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Editorial
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fter India got independence in 1947, there were various pronouncements about the likelihood of it collapsing, becoming a failed state, and breaking up again, on account of the weight of its own internal contradictions. The scale of the attempt to establish, in such a huge, diverse, and deeply segmented society, formal democracy with all its paraphernalia of a parliament, universal franchise, an independent judiciary, was something that had never been tried before. Sixty-two years on, India survives as a democracy (some say ‘thriving’, others are more restrained), and is now even touted widely as an emerging super power on the world stage. The reasons for this happening are many, but one of the important – little recognised but crucial – has been the contributions that numerous people’s movements have made over the decades to the democratisation of state power and traditional social hierarchies and to a vibrant civil society and media, and to the implementation of the principles of rights, justice, and freedom that are enshrined in the Indian Constitution.
The subsequent decades after independence have seen a process of institutionalisation of a democratic political society, but the class character of the state has remained feudal and hierarchical, with a clear continuation moreover, of colonial structures and cultures of governance. Simultaneously however, those who have historically been at the margins of social, political, and economic power - Dalits, landless farmers, the marginal peasantry, Adivasis, and workers, and women - have, all over the country, and through myriad actions, constantly challenged the power and legitimacy of this feudal, hierarchical, and colonial state and underlined its constitutional responsibilities. These struggles have been expressions of the needs of the time and of interest groups and developments at the local, regional, national, and global levels. And they have on several occasions and in several contexts expanded upon and given new meaning to rights, justice, freedoms, and development. The development path followed over the years has catered only to a small section of population while the affected majority comprising of small farmers, landless workers, artisans, labourers, slum dwellers, dalits,
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Contents......... Farce of R&R Bill and Land Acquisition Amendments
03
Editorial Team
SEZ’s, a Sell-Out to the Powerful
06
The Lavasa Hill Township Project : Company Raj
08
Opening Space for Sexual Minority Rights
12
Love in the Age of ‘Moral’ Policing!
15
Free Market and Right to Education
17
Fishing for the Food Safety Net
21
S.R.Darapuri Joe Athialy Madhuresh Kumar Mukta Srivastava C.Balakrishnan Clifton D’Rozario Siddharth Narrain Rahul Pandey
People Caught Between the State and Maoists in Lalgarh
22
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On the Birth Centenary of Dr. Lohia
23
Advisory Team
Sri Lanka: What Lies Ahead?
26
Manmohan Singh Breaks New Path in Indo-Pak Relations
27
A T Babu’s Martyrdom: Anti-Liquor Movement in Karnataka
28
Reports & Statements (Narmada, Forest, Metro, Right to Food, Climate Policy, Dalits, Assault on Shamim)
31-53
From Mainstream Media
54-57
NAPM News
58
Where Do We Go From Here
60
Medha Patkar Aruna Roy Sister Celia S.G.Vombatkere Garbriele Dietrich S.R.Suniti Sandeep Pandey U.R.Ananthamurthy Trilochan Sastry Ajit Sahi Neelabh Mishra
è Movement of India è June - September, 2009
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