Vol. 76 No 4
JULY 2012
Rs. 20/month
THE RADICAL HUMANIST (Since April 1949) Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)
Founder Editor: M. N. Roy
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The Radical Humanist Vol. 76
Number 4
June 2012
Monthly journal of the Indian Renaissance Institute Devoted to the development of the Renaissance Movement; and for promotion of human rights, scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist view of life. Founder Editor: M.N. Roy Editor: Dr. Rekha Saraswat Contributory Editors: Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Dr. R.M. Pal, Professor Rama Kundu Publisher: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Printer: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph. 91-121-2620690, 09719333011, E-mail articles at: rheditor@gmail.com Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of ‘The Radical Humanist’to: Mr. Narottam Vyas (Advocate), Chamber Number 111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, 110001, India n.vyas@snr.net.in Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600
Please Note: Authors will bear sole accountability for corroborating the facts that they give in their write-ups. Neither IRI / the Publisher nor the Editor of this journal will be responsible for testing the validity and authenticity of statements & information cited by the authors. Also, sometimes some articles published in this journal may carry opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; but they would be entertained here if the need is felt to debate and discuss upon them. —Rekha Saraswat
Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com
- Contents 1. From the Editor’s Desk: Democracy: a Wishful Thinking Process! —Rekha Saraswat 1 2. From the Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi: Spiritual Materialism: A case for Atheism 2 3. Guests’ Section: Search for truth leads to rejection of religion —Joshua Everett 6 Science Journalism —Steven Novella 8 Trust Deficit: People's Struggle At Koodankulam —S.G.Vombatkere 10 Future of Socialism —K.S. Chalam 12 On Inclusiveness: Challenges of Inclusive Society —Sukhdeo Thorat 15 Need for Death Sentence: Capital Punishmment —H. Suresh 19 4. Current Affairs’ Section: The rise of regional sentiment; Election Process; Campaign against corruption; Nomination of Stars; Controversy over poverty line — N.K. Acharaya 24 Presidential Election: An Opportunity Lost —Mastram Kapoor 27 5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Influence of Roy on revolutionary writer in Andhra —Innaiah Narisetti 29 6. Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section: Relevance of UN resolutions —Mudasir Nazar 31 7. Book Review Section: Living Long and Loving it —J. Kishore 34 8. Humanist News: 36
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From the Editor’s Desk:
The concept of democracy: a wishful thinking process, nothing more, nothing less! have at least one score of WeDemocracies in this world. I read the list of these types, defined somewhere and on counting the exact number it came to around twenty one. To name them, they are Anticipatory; Athenian; Consensus; Deliberative; Demarchy; Direct; Economic; Grassroots; Illiberal; Inclusive; Liberal; Messianic; Non-partisan; Participatory; Radical; Representative; Representative direct; Republican; Social; Sociocracy; Soviet and Totalitarian. And if we go into the sub-forms of each of them the number would increase to an exotic high. The variety reminded me of the innumerable religions and faiths in this world. Truly speaking, Democracy is just like any religion, high in expectation on both sides. The people and the democratic state keep anticipating rights and responsibilities from one another the same way as the devotee and the Lord keep expecting rewards and duties from each other. Neither the Lord has ever been seen in the actual sense nor has democracy anywhere been visible in its true essence. But we go on harping upon the existence of both most assiduously. Actually, we see in this world many people who have nothing else to do but dream. They are the utopians who fantasize about an imaginary fairy land of democracy where all human beings are happy and contented. We also have a plethora of people who begin thinking on these lines of the romantics and waste their whole life-times in writing huge magnum opi each claiming to have found the key to the road to success of the utopians’ reveries. They are the philosophers who continue to propose and dispose newer kinds of democracies to make the dream come true.
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Then, we have another line of people who spend their entire lives in trying to form institutions and create regulations on the guidelines of these philosophers. They claim to be those miracle-mongers whose magic-wands would bring final peace and fraternity on this earth. These are those famous and righteous Statesmen in various nations of the world who have in different eras tried their best to innovate such fair and just political systems which would be the ultimate choice for mankind. They also came to a stop at democracy. Nothing beyond democracy would appear better to them. The names of these utopians and philosophers, statesmen and leaders are so many and their fame is spread so far and wide that quoting them here would waste all the remaining lines of this page; but almost all of them had one word common to them – ‘democracy’, both as a remedy and as a specialist to get rid of all the sorrows of the ailing human civilization. Many a wars have been waged by and on the whole human society in the name of democracy, on the assurance that they would be the last to give eternal justice and solace to the mankind. But the picture does not change and the paradise keeps deluding us. A state where the rulers serve and do not intimidate the public; where the administrators manage its affairs and do not bully the public; where the capitalists provide for, and do not earn profit from the public and finally where each man in the public holds the interest of the other man prior to his own is the background of a fairy tale often narrated by grannies to the toddlers beginning the children’s delusion process right from their infancy. No such ruler, administrator, capitalist or common man has ever existed or can ever exist on this earth. And democracy, which thrives on these basics, is thus only a lullaby regularly sung by those who benefit from this world’s arrangements to those who are deprived from it. —Rekha Saraswat
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From The Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi: Monistic Philosophy in Upanishads
Laxman S. Joshi
Spiritual Materialism – A case for Atheism Translated by —Arundhati Khandkar
[The book Spiritual Materialism – A case for Atheism, A New Interpretation of the Philosophy of Materialism written by Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi has been translated by his daughter, Arundhati Khandkar, who was formerly Professor of Philosophy at S.I.E.S. College, University of Mumbai, India. He passed away many decades ago but his contribution in building up the philosophical base of Radical Humanism has been no less. Roy acknowledged it in his life time and the followers of the philosophy continue to do so. I had requested Ms. Khandkar to translate her father’s major works from to Marathi to English for the benefit of the contemporary readers of RH. And to our pleasant surprise she informed that there is already the above mentioned book in English done by her. It is being serialised in The Radical Humanist June 2010 onwards. She has also promised to send us in English, gradually, more of his Marathi literature. Laxmanshastri wrote this essay with the title Materialism or Atheism in 1941. How meaningful and necessary it is, even now, 70 years later, can be understood by the following paragraph given on the cover page of the book. —Rekha Saraswat
The ideas in Upanishads stand on the boundary of nondualistic materialism and nondualistic spiritualism. They shed light deep inside and far and wide in the territories of both philosophies. The Vedic idea of ‘deity’ did enjoy a hazy halo around the Upanishadic principles. In many situations, it can be justified only as an inessential background of the tradition. There existed in ancient times a school of thought which argued that the Upanishads were pro-materialism. That is why the Badarayana’s BrahmaSutras had been presented in defence of the materialist Sankhya philosophy. From this and from its critique in Shankaracharya’s Bhashya, one can say that the materialistic Sankhya philosophy had come into existence before the Brahma Sutras. The rationale for materialism had been formulated in that philosophy on the basis of support from Upanishads. The Sankhya philosophers had established earlier, that Brahman of Upanishads was in reality the inanimate object, Prakruti. One finds a body of evidence for this assertion in Shantiparva of Mahabharata and Charaka Sanhita. The present famous Sankhya philosophy postulates two different fundamental principles such as Prakruti, the creative power and Purusha, the observer. There did live, however, Sankhya philosophers who formulated the Prakruti as a single elemental object giving rise to the universe that evolved into 23 principles. These Sankhya philosophers, the theorists of non-dualistic materialism, lived prior to the formulation of the Brahama Sutras. The Samkhya doctrine has been developed from the story of Upanishadas. The Upanishadic ideas with materialistic significance emerged in this nature oriented religion. Upanishadic Ideas: Pro-materialism Suggestive ideas, exceptionally important, favouring materialism, are found scattered in Upanishads. For example, the thought on the idea of Brahma-Prakruti in the sixth chapter in the Chandogya Upanishad is an important step that
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displays the grandeur of the intellectual ideas in the Upanishadic literature. Therein, a teacher tells a student pointing to the universe, “That one is you!” Here, ‘That’ means the cosmic principle. That object, the cosmos has been declared in Chandogya as Sat which has various shades of meanings such as: ‘existent’, ‘real’, ‘Brahman’, ‘the supreme being’ etc. depending on the emphasis at a given time. During the analysis of the object Sat, many examples belonging to the category of material cause have been cited. The thought that the material cause and the effect are one and the same is spread all over the Vedas. As a result almost all of the Vedanta philosophies based upon Upanishads consider god as the direct or indirect material cause of the universe. They believe that god is both the creation and the creator of the universe. Having assumed the cause and the effect as one and the same, basically they accept either totally or partly monism. Life is made of water and mind is made of food is a statement of an idea explained in details in Chandogya Upanishad. This thought also implies materialism. There exists also another similar concept. It is: Universe is the food for the animals and the human beings and at the same time animals and human beings are themselves food. In Taittireeya Upanishad, it is said that the objects of experience and the experiencer are in principle, not different. This statement also is suggestive of the philosophy of materialism. Both Chandogya and Bruhadaranyaka Upanishads state the following: The essence, of the beings is the earth, of the earth is water, of the water is food, of the food is man, of the man is speech, and of the speech is the Vedas, the scriptures. From this, one implies materialism. In Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad, a summary of the philosophical conference arranged by King Janaka is narrated. A debate was organised between the most eminent thinkers and Yadnyavalkya the spiritualist and the knower of Brahman. After giving answers to the basic questions posed by a good many learned men, Yadnyavalkya himself asked them a question, to which nobody could 3
reply and the conference ended. That question was: A human being and a tree are really quite similar, just as trees have leaves, man has hair, they have bark and so the man has skin, they have juices and the man has blood, they have inside hard wood, similarly man has bones. If a tree is cut saving the root, it grows again. Man, however, felled by death, wherefrom is he reborn? Yadnyavalkya after some pause continues, ‘If someone among you replies, from the sperm, he has not understood my question. Tree is also born from the seed. If neither seed nor root is saved, a tree is not reborn. How can a man acquire rebirth without seed?’ Nobody answered this question. The conference ended without resolving the issue. From the nature of this question, one can easily understand the intellectual nature of the reasoning in Upanishads. Spiritual Metaphysics in Upanishads The most impressive philosophy of the soul or the self is given in Upanishads. It has given the following message to man: ‘One who knows his own self, becomes omniscient, therefore know thy soul, your ultimate good resides truly in that knowledge.’ The metaphysics of the soul, as a result of contemplation, enters into an extremely complex territory of thought and becomes mystical. Mysticism of this kind is obvious in some places in Upanishads. One, however, discovers in many places therein, that the question about the soul is also an intellectual question. It is stated in Upanishad that, ‘man who worships the soul is superior to the devotee of god. The devotee is only the beast of burden of the deities. The deities bear a wicked desire that men should not acquire knowledge of the soul. Deities are afraid that men will not accept thereupon their servitude.’ Genuine investigation in the subject of the soul begins truly from this very thought. Upanishads have formulated the theory that the whole universe itself is the soul. Philosophers say that this doctrine cannot be understood by logical mind. But, what the Upanishads seem to imply is that reason however, cannot grasp this theory.
THE RADICAL HUMANIST Shankaracharya also raises the following objection regarding this issue: The ancient logical philosophies which wish to prove the existence of the soul separate from the material body on the basis of logical reasoning pick up their arguments, verily from the Upanishads. From this objection it can be said that it is not right to say that the knowledge of the soul lies totally outside the scope of logic. For example, Shankaracharya himself has presented formulation of all the chapters in Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad following the quintuple form of syllogism of Gautama!
Some basic concepts of the soul do exist within the intellectual grasp! Those concepts are described here below: 1) The main principle that establishes order in the functions of organs and mind and expresses itself in the form of consciousness is the soul. 2) The soul is such principle that activates all instincts of the body is the soul. 3) This main principle which succeeds in detachment from evil meaning the one, who triumphs over sin, is the soul. It produces changes necessary in maintenance of the body and fulfilment of objectives and makes efforts in isolating the body from the past and future undesirable occurences. 4) The primary substance that maintains personality and unity is the soul while the body experiences constant change in past, present and future. 5) This is the primary principle in which organs humble themselves during sleep and from which they awaken, is the soul. 6) This primary principle is not separate from the body, organs, vitality and mind, each of which only appears distinct. Therefore, that primary substance or the principle which preserves their unity is the soul. Upanishads argue that even the universe in which the body is born together with its organs, vitality and mind has the same form as that of the soul. The lawful order of the universe and the consistency of its events meaning its harmony in natural processes
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is the proof of its fundamental unity, the nature of its very soul. The power of creation in the universe is identical with the physiological creativity in the animal body. Therefore, the source of creativity in both the places has to be the same. That source is the soul. Upanishads do not believe in the fundamental distinction between either the observable and the observer, or the doer and the deed. Therefore, they do not accept the basic difference between either the body and the soul or the universe and the universal soul. Matter and the mind are in principle identical, is the conclusion of the Upanishads. A general sketch of the ancient upanishadic concept has been presented so far. It can be said with certainty that this discussion therein about the human summun bonum and the principles of ethics in Upanishads are also similarly rational. Ethics in Upanishads The rules of the universe are the rules of ethics applicable to the behaviour of the deities. The fact that universe is founded on laws implies it is truly based on ethics. The core of the body of the basic rules of the universe is Rita a theoretical postulate in Vedas which serves as the background of ethics in Upanishads. Following the trail of Rita, the inviolable rules of human conduct have become the foundation of ethics in Upanishads. Moreover, the philosophy of the Upanishads is nothing but ethics in a very broad sense. It seems that there is close relation between that philosophy and the ultimate human goal itself. Thinking about the ultimate goal is reflected in each and every theoretical discussion in Upanishads. The ethical theory in Upanishads is as follows: 1) Man is full of desire. He struggles to satisfy his desire. He wants the situation in which he achieved what is desired and avoids what is undesired and evil. This situation is nothing but the state of complete freedom, full of joy! Freedom, in the language of Upanishads, amounts to autonomy in acting per desire or self fulfilment. This in itself is the highest state of man.
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2) Man’s desire is centred on himself. Object of his complete love is his own self. The love that man has towards husband, wife, son, property, teacher, hero, deity, Veda, living being, and the whole universe, is in reality, the love or his own soul which unconditionally forms its support. This love in totality is nothing but his love for his own self. Dualism was not approved by Upanishads. As a result, from their point of view, needs of our body are also the needs of the soul. The earthly pleasures such as health, longevity, property, children, ownership, and so on, have been included by them in pleasures of the soul. Man also feels the importance of the virtues such as intellect, scholarship, wisdom, and sweet speech. He regards truthfulness, nonviolence, tenderness, compassion, generosity, hard work and other virtues altogether as aspects of the developed state of love for the self. For man, falsehood, violence, deception, crookedness etc are the symptoms of betrayal of the self. 3) The source of all actions and the center of all the projects is the soul by itself, meaning the individual possessing the core of consciousness. The soul of all beings, deities, and fore-fathers is his universe, the center of support. The touchstone of all deities is the soul. Therefore, Ishopanishad says, ‘Those who do not wish to live in this life for a century doing duties with generosity and detachment, are themselves the weapons held against their own soul.’ The highest goal of a human being is reaching to his own soul, because while doing that, man satisfies his total desire. Outside the soul somewhere else, resides subservience, conversely resides inside his own soul itself, freedom. This is because the soul exists free. That is why, if it can be
proven and understood that the universe also resides in the soul, then only full freedom can be enjoyed. Reaching to the soul is the same thing as knowing the self. The ultimate goal of man is not the other world. It must be realised here in his world. Otherwise, it is a huge total loss. Atman, the self is a far bigger truth and the summum bonum than god and heaven! That atman, the soul is the same thing as Brahman, the Supreme Being. The nature of that atman is truth. Atman is happy in life; atman experiences joy in mind meaning the mental universe, peace is its glory; and knowledge is its nectar. The ideal human being is the man of knowledge. It means he is like that ideal priest, in whom the happiness that resides is as big as that of an emperor who is young, scholarly and healthy, ruling over the world. That joy is as great as that of the god who wears the universe as his body. 4) To reach the supreme goal, intellect is the charioteer, atman is the traveller in the chariot, body is the chariot, mind is the reins, organs are the horses, and the knowable universe is the path. Without intellect as the charioteer, the chariot ends in a ditch and the traveller, the soul dies. Upanishads, such as Bruhadaranyaka, Chandogya and Mundaka, describe also a pessimistic philosophy oriented towards cessation of life. That philosophy, however, does not affect adversely the above theories, because pessimism is not a dominant thought in Upanishads. That thought then, has barely begun. It acquired prominence during the end phase of the Upanishads. From the post-Upanishad-period till date, the outlook of the people in India towards life has become truly pro-cessation, barring few exceptions. In this philosophy, detachment from life has the highest value or the prominent place.
Important Information: I was regularly getting emails and phone calls from friends requesting contact details of Prof. Arundhati Khandkar. They are as follows: Mob.: 9867 580 864; email: khandkararundhati@rediffmail.com; Land line: 2225064051 —Rekha saraswat
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Guests’ Section:
Joshua Everett
[Joshua Everett is a member of the La Crosse
Area Freethought Society.]
Search for truth leads to rejection of religion am an ordained, fundamentalist Ievangelical Christian minister — and an atheist. It might seem counterintuitive to read such a sentence, but a surprising number of ministers are rejecting religious belief. None of us became ministers expecting to leave religion behind; we were authentic, strong, sincere, faithful clergy and practitioners of our faiths. Changing our minds about religion does not make us inherently bad or immoral people, uncharitable, dishonest, hostile, lacking in knowledge or common sense, deviants, or any of the other epithets frequently used to malign nonbelievers. The Clergy Project is an organization that provides a support community for non-believing (atheist and agnostic) clergy and former clergy from all religions and denominations around the world. The organization, started on March 21, 2011, has more than 260 members and receives over 40 applications each month. Members of The Clergy Project go through an extensive screening process to ensure prospective members actually are non-believers and are clergy or former clergy. Members are classified as either
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“active” (active clergy) or “alumni” (former clergy). This organization is not meant to proselytize or change the beliefs of active clergy but to provide them with a support group that can aid them as they attempt to trade their religious careers for secular careers. The idea of active clergy who no longer have religious beliefs might strike you as dishonest. However, one must consider all of the difficulties of their situations before passing judgment, as well as remember that such major changes in life are the result of lengthy processes rather than snap decisions. Leaving one’s religion can result in varying degrees of consequences for even non-clergy, but the consequences are much greater for clergy. Most clergy have families to support, so their principle concern is finding employment. Another important concern is the loss of spouses, friends and family who might react negatively or hostilely to such drastic changes in religious belief. Fear of losing my friends and family and of possible hostile reactions in the community were major concerns for me. Indeed, when discussing my background, I’m frequently attacked and pre-judged by believers who seem to consider my change of mind to be an attack on their religious identity. The clergy involved in The Clergy Project are extremely concerned with maintaining their integrity and being honest with their families and congregations. However, they also feel responsible for trying to maintain the unity of their families and providing for their needs. Furthermore, most clergy have seminary degrees that do not apply to secular careers. Thus, career changes for clergy often entail starting over completely with their education, job training and professional skills. These conflictive responsibilities, combined with the stress of changing one’s worldview and beliefs, can lead to a great deal of emotional turmoil. 6
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The Clergy Project offers a support network that can provide encouragement, strength and experienced counsel to active clergy going through such traumatic processes. I became involved in The Clergy Project in the fall of 2011 as an alumnus — several years after I left my career as a minister —in order to help active members make the transition more smoothly. Members of my family have been evangelical Christian ministers for many generations, which is a legacy I was all too happy to share. I served as a minister in various volunteer and staff positions for several years before and after my ordination, including significant amounts of mission work in Central America. Throughout the majority of these years, I never questioned my beliefs whatsoever. In fact, I loved church the whole time I was involved, and always remember my experiences fondly. My decision was not about the comfort and community offered by religion; I simply chose to follow the facts wherever they would lead me. I was encouraged in this task by several verses from the Bible that encourage searching for the truth (John 8:32, Ephesians 4:25, 1 Thessalonians 5:21).
We must acknowledge the courage that these clergy demonstrate by willingly following their commitment to the truth despite the probability of personal loss. Whenever I discuss my background, the most common question everyone has is “What caused you to change your mind about religion?” Like most clergy involved in The Clergy Project, I did not become a non-believer due to personal tragedy, horrible experiences with religion, ignorance of Scriptures or doctrine, or a desire to be free of religious restrictions. An overwhelming number of clergy reject religion as a result of many years of serious religious study. We reject religion for intellectual rather than emotional reasons. The passion for ethics and truth that lead us into our occupations as clergy also lead us out of religion. When I became a minister, I committed to the truth wherever that might lead. Through my religious studies, I came to know the truth, and the truth set me free. URL of the original source of this article: [http://lacrossetribune.com/news/opinion/joshu a-everett-search-for-truth-leads-to-rejection-of -religion/article_236296fe-b1b4-11e1-a6be-001 a4bcf887a.html?comment_form=true]
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[Steven Novella, M.D. is the JREF's Senior Fellow and Director of the JREF’s Science-Based Medicine project. He is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the president and co-founder of the New Steven Novella England Skeptical Society and the host and producer of the popular weekly science show, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. He also authors the NeuroLogica Blog.]
Science Journalism recent article in Science, The Unwritten ARules of Journalism by Adam Rubin highlights, in an entertaining way, many of the problems with science journalism. He echoes points we have made numerous times in the skeptical literature, so it is good to see the scientific community also taking notice of the problem. There are likely a few causes of the poor quality of science reporting. Primarily, in my opinion, there is simply a disconnect between two specialized areas - knowledge of science and communication skills. Journalists are trained to communicate to the public in an accessible and interesting way, but their knowledge of science is highly variable. Even a generally scientifically literate journalist will likely still lack in depth knowledge concerning the topic of his article, whether a new bit of research or a scientific controversy. In addition, scientists do not get any specific training in communication skills or journalists skills. If you read many papers published in the technical literature you will see a wide range of writing skills displayed. To have effective science journalism we either need to have highly scientifically literate journalists or scientists who are skilled at communicating to the public. In addition we need
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effective communication between the two. Unfortunately, for most science reporting, we don't have this. In fact, the situation has been getting worse. It has been lamented many times already that the changing landscape of news reporting brought about by the internet has caused many large news organizations to decrease or even eliminate their support for specialty reporting, such as science journalists. So now we have much science reporting being done by reporters who are not trained science journalists, and going through editors who are not science editors. The features of cliche science reporting that Rubin exposes are largely due to the application of the general journalistic style to science reporting. This is not a new problem, but it is exacerbated by recent trends. For example, he points out that science articles often try to make a connection from the subject of the research being reported to a common problem the reader will relate to. This is the kind of journalism 101 tactics that are common when reporting about fluff or social issues, but when applied to scientific research result in distortion. I previously pointed out, for example, that every time a journalist reports about a scientific study that has anything to do with viruses the focus of the article is - potential cure for the common cold even if the virus in question is not a cold virus, and the research has nothing to do with treating viral infections. Another common target is - a potential cure for cancer. That is the holy grail of medical news headlines. The same problem exists outside of medicine. Any paleontological discovery is a "missing link." Any physics discovery might lead to anti-gravity devices, teleportation, or faster than light drive. Perhaps the biggest problem Rubin pointed out was the issue of false balance and false controversies. Controversies are interesting and sensational, so no matter how solid the science is the journalist will find a dissenter and present the issue as a burning 8
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scientific controversy. This is especially harmful when a fringe group is exploiting this fact to promote a "manufactroversy" such as the safety of vaccines, fluoride in the water supply, or the teaching of evolution. There are a couple of points that Rubin did not expressly discuss, however, that also deserve mention. One I wrote about on Science-Based Medicine just this week - the reporting of preliminary findings in science. The problem here is that small and preliminary studies are reported on as if they are big news. Preliminary studies, however, are exploratory, which means they are likely mostly wrong. Their purpose is only to inform later confirmatory research. Reporting the results of every preliminary study causes a great deal of confusion by putting out into the public (sometimes with press releases and misleading headlines and reporting as above) lots of ideas that will turn out to be wrong. The net effect of this is for many ultimately wrong conclusions to be reported to the public. This also leads to a great deal of conflicting conclusions being reported, which causes the public to lose faith in the whole scientific enterprise. The news media makes it seem like scientists themselves are constantly crying wolf about a new cure for cancer, obesity, or the common cold, or that they are constantly flip-flopping on core ideas of science. How many times, if you believe headlines, has Einstein finally been proven wrong, or have scientists been "baffled" by some conclusion in science we thought was solid? It also seems like every week scientists have discovered a battery breakthrough, or finally cracked the solar power problem. If you believe science reporting, any day now we will be flying around in solar powered cars with high capacity batteries, piloted by an artificially intelligent onboard computer. Further, the press often does not do the proper follow up when preliminary findings do not pan
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out, or when they do not survive review by the wider community. Related to this is the frequent failure to put new scientific studies into proper context. How does this fit in to our broader understanding of this issue and existing evidence? Individual news items, rather, are often reported as if they are the final word on the topic. Were the dinosaurs wiped out by a meteor strike or by something else? This is a genuine debate, but I have never seen a popular news report ever put the question into a reasonable scientific context. Rather, each news item is reported from the perspective of the scientist talking to the journalist, as if this one new study settles the debate in favor of that scientist. This relates to yet another problem with science reporting - journalists often confuse the authority of a single expert with the consensus of opinion of the scientific community. This is the opposite of the false controversy problem - it's a false consensus problem. A journalist unfamiliar with the scientific community might not realize that the one scientist they are talking to has an individual opinion which might not reflect what most other scientists in the field think. It's not all bad news. There are some excellent science journalists out there, but they are, unfortunately, in the minority. Also the advent of the internet has also provided a potential solution to the problem it exacerbated - allowing scientists to get more involved in reporting about their own research and their own field. Ultimately I think education will be the solution to the problem of bad science reporting. Journalists need to be educated about science. Scientists need to be educated about how to talk to journalists and how to communicate directly to the public. And the public needs to be educated about how to be skeptical consumers of science news. URL for the original source of this article: [http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog /1727-science-journalism.pdf]
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Trust Deficit: People's Struggle At Koodankulam —By S.G.Vombatkere [S.G.Vombatkere retired as major general after
35 years in the Indian military, with combat, technical and instructional experience. He is a member of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). As Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of Iowa, USA, he coordinates and lectures a course on Science, Technology and Sustainable Development for under-graduate students from USA and Canada. He holds a master of engineering degree in structural engineering from the University of Poona and a PhD in civil structural dynamics from I.I.T, Madras. Countercurrents.org] People demand information: Before locating a mega or large project on the ground, the suitability of suggested or possible multiple sites is based upon site evaluation of each, which is a scientific, technical, managerial and administrative process. Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the sites obtained by the evaluation studies determines final choice of the site, which is essentially a political decision. The final responsibility rests, as it should, with the political executive. Ideally, the people who live in the intended sites and surrounding areas – the affected people, who are the primary stake-losers – and their political representatives should be kept in-the-loop from the early project proposal stages so that their collective prior informed consent is obtained. But ideal situations do not exist. Experience over decades shows that when affected populations come to know of projects planned in their neighbourhood, they are apt to object on various grounds. More recently, objections have been more frequent and more intense. Objections lead to questioning government decisions and demands for
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information. Among the documents demanded, people seek information that led to the decision to choose their particular area over other possible areas for the project. That is, they call for the site evaluation documents. But even democratically elected governments are reluctant to provide documents, and the Right to Information Act is frequently invoked to literally squeeze information out of unreasonably secretive governments. Koodankulam: With considerable effort and commendable patience, the people who are protesting against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), invoked the Right to Information Act and succeeded in moving the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) to issue an order (No. CIC/SG/A/2012/000544/18674 dated 30.4.2012) to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) “to provide an attested photocopy of the Safety Analysis Report [SAR] and Site Evaluation Report [SER] after severing any proprietary details of designs provided by the suppliers to the appellant before 25 May 2012.” This order follows NPCIL's refusal to share the SAR with the argument that though it is prepared to show it to the CIC, it cannot place it in the public domain without the consent of the third party, namely the Russians who are the suppliers of the design and hardware for KKNPP. Thus, NPCIL has not complied with the CIC's order to provide the SAR. It is difficult to fault the people who filed the RTI application when they say that “ ... NPCIL [appears] more interested in the safety of the Russian company and the Russian benefactors [than] in the safety of the people of India”. As any thinking citizen would agree, the details of the safety studies of KKNPP affecting public safety and health cannot be denied to the public. In the circumstances, the question that even a school child would ask is, “Why is NPCIL not merely reluctant but unwilling to provide public information?” and “Does the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) have something to hide?”. However, a kicking and
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screaming NPCIL was forced by CIC to provide a document purporting to be a photocopy of the SER. So let us try to understand what has so far been provided so reluctantly. Official competence and integrity: A cursory glance at the “SER” shows that its 12 pages are of limited legibility, with no title page, no authorship, no ownership, no publisher, no date, no index, and no names of the site selection committee. This means of course, that the original document is also barely legible if DAE, a department with access to huge funds, can be credited with having decent photocopy machines. Again another doubt arises: With it bearing no authorship, no publisher, no names, etc., could this “orphan” SER be an attempt to dodge responsibility for a haphazard site selection carried out by this highly scientific and technical department staffed by the best brains in India? But, giving DAE the benefit of the doubt, it does not give confidence to an ordinary citizen, leave alone competent scientists or engineers, that site evaluation for a multiple-thousand crores nuclear mega-project involving demographic, geological, seismological, hydrological, soil engineering and oceanographic evaluations, could be contained in just 12 pages. But perhaps it is an Executive Summary of the SER; if so, it is violation of CIC's order that called for the SER and shows NPCIL's reluctance to provide information. In any case there is little excuse for providing a document that would be disowned by an incompetent, part-time engineer.
Besides the above general observations, even within the 12 pages there are inadequacies and contradictions concerning fresh water source, population-evacuation, radioactive waste disposal and tectonic events. Details of these shortcomings cannot find a place in a commentary directed at the average reader. The DAE (NPCIL) appears to assume that the recipients of the “SER” that they have provided are ignorant, and can be fobbed off with a document that any responsible department would disown. Democracy by force: If this is the face of efficiency, trustworthiness and responsiveness that DAE (NPCIL) chooses to project, it is no wonder that people, particularly those immediately and directly affected by its projects have little confidence in its scientific-technical-managerial abilities that are supposed to save them in case of an Indian Fukushima. This is quite apart from the fact that both central and state governments are attempting to ram the KKNPP project down the throats of thousands of people organized as the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE). These people have been patiently, peacefully and cogently arguing against KKNPP, bravely facing police brutality and the executive and political might of “people's” governments. Do people's democratic rights, safety and welfare have any value in today's India? —Article sent to RH by Mahipal Singh
The idea of ‘progress’ as developed by a brilliant line of philosophers from Condorcet through Saint Simon to Marx, with Bacon as an illustrious precursor, belonged essentially to the intellectual climate of a citybred rationalist culture. It constituted a criticism of that traditional culture against which it rose in reaction. Both Saint-Simon and Marx had a clear conviction about the progressive role of industry, economically as well as culturally. But a different approach, represented by such diverse thinkers as Rousseau or Ruskin, developed side by side. Rousseau looked into the state of nature and saw there an image of an ideal society. It might be thought that Marx did much the same, only in his picture ‘primitive communism’ acted as a substitute for the state of nature. There is, however, are important difference. What Marx derived from primitive communism was a model of a society free of private property, class division and exploitation. —Amlan Datta
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K.S. Chalam
[Prof K.S.Chalam is a former Member, Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi. He was Vice-Chancellor, Dravidian University, Kuppam, A.P. and earlier Prof of Economics at Andhra University. He was the first Director of Swamy Ramanand Tirtha Rural Institute, Bhoodan Pochampally during 1997-98. He is known as the pioneer of the Academic Staff College Scheme in the country as the scheme was strengthened by UGC on the basis of his experiments in 1985. He became the first founder director of the Academic Staff College at Andhra University in 1987. He was actively involved in the teachers’ movement, secular and rationalist activities and served as the National Secretary, Amnesty International during 1984-85.Chalamkurmana@gmail.com]
Future of Socialism notion of socialism entered India Thethrough the English educated. Some of them were trained by the Fabian-Socialists and Utilitarians in the liberal universities of Great Britain. The socialist thinker Ram Manohar Lohia was educated in Germany. As students of economic systems, we studied socialism and communism along with capitalism as three distinct forms of economic organization. One important explanation we still remember is that given by C E M Joad. He said that “socialism is like a hat that has lost its shape because everybody wears it”. In fact, the riddle was also encountered by the pioneers of communism, Marx and Engels as there were Fabian
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socialists, Feudal socialists, Petty-bourgeoisie socialists etc. They have made a distinction between socialism advocated by Fourier, Owen and Sismondi and their own version of scientific socialism and explained the concepts both in the Manifesto and by Engels in his “Socialism: Utopian and scientific in 1880.One must keep in mind what brand of socialism is referred to in a discussion to bring the right perspective in focus. Most of the analysts appear to speak about the pre-communist phase of socialism that was prevalent in the 20th century Europe and in some developing countries. In fact, socialism became a universal value during the last century as no one had openly opposed it except a few who wanted the autonomy and liberty of the individual to prevail as a value of an open society. Even a fascist like Hitler advocated his own brand of National Socialism in the European context. There are people in USA who are critical about Barack Obamas’ policies as socialist. However, those who defend equality of outcome as well as equality of opportunity are put together with socialists advocating that the means of production should be socially owned, as one class. The communists are those who wanted the abolition of private property through a political process. Interestingly, the collapse of Soviet Union and China’s experiments with market socialism are considered as deviations and there are very few who are willing to discuss about the epoch in academic circles now. Thus, socialism as an economic system is considered by many as a panacea to meet the challenges of inequality, poverty and social development. Depending upon the stage of development of the economy and the society or simply the productive forces, each country has designed its own breed of socialism. Therefore, we have the Nordic countries calling themselves as socialist, some European nations like France, Italy etc proclaiming as social democracies and third world countries like India announcing as democratic socialist (in its preamble to the Constitution). All of these countries have not
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abandoned market as an instrument of economic transactions nor declared war against capitalism. In some of the Latin America countries particularly Chavez’s Venezuela, it is reported that the workers seem to have participated voluntarily in work and retired workers offered their services with patriotic fervor during a sabotage to cause damage to the economy. They felt that they are the owners of the state owned company PDSVA. It was made possible because of the provision in their constitution under Article 62 that says, “The participation of the people in forming, carrying out and controlling the management of public affairs is the necessary way of achieving the involvement which ensures their complete development, both individual and collective. It is the obligation of the state and the duty of society to facilitate the creation of the conditions most favorable to putting this in to practice”. We have similar provisions in the constitution under Articles 42, 43 and 43a. The advocates of socialism had anxiety about the future of socialism even during the early part of 20th century. There was lively debate in the UK Labor party after Anthony Crosland published his document on “Future of socialism” in 1956 and its reissue in 2006. We have seen in India debates about the future of socialism and scientific socialism (communism) by different groups of activists, scholars and public men voicing their concerns about the disappearance of the culture of socialism particularly in the recent years. It is increasingly found that the economic programs of the social democrats followed in Europe are accepted as socialist in nature without realizing the fact that they did not solve the problems of capitalism. It is yet to be seen to what extent China has addressed the issues of poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, corruption etc through the political control of the state. In its party congress a few years ago China reaffirmed its faith in democracy and added a new concept “scientific development”. The use of the term development rather than scientific socialism is a radical departure from the original ideological position. 13
The concept was elaborated as an approach that takes care of inequality, environmental sustainability etc, and not equality of opportunity and a firm commitment to resolve contradictions of private capital. This is a clear message that they are going to join the club of social democrats if they have already not attached. The role played by political parties in the social democracies or democratic socialist countries or in the so called communist countries need to be evaluated in the context of the change in the composition of the working class, the hegemony of the MNCs, WTO to oversee the arrangements, the strength and enormous influence of the mass media in carrying the propaganda of prize fighters etc. Most of the parties whose agenda is socialism are participating in elections. According to Marta Harnecker, a Latin American activist scholar that the left parties have electoral deviations in 4 areas: 1. The tendency to make getting elected as an end in itself rather than a means to work on a project of social transformation. 2. Linking up with popular movements only during elections and for electoral reasons. 3. Individualism during the campaign, seeking funds and support for themselves and for the party. 4. Internal conflicts over the elections as if the other members of the party were their main enemies. As a student of Althusser, she had reflected on the new political movements and pointed out their limitations. She has noted the debates carried by theoreticians as sterile since concrete circumstances were never analyzed. “In fact, many of these theoretical debates resulted in splits because they divided the various forces even more”. It appears that the political landscape in different countries, whose agenda is achieving a socialistic pattern of society, remained to be the same. In this context, the position of the left parties including the centrist party like Congress whose declared agenda is identical( socialism) in India present an impression that they are not far away from others.
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Let us keep the theoretical discussion on objective and subjective conditions apart to realize the fact that both market and socialist economies have reached their optimum capacities to resolve the problems encountered by common people. Both seem to have exhausted their capabilities as the current situation unfolds. There is no doubt that reducing inequalities without affecting the sustainability of environment is possible through socialism. The technical issues of pricing and accounting as posed by the critiques of socialism
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and responded by Oscar Lange could be solved through the computer software now. But, the issue of convincing the ‘others’ about the need to share is a human problem that can be addressed only through a philosophical change in approach to life or world view. This is a civilization problem that the present generation encounters. Therefore, the future of socialism hangs in balance between the fortitude of the human attitude of sharing and inhuman savage acquisition. The sooner our leaders realize this dichotomy, the better for the mankind.
BOOKS BY M.N. ROY published by RENAISSANCE PUBLISHERS, INDIAN RENAISSANCE INSTITUTE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS and Others 1. POLITICS POWER AND PARTIES 2. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY
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[Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), delivered the following M.N. Roy Memorial Lecture on the occasion of Roy’s 125th Birth Anniversary at Indian Law Institute, New Delhi on 24th March 2012.]
On Inclusiveness: Challenges of Inclusive Society, Economy and Polity in India Continued from the previous issue............... “Inclusive Policy” for Thediscriminated groups essentially
the will have two aspects. First in so far as the bulk of discriminated persons also happens to be the poorer, it will require pro-poor policies of general nature. Among the general policies, the special programs to improve the skill and education level to enhance the employability of these sections are most important. Since these section particularly SC, ST, OBC and women were denied rights to education in the past, it is necessary to use measures to compensate for past denial .The other group like religious minority like Muslim, Dalits Christen and backward caste Muslim also sufferers from lower education level, hence similar measures are necessary for them as well. Beside education general policy will also require measures to improve the ownership of income earning assets
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like agriculture land and non land capital assets as some group as whole or some sections with in the groups lack access to income earning capital assets ,again due denial of ownership of such assets. Also it will require measures to provide social needs like housing and other. Secondly, in addition to the general pro-poor policy, it will have to be supplemented by “Equal Opportunity Policy”. The general policy will be necessary to compensate the discriminated groups for denial of equal rights which every body enjoy in the past. However given the fact they continued to suffer from exclusion and discrimination in society, polity and economy in some form, if not in their original traditional form, it is necessary to provide legal safeguards against discrimination as well as pro-active measures to give them the fair share in various spheres of society, polity and economy. The Equal Opportunity policy will have to necessarily in the form of reservation to ensure fair access to employment, capital assets, and social needs like education and housing, civil and cultural rights and other spheres. The experiences of various countries and our own indicate that governments have used few measures separately or in combination as part of equal opportunity policy. It generally constitutes few components. (a) Legal safeguards against discrimination in multiple spheres of society, polity and economy is the first necessary steps. This generally takes the form of Law against discrimination such as Civil Rights Act in USA or Civil Rights Act in India (formerly known as AntiUntouchability Act, 1955 and Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989). These acts are necessary to provide legal safeguards so that in event of discrimination individual could take recourse to these legal provisions. (b) However it has also been recognized that although the legal provision are pre-necessary pre-condition to overcome the discrimination, legal safeguards are not enough. It is recognized that laws can not overcome the consequences of historical exclusion in the past, in terms of denial of basic rights in education, in
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access to income earning assets, employment, civil right and other spheres .The law also have their limitation in overcoming the consequences of exclusion and discrimination suffered by the discriminated groups in the past and also consequences of discrimination which continue in the present. In fact, consequences of discrimination in the past and present are reflected in poor performance of the discriminated groups with respect to necessary indicators of human development such as educational level, ownership of income earning assets, employment both in private sector and public sector, as well their participation in executive, governance and legislature in the centre and the State. Therefore, the equal opportunity policy will require specific policy measures to ensure equal share and participation of discriminated group in various sphere of society, polity and economy such as legislature, executive, employment in private and public, education and other public spheres for discriminated groups in the form of reservation policy. The Reservation policy will ensure their due share in income earning assets, employment in private and public sectors, education, civil amenities like housing and other services and also executive (including decision making and monitoring). This compensatory policy is necessary to break the intergenerational cumulative transmission of disadvantage. Beside the policy of equal access in employment, education and legislature, equally important is their participation in executive, administrative in decision-making and monitoring. The representation of discrimination groups becomes meaningful through their own representation and participation in administration and decision-making process at all levels as it brings their experiences as well sensitivity in the whole process. Therefore, participation of the discriminated groups in the governance at all levels, from legislature to making of policies, execution and monitoring is necessary. Representation and participation in governance of
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discriminated groups is central to inclusive policy and inclusive society. In this context the views of Ambedkar are particularly important. Ambedkar observed, “It is not enough to be electors only. It is necessary to be law-makers; otherwise who can be law-makers will be masters of those who can only be electors…. One crux of popular Government is the representation of interests and opinions. The other crux is personal representation. . (BAWS 1979 Vol. 1:251-52). And he also observed that, “Just as it is necessary that the Depressed Classes should have the power to influence government action by seats in the Legislature so also it is desirable that the Depressed Classes should have the opportunity to frame the general policy of the Government. This they can do only if they can find a seat in the Cabinet. The Depressed Classes therefore claim that in common with other minorities, their moral rights to be represented in the Cabinet should be recognized.” (BAWS 1982 Vol. 2:554). Thus, he emphasizes both on due share on the representation and participation of depressed classes and minorities in the legislatures but also in the formulation and implementation of policies for them. There are legal and other mechanisms which have been used internationally and nationally to operationalized the two dimension of equal opportunity policy, namely reservation in employment, education, legislature, public housing and other spheres and equal share and space in executive, administration for decision-making and monitoring. It is imperative that the provisions with respect to equal rights and protection against violation of rights needed to be embodied in the Constitution. If a society practices discrimination then the impetus for change should come from both from the State and from civil society. The private initiative by civil society in the form of reforms of society and other initiative by private sector for equal human rights are necessary. However State
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has responsibility and therefore it is obligatory on the state make legal and other steps in the form of provisions in the Constitution and in the law, with clear statement of responsibility on the State to develop policies against exclusion and discrimination and undertake measures to compensate the discriminated groups for denial of equal rights and to overcome consequences of discrimination. To put in brief the “Socially Inclusive Policy”, will involve three necessary components. Firstly, it should include general pro-poor policy for the generality of poor as whole including the discriminated groups. Secondly the equal opportunity policy for discriminated groups with two measures namely law against discrimination and pro-active measures in the form of reservation to give equal share in income earning capital assets, employment both public and private sector, social needs like education and housing and participation in governance through fair share in legislature, executive and administration with necessary provision in constitution and the laws. It necessary to recognized that while there will be some common features of inclusive policy cutting across all discriminated groups, the equal opportunity policy will have be of different nature for different discriminated groups such as scheduled caste, other backward caste, scheduled tribe, semi-nomadic and de-notified tribe, a specific discriminated religious minorities, social groups (low caste person) within some religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, women, physically challenged and other categories depending on the form and nature of discrimination suffered by each one of them and their social, education and economic situations. Since our society, economy and polity is characterized by exclusions and isolation of various types and magnitude it is imperative that a comprehensive inclusive policy to ensure the representation and participation of hitherto excluded section to receive the gains of social and economic development is necessary. The polity society and economy will have to be more inclusive 17
and participatory, and only then can democracy as means of governance become a meaningful for all. Making the Invisible Visible through data and Research Improving the ability to gather data disaggregated by caste, gender, ethnic background, religion, disability and other feature associated with exclusion is basic step for governments in promoting inclusion. Such information is necessary for better program design and for more effective targeting and program evaluation ((Mayara Buvinic 2005). Several countries in Latin America and else where include questions on the ethnicity and race in population censuses. In addition specialized household surveys are conducted which include question about the changing situation of excluded groups. In India, it is necessary that National Statistical data system which includes population census and specialized household surveys such as National Sample Survey, National Family Planning and Health Survey and others should include specific questions related to excluded-groups covering their situation and also the nature and forms of discrimination in multiple spheres. Concluded References: 1. Akerlof, George (1976) “The Economics of Caste and of Rat Race and Other Woeful Tales” Quarterly Journal of Economics, XC.4. Nov. 1976 Akerlof, George (1980) “The Theory of Social Customs, of which Unemployment may be one consequence, ”Quarterly Journal of Economics" XCIV-4, June 1980 2. Ambedkar B.R. (first Published 1987), “Philosophy of Hinduism” Vasant Moon (Edit) “Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches” Vol.3 Page 1-94 Ambedkar B.R. (first published 1987), “The Hindu Social Order - Its Essential Features” in Vasant Moon (Edit), “Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and Speeches”, Vol.3, Page 95-115, Deptt. of Education, Govt. of
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Maharashtra, Bombay, Deptt. of Education, Govt. of Maharashtra 3. Banerjee, Biswjit and Knight J.B. (1985) “Caste Discrimination in Indian Urban Labour Market” Journal of Developing Economics 4. David Romer (1984) “The Theory of Social Custom :A Modification and some Extension” in Quarterly Journal of Economics 5. Deshi, A.K. and Singh H. (1995) “ Education, Labour Market Distortions and Relative Earning of Different Religious - Caste Categories in India”, Canadian Journal of Development of Studies, December 21 6. Haan, De. Arjan, Extreme Deprivation in Remote Areas in India: Social Exclusion as Explanatory concept, Manchester conference on Chronic Poverty,April2003, session “Social Exclusion, Rights and Chronic Poverty”. 1997, Poverty and Social Exclusion: A Comparison of Debates on Deprivation. Working Paper No. 2, Poverty Research Unit at Sussex. Brighton: University of Sussex. 7. Lal Deepak (1984) “Hindu Equalibrium”, Cultural Stability and Economic Stagnation, Vol. I Carendor, 1988 Oxford Mayra Buvinic ( (2005) Social Exclusion in Latin America ,in Social Exclusion and Economic Development ,Johns Hopkins University Press 8. Nancy Birdsall and Richard Sabot (1991) “Unfair Advantage Labour Market Discrimination in Developing Countries” World Bank Studies 9. Sen, Amartya, 2000 “Social Exclusion: Concept, Application, and Scrutiny”
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10. Scoville, James G.L. (1991) “Towards a Model of Caste Economy” in James G. Scoville, (Editor) “Status Influences in Third World Labour Markets, Caste, Gender and Custom, (Berlin and New York, 1991) 1996) ”Labour Market Under Pinnings of a Caste Economy-Failing the Caste Theorem" in “The American Journal of Economics and Sociology” Vol.55, No.4, Oct. 1996. 11. Thorat S.K. (1996) “Ambedkar on Economics of Hindu Social Order: Understanding Its Orthodoxy and Legacy” in Walter Fernandes “The EmergingDalit Identity” Indian Social Institute, Delhi —(1999), “Caste and Labour Market Discrimination” (With R.S. Deshpande) Indian Journal of Labour Economic, Conference Issue, November —(with Aryma and Prashant Negi ) (2005) ‘Reservation and Private Sector –Quest for Equal Opportunity and Growth, Rawat ,Jaipur ( with Narendra Kumar) In search of Inclusive Polices –Addressing Graded Inequalities “ Rawat, 2007 (with Narandra Kumar) B.R. Ambedkar-Perspective on Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy “ Oxford ,2008 Thurow, Lester C. (1969), “Poverty and Discrimination”, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. 12. William Darity Jr. (Edit) “Economics and Discrimination” Vol. I, An Elgar Reference Collection (U.S.) William Darity, Jr. & Steven Shulman, (1989), “Question of Discrimination–Racial inequality in the U.S. labour market,” Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut Read & comment on full article posted on RH Web:http://www.theradicalhumanist.com/inde x.php?option=com_radical&controller=article &Itemid=56&cid=498&task=single
Dear Radical Humanists, We hope you will organise meetings & lectures or informal get-togethers wherever you are, in India or abroad, to acknowledge M.N. Roy’s contribution to modern Political Philosophy and participate in the celebrations of his 125th Birth Anniversary Year. Please send us the reports and pictures of the programs so that we may publish and post them in the RH & its Web Portal regularly in Roy’s entire Birth Anniversary Year. — Rekha Saraswat
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H. Suresh [Justice H. Suresh (retd.) delivered this lecture on the occasion of M.N. Roy 125th Birth Anniversary celebrations by Centre for the Study of Social Change (CSSC) at M.N. Roy Human Development Campus, Centre for the Study of Social Change, Mumbai on 21st March 2012]
The Need For Death Sentence For Capital Punishmment Continued from the previous issue........ referring to Maneka Gandhi, Sunil After Batra, Bachan Singh, Hussainara Khatoon and other cases, the Court observed: “Articles 14, 19 and 21 are not mutually exclusive. They sustain, strengthen and nourish each other. They are available to prisoners as well as free men. Prison walls do not keep out Fundamental Rights. A person under sentence of death may also claim Fundamental Rights. The fiat of Article 21, as explained, is that any procedure that deprives a person of his life or liberty must be just, fair and reasonable. Just, fair and reasonable procedure implies a right to free legal services where he cannot avail them. –It implies a right to a speedy trial. It implies humane conditions of detention, preventive or punitive. ‘Procedure established by law’ does not end with the pronouncement of sentence, it includes the carrying out of sentence. That is as far as we have gone so far. It seems to us but a short step, but a step in the right direction, to
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that prolonged detention to await the execution of a sentence of death is an unjust, unfair, and unreasonable procedure and the only way to undo the wrong is to quash the sentence of death.” Further interpreting our Constitution sui generis “as we are bound to do, we find no impediment in holding that the dehumanising factor of prolonged delay in the execution of a sentence of death has the Constitutional implication of depriving a person of his life in an unjust, unfair and unreasonable way as to offend the Constitutional guarantee that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except – according to procedure established by law. The appropriate relief in such a case is to vacate the sentence of death.” And finally, quoting from Sher Singh (1983): “The horizons of Art. 21 are ever widening and the final word on its conspectus shall never have been said. So long as life lasts, so long shall it be the duty and endeavour of this Court to give to the provisions of our Constitution a meaning which will prevent human suffering and degradation. Therefore, Art. 21 is as much relevant at the stage of execution of the death sentence as it is in the interregnum between the imposition of that sentence and its execution. The essence of the matter is that all procedure, no matter what the stage, must be fair, just and reasonable. It is well established that a prisoner cannot be tortured or subjected to unfair or inhuman treatment (see Prabhakar Pandurang Sanzgiri (AIR 1966 SC 424), Bhuvau Mohan Patnaik (AIR 1974 SC 2092) and Sunil Batra (AIR 1978 SC, j, 167S). It is a logical extension of the selfsame principle that the death sentence, even if justifiably imposed, cannot be executed if supervening events make its execution harsh, unjust or unfair. Art. 21 stands like a sentinel over human misery, degradation and oppression. Its voice is the voice of justice and fair play. That voice can never be silenced on the ground that the time to heed to its imperatives is long since past in the story of a trial. It reverberates through all stages – the trial, the sentence, the incarceration and finally, the execution of the sentence.”
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However, this was over-ruled in the case of Triveniben v/s State of Gujarat (AIR 1989 SC 1335), where the Supreme Court held that undue long delay in execution of the sentence of death will entitle the condemned person to approach the Supreme Court under Art. 32 but the Supreme Court will only examine the nature of delay caused and circumstances ensued after sentence was finally confirmed by the judicial process. The only delay which would be material for consideration will be the delay in disposal of the mercy petitions or delays occurring at the instance of the Executive. The Court further held that no fixed period of delay could be held to make the sentence of death inexecutable. It also held that: “It may also be open to the Court to examine or consider any circumstances after the final verdict was pronounced if it is considered relevant. The question of improvement in the conduct of the prisoner after the final verdict also cannot be considered for coming to the conclusion whether the sentence could be altered on that ground also.” However, there are one or two disturbing observations: “The prisoner who is sentenced to death and is kept in jail custody under a warrant under S. 366(2) is neither serving rigorous imprisonment nor simple imprisonment. In substance he is in jail so that he is kept safe and protected with the purpose that he maybe available for execution of the sentence which has been awarded. Therefore, when capital punishment is awarded the sentence awarded is only sentence of death but not sentence of death plus imprisonment and therefore if a condemned prisoner has to live in jail for long in substance it would not amount to punishment which is sentence of death and imprisonment for some time.” This is to meet the argument that prolonged imprisonment is as good as the convict undergoing life sentence – which amounts to double jeopardy in violation of Art. 20. While it is easy for the judges to say that a convict in death row just remains in the prison house, they forget that, in fact, he leads a life of living death every day. The mental agony of living under the
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shadow of death for long itself should be considered as punishment. In this connection, this is what a South African judge said the case of D.A. of Suffolk District v/s Watson (1980) : “ The ordeals of the condemned are inherent and inevitable in any system that informs the condemned person of his sentence and provides for a gap between sentence and execution. Whatever one believes about the cruelty of the death penalty itself, this violence done to the prisoners’ mind must afflict the conscience of enlightened government and give the civilised heart no rest…. The condemned must confront this primal terror directly, and in the most demeaning circumstances. A condemned man knows, subject to the possibility of successful appeal or commutation, the time and manner of his death. His thoughts about death must necessarily be focussed more precisely than other people’s. He must wait for specific death, not merely expect death in the abstract. Apart from cases of suicide or terminal illness, this certainty is unique to those who are sentenced to death. The state puts the question of death to the condemned person, and he must grapple with it without the consolation the he will die naturally or with his humanity intact. A condemned person experiences an extreme form of debasement….The death sentence itself is a declaration that society deems the prisoner a nullity, less than human and unworthy to live. But that negation of his personality carries through the entire period between sentence and execution.” Imagine, a convict is kept alive so that he may be hanged by the neck, which he apprehends every day! In Triveniben, Jagannatha Shetty, J. makes this observation: “Art. 21 demands that any procedure which takes away the life and liberty of persons must be reasonable, just and fair. This procedural fairness is required to be observed at every stage and till the last breath of the life.” This is exactly what Chinnappa Reddy, J. said, as quoted above. If the procedural fairness is required to be observed, it extends to the stage of hanging, and perhaps hanging itself. I have here an account of the hanging process from a jail warden, which
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should cause abhorrence in any judicial conscience: “The day before an execution, the prisoner is weighed, measured for length of drop to assure the breaking of the neck, the size of the neck, body measurements, etc. When the trap springs he dangles at the end of the rope. There are times when the neck has not been broken and the prisoner strangles to death. His eyes pop almost out of his head, his tongue swells and protrudes from his mouth, and the rope many times takes large portions of skin and flesh from the side of the face that the noose is on. He urinates, he defecates and droppings fall to the floor while witnesses look on. The prisoner remains dangling for the end of the rope for eight to fourteen minutes before the doctor who has climbed up a small ladder and listens to his heartbeat with a stethoscope, pronounces him dead. A prison guard stands at the feet of the hanged person and holds the body steady because during the first few minutes there is usually considerable struggling in an effort to breathe” It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court in Deena v/s Union of India (1983) 4SCC 645, relying on an expert report made the following observation : “The system of hanging is as painless as possible in the circumstances, it causes no greater pain than any other known method of executing the death sentence and it involves no barbarity, torture or degradation” Do we need an expert to say what hanging is? The Law Commission itself considered this, after Deena, and observed that the execution of the death sentence has to be judged with reference to objective factors such as international standards or norms or the climate of international opinion, and evolving standards of human decency. And it further observed that now according to the evolving standards of human decency, it may be regarded as barbaric and inhuman punishment. In this connection, it took note of Justice Bhagwati’s observation in Bachan Singh wherein, after considering how hanging is carried out, he says : “The execution of sentence of death by hanging does involve immense physical pain and suffering…” though it may be regarded by 21
some as more humane than electrocution or application of lethal gas. Perhaps, some might find justification on the basis that no mercy need be shown to one who did not show mercy to others. But Justice Bhagwati answers this by saying : “…. this justificatory reason cannot commend itself to any civilised society because it is based on the theory of retribution or retaliation and at the bottom of it lies the desire of the society to avenge itself against the wrong doer. That is not a permissible penological goal.” What is required to be noted is that neither the Law Commission could think of any other method of humane killing, nor had the State ever thought of any other alternative. That is why, for the simple reason that any killing of any person by the State, after taking him into custody, is no more than a custodial death, which no civilised world would ever justify as permissible. My appeal is to the Supreme Court, not to the Government. The Government lacks leadership. Yet one more execution is coming by the end of March. If it takes place, it will be the first execution after Dhananjoy Chatterjee in 2004. Balwant Singh Rajoana is the assassin of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. He was arrested in 1995 and was convicted in August 2007. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana had confirmed his death sentence. Rajoana had refused to file any appeal, stating that the death sentence passed on him be executed at the earliest. Now the Punjab Government has fixed the date of March 31, 2012. But there is no hangman in Punjab. The last hanging in the State was carried out on June 16, 1989. There has been no hanging for the last 23 years. Again, why a hangman? Because you and I and none else do this work! Who will stop this execution? The question is not one of the convict filing an appeal in the Supreme Court. Nor is the question of his having sought no mercy or pardon. The question is whether the State can execute any man in the most heinous, inhuman and barbaric way, particularly when the majority of the civilised world demands a moratorium on execution of death sentence.
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The Supreme Court can still stop this execution of Rajoana. Execution by hanging is a procedure which is plainly violative of Art. 21 of the Constitution of India. It has been established that the “due process” procedure is applicable “till the last breath” of any person. The Supreme Court, if it so desires, can still keep the “rarest of rare cases” criteria for imposing any death sentence. However, the Supreme Court cannot permit any deviation of “due process” procedure after the sentence is pronounced. The Supreme Court has just to declare that there shall be no execution of any death sentence, so long as the procedure for execution remains as cruel, barbarous, and inhumane as ever. Or, for that matter, killing itself – by the State of a man under its custody – is that not inhuman? As someone said: “An execution cannot be used to condemn killing; it is killing.” Finally, a movement for abolition of death penalty is a movement for human rights. Whatever be the attitude of the State, our Supreme Court has, for more than three decades, given recognition to such a movement, when it read several provisions of the UDHR, and of the two Covenants, ICCPR and ICESCR (International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) into our Constitution while interpreting Art. 21 of the Constitution: Right to life means and includes all that goes with life and human dignity. The quintessence of human rights is the unqualified presumption for life and dignity. That is why the Right to Life is a non-derogatory right: at all times, and for all people. Could there be an exception when it comes to death penalty? And for what reason? Is it because S. 354(3) IPC provides for “special reasons”? – Special reasons for the State to kill, while the State and the Parliament are not prepared to lay down any guidelines? The Court, as we know, evolved the “rarest of rare cases” guidelines, leading to a bizarre situation based on personal predilections varying from Bench to Bench, perhaps the only hope being in the star under which the convict was born; this, strictly in constitutional terms should be considered as arbitrary and violative of Art. 14.
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Mr. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer in Ediga Annama (1972) referred to “the current ethos, with its strong emphasis on human rights and against death penalty, together with the ancient strains of culture spanning from Buddha to Gandhi” , wondered whether death sentence could be permissible or not. In Rajendra Prasad (1979), he again referred to Leo Tolstoy who in his “Recollections and Essays” denounces death penalty even against revolutionaries “by arguments too Gandhian to be dismissed by Indian Judges in the sentencing sector of discretion”. Much later, he says : “The right to life must win”. It is time that we should have a rethink on the criteria of “rarest of rare cases”. It is true that the judicial wing of the State exercises this discretion. Yet it is a part of the State. I won’t be surprised if the State itself raises the plea of ‘rarest of rare situations’ to eliminate some one, say, ‘a naxalite’, or ‘a terrorist’, with none to challenge. And then there would be no difference between an ‘encounter death’ and a ‘judicial encounter death’! Under the Criminal Procedure Code, the judge has to hear the convict before he imposes a death sentence. Our experience shows that very often this remains a superficial hearing. There is hardly any study of the convict’s life and background; his family members and neighbours are not heard. What do they think of him? What was his psychological background? What was his behaviour as a convict? Would he reform himself, if given a chance? How do we rehabilitate him? All these questions, which are necessary before anyone decides to take away his life, are never considered. The Court says that we have to have a balance sheet as between the crime and the mitigating circumstances before deciding to bring the offence under the category of “rarest of rare” cases. A balance sheet is possible, provided we are sure of the necessary inputs. What is important is that the Court should know the man before it decides to hang him. The Court is ill-equipped to study the man behind the crime.
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Our problem is that we still believe that “India cannot risk the experiment of abolition of capital punishment”. This was the Law Commission’s Report in 1967. We must know that we are now more than four decades ahead since then. More than 130 nations have abolished the death penalty. How do they deal with offences like murder, treason, etc.? We inherited our criminal justice system from the British. But the British Justice System has abandoned the death penalty for murder for several decades now. It was initially abolished in 1965 for a period of five years. There was no escalation of murderous crime. The law has continued since then, and thus, “Capital punishment appeared to be itself sentenced to death”. The Criminal Law Revision Committee (in U.K.), justifying abolition of the death penalty, observed: “This perspective justifies judicial
evolution of humane penal doctrine because the legislative text is not static; and as Chief Justice Warren wrote (in Trop v/s Dullers (1958-336 US 86)), the Court ‘must draw its meaning form the evolving standards of a maturing society’ . The great answer to grave crime is culturing of higher consciousness, removing the pressure of a perverted social order, and nourishing the inner awareness of man’s true nature. This is the true penal reform….” It appears that the Supreme Court is once again considering the question of death penalty. Shall we hope that the Court will rise to the occasion to fall in line with “the evolving standards of a maturing society”? Concluded.
Letter to the Editor: Respected Madam, The editorial of May-2012 Radical Humanist pinpoints a civilization dilemma. The nature of the common man and the qualities expected from the superman are products of a particular culture. They differ in different places and ages because of the plasticity of the human mind. We have war-mongering societies and peaceful societies. Women become victims of male jealousy in many societies and enjoy total sexual freedom in societies like that of pueblo-Indians and the Uttara Kuru region in ancient India (Mahabharata). The concept of superman was/is taboo in a few indigenous communities living in the Amazon forests. You have mentioned a fundamental philosophical issue which needs to be discussed in the evolutionary and cultural contexts. Waiting for more live material in the June issue. With profound regards, Sincerely yours, Bhagwat Prashad, Rayagada. bagwat_prashad@rediffmail.com
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2012
II
Current Affairs’ Section:
Problems of autonomy:
N.K. Acharya
[Sri N.K. Acharya is an advocate, columnist and author of several books on law. He was formerly Secretary of Indian Rationalist Association and had edited the Indian Rationalist, then published from Hyderabad on behalf of the Association prior to its transfer to Madras.] I
The rise of regional sentiment: Unable to meet the challenges of the times which require substantial planning and their expeditious execution/several State Governments are raising for the first time the issue of regional autonomy. Leaders of this new moment are Mamata Benerjee of Bengal and Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu. The two issues on which there were projecting their own selves as leaders are, setting; up of a Central Vigilance commission on Terrorists and the Constitution of Lokayuktas. There cannot be two opinions on the setting^ up of Central Vigilance Commission to combat terrorism. Terrorism is a law and order problem over which the Central Government not only has responsibility but as obligation to secure protection for the people of states. It is also an All India problem which cannot be tackled by the States alone. That apart, the matter of the law and order is not optional but mandatory. In the case of Lokayuktas, the Act itself enables the State to adopt the Central Act or to make an Act for their own selves. Therefore, the two issues chosen to hit the Centre by the leaders of regional parties are unjustified.
In Burma, and Nepal, the problem is about the status of the states which constitute the country. In Nepal, it is the view of the majority that the states shall be fully autonomous to the extent they enjoy in U.SÂť but with no right to cessation. In Burma, the armed frontier tribes want the right of cessation also. In both the countries the Constitution has yet to be written and finalized. They apparently are trying to adopt the Indian model where the power is centered on the Union. In Nepal, unable to finalize the Constitution the elected Parliament which is functioning as Constituent Assembly is dissolved. In Burma, fresh elections will have to be held to draft the Constitution. While so, it is the duty of the military leadership in Burma to get the armed frontier tribes to table so that the Constitution to be framed by the civilian authority may cover the rebels who are, otherwise, bent upon either full freedom or right to merge with the neighbouring countries with whom they have ethnic as well as social relations. The visit of the American Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh who are all convinced that the present president who is a Military General is genuine in transferring power to the civic authority. Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to help the Government in effecting political transition. The visit of the foreign leaders is followed up by relaxing several Embargos placed on the Burmies Economy and Trade. III
Campaign against corruption: Campaign against corruption is getting widespread in India. It all commenced with improprieties in the Asian Games. Spectrum scandles and black money being harboured in tax havens and in irregularities in army purchasers as disclosed by the Army Chief(since retired). The Government itself is seriously considering introducing the system of
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appointing of Lokpal and Lokayuktas. A Bill to that effect is passed by Loksabha and is awaiting approval of Rajya Sabha. As per the contents of the Bill, Lokpal and Lokayuktas are advisory Bodies who have jurisdiction to enquire into the corrupt practices. Prime Minister is also covered but with a few exceptions. All the Ministers and high officers as well as the elected persons of statutory and non-statutory bodies receiving aid from the Government and which are subject to supervision and control of the Government are covered. After the enquiry, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas will submit a report to the appropriate authority to take either disciplinary action or prosecution or both. Lokpal and Loayuktas have power to prosecute directly the corrupt though special courts.
Here, it may of interest to note that several institutions appoint an ombudsman. For instance, the Reserve Bank of India appoints ombudsman in respect of the banks. Here, the person appointed as ombudsman is a very high officer whose decisions the concerned institution is bound to implement. Here, the orders of ombudsman are implemented instantly and on the spot. In case of Lokpal and Lokayuktas, their report is subject to the decision of the competent authority as to the mode of implementing their recommendation and is also dependent upon the final decision of the Anti-Corruption Court. IV
Nomination of Stars:
accept free accommodation in Delhi saying that he might not have any occasions to stay for long at the Capital. But, there is at present a Bill pending in Parliament. It relates to sports. The Government seeks to control the sports body, the Bombay Cricket Club which dominates all cricket programmes whether they be regional in character or international. Several sports persons are opposing the Government’s interference in Sports Body. Tendulkar has to necessarily take part in the discussions as well as in its final decisions. V
Controversy over poverty line: Controversy over poverty level in India is genuine. It is so because, the people for whom the benefits under the schemes for economic welfare of people below poverty line may be able to enjoy them_- for instance, when food- grains have to be distributed either free or at subsidized rates or while fixing the minimum wages under the payment of Wages Act or for fixing the wages under the Employment Guarantee Scheme. The matters to be taken into consideration before fixing poverty line are different from those which are prevailing in the past. The present standard of living even for the poor is not the same which was prevailing, before. The present standard and other amenities enjoyed by the poor include residence and adequate furniture fridge and other equipment, cycles, etc. including health and education. Different commissions and authorities for- the purpose of fixing poverty line are likely to take into consideration different criteria needed for comfortable living. Instead of leaving the commissions and authorities to choose their own criteria, it is better if the Government prescribes the minimum criteria. VI
Nomination as Rajyasabha Members of a highly respected and highly non-controversial persons shining in their respective professions is highly welcome. The first one is a cinema star by name Miss Rekha and the second one is a sportsman by name Tendulkar. They made their name as talented persons. While Miss Rekha is already in politics being a person of Andhra Pradesh got elected as M.P. from Uttar Pradesh. While,Tendulkar has no political background whatsoever. He is reputed to have established World Records in Cricket. Election Process: Commenting on his nomination, Tendulkar Election process for the election of President is expressed a desire that he may not enter politics. He different and complicated. This is called election by accordingly, to show his bona-fides, refused to 25
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preference by transferable vote. This system works as follows: All the first preference votes are tabulated in the first instance for each of the candidates. If the first candidate gets more than 50% of the first preference vote, he is declared elected. If that does not happen, the votes cost in favour of the first candidate in the ballots of the last candidate in the list, are transferred to the first candidate and the last candidate is eliminated. Even after, such addition, the first candidate does not reach the 50% target, then, the votes casts in favour of the first candidate in the ballot of the last but the candidate are transferred to the first candidate. If, even after such addition the first candidate does not reach the 50% target, then the same process will be continued till
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the first candidate or any other candidate reaches the target. While, the process of transfer of votes is going on & similar exercise is undertaken with the second and subsequent candidate% till a candidate’s target excess 50%. As soon as a candidate reaches 50% target whatever be the position in the first count, the one who reaches the target first is declared elected. There is one more complication in the Presidential’s election. Each M.P’s and MLA’s vote represents the number of people he represents. That was arrived at by dividing the population of India by the number of M.Ps and dividing population of state by number of MLAs of that state. While counting the number of M.Ps and MLAs those who are nominated are excluded.
Dear friends, Here are 8 more books of M.N. Roy on the following RH Web portal now for you to download and read directly on your Computers: (www.theradicalhumanist.com) They are: 'Revolution and Counter-Revolution in China', 'Science and Philosophy', 'Memoirs', 'India's Message: Fragments of a Prisoner's Diary', 'Materialism', ' 'M.N. Roy: Philosopher Revolutionary', 'Reason, Romanticism and Revolution' Volume I & II You may also download the following earlier uploaded books of Roy from this website: 'New Orientation', 'New Humanism', The Russian Revolution and the Tragedy of Communism', 'Politics, Power & Parties' 'Men I Met' 'Historical Role of Islam' and 'From the Communist Manifesto to Radical Humanism'. You will be able to read the entire collection of Roy's books on the RH Portal soon. It is gradually being uploaded there. Happy reading of the above mentioned books till then!!!
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Mastram Kapoor
[Mr. Mastram Kapoor is a freelance writer and journalist in Hindi. He has written, edited and translated more than 100 books and pamphlets on literature, social and political thought, education and children’s literature including 11 volumes of documents on freedom movement and 17 volumes of collected works of Dr. Lohia. He has had a long association with the socialist movement. His special interests of study are Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, Jaiprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Deva, Madhu Limaye and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.]
Presidential Election: An Opportunity Lost presidential election 2012, provided a Thegolden opportunity for unity of progressive forces as against the forces of status quo and crony capitalism in the guise of neo-developmentalism that by plundering the earth enrich the few and push the masses to gradual extinction. The opportunity was however lost not by circumstances but by utter poverty of imagination and will on the part of the progressives consisting of communists and socialists as well as complete loss of direction among NDA constituents. After the unpredicted success of the Samajwadi Party in UP Assembly elections, a hope was generated that the present UPA regime of loot and corruption can be challenged at least symbolically, in the presidential elections, as a rehearsal to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. A rough calculation 27
of votes showed that out of about 11 lakh votes, the UPA, with all its constituents, including Trinamul Congress, have 4,60,000, the NDA with its allies, 3,04,000 and the rest, about 2,62,000 votes. If the socialists of the Samajwadi Party take an initiative and put up a candidate of non-partisan, clean image with a good knowledge of the Constitution and he is backed by the Left Front, there can be a fair possibility of NDA groups joining the campaign, in view of the fact that NDA is the main opposition, entitled to replace the UPA regime, in case the UPA candidate is defeated resulting in depletion of Congress or ultimate fall of the UPA government. In order to find a way to come out of the present suffocating atmosphere, a proposal was given to Shri Mulayam Singh suggesting the name of Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, who last year, before his retirement from the Supreme Court of India, had delivered famous judgments on black money and Salva Judum and also decided in favour of reservations to OBCs in educational institutions. Earlier Justice Santosh Hegde’s name was suggested as an alternative by Ravi Varma Kumar, senior advocate and former chairman of Karnataka Backward Commission. On getting a casual nod from Mulayam Singh, consultation process was started with different parties expected to join the campaign. Our first stop was Ajay Bhavan where extensive discussion took place with CPI leaders AB Bardhan and Atul Kumar ‘Anjan’. CPI leaders fully appreciated the idea behind the effort. They agreed that the President should not be selected by consensus but should be elected by contest. They also agreed that consensus smacks of feudalism and court culture and open contest and free vote are basic requirements of democracy. Elections of the President by real contest and free vote held in 1967 and 1969, had stirred the imaginations of the people making them part of the political process which is the real need of democracy. Since the electoral college of President’s election comprises of MPs and MLAs and not political parties, no whip can be issued in the President’s election and all votes
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should result from call of conscience as was exhorted by Indira Gandhi in V.V. Giri’s election in 1969. It was decided that CPI leaders will discuss this matter further in Left Front meetings and try to arrive at a combined opinion about supporting a common candidate from opposition. Unfortunately, Left Front parties could not agree to the idea of combined opposition candidate and CPM leaders looked entirely given to idea of consensus. In three meetings held the CPM leaders showed inclination to follow the Congress lead instead of taking their own initiative. In the last meeting CPM and forward Bloc openly declared their support for ruling party’s ‘Bengali’ candidate while CPI and RSP showed their pure metal by deciding to abstain from voting. Surprisingly, the weakness of following the Congress lead was seen in almost all major opposition groups. Even the main opposition party which claimed to be ruling party in waiting, waited for the Congress to name its candidate and nearly decided to vote for him and only unwillingly extended support to P.A. Sangma with an eye to expand NDA circle by roping in Navin Patnayak and Jayalalita. Samajwadi Party supremo, Mulayam Singh, showed some guts when he joined with Mamata Banerjee to propose their own candidates in defiance of Congress’s proposal. But when congress Supremo reacted angrily against their suggestion of including Dr. Manmohan Singh’s name, Mulayam Singh’s guts crumbled and he immediately withdrew his earlier stand and extended his support to congress candidate, leaving Mamata in lurch. This acrobat of Mulayam Singh destroyed whatever goodwill Samajwadi Party had earned from its recent success in UP Assembly polls. It will be very difficult for SP to regain it. The other pillar of the socialist movement, JD (U) behaved even worse. The leaders of JD (U) made up their mind from the start to vote for the ruling party candidate. A suggestion to the President of JD (U), to support a common opposition candidate,
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brought a violent reaction and its spokesman proudly declared its support to ruling party. The chief minister Nitish Kumar, the real centre of power of JD (U) however, saved some of its lost honour by diverting the media attention to the debate of NDA’s P.M candidate, though he remained hanging to the coat-tail of Manmohan Singh. The remaining three factions of the socialist movement, i.e. Lok Jan Shakti Party, JD(S) and RJD, didn’t even shy like a new bride before extending their support to the ruling party. The most pathetic character in the drama was BJP leadership which claims to be a better substitute to the Congress. Throughout, it was in ‘to be or not to be’ dilemma. Although there were many good candidates who could be put up as candidates for President-ship (Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy and Justice Santosh Hegde’s names were suggested to them and they already had Ram Jethmalani and Subramaniam Swamy) the leaders of BJP could not make up their mind. Even the idea that the main opposition should not leave the ruling party’s candidate uncontested, dawned on them when they were forced by the circumstances to support a weak candidate like P.A. Sangma. All Chanakyas and Sardar Patels in the party failed to see that in no country, ruling party’s presidential candidate is given a walk-over by the opposition. The net result of this whole political drama is that whatever possibilities of unifying the opposition forces and presenting a challenge to the present failed regime were emerging were lost and hopes of a left-democratic front are dashed. The blame should go to all opposition parties and groups, mainly to BJP, SP, JD (U) and CPM who have betrayed the faith of their voters. In view of the all round disappointment that will follow this presidential election, there is urgent need to start fresh efforts to build a left-democratic alternatives for which the lead must be taken by parties like CPI, RSP, Mamata’s Trinmul and SP’s new leadership and reincarnated JD (U) even if it meant to start from ABC.
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IRI/IRHA Members’ Section:
Innaiah Narisetti [Dr. N. Innaiah, former Director, Centre for Inquiry (CFI), India, did his Ph.D on Philosophy of Modern Science. He is a veteran Radical Humanist who has translated maximum books written by M.N Roy as well as other books on humanism in Telugu.He is now based in the U.S.A. innaiahn@yahoo.com]
Influence of M N Roy on revolutionary writer in Andhra
Rachakonda Viswanatha Sastry rare material is taken from diary of late TheRachakonda Viswanatha Sastry (1922-1992). Rachakonda was famous novelist, story writer, and associated with revolutionary writers of Andhra, called Virasam (extreme 29
communists). Sastry had just entered college in Visakhapatnam when M N Roy arrived in 1937. Mr Abburi Varada Rajeswararao, Sastry son of Abburi Ramakrishna Rao introduced Viswanatha Sastry to Roy. Rachakonda was very much impressed with Roy and continued to attend his meetings in Vizac and read his articles in Independent India as well as few published works. As student of college, he invited Roy for meetings. His principal did not like it. But Sastry continued association with Roy until 1943. His diaries did not indicate any thing afterwords. Perhaphs gradually Sastri went into the fold of Communist Party. This news of Rachakonda`s association with Roy has come to light, thanks to the help of Dr Narasimha Sarma who is living in Vizac now. The few details extracted from the diaries of Rachakonda are given here. A photo taken with Roy is not yet traced.
Extracts from his Diaries: Aug, 19 Thursday 1937: We went to meet M.N.Roy today. We were introduced as members of the executive committee of Youth League. He is very tall. His pronunciation is German. His wife is an American. Aug. 22 1937: M.N.Roy's lecture in the beach today. It seems he said that Socialism is not appropriate for India at this time. 27th August 1937 Friday: M.N.Roy presided over and delivered the "History Inaugural address. We had a photo and Tea party. When we told our Principal about our inviting M. N. Roy, he asked us whether we were going to learn from him about making bombs.. Some one seems to have informed M.N. Roy about this comment by the Principal. He spared no words in criticising the Principal in his speech. 18th (month?) Saturday 1937:
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Today he gave (me) our photo taken with M.N.Roy. It came out well. 19th Sunday July 1938: I began (reading) Letters to C S P. (M N ROY). (He is) writing sensibly and logically. 23rd July 1938: I am thinking of subscribing to "Independent India". 24th Friday July 1938: I purchased a copy of "Independent India" today. It contains articles by M N Roy on"Rights and Responsibilities" and "Mass Contact". Friday the 3rd inst.1938 (I forgot to copy the month): A person called Spratt wrote an article in the Indian Review in reply to M.N.Roy and Tagore and
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supporting Gandhiji. It is an article worth reading 29th August Monday 1938: A discussion took place today between Rajeswara Rao and N.V. Rama Rao on M N Roy. N.V.Rao does not like M N Roy whom Rajeswara Rao goes on prasing. It seems that N V Rama Rao is not a Congres Socialist or Royist or Gandhiist. I am however a Gandhiist. 15th May 1941 “Gndhism, Nationalism, Socialism� by M.N. Roy. I read this book. He wrote it critically. Some subjects have been clarified after my reading this book. The entries are taken from the diary of late Rachakonda Viswanatha Sastry.
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Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section:
Mudasir Nazar
Relevance of UN resolutions stone pelting phase of 2008, the After earlier status and position of Kashmir issue has changed due to several internal as well as external circumstances and political developments. Due to changing phase of liberation movement in the form of stone pelting and mass protests, not only the relevance of UN resolutions has come into question but has also changed the very nature, content and direction of the Kashmir conflict. New changes come to surface. After partition, Kashmir was recognized by international community as a disputed area between two states, India and Pakistan, which provided the basis for UN resolutions and they were framed in accordance with the nature of dispute and circumstances. Now the nature of the dispute has changed. It is no more a dispute ‘between’ two states but Kashmir’s dispute ‘with’ two states, and even with China also. Previously the Kashmiris were fighting in order to secede from India and accede with Pakistan. This was usually done through insurgency erupted in 1989. But now insurgency has waned and that type of idea has disappeared. Now Pakistan is as much disliked by the Kashmiris as India and the former have become completely fed-up with Pakistan. They do not want to be bifurcated under the so called promises of UN resolutions. They do not want another partition and the seemingly consequences. They rather want to 31
incorporate into one whole the people and all parts of Kashmir’s territory of princely state bifurcated by earlier partition. They do not want to replace one oppressor by another but the oppression itself. Besides the people have also become fed up with the delay caused by these resolutions to provide any meaningful solution and from their internal drawbacks. Under changing circumstances and aspirations of people, do UN resolutions have any relevance is a question frequently asked amongst the Kashmiris and must be dealt with now. There is a need to look seriously over UN resolutions on Kashmir in the present context. These resolutions have relevance only in the sense that the legitimacy of Kashmir dispute is upheld by them in international sphere and the leaders who uphold them to articulate have a fear that if these resolutions would be challenged than the legitimacy of Kashmir dispute would cease and would be regarded as law and order problem or internal problem of the state. Challenging the UN resolutions means challenging the international status and position of the Kashmir dispute. This would provide further boost to India in upholding its arguments regarding Kashmir issue. This is the reason why separatists including Pakistan are strong supporters of these UN resolutions. However, by providing legitimacy base to the dispute does not mean that these resolutions are relevant from all accounts because most of them, in fact, have become totally irrelevant in present circumstances with the changes in the attitudes of people. Firstly, these resolutions have been provided by United Nations Security Council, which is dominated by Super Powers and is used as an instrument of power by them. Since these Super Powers are presently highly fond of having cooperation with India because of India’s growing economic position, they are likely to block the entire process, as was done by Russia in 2001 by using veto against Kashmir issue in Security Council because of its strong strategic and economic ties with India. Secondly, historical experience suggests that UN seems to be only a
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‘paper tiger’ which has no binding decisions on states. Neither UN has capacity to make its decisions binding on parties of dispute particularly on India nor does India seem to accept such resolutions which would be injurious to its position, which historically it has done by refuting to hold plebiscite to decide the future of Kashmir. India regards Kashmir as an integral part and has yet to recognize Kashmir as a disputed area, which is essential for the plebiscite question. Thus the whole process and relevance of them comes to a halt. Moreover, some area of Jammu and Kashmir State is also under China which was provided to it by Pakistan and since the UN resolutions restrict choice to only two options India or Pakistan, there is no guarantee by these resolutions to bring that area back into the state under the framework of plebiscite. The question is how to bring back the China occupied area of Kashmir, surely which is impossible until and unless these resolutions are either modified or alternative mechanism is found. The UN resolutions in actual terms guarantee only right to accession and not right to self-determination to decide to create a separate state, which actually is more favourable to Kashmir in present circumstances but due to the national interests of the two concerned states such provision would never be applied until the legitimacy claim of both countries will fade and people leave support from one to put their case against another. Again the modifications are necessary to put ‘independent option’ in plebiscite framework which not only would be unfavourable to both India and Pakistan but also would be strongly opposed and resisted by them. If such option would not be provided, Kashmiris will not accept the solution, if provided, India and Pakistan will not accept, then due to opposed interests the Kashmir dispute would hang for another century. Thus, alternative mechanism would be better than modification of these resolutions often suggested by some separatist leaders.
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If plebiscite under UN resolutions would be permitted for conflict resolution of Kashmir dispute, it surely will result in more problems and violence than peaceful solution. Firstly, it will result in ‘partition of partitions’ because the process of partition would not end until partition of families. The partition is not going to remain confined to state and only religion or race will not be the criteria to vote any option, which often observers think that Hindu people from Jammu would vote for India and Muslims of Azad Kashmir for Pakistan or on percentage basis 70% people for independent Kashmir and rest will vote either for India or for Pakistan. But the result will be different though earlier predicted on percentage basis yet the complexities would be terrible, because every Kashmiri has grievance with either one or other due to consequences of insurgency movement. For instance in my family, truly speaking my father will vote for independent Kashmir because he was tortured and put to prison by Indian forces and was not provided with any help by those for whom he was working-militants or Pakistan. My brother will vote for Pakistan because he is mobilized by the ideology of Jammat-e-Islami and pan-Islamism. My mother will vote for India because after living a hard life, her hopes for independence or Pakistan has vanished. I will vote for secular and democratic state where peace and individual liberty is possible because of being indoctrinated with liberal education, I do not want to live under a theocratic state which will be established after plebiscite. Thus, certainly there will be partition of my family and similar will be the case with the entire society. The entire families of the state will be partitioned and chaos will be generated by the plebiscite promised by UN resolutions. Moreover, the problem would be how to distribute land after the results of plebiscite under the framework of UN resolutions and how to evacuate people from their locations. For instance 20% of population will vote for India and 20% for Pakistan and rest for independent Kashmir and if land distribution would be made according to
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percentage, would any party accept share of barren land of mountains? Which is more in the state? Further, if Sonawari or any other area would vote for India, would that be feasible under land distribution and tenable under geographical location? Would people accept dislocation and leave fertile land to settle in hilly barren land of their chosen state? This is a complex process and highly impracticable in nature which will lead to invidious problems rather than solution of the dispute. Those people who favour UN resolutions for conflict resolution in Jammu and Kashmir are either unable to understand the present changing political circumstances or delude and mislead people in order to deviate the direction of movement towards the accession of Pakistan, which in any sense would not only be impracticable but highly unfavourable to the masses. Huryat conference neither accepts ground realities nor shows tolerance to considering new alternatives and does not represent aspirations of Kashmiris at all because it is a puppet organization and sings songs composed by persons across LOC. Huryat has placed its entire ideological benediction in a basket with a name of ‘right to self-determination’ over it which stands for the rights of Kashmiris to decide about their own future under the framework of UN resolutions. Since these resolutions provide only two options, India and Pakistan, both of which have become outmoded for people, shouldn’t people’s demand for something new beyond these two options be now considered? If people are protesting and have
changed the direction of the movement, shouldn’t they have the right to decide about their future? If 80-90% people demand freedom, aren’t they challenging UN resolutions? Should the decision about future only have one meaning i.e. to vote under plebiscite; and is plebiscite the only mechanism for deciding about Kashmir’s future? Huryat is not making efforts to know what people want and what people have decided and what line should they follow. Thus the Huryat Conference through the art of self- deception tries to suppress fundamental novelties and people’s aspirations by the slogans of UN resolutions. The need of the hour is that some alternative mechanism should be found for the peaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict. For that matter all parties of the dispute should come forward to cooperate with each other and the focal point should be the views of the people of the state. The public too need to eschew preconceived notions and come forward to find meaningful and suitable solution to the conflict acceptable to all parties. Thus, they have to come out from the narrow circles of UN resolutions and refresh their minds with new ideas. Mr. Mudasir Nazar is a student of Political Science at the University of Kashmir. He is writing for sundry local dailies and political magazines. He has participated in two international conferences and has written several research papers. Presently he is working on the topic ‘Political Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir’. He can be contacted at or called at 91-9596164024.
Letter to the Editor: Dear Rékhâ, Many thanks for the June issue of the RH. In addition to your poignant question, "If this is the reality of human nature" concerning democracy, I appreciate Professor K.S. Chalan's bold step against a blind and obviously obtuse statement like claiming that "the life of a cow is more sacred than the life of an untouchable" !!! Are we going to transform New Delhi into Teheran ? Warm regards. Prithwindra-dâ, (Prithwin Mukherjee) prithwin.mukherjee@gmail.com 33
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explain the art of scientific living Authors which can be prolonged to its maximum
Book Review Section:
Jugal Kishore
[Prof. Jugal Kishore is MBBS, MD, PGDCHFWM, PGDEE, MSc., FIAPSM, FIPHA, FAMS, Deptt.Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India; 09968604249,09582792331http://drjugalkishore .blogspot.com He is also Director (Hony): Center for Inquiry (India); Advisory Member of *International Mental Health Collaboration Network (IMHCN)*; President (Hony): Kishore Foundations, Sabasva Foundation, Associated: *Institute of Science and Human Values*; Editor (Hony): Journal of Nursing Science and Practice, Research Review: Journal of Health Professions, Journal of Energy, Environment and Carbon Credit, Journal of Medicine]
[BOOK: Irvin M Korr, PhD and Rene J
McGovern PhD, Living Long and Loving it Achieving a Healthy and active Lifestyle Publisher, Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst New York, ISBN 978-1-59102-572-6, pages 314 (PB), 2008]
2012
with full of vibrant and exciting life. As a public health professional and teaching for so many years I found this book is one of the best books which every public health specialist, policy makers, doctor and scientist read. I believe that this book will provide sufficient ground for change for formulating healthy policies and programs to bring behavior modification in the mindsets of people. Authors have divided the book in 5 parts: Metamorphosis The guiding principles Origins of Human Vulnerability Creating your wellbeing Reinforcement of Lesson Learned Metamorphosis part has one chapter termed “What is your secret?” the first author described how he has changed his lifestyle at the age of forty; what was his daily routine? And how his next forty five years were eventful, full of energy, active and without any fear? The author makes the case from his life history and suggested that there is possibility to transform one’s life. In the second part where the guiding principles were elaborated starts with first principle of the Oneness of the person. His explanations of oneness where he refused to accept dualism of body and mind and also biomedical model of understanding human life are supported by available references and his vast knowledge of physiology. He coined the word “bodymind” to explain that mind and body interaction and interdependence. Second principle is focusing on the primary machinery of bodymind which is based motion and musculoskeletal system. He correctly pointed out that motion is very essential component of living healthy. Third principle is Vis Medicatrix Naturae: The only true health care system. Here focus is on the healing power of the body and mind. He explains that the first defense of diseases is self and in majority of times it succeeded. He questioned the current medical system which is devoted to 34
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diseases rather than health. We should focus on causes of health rather than causes of diseases if we really want to be successful in delivery health service to reduce its cost and prolonging life. Principle four is “take care of physician within and the physician within will take care of you”. Here focus is on all those systems which deal with body’s inherent protective, regulatory and restorative mechanism. These systems need to be understood completely and work with them to get maximum benefit. Here nature of bodymind is emphasized and stated that it has immense capacity to restore the dysfunction if any arise and it should be further strengthen by regular practice of supervision, looking after nicely. Part three deals with origins of human vulnerability. Author has explained how it is futile to call the normal and abnormal cut offs statistically and also risk factors for cancer and other diseases. In mythology of health and disease, he questioned why definition of health accepted by World Health Organization as “A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely absence of disease and infirmity” is not taken into consideration while assessing health of the communities and nations. It is rather morbidity and mortality considered and compared when we compare the health status of population. Health is not same as disease. Another myth is that crossing blood tests and limits are abnormal. People can be young at the age of 70 and 80. It is possible that person is old at the age of 40. It is the mindset and accepting limits as limits. It is a myth that rest is
rewarding in case of old age, means at the age of 60 the person is retired from his job to rest because person has worked for so many years. This is myth that healthcare system is the source of health. Because most of the time they are finding fault or finding disease in the body and mind and not health. This is also a myth that disease can be removed and it is autonomous thing. Most of the diseases are outcome of evolution and human has capacity to overcome them through better understanding and dealing with stress caused by internal and external environment. In part four “creating your well being” the author has emphasized that through commitment, discipline and motivation one can change the risky behavior and through regular exercise of body and mind freedom of motion and thought process is possible which make the person young. How to do breathing and physical exercise, meditation, diet and weight control can bring total transformation of person was explained. In various chapters it is explained that mind and brain can influence out body and vice versa. In fifth part every concept once again revised and reemphasized to doubly sure that reader has understood what is important for him to live longer and happily. Some of the statements of IM Korr are based on his deep understanding of human life. The book is full of inspirational and insightful sentences for the readers. It truly empowers the person for healthful and energetic action to change for artful aging which should start in childhood.
Ram Manohar Lohia Web Site Following are the latest updates to the http://www.lohiatoday.com/ site. Indian Socialist Movement Jayprakash Narayan's Works - Compiled by Qurban Ali Profile of B. R. Ambedkar - Compiled by Qurban Ali Profile of M. N. Roy - Compiled by Qurban Ali Periodicals - Latest Janata Weekly Message sent by: Ravela Somayya (ravela.somayya@gmail.com)
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2012
Venkatadri, a veteran radical humanist philosopher. Sri Ravipudi Venkadri, the President, I Conference of Rationalist Association of India Rationalist Association of India (RAI) aged about 90+ years, spoke on the philosophy of humanism. at Hyderabad:
Humanist News Section:
81st Annual conference of Rationalist Association of India and 17th Biennial Conference of Andhra Pradesh Rationalist Association were held at Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam, Sultan Bazar, Koti, Hyderabad on 9th and 10th June, 2012.
[From Left to Right - Sri P.T Varghese, Sri Vutla Ranganayukulu, Smt.Gurajala Radharani,Sri. C.L.N. Gandhi who is speaking, Sri Meduri Satyanarayana and Sri V.V Prabhakaran] [From Left to Right - Sri Sreeni Pattathanam, Dr. Chandana Chakravarthy, Prof. Sri K.S. Chalam, Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri, Sri Gumma Veeranna and Sri Kurra Hanumantha Rao who is speaking] Prof. Sri K.S. Chalam, Retired member of Union Public Service Commission, inaugurated the conference and expressed his views on the need of a renaissance movement in the country. Dr. Chandana Chakravarthy, a social scientist and Sri Sreeni Pattathanam, General Secretary, Bharateeya Yukthivada Sangham (BYS), Kerala attended the conference as the Chief Guests and delivered their speeches duly explaining the current tendency of growing blind believes in the society. A book in Telugu titled ‘Rationalist, Humanist movements - Ravipudi Venkatadri,’ was released by Sri K. Chinnaya Suri, Political Science Professor of Hyderabad Central University. This book contains 35 essays written by different authors on the life and thought of Sri Ravipudi
In the afternoon session Sri Gumma Veeranna, the President, Andhra Pradesh Rationalist Association explained the dangerous tendency of growing Religious Fundamentalism in the country. Sri Vutla Ranganayukulu, General Secretary, A.P.R.A. and Smt.Gurajala Radharani, Dist. Judge, Medak dist, delivered their speeches on the subject ‘Religiosity and narrow ideology’. Sri Meduri Satyanarayana, General Secretary, Rationalist Association of India, explained the subject ‘Cosmology and Evolution’. Sri. C.L.N. Gandhi, Additional Commissioner of Transport Department (Retd.), Govt. of A.P., Presided over the session. He released a book in Telugu “Gangireddu Batukulu” written by Sri Tumma Bhaskar. Sri I. Chandraiah, Resource person and magician, Social Development Foundation (Delhi), performed a magic show, exhibited some magic tricks and explained the scientific principles behind those tricks.
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[From Left to Right - Sri Gumma Veeranna, Sri Kurra Hanumantha Rao, Sri Jasti Jawaharlal, Sri Meduri Satyanarayana Sri Sreeni Pattathanam and Sri Padmanabhan] On 10th June,2012, Sri Kurra Hanumantha Rao, Chairman, RAI , explained the basic principles of humanism while dealing the subject ‘Humanism and comprehensive observation’. Sri Sreeni Pattathanam, Sri P.T.Varghese from Kerala delivered their lectures on ‘Secularism in India’ and Sri Padmanabhan from Bengalore also spoke on the occasion. A telugu book titled ‘Rationalism and Marxism’ written by Sri Gumma Veeranna was released by Sri Jasti Jawaharlal, a humanist writer. Sri Meduri Satyanarayana presided over the morning session. A documentary film on Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri was exhibited during the lunch break. In the afternoon session conferences of RAI and APRA were held under the Chairmanship of Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri and Sri Gumma Veranna
respectively. The conference was concluded with the vote of thanks by Sri M. Chandra Sekhar. Nearly 150 members are attended the conference from different parts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharastra. Boarding and lodging facilities were arranged by A.P. Rationalist Association. Rationalist and Humanist literature was sold by reduced rates at the conference. The following new executive bodies were unanimously elected for RAI and APRA. Rationalist Association of India (RAI): President - Sri Kurra Hanumantha Rao Chairman - Sri Ravipudi Venkatadri Vice Presidents - Sri Gumma Veeranna; Sri Abdulla Meppayur; Sri P.T Varghese Gen. Secretary - Sri Meduri Satyanarayana Joint Secretaries - Sri N. Venkata Subbaiah; Sri V.V Prabhakaran Treasurer - Sri Shaik Babu And 10 other Executive Members were also elected. Andhra Pradesh Rationalist Association (APRA): President - Sri Gumma Veeranna Vice Presidents - Sri Kari Hari Baba; Sri Sankatala Ramaiah Gen. Secretary - Sri Vutla Ranganayakulu Joint Secretaries - Sri D. Raja Sekhar; Sri Ala Adinarayana Treasurer - Sri Buddha Vishal And 22 Executive Members were also elected. —Report sent by Gumma Veeranna —Photos by Vutla Ranganayakulu
Request to the Contributers: Dear Friends, please do not send articles beyond 1500-2000 words. Also, please inform whether they have been published elsewhere. And, do try to email them at rheditor@gmail.com instead of sending them by post. You may post them (only if email is not possible) at: C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India. Do also email your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) as well as your introduction details, if you are contributing for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry.—Rekha Saraswat 37
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II (A) News from Gujarat: About Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG): here is pressing need to enhance constitutional powers of CAG. CAG needs to be armed with powers to take punitive and penal actions against the erring officials. An Open House Session (Lok Darbar) organized by Civic Society of Gujarat. Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is the mirror of our public administration system. This report truly reflects whether administration of the State’s expenditures has been properly done or not and whether Govt. policies have been properly implemented. In Gujarat Legislative Assembly, no discussions are held on the report of the CAG for the last many years and hence various public bodies and civic societies decided to discuss the report of the CAG for the year 2010-11, by organizing an Open House Session. In this Open House Session held in the presence of over 150 representatives coming from various districts of Gujarat, former Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, Prakash N. Shah, Indukumar Jani, Rohit Shukla, Ghanshyam Shah, Mahesh Pandya, Trupti Shah, Rajendra Khimani, Mahendra Jethamalani, Nimisha Shukla and Rohit Prajapati etc. delivered speeches on the important issues like image of the economy, development of adivasis, problems facing the unorganized labourers, environmental issues, scrutiny of Govt. dealings with the corporate sector, agricultural policy, Gujarat’s agriculture related problems and human development index with special reference to CAG’s report. Chief Whip of Gujarat Legislative
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Assembly’s from Congress, Iqbalbhai Patel, Gordhanbhai Zadafiya (MJP), Dwarikanath Rath (SUCI), Jayanti Panchal (Socialist Front) etc. put forth their views. Thus, in this Open House Session, Chief Whip of Opposition Party and members of other opposition parties had remained present. During the day long deliberations, detailed discussions took place as to how this constitutional arrangements which is at our disposal can be put to better use for formulating policies and implementing the same by the Govt., for overall benefits of the common man. At the end of the meeting, decisions were taken to enhance the constitutional powers of the CAG, to send a memorandum to the H.E. the President, powers to be exercised to take punitive and penal actions after explanation of the Govt., on the lapses brought out in the report etc. Moreover, it was discussed to launch awareness campaign and agitation progrrammes jointly by all the institutions and the political parties. It was also decided to bring out a booklet containing CAG’s observations, in a lucid and simple manner. Thus, many programmers were thought out to be more active in this direction. On this occasion, National Human Rights Commission’s Annual Report for the year 2002-03 (in the context of Gujarat) was formally released in the form of a booklet. This booklet can be obtained by writing a letter to PUCL(Gujarat). Handling of the entire Open House Session was ably conducted by PUCL, Gujarat’s General Secretary Gauram Thaker and Editor of Bhoomi Putra, Rajani Dave. —News sent by Gautam Thaker, PUCL (Gujarat) M- 9825382556, Mahesh Pandya, Paryavaran Mitra, Rajani Dave, Gujarat Sarvodaya Mandal
Letter to the Editor: Dear Madam, In June 2012 Issue of The Radical Humanist Cultivation for Innovation was a very nice article in the Guest Section. I think it will be very useful for all Indian students. The articles in the ‘Current Affairs' Section’ and the ‘Teacher's and Research Scholar's Section’ are also very informative. I convey my sincere thanks for giving such write ups in your journal. My good wishes to you and to your Magazine. — Atul K. Raval (cvaraval@yahoo.com)
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III (B) On The Eve Of Anti Emergency Day P.U.C.L. And Lok Andolan Gujarat Called For Equality, Liberty and Fraternity: n the eve of 38 years of Emergency imposed on 25th June, 1975, Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (P.U.C.L.) and Lok Andolan Gujarat jointly organised a Public meeting at Kocharab Ashram, Ahmedabad. The meet began with the song of 1942-Quit India Movement’s song, ‘Danko Vagyo….’ Then Prof. Rohitbhai Shukla, well known economist, began the discussion by pointing out the non democratic behaviour of the Gujarat state government regarding the proceedings of Assembly, short sessions, juggling with the C.A.G. report, etc. He also criticized the state government’s attempt to deliberately delay the appointment of Lokayukta in the state. Sarvodaya activist Sh. Harshadbhai Desai placed his view that to rout out the fascist elements of the state in the coming assembly elections, citizens’ initiative is inevitable. Well known economist Prof. Laliwala called to get united against ‘Economism’ prevailing today in the name of Economics. Sh. Manishi Jani, Navnirman Leader said that the situation today in the country and the state is no less than emergency and united fight is the only way to combat it. Well known women activist Sh. Ilaben Pathak portrayed the instances of attacks on Human Rights of women at each and every moment in the state.
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Sh. Dwarikanath Rath, co-ordinator, Lok Andolan Gujarat pointed out towards the “self censorship” prevailing among the common people due to an atmosphere of “Undeclared Emergency” which is very much dangerous. He also cautioned that let our fight be not confined to just ‘Legalistic’ or ‘Election orientation’ fights. Sh. Gautam Thaker, General Secretary, P.U.C.L., Gujarat avowed the determined fight against the fascist behaviour of the State as well as the Central governments. A resolution to protest the arrest of Sh. Seema Azad, Organising Secretary, P.U.C.L., Uttar Pradesh and her husband Sh. VishwaVijay under false sedition charges and imposing Life imprisonment by the Allahabad Court, and unconditional release of both the persons, was passed unanimously. In another resolution the meeting demanded repeal of draconian laws and release all arrested under such laws. Sh. Abdulbhai Vakani of Satya Shodhak Sabha, Ankleshwar expressed his views about the undeclared emergency and rampant corruption in the state as well as at Centre. Sh. Prakashbhai N. Shah, Acting President, P.U.C.L., Gujarat and well known journalist-activist, concluded the meet by giving a call that Gujarat and the entire nation today strives for the Equality, Liberty and Fraternity as were expressed in the martyrdom of Vinod Kinariwala, Vasantrao Hegeste and Rajab Ali Lakhani. Nothing less can be accepted, he implied. —News sent by Dilip Chandulal, Gautam Thakar & Dwarika Nath Rath
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