THE NOWHERE PEOPLE...Sumanahalli Society( Indian Express,29th July 2009)

 

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/495299/

The Indian Express
 
THE NOWHERE PEOPLE

Johnson TA Posted online: Wednesday, Jul 29, 2009 at 0138 hrs

Bangalore : For the last eight years 51-year-old Thimmaiah, his wife Jayamma and 13-year-old daughter Varalakshmi have been living on the campus of the Sumanahalli Society — a centre for leprosy, HIV treatment, street kids, orphans and destitutes — located on 50 acres of what is now prime land in Bangalore. Sent out of his village after he developed leprosy, the Sumanahalli Society, run by Christian priests and nuns, is the only home for Thimmaiah and his family. His wife Jayamma is blind. Their life revolves around their daughter who looks after the couple between attending a school on the same campus.

Ten days ago, Thimmaiah learnt from Fr George Kannanthanum, the director of the society, that the BJP government in Karnataka in a July 6 Cabinet meeting has decided to take back the land leased to the society.

"There will be nowhere to go. I don't know what will become of us," says Thimmaiah.

At the St Joseph's School, run by the Sumanahalli Society, where Thimmaiah proudly says his daughter is learning English, the nine teachers have been informed about the possible government takeover of the land, but the 108 children have not been told yet. "We don't want to inform the children or their parents as yet because they will stop sending them. Most come from poor families who cannot afford books, fees or food and the free education here is the incentive to send them," says headmistress Sister Suma.

Over 1,700 people, including poor schoolchildren, AIDS-affected, destitute and disabled persons are set to be uprooted as the state government moves to take back 210 acres set aside for their rehabilitation and relief over the years.

"When I heard about the land being taken over by the government, I felt sad for all the people here who have nowhere to go. This land has given a new lease of life to so many hundreds of people," says 21-year-old Lokesh Kumar, a third-year law student in a local college who first came to Sumanahalli 10 years ago as a homeless boy after being diagnosed with leprosy at a home for runaway kids.

Apart from the 50 acres of land leased to the organisation, an adjacent 160-acre property with a Beggars Colony that houses 922 people — including 131 mentally disabled, 45 disabled and 402 elderly — will also be a part of the government land swoop. "The prime land valued at Rs 1,000 crore has been coveted by politicians for a while now. In 2007, during the JD(S)-BJP rule, a minister had proposed handing over the entire property at one-third of the market value to private developers. But the proposal did not go through," said a senior bureaucrat in the government.

While the Yeddyurappa government has officially announced plans to acquire the 160-acre Beggars Colony, the move on the Sumanahalli property has not been announced. But senior officials confirmed that a Cabinet decision has been taken in this regard.

"The Cabinet decision covers the entire land and includes Sumanahalli. A notification is yet to be issued. Modalities are being worked out for the takeover. The land will be entirely used for public purpose and will involve government agencies," said Principal Secretary, Social Welfare department, E Venkataiah, under whose purview the 210 acres of land falls. Social Welfare department officials said plans were afoot to finalise the rehabilitation of the people from the Beggars Colony, but added there were no such plans for Sumanahalli.

A Cabinet decision on moving the Beggars Colony was taken on July 6 after Yeddyurappa paid a "surprise visit" and expressed unhappiness over health, food and working conditions of the people living there.

In a press briefing on the proceedings of the July 6 Cabinet meeting, Home Minister V S Acharya announced that the Cabinet has decided to take over 160 acres of the Beggar's Colony on the Magadi Road for the construction of a hospital, a bus terminus and a large park, but remained silent on 50 acres of land with the Sumanahalli Society.

"We were not even issued a notice about the move to evict us from this land. We came to know about it accidentally during a meeting with a government official. Does this mean there is no place for the poor in Bangalore?" says Fr George Kannanthanam.

The Sumanahalli Society was started as a leprosy treatment and rehabilitation project in 1977 on 63 acres of land leased by the then chief minister Devaraj Urs. In a letter to the then archbishop of Bangalore, inviting him to set up the facility, Urs had stated that "it may be difficult for a government organisation to provide this, as tasks of mercy are not generally effectively done by a bureaucratic system". The society had been tasked with 'conducting, running and administering a centre for the welfare and rehabilitation of leprosy patients and other physically destitute persons and their families'.

Widely recognised for its humanitarian service, the Sumanahalli Society, with leprosy cases on the decline, has expanded into HIV treatment, rehabilitation of the disabled and destitutes. The society won the best NGO serving the disabled in Karnataka award in 2007. A garment factory started on the campus with government support provides employment to over 100 people including HIV patients, leprosy affected people and their family members.

"Most people still identify us as a leprosy project, but we work with HIV/AIDS patients (30), differently abled (30), orphans (45), street boys (50), juvenile delinquents (40)," says Fr George Kannanthanam.

The society handed over 13 of its 63 acres to the government for building a road. In 2006, the society agreed to a proposal where 25 acres of land was to be taken by the government for creating a campus for the Visvesvaraya Technological University and the remaining 25 acres would be given as a grant to the society.

"When the 30-year lease over the property ended in 2007, government officials assured us that there will be no problems in continuing our work. We never expected this. The land has been earmarked for a social cause and if used commercially, it violates the basic principle of land use," the director said.

Amartya Sen on "Justice!"

 

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Amartya Sen's story of Justice

Rashmee Roshan Lall, TNN 26 July 2009, 10:14am IST

In an exclusive interview with The Times of India, the Nobel laureate speaks about his most ambitious book yet.

Who is this book for? Academics who study justice? Philosophers who explore justice? Legislators who create the system that doles out justice? The layperson who thinks about justice?

It is a book on philosophy, but it is meant for everyone. I agree with Antonio Gramsci, the great Italian political leader, that philosophy is not "a strange and difficult thing", but all the things we reason about. Of course I hope there will be some academic interest from professional philosophers, and that those concerned with policy issues will also take an interest. But the idea of justice interests us all.

The Idea of Justice has been described as your most ambitious book yet, but will you accept that its length, subject and style could limit its reach?

The reach of our ideas is always limited to some extent, and if there is some ambition in the book, it lies in my refusal to give up, without a serious effort, trying to communicate with others. In writing about any difficult but important problem, we have to try to catch the complexities involved without making our arguments obtuse, perplexing or inaccessible. I believe it is easy to underestimate the breadth and reach of the interests of the general public. There is a kind of vanity of the self-defined "intellectuals" who bend down to talk to "common people". (It is, by the way, very bad for the intellectual's back to do so much bending down!) Since some of the most insightful comments I have received throughout my long life have come from very young students and sometimes even from unknown neighbours in a train (mostly in India â€" British passengers don't like talking to strangers), I have reason to be optimistic about the interest, involvement and engagement of others.

Has the concept of justice in this century come only to mean human rights?

This is a very interesting question. The idea of human rights is much used in practice, and is very powerfully invoked by activists these days, often with admirable effect. However, the critics of the approach of human rights argue that the idea of such non-legal rights is lacking in foundation. A frequently asked question is: where do human rights come from and what gives them force? One of the aims of the book is to show in what sense - and in what way - human rights have a strong foundation through public reasoning, and how that foundation relates also to the basic analysis of social justice, which too is very dependent on the opportunity of public discussion. It is not so much that the concept of justice "has come only to mean human rights," but that the two related ideas have to be considered together.

It is also important to remember that the idea of human rights has been in use, often in very informal ways and frequently without being called human rights, for a very long time in world history - not just in the 20th and 21st centuries. For example, Ashoka's discussion of everyone's right to speak and to be heard by others, or Akbar's championing of the right to religious freedom, belongs to the subject matter of what is now called human rights. And they also relate to Ashoka's and Akbar's conceptions of social justice.

At the risk of forcing you to reduce 496 pages to a few sentences, what is justice? What should it be for us here?

Justice is a complex idea (I was not surprised that it took me 496 pages to discuss it), but it is very important to understand that justice has much to do with everyone being treated fairly. Even though that connection has been well discussed by the leading political philosopher of our time, John Rawls, I have argued that he neglects a couple of important connections. One neglect is the central recognition that a theory of justice has to be deeply concerned with systematic assessment of how to reduce injustice in the world, rather than only with the identification of what a hypothetical "perfectly just society" would look like.

There may be no agreement on the shape of perfect justice (and also perfect justice will hardly be achievable even if people did agree about what would be immaculately just), but we can still have reasoned agreement on many removable cases of manifest injustice, for example, slavery, or subjugation of women, or widespread hunger and deprivation, or the lack of schooling of children, or absence of available and affordable health care. Second, analysis of justice has to pay attention to the lives that people are actually able to lead, rather than exclusively concentrating only on the nature of "just institutions". In India, as anywhere else, we have to concentrate on removing injustices that are identifiable and that can be remedied.

Is justice essential for democracy to flourish?

One of the main arguments of the book is the role of open public discussion for our understanding of the demands of justice, and particularly of the removal of injustice. Indeed, democracy can be seen as "government by discussion" (an approach made famous by John Stuart Mill), and the pursuit of justice can be much enhanced by good democratic practice - not just well-fought elections but also open and well-aimed public discussion, with a free and vigorous media. In an earlier book, I discussed a remark of a very poor and nearly illiterate peasant, who lived in a village close to Santiniketan (where I come from). "It is not difficult to silence us," he said, "but this is not because we cannot speak." In that quiet confidence there are reasons of hope for the future of justice and democracy in India.

Lord Meghnad Desai once said that you "prefer to be subversive in a technical way". Might he have meant that you are not a 'doer' but seek change through technical argument? Do you see yourself as an activist?

I see myself as an activist - through writing, speaking and arguing. I've done my share of demonstrations when I was young, when I was a student in Calcutta. Do I believe that causes that activists take up could be helped by reasoning? Yes. But perhaps Meghnad's comment about my being subversive in a technical way relates to the fact that I don't take the view that technical or mathematical arguments are useless and distractive. I still don't know why I was given the Nobel Prize, but whether that was deserved or not, the works of mine they cited were all quite technical - many of them also mathematical.

If I could just get you to comment on an unfolding matter here. Would it be just to give Ajmal Kasab the death penalty? We're often criticized for continuing with capital punishment.

I'm opposed to the death penalty in general and wouldn't want it given to Ajmal Kasab or anyone else. But this, of course, is not a subject matter of my book - it is not an engineer's handbook. I do discuss the need for prevailing practices, including capital punishment, to be scrutinized by public reasoning, and note the fact that capital punishment is most used in countries with relatively little public discussion, the three biggest users being China, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Next comes the US, and I discuss why I disagree with those judges in the US Supreme Court who think that arguments coming from elsewhere (like Europe) are of no relevance in America.

Is justice culturally specific?

No, because there is an obligation to engage in argument no matter where it comes from - far or near.

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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
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Email: sjprashant@gmail.com     www.humanrightsindia.in

---

The Pope's Road Map

 

The Pope's Road Map 

-   Fr. Cedric Prakash sj *

 

The Pope has done it!  This time, however, in a way far different, with which he is generally characterized.  In a stand, which is bound to have far reaching implications on the global moral, social, economic and political order, Benedict XVI made public on July 7th, 2009, his latest Encyclical letter entitled "Caritas in Veritate" (Charity in Truth). 

 

The document aims to delve more deeply into certain aspects of the integral development of our age in the light of charity and truth.  In the very opening para, the Holy Father emphasizes that, "love – caritas - is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace".  Further, in the introductory remarks, the Pope considers two important criteria which are of special relevance to the commitment to development in an increasingly globalised society and these are justice and the common good.  Justice, for him, is the primary way of charity; and "to desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity". 

 

He underlines the indispensable importance to build a society according to freedom and justice and he emphatically states that "it is necessary to cultivate a public conscience that considers food and access to water as universal rights of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination".

 

In a blunt reference to globalization and the current economic crisis, the Pope asserts "that traditional principles of social ethics like transparency, honesty and responsibility cannot be ignored or attenuated" and further, "that justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity because this is always concerned with man and his needs".

 

World leaders at the G-8 Summit in Italy will surely pay close attention to the Chapter devoted to the cooperation of the human family, where he calls upon the rich nations "to allocate larger portions of their gross domestic product to development aid".  He makes no bones of the fact that the United Nations Organization needs to be reformed with "real teeth" and "would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice and respect for rights".  It is also imperative for him that "poor nations have an important voice in shared decision making on issues of global importance".

 

With this major Charter, Pope Benedict has truly provided not only the Christians, but "all people of goodwill" with a road map for the challenges ahead.  In his concluding para, he reiterates that "as we contemplate the vast amount of work to be done, we are sustained by our faith that God is present alongside all those who come together in his name to work for justice".

 

The point is, are those in governance actually listening?

 

8th July, 2009

 

 

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

 

' PRASHANT ',
Post Box  4050,
Navrangpura,
Ahmedabad 380 009,
Gujarat
Tel:   079 66522333 / 27455913
Fax:  079 27489018
Email:  sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in

 

UN INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF HUMAN RIGHTS LEARING, 2009

 

UN INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF HUMAN RIGHTS LEARING, 2009

-   Fr. Cedric Prakash sj *

 

 

 

On the occasion of  the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  the United Nations decided that "the year commencing on 10th December 2008 shall be proclaimed the International Year of Human Rights Learning, to be devoted to activities undertaken to broaden and deepen human rights learning on the basis of the principles of universality, indivisibility, interdependency, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, constructive dialogue and cooperation, with a view to enhancing the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, bearing in mind the duty of the State, regardless of the political, economic and cultural system, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds"(A/RES/62/171).

 

Very significantly, the proclamation of this year, also coincides with the sixtieth year of the promulgation of the Indian Constitution with its core principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. 

 

We have just completed a tumultuous phase in the history of Indian democracy, when in the run up to the General Elections, political parties of all shades and across the board, vied with each other, in highlighting almost  every other issue but on the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.

 

 Most of the election manifestos, the campaigns, the posturing, the speeches have revolved around the personal, the mundane  and the venomous, but not on   critical issues of  "roti, kapda aur makaan", clean drinking water, primary health care and education,  the freedom of religion and the general welfare of the people.

 

At this juncture, it is anybody's guess who will form the next Government, but the UPA Government did bring in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Right to Information Act (RTI); got the Forest Bill approved in favour of the Adivasis, and even made efforts to pass the Women's Reservation Bill and the Compulsory Primary Education Bill.  However, one can also not deny, that keeping the reality in perspective, the UPA Government has not done enough on several counts, very specially in passing the law against communal violence, in providing adequate compensation for relief and rehabilitation for the victims of communal riots, and very specially for the protection of minorities in the country – be it Gujarat, Orissa or Karnataka.  

 

 It is in this scenario, the International Year of Human Rights Learning (IYHRL) comes as an important and significant intervention.  Many of those involved in education seem to be ignorant about it or have just ignored it.   The fact however  remains,  that the UN is "convinced that human rights learning should contribute to the fulfillment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a way of life for people everywhere". 

 

It is therefore appropriate that even if we have to be waking up at this late hour, we need to make a sincere attempt at every possible level,  to seriously and systematically mainstream Human Rights Learning.

 

There are several ways by which we can  do so.  These could  include :

 

 to make Human Rights Education a mandatory subject in all our educational institutions.  (This learning process could begin in Std. V and could / should continue even upto graduate level)
to foster a culture of Human Rights Learning in Church organizations, Parish / Diocesan Councils, in Mahila Mandals, Self-Help Groups (SHG)  etc.
to make the Sunday Liturgy / Homilies focus on the realities of the people around with a clear understanding of what Jesus would  do if he was in our place, as a response to these realities
to network / collaborate with all men and women of goodwill, very specially with peoples' movements and those struggling for the rights of the poor, marginalized and other vulnerable sections of society.
to engage in social analysis, research, programmes / projects, in think-tanks which seek to understand  the realities in society and to advocate on behalf of those whose rights are denied or exploited.
to make the defense and promotion of Human Rights an  integral dimension of way of proceeding, in keeping with the spirit and letter of the Indian Constitution.
 

The above are some of the ways by which we can truly observe this international year.  Some initiatives are already in place:  in the Diocese of  Shimoga, Karnataka, Bishop Gerald Lobo has made Human Rights Education  a mandatory subject in all Catholic Schools.  The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been organizing programmes on Rights Based Approach (RBA),  and Catholic Social Teaching (CST), for Diocesan Social Work Directors; the Jesuit Education Association (JEA) of Gujarat has decided that the Calendar (handbook) for the year 2009 – 2010 will have pages containing the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. 

 

Such steps will surely go a long way in actualising the conviction that the UN holds "that every woman, man and child in order to realize his or her full human potential must be made aware of all his / her human rights and fundamental freedoms" .

 

The Catholic Church has a great opportunity to help set the tone and direction for this International Year.   We truly need to celebrate  Human Rights Learning !  The only way by which we can do so is to get into action…..NOW !!!

 

 

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

 

 

5th May  2009

 

 

' PRASHANT ', 

Post Box  4050, 

Navrangpura,  

Ahmedabad  380 009,  Gujarat

Tel: 079 66522333,  27455913  

Fax:  27489018  

Email:  sjprashant@gmail.com      www.humanrightsindia.in

 

An open letter to Shri L.K.Advani Member of Parliament, Gandhinagar.

 R.B.SREEKUMAR IPS (Rtd)

 

"SREELEKSHMIDEEPAM"                                                          
PLOT NO- 193, SECTOR-8,
GANDHINAGAR- 382008.
Email: rbsreekumar71@yahoo.com
Tel. :      ® 079-23247876
(Cell) :    9428016117
________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                       

 

 

 

An open letter to Shri L.K.Advani  Member of Parliament, Gandhinagar.

 

Why should Hindus vote for BJP ?

 

Most Respected Shri L.K.Advani,

 

Sir,
I am a voter in Gandhinagar Loksabha constituency . I am a Hindu by birth and practitioner of the tenets of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion, popularly called –Hinduism, in my own humble way ,in personal life.

 

The conceptual and philosophical framework of Hinduism is enshrined in three fold treatises- Prasthanathrayam- namely, Brahmasutras, Upanishads and the Bhagvad Gita.

 

Equal adoration to all varieties of divinity and paths towards them and recognition of the right to salvation/liberation to all living beings , including plants and animals are deemed to be the most ennobling and elevating feature of Hinduism. Ill will towards even non –believers is also not permitted , not to speak of people professing non-Hindu faiths.

 

Any deviation or aberration by any individual or group of persons or an organisation of Hindus ,away from the four walls of these ideals make them unacceptable and condemnable for real Hindus. Applying  this yardstick , BJP supported by its sister bodies in the Sangh Parivar would be quite undeserving for getting votes from Hindus , who are intrinsically practising quintessence of Hindu ontological ideals.

 

In the history of Hinduism there were only two most demoralisingly deplorable instances of sacrilegious crimes, which would make any self respecting and committed Hindu to bury his head in shame. The first was demolition of a worship centre, ( building for prayer ) Babri Masjid of Ayodhya in December 1992. The second was the anti-minority genocide in which over 2000 , mostly innocents were brutally killed. Both these Satanic acts were the handiwork of miscreants , owing allegiance to BJP, going by the presence of well known BJP leaders on the scene of these crimes.

 

The Bhagvad Gita is quite explicit about one's approach to any form of worship. In three slokas the relevant principles are unambiguously laid down.

 

In Chapter 4 Sloka 11 , Lord Krishna proclaims , " In whatever way men identify with Me, in the same way do I carry out their desires; men pursue My path ,in all ways "

 

Again in Chapter 6-30 , the Lord preaches , " He who sees Me everywhere and sees all in Me, he never becomes lost to Me , nor do I become lost to him"

 

Finally in Chapter 7-21 , the Lord promulgates , " Whatever form any devotee with faith wishes to worship , I make that faith of his steady."

 

The brigands who razed the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya to the ground actually acted against the letter, spirit and ethos of the above stipulations by Lord Krishna that is why those great Hindus , who lived and enriched my religion from 1529 A.D. , the year of construction of Babri Masjid to 1992, the year of demolition, did not care to move even their little finger against this monument, during their lifetime. We have a galaxy of  Hindu giants , who left laudable foot prints on the sands of time , in this period, from Goswami Tulsidas to Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Can we consider the marauders and their leaders , who knocked down the masjid, by insulting even the pious name of Lord Shiva( those rogues shouted Jai Shiv Shankar, during demolition and the  word meaning of Shankar is ' One who blesses everybody with peace, Sham Karoti Iti Shamkaram)', as greater champions and 'brave sons of Hinduism ' than those model Hindus like Mahatma Gandhi, whose life and deeds brought greatness and glory to the Sanatana Dharma.?

 

Honourable Advaniji , if there is scriptural justification for the liquidation of Babri Masjid, kindly convey it to all Hindus , so that they will not have any hesitation to vote for BJP.

 

In case the BJP views the bulldozing of the Babri Masjid as an unHindu act , why no legal or organisational penal action to punish those destroyers of the centre of worship- Kshetradwamshas, as prescribed for Aathathais(criminals) in the dharmashastras was taken so far ? Since no such move is visible from BJP it will be quite impossible for a Hindu voter to accept BJP as a party which adheres to the principles and practice of the scriptural ideals of Hinduism .

 

The story is similar in case of anti-minority genocide in Gujarat, in which over 2000 innocents lost their lives. Never in the history of Hindu Rajas, in the pre-histotic or historic times, the ruler did allow a set of his subjects (prajas) to freely kill another group- not even by notorious evil souls like Nahusha, Tarakasura, Ravana, Kamsa or Duryodhana. The word Raja etymologically  meant  to be a  person who brings reconciliation and peace among the subjects – Prajanam Ranjanath Raja ( Brahmanda Purana ) . If there was an underworld active in the minority community, why Police was not used to neutralise them on 27-2-2002 , the day of the gruesome Godhra carnage, and subsequent days. Police records confirm that practically no anti-social headstrong criminals from the minority community were killed ,during the 2002 riots by the mobs, largely constituted by BJP supporters.

 

In case BJP was not backing the protracted pogrom in 2002 ,why no action against the perpetrators of heinous crimes , either at organisational level or through Criminal Justice System ( CJS ). Instead whenever accused in riot cases were released on bail, BJP arranged receptions to them on the pattern of commendation  extended to our freedom fighters during the struggle for independence.

 

Can you kindly intimate your voters in Gandhinagar the slokas and suktas from Hindu holy books, in approval of the prolonged atrocities on the defenceless people and subsequent and currently on-going subversion of CJS, which prompted the apex court to characterise Gujarat State govt. officials as ' modern Neros '.

 

Kamandakia Nitisara, a well accepted authority on Hindu polity, in Chapter 5 Shlokas 82-83 , cautions the administrators/ Rajas to protect the citizens from the favourites of the King and his own greed . " The subjects require protection against wicked officers of the King, thieves , enemies of the King, royal favourites ( such as the Queens, Princes etc. ) and more than all, against the greed of the King himself. The king should secure the people against these fears.

 

Further,  the Shanti Parva of Mahabharata ( 59-106/107) exhorts the ruler " You should take a pledge that by thought , word and deed, you will rule the world believing that creation is the very incarnation of the Creator". The question asked by the devout Hindus is thus , Were the minorities in Gujarat in 2002, who were victimised by the mobs, inferior creations ?

 

Sir, you may kindly clarify as to whether above components of Raj Dharma as per the real Hindutva of the Hindu religion were actualised by the Gujarat State Govt. functionaries from the highest to the lowest, during and after 2002 riots.

 

With due respect to your long innings in Indian politics , I appeal to you to kindly provide convincing clarifications to my aforesaid plebeian queries so that faith of Hindus in BJP's commitment to fundamental Hindu ideals can be restored.

 

Respectful regards,
R. B. Sreekumar .

 

 

 

Gandhinagar.
15/4/2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIOLENT GODS: Hindu Nationalism in India's Present; Narratives from Orissa....by Angana P. Chatterji

 

 

VIOLENT GODS:
Hindu Nationalism in India's Present; Narratives from Orissa
Angana P. Chatterji

 

This book is an erudite and elegiac exploration of Hindu nationalism in India today. It offers a revealing account of Hindu militant mobilizations as an authoritarian movement manifest throughout culture, polity, and economy, religion and law, class and caste, on gender, body, land, and memory. Tracing the continuities between Hindutva and Hindu cultural dominance, this book maps the architectures of civic and despotic  governmentalities contouring Hindu nationalism in public, domestic, and everyday life. In chronicling concerted action against Christians and Muslims, Adivasis and Dalits, through spectacles, events, public executions, the riots in Kandhamal of December 2007 and August-September 2008, the planned, methodical politics of terror unfolds in its multiple registers. At the intersections of Anthropology, Postcolonial, Subaltern, and South Asia Studies, Angana P. Chatterji asks critical questions of nation making, cultural nationalism, and subaltern disenfranchisement. As a Foucauldian history of the present, this text asserts the role of ethical knowledge production as counter-memory.

 

ANGANA P. CHATTERJI is associate professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her work spans issues of cultural survival, nation/nationalisms, gendered violence, and postcolonial critique. Her recent writings include two forthcoming books, 'Land and Justice: The Struggle for Cultural Survival', and a co-edited volume, 'Contesting Nation: Gendered Violence in South Asia; Notes on the Postcolonial Present'.

 

Cover: Arpana Caur. in the name of god. 2008.

 

©Three Essays Collective, March 2009

 

xvi, 470 pages
Hard Cover: India Rs. 800; Elsewhere $ 35; ISBN 81-88789-45-3
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Biswamoy Pati
Identity, Hegemony, Resistance: Towards a Social History of Conversions in
Orissa, 1800-2000

 

Shubh Mathur
Everyday Life of Hindu Nationalism: An Ethnographic A

 

LET'S NOT BE NAÏVE ABOUT NAVEEN PATNAIK ....

LET'S   NOT   BE   NAÏVE   ABOUT   NAVEEN   PATNAIK
-   Fr. Cedric Prakash sj *

 

 

 

Mr. Naveen Patnaik, the suave Chief Minister of  Orissa, has received the applause of several across the board for having pulled the carpet from under the feet of the BJP and now aligning himself with the Left.  This ofcourse, is a smart piece of political opportunism, but in order to actually shed his spots,  Patnaik has to come clean on several counts.

 

   Why did he allow first the Muslims and then the Christians, to be soft targets for Hindu extremism  in Orissa ?
   Why did he not reign in goons of the Sangh Parivar when they very strategically disrupted Christian lives and events in 2007 and created mayhem for the Christians for a good

      part of 2008 ?
   Why did he not have the courage to contain Togadia and his ilk when they spewed venom all across the State against the Christians ?  (He could have easily have emulated

      several other Chief  Ministers of other States who easily put a halt to Togadia's vicious march in their States)
   Why did he not ensure the safety and security of the Christians of Kandhamal District when thousands were languishing in the forests ?
   Why has he not guaranteed the safe return of those who have been dispossessed of their houses and lands from Kandhamal District ?
   Can he oversee a complete and just compensation package to the victims of the violence in Orissa ?
   Thousands of minorities, very specially Christians, have been disenfranchised in Orissa.  Will he come out with a very honest political decision to ensure that their names are

      on the Electoral Rolls and that they are able to exercise their franchise in an environment which is free and fair ?

 

Naveen Patnaik will have to answer and act on these and several other questions  immediately. 

 

There is tremendous pressure on him, we know, from the Western world; and being "a true Westerner", he really would not want to go into oblivion and be treated as an international political "Pariah" the way Narendra Modi is treated just now.  Given his situation, the best thing he could have done, was to distance himself from his political masters and mentors, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.

 

Leopards really do not change their spots;  but  the age of miracles is also not dead !!!

 

Naveen Patnaik definitely needs to be given a chance but until such time, we should not be naïve......

 

 

 

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

 

 

9th  March  2009

' PRASHANT '

Ahmedabad  380 009
Tel: 079 66522333,  27455913 

Fax:  079 27489018  

Email:  sjprashant@gmail.com     

www.humanrightsindia.in

 

 

 

SEVEN YEARS ON.....SEVEN MAJOR CONCERNS AND MORE.... by Fr. Cedric Prakash sj

 

SEVEN  YEARS  ON.....SEVEN  MAJOR  CONCERNS  AND  MORE.....
                                                                                    - Fr. Cedric Prakash sj *

 

 

It's exactly seven years since Gujarat witnessed one of the worst horrendous chapters of Indian history.  The burning of the S6 compartment of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra Railway Station and the subsequent carnage has left an indelible impact  on the lives of many.  Plenty  has  happened since 2002 and many indeed would like to move on.....even perhaps, to forget that 2002 ever existed !!!  The fact however, remains, that the Gujarat Carnage was not only too traumatic for words but right from day one, there has neither been a political will nor a concerted civil society movement to address it. 

 

Seven years down the road,  there are still major concerns which have to be addressed immediately.  These include :

 

Justice :

Thousands of victims still yearn for justice.   Some of them want to get on with life but they really are unable to do so since  they still know nothing about their loved ones who are "missing" since those horrific days.  Many still yearn for a just compensation for the loss of life and property. 

 

Rehabilitation :  
Total  rehabilitation is fundamental for normalcy.  Many of the victims look forward to the possibility of going back to live and work in a place they once called "home"; they would like to  live as a matter of right, anywhere in Gujarat, without fear of discrimination and / or ostracization. 

 

Freedom from illegal detention :

Several Muslim youth were detained under the draconian POTA.  Inspite of POTA being repealed and Supreme Court Judgments negating these illegal confinements, they have still not been granted bail.

 

Access to basic amenities :

Vast sections of the minority population still live in dehumanizing conditions. In the wake of the Gujarat Carnage, many of them were provided hurriedly constructed shelters in areas which have no access to clean drinking water or primary health care. 

 

Attitudinal change :

Our city, our State have become extremely polarized.  There has to be a paradigm shift in the attitude of a large section of people.  Biases and prejudices seem to be mainstreamed.  Civil society is either too apathetic or too afraid to come out and take a stand for what is right.  Most do not want to have a minority as neighbours.  Minorities are consistently stereotyped and made the butt of ridicule.

 

The aura of Immunity:

Inspite of being named  by various Commissions (both national and international), investigation teams and others, the main perpetrators of the Gujarat Carnage still remain  scot-free  with an aura of immunity.  They cannot be touched, and their posturings  communicate this.

 

Political will :

Ultimately, at the heart of any change  is the political will to ensure that the rights and freedoms ensured in the Constitution are guaranteed and protected for every citizen. This political will cannot be reduced to cosmetic promises and mere rhetoric, but has to be seen in a very tangible desire to address and to change  what  is endemic.

 

Seven years down the line, the situation in Gujarat is far from normal.  While a good part of the violence has been institutionalized, the fact remains to be seen is whether civil society will have the courage to  usher in a new dawn by addressing some of these key concerns.  Gujarat needs a change for the better !

 

 

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

 

 26th February 2009

 

 

 

' PRASHANT ',  Post Box  4050,  Navrangpura,   Ahmedabad  380 009,  Gujarat

Tel: 079 66522333,  27455913   Fax:  27489018   Email:  sjprashant@gmail.com      www.humanrightsindia.in