minutes gap in faraway Kerala, Kashmir, Manipur, Lucknow, Delhi, Mhow, Faizabad, Ayodhya, Malegaon, Mumbai.

Requirements:

All we ask is that you arrange Protest and Commemorations to mark this date. To enable an interactive sharing of the Live Memorial on February 28, 2012 at Gulberg Society, Communalism Combat and Citizens for Justice and Peace are in collective action, with individuals and groups, organizing a live relay of the Memorial by live Internet link. We request that each and all of you groups organize a Live Screening of this Memorial in different cities/locations all over the country on large projector screens. Participating in this memorial you organise your own special protest commemorations in every location. We shall also make arrangements that over three thousand survivors and activists at Gulberg will also view over the evening the protests and commemorations that you are observing in different locales.. Such an Interactive Live Memorial will be unique. It will ensure that there is a nationwide resonance to the Ten Year Commemoration of the Genocide.

The Ten Year Live Memorial will be up linked for permanent viewing on the Internet after February 28, 2012. The Memorial is part of week long observances Insaf ke Dagar Pe, also detailed below. The Citizens for Justice and Peace will also be organizing a Seminar Workshop on Lessons from Gujarat (Criminal Justice System and Accountability) at the Gujarat Vidyapeeth on February 27, 2012.

Memorial to a Genocide Gujarat 2002 – 2012

Manifesto of the Gulberg Society, Ahmedabad

Over the past ten years, as protests, testimonials and meet have observed the traumatic events in Gujarat in 2002, a traveling memorial to all the carnage sites was also attempted by us in 2008. Instead of peacefully allowing victim survivors to pay respects at the Coach S-6 in Godhra we were, one hundred of us, arrested and forced to bide time at the police station. The site of the burnt remains of the S-6 Sabarmti Express Coach has sadly become the sole mourning preserve of the government and organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Reconciliation and Reparation appear a faraway dream when collective memorials are thus forbidden. It took time and energy to get ourselves released from the police station before we could reach the sites of brute violence at Pandharwada village, Panchmahals and then Ode, Anand before traversing Sardarpura. At each site, locales of the violence and sites where dear and near ones were unceremoniously dumped, were remembered. The next day when we walked in silence towards Teesra Kuan in the Maidan at Naroda Patiya, where Missing Persons Bodies had been dumped in 2002 and have not been recovered to date. A hostile neighbourhood and an edgy police barely allowed us to light candles there.

Given this painful past, we gave decided to collectively commemorate the 300 traumatic bouts of violence over 19 districts in a Live Memorial at Gulberg Society Ahmedabad. We earnestly appeal to each and all of you to participate in this endeavour.

Digital Installations and Exhibits in English, Gujarati and Hindustani

TIMELINE in content and chronology tracking the rehabilitation and justice process with a

PHOTO RETRO of the lives of internally displaced persons in various transit camps

STATISTICS of a human tragedy, an installation

MISSING PERSONS remembered through a ritualistic Wailing Wall

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS to Saviours of Lives, Activists, Jurists, Photographers and Media People in wall panels

SURVIVOR'S LEAD US THROUGH THE MEMORIAL AND SPEAK

HIDDEN NARRATIVES brute targeting of women and children

DIGITALISED MEMORIALS News Coverage and Parzaania on large side screens

MUSIC IN MEMORIUM

Sheba Mudgal (vocal), Aneesh Pradhan (tabla), Sudhir Nayak (harmonium)

We shall be digitalizing the exhibit installations with text and photos and sending it out on CD to all of you to enable you to reproduce these in different cities. Do revert back to us on the nature of the protests and commemorations that you plan. Already, on youtube you may view Survivor lines link on YouTube http://youtu.be/xcomQuyEHtM

Rupa Modi Tanvir Jafri Salim and Saira Sandhi Teesta Setalvad Javed Anand

Shiv Vishwanathan Binita Desai Ram Rahman Rajendra Prasad

Insaf Ki Dagar Pe

2002 Carnage is completing its 10 years in this Feb.2012. Issue of Justice to the victims is not tackled fully. Livelihood, education, housing rights is some of the pending tasks. Security and dignity are still a far cry. In the name of development, state govt. is playing with the lives of the poor. Globalization and market forces are looting these sections of the society everywhere. Especially marginalized minority is suffering in many ways.

To commemorate 10nth anniversary of the carnage and to rekindle the light of hope we -civil society organizations of Gujarat are joining our hands. Two meetings of these organizations have already held and thought about such efforts.

Again we held a meeting at PRASHANT on 10-1-2012, Tuesday at 4.30 to plan the programme and decided some of the events tentatively, yet with certain approach to make the society to remind and re-organize to fulfill the uncompleted tasks of Justice and Peace. Insaf Ki Dagar Pe is a title unanimously chosen for the events.

List of the events:

1. 27-2-2012: (Half day event) A Seminar on 'Status of Justice of the carnage victims'. Organized by -CJP [Center for Justice and Peace].

2. 28-2-2012: Exhibition and Sufi Sangeet at Gulberg Society. [Organized by CJP].

3. 29-2-2012: A Seminar on Internally Displaced people in which not only 2002 victims but victims of violence, development-projects of Gujarat and other regions of the country[Like Kashmir, Kandhmahal, and N.E etc.] will share their experiences and a panel discussion to analyze the situation is planned tentatively.

4. 1-3-2012: Sharing by the representatives of Peoples Movements [like Mahuva, Mundra, Mithi Virdi, and Tribals of South Gujarat etc.] Against Unjust Development in Gujarat; and panel discussion on the issue.

5. 2-3-2012: A National Multilingual 'Kavi Sammelan' on the issues of commemoration carnage and against unjust development.

6. 3-3-2012: 'Bich Shaher' -a play by Delhi-based theatre-group 'Allaripu' -based on carnage-2002, written and directed by Ms. Tripurari Sharma.

7. 4-3-2012: One-act plays on the issue of unjust development, organized by local theatre groups of youth.

8. 5,6,7-3-2012: A Documentary film festival on the issues of Human Rights. [Like -Jashn-E-Azadi by Sanjay Kak, Saffron Encounters by Subhradeep Chakravarthi. etc.]

A Call to all.....

These are some of the 'decided events'. But we are always open to add in this list. If you suggest something relevant and effective to achieve our goal to make the society aware and active on the path of justice; you are always welcome. Add your input to make more effective events like "Seminar on Internally Displace People" or "Peoples Movements Against Unjust Development"... by suggesting the unsung struggle and people or any other ways. You can also organize similar event at you own place under this title during same period by just informing us.

We will have to join our hands and hearts to give larger perspective to the issues of Human Rights, Development, Justice and Peace. In the civil society of Gujarat we will have to keep the fire on and on until the flame of this fire does not the lit the lamp of Compassion, Understanding, Sympathy and Remorse in the hearts of the people of Gujarat and the world.

So please, give your approval/suggestions for this big event. We are waiting for that till 25-1-2012. Immediately after 25th Jan-2012, we will have to rush to arrange all the events. Your co-operation is requested to mobilize the audience, resources and venues. You can fund partly/fully any of these events.

For more details and co-operation please contact 'DARSHAN'.

We have to create the publicity material like Posters, Banners, Pamphlets, and Invitations etc. You can contribute or take responsibility for any of these.

* Organizations participated in the meeting of 10th January-2012:

'DARSHAN', PRASHANT, SAFAR, DARPANA, ST.XSSS. JAN VIKAS, PARVAZ, CJP, LOKNAD, AISF, IRC, INSAF.

PRESS RELEASE Victory! Close To 6500 Set Arun Ferreira Free !!!

2012-01-06T10:12:00.001-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
06 Jan 2012

CONTACTS:
Fr. Cedric Prakash, +91 9824034536, +91 07927455913, cedricprakash@gmail.com
Tamseel Hussain, Campaigner, India, Change.org, +91 9971760301, press@change.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

VICTORY! HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER ARUN FERREIRA SET FREE

Almost 6500 people from all over the world joined campaign on Change.org to free Arun from Nagpur Central Jail

AHMEDABAD – Human rights defender and Mumbai resident Arun Ferreira was released from Nagpur Central jail on 3 January after almost 6500 people joined a popular campaign on Change.org, the world's fastest-growing platform for social change.

Fr. Cedric Prakash, a concerned citizen and director of PRASHANT, a human rights organization in Ahmedabad, led the campaign telling Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to release Arun Ferreira who was re-arrested when he was released from Nagpur Central Jail last November.

Within two months close to 6500 people joined Cedric's campaign, which received coverage from the Times of India, Hindustan Times, DNA and other major news outlets.

"This is such an exciting day for me and the thousands of people who helped out in releasing Arun Ferreira," said Cedric, who launched the campaign on Change.org. "People told us that we couldn't change the world with an online campaign – but we proved them wrong. It's really empowering to know that we made a difference."

After his re-arrest and fed up with the state police, Ferreira filed a petition in the High Court. The Court granted him bail and slapped a compensation of 25 lakhs on the state authorities. On Wednesday afternoon, Ferreira was finally released from Nagpur Central Jail and was reunited with his parents.

After his release Arun Ferreira thanked all who supported his release: "Thank you for your support, it feels good to come back home."

"With minimal resources and support, Cedric used his campaign on Change.org to gather support from close to 6,500 people from all over the world," said Change.org campaigner Tamseel Hussain. "Change.org empowers anyone, anywhere to start a campaign on issues that matter to them, and it has been incredible to watch Cedric mobilise thousands to release Arun Ferreira."

Live signature totals from Cedric's campaign on Change.org:
http://www.change.org/petitions/chief-minister-of-maharashtra-india-release-ferreira-hes-innocent

DNA Coverage on Arun Ferreira's release:
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_4-years-on-arun-ferreira-finally-out-on-bail_1633579

Hindustan Times coverage on Arun Ferreria's release:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Maharashtra/Mumbai-naxal-Arun-Ferreira-released-from-jail/Article1-791172.aspx

For more information on Change.org, please visit:
http://www.change.org/about
Change.org is the world's fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by more than 400,000 new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.

###

--
Tamseel Hussain

Campaigner, India
Change.org

Mob: +91-9971760301
Twitter: @Tamseel_h

@Change4India

"The most violent element in society is ignorance."
~ Emma Goldman

Return to Jesus by Jose Antonio Pagola

2012-01-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

"Return to Jesus is the most important task the Church has to undertake today."

(Interview with José Antonio Pagola)

Q. For some time now you have been insisting very much on the importance of a return to Jesus.

There are a number of things happening among us which, to my mind, are not going to lead to the renewal the Church needs. I'm thinking of the disillusionment and passivity of many ordinary Christians who suffer and are confused today.

The atmosphere of confrontation and criticism between groups of opposed views, the absence of dialogue between bishops and theologians; useless complaining; the fear of creativity and dialogue with the modern world; the return to the past that the hierarchy seems increasingly to favor…

Q. How do we react to this?

We need to urgently mobilize ourselves and join forces to focus the Church more truly and faithfully on the person of Jesus and on his project of the Kingdom of God. There's much that should be done but nothing more important than this conversion.

Q. What would it be like?

I'm not thinking of a pastoral "aggiornamiento" (updating), religious reforms, or improvements in the functioning of the Church, something otherwise needed. But, when Christianity is not focussed on the following of Jesus, when compassion does not occupy a central place both in the exercise of authority, and in the task of theologizing, when the poor and the lowliest are not the most important in our communities… I believe our most urgent task is to promote conversion to the Spirit that inspired the entire life of Jesus, to return to the roots, to what's fundamental, to what Jesus lived and transmitted.

Q. What would this converted Church be like?

A Church concerned for the happiness of people, that welcomes, listens to and accompanies all those who suffer; that people recognize as "a friend of sinners"; a Church where women occupy the place Jesus wanted for them; a more simple, good and fraternal, humble and vulnerable Church that shares the problems, conflicts, joys and sorrows of the people.

Q. But isn't there a great need for specific reforms in the working and organization of the Church?

Yes, and quite a few of them. It's likely that in the coming years there will be intense discussions on the reform of the Roman Curia, the exercise of the Petrine ministry, the appointment of Bishops, the place of women in the Church, inculturation, liturgical creativity, realistic steps towards ecumenism. But, I think, if at the same time an atmosphere of intense conversion to Jesus does not exist, the debates and discussions will again and again lead us to confrontation, division and a waste of energy.

Q. Do you think that this process of conversion is still possible?

I think we have to stop thinking of what's taking place in terms of crisis, secularization, disappearance of the faith… We need to think in more prophetic terms, bringing into our outlook other problems: what paths is God trying to open to meet with his children in this modern culture? What kind of relationship does he want to enter into with so many men and women who have left the Church? In what ways is God calling upon the Church today to change our traditional way of thinking, living, celebrating and communicating the faith so that we assist his action on modern society?

Q. It's not easy…

At a time when an unprecedented socio-cultural change is taking place, the Church needs an unprecedented conversion. We need a "new heart" to engender faith in Jesus Christ in a new way in modern consciousness.

Q. What responsibility do we have in this as ordinary believers?

The most widespread feature of Christians who have not yet left the Church is surely passivity. For centuries we have taught the faithful to be submissive and obedient. The responsibility of lay men and women has been invalidated. For this reason I believe that the first duty of all is to keep creating responsible communities and parishes. We are all needed when it's time to think of, plan, and promote conversion to Jesus Christ.

Q. Is it possible to make Christianity today more authentic?

We must not be afraid to name our sins. It's not a matter of blaming one another. What we need to do is to recognize the actual sin of the Church, for which all of us are more or less responsible, above all, by our sins of omission, passivity and mediocrity. It was regrettable that we entered the twenty first century by celebrating solemn jubilees without getting under way an honest revision of our following of Jesus. I am sometimes surprised at how sharp we are to see sin in modern society and how blind we are to see it in our Church.

Q. What does this require of us?

To seek a new quality in our relationship with Jesus. A Church made up of Christians who relate to a poorly known Jesus , believed in in an abstract way, a dumb Jesus from whom you hear nothing of value for the world today, a dull Jesus who does not attract, appeal to, or touch hearts… is a church that runs the risk of dying out, becoming antiquated and forgotten.

Q. You give much importance to placing the Gospel story at the center of Christian communities. Why?

The Gospels aren't teaching tools meant to expose academic doctrine. Neither are they biographies written to trace the trajectory of his life in detail. What you gather from them is the impact of Jesus on the first persons attracted to him. They are "stories of conversion". It is with this attitude that they must be read, preached, meditated upon, and preserved in the heart of every believer and community.

Q. What does the Gospel story teach us?

Jesus' life style: the way he lived and loved, was concerned for human beings, alleviated suffering, trusted in the Father. This effort to learn to think, feel, love and live like Jesus should be at the heart of the communities

Q. Will we need to rethink the Church in the style of Bonhoeffer, less of an institution and more of a dispersed leaven in the dough?

The most serious temptation of the present Church is to strengthen the institution, tighten discipline, rigidly preserve tradition, raise barriers…It's difficult for me to see in all this the spirit of Jesus who continues to invite us to put "new wine in new wineskins". "Restorationism", can lead us to make religion a thing of the past, increasingly anachronistic, and less relevant to modern men and women.

Q. People speak of the danger of our becoming an island within modern society.

We have to learn to live as a minority, and not in the manner of a body holding dominant leadership, but sharing with others the condition of losers in this society. Many have an image of the Church as an unapproachable institution that only seems to teach, judge, and condemn. Modern man is facing a crisis and needs to know a church that is approachable and friendly, that knows how to welcome, listen to, and accompany people.

Q. How will we have to change our language and ways of transmitting the faith?

I know that theological and doctrinal language is absolutely indispensable for dialogue with modern thought, but I believe that it's a mistake to try to introduce the faith or nourish it by giving primacy to doctrinal exposition, almost always explained in pre-modern categories.

In my opinion, we have to recover and make more relevant the founding experience the first disciples had with Jesus, and, above all, with his teaching and manner of life. We have to learn to believe using the sensitivity, intelligence, and freedom of contemporary culture: putting the Gospel in contact with the problems, fears, aspirations, contradictions, sufferings and joys of our times.

Q. Is it possible to look to the future of the Church with hope?

The first thing is to build new bases that make hope possible. We have to learn to give up what does not evangelize or open paths to the kingdom of God so that we are more alert to what is emerging, what today opens hearts more easily to the Good News. At the same time, we have to promote creativity in experimenting with new forms and language of evangelization, new proposals for dialogue with people who have left us, creating new spaces for women's responsibility, worship based on sensitivity to the Gospels… I believe we have to devote more time, prayer, listening to the Gospel and energies to discover new vocations and charisms to communicate the experience of Jesus.

Jose Antonio Pagola, San Sebastian, Spain.

Translated by Valentine de Souza S.J., Mandal, Gujarat, India.

" 2012: A Full Agenda For All" by Fr Cedric Prakash sj

2012-01-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

2012: A FULL AGENDA FOR ALL

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

2012! We are already in the first week of a year which promises plenty of hope and demands a high degree of commitment from every single individual.

2012! Whilst ushering the World Day of Peace on January 1^st, throughout the world, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI themed his message, 'Educating young people in Justice and Peace', "in the conviction that the young, with the enthusiasm and idealism, can offer new hope to the world". Besides, speaking directly to the youth, the Pope also addresses his message, "to parents, families and all those involved in the area of education and formation, as well as to leaders in the various spheres of religious, social, political, economic and cultural life and in the media".

2012! In India, the Catholic Church observes this World Day of Peace on January 30^th - a truly appropriate day, as we pay homage to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi on the day he was assassinated in 1948. Gandhi ultimately sacrificed his life for his twin doctrine of 'Ahimsa' and 'Satyagraha'. The Holy Father very categorically reminds us that, "Peace for all is the fruit of justice for all, and no one can shirk this essential task of promoting justice, according to one's particular areas of competence and responsibility."

2012! A year dedicated by the United Nations as the 'International Year of Sustainable Energy for All'. It is a brute reminder that 1.4 billion people still lack access to energy and to electricity, in particular. A few just misuse energy at their whims and fancies. Above all, very often, access to energy and energy services is based on polluting energy sources. We have not given sufficient importance to alternative forms and to more sustainable energy.

2012! Also dedicated by the UN as the 'International Year of Cooperatives'. One needs to highlight the fact that cooperatives impact poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. While the focus is socio-economic development, anything that is collaborative based on a value system helps in the cause of transparency and therefore of justice and peace.

2012! It is going to be a full year indeed as we try to educate our young in the ways of justice and peace as we make a paradigm shift towards sustainable energy and above all cooperate with one another towards the building of a more humane, just, equitable and peaceful society.

The only question which remains during the year is whether we have the courage to walk the talk?

3^rd January, 2012

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Caste And Politics In Regard To Anna Hazare by By Gail Omvedt, 31 December, 2011 in Countercurrents.org

2012-01-01T10:16:00.001-08:00

Caste And Politics In Regard To Anna Hazare

By Gail Omvedt,

(Countercurrents.org 31 December, 2011)

Anna Hazare's "movement against corruption" has monopolized political and media attention now for several months. There has been a tendency for people on the left, with the notably exception of most dalits, to assume its progressive character and feel that they must participate. But there has been a dearth of solid analysis.

One exception has been a notably critical article by Arundhati Roy. Roy mistakenly assumes that, like the Maoists, the Jan Lokpal bill seeks the overthrow of the state, though she might otherwise note the dangers an unrestrained, "civil-society-based" Lokpal poses to democracy. We might say that it seeks to rescue the brahmanic capitalist state from the growing democratic aspirations in India . Roy also points out, in terms of the timing of the movement, that it comes after embarrassing revelations by Wikileaks and a series of scams; she exposes its high-level corporate support, the immense funds it has had available. And Ranjit Hoskote's comment that "Anna Hazare's agitation is not a triumph of democracy [but] a triumph of demagoguery" deserves to be remembered.

One may also question the degree of its popular support. It had no effect on the recent local elections in Maharashtra . Tellingly, a cover of Outlook showed Hazare sitting in the middle of a group, not of thousands, but hundreds of people. It would appear that the media has always exaggerated its backing. In fact, one of the disturbing aspects of the whole movement has been the role of the media.

But analysis of why the movement is growing has consistently left out one factor: that of caste. Even Arundhati Roy ignores this aspect. This is what this article will examine.

Indian democracy has a system of reservations, which is currently being extended to OBCs – and demands have been heard from Muslims and from Dalit Christians that they also be included. Reservations are anathema to many of the core supporters of Anna Hazare. This includes, for example, a group calling itself "Krantikari Manuwadi Morcha." Its leader, one R.K. Bharadwaj has said, "Reservation is the root of all corruption. The real revolution is to return to Manu's merit-based society." It's hard to believe – the author of all anti-merit demands for privilege according to birth! Bharadwaj argues, "those with reservation are the ones in corruption. Those in the general category are the sufferers." This is an astounding statement. But it indicates that a major aspect of the democratizing movement today, the growing readiness of Dalits and OBCs to act against the old privilege of birth, is hated by those who benefit from it. With Anna Hazare's movement, these age-old privileged sections are getting a chance to divert attention into the single issue of "corruption," with the hidden agenda of blaming much of it on reservations!

The fact that the Parliament has been considering returning to the caste-based census is also something that has troubled the Manuwadis of India. This would be an important reversal of the decades old policy of trying to pretend that caste does not really exist, that it is withering away on its own. Dr.Ambedkar had a pertinent comment about the Home Minister of the 1940s when the first Census without caste was taken. He said, "The Home Minister of the Government of India who is responsible for this omission was of the opinion that if a word does not exist in a dictionary it can be proved that the fact for which the word stands does not exist. One can only pity this petty intelligence." Only by admitting a phenomenon exists and devising policies to deal with it can it be overcome.

Hazare speaks of "civil society." But, in Marxist terms, the concept of "civil society" covers a multitude of castes, classes and genders. The civil society of the elite is very different from the civil society of the toiling people. And, with the Lokpal idea, it seems clear that this elite, tired of dealing with even the limited – but growing – form of Indian democracy – wants to escape it, go beyond Parliament, and return to its old, unquestioned rule. The Lokpal Bill in fact is very authoritarian, in putting non-elected people of high class-caste background over elected officials and government bureaucrats (but not, as people have noted, over corporations!). (1) "Pal" means "guardian," and the proposal recalls Plato's Guardians – philosopher-kings who would rule the state. Plato, of course, believed in something like a varna system – people would be said to have special "essences," gold for rulers, silver for warriors, bronze and iron for workers and farmers. So apparently does Anna Hazare.

This can be seen if we look more deeply at the reality of Anna Hazare. A study of Ralegon Siddhi, Hazare's village, by Mukul Sharma, shows this. Hazare runs the village like a military despot (in fact, his background is military). "Drunkards" are to be whipped. (And Hazare has in an interview said that he would like to see the same at a national level). Dalits are to be taken care of -- but they are to remain in their "place." And Hazare has said himself, "It was Mahatma Gandhi's vision that every village should have one chamar, one sunar, one kumhar and so on. They should all do their work according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will be self-dependant. This is what we are practicing in Ralegan Siddhi."

Meera Nanda has called Gandhi a "prophet looking backward." Many may question Hazare's Gandhism – at times there seems more of the RSS in him (and regardless of disclaimers, his RSS connections are clear) – but in respect to taking the self-sufficient, stable village as an ideal, they are clearly the same.

The "Self-Sufficient Village" of Asiatic Despotism

It is time for some theoretical considerations. What was the significance of the "self-sufficient village" for Indian society? We may remember that Marx had been eloquent on this point. In a journal article written in 1853, he had stated, "we must not forget that these idyllic village-communities, inoffensive though they may appear, had always been the solid foundation of Oriental despotism, that they restrained the human mind within the smallest possible compass, making it the unresisting tool of superstition, enslaving it beneath traditional rules, depriving it of all grandeur and historical energies. We must not forget the barbarian egotism which, concentrating on some miserable patch of land, had quietly witnessed the ruin of empires, the perpetration of unspeakable cruelties, the massacre of the population of large towns, with no other consideration bestowed upon them than on natural events, itself the helpless prey of any aggressor who deigned to notice it at all. We must not forget that this undignified, stagnatory, and vegetative life, that this passive sort of existence evoked on the other part, in contradistinction, wild, aimless, unbounded forces of destruction and rendered murder itself a religious rite in Hindostan. We must not forget that these little communities were contaminated by distinctions of caste and by slavery, that they subjugated man to external circumstances instead of elevating man the sovereign of circumstances, that they transformed a self-developing social state into never changing natural destiny, and thus brought about a brutalizing worship of nature, exhibiting its degradation in the fact that man, the sovereign of nature, fell down on his knees in adoration of Kanuman, the monkey, and Sabbala, the cow."

This was the foundation, Murzban Jan has argued, for Marx's theory of "Oriental despotism" and eventually for the "Asiatic mode of production." The "self-sufficient village" provided a foundation for a rather unrestrained rule.

And this is the self-sufficient village that Hazare wants to revive. He has built such a society in Ralegan Siddhi. He himself is the "despot," limiting access to television and the electronic media; he is the idol of the people; he is the arbiter of disputes. And, as has been reported, he is the one who goes on fasts and speaks in the name of the "people." (Mukul Sharma, again,has noted that when someone else tried a fast against Hazare's method, the police were called in – exactly what was condemned in the case of the Congress' organizing Hazare's arrest in Delhi ).

"Contaminated by distinctions of caste...." Anna Hazare has, quite explicitly, linked his vision of the self-sufficient village with the traditional hierarchy of caste duties, explicitly using caste names to describe the functions to be performed in the village. The limitation of access to modern media – however much Hazare's campaign has benefited from it – in Ralegan Siddhi allows people to sink into stagnation and tradition; this ongoing reality provides a foundation to trust in the "great man" to run things. Marx was correct in linking the traditional "stability" or stagnation to the externally imposed rule of a despot.

Hazare is perhaps the major figure on the Indian political scene to have as his base such a traditionally run village. It is the internal secret of its politics – and it rests on the maintenance of the caste hierarchy. It is thus not accidental that Dalits (and many OBCs) are firmly opposed to the Lokpal. Just as Hazare is the "Guardian" or despot of his village, so the "Lokpal" should be the Guardian protecting the common people of Indian from the corruption of elected officials!

What then to do about the problem of corruption? The reality is that all modernizing societies, including the U.S. , have gone through periods of tremendous corruption. It takes time for democratic practices to be immersed among the people and find their natural home. Corruption, rampant in U.S. politics in the nineteenth century, has been heavily curtailed – and the former governor of IIllinois, one of its most recent practitioners, has received a heavy prison sentence. In Britain and European societies it no longer affects elections. Russia , newly taking up democracy, is going through a period of severely corrupt electoral practices. But these factors are brought to an end, not by some legislated Guardians, but by public awareness and public actions. "Lokpals" fighting corruption must arise at the grassroots of society; not one Lokpal outside of and above parliament, but a million Lokpals, people acting in the streets if necessary. Already such things are happening, we can read of people releasing snakes into the offices of corrupt officials. Such actions presage the decline of corruption – not the Guardian, not the self-sufficient village (which has no need of corruption presumably because it is pre-market, non-commercial and traditional).

We may also remember that Marx ends his article saying that whatever the crimes and brutalities of British rule, their justification is in the breaking up of such a society.

"England , it is true, in causing a social revolution in Hindostan, was actuated only by the vilest interests, and was stupid in her manner of enforcing them. But that is not the question. The question is, can mankind fulfil its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state of Asia ? If not, whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution."

Not a Lokpal, not an "Asiatic despot," but a revolution against caste and capitalism is called for.

(1) It might be noted that Hazare's nemesis, Sharad Pawar, however corrupt, is also quite progressive on social issues of caste and women.

Dr. Gail Omvedt is an American born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist. Omvedt has been involved in Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental, farmers' and women's movements.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PRASHANT (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Pope Benedict: 2012 Peace Message focus on Youth

2011-12-28T11:18:00.001-08:00


Pope Benedict: 2012 Peace Message focus on Youth Source: news.va 2011-12-16 Vatican Radio Message of His Holiness POPE BENEDICT XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace 2012 EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACEPrécis from Vatican RadioThe Message, on EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE, is addressed especially to parents, families and all those involved in the area of education and formation, as well as to leaders in the various spheres of religious, social, political, economic and cultural life and in the media. The Message begins wit...

PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Street Address : (For COURIER)

Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address (ONLY for ORDINARY MAIL):

P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS... by Fr Cedric Prakash

2011-12-24T04:45:00.001-08:00

"CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS…....!"

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

Christmas is here again! One can feel it in the air! All kinds of shops in the shopping districts are brightly lit and festooned with Christmas decorations. The handcarts in the busy Teen Darwaza area are filled with paper decorations, lanterns, stars, baubles (made in China of course!) and all other things that are needed to decorate one's home or to spruce up the Christmas tree. Slum dwellers tap the door of your vehicle trying to sell you a Santa Claus cap, a mask or some other Christmas trinket. Several malls have already hired guys to wear a Santa Claus costume in order to attract children (Mickey Mouse and some other cartoons are added attractions!). The newspapers are full of advertisements beckoning one to Christmas sales, festive cakes and meals and of course the Christmas dance!.....The list is endless!

No one has any doubt that Christmas is here and everybody is doing their best to cash in, on the festival. One can surely not quarrel with the fact that Santa Clauses, decorations and merry making do help in promoting 'the spirit'. Unfortunately, for many Christmas (by decision or by accident) seems to have been relegated to just that!

Christmas is essentially about the birth of Jesus who Christians believe is God coming down on this earth as a man in order to bring us salvation. The birth of Jesus heralds a new order based on Love, Truth, Justice and Peace. When Jesus was born, the two songs that reverberated everywhere were "Peace on Earth" and "Good news of great joy for all people….!"

Christmas is a time when one needs to transcend narrow domestic walls, selfish interests and above all, the hate and prejudice which often seize us. It is a time for deepening friendships, for forging new relationships, for reaching out to the poor, the marginalized, the destitute, the ostracized, and the unloved….and much more!

Yes, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and the values which he stood for. Let's put Christ back into Christmas….by imbibing and living some of these values today!

24^th December, 2011

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Christmas / New Year Greetings from Fr. Cedric Prakash & All at PRASHANT

2011-12-20T04:18:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

Here's wishing you, your family, your colleagues and friends...

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS of PEACE, LOVE, JOY, JUSTICE & HOPE

May the NEW YEAR 2012 dedicated to Cooperatives and Sustainable Energy

be a year of renewed commitment and action to help make OUR WORLD

a more HUMANE, JUST and SUSTAINABLE PLACE for ALL

With our warm wishes,

Fr Cedric Prakash

and ALL at
PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : 1984 and the violence of memory by Ravinder Kaur(Nov 27th 2011)

2011-11-27T08:59:00.001-08:00

Subject: The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : 1984 and the violence of memory by Ravinder Kaur(Nov 27th 2011)

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2582952.ece#.TtJlOtL0Sp0.gmail

Relatives of Sikhs who were killed in the 1984 riots protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi in this March 7, 2011 picture. Photo: V.V. Krishnan

We must not allow the pain and suffering of the Sikh victims to be transformed into a political instrument to mute calls for justice for the 'other' victims of similarly orchestrated massacres.

More than a quarter century on, not much remains of '1984' — shorthand for one of the largest pogroms in India's postcolonial history when thousands of Sikhs were massacred in retribution for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination — in the public memory. The voices of victims and eyewitnesses one often heard in courtrooms have almost retired in exhaustion. The names of state-appointed serial commissions to establish the facts on ground have by now joined footnotes of history in a long line of ineffective judicial commissions of similar nature. And more remarkably, the miscarriage of justice through long-winded judicial processes where eyewitnesses routinely turn hostile due to threats, incentives, pressures exerted by fixers, or because of plain weariness has ceased evoking any mass outrage. In any case, the victims are supposed to have 'got over' the event and 'moved on,' precisely as enterprising and forward-looking communities are expected to do.

'Moral retort'

Even as 1984 largely fades from public memory as a signifier of mass deaths, rapes, and the state's lack of will to protect its 'minority' citizens, it has been resurrected within the political discourse in an unexpected new role — as that of a 'moral retort'. In the past decade or so, we have witnessed its reappearance mainly as a moral counterweight that is dispassionately invoked from time to time whenever the BJP is confronted over its culpability in the 2002 Gujarat violence. In this functional incarnation, 1984 has been often described by L.K. Advani as the "greater shame and agony" than the killings that followed the destruction of Babri Masjid as well as the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat. This memorial evocation of 1984 violence thus serves at least two entwined purposes. At once, it underlines the depth of suffering experienced by the victims at the hands of a high-handed state, and then in doing so, reduces the suffering of Gujarat victims by placing the victims of 1984 hierarchically above them. Probably the most unsettling aspect of this moral taxonomy is that collective suffering of a group of victims is used to minimise the claims of suffering of another victim group.

Consider the following: Mr. Advani has often painstakingly made a case for prosecution of the perpetrators of the massacre of Sikhs, while in the same breath he minimises or rather dismisses the Gujarat massacre. His much-favoured discursive device to achieve this dual objective is to imbue the 1984 violence with a kind of uniqueness that separates it from all other events of violence in India's recent history. In widely reported interviews, Mr. Advani routinely describes the massacre of Sikhs as a state-orchestrated pogrom while the Gujarat violence for him is merely a 'riot' that happened spontaneously as an emotional response to the Godhra incident. It couldn't be more ironical and insidious than this: to claim to feel the pain and disenchantment of one group of victims of state violence only in order to dismiss the suffering of another group.

This malaise goes beyond one political leader and one party, however. Any quick search of various online debates would reveal how the collective suffering of thousands of victims of state violence is routinely utilised in the public domain. The most frequent theme that makes zealous online activists dig into the public archive of memory is that of Narendra Modi's chances of becoming India's Prime Minister. In the rough speak of online debates, contributors ask without hesitation if the Congress party can demand accountability of Chief Minister Modi given its own record on 1984? The online supporters of the Congress party similarly point to the moral bankruptcy of the BJP-RSS vis-à-vis their role in the 2002 pogrom. The point raised in this discourse is not about demanding justice for the victims of either 1984 or 2002; it is about cynically denying justice to one group because the other has not received justice yet.

The victims of anti-minority violence — the dead and the displaced, the widows and the orphans — have thus unwittingly become participants in what has to be among the most tragic and bizarre political theatres in contemporary India. Their pain, loss, and suffering have been transformed into a political instrument to mute calls for justice for the 'other' victims of similarly orchestrated massacres. It is as if the two massacres somehow cancel out or make up for the horror and pain felt by the victims in Delhi and Ahmedabad. This moral retortion is intended to serve as an eraser on the nation's violence scorecard: 'your victims' against 'our victims' equals a clean scorecard.

Truth and reconciliation

Societies that experience violent ruptures, and are keen on repairing them, usually follow either the judicial system to seek redress — to identify, prosecute, and punish the guilty — or the more favoured path in recent years of post-apartheid type truth and reconciliation commissions where the focus is less on punishment and more on grieving, mourning, and forgiving. In many cases, for instance South Africa and Guatemala, both the justice system and the truth commission are invoked to heal the raw wounds. The most significant ingredient here is the willingness of the state actively to participate in the reconciliation processes. And this is precisely what has been lacking in the case of both the1984 and 2002 massacres. The state, if at all, has seemed less than eager to repair the breach of trust with its minority communities.

The much-favoured gesture of conciliation adopted by the Indian state has been the establishment of commissions of inquiry chaired by retired judges. The purpose and objective of such bodies is deliberately left unclear. The terms of reference are often weak, and the outcome is usually wrapped in an indecisive legal language that seldom makes any forthright and readily legible statements. The victims who are invited to narrate their stories of suffering in duly sworn and attested affidavits do so with the hope of gaining justice. Yet those hopes remain unfulfilled as commissions seldom have power to do anything beyond making non-binding recommendations. The 1984 violence, for instance, has been the subject of 10 commissions in the past 27 years; in one case the commission wound up with the suggestion that three new commissions be appointed instead. The commissions, it seems, grow and die in a life cycle of their own that eventually has little to do with the crimes they are supposed to investigate. They are neither proper courts where the accused can be tried nor are they truth and reconciliation type of bodies with an agenda to better community relations. The only trace they leave probably is a voluminous report, often diluted at the last minute, which may or may not ever be made public by the government in power.

A widely held belief among social scientists and activists is that victims of suffering most of all want to be listened to in order to heal their wounds. Indeed, the therapeutic effect of being able to narrate one's suffering — and to be able to reveal one's wounds publicly — cannot be underestimated. Yet what is often forgotten is that for the victims, the path to reconciliation and forgiveness is as much about seeking justice as about articulating their woundedness. The cheerful images of those accused of organising violence in news media — being felicitated by supporters, addressing election rallies, etc. — can surely neither be read as signs of justice nor reconciliation.

(Ravinder Kaur is a historian based in Copenhagen.)

"WHITHER INDIAN CONSTITUTION???

2011-11-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

"WHITHER INDIAN CONSTITUTION?"

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

In Ahmedabad, a young daily labourer jumps to his death into river Sabarmati because a day earlier, the doctors in a public hospital pulled off the ventilator from his dying wife - all because he could not afford to pay them the costs; in Delhi, a young man slaps a senior politician apparently because he is responsible for the rise in prices and corruption; supporters of the young man go on record saying that the politician deserves more and much more will follow. In Kashmir, a Mullah summons a Christian Pastor for allegedly converting Muslims to Christianity to the Shariat Court and force the police to arrest the Pastor. Several top police officials in Gujarat have been charge-sheeted for fake encounters, just killing-at-will in order to appease their political bosses.

The list is endless indeed and as the 26^th November dawns, the one memory in the minds of millions of Indians is the terrorist attack that took place in Mumbai three years ago. But somehow, perhaps lost in the anonymity of history, is the fact that on this day in 1949, our Constituent Assembly adopted, enacted and gave to us a Constitution which we should certainly be proud of.

However, over the years there has been a consistent erosion of the values enshrined in the Constitution, as Freedoms and Rights guaranteed in it are thrown to the wind and the duties which should be the bulwark of citizenship find very little space in our manner of proceeding.

The incidents cited above are symptomatic of a malaise that has crept in, which seems to strike at the very roots of the Constitution of India.

Let's see what is happening: the Judiciary is the one that safeguards the Constitution. Undoubtedly there has been some landmark judgements and in the recent past, we have had very powerful people being sent to jail. This is more an exception than the rule. We see in several incidents the Judiciary being compromised. Many of the judges and even public prosecutors simply toe a political party line or subscribe to a particular ideology just because they are indebted to their political masters. We have several instances in which the guilty just get off (even when they murder) for want of "evidence" or because the prosecuting agency has not done its job thoroughly.

Then we have a police force who are meant to protect, to provide security to the ordinary citizens. Several of them have no qualms in killing innocent people in cold blood. On the other hand, those police men who stand up to powerful vested interests are harassed no end. This in fact destroys the independence of a force that should never take sides, but remain totally objective.

Then we have our politicians. For many of them, the less said the better. They swear by the Constitution but alas, very often, their deeds belie their position and responsibility. It does not matter which side of the spectrum they are on. If they are in power, people's issues rarely take centrality; when they are in opposition, they will do all they can to sabotage the parliamentary process. Many of them remember the people only before the elections; a few of them, even preside over the killing of their own citizens.

Finally, we have the ordinary Indian citizens: millions burdened with trying just-to-survive without access to the basic amenities of life. A sizeable section is at the receiving end of a grossly unjust system. There is small group, who take law and order into their own hands, who decide they are more supreme than parliament: who feel they have a right to mete out punishment at their whims and fancies to anyone, whether it is in honour killing or even in a Shariat Court.

The Constitution of India is indeed a great one! But each one of us needs to question ourselves, whether we are truly vessels of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Only when we truly make these values a reality for every single Indian, will we truly be able to honour the fathers of our Constituent Assembly!

26^th November, 2011

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Sr Valsa John's story

2011-11-26T09:49:00.000-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: thomask_sa kocherry <thomasksa@gmail.com>
Date: 25 November 2011 15:28
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Valsa's story
.

Sr. Valsa's struggle with the poor tribals.

The funeral is over; The voice is silenced;   Sr. Valsa John's body was interned in a public cemetery at Vijaypur in Dumka, Jharkhand. Only her body has been interned; her spirit would live ever in the hearts of the poor and the marginalized and in the hearts of the all the people of good will. Let us remember she has shed her blood on the birthday of Jharkhand, Tuesday 15.11.2011. It is tragic that she has to shed her blood on this joyous day in order to proclaim that Jharkhand needs martyrs for the fullness of life to come in Jharkhand. That speaks of volume of the situation for the poor tribals in the newly created state.

Proclaiming and living out this hope and struggle has been her public life in the last twenty five years. whether working among Dalits in Patna or tribals in Santal Parganas, Valsa lived this struggle for hope, justice and life. Her determination to be part of the struggling masses, to a life of dignity and justice never wavered even once;   The greatest indignity and injustice to the tribals in India is uprooting them from their heritage, God given, ancestor protected land. Once the land is snatched, the violence would follow and tribals would descend to abyss of brutalization and dehumanization. Sr. Valsa foresaw and mobilized the masses so that they would get justice and their voice would be heard. She dedicated her last fifteen years of her life to the cause of the displaced and the uprooted.

Her story was a story of self giving. She was born on February,19, 1958 in the village of Edapalli, kerela. She was a beloved girl child and that too the last of the six brothers and sisters. She received loads of love. Perhaps,   Valsa's was full of love that she wanted to share with those who needed most. Being the youngest in the family, she became a "didi" to poor and the exploited. How could the family of six brothers and sisters part with their youngest to a life of dedication and total love? So they educated her and she became a teacher;   As a teacher she began reading newspapers and magazines of heroes and heroines in real life so that she can teach to her children. In the process, she was deeply affected and influenced by the lives of two women m missionary sisters in North India: One working in Jharkhand deep inside the jungle and another struggling among Gondhs in Madhya Pradesh. She joined the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary in 1984 with the intention of working among the poor. She was appointed in a school at Daltonganj, Jharkhand after her initial training,   where she began observing the life of the poor much more closely. The burning desire to commit radically to the cause of the poor had to be more strengthened. So she went for teachers' training and taught briefly in Himachal Pradesh. The search for radicalism gradually began to see the light. She went to Kagaul, Patna for a guided experience among the Dalits. Immersion and participation were not mere words but acquired experiential meaning: Eating rat meat which was offered to her with love was indeed a test but Sr. Valsa ate immersed herself in the daily struggle of Dalits. Frugality became thus a lifelong companion for her; experiential knowledge of hunger and poverty was very important to her so that she is able to relate with the powerlessness of the exploited and the marginalized people.

Valsa then moved to Kodma in Sahibganj district of Jharkhand   to work among Santals in 1993. Sona Santal Samaj Samiti formed after the martyrdom of Fr. Anthony Murmu and fifteen others welcomed her. She began walking to villages, meeting women going to hills with them. She endeared herself to the women of this area by gradually learning the language, customs and of course dances. She began organizing women systematically enabling them to participate in the traditional village councils and other meetings. It is at this time, tribals all over India were demanding legal recognition of their traditional governance system. Sr. Valsa mobilized women making them to understand the reasons for such a demand. She worked in Sona Santal Samaj Samiti and among the women of this area fr two years. Sr.Valsa moved out of Kodma in 1995.

She was appointed in a school at Jiapani near Amrapara of Pakur district of Jharkhand. It was indeed a tough decision for her to make, for her heart was in the villages with the exploited women and their struggles. She was appointed as a full time teacher that kept her in the school till 4.00 P.M. Sr. Valsa would not rest but began touring the nearby villages after the classes and during holidays. She would meet the traditional leaders and inter act with them; mobilizing their support for the recognition of local self governance system. The side effect of her touring the villages was an increase in the strength of the school; More students began attending the schools. She would go alone to the villages and often came back much after the sun set.

Movement in Pachuara:

It is during one of these walks-to-villages, she noticed, a camp of Geological Survey in the village Baromasia. She enquired about the purpose of such a camp. The officers thought that she would be the best person to persuade the people to part with the land for mining. So, they revealed the real intention of their stay. She began acquiring more information and realized that the tribals would be displaced at a massive scale if the project for mining comes through.

History teaches us that tribals have been the victims of development, and rehabilitation as promised has never reached the tribals. Valsa knew all these statistics. Here she is coming face to face with the actual displacement and the power of the private companies assisted by the administration within the context of liberalization of the economy.

Sr. Valsa requested her superiors to relieve her from the school. The superiors gladly granted her request knowing her earnestness and the need of the people. She moved to pachuwara village in 1998.   She began informing the people about the intentions of the government. The people realized that they were being duped by the government. The Geological survey of India had casually told the villagers that they were doing some government work. No officials had told them about the impending mines and the procedures for the land acquisition. No rehabilitation packages were being announced.

IT IS ONLY WHEN Sr. Valsa began unifying the villagers the facts began emerging piece by peice. The Eastern Minines and Trading Agency in joint venture with the Punjab Electricity Board had acquired the coal block of the area and the extracted coal would be transported to Punjab for the electricity production. The Joint venture is known as (PANEM). The name Eastern Mines Trading Agency sounded ominously like East India Company. The colonization indeed continues in different forms.

Formation of the Samiti (orgnisation): Sr. Valsa began touring the villages, informing the villagers, mobilizing the people to resist the mine. Villagers   deliberated first in hushed voice and then in public; As always, the people realized that organization of the poor alone would stand by them; they had to organize themselves. Sr. Valsa then inspired them,   stood by them and animated them. The result was their decision to form a Samiti called "Rajmahal Pahar Bachao Andolan" (Rajmahal Hills protection Movment)

It is apt to recall a song by Fr. Anthony Murmu, another martyr for the cause of the tribals: He would often sing that Our God is as rock-steady as Rajmahal hills. These hills had protected the tribals, provided livelihood and now they are going to be destroyed. Oh! The hills that symbolized the compassion and the quality of God would be in peril. The tribals realized that resistance is the only way out for their life and future livelihood of their children.

The movement followed the following methodology in their resistance:

1.       Writing memorandum: the simple people began writing to District authorities and to their representatives. This was a learning process for the people; They began understanding the constitutional provisions especially Fifth Schedule, SPT Act, PESA Act and the implications of Samata judgment in Supreme court. These memorandums went unanswered.

2.       Blockades: The area was blockaded at various junctures. They had put up barriers to prevent strangers entering the area. Women, men, children and youth manned these for twenty four hours. It is significant that this blockade continued for six years.

3.       Networking: Many organizations came forward to help the Movement with their supports. The movement began acquiring national limelight.

4.       Empowerment through welfare measures: The agricultural land needs to be protected. The land had to be utilized fruitfully and improvement in the techniques of production was one of the main elements of the alternative to mining. Sr. Valsa began enabling the people for such a process.

One must realize that Sr. Valsa remained throughout with villagers. She ate with them sacrificed the comforts of the convent, walked to the hills even staying under the trees, sleeping on river beds after nightlong deliberations. Her intuitive power helped her in understanding the way tribals moved, organized and resisted. She did lead the movement yet allowing the traditional leadership to be in the forefront. It is the traditional leaders negotiated and guided the movement.

RESPONSE OF THE COMPANY AND THE ADMINISTRATION:

The PANEM company set up a an office in nearby market town called Amrapara. The Santals near and far depended on this market town for their provisions and necessities. The civil administration was at thebeck and call of the company. The middlemen of the company recruited Santal youth first. James Murmu   a local geology graduate already working in the company was shifted to Amrapara. He began providing money and drinks to youth.   Alubera leaders were the first one to be trapped. The youth recruited began to be in the payroll of the company. They went around trying to convince the people to part with the land. They provided arguments such as that land belonged to government and government would not offer compensation all the time and this is the best time to receive compensation. The unity of the movement began cracking with the onslaught of the money and allurements. The tribals are poor and powerless. They too have desire to become rich and the educated unemployed youth are the most vulnerable. The movement began breaking. There was always tension the villages. People opposing the mines and the supporters began fighting. The social tension was tearing the social fabric of the harmonious tribal villages. The tribals began fighting among themselves for the cause of the PANEM. 2001-2004 witnessed tremendous tension in the villages.

Filing cases : The administration began filing cases on the leaders of the movement. The close associates like Joseph and the head of civil area the Pargana were picked up from the market and jailed. While Pargana was released after six months, Joseph remained for two years. Most of the cases filed were non-bailable in nature. Sr. Valsa alone had seven cases foisted on her.   The police began catching people when they were going to market. Many men and women began going surreptitiously to the company office in order to receive compensation. As a result:

·         The life became impossible: for ordinary people. They were unable to go to market for the fear of police; they were not able to visit their children staying in hostels.

·         The children began to suspect their parents. Although Sr.valsa stood by them, consoled them but it was painful to notice the gradual decline in the unity and the conviction of the people.

·         The village fights were increasing. The household members of the movement leaders began to be divided. There have been cases of children running away to Delhi and Punjab.

Sr.Valsa painfully bore the decline of the movement. She began contemplating on various ways to reach out to the people. She deliberated constantly with her supporters. Her supporters included journalist like Shaji who championed the cause fot he tribals. She spent hours at night discussing with the people in various villages. After a prolonged consultation, the Samiti decided to approach the court. The Samiti believed that constitutional provisions would be protected by the courts. They were in a shock when the High court ruled in favour of the company and the government. The Supreme Court recommended for an out of court settlement. Hence an MOU was signed between the company and the Samiti. The following would be relevant to understand the innovative significance of the MOU.

The company was made to acknowledge that land belonged to people and the company would be taking only the coal. Hence the land would be returned once the coal extraction is over. The land would be returned after filling and made cultivable.
Until the return of the land, the company would pay crop compensation of Rs6000/- per acre per year to the owners of the land. The owners of the land also would be paid Rs.10000/- per acre as share of the profit earned from the coal.
The people would not be displaced and if need be resettled in vicinity itself. The concrete houses would be built for each household including separate houses for widows and divorced single women.
The company would offer free education to the children of the project affected people. It also promised to open a school and a hospital to the project affected people. The company gave an undertaking to comply with all the conditions and full it within a year.
Hence mining started in 2006: The monitoring committee consisted of 2 representatives from each village; 2 representatives of the samiti; 3 representatives of traditional leadership 3 and representatives from the company.
Sr. Valsa's work, since then, has been to see that MOU is implemented in letter and spirit:
(a) The sick were brought to the dispensary (b) A dispensary was built till hospital was built and made operational so she made sure that the ambulance went around to fetch the patients(c) The school was to be built so she oversaw the running of the school (d) she made sure that Women participated and organized themselves.

The MOU was revolutionary influencing the RR policy of the Central government and the state government. Sr.Valsa was contributed the largest part with the inputs from the people themselves. She played the central part in making such a MOU and operationalising it. Thus she began earning many more friends but also foes.

Huge amount of money began flowing to the people. Tribals who had never seen such a free flow of money began harbouring aspirations to become powerful. The samiti members already had power and now they needed money in their hand so that they can hold sway over the community. Temptations to become rich faster saw then sacrificing their ideals learned so far. The movement had educated them to honour their tribal hatred for greed but they began succumbing to greed, power and money. The Company men began alluring them, nefarious methods were employed to allure these youth. The company middle men, government servants, local aspiring politicians, once again began providing allurement to youth of the samiti. The criminalization of the youth began to affect them too; The violence of the mining industry began influencing their character.

The presence of Sr.valsa, people's trust in her, her moral strength, leadership and her over all supervision of the MOU monitoring activities became a hindrance to opponents' evil aspirations. Sr. Valsa's presence was a block to their becoming powerful. So, they began propagating false accusations against sister.

The opponents got a shot in the arm when she had to be in Kerala to be at the side of her cancer ailing brother for three months. The opponents began spreading rumors that sister had gone away permanently and they a formed a samiti of their own. They said that they would not allow the sister's return. One must remember that only a handful of criminalized powerful youth having their vested interest stood agents the sister. The ordinary people were powerless against the mechanization of the politically supported powerful people.

The Immediate spark for the killing was the rape of the girl working with her. Surajmuni was picked up in Alubera weekly market by a group of youth and mass raped   at night. Parents went to the police station next day and wanted to file the case. The police refused to file the case and chased them away; The parents reported to sister. The victim's parents along with Surajmuni   went to Police station second time, The police told them to settle the case out of court and receive monitory compensation. The rape victim refused to compromise and wanted justice. This time sister managed to get an appointment with District collector for the rape victim for 16^th of Novemebr 2011.

Probably this was the last straw and the group felt that if they were to be hauled up, they would be inside the jail. Their anger flared; they thought that Sr.Valsa was not only hindrance to other greedy prosperity but also block to their life itself. The heinous act of her murder, already contemplated and planned, was the result of dehumanization assisted by the company and the violent atmosphere in the mining area. Sr. Valsa stood for the poor and the victimized in all situations. As always she stood for the cause of the poor and paid with her life.

She wanted to share the vulnerabilities of the poor people and like Jesus became vulnerable lamb to be sacrificed.

In kathaldi village concrete houses were made by the company and the people reserved one house for their beloved didi but Sr. Valsa preferred a mud house. Her simplicity and frugal life would remain a constant inspiration to the generation of activists. She was silenced by her murderers but her inspiring silent presence would always remain in the heart of all those who struggle for and with the poor.

Rajmahal Pahar Bachao andolan.

--
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Thomas Kocherry

World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP) Special Invitee,
National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF), India
National Alliance of Peoples Movements(NAPM), India.

48, Vayakarai, Manavalakurichy-P.O., Kannyakumari Dt.,Tamilnadu-629252.India

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In case there is no response from my mobile please contact: +91 9159750660
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"The life of the Planet and the welfare of the whole humanity should not be sacrificed by the greed of a few".
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“FILMOGRAPH 47-84-92-02”-

2011-11-25T01:53:00.001-08:00

Dear All,

Please find the attached poster of a film festival titled "FILMOGRAPH 47-84-92-02" for your kind information.

The entry is restricted and requires entry pass for the same.

Thank you.

Hiren Gandhi

A different sort of Valley ‘protest’ by Javed Anand

2011-11-24T03:43:00.001-08:00

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-different-sort-of-valley-protest/879674/0

IE 24NOV2011

A different sort of Valley 'protest'

Javed Anand

Eating your cake and having it too may be a tempting thought. But you can't have it both ways. The sooner Muslims realise it, the better for the ummah... and the image of Islam.

A Christian pastor — Reverend Chander Mani Khanna, the presbyter-in-charge of All Saints' Church in Srinagar — is being hounded both by the state and society for his "crime-cum-sin" of converting, allegedly through inducements, a number of Muslim youth from the Valley to Christianity. The priest was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police last Saturday. More ominously, the arrest was precipitated by a growing Muslim outcry in the Valley, apparently sparked by a poor quality video clip on YouTube showing the baptism of the new converts.

There have been protests on the streets, protests on the campus. Leading the charge is Kashmir's sharia court. After forcing the pastor to appear before them, a group of Islamic scholars claimed he had "confessed" his crime. Addressing the media, Kashmir's official grand mufti, Mohammed Bashiruddin warned that such activities "warrant action as per Islamic law" and will not be tolerated. "There will be serious consequences of this. We will implement our part and the government should implement its," he thundered.

What's Islamic law and a sharia court doing in a secular democratic polity? Your guess is as good as mine. The J&K government, it seems, knows better. Acting suo motu, the police arrested the priest within 24-hours of Bashiruddin's warning.

For what crime has Khanna been booked? Unlike states like Gujarat, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, J&K does not have a law against conversions. But where there is a will there's a way. The pastor has been charged under sections 153A and 295A of the Ranbir Penal Code, the J&K equivalent of the Indian Penal Code.

Section 153A pertains to "promoting enmity between different groups... and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony." Section 295A has to do with "deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs."

Why should conversion of a few Muslims to Christianity be deemed a malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings? Why should it be tantamount to promoting enmity between different groups? These might be questions for you and me. But Omar Abdullah and his police may well be wondering whether the FIR and the arrest are enough to douse the flames.

The worse, quite possibly, is yet to come. A Dharam Sansad comprising of leaders of different Muslim sects in Kashmir is to meet soon to deliberate over the "grave issue" and decide on a further course of action. Meanwhile, as is obvious from an appeal purportedly written by his son — posted on the website Christian Persecution Update India — that the pastor's family and flock fear his life may be in danger. The responses to the video clip have apparently been venomous. "We promise to kill all Christian missionaries and burn their buildings, schools and churches!" pronounces one commenter, while another proclaims, "we should burn this priest to death!" Echoes of Pakistan's obnoxious blasphemy laws?

It is far from clear whether the priest is in fact guilty of a cash-for-conversion deal. Only a thorough and impartial investigation could establish if there's any truth in the charge. But in the brand of Islam Bashiruddin and most mainstream Muslim organisations espouse, the issue of inducement is irrelevant. The theology is simple: for conversion into Islam, there's divine reward aplenty for both the converter and the converted; but conversion out of Islam is gunaah-e-azeem (mahapaap), treason of the highest order, deserving of the harshest punishment.

What's at issue here is not just something confined to the Valley but a global Muslim malady. Islam is today the fastest growing religion in the world, many a Muslim will proudly tell you. He'll also tell you with equal aplomb that the punishment for a Muslim apostate is death. The ulema call this Islam; the world calls it hypocrisy, a double standard.

Obviously, not all Muslims are ethically challenged. Take the unusual case of Sudan's Dr Hasan al-Turabi, a man accused by many in the West of fanning Islamic extremism. Turabi, otherwise an advocate of an Islamic state and sharia law said in an interview in 1995: "If a Muslim wakes up in the morning and says he doesn't believe any more, that's his business. There has never been any question of inhibiting people's freedom... The function of (Islamic) government is not total."

Human rights groups and Muslim bodies from the Valley and elsewhere must denounce the hounding of the pastor; the Islamisers should be reminded that Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees to all citizens "the right freely to profess, practice and propagate (their) religion." Perhaps they could also be reminded of the Quranic injunction: "La ikraha fiddin" (There is no compulsion in religion).

The writer is general secretary, Muslims for Secular Democracy

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

The Martyrdom of Sr. Valsa John A Challenge to the country and to the Church...18th Nov. 2011

2011-11-18T02:31:00.001-08:00

THE MARTYRDOM OF SR. VALSA JOHN:

A CHALLENGE TO THE COUNTRY AND TO THE CHURCH

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

In the early hours of Wednesday, 16^th November, 2011 in a remote village of Pachuwara in the Pakur district of Jharkhand (more than 400 kms from the State capital of Ranchi), Sr. Valsa John was brutally murdered by a mob, in her own home.

What is apparently clear is that she was murdered by the coal mining mafia or their henchmen, of the area.

Sr. Valsa John, a Catholic nun belonged to the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary. Since 1995, she had made Pachwari her home and with a high degree of commitment espoused herself to the cause of the Santhali tribals of the area. The tribals there were at the receiving end of a powerful mafia who mined coal there. For the last several years, she had been protesting (together with the tribals) of the way this coal mafia displaced them from what they once called their homes and exploited them in several other ways.

Because of her relentless campaign in 2006, she succeeded in getting for some of the displaced families compensation for their land on current market prices, some employment and even medicare and education for them. However, she continued with her fight against the vested interests because the tribals were still badly off.

That her life was constantly under threat, was without a shadow of doubt. She constantly voiced this to her family, her close friends and even filed an FIR with the local police sometime ago – about the harassment and threats she was subjected to.

Sr. Valsa's martyrdom is indeed a wakeup call for the whole country. Hers is one more death, in a long list of activists be it Amit Jethawa in Gujarat, or Shehla Masood in Madhya Pradesh who were just eliminated because they took on the powerful mining lobby and other vested interests.

The mining lobby has indeed become extremely powerful in the country with plenty of muscle and money. They leave no stone unturned to maximize their greed and profits. Their nexus with the police and the politicians is blatant. They operate with impunity and with very certain immunity. No one dares touch them! Sr. Valsa's death raises larger issues namely, if there is a political will at every level to curb this menace which could only lead to more violence and erode the fundamental rights of ordinary citizens.

Her martyrdom is also a challenge to the Church in India. Christianity in India must be seen very visibly on the side of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed and the exploited. The Church must accompany the subalterns in very tangible ways in their struggle for a more equitable, just and humane society. In doing so, the Church should demonstrate an unflinching courage to take on the powerful vested interests, even if it be at the cost of certain privileges it might be receiving from them. Jesus would have done exactly that!

In his last Encyclical letter entitled 'Caritas in Veritate', Pope Benedict XVI emphatically states, "Love – caritas – is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth."

The martyrdom of Sr. Valsa John, indeed personifies this statement!

18^th November, 2011

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Diwali Greetings - TO YOU and ALL!!!

2011-10-24T08:58:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

May the LIGHTS of this FESTIVE SEASON

ILLUMINE OUR HEARTS AND LIVES

With the LIGHT of

JUSTICE ,HARMONY ,EQUALITY and PEACE!

May we have the COURAGE to be A LIGHT IN THIS WORLD!

HAPPY DIWALI!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Fr Cedric Prakash sj and ALL at PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

FOOD:AN URGENT&MAJOR CONCERN(from Epaper.timesofindia.com 16th Oct Ahmed ed)

2011-10-16T05:29:00.000-07:00

FOOD: AN URGENT AND MAJOR CONCERN
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FOOD: AN URGENT AND MAJOR CONCERN

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

It's October 16^th and yet another World Food Day! Time for each one of us to look at the hard reality and to see how this fundamental essential is hitting all and very specially the poor and the marginalized sections of society.

The theme of this year's World Food Day is 'Food Prices from Crisis to Stability'. The question we need to ask ourselves is as food prices keep on rising and the crisis continue to grow larger day by day, is there any stability? Essential food items are sky-rocketing and this represents a major threat to food security in developing countries.

According to a World Bank Report in 2010 – 2011, rising food costs across the globe pushed nearly 17 million people into extreme poverty. It's important today to seriously reflect at what caused swings in food prices and what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest and poorest members of society.

There are several endemic causes that need to be addressed. These include: the way the economy is subjected to market forces, the artificial scarcity created by hoarders and black-marketeers, the consumption patterns of the rich scandalous wastage and the fact that governments, (both at the Central level and at the State) do not show the necessary political will to ensure that prices are controlled and that people do not go hungry.

In a major ruling, the Supreme Court of India on September 14^th, 2011 maintained "no one should die of starvation and malnutrition in our districts. We direct Chief Secretaries of all States to indicate within two weeks how much additional food grains are required" It is anyone's guess how many Chief Secretaries of the States have provided this data today.

According to recent report released by the International Food Policy Report Research Institute 'Gujarat has food insecurity levels from 0.621 – 0.776, making it a highly food insecure State'. In spite of the so-call "economic growth" of the State, Gujarat has an under nutrition rate of 47%. Above all, more than 50,000 infants die every year in the State and more than 54% of these are due to malnutrition.

Food prices, malnutrition hunger are different dimensions of the same reality. As we observe another Food Day, the question we need to ask ourselves do we as individuals, as a State and a country have that necessary commitment to ensure that only our food prices are stabilized so that not a single human being goes to bed without having two square meals a day today?"

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

15^th October, 2011

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

"You've Got To Find What You Love" -Steve Jobs...The man who gave us the APPLE and MORE!

2011-10-06T20:22:00.001-07:00

source:http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278557

'You've Got To Find What You Love'

'And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do'

STEVE JOBS

Prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005, at Stanford University

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

"Gujarat's Decade under Modi" by Mallika Sarabhai

2011-10-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Gujarat's Decade under Modi

Mallika Sarabhai

Oct 7 2011

Imagine for a moment the State as a person standing before you. He is well dressed, in new clothes everyday. He has an expensive watch, several fancy cell phones, a beautifully kept hairdo, and smells of expensive perfumes. You will think, What a successful and prosperous man. Look inside his body. The kidneys have been sold. The heart is held together with ten stents. The liver has stopped functioning. He is brain dead. Will you still look at the outward appearance and not at the truth?

This is Gujarat after ten years of Modi. The State is bankrupt. The environment is destroyed. The Narmada waters are diverted to feed big industries. 21 lakh farmers have lost their top soils and have received no compensation. Practically every big scheme of the government is caught in huge corruption scandals that remain unaddressed. Dalits and Adivasis are routinely boycotted from villages and get no protection or justice. There has been no Lokayukta for close to 8 years so no government scams can ne looked into. The Assembly sits for fewer and fewer days each year making a mockery of democracy. Farmers who have no irrigation but have their own pumps can not run them as close to Rs 1 lakh is demanded from them to get electricity poles up. Transport has been privatised and buses run only on lucrative routes. With some of the best roads in the country, a pregnant village woman still can't get medical aid. Her primary health centre has no doctor, and her village is not connected to the good road. Besides which bus would she take anyway? The labour courts haven't dealt with over 16000 cases. Education is unaffordable for the poor and not a single public hospital has been set up in ten years. Schools for the poor are routinely shut down. 1000 people commit suicide every year due to economic distress and crimes against women have gone up three fold. And the poor starve.

And Modi claims he has made Gujarat prosperous. Time to remind ourselves of what we were before 2001.

In 1991 17940 out of 18028 villages were electrified. 87% of our roads were asphalted. In 2001 Gujarat's share in manufacturing in India was 28.7% and between 1994 and 2001 the State's domestic production grew between 10 and 13% every year. The world's largest ship breaking in Alang and the Ambani's refinery in Jamnagar both came way before Modi. Well before Modi we accounted for 45% of India's petroleum production, 78% of salt, 26% of pharmaceutical products and 23% of crude oil requirements. Because of Chimanbhai Patel's intervention in 1993, port traffic, a mere 3.18 million tonnes in 1981, rose to 86.17 million tonnes by 2001. Electiricity production rose 35% during the 90s.

So let's look beyond the image and try and regain genuine health. Or we will be dead soon, even if we make a pretty corpse in our new clothes.

"Protests are good" By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

2011-10-03T20:29:00.001-07:00

Protests are good

By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Chairperson BAYAN-Philippines
29 September 2011

The protracted global economic depression is sending the economies of even advanced capitalist countries such as the United States and members of the European Union on a tailspin. Despite fits of financial convulsions due to the bursting of economic bubbles and now EU countries threatening to default on their sovereign debts if not bailed out, most official quarters still minimize the extent and depth of the crisis of global capitalism.

But the average person-on-the-street in the perennially underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East as well as the most advanced capitalist countries in the West knows from experience that this global economic depression is for real.

It is making life harder and harder even for the touted "middle class". Worse it is unclear how or when the crisis will end and how or if the people's situation will improve.

All over the world, what is becoming exceedingly clear for a growing number of working people and their families wage workers, salaried employees and the bourgeoning underclass of unemployed, under-employed and self-employed individuals trying to scrape together a living is that they are being made to unfairly bear the burden of this crisis.

And they are fighting back. They are demanding changes that mean something to them and are not mere empty promises.

In this country, students, teachers and school officials are marching in the streets to decry budget cuts for state colleges and universities. Health care workers are up in arms over slashed budgets of public hospitals and public health programs.

They denounce the Aquino government's budget priorities: debt servicing, conditional cash transfers aka dole-outs and military outlays that go down the drain of corruption and failed counter-insurgency programs.

They reject the privatization and commercialization of basic social services such as education, health care and housing and public utilities such as water, electricity and public transport.

Militant transport workers, in particular jeepney drivers and operators, along with the riding public have staged protests and strikes to dramatize their opposition to run away oil prices. They attribute this to the foreign and domestic oil cartel and speculators in the oil futures market manipulating the oil price and raking in super profits, together with the oil deregulation law and the national government's "hands-off" policy even as it collects windfall value-added-tax on higher oil prices.

The protesters are demanding the scrapping of deregulation policies, centralized government procurement of crude oil to take advantage of the cheapest prices, the scrapping of VAT on oil and for the government to take the commanding heights of developing a sustainable and people-oriented energy policy that is free from foreign domination and control.

Workers are on a warpath against the policy of contractualization that is ravaging their jobs, security of tenure, wages and benefits leading to labor being at the complete mercy of capital. They are calling for the implementation of the twin policies of land reform and national industrialization to optimize the utilization of the country's natural and human resources and to create jobs and livelihoods for the army of unemployed and underemployed, especially the youth.

Homeless people living in shanty colonies in urban centers are resisting spontaneously against violent demolitions of their make-do residences only to be literally thrown into the streets. They reject so-called government cum private development projects which exclude them but instead cater to commercial and financial big business interests.

In the US, there have been work stoppages and mass protests over lay-offs, budget cuts, withdrawal of entitlements and subsidies both in the public and private sectors. Migrant workers and other immigrants have denounced job discrimination, police racial profiling and severe restrictions as well as harassment from immigration authorities.

Fed-up ordinary Americans are staging an ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" campaign wherein hundreds if not thousands of people have been conducting a daily sit-in protest at the heart of the financial district in New York City, pointing their fingers at the behemoths of finance capital for their economic dislocation and immiseration.

Greece, Spain, France and Italy have witnessed hordes of their people pouring out into the streets to reject government austerity measures after the public coffers have been emptied in bail-outs for the banks and other financial institutions and other failed neo-liberal policies as well as profligacy of their ruling elites. They are also demanding jobs and social justice against the corporate elite and their political backers who continue to control the highest levers of power.

In North Africa and the Middle East, the political upheavals that have removed or are trying to depose entrenched authoritarian regimes continue. The workers and youth in Egypt, for example, will not settle for the mere removal of their previous ruler, Mubarak, but are calling for his trial and those of his cohorts to account for their crimes against the people.

They reject the military's hold on power and demand greater political representation of ordinary people in decision-making. They call for an end to failed policies that have only managed to deepen their people's impoverishment and misery and the backwardness and stagnation of their economy. They vigorously call the US to account for backing the Mubarak regime and its policy of rapprochement with the Zionists in Israel.

Sooner than expected, the real objectives of US-NATO in invading Libya are revealed. For one, Libya is being turned into their newest field of investment (read: dumping ground of surplus capital), with the IMF-World Bank "asked" to "rehabilitate" the Libyan economy using the billions of dollars the Libyan government has invested in foreign banks, and to repair its infrastructure damaged by the US-NATO bombings.

All these developments are rooted in the inability of the global capitalist system to fully recover from the global economic crisis triggered by the financial meltdown in 2007-08. The continuing and intensifying paroxysms in the very centers of capital belie all claims that the world economy has recovered or is on the way to recovery.

This is not at all surprising since none of the neoliberal policies that have brought about the crisis has been reversed. Measures have not been put in place for regulating transactions in financial derivative long identified as one of the major culprits that brought about the meltdown. Worse, the US and European governments, invariably beholden to and directed by finance capital, continue to conspire to this day in diverting public funds meant for housing, education and other basic social services to rescue the latter.

Corporate media and bourgeois propaganda may have succeeded for some time in conjuring the illusion of recovery and brighter times ahead, the reality of continuing joblessness, rising prices and loss of social security inevitably catches up and bursts whatever bubble of false hope remains.

Thus while it can be argued that the people's protests are long overdue and still need to gain strength and momentum, these have so far been the only forces that have mitigated the greed and avarice of the big capitalists and their agents in the bureaucracies.

In the medium and long run, they are bound to grow and gain more strength as the crisis worsens and the hardships become more intolerable worldwide. #

Published in Business World

30 Sept - 1 October 2011

Source:
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=9&title=Protests-are-good&id=39145

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

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Statement on the arrest of Mr. Sanjeev Bhatt, IPS Officer from Gujarat

2011-09-30T05:50:00.001-07:00

Subject: Statement on the arrest of Mr. Sanjeev Bhatt, IPS Officer from Gujarat

We strongly condemn the arrest of Mr. Sanjeev Bhatt, the IPS Officer from Gujarat ,on frivolous grounds.

Mr. Bhatt has been extremely forthright in his stand for truth and justice, very particularly, on the Gujarat

Carnage of 2002. Now he has to pay the price!

This is yet another instance of the fascism that thrives in Gujarat State.

We demand Mr. Bhatt's unconditional and immediate release!

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj

Director

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Petition: Release human rights defender Arun Ferreira immediately

2011-09-30T03:16:00.001-07:00

Petition: Release human rights defender Arun Ferreira immediately

The petition below demanding Arun Ferreira's release has been drafted by Fr. Cedric Prakash. The petition can be signed online here.

Human Rights defenders are constantly targeted because they work on behalf of the poor,the victims and other marginalised peoples.Arun Ferreira is a case in point.Since 2007 he has been illegally jailed

and tortured.The Trial Court exonerated him of all charges on September 27th 2011..Just as he walked free from jail,he was forcibly arrested again without any charges.This is a terrible blot on a country

which believes in democracy and the freedom of every single citizen.

Arun was first arrested in 2007. He was also tortured in prison. Among the charges was that he was a Maoist. The prosecution was unable to produce any evidence to substantiate the charges and he was acquitted by the trial court. However, he was rearrested immediately on other false charges.

While still in jail in Nagpur, he completed long distance a post-graduate diploma course from the Indian Institute of Human Rights (IIHR), Delhi, with flying colours. The IIHR director Rahul Rai told a reporter, "Arun has done brilliantly in the exam. He has also submitted four project reports in keeping with the demands of the course, which were very maturely written considering the lack of resources available to an undertrial."

Arun and his fellow political prisoners helped other prisoners file petitions and fight their cases in the court. Only last month, the Nagpur bench of the Maharashtra High Court ruled in favor of one such prisoner and awarded him compensation for wrongful confinement. The trial court had acquitted the prisoner and ordered his release, but the police failed to release him. The judgement is available in full here.

More on Arun Ferreira is available here.

Please do sign the petition demanding his release.

Release human rights defender Arun Ferreira immediately

Further we request that once you're done, to ask your friends/contacts to sign the petition as well.

If you are on facebook do share this with your other fb friends too

Grassroots movements succeed because people like you are willing to spread the word!

So we need as many signatures as possible,very soon.

.If you have received this request more than once,kindly ignore the cross-posting.

Thank you for your understanding and patience and for being involved in a very important campaign

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRASHANT (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

2011-09-27T11:14:00.001-07:00

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

Dear colleagues,

It is with great sadness that we have received news that Wangari Maathai passed away yesterday, September 25, in her home country of Kenya surrounded by her three children.

As founder of the Greenbelt Movement and as an Earth Charter Commissioner, she worked closely with thousands of people around the planet to create a world based on ecological integrity, social and economic justice, democracy, non-violence, and peace. Her vision, dedication, and courage were recognized when she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

She taught and lectured at many universities around the world, including the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale.

She participated in several of our Forum conferences on World Religions and Ecology, most especially in 1998 at the UN and the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.

She spoke eloquently at Thomas Berry's memorial service in 2009 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. She delivered an inspiring video message in 2005 at the UN at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Teilhard's death.

Her final book Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World (Doubleday, 2010) is a splendid summary of her vision for our world.

We are sending you UNEP's tribute to this valiant woman. May her lifework continue in each of you!

Warmest wishes,

Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim
The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
www.yale.edu/religionandecology
www.emergingearthcommunity.org
www.journeyoftheuniverse.org

UNEP Pays Tribute to Professor Wangari Maathai

United Nations Environment Programme
September 26, 2011

Nairobi - Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, founder of Kenya's Green Belt Movement and patron of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign, has died in Nairobi. She was 71 years old.

Professor Maathai was one of Africa's foremost environmental campaigners, internationally recognized for her commitment to democracy, human rights and conservation.

She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, encouraging women in rural Kenya to plant trees in order to improve their livelihoods through better access to clean water, firewood for cooking and other resources. Since then, the Green Belt Movement has planted over 30 million trees in Africa and assisted nearly 900,000 women to establish tree nurseries and plant trees to reverse the effects of deforestation.

"Her departure is untimely and a very great loss to all of us who knew her, as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine or those who admired her determination to make the world a peaceful, healthy and better place for all of us", said the Green Belt Movement in a statement.

In 2004, the Nobel Prize Committee recognized Professor Maathai's lifelong commitment to environmental sustainability and the empowerment of women by awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize. She was the first environmentalist and the first African woman to receive the honour.

In announcing the award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Professor Maathai was "at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa."

Professor Maathai was the inspiration behind UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign, which was launched in 2006. She became a patron of the campaign, inspiring thousands of people across the world to plant trees for the benefit of their communities. To date, over 11 billion trees have been planted as part of the campaign.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Wangari Maathai was a force of nature. While others deployed their power and life force to damage, degrade and extract short term profit from the environment, she used hers to stand in their way, mobilize communities and to argue for conservation and sustainable development over destruction."

"She was, like the acacias and the Prunus Africana trees Wangari fought so nobly and assiduously to conserve, strong in character and able to survive sometimes the harshest of conditions. She was also immovable in the face of ignorance, political gamesmanship and wanton environmental destruction," he said.

"Indeed she risked her life and limb on several occasions to campaign and coordinate women and young people through her work in the Green Belt Movement taking her messages, her charm, her unflagging humour and optimism, conviction, honesty and intellect from her native Kenya to the highest international debates on climate change to biodiversity loss," continued Mr. Steiner.

"In winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the world caught up with the essence and lifetime understanding of this special person: namely that environmental stability and sustainability will increasingly be crucial for a peaceful world and for over turning poverty, inequality and meeting the rights of women," he added.

"I am pleased that in some of the dark days of her campaigning, when not everyone welcomed her stance and commitment, Wangari was able to turn to UNEP for safety and sanctuary. She returned that support in so many ways by backing and batting for UNEP at home and abroad and by, for example, being a co-patron of our Billion Tree Campaign," said the UNEP Executive Director.

"UNEP has lost a real friend and an icon of the environmental movement. But her work and her vision will live on in the millions upon millions of people - young and old - who heard Wangari's voice, resonated with her aims and ideals and like her rolled up their sleeves to design and define a better future for all," he concluded.

Professor Maathai's unflinching commitment to human rights and democracy led to her appointment as a United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2009.

Testament to her ability to reach communities around the world with her advocacy, Professor Maathai was the recipient of numerous awards from governments and international institutions. She received France's Légion d'Honneur in 2006, the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 2007 and Japan's Order of the Rising Sun in 2009. She received honorary doctorates from several universities.

Born near Nyeri in Kenya's Central Highlands in 1940, Wangari Maathai received her education in Kenya and the USA, from where she earned a Bachelor from Mt. St. Scholastica College and a Masters from the University of Pittsburgh.

She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, obtaining it from the University of Nairobi in 1971.

"I am extremely saddened by the death of a dear sister and a great African. Her work on the environment, expansion of democratic space, the rights of the downtrodden, especially women, and the well-being of the girl-child, will define her legacy.

It is rare for one to find acceptance and recognition at home and abroad, Wangari did that almost effortlessly. Her message was clear. Her conviction, commitment and passion were real and obvious. She was an excellent teacher, a great listener and a wise counselor.

For UNEP, she was an excellent partner who never tired of supporting the organization's ideals and represented it well whenever requested. In short, she believed in what we did. We will truly miss her. She was an exceptional and outstanding woman," said UNEP Deputy Executive Director Amina Mohamed.

In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to Kenya's parliament and appointed Assistant Minister for environment and natural resources.

Professor Maathai is survived by her three children, Waweru, Wanjira and Muta, and her granddaughter, Ruth Wangari.

http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2653&ArticleID=8873&l=en

end

PRASHANT
- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Street Address : (For COURIER)

Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address (ONLY for ORDINARY MAIL):

P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

: [People's Politics - LOK / JAN NITI] Ahmedabad, May 26: After praising Chief Minister...

2011-08-19T23:25:00.001-07:00

Lalji Desai posted in People's Politics - LOK / JAN NITI

Lalji Desai

17 August 19:47

Ahmedabad, May 26: After praising Chief Minister Narendra Modi for developmental work in Gujarat, Social activist Anna Hazare today did a U-turn saying he was dismayed at the levels of corruption in the state.

Hazare, who had faced criticism for praising Modi, observed that corruption was rampant in Gujarat and wrly said it has not even spared the state of Mahatma Gandhi. The anti-graft crusader also said liquor flows more freely than milk in Gandhi's Gujarat where a prohibition law is in force.

"After coming here, I have realised that there are so many corruption cases here. So much corruption in Gandhiji's state," he said and urged Modi to quickly appoint a Lokayukta in Gujarat.

Hazare, a member of the Jan Lok Pal Bill drafting team, made these remarks during a public hearing by various civil society groups held at Gujarat Vidyapeeth here. "Firstly bring Lokayukta here to empower the people and secondly give power to the Gram Sabhas," he said. A law empowering gram sabhas is required in taking decisions regarding village land.

Taking another swipe at Modi, Hazare said, "In Gandhiji's state so much alcohol. Gujarat has more alcohol than it has milk," he said. Gujarat is one of the leading milk producing states in the country.

Hazare had earlier said that state chief ministers must learn from the work done by the chief ministers of Gujarat and Bihar.

His praise of Modi had fuelled a controversy and also came up for criticism from his own followers like social activist Medha Patkar. Hazare later sought to "clarify" that he was opposed to communalism.

Swami Agnivesh, another member of the Jan Lok Pal Bill drafting team, said the public hearing has exposed the false claims of Gujarat government over development. "Gujarat is not vibrant as shown by Modi. Gujarat is the land of scams. Gandhi's Gujarat is now 'Ghotale ka Gujarat' (state of scams)," Agnivesh said. RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, also a Jan Lok Pal Bill drafting team member, said if farmers' land was forcefully acquired by government for industrialists it could lead to a civil war.

Hazare said the gram sabhas (village councils), which are the roots of society, are needed to be strengthened in Gujarat on grounds of Maharashtra, adding that they only build the legislature.

"I would like to make two appeals to Chief Minister Narendra Modi. First is to appoint the Lokayukta in the state, and second to bring in a legislation that would empower the gram sabhas in taking decisions related to the village, especially those dealing with the village land," Hazare said. He said after the drive to weed out corruption, his next assignment would be against land acquisition and he wanted it to start from Gujarat.

"Gram Sabhas should be so empowered that no transaction related to the village land could be done without their permission. And I think this movement should start from Gujarat," he added.

Hazare said the country may face threat from Pakistan, but it faces more grievous threat from enemies within the country.

He also warned the Union government of repeating Delhi type agitation of April 5, if it tries to delay Jan Lokpal Bill. PTI

http://www.facebook.com/l/RAQB7VL0CAQBqXqoTPJMKK_O_dxXQ6klwPbKWUet4KgtNbw/www.indiatvnews.com/news/India/Corruption_Is_Rife_In_Gujarat_Says-8111.html

Corruption Is Rife In Gujarat, Says Anna Hazare

www.indiatvnews.com

Corruption Is Rife In Gujarat, Says Anna Hazare

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Statement condemning the arrest of Anna Hazare

2011-08-16T06:46:00.001-07:00

We condemn the unwarranted arrest of Anna Hazare and his colleagues! This act is totally unacceptable!

In a democracy,all have the right to protest peacefully and in a non-violent manner.

The Government must uphold civil liberties and particularly freedom of speech and expression.

Anna and team must be released immediately!

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj

Director

PRASHANT

- A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

Street Address : (For COURIER)

Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address (ONLY for ORDINARY MAIL):

P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India

Phone : +91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : +91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

Chronology and List of Dates Victimization of Rahul Sharma, IPS Gujarat

2011-08-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

----- Original Message -----

From: teesta setalvad

To: justice-and-gujarat@googlegroups.com

Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 2:47 PM

Subject: Chronology and List of Dates Victimization of Rahul Sharma, IPS Gujarat

Chronology and List of Dates

Victimization of Rahul Sharma, IPS Gujarat

30-10-2004

Rahul Sharma Deposes before the Nanavati Shah Commission

Speaks in Detail about the CD of phone call records submitted by him as also by the Failure of the Gujarat Police to Further Investigate the Gulberg and Naroda Patiya killings thoroughly and in an impartial manner

14-11-2009

Victim Witnesses apply to the Special Investigation Team to make him a witness in the Gulberg Case. SIT had not made him a witness before this, inexplicably

15-9-2010

Ten months later he is examined as a Prosecution Witness in the Gulberg Trial- PW No.330 exb.1213 when he speaks of the failure of the Gujarat police to investigate the case professionally

Thereafter 2009, 2010

He records statement in thi connection with the SIT, AK Malhotra. Information of his statement being recorded and its contents are leaked to the Gujarat government by someone in SIT

4-2- 2011

Gujarat questions IPS officer for furnishing riots call data

Rahul Sharma served Notice

10-8-2011

Late Night Wednesday August 10 2011

Rahul Sharma being Charge sheeted Under the Official Secrets Act By the Modi Government

Rahul Sharma being Chargesheeted Under the Official Secretars Act

By the Modi Government

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIA/2011/08/11&PageLabel=1&EntityId=Ar00100&ViewMode=HTML

Gujarat EDN, TOI 11AUG2011 OSA slapped on Rahul Sharma

Govt Clears Chargesheet Against IPS Officer Behind Damning Phone Records

Ajay Umat | TNN

Ahmedabad: In a clear counter-offensive on senior officials not toeing the political line in the probe into 2002 riots and subsequent encounters, the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat has decided to charge-sheet deputy inspector general (DIG) Rahul Sharma for indiscipline and violation of Official Secrets Act (OSA).
The departmental action comes on the heels of the suspension on Tuesday of another DIG Sanjiv Bhatt and reflects the danger that police officers face for defying the government on this sensitive issue.
The chargesheet cleared by chief minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, it is learnt, accuses Sharma of passing on information to the Nanavati Commission, which is probing the Godhra incident and post-Godhra riots, without the permission from the government. The other allegation is that Sharma violated his service conduct rules by alleging before the special investigation team (SIT) that phone call records collected in the Naroda Patia investigation had been destroyed.
In May 2002, Sharma was asked to assist the investigations into the Naroda Patia massacre (95 dead). As a part of the investigation, phone call data of of entire city of Ahmedabad was collected. This data revealed the links of political leaders with police officers and their movements during the peak of rioting.
The then joint commissioner of crime branch, P P Pande, had handed over a set of two CDs, containing the data, to Sharma and asked him to analyse the records. Sharma copied the same in his home computer on the hard-disk but before he could study them he was transferred to Vav, Surat. As per his statement before the Nanavati Commission, he had sent back the CDs to Pande through a police messenger just before relinquishing his charge.
Phone calls that nail the mobsters
Then minister of state Mayaben Kodnani and state VHP general secretary Dr Jaydeep Patel had been arrested in February 2009 by the SIT when the data analysis of phone records done by Jan Sangharsh Manch corroborated the statements made by eye-witnesses. In October 2004, when Sharma was asked by the government prosecutor to appear before the Nanavati Commission for cross-examination, he handed over 2 CDs to the commission copied from his home computer. He submitted the same CDs to the SIT, then led by former CBI director R K Raghavan, in May 2008. He had argued that it was most surprising that the mobile phone records had been destroyed even while the matter was pending before the Supreme Court. These records were the only scientific evidence available to nail the truth.

HAPPY FEAST OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA! (July 31st 2011)

2011-07-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FEAST OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

May we truly imbibe his qualities of

Fearlessness: to fear no one, except God

Interiorisation&Involvement: to find God in all things

Renewal:to be open- to change,to creativity,to commitment

Excellence: to strive for the MAGIS-to transcend the

ordinary and mediocre

Like Ignatius we are called to be Fires that kindle other fires!

May his charism and vision enable us, with courage, to do so!

Love and prayers

Cedric Prakash sj

(July 31^st 2011)

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

JULY 17th-" DAY OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE!"

2011-07-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

JULY 17^th: "DAY OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE"

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

July 17^th, 2011, is for the first time being celebrated as 'Day of International Criminal Justice'. This date was adopted by the Assembly of the States Parties during the Review Conference of the Rome Statute held in Kampala (Uganda) in June 2011. It also marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), thirteen years ago.

The day is a celebration of the landmark steps that the international community is taking to reach a common goal of global justice and an opportunity for those who support justice around the world to make their voices heard.

In a message for the Day, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, the President of the ICC says, "Today, the ICC is a major international institution securing justice for victims when it cannot be delivered at the national level. Investigations in six country situations concern shocking allegations such as mass murder, rape, torture and the use of child soldiers. The total number of suspects that have appeared before the judges has doubled in the last six months. The first trial is concluding with the closing arguments set to be heard next month".

Today 114 countries have become members of the ICC. Grenada and Tunesia will do so in the next few months. However, some major countries like India have systematically opposed the ICC and refused to join it.

In 1998, India abstained in the vote which adopted the Rome Statute, saying it objected to:

the broad definition adopted of 'crimes against humanity'
the right given to the Security Council to refer cases, delay investigations and bind non-State Parties.
the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction not being explicitly outlawed

Among the other concerns which India has, of the Court are:

v the application of the principle of complementarity to the Indian criminal justice system

v the inclusion of non-international conflicts - and hence Kashmir and other disputes within India - in the category of war crimes

v the power of the prosecutor to initiate prosecutions

However, many of these objections / concerns are not based on facts or are based on an incomplete understanding of laws relating to the ICC. In 2000, an Indian Campaign on the International Criminal Court called "ICC – India" was launched. This was mainly due to a concern of the existing climate of impunity in India. This Campaign has brought together several organisations, human rights activists, jurists, lawyers and others from all parts of the country, in a relentless effort to see that India became a member of the ICC.

The growing communal violence, the consistent attacks on the dalits, adivasis and other vulnerable groups, State repression and torture ('encounter deaths') in some parts of the country, make it imperative for India to review its stand and be part of a global movement for Justice, which ensures impunity for none.

In more ways than one, we, in India, still have to wait to truly celebrate July 17^th as 'Day of International Criminal Justice'!

(*Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

17^th July, 2011

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Statement on the Mumbai bomb blasts (July 13th 2011)

2011-07-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

We strongly condemn the blasts in Mumbai!

Violence of any kind and on any one, must be eschewed!!!

Violence is NO answer for any injustice!!!!The perpetrators must be brought to book immediately and be severely dealt with.

We condole with all those who have lost a loved one..and pray that those injured, may have a speedy and complete recovery

Let us all, in a spirit of solidarity ensure that peace and harmony prevail!!!

Fr Cedric Prakash sj

Director

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Indian Judiciary takes a stand.!!!!..(6th July, 2011)

2011-07-06T03:58:00.001-07:00

Indian Judiciary takes a stand!

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

In the last couple of days the country has witnessed the Indian Judiciary take a forthright stand on behalf of the poor and the marginalized.

§ "The Salwa Judum is illegal", says the Supreme Court, while ordering the Chhattisgarh Government to disarm the SPOs and to probe their alleged crimes

§ "The Gujarat High Court has ordered" "the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to rehabilitate 10,283 families (60,000 persons) who have been displaced by the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project by October 9^th, 2011, the latest"

§ 'Land acquisition is oppression', says the Supreme Court in a hard-hitting judgement on the Uttar Pradesh Government, calling it a land-grabbing State with a very sinister campaign

§ The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has threatened to take the Gujarat Government to the Supreme Court for delaying compensation payments to families of 238 Silicosis victims (most of whom are tribals)

The above and more is surely indicative of the need and importance of the role the Judiciary can and should be playing in our country.

(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

6^th July, 2011

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Awake Ahmedabad! Awake!...1st July, 2011

2011-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

"Awake Ahmedabad! Awake!"

-Fr. Cedric Prakash sj*

July 1^st comes as a powerful reminder to each one of us, of the supreme sacrifice of two young men Vasant Rao Hegishte and Rajab Ali Lakhani, who sacrificed their lives to save men and women from across the community divide.

The Rathyatra on the first day of July in 1946 once again unleashed unbridled passions with large sections of Ahmedabad city taking to the streets - killing, arsoning and looting. The city was engulfed in a communal conflagration, as never before.

Vasant and Rajab, two good friends and Seva Dal volunteers were very active in the freedom struggle and were ardent followers of Mahatma Gandhi. That fateful day, they were in the Congress office in Kand-ni-Sheri. Several times during the day, their heroic acts saved people from both communities. Late that afternoon, when they heard that some Dalit families were surrounded by a murderous mob, they went to the area to pacify the mob, but their pleadings fell on deaf ears. They had no alternative but to lie down in front of the mob to prevent their advance, saying that they could touch the Dalit families only over their dead bodies. The unrelenting mob lynched them to death then and there.

Full 65 years after their martyrdom, a fairly large section of Ahmedabad and in fact Gujarat, seems untouched by their heroic act. Communal harmony and creating bridges between the two communities does not seem to find a place in the mind-set of many. It is true, that token gestures and acts of cosmeticization, do take place time and again; however, everyone knows that these acts do not address the reality.

Almost ten years after the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, the victims still cry for justice. Ahmedabad (and several other towns and cities of Gujarat) continues to be sharply divided on communal lines. If one is a Muslim one cannot easily buy / rent an apartment / shopping establishment easily in the western up-market of the city. Bye-laws of some Cooperative Housing Societies clearly instruct their members not to sell / rent out their flats to Muslims. Blatant discrimination against minorities continues in several other sectors very specially in education and employment.

In this the 600^th year of Ahmedabad city founded by the visionary Ahmed Shah who was able to transcend the narrow confines of religion, Ahmedabadis and the people of Gujarat need to celebrate the memory of Vasant-Rajab, true icons of Communal Harmony.

The rich heritage which these martyrs have left us must be kept alive through very concrete and meaningful actions of accepting one another. It is high time we all realise this. Awake Ahmedabad! Awake!

(*Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)

30^th June, 2011

Address: PRASHANT, Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052

Phone: 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax: 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Now the Pope 'tweets!"

2011-07-05T06:33:00.001-07:00

Pope's first tweet brings Vatican 50,000 Twitter followers

By Kevin J. Jones

Denver, Colo., Jul 2, 2011 / 05:32 pm (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI's first tweet has catapulted the Vatican's presence on Twitter to new heights.

Thousands of Twitter users retweeted the Pope's June 28 announcement that launched the Vatican website News.va, and thousands more subscribed to the Vatican's English-language Twitter account.

The English channel follower count stood at over 65,000 as of Friday evening, an increase of almost 54,000 from the period before the Pope's message.

"Dear Friends, I just launched News.va," the Pope said through an iPad tablet device. "Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI."

Twitter allows users to broadcast to their followers short messages of 140 characters called tweets. The site has particularly caught on among news outlets and celebrities.

The growth of the Vatican's English-language Twitter channel, "news_va_en," was massive compared to the Vatican's Twitter accounts in other languages. The Spanish-language channel has about 11,000 followers, while the Italian-language channel sits at only 3,500.

The Twitter accounts won't be for the Pope's personal use. Instead, they will serve the Vatican's first multimedia news portal News.va, which allows readers to view all of the Vatican's media in one place.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, told CNA on June 27 that the Vatican is trying to provide Vatican news in "a modern and accessible way, using new technology."

Ahead of the launch of the Vatican's new site, Fr. Federico Lombardi said that the Pope's tweet will be "a simple but powerful and symbolic action."

The News.va website integrates with social networks. Its design is geared toward mobile devices such as Apple's iPad.

"This is a new approach for us," Archbishop Celli noted

Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in

Human Rights India

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!!!

Today(Jan 24th) is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales :the Patron of Journalists,Authors,Writers in fact ALL COMMUNICATORS!

Pope's Message on World Communications Day 2012:"Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization"

India: Disappointing Year for Human Rights

The Lokayukta deception

Statement condemning detention of Ms. Shabnam Hashmi & others in Godhra..20th January, 2012

GUJARAT LOKAYUKTA A SIGNIFICANT JUDGEMENT ..19th January, 2012

Memorial to a Genocide (Gujarat 2002 - 2012) Nationwide Call to participate

*PRESS RELEASE* Victory! Close To 6500 Set Arun Ferreira Free !!!

Return to Jesus by Jose Antonio Pagola

" 2012: A Full Agenda For All" by Fr Cedric Prakash sj

Caste And Politics In Regard To Anna Hazare by By Gail Omvedt, 31 December, 2011 in Countercurrents.org

Pope Benedict: 2012 Peace Message focus on Youth

CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT JESUS... by Fr Cedric Prakash

Christmas / New Year Greetings from Fr. Cedric Prakash & All at PRASHANT

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : 1984 and the violence of memory by Ravinder Kaur(Nov 27th 2011)

'Moral retort'

Truth and reconciliation

"WHITHER INDIAN CONSTITUTION???

Sr Valsa John's story

“FILMOGRAPH 47-84-92-02”-

A different sort of Valley ‘protest’ by Javed Anand

A different sort of Valley 'protest'

The Martyrdom of Sr. Valsa John A Challenge to the country and to the Church...18th Nov. 2011

Diwali Greetings - TO YOU and ALL!!!

FOOD:AN URGENT&MAJOR CONCERN(from Epaper.timesofindia.com 16th Oct Ahmed ed)

"You've Got To Find What You Love" -Steve Jobs...The man who gave us the APPLE and MORE!

"Gujarat's Decade under Modi" by Mallika Sarabhai

"Protests are good" By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

Statement on the arrest of Mr. Sanjeev Bhatt, IPS Officer from Gujarat

Petition: Release human rights defender Arun Ferreira immediately

Petition: Release human rights defender Arun Ferreira immediately

Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

: [People's Politics - LOK / JAN NITI] Ahmedabad, May 26: After praising Chief Minister...

Statement condemning the arrest of Anna Hazare

Chronology and List of Dates Victimization of Rahul Sharma, IPS Gujarat

Govt Clears Chargesheet Against IPS Officer Behind Damning Phone Records

Ajay Umat | TNN

HAPPY FEAST OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA! (July 31st 2011)

JULY 17th-" DAY OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE!"

Statement on the Mumbai bomb blasts (July 13th 2011)

Indian Judiciary takes a stand.!!!!..(6th July, 2011)

Awake Ahmedabad! Awake!...1st July, 2011

Now the Pope 'tweets!"

PRESS RELEASE Victory! Close To 6500 Set Arun Ferreira Free !!!