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Vol. 76 No 7
OCTOBER 2012
THE RADICAL HUMANIST (Since April 1949)
Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)
511
Founder Editor M. N. Roy
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The Radical Humanist Vol. 76 Number 7 October 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
OCTOBER 2012 Download and read the journal at www.theradicalhumanist.com
- Contents 1. From the Editor’s Desk: A Philosopher’s Democracy —Rekha Saraswat 1 2. Guests’ Section: Bagha Jatin’s Narendra —Prithwindra Mukherjee 2 Caste in Capitalist Development —K.S. Chalam 8 Justice Delayed is Justice Denied —B.K. Chatterjee 10 Biodiversity Summit: Need for a rethinking on Treaty Enforcement —S. Faizi 14 3. Current Affairs’ Section: FDI; Safe Global Society; Money on trees —Rakesh Manchanda 17 Commissioner of Information; Next P.M.; Satellite; COP II; Coalgate —N.K. Acharya 22 4. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Ajit Bhattacharya’s The Twins Of Irrationalism —Sunanda Sanyal 25 5. Teacher’s & Research Scholar’s Section: Study shows gender bias in science is real —Ilana Yurkiewicz 26 New Constituent Assembly —Mudasir Nazar 29 6. Book Review Section: Socio-Economic Development of Tribal Women —Vibhuti Patel 32 An Atmosphere of Ijtihad —Dipavali Sen 35 7. Humanist News 37 8. Letters to the Editor 39
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From The Editor’s Desk:
A Philosopher’s Democracy philosophy and While science, in general, try to Rekha S. unravel the truth around us, the political philosopher tries to interpret that truth on the ground of usefulness. When we decide to study the theory of knowledge according to James Frederick Ferrier’s term epistemology we also decide to learn about the limitations of our knowledge at any given point of time. It is thus, on the basis of this realization that we make an ontological study of our existence in the universe. And the effort continues endlessly. But, it is very rare that a theorist escapes the temptation of creating an idealistic imagination for the human life and existence. All the trials and errors regarding the good and ideal life of man have been led to the formation of endless groups, associations, organisations, societies, states, countries and nations. This match and mix process continues unabated through ages. Out of all the six Aristotelian forms of associations democracy has been continuing as the finest composition to keep people happy and satisfied till now. Democracy is now the leitmotif of all songs sung happily for people’s progress and prosperity. As the momentum grows in the ever changing surroundings the basics of enacting it change, the objectives change, the definitions change but the concept continues to thrive, so much so that it has come to a point where there is complete contradiction in the theoretical and pragmatic meaning and approach to democracy. There is such an amalgamation of dogmatic concepts; everyone preaching and pleading for some or the other kind of democracy that it has left the thinking and introspecting mind aghast and thoroughly confused. When Robert Vadra tries to accumulate property it hurts us but we tend to forget John Locke’s 1
advocacy of private property as a natural right. How we accrue it should not be a question in query because if we begin to go into the details of how the kings and feudal lords, the rulers and capitalists built or inherited their properties through the centuries it will lead us to an unending labyrinth of epics of human-cataclysm. When latest scientific techniques are used to build dams and extract water in the name of farms and harvests which are meant for human consumption and they either remain dry or are led to urban household use who decides what is more important? Of course, the chosen representatives of the farmers and the citizens – the politicians – decide. Then why such a loud hue and cry? Politics is a power-game; democracy is a vote-game and water is a nature-game. It is as simple as that. To need power the politician needs votes in a democracy and to gain more votes he caters first to the needs of those who help him more in attaining those votes; the man from the village or the man from the city. And if he is able to gain many more votes with the help of very few influential friends who are neither the rural or urban voters and without even getting water out of the dams, why are we angry with him? After all he is a democratic politician and not a selfless social worker. We, and not anyone else, have chosen him to be our representative. Will we vote any differently in the next elections? I doubt; as we are already on a mocking spree of every new Kejriwal that emerges from this lifeless émigré of democratic culture. How many times do we need a new Bertrand Russell to remind us that “Politics is not an ordered cosmos in which our nobler impulses can be given expression”? Therefore, unless we totally abandon the aspects of ‘ethics’ and ‘aesthetics’ from the philosophy of political science we would not be able to pragmatically interpret the contemporary realities of democratic politics. A philosopher’s democracy has always been an unfruitful, unnecessary utopian effort that has never come to the ordinary man’s rescue!!
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Guests’ Section:
Prithwindra Mukherjee
[Paris based since 1966, a retired scholar, . MrPritwindra Mukherjee was initially known as a poet, a versatile exponent of Bengali, French and English literature, comparative and creative musicology (Hindustani, Karnatic, Western classical and modern). He is an author of more than fifty books and a good number of papers and articles. He has recently produced a book Bagha Jatin on his grand father, Jatindra Mukherjee (Jatin da) who was M.N. Roy’s self-confessed first mentor.]
Bagha Jatin’s Narendra I some of M.N. Roy’s Mentioning problems, once Sibnarayan Ray wrote, “From early life his sharp intellect was matched by a strong will and extra-ordinary self-confidence. It would seem that in his long political career there were only two persons and a half who, in his estimate, qualified to be his mentors. The first was Jatin Mukherji1 from his revolutionary nationalist period2; the second was Lenin with whom he might engage in debate but with whom his relation was that of ‘disciple seeking light from the Master’3. The half was Josef Stalin whom he greatly admired, but also severely criticised.4” S. Ray seems to have been ignorant about another half mentor who had prepared Roy and handed him
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over to his Jatin da; it was Mokshada Charan Samadhyayi (1874-1924). Though erudite in Sanskrit classics and specialist of the Samaveda, his was the truly restless spirit of a Brahman, very little known but leading figure of the revolutionary movement Jugantar. Since Lokamanya Tilak’s visit to Benares in 1900, and publishing the Kalidas newspaper, Mokshada had been shuttling between Benares and the greater Calcutta areas involved with the early Anushilan activities. Very soon, Brahmabandhav Upadhyay was to appoint him manager of the openly anti-British organ Sandhya. Maintaining contact with Benares, another friend of his — Preonath Karar of Serampore — ran an Ashram near the Jagannath Temple of Puri and recruited one hundred volunteers. Inspired by Sri Aurobindo, in September 1905 the Barrister A.C. Banerji had obtained from the Nabadwip Pundits and Goswamis a promise to boycott foreign goods, and rouse throughout India religious scruples – among Hindus and Muslims – against impurity in manufacturing salt and sugar. Denham believed that Kartik Datta of Nadia (Jatin Mukherji’s associate) and Mokshada had convinced Bhatpara Pundits to send out missionaries all over India, helped by the Ramakrishna Mission and the Arya Samaj. Daly recorded that, on 28 September 1905, fifty thousand people before the Calcutta Kali temple took the oath of abstaining from purchasing foreign goods. Shortly before the Jugantar appeared from Calcutta, early March 1906, at Benares, Karar convened the pundits to proclaim the end of the sinful Iron Age and the prevailing of the New Age Yugantar: they enrolled sannyasis in a rebellion against the English. As Pundit at the Uttarpara College, Mokshada animated clubs in Hughli, frequented the seditious monk Tarakshepa; in the neighbouring 24 Parganas, he visited a powerful association run by Harikumar Chakravarti and Narendra Bhattacharya (M.N. Roy). Harikumar’s cousins, Phani and Narendra Chakravarti, went to school with Barin Ghose at Deoghar and were informed about the bomb factory he had set up with Jatin Mukherji. 2
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Occupying a room at Upadhyay’s Field and Academy, Mokshada shared it with Narendra and Harikumar. He joined the National College, to come close to Sri Aurobindo. On 6 December 1907, while Barin’s men attempted to wreck the Lt. Governor’s train at Naraingarh, Mokshada sent simultaneously Narendra (Bhattacharya), Bhushan Mitra and Sailen Basu for a hold-up at Chingripota Railway Station: they were arrested. At once, Jatin Mukherji sent Barrister J.N. Roy to defend and release them. Denham even suspected Mokshada to have incited the strike on the East Indian railway between Howrah and Ondal. II Early in 1908, Phani went to Darjeeling for holidays and happened to make Jatin Mukherji’s acquaintance under special circumstances; occasionally addicted to opium, one day he had entered an unknown house and fallen asleep. About to be surrendered to the police, he had seen a well-built gentleman rescue him and after a few questions, taking him home. The few days spent in the family of that noble company, Phani learnt the identity of this Jatin-da. On returning to Calcutta, spell-bound, he started narrating to Harikumar, Narendra (Bhattacharya) and other intimates of the bomb factory at Maniktola the wonderful time he had spent with the charismatic personality of Jatin Mukherji. Very soon their fascination disturbed Barin who ordered Phani not to frequent that ‘Government servant’ any more. Much later in an editorial for Independent India (27 February 1949), Narendra Bhattacharya – who had become famous as M.N. Roy all over the world – wrote, “All the Dadas practised magnetism; only Jatin Mukherji possessed it. Therefore, he was a puzzle and a despair for his rivals engaged in the game of ‘Cheladhara.5’ He never cast out his net; yet he was loved by all, even the followers of other Dadas.” With reference to this incident Roy added, “Once I overheard a few sentences of a conversation. I still belonged to the entourage of another Dada, and heard him rebuking a Chela, presumably of
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wavering loyalty. The latter had been visiting some other Dada. Ultimately, in exasperation, the suspected apostate rejoined mildly, “Dada why do you want me not to see him, when he does not want me to go away from you? He has never asked me to join his party; he has no party.” I was curious to know who was that strange sort of a Dada, and buttonholed the rebuked Gurubhai6 after he was dismissed by the extremely annoyed Dada. The next day I was taken to the unusual Dada who did not play the game of “Cheladhara,” and was caught for good. Roy further analysed the situation, “At that time I did not know what the attraction was. A rather ordinary sort of man, physically! His frame did not speak for his legendary physical strength, though he had been a trained wrestler. Nor did he put on an air of condescending superiority. In what he said, there was no hint (a usual trick of the trade of Dadaism) of an extensively ramified secret organisation accumulating vast quantities of arms and money for the Day of Liberation. Later on, I realised what attracted me – it was his personality. Since then, I have had the privilege of meeting many outstanding personalities of our time. These are great men; Jatin da was a good man, and I have still to find a better.7” III Denham suspected that Mokshada had been trying also to invite Sri Aurobindo to Benares for a secret consultation. Shortly before the Maniktola arrests in May 1908, following Barin’s concentration on untimely terrorism, there was a split in the Jugantar: (a) Abi Bhattacharya (Narendra’s cousin) revived the Navashakti, under Sri Aurobindo’s guidance; (b) Kartik Datta and Nikhileshwar Ray Maulik controlled the Jugantar, led by Munsiff Abi Chakravarti. Jatin Mukherji’s role was to reconcile these factions. Under his direct influence, since May 1908, the Jugantar is said to have become more violent, provoking several prosecutions, before collapsing in June 1908. While arresting Mokshada, once again, the Police described him as
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“the guru of the band, a recruiting agent, active participant in dacoity.” Following the most daring and significant murder of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Samsul Alam, on 27 January 1910 Jatin Mukherji was arrested along with Lalitkumar Chatterjee (Jatin’s maternal uncle and regional leader of Nadia), Suresh Majumdar, Narendrarda Bhattacharya and about sixty suspects, appearing in the Howrah Gang Case. At Dhaka, in February 1910, Mokshada attempted to assassinate G.C. Denham, the very prominent figure of the Alipore Case. A regular connection was established between Suranath of Benares, Amarendra Chatterjee of Uttarpara, Makhanlal Sen of Dacca and Jatin Mukherji, the law-abiding Government servant. Finding Bengal too hot to hold him, Jatindra’s associate Kiran Mukherji visited Mokshada at Benares in 1911, and sent the latter back to Calcutta. In February, the revolutionaries shot dead a head constable of Calcutta Police, who had turned informer; it was to celebrate Jatin Mukherji’s release to “put fresh heart into the people who had been contemplating further outrages but hesitating to act.” Mokshada was strongly suspected in this connection. Descendant of Mokshada’s Bhatpara group, the Baranagar group had reunited a number of small samitis in the north of Calcutta and in Howrah, and operated since 1907; they had contacts with Jogen Tagore, Mokshada and the Ramakrishna Mission. When Jatin Mukherji and Rasbehari Bose visited Benares in May 1912, they met also Sachin Sanyal, Mokshada and Suranath. During 1913, Jogen Tagore led a series of dacoities; in 1915 he got contact with Bipin Ganguli’s followers and came to know members of other groups including Atulkrishna Ghosh and Ananta Haldar (all of them, directly led by Jatin Mukherji). IV Inside the prison, Narendra came close to some of Jatin-da’s intimate followers. Among them Suresh Majumdar from Krishnagar singled him out affectionately as Lambu ‘the Tall one’ and revealed
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his own nickname, Paran. Paran was fond of poetry and showed Lambu a collection of poems, Prabaha, by Saralabala Sarkar, a young and promising relative8. At once Narendra fell in admiration with this motherly person. He was informed that Jatin-da knew very well Saralabala’s family and her father Kishorilal Sarkar, advocate, sheltered young patriots on mission to Calcutta in his house at 121 Cornwallis Street. In fact, on 18 December 1909, Paran had stolen at the Sarkars the revolver with which Samsul Alam was murdered; it belonged to Rai Bahadur Purnachandra Maulik, magistrate posted in Jajpur, Orissa, who had been on a visit to Calcutta. Inside the prison, Jatin Mukherji had been informed about a possible war between Germany and England; the historian Bernhardi presumed this to be the golden opportunity for India to get rid of the colonial tyranny while the English hold in India would be weak. Home interned on coming out of prison, fired from his job, Jatin Mukherji accompanied by Narendra - had an interview with the German Crown Prince and obtained promise of help with arms and ammunition for a successful insurrection. Putting an end to all agitation in order to consolidate the secret society in the districts, leaving the leadership to Atul Ghose, Jatin Mukherji left for Jhenidah, his home town, with an apparently flourishing business as a contractor; this enabled him to cover daily about one hundred miles on horse-back or on bicycle, visiting regional revolutionary centres. After his release, Paran brought Saralabala a letter from Narendra and arranged to introduce the shy boy who, like himself, became a familiar figure in the household. They were both appointed by Saralabala’s elder brother Sarasilal to prospect and acquire some land at Baripada in Mayurbhanj for an adequate shelter for absconding revolutionaries. Though Saralabala in her autobiographical writings mentions their negotiating with a certain Mr Home, documentary evidences such as Sealy’s Report9 prove it to be the mysterious Sir Daniel Hamilton who had already sold, in 1909, a portion of his 4
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THE RADICAL HUMANIST influence Narendra Bhattacharya (M.N. Roy) had derived from his Jatin-da in conceiving and penning his dream of a Radical Humanism. Hastily discarded as a utopia, it could serve as a complement to the quest of a truly national education for independent India, as conceived by Swami Dayanand, Bankimchandra Chatterji, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.
Since his childhood, Jatin Mukherjee had learnt from his mother Sharat Shashi Devi that by depriving herself of her meal to feed a hungry beggar or by getting rid of her brand new clothes to help needy women of the area, she accomplished the duty of a socially conscious citizen, but did improving the conditions of living of an individual serve to raise the status of the society? Helping to cultivate their aesthetic sense among the rural women was, too, a part of her mission. She knew that the well-being and the progress of a society depend on the well-being and the progress of its individuals. Thus, according to Vivekananda, by serving the cause of the individual (jiva), they were to accomplish the wish of the supreme Good (Shiva). Neither Sharat Shashi nor Vivekananda had waited for Marx to teach them charity, to react against misery, poverty and humiliation of the common folk. Where lies the fountain-head of the individual’s will to progress? The message of the Gita had taught Jatin Mukherji that man was not a blade of grass adrift on the current of life; the urge for freedom, innate in man, assumes the form of his search for truth; the elementary struggle for the survival of the fittest that blossoms into lofty human feelings and intelligence animates, indeed, this inspiration. Narendra was to recognise that all search for truth was but a kind of this blossoming perfectioning (anushilan) - of the inherent trends in man. Narendra had observed, “All the Dadas practised magnetism; only Jatin Mukherji possessed it.” He could have as well mentioned the much glorified qualities of self-control and chastity in the precise sense of brahmacharya; citing examples of
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contemporary great leaders swearing in the name of this virtue, even the English police reports regretted the number of cases of aberration in this domain, and their admiration for Jatin Mukherji’s absolute restraint that he had learnt from Vivekananda. According to J.E. Armstrong, Superintendent of the colonial Police, Jatin, “Owed his preeminent position in revolutionary circles, not only to his qualities of leadership, but in great measure to his reputation of being a Brahmachari with no thought beyond the revolutionary cause.” Conquering inertia14, fear, doubt, diffidence and the sense of defeat born out of instinct, Jatin da had taught to convert – in the light of Reason – the innate dash for freedom into an undying courage. Footnotes: 1. I have chosen to spell here Jatin Mukherjee, following M.N. Roy’s choice. 2. Ray adds in footnote: M.N. Roy, Men I Met, “Jatin Mukherji”, Bombay, 1968, pp.1-4 3. Ray adds in footnote: M.N. Roy’s Memoirs, Bombay, 1964, p.499 4. Ray adds a third footnote: Roy spoke of Stalin as “the Man of Destiny” (op. cit. p.538). Source: Sibnarayan Ray, In Freedom’s Quest, Vol. III (Part I), Renaissance Publishers, Calcutta, 2005, p.320 5. Hunting down disciples (chela) 6. Member of the same religious fraternity 7. M.N. Roy, Men I Met, Bombay, 1968 8. Born in Krishnagar, she was married to Saratchandra Sarkar. Their daughter Nirjharini was to be married to Prafullakumar Sarkar of the neighbouring village Kumarkhali. Prafullakumar and Suresh were to found the daily Anandabazar Patrika. 9. Terrorism in Bengal, ed. Amiya K. Samanta, Calcutta, Government of West Bengal, 1995, Vol. V, p.67 10. Saralabala Sarkar, Rachana samgraha, Ananda Publishers, 1989, Vol.I, pp818-819 11. Statement of Phanindra Chakravarti in Record Group 118 (Indo-German Conspiracy/ San 6
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Francisco Case 1917), U.S. National & Federal Archives (Washington D.C. and San Bruno) 12. The suffix Da (an abbreviation of Dada, an elder brother) expresses the love and esteem the revolutionaries had for Jatin Mukherjee 13. M.N. Roy’s Memoirs, pp35-36. 14. TIB, Vol. II, p393 References: 1. Political trouble in India: A Confidential Report, by James Campbell Ker, 1917, repr. 1973 2.“Notes on the Growth of the Revolutionary Movement in Bengal (1905-1911)” by F.C. Daly, D.I.G. Special Branch, Bengal, in Terrorism in Bengal, Ed. Amiya K. Samanta, Director, Intelligence Branch, Government of West Bengal, Calcutta, 1995, Vol. I 3.“An Account of the Revolutionary Organisations in Bengal, other than the Dacca Anushilan Samiti” by J.C. Nixon, Home Department, in Terrorism, Vol. II
4.“Notes on Revolutionary Activity in Benares” by G.C. Denham, followed by a “Strictly Confidential” note by E.H. Corbet and “a few details added” by C.W.E. Sands in Terrorism, Vol. V 5.“Connections with the Revolutionary Organization in Bihar and Orissa, 1906-1916” by W. Sealy I Terrorism, Vol. V 6.Sadhak biplabi jatindranath, by Prithwindra Mukherjee, West Bengal State Book Board, Calcutta, 1990, 2nd edition 2012 7. Bagha Jatin, Prithwindra Mukherjee, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2010 8.Les racines intellectuelles du mouvement d’independance de l’Inde (1893-1918), PhD Thesis, Prithwindra Mukherjee, Editions Codex, France, 2010 9.First Spark of Revolution, by Arun Chandra Guha, Orient Longman’s, 1971
Important Announcement
Encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists To be loaded on the RH Website (http://www.theradicalhumanist.com) Dear Friends, This is to request you to send in your personal details, contact numbers etc. (along with your passport size photographs) as well as a brief account of how you got associated with M.N. Roy/Radical Democratic Party/Radical Humanist Movement directly or indirectly through the philosophy of New Humanism. This is also a request to all those friends, whose deceased parent/parents were involved in or were sympathetic with Radical Humanism and its Movement, to send in accounts of their parent’s/parents’ association (as much as they can recollect and recount). This will be a loving and emotional tribute to their memories from your side. All this effort is being made to form an encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists right from the days of the beginning of M.N. Roy’s social and political activities in India and abroad. All this information will be uploaded and permanently stored on the RH Website in the Profile section for everyone to read and come in contact with one another. This will be a historical check-list to connect with all the crusaders who worked or are still working for the human cause on the humanist lines. —Rekha Saraswat
7
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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]
Caste in Capitalist Development enthusiasm for research among young Thesocial scientists in India appears to be waning and those who are active are confined to the areas of received theory. Therefore, it is difficult to envisage innovative theories to capture emerging phenomena in our socio-economic life. After reading a recent editorial article of a reputed daily written by an equally popular columnist known for developing new concepts under the garb of pseudo antagonism to caste/class, the idea of Grabbonomics came to my mind. Grabbanomics stands for theories that substantiate accumulation and grabbing of resources by a few (including
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crony capitalists) with little regard for others. In this context, we may acknowledge the work of a small group of young scholars like Damodaran, Zacharias, Mullainathan, Vakulabharanam, Ajit, Ravi and a few others who are trying to understand the role of caste in the new economy of India particularly with reference to the accumulation of capital by select few. When Damodaran published his ‘India’s New Capitalists: Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation’ in 2008, there was little reaction from academics and no discussion as to how caste plays an important role in the economic (capitalist) development. The rising New India is a nation that cares less for human values and is overwhelmed more by western ideals particularly the business ethics. Yet, interestingly, it is still Bharat as it sincerely adopts the traditional values of caste and the related ‘dharma’. The economic development in India measured by GDP is now entering in to a new phase. Yet, some waver to call it capitalist development. What is the problem in calling it capitalist development when the whole edifice of it is relied on foreign capital and the internal and primitive accumulation? There are theories from the time of Adam Smith that capital is crucial in raising the productivity of labour through the expansion of division of labour that fetches the ‘Wealth of Nations’. Marx learnt classical economics from the English tradition including Adam Smith, Ricardo and others to elucidate his ‘Capital’. The Marxian model of capitalist development taught to students of Economics is based on his theory of surplus value. It is supported on the assumption that there is what we call in Economics, infinite elastic supply of labour at the subsistence wage rate that helps accumulate capital. Marx was attacked by his critiques for his forecast of low wages and the existence of reserve army, nonappearance of communism in advanced capitalist countries etc. We do not want to get in to the controversy of interpretations here. Our concern is how our theoreticians and activists have failed to see the Indian realities which our young scholars without 8
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any ideological bogey are able to discover. The young scholars have produced enough empirical evidence that caste and not necessarily class has played an important role in India’s development. The issue is how to measure it and recognize it now? Caste discrimination as an imperfect market condition was studied by scholars including Nobel laureates like Arrow, Becker, Akerlof and others. But, they have considered caste as race or class similar to some of our Indian analysts. They understood that discrimination based on caste or race would lead to increase in cost of production with the given productivity in a competitive system and is harmful to the entrepreneur. But, they have not provided micro data to support their arguments. In a different context scholars like Bowles, Shapiro and Stiglitz have hypothesized for the existence of ‘efficiency wage’ as an incentive for worker not to cheat employer and remain loyal. This formulation has explained the phenomenon of high wages despite the existence of reserve army of unemployed (justified Marx). What is significant in the Indian situation is that we have a segmented labour market and is distinctly different from what Marx had assumed as a uniform universal labour force. The segmented markets are typically based on traditional castes and have never allowed the Indian laborers to emerge as a universal category .The attempt to understand this phenomenon has created some controversies, ideological splits, conspiracies and so on in the labour and left movements in India. The neo-Marxist explanations given by Amin, Gunter Frank and other Latin American scholars have not been taken kindly in India saying that the fundamental problem is surplus value and not how exchange and markets function (as theorized by them). Interestingly, economic development has failed to destroy caste in India and caste like Burkamins (about a million) in capitalist Japan. Now some empirical results are available to reexamine the above formulations. It is alleged that some of the activist scholars do not agree to accept the paradigm that the few upper 9
castes constitute a group of exploiters. They do also refuse to admit the formulation that all the dalits, adivasis and some OBCs are the real proletariat by citing isolated cases of dalit civil servants (0.001%) who entered the few steps of class ladder. We fail to understand why do they not collect data on a hundred families from each caste in a unit to identify how many of them are exploited and have remained poor and how many are exploiting? This has also been complicated with some enthusiasts calling themselves as dalit entrepreneurs and is magnified by corporate media. Further, the own account entrepreneurs in the above may include hair cutting saloons, laundry, fish stalls, vegetable vendors etc. Now we have data from field studies to negate the thesis of presence of dalit/OBC capitalists in the emerging capitalist economy. An attempt has been made by a corporate consultancy firm to study the status of representation of SC/ST/OBC employees in the private sector as part of CSR. The results are not available for public comment, but are known through informal sources that 63% of the top most listed companies have refused to give information and those who have signed an MOU for diversity (like USA) have performed very poor in the implementation of what is called Affirmative Action. This is further corroborated by a study of three young scholars from Canada, that the corporate boards in India are blocked by caste. They have done an admirable work and published some of their results in EPW. They have proved that the corporate boards of the top 1000 private companies are still dominated by two dvija castes. They have given the data that out of 9052 board members, 4167 or 46 percent are from Vishyas and 4037 or 44.6 per cent are from Brahmins. OBCs constitute 3.8 per cent and SC/STs constitute 3.5 per cent. The study has concluded that”caste is an important factor in networking. The small world of corporate India has interaction only within their caste kinship”. What else do we need to confirm that caste is playing a dominant role in the capitalist development of 21st century India?
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B.K. Chatterjee [Mr. Bimal Kumar Chatterjee, Sr. Advocate &
Barrister, Former Chairman: The Bar Council of West Bengal may be contacted at: “Homely”, 40/1C, Broad Street, Kolkata – 700 019, bkchatt@hotmail.com]
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied Some of its Causes and Cures the 18th August, 2012 while the OnBombay High Court was celebrating 150 years of its existence the Hon’ble Prime Minister in the presence of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India is reported to have said that the Government henceforth is to work hand in hand with the Judiciary to usher in an age of the speedy justice delivery system in the country to remove the adage “Justice delayed is justice denied” from the Indian judicial system. The adage is a blot on the reputation of any judicial system anywhere in the world and each and all countries either from time to time or continuously undertake one or the other exercise to remove such blot from its own the then judicial system. Delay in dispensation of justice incrementally devalue the real value of justice dispensed with and at times makes it worthless. Is it implicit in the otherwise laudable pronouncement of the Hon’ble Prime Minister that so long the Government was not working hand in hand with the Judiciary? If it is so, it must be very disheartening and would amount to a great aspersion on both the
judiciary and the executive who are primarily and secondarily responsible for the well or ill being of the justice delivery system in the country. If the executive is minded to act hand in hand with the judiciary it may be reasonably expected that the executive would also be able to accordingly motivate the third wing of the State, namely, the Parliament to legislate appropriate laws as would be necessary to come to the assistance of the executive and the judiciary to achieve the desired goal. Thus there has to be a joint front for a common goal. The auspicious occasion admits of a rather pathetically slow justice delivery system now in existence in India which deserves and needs attention from all the Constitutional wings of the State. Both the executive and the judiciary in particular must address the issue to find out the required ways and means to bring meaningful ‘speed’ in the justice delivery system. “Meaningful speed” must necessarily include and mean less expensive but more effective dispensation of justice and not mere “disposal” of the matters now pending decision and matters which are likely to crowd the system in the future. There is a great distinction between “decision” and “disposal”. It is however true that there can be both decision and disposal at the same time as there can also be disposal without a decision. It is indisputable that speedy and less expensive justice delivery system is a concomitant of effective dispensation of justice to each and all who are compelled by their respective surrounding circumstances to crowd the adjudicating authorities established and/or recognized by law looking for appropriate redressal of their grievances. Amongst others, the adjudicating courts and tribunals established by law are the institutions which in the first place are traditionally approached for redressal of those grievances. It is also indisputable that these courts and tribunals are the receptacles (but not for storage) of such grievances which after their adjudication as to whether their grievances are justified or not in the eyes of law
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disposes of those grievances by discharging them with a decision from the receptacles. These receptacles are not supposed to show any interest or disinterest in receiving the grievances through their inlet but are obliged to show deserving interest in discharging them through its outlet within the quickest possible time. And, if the grievances received are found to be justified appropriate remedies to redress their grievances are also prescribed. Remedies prescribed are then required to be executed through the executing machinery. The whole process appears to be simple and not complicated. Why then is the delay? Is it because of the number received in the receptacles? Or, something more is responsible? Are the receptacles clean? Are the receptacles afflicted with clogs which are inherent and inbuilt in the receptacles? Do the receptacles function in a way which lends support to the invention and creation of further clogs which along with others stand in the way of quick decision and disposal? The number of courts and tribunals are said to be inadequate to handle the number of grievances received. If the number of courts and tribunals are increased, the number of the presiding officers (judges) to preside over those courts and tribunals are also to be increased commensurately and simultaneously. Mere increasing the number of courts and tribunals followed by commensurate increase in the number of judges are unlikely to do the trick. Courts and tribunals must continuously (and not intermittently) have steady supply of ‘skilled’ personnel to fill in the posts of judges who having the requisite knowledge and training and being professionally motivated would make sincere effort to achieve the goal. In order to inculcate skill one must have required intellect to receive the required education and training. And the skilled personnel so groomed cannot be left alone. They would be required to be equipped with adequate state of the art infrastructural support in all respects including human and technological support while dispensing with justice. If the Government is to act hand in hand with the 11
judiciary it must make an honest effort to understand and appreciate the “needs” of the judiciary. It must come to the aid of the Judiciary by supplying those needs. And the Judiciary is also to make an effort for optimum utilization of those ‘needs’, if supplied, to make the effort of the Government fruitful to achieve the common objective. Is the Government so resourceful and willing to adequately spend for those ‘needs’? Is the Judiciary trained and ready to use those ‘needs’ to achieve the optimum output? Both statistics and performance tend to give a very dismal picture. The backlog now existing in courts and tribunals is huge and alarming. The existing backlog makes positive contribution to the extension of the average waiting period between reception of grievances and disposal thereof with a decision. Veerappa Moily, the then Central Law Minister, had a fond dream of reducing the existing average waiting period from 10 to 15 years to 2 to 3 years. But then he had to give up his dream at the advent of Salman Khurshid in his place and stead. Salman Khurshid has either refused to nurse the dream or has become oblivious of the dream. He appears to be more engaged otherwise in a larger canvas. If the speed and volume of outflow from the receptacle exceeds the speed and volume of inflow into the receptacles, the current backlog in the system can be taken care of in the near future (the transitional period) and not otherwise. Any lacuna or shortfall in any of the requirements envisaged above or any laxity is likely to derail the whole effort. At present the system is not as efficient and equipped as it ought to be. Shortfalls and gaps are huge and they are all around. During the transitional period resources must be ensured more than what would otherwise be required in the normal period. We must not also lose the sight of the fact that increase in population coupled with more and more of their awareness about the rights (if not obligations) they are endowed with by our constitutional provisions and accompanying statutory provisions and their proactive interpretation by the Apex and other courts of the country to fructify our constitutional
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dreams are bound to add to the volume of inflow in the receptacles. Hence a prospective all inclusive roadmap is required to be drawn to tackle the oncoming loads in the near future as well as in the distant future. It is more than two decades now that the attempts are being made for diverting the course of the flow. Methods are being devised to partly divert the flow from the traditional courts and tribunals to dispute resolution mechanism alternative to the courts and tribunals. This is popularly known as alternative dispute resolution mechanism in the legal world. In an article of mine published in the Statesman on 26th January, 2000 I had opined that this alternative mechanism deserves to be encouraged more but not certainly in the hope of it becoming a substitute for the main mechanism of justice delivery system. I had also suggested that along with this alternative mechanism we must also endeavour to make the people understand that it is far cheaper to compromise than to take disputes to any public or private forum for their resolution. What is the alternative dispute resolution mechanism? An ordinary man in the omnibus must be made to understand and appreciate the effectiveness of this alternative dispute resolution mechanism. It is a mechanism whereby the disputes (mostly private) are resolved in a private or institutional forum mostly chosen by the parties to the dispute. If it is by arbitration, it is by agreement whereby the parties agree to have their disputes resolved by chosen arbitrators. Whereas if it is by Lok Adalat, the parties to the dispute must necessarily agree to abide by the decision of the Lok Adalat. Lok Adalat is also an ‘adalat’, the concept of which has statutorily been envisaged in the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 which was enacted to aid and assist the impoverished in the society in their legal battles. Besides arbitration and Lok Adalat there is also a mechanism known as ‘mediation’ which is no less convenient and effective. Mediators mediate first to narrow down the zone of disagreement between the parties and then to assist the parties to resolve their own
disputes themselves. The mediators help the parties to see reason to choose what is more beneficial while buying peace. All these alternative mechanisms are regulated by applicable legislations to give them legal sanctity to disabuse any kind of apprehension in the minds of the warring parties about their effectiveness and legally binding character and their enforceability. Except for Lok Adalat no State arrangement for infrastructural support is necessary either for arbitration or for mediation as the required support is also arranged by the parties at their own costs. All these alternative mechanisms are intended to be made speedy and are in fact mostly speedier than any court proceeding. These alternative dispute mechanisms are expected to operate as a mechanism parallel to courts and tribunals to further offload the load which could otherwise crowd the courts and tribunals. There however appears to be some formidable clogs in the wheel to our utter dismay. And these clogs are too often than not invented and created by the advocates operating in the courts and tribunals. These self serving advocates being purposefully oblivious about their duties towards the justice administration system at large and particularly towards the Courts and Tribunals (of which they are the priests) by their conduct (sometime very reprehensible) deliberately contribute to the delay. For no justifiable reason they even abstain from attending courts and tribunals or seek adjournments of the hearing of the matters they are engaged in. And these advocates not too that often have also the blessings of judges and too often have the support of the ministerial staff of the courts and tribunals in delaying the dispensation of justice. The judges in the hope of gaining popularity indulge in granting adjournment after adjournment of hearing. Lack of professionalism are experienced both at the “Bar” as also on the “Bench” which also substantially contribute to the delay in disposal. A fair change in the mind set of all is a must and a condition precedent to achieving the desired result. There are too many pitfalls and there cannot be any all
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inclusive list of those pitfalls as there are never ending innovations. Unless a very sincere concerted effort is made by all simultaneously those pitfalls will continue to subsist in the system
creating very damaging holes in the network and our efforts are bound to be wasted to necessarily enlarge the gap between our ambition and achievement.
Letter to the Editor:
About Popularity of the RH Web portal Dear Dr. Saraswat, Trust you are well and are in good spirits. Recently, I was going through the webportalrogress and came across that the webportal has over 18000 pages indexed on Google, which means that Google has over 18000 pages scanned on the website. That is an incredible news, more pages are scanned by Google, means more popular the webportal is. I just wanted to give you a further slight outlook on how Google's results are working for www.theradicalhumanist.com webportal. The top 15 keywords using which the radical webportal is coming on the top are: self illusion, the radical humanist, bill clinton christopher hitchens, relevance of uno, statement of rajni kothari, kahe kabir suno bhai sadho, philip appleman religion, suvira jayaswal, philip appleman quotes, relevance of uno in the present world, manrega news, caste system in andhra pradesh, edelweiss book reviews, goparaju ramachandra rao Using the above keywords the website is by default coming on first page ( subject to daily variations ) In addition to the above... .Following are the keywords, which people are searching more and our website is displayed... The followings keywrods are where people are trying to use the max. Secularism, manrega, secularism in india, jonathan spollen, indian secularism, mastram kapoor, radical humanism, madhu limaye, adoption laws in india, biodiversity conference in hyderabad, secularism images, radical humanist, online ration card gujarat, steve jobs inventions, untouchability in india. Above is the list where there is lack of articles on the above, however, people are eagerly looking for the above topics. Dear Friends, Please Do Not Send Articles Beyond 1500-2000 Words. Also, inform me whether they have been published elsewhere. And, please 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 small introduction, if you are contributing for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at 91-9719333011 for any other querry. —Rekha Saraswat 13
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S. Faizi [Mr. S. Faizi is an ecologist specializing in
international environmental policy. He is a member of CBD Expert Group on Poverty and Biodiversity, Board Member of CB Alliance global network of NGOs on CBD issues. (). He had been a negotiator in the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee on CBD I that formulated the CBD text. He is also one of the Editorial Board Members of Square Brackets (published by the CBD Secretariat). He is a Consultant (Biodiversity) at UNDP and he writes for the mass media. He may be contacted at R2 Saundarya Apartments, Nandavanam, Trivandrum-33, India. or at +91-9497012590]
Biodiversity Summit: Need for a rethinking on Treaty Enforcement eleventh meeting of the Conference AsoftheParties (CoP) to the two decades old Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is set to take place in Hyderabad, India, in October, immediately following a session the Meeting of Parties to its Biosafety Protocol, the state of CBD begs several key issues to be addressed- issues that are not on the agenda of the meeting. The treaty had marked a paradigm shift by incorporating the objectives of sustainable use and equitable benefit sharing along with conservation, and was fairly balanced along the North-South divide. However,
the enforcement of the treaty at the global level has failed to live up to the expectations invested in it. The third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook published by the CBD secretariat in 2010 has acknowledged that the CBD has failed to deliver as shown by a number of indicators. Although the treaty negotiations had a strong and effective presence of the Group of 77, the years since its coming into force have seen a progressive weakening of G 77 in the CBD parlance, which is probably the main reason why the treaty was rendered ineffective, much to the gratification of the US, the only major country that refuses to ratify the treaty for its worries about the treaty’s provisions for equitable benefit sharing for accessing biodiversity, the preferential terms for technology transfer and so on. In fact, the US could easily have ratified CBD and remained happy about the treaty’s digression from the core obligations of the contracting Parties. For instance, bio-piracy remains unabated in spite of two decades of CBD that makes biopiracy an international offense. Let us look at the trajectory CBD has been led to take vis-à-vis its legal status. The treaty has the unenviable distinction of being challenged by certain contracting Parties themselves without denouncing the treaty or without attempting to amend the treaty text. The treaty has categorical and legally binding provisions on access to biodiversity and equitable benefit sharing (ABS), yet when the proposal for a protocol on ABS was mooted years ago the western countries sought the instrument to be legally non-binding. The ABS Protocol negotiators had overcome this challenge and the Nagoya Protocol on ABS had been concluded, yet the text remains rather incomplete without addressing the compliance mechanism, and still when the issue of compliance mechanism came up for discussion at the recently held meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on Nagoya Protocol, New Delhi, western countries have unfailingly raised opposition to the proposed legally binding nature of the compliance mechanism!
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Attempts to argue away the legal strength of CBD has been part of an effort to weaken the comprehensive and well-balanced treaty that it is. CBD is not a declaration, a statement of principles, an international program or a set of guidelines. CBD does not belong to the genre of ‘soft law’ that these instruments are, as some including the CBD secretariat claim, it is an international law (there is no ‘hard law’ as opposed to ‘soft law,’ for the latter is no law at all). It is a multilateral treaty that the contracting Parties are legally obliged to implement. However, articles committing Parties to ‘endeavor to’ or bearing caveat like ‘as far as possible’ are less binding. There are only two issues in the CBD that call for further development in order to take on implementation course: biosafety (Article 19.3) and liability and compensation beyond national jurisdiction (article 14.2). The CBD explicitly states that it does not provide for exemptions. The CBD was negotiated, adopted, signed, ratified, and came into force in line with provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties which sets the basis for all multilateral treaty making. G 77 had negotiated hard, in the CBD formulation committee, to reach the final text of the treaty, and if the treaty’s hard negotiated provisions are so easily relegated as legally non-binding, then it calls for the attention of the Parties at the CoP. A legally binding treaty is put to disuse by straying away into legally non-binding Programs of Work, Strategic Plan, and formulation of new and selective targets and so on, and the whole process undermines the fairly clear and categorical provisions of the treaty. It is worth noting that the CoP simply ‘urges’ on the implementation of the Strategic Plan and it is not binding on the Parties. The ABS provisions of CBD are categorical and binding. Access to genetic resource is determined by the concerned Party (article 15.1), based on mutually agreed terms (15.4), and prior informed consent (15.5); these provisions are categorical and binding. What is its implication? An example: according to information released by the India’s 15
Ministry of Environment in 2010 over 2000 patents were taken abroad in the preceding year based on Indian genetic resources and traditional knowledge without the consent of the Indian government. This continuing biopiracy is in glaring violation of the binding provisions of CBD, but even then these provisions of CBD are not invoked, either in a civil court in an offending country or raised in a CoP or its subsidiary bodies’ meet. There is no secretariat monitoring of infractions, no CoP reviewing the infractions/non-compliance. Article 15.7 requires Parties to take legislative, administrative and policy measures for benefit sharing, yet in the past two decades the CoP has not reviewed or acted upon the failure of Parties to enact these enabling measures. Escalating biopiracy, no reduction in the loss of biodiversity, continuing alienation of Indigenous Peoples, failure to create several sets of administrative, policy and legal measures required by the Convention remains neglected, etc. underline the failure in the enforcement of the Convention. The main reason why the CBD, despite being a progressive treaty, has failed to deliver is the sidestepping of the legally binding nature of the treaty. Treaties, even as they are legally binding, are implemented based on the interests of the powerful countries. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is perhaps the most powerful legally binding multilateral treaty, but its Article VI that calls for the negotiated elimination of nuclear weapons is selectively disregarded even after four decades of existence of the treaty in spite of several UN General Assembly resolutions reminding the Parties of this. The CoP is expected to “keep under review the implementation of the Convention” but a critical review of the progress/failure in implementing the provisions of the Convention has still to happen in a CoP meet. The CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Affairs is mandated to review the effectiveness of the measures taken in accordance with the provisions of the Convention (article 25.2.b), but SBSTTA has been kept busy producing more and more
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documents, disregarding the need to review the effectiveness of enforcement of the Convention’s provisions. Induced by the CBD secretariat, the CoP has been producing a maze of documents, assuming that every article of the CBD is to be further expanded instead of implementing and the CoP reviewing the progress of implementation. There are also expert groups arriving at factually unsound conclusions through green room operations, like the CBD Expert Group on Poverty surmising that there is no direct linkage between poverty (alleviation) and biodiversity, a conclusion that millions of forest, fishery-dependent communities will laugh at. Land tenurial reforms as has happened in Kerala will serve the twin purposes of biodiversity enhancement and poverty alleviation, and yet this
has not found a place on the agenda of CBD, which is thickly filled with marginal issues. The CBD process also ventures to prompt the creation of unjustified institutions like the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), at the insistence of the French government, as if the existing numerous institutions are inadequate, sidestepping the central issue of lack of political willpower for the implementation of CBD to a projected inadequacy of data.The CBD can nevertheless be rescued. The G 77 should cease its fragmentation in the CoP and unite once again as a single negotiation block at least on issues of common concern. The civil society, which has largely remained camp followers, too should introspect and play a vigorous role as a watchdog.
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Current Affairs’ Section:
Rakesh Manchanda
[Mr. Rakesh Manchanda worked as a Director in Zimbabwe, Mali in Grafax Cotton Pvt. Limited and is now in Zambia. He is an activist,independent journalist,capacity builder and business consultantant in Africa-India. His address: Rakesh Manchanda, Grafax Cotton Zambia Limited.5, Mutankaclose, Roads Park, Lusaka-Republic of Zambia. 0978278371 rakeshmanchanda65@gmail.com] I
FDI is only a market driver having no power to pay off loans this a war with bullets to ensure better IsGovernance? Or is this a war to protect Corporate and bail out American economy in India? Our ‘honest’ PM is demanding more sacrifices to counter new price rise. He safeguards FDI backdoor entry and asks the nation to be prepared. “Bite the bullet and go down fighting courageously”—is the sudden war cry of our PM. Bomb shells can be heard in the middle class kitchens. A housewife on TV screen is heard crying “ How can I manage a full month with only one cooking gas cylinder?” The alarming price of each cooking gas cylinders shall be approx. Rs.800. On one hand Government declares war against people by rising prices and on the other hand it wishes to hoodwink and put FDI as the ‘Big Bang’ terminator. A ‘magical medicine’ for the national debts and loans! Let us bite the bullets as prescribed one by one:
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Price Rise bullet: Endless price rise in Petrol, milk vegetables, dal, cooking gas, railway tickets, electricity and water bills was already finding no resonance with people. With no increase in salary, wages and profit Aaam Admi (common man) felt cheated. Congress argument is that subsidy to middle class in line with International prices must stop. This means the cooking gas cylinder must cost Rs.800/-. Does this mean that poor with no access to loans should continue to use kerosene and wood for cooking? FDI, communication, technology and transport are progressive chains. FDI is only the driver of the economy, not a player but a new driver as a support system. Drivers may speed up the accelerator, may reach the target in time at a lesser cost initially but drivers do not cure the future survival in the market alone. Industry and Agriculture are the major players and stakeholders together with technology and science. Finally it is the squeezed pocket of the majority people that decides the future of any services in the market. Let us stand to be understood first. New foreign retail stores and food chains are going to the new drivers of the economy without any skills to generate more wealth. Drivers are not the ‘sole breadwinning champions’ of the market -we must never forget. How can a ‘chotu’ or a delivery boy from a retail shop become a tie wearing Wal Mart salesman? Rural consumers in America say they have to travel not less then 30 kms to big Marts as the small retails have been wiped off. Wal mart in future may replace the old network of services in retail by their new network and new employees but FDI in retail can never increase the purchasing power of people and provide more jobs to repair sick economy. Recently in November-2011 on Television we saw Punjab farmers blocking roads and protesting by dumping their unsold Potatoe stocks. Farmers’ argument was the selling price of potatoes in villages remains Re1/- per Kg. Then we saw Rahul Gandhi with a potatoe in his hand promoting FDI as
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the magic solution for the future. Interesting FDI backdoor entry debates in Parliament took place only after the parliament work was blocked for ten days and issue was closed by the then Finance Minster Pranab Mukerhjee because Government got no support from its allies. All this debate among 1 % took place but the consent of the common man with shrinking pockets was still missing. Without increasing the pocket power or living standards of aaam admi this action of FDI entry on retail network replacement is a senseless dream. India needs a more balanced agriculture-industrial policy instead of FDI in retail market to arrest suicides and agitations involving unlimited greed for selling land to developers and making selective 1% more powerful. Both BJP-Congress are silent on more & more subsidy and loans to few favoured Corporates like KG-Basin Reliance in India who control the source of diesel, petrol and gas.It is not difficult to understand politicians and their disconnect with the Market and with loans. Government called UPA-2 is taking pride to display their ‘no controls’ on Market Prices. Ministers say that price rise is natural and is beyond their control. Print and Electronic Media is full of such false stories of ‘courage’ where FDI entry = Loan waiver of India. So whose loan shall FDI terminate? Blind Loan Model of the Economy in support of FDI forces me to see a huge disconnect. Allow me to remember my childhood in early 1980s. My parents refused to send me to an expensive three days’ school tour outside Dehra Dun. The logic given by my father was clear: ‘We cannot take loan to meet your luxury’. No Indian middle class takes loan to meet their luxury expenses. The poor class per day income of Rs.26/- in village and Rs.32/- in city keeps majority of Indians out of loan category. Loan driven American government now with 9% unemployment is still better in Governance. American Mayor in small towns calls a weekly meeting in Town Hall. People are asked to audit town expenses and approve whether to install
fountains in the village parks or not. Whether to allow Wal Mart Retail Food chain to open its stores in American cities or not? This is decided by American citizens. Is it not true that American citizens do not allow Business Houses to run private Banks? So participation of people decides in America unlike in India. Here in India only Finance Minster or PM decides whether to allow Wal Mart Retail Food Chain or not. Ministers must stop painting FDI as a future loan waiver. Why should FDI- a suited booted new driver of economy be appointed as our future loan terminator? Why FDI is allowed to enter retail and farming and not Indian Investors who have lot of Kalla Dhan or hidden money waiting to be put in the market? This again is not a mystery. The fear of multinational retail chains forecasting lower prices to consumers and higher prices to farmers is a false trick. This raises a number of questions. Is FDI indeed a disadvantage? Do we want to ensure higher margins to traders? What about the horror tales of exploitative and non-value adding middle-men in different tested countries? The forecast of eventual ‘squeezing’ of the consumer is equally bizarre. If there is more competition, prices will drop! How, then, would FDI in retail favour monopolistic pricing? In any event, if large-scale retailing does squeeze the consumer, is it that a desi (Indian) squeeze is more bearable than a foreign bear-hug of Wal Mart? One section of opinion in the past was that there is plenty of money for investment in retail and, hence, foreign participation is unnecessary. This section is powerful but is silent now due to unending recession. If this is true why is the huge opportunity in food processing and packaged branded low-cost edible products still unexploited? The cold chain of refrigeration and the logistics support required to make fortunes for farmers out of fruit and vegetables demand heavy investments. If money in black, domestic market is in plenty, this avenue should have been explored indigenously by now. When American economy is in problem why this love for FDI to help revive Americans more and
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Indians less. Let us face the Employment bullet as put forward by an agriculture activist Divinder Sharma, “The Indian retail market is estimated to be around $400 billion with more than 12 million retailers employing 40 million people. Ironically, Wal-Mart’s turnover is also around $420 billion, but it employs only 2.1 million people. If Wal-Mart can achieve the same turnover with hardly a fraction of the workforce employed by the Indian retail sector, how do we expect big retail to create jobs? It is the Indian retail sector which is a much bigger employer, and big retail will only destroy millions of livelihoods.” What India needs is systemic reforms in favour of 99% people and their pockets and not in favour of 1% supported by Multinationals and their hidden pockets in Tax Havens. How government sustains to save people by stopping this ‘short cut’ ‘slap’ kitchen politics of FDI bullets and Price rise needs to be seen at ground zero. Income and Purchasing power of majority needs to be repaired first. II
Do we live in a safe global society? in an unexplained world where Wepoorlivepeople walk miles to earn food and rich people walk miles to digest food. We live in a society that is designed by intelligent planners who try to sell air travel less then our Railway travel and keeps the middle class happy. Pizza reaches home faster than an ambulance and Police. We live in a system where decision makers in city make agro-plans for villages and industry but never care to visit the sites at ground zero. We live in a system where capital is worshipped but human capital involved is treated as dirt. We live in a society where in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing but demand to be worshipped as Economic Gods. 19
We live with our work systems where the company can terminate the services of an employee/partner/slave any time without any fair trial at the site of the work. Hire and Fire management policy is normal but no opportunity for victim to defend self needs support and future trend. We live in a system where the investor in Africa fixes the interviews of employees in India and pushes a signed contract from a hidden office in Singapore/Hong Kong for work site in Africa. We live in a system where Nationality of the employee cannot protect him in a contract given to him from Singapore/Hong Kong for his works in Africa. Do we have a fair mechanism to judge the conduct of a Director/manager/labour as comfortably claimed by investors with a clear intention to block his work and his claims for payments? We live in a system where investor hires overloaded brains as consultants or Directors in Africa/India but never bothers to generate ground opinion from the factories. We live in a system where Bank loan which is a Public Money gets converted fast into a soft easy Private profit. False Board of Directors resolutions are popped up to match the bank loan requirement but in actual there is no participatory democracy. We live in a system where grand plans and false declarations are given to fetch bank loans but no clear role and respectable amount is paid to the ground team and the contributors. We live in a society where 99 % are asked to trust the planners blindly and work harder without asking for more. Car loan @ 5% but education loan from a bank @ 12%. How and Why? Do not ask but think to see the links if possible. We need not see the mess created by few handful CEOs in India’s biggest car producing company Maruti. Between 2007 and 2011 while the Maruti Suzuki workers’ yearly earnings increased by 5.5 percent. The consumer price index (for the Faridabad centre, Haryana), went up by over 50per cent. As
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per the books since since 2001, profits for the Maruti company increased by 2200 percent! We live in a nation where Rice is one dollar per kg or Rs.50/- per kg and the Sim Card for mobile is free. Where a millionaire can buy a cricket or fotball team instead of investing money in villages to generate more jobs. IPL Cricket teams are auctioned at 3300 crores and we are still a poor country where people starve for 2 square meals per day. Where the footwear, we wear, are sold in AC showrooms, but vegetables, that we eat, are sold on the footpath. Where we make lemon juices with artificial flavours and dish wash liquids with real lemon. Farmer against farmer, technician against technician, manager against manager, worker against worker, director against director are pitted in the goal of few which allows making as much money as possible in the shortest possible time. This senseless greed of 1% people is responsible for the global crisis, recession and conflicts. Time is running out for those 1% to accept a long pending ‘change’ in the systems or disappear like their loot which is parked hidden in ‘tax heavens’ and in temples. Did our Freedom Fighters sacrifice for this? Wake up, it may already be too late. Think about it! III
Money always grows on trees and not in share bazaar controlled by FDI. Our Prime Minister’s forceful, long and rarest of rare address to the Nation on 21st.Sept-2012, hailed by a section of media needs to be considered as a historical watershed in Indian politics. The speech makes a clear business and political intention of the PM. It gives an independent damage control path triggered by peoples protest and anger against price rise in India. Let us not forget that India’s work stood frozen by national strike a day before called by traders, government allies and opposition in protest against the
backdoor entry of FDI in retail. Sample few remarks from the Hon. PM’s speech: A phrase says :“Money does not grow on trees.”A common man suffering from economic pains shall disagree with this folk remark. A tree which takes the poison called carbon di-oxide and converts it into oxygen in a hidden relationship is a survival for all. What common man knows is the shade, wood, flowers, leaves and fruits from the value addition of the tree makes it a ‘Giving Tree’. Humble reasons of the simple disagreement with PM phrase are not difficult to analyse.Is a part of his political fire fighting speech to keep the majority helpless in search of false hope? A seed while growing makes no sound but while falling make a huge noise. Distribution of wealth is noisy while creation is always quiet. Honourable law makers and enforcement agencies need to realize that during production all fingers are equal but consumption and distribution the fingers of the same hand become unequal. Sample a more clear example from the roots of the real production cycle. Manufacturing of a cotton T-shirt in a textile mill takes few days to get ready and to get sold. Transformation of one planted cotton seed to generate 100 more seeds via fruit takes a full harvesting season of almost 100 days. Policy makers in India need to search solutions in favour of the majority because 70% of the farmers are engaged in agriculture. Speed of one cotton T-shirt production involving the source of one seed multiplying to say 100 seeds as a normal wheel of production but where is the fair wealth distribution mechanism? Few handful of people at times in broad daylight want to procure the national fruits (wealth) for the exclusive growth of one percent privileged. While stealing the fruit when caught they shout that fruit is bad or they are taking it to generate more jobs. Transformation of life from seed to fruit remains the collective responsibility. To convert a ‘seed to fruit’ a national team needs to work with a clear role. Here a law is required to shape up team work.
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To distribute the fruit & inclusive wealth again an effective law is required. Strong effective regulation of laws monitoring a ‘work tree’ can help justify a fair wealth distribution of the national fruits. Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity. If there is a fault in the basic porous design of the state format with no regulations the crisis is bound to come. In India there is a presence of strong laws but there is no strong application of these laws at ground zero. All is not well in the daily survival war of the common man with his squeezed pocket and no guarantee of justice. Money shall never grow on ‘fake trees’ called share bazaar, controlled by casino laws of gambling. National resources are being sold each day as if they are fruits hanging on a tree. Money never grows by unfair allocation of 2G spectrum, KG Basin gates, Coal mining gates protected by ministers in India. PM says: “We need to bring in Companies of High Standards.”Thanks to the Indian Agriculture activist Mr. Divinder Sharma and his findings on the ‘less and loose’ character and the standard of videshi(foreigner) company which is covered well by alert media. Here in Zambia the Wal Mart operates with 51% share but under a different name. Why Wal Mart functions with a different name if it is a known brand, its fame and operations are so acceptable? Score card of Desi (Indigenous) squeeze in Indian Industry? India’s economic growth story without Maruti is incomplete. Users in India takes a pride in its shinning, value for money and the most economical indigenous car produced in India. Maruti car in India’s economy growth story takes a pride place in its shinning and most economical indigenous car production. Maruti accepted trajectory in the economic growth of India and job creation story stand unmatched. Challenge and conflict of interest starts when the state policy of any nation driven by American
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Capitalist model fails to distribute the industrial wealth generation. Recent Maruti unrest and its closure unmasked the unfair wealth distribution limitations in shinning Indian story. We saw a senior manager in this car production unit of Manesar plant burned alive and killed during protest. Result? More then 500 workers lost their jobs in this historic inhouse industrial action and dispute. State government in India was found helpless caught looking down with ‘no action’ as a spectator. Regulation Law for better human capital treatment in Indian industry is a must. It is very shocking to see that corporate government nexus instead of improving the infrastructure of roads, hospitals, schools around the coal industry and instead ensuring more money in the pockets of more people/workers is mismanaging the profits of Indian resources. This is done by reducing the permanent work force to half and then increasing the casual contract labours with slave conditions or with forcing no work contract at all. In India a regulation of law for equal treatment (if not more respect) for human capital is must. Has the government learned no regulatory lessons from the Maruti crisis and the shadow boxing (Nora kushti ) on FDI? Hidden masters are corporate and not the politicians. Corporate do not believe in any law for fair wealth distribution.Investors are unhappy if workers demands even 5% rise in their pocket savings each year. Their booty and profit should grow up to 2000 % in five years as we all see in Maruti industrial crisis. Money always grows on ‘work trees’. It needs a collective nursing of the tree by various stakeholders. Distribution requires collective monitoring by various stakeholders and alert regulation of laws by Governments. Fruits should not be sold without a proper evaluation of the market.
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judicial officer. The main point of dispute in the Right to Information Act is whether the discloser of information overweighs the private interest or preservation of secrecy overweighs public interest as against the private interest. A decision on this point also is more on administrative adjudication than a judicial decision. Such a question also does N.K. Acharya not involve any lies between the applicant for information and the public authority. Therefore, it [Sri N.K. Acharya is an advocate, columnist and is not correct to hold such officer as judicial author of several books on law. He was formerly authority to be filled by a High Court judge or the Secretary of Indian Rationalist Association and Supreme Court Judge. If a Judicial Officer shall be had edited the ‘Indian Rationalist’, then the Commissioner of Information, the other published from Hyderabad on behalf of the question is that only his opinion on any matter Association prior to its transfer to Madras.] coming before the Commission for decision will I prevail or at any rate shall be given primacy. It is Commissioner of Information now therefore, necessary that the parliament may, by an Amendment, provide that the Commissioner The Supreme Court’s decision that the of Information need not be a Judicial Officer. Commissioner of Information shall be a Judicial Officer is not" tenable. The post of the II Commissioner of Information under the Right to Information Act is mainly an administrative post. Who will be the next Prime The Parliament says so and the different provisions Minister of the Right to Information Act affirm that the Commissioner being the highest officer under the Though, the General Elections are far away (due Act is mandated to see that the functions of all only in 2014), several political parties are offering authorities and officers under the Act are duly their candidates for the post of Prime Minister. fulfilled. He is responsible to see that all the None are hopeful of securing absolute majority in information about the functions of various Parliament and all are depending upon the departments and officers are published and placed coalescing partners. It is too early to speak about in the web. He is also responsible to see that all the who will be friends. Traditionally, the Indian information officers and the first appellate officers National Congress and its allies form one group and are duly designated and that they are duly equipped the BJP and its allies form the second group. Left to furnish the information. He is further directed to Parties and their allies are basically hostile to BJP. see that the records in all the Government They play the game of aligning themselves with Departments are duly maintained in accordance Congress at one time and disassociating themselves with the law governing preservation of original with the Congress on another occasion. When the records and they are all duly classified. The Left Parties join the Congress the alliance so Commissioner of Information is responsible to see formed is designated as “progressive”. Now, that the Central Offices where records are several other Independent groups which owe their preserved are digitalized. The fact that he is the origin to Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement against final appellate authority does not make him the Indira Gandhi in 1975 which go by the name of
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Janata or Samajwadi, allege to be professing socialist ideas as against regimented policies of the Communist Parties. Now, the Third Front of Socialists is attempting to align them with the Anti-Corruption Crusade of Anna Hazare. It is significant to note that Samajwadi Chief, Mr. Mulayam Singh is being proposed as the prospective Prime Minister. III
Satellites Times were when India was getting its satellites launched from launching pads in foreign countries. Now, India has perfected this art and is now in a position to launch not only its satellites but also satellites of other countries. Satellites have different purposes to perform. Some are meteorological satellites, forecasting weather, temperature, rains and drought in addition to display channels for Television and spectrums. According to reliable estimates, launching of satellite will cost about Rs.290/-crores. “Sriharikota� is the place where Indian launching pad is located. The equipment for building launching pad and launching vehicle change every time depending upon the material to be used. The purpose of the launching vehicle is to carry the satellite and place it at appropriate location. The success of the launching machine ends with placing the satellite in its appropriate place. Any mishap during the journey of the launching vehicle may end up in total loss of the machine. In addition to the launching of satellites, India has potential of carrying atomic weapons over long distances at a height far above the territorial levels without infringing the sovereignties of foreign countries. IV
COP II 23
International Biotechnology Conference at Hyderabad: The Conference of a magnitude of over one thousand foreign delegates is unprecedented in Hyderabad. The city is being decked up; roads are being cleaned and leveled up. Every junction is getting decorated with artistic statues. The foreign delegates are being accommodated in high class hotels assuring every comfort. Personnel are being trained to attend to the needs of delegates. For this purpose, persons are being brought from other states and foreign countries. Security arrangements are being tightened with special police taking over the control and movement of traffic. Places of historic importance, which are plenty in Hyderabad, are being spruced up for delegates who may be taken around places of archaeological significance. There are, however, a few features; the annual function of immersion of Ganesh proceeds a few days before the inauguration. The Telangana agitators are organizing a demonstration scheduled for the day which precedes the inauguration. The two events are likely to disturb the tranquility in the city. The Conference is scheduled to go on for 19 days. It may be of interest to mention here that India passed a law on biological diversity. According to the provisions of the Act, India notifies the areas where r are biological diversity occurs. Government of India has set up a depositary of the rare species. Whoever uses the Indian Biological Diversity or any material stored in depositary shall have to declare its user in the patent application and he shall share the royalty earned by him with the local people through Panchayats wherefrom biological rarity is obtained. The Conference Cop II is confined to scientific aspects of biodiversity occurring all over the world. Incidental reference may be made at the Conference to the laws made by different countries
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to protect their diversity, as against the exploitation property or advantage, should it be done: 1) by of biodiversity by multi-nationals. exercise of discretion of the authorities concerned, 2) by tender or 3) by open auction? The further question is whether all these methods should be V tried or any one or more of them? If so, what are the Coalgate circumstances in which each of them should be The word ‘gate’ is of recent origin. It means adopted? These questions are now before the scandal. It is a journalist expression. It is not either Supreme Court pending a Presidential Reference. literary or artistic or poetic. It is not a political The answer should be, depending upon the jargon. If it is tagged to the name of any person or to circumstances, the Government may adopt any one the subject, it means that it relates to that person or of the three methods provided the officer exercising subject. The present use of the expression, the discretion is bona-fide. It may be necessary in ‘coalgate’ means the scandal which arose out of the special cases that the final decision may be left to a allotment of coal fields in different states to specialist’s Commission which may either ratify licensees for exploitation of the same. The coal the decision of the Government or suggest the fields are allotted in the exercise of discretion. The method, which is suitable. question now is, when Government grants any 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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IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: [BOOK: THE TWINS OF IRRATIONALISM:
Selected Quotations from Reason, Romanticism and Revolution (M.N. Roy), Ajit Bhattacharyya, Renaissance Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, Jan. 2012, Rs. 25.00]
—By Sunanda Sanyal Bhattacharyya could not have chosen Ajita better moment to bring out a selection of quotations from M.N. Roy’s Reason, Romanticism and Revolution. As Amlan Datta said, in front of Mamata Banerjee’s camp for ‘hunger strike’, (on the sacrosanctity of which Mr. Dipak Ghosh, a former Trinamool MLA, has cast a doubt) rather in the manner of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two cities, the contemporary times are the best of the times and the worst of the times – ‘the best’ because it could change the nature of politics, and ‘the worst’ because so many are being killed, in payment of the price for the second freedom movement, as I see it. The freedom is from the fear of living in one’s own country — from the bondage of one’s fellow-citizens. Contemporary times are full of potential for a change in the nature of politics. This is the time when one feels like trying out the ideas that Manabendranath Roy, the creator of Communist Party of India. What went wrong? People claim that if someone isn’t a Communist when young, something is wrong with his heart, but something is wrong with his head if he is not a non-Communist, as he matures. It seems to me, M.N. Roy finally arrived at the conclusion when he said, “Communism became an irrational cult which attracted pseudo-romantics who did not by-birth belong to the chosen people, namely, the proletariat.” That is, the “dictatorship
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of the proletariat” is a misnomer. He concluded that a year after the “unhistorical victory in Russia, the revolution failed in Germany, where it ought to have triumphed if Marx were not a false prophet.” M.N. Roy came to the conclusion that the fallacies of Marxism are obvious, since communism has always ended up in evils of practice. This is true. Let me give two examples. When the former Soviet Union broke down it was found that huge masses of people had been deliberately left impoverished in order to keep the ruling classes in comfort. In China where Mao Tse Dong, the revolutionary, who wanted a ‘hundred flowers to bloom’, that is, a hundred thoughts to contend, tanks ran over thousands of young men and women, who fought for democracy in Tiananmen Square. Its upshot is the rise of Me-generation – a class of selfish young men and women, who couldn’t care less for Chinese society. In fact, as Amlan Datta pointed out, democracy is another kind of revolution. Why don’t you fight straight for it? As the political parties, such as we have them, won’t give it to us on a platter; we, the commoners have to pay for it. As Mamata Banerjee’s government has proved, slogan-mongering by a political leader, particularly when she heads an opposition, does not immediately turn into pro-activity when she comes to power. Shiladiya Chaudhury of Belpahari and Presidency University student, dubbed as “Maoist” by the Chief Minister, have learnt it the hard way, what it is to oppose a Chief Minister. I, indeed, pity the brilliant young men and women who have joined the Maoist forces, unmindful of what M.N. Roy has to say concerning Communism. Unless they fight straightaway for democracy they will meet the same fate again as Shiiladiya Chaudhury has met.
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is a woman. Not exactly a situation that exists in the real world. But in a groundbreaking study published in PNAS last week by Corinne Moss-Racusin and colleagues, that is exactly what was done. On Wednesday, Sean Carroll blogged about and brought to light the research from Yale that had scientists presented with application materials from a student applying for a lab manager position and Ilana Yurkiewicz who intended to go on to graduate school. Half the scientists were given the application with a male name attached, and half were given the exact same Study shows gender bias in application with a female name attached. Results science is real. found that the “female” applicants were rated Here’s why it matters. significantly lower than the “males” in competence, hireability, and whether the scientist (Perceptions and prescriptions of a medical would be willing to mentor the student. student: Unofficial Prognosis) It’s tough to prove gender bias. In a real-world setting, typically the most we can do is identify differences in outcome. A man is selected for hire over a woman; fewer women reach tenure track positions; there’s a gender gap in publications. Bias may be suspected in some cases, but the difficulty in using outcomes to prove it is that the differences could be due to many potential factors. We can speculate: perhaps women are less interested in the field. Perhaps women make lifestyle choices that lead them away from leadership positions. In a real-world setting, when The scientists also offered lower starting salaries to any number of variables can contribute to an the “female” applicants: $26,507.94 compared to outcome, it’s essentially impossible to tease them $30,238.10. apart and pinpoint what is causative. The only way to do that would be by a randomized controlled experiment. This means creating a situation where all variables other than the one of interest are held equal, so that differences in outcome can indeed be attributed to the one factor that differs. If it’s gender bias we are interested in, that would mean comparing reactions toward two identical human beings – identical in intelligence, competence, lifestyle, goals, etc. – with the one difference between them that one is a man and one
Teachers’ & Research Scholars’ Section:
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This is really important. Whenever the subject of women in science comes up, there are people fiercely committed to the idea that sexism does not exist. They will point to everything and anything else to explain differences while becoming angry and condescending if you even suggest that discrimination could be a factor. But these people are wrong. This data shows they are wrong. And if you encounter them, you can now use this study to inform them they’re wrong. You can say that a study found that absolutely all other factors held equal, females are discriminated against in science. Sexism exists. It’s real. Certainly, you cannot and should not argue it’s everything. But no longer can you argue it’s nothing. We are not talking about equality of outcomes here; this result shows bias thwarts equality of opportunity. Here are three additional reasons why this study is such a big deal. 1) Both male and female scientists were equally guilty of committing the gender bias. Yes – women can behave in ways that are sexist, too. Women need to examine their attitudes and actions toward women just as much as men do. What this suggests is that the biases likely did not arise from overt misogyny but were rather a manifestation of subtler prejudices internalized from societal stereotypes. As the authors put it, “If faculty express gender biases, we are not suggesting that these biases are intentional or stem from a conscious desire to impede the progress of women in science. Past studies indicate that people’s behavior is shaped by implicit or unintended biases, stemming from repeated exposure to pervasive cultural stereotypes that portray women as less competent…” 2) When scientists judged the female applicants more harshly, they did not use sexist reasoning to do so. Instead, they drew upon ostensibly sound reasons to justify why they would not want to hire her: she is not competent enough. Sexism is an ugly 27
word, so many of us are only comfortable identifying it when explicitly misogynistic language or behavior is exhibited. But this shows that you do not need to use anti-women language or even harbor conscious anti-women beliefs to behave in ways that are effectively anti-women. Practically, this fact makes it all the more easy for women to internalize unfair criticisms as valid. If your work is rejected for an obviously bad reason, such as “it’s because you’re a woman,” you can simply dismiss the one who rejected you as biased and therefore not worth taking seriously. But if someone tells you that you are less competent, it’s easy to accept as true. And why shouldn’t you? Who wants to go through life constantly trying to sort through which critiques from superiors are based on the content of your work, and which are unduly influenced by the incidental characteristics of who you happen to be? Unfortunately, too, many women are not attuned to subtle gender biases. Making those calls is bound to be a complex and imperfect endeavor. But not recognizing it when it’s happening means accepting: “I am not competent.” It means believing: “I do not deserve this job.” 3) As troubling as these results are, they are also critical toward solutions. That biases against women are often subconscious means people need extra prodding to realize and combat them. I’m willing to bet that many in the study, just like people who take Implicit Association Tests, would be upset to learn they subconsciously discriminate against women, and they would want to fix it. Implicit biases cannot be overcome until they are realized, and this study accomplishes that key first step: awareness. From reading the comments on Sean Carroll’s post, most people who read this will have one of four reactions: 1) This is not surprising, but I’m glad we have something concrete to show what we’ve known all along. 2) This is surprising and disturbing.
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3) Figure 2 is misleading because the y-axis does not start at zero. Therefore, I will reject everything else exposed by this study. 4) Equally qualified women should be discriminated against, because they could go off and get pregnant. I’m afraid the 4’s do exist, and from my experience they are not very willing to have their minds changed. (For a concise article that touches on why their argument is flawed, I’d recommend this piece by my sister, Shara Yurkiewicz.) What’s important is that the 2’s are out there. Certainly, some gender bias in the workplace still takes the form of blatant misogyny. But a large portion of it does not. It’s subtle. It’s subconscious. And many people who perpetrate it, if only made aware of what they are doing, would want to change. I once knew of a professor who consistently made eye contact with males when engaging in conversations about science; only when it was pointed out to him did he realize he was doing it, and he was grateful that someone told him so he could change.
The 2’s exist, but they can only change if they have the facts. These are the facts: equally competent women in science are viewed as less competent because of their gender. Remember them. Cite them. And if you want change, I would urge you to share them as widely as possible. Article URL: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-p rognosis/2012/09/23/study-shows-gender-bias-i n-science-is-real-heres-why-it-matters/ Posted on:| September 23, 2012 | 37 [About the Author: Ilana Yurkiewicz is a second year student at Harvard Medical School who graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in biology. She was a science reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina via the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship and then went on to write for Science Progress in Washington, DC. She has an academic interest in bioethics, currently conducting ethics research at Harvard after previously interning at the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Follow on Twitter @ilanayurkiewicz.]
Please register yourself on the RH Website http://www.theradicalhumanist.com ¨Please log in to it to give your comments on the articles and humanist news which are uploaded from the world over on the Website almost daily. ¨You may also send in news and write-ups from your part of the land for uploading on the Website. ¨Please send in your views and participate on the topics of debate given in the debate section. You yourself may also begin a debate on any topic of your choice in this section. ¨Please suggest themes for the coming issues of The Radical Humanist, discuss them in the Themes Section of the Website; the content of which may be later published in the RH journal. ¨It is your own inter-active portal formed with a purpose of social interaction amongst all Radical Humanists as well as Rationalists and Humanists from different forums also. ¨Do make it a practice to click on the RH Website http://www.theradicalhumanist.com URL daily, ceremoniously. ¨Please utilise the RH Website to come closer for the common cause of ushering in a renaissance in our country. —Rekha Saraswat, (Editor & Administrator RH Website) 28
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Mudasir Nazar
New Constituent Assembly the concluding session of two days Atseminar on, “Jammu and Kashmir and the federal models of shared sovereignty” justice Bilal Nazki made two progressive but contradictory arguments. The first related to article 370, which he termed was temporary provision and declared that the article 370 lost its relevance on 1957 when the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir came into force and constituent assembly got dispersed. Since article 370 lays down that any amendment to article requires concurrence of constituent assembly, thus for any future division of federal arrangement between centre and Jammu and Kashmir requires consent of constituent assembly, which is absent. So his second argument was that there should be new constituent assembly to distribute powers or grant the state autonomy within new framework. Both arguments are related with each other and have many things to convey. Article 370 clause (3) lays down, ‘notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the president may, by public notification declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative with only such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify. Provided that the recommendation of the constituent assembly of the state referred to in clause (2) shall be necessary before the president issues such notification’. Since the constituent assembly got dispersed on 17 November 1956, after adopting the constitution of Jammu and
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Kashmir, the question of amending, deleting or altering the article 370 remains intact. Only article 1 through article 370 was made applicable to state and because state constitution too made article 1 applicable to Jammu and Kashmir subject to accession and accomplished all objectives of article 370, thus, definitely article 370 lost its relevance in 1957. However, if any subsequent changes were brought to make other provisions of Indian constitution applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, were all unconstitutional because no recommendation or concurrence was obtained from the constituent assembly and led to the unilateral erosion of state autonomy. If the article 370 could have been abolished at its initial period after creation of separate constitution for state, it would have benefited the state and would have not resulted in erosion of pre-1953 personality. When Nehru declared in November 1963 in Lok Shaba that ‘the process of gradual erosion of article 370 is going on and we must allow it to go on in order to put an end to article 370’, the other leaders intently felt its presence and engaged in intrigue to turn it into calculated strategy. As union home minister, Gulzari Lal Nanda on 4 December 1964 in Lok Shaba said, “The only way of taking the constitution (of India) into Jammu and Kashmir is through the application of article 370. It is a tunnel. It is through this tunnel, that a good deal of traffic has already passed and more will”. He further says, ‘while the normal process of constitutional amendment is subject to stringent conditions under article 368, the process of amendment in case of Jammu and Kashmir under article 370 is very simple- by presidential order. A mere executive order made by president under article 370 would suffice. What happens is that only the shell is there. Article 370, whether you keep it or not has been completely emptied of its contents. Nothing has been left in it’. As A.G. Noorani writes, ‘Nehru was conscious of the indelicacy of the metaphor. Article 370 was not eroded by efflux of time or ravages of the elements. It was denuded of content by
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conscious executive acts on his advice through one presidential order after another’. The political leadership of the time did not demand abolition of article 370 after 1957, lacked insight and failed to understand that the presence of it in Indian constitution would bring a severe jolt to the state autonomy in future. They never tried to strictly fallow their separate constitution and curtail powers of president regarding Jammu and Kashmir. The question of concurrence was strictly provisional and it had to be ratified by the constituent assembly. Once the constituent assembly met, the state government could not give its own concurrence; still less, after the assembly met and dispersed. Moreover, the president cannot exercise his powers to extend the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir infinitely. Once the constituent assembly had finalized the scheme and dispersed, the presidents extending powers ended completely. The central government modified provisions of clause 3rd and 4th of article which opened gates to subsequent application of provisions of Indian constitution to the state but unfortunately the political leadership did not put the issue of concurrence to critical enquiry and did not prosecuted its legality rather blindly fallowed presidential orders. Thus, it is not absence but presence of Article 370 which proved disastrous to the state autonomy and if the states relations with centre could have been made only subject to accession, the result would have been quite different. All additions to Article 370 and union powers regarding Jammu and Kashmir since then are unconstitutional and remained root cause of constitutional deadlock between centre and the state and the result was grim situation where people suffered heavy loss. The erosion of autonomy resulted in deep alienation and produced a sense of betrayal among people who think that India had betrayed their promises and ultimately resorted to violence. This alienation still continues in one form or other. In order to arrest this alienation and construct harmonious centre-state relations, there is
a need to renegotiate the terms and conditions between the two through new constituent assembly, which to a certain extent would end conflict in the state. The new constitutional assembly would be a welcome step to end the deadlock in Jammu and Kashmir and will be a device of peace to end tensions both horizontally and vertically, between centre and state and between state and regions. It will end regional tensions in state and will end sense of alienation particularly of Jammu. Jammu has historically remained hostile to states special status under article 370 because of sense of domination from Srinagar. Part of the reason is their lack of representation in previous constituent assembly. The constituent assembly elected in 1951was exclusively a one party body- all the 75 members belonged to national conference party dominated by Kashmiri leadership. The opposition party of Jammu, Praja Parishad was forcefully kept out from constituent assembly. The nomination papers of the candidates of Praja Parishad were rejected on false and flimsy grounds. The whole sale rejection of their nominations on flimsy and frivolous grounds shaken their faith in the electoral process and declared that, “the circumstances created by the Kashmir government have compelled us to decide finally not to contest the elections to the constituent assembly under protest”. The party which was denied their representation in constituent assembly articulated the Jammu’s discontent in the emotive slogan of full accession of the state with India and abrogation of article 370. In November 1952 in collaboration with Jana Sangh, it launched a powerful agitation with a battle cry for, “Ek Pradan, Ek Nishan and Ek Vidan”. It was on account of this lack of representation of Jammu in constituent assembly which caused inter-regional tensions otherwise there was nothing like such. Thus, the new constituent assembly would certainly benefit Jammu and will have a say in the power arrangement of the state. The position of Jammu regarding states special
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power on the basis of equality. Thus, the changing position of Jammu in the new constituent assembly would provide it such opportunity to right previous wrongs. In conclusion, though the new constituent assembly has capacity to end Center-State deadlock and inter regional tensions but unfortunately have least possibility of addressing political conflict in general because if such provision could be made, the separatists are likely to boycott it. If they will participate, still then, because their stand will lead to further tensions and their demands will not be accepted by India. If they will change their attitude and will accept solution within Indian constitutional framework, than there is no better solution to Kashmir problem than constitutional arrangement through new constituent assembly. [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. mnazar00@gmail.com]
status as pointed out by Dr Gull Mohammad Wani and Rekha Choudhury has now changed. They do not demand now abrogation of states autonomy but share in states power and autonomy. Even Balraj Puri writes in simmering volcano, “the Jammu’s leadership kept an illusion that the Jammu’s problem would be solved by abrogation of article 370 of the constitution. It however, reconciled to the permanence of the constitutional provision for a special status of the state in 1977, having exhausted energies of the people for 25 years, having divided Jammu on communal lines and having caused international complications in the Kashmir problem (pp 93)”. He further writes, the concept of independent Hindu state too was an illusion (pp 91) and Jammu’s dependence on Jana Sangh for its ideological and organizational strength reduced its effective role in the politics of state. What was worse for Jammu is that the ideology and organization, wedded to Hindu chauvinism of India, isolated the Dogra community from the rest of the province by creating a psychological barrier, along the Chenab, more insurmountable than the physical barrier of the great river (pp 95)”. Such attempts weakened its capacity to share political
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Book Review Section: [BOOK: Socio-Economic Development of Tribal Women: Changes and Challenges by Rekha Talmaki, Delhi: The Women Press, pages-xxiii+222, price-Rs. 895]
Book Review —By Vibhuti Patel Talmaki has made a serious and Rekha commendable effort at conducting survey based research on socio-economic status of tribal women in Valod (South Gujarat) where committed Gandhian workers have dedicated more than 5 decades of their lives in village development activities based on Gandhian principles. Her personal field visits have played crucial role in bringing new insights and analysis with gender lens. She has examined tribal women’s predicaments in the context of status of women in India, in general, where main factors in determining socio-economic status have been income, education and occupation. She has provided an exhaustive literature-review focusing on occupational life, health profile of tribal women and tribal women’s status in the family decision making. She has also evaluated the situation to find out to what extent Gandhian ideology of Antyodaya is implemented vis-à-vis tribal women, who are the poorest of the poor in the economic ladder and at the bottom of the pyramid. The author has rightly used a conceptual framework of social exclusion that includes socio-economic parameters of inequality, poverty, social exclusion in India. She has provided definition of tribe. She has highlighted indicators such as working status and demographic aspects of tribes in Gujarat as well as size and distribution of scheduled tribe. She also reveals that sex ratio of tribal women in Gujarat is relatively higher than the rest. The question is does that indicate they enjoy better status in socio-economic, cultural, educational and political lives? Social geography of Surat reveals volatile changes due to industrialization, urbanization and globalization. In
what way have these factors affected lives and survival strategies of tribal women? The author has made an honest attempt to answer these mind boggling questions. With the help of questionnaire for tribal women that was administered on 498 women respondents from 11 villages selected as sample who were falling in the category of 18-59 years age group, for Gandhian institutions working among them and for financial institutions, nationalized and cooperative banks, the author has tried to analyse various development efforts. She has revealed that a large number of Halpatis or Dublas is found very prominently in Surat district. They are very poor, because they do not get permanent employment. They are very good in taking care of animals. SUMUL and local milk co-operatives encouraged them for animal husbandry and since then they have started keeping cattle and other animals for milk production. It emerges from this study that the tribal communities, particularly women, have been excluded from the main stream economic development for the last so many decades. The study was conducted to find out the socio-economic status of tribal women in Valod. Though their improved status is showing positive changes, it is also necessary to pay attention on many other aspects for the better & overall development of these women. The most attractive feature of this study is to bring to the fore efforts of veteran Gandhians such as Shri Babubhai Shah, Smt Savitaben Chaudhari and Smt Dashriben Choudhari. Popularly known as Dashariba, the eminent Gandhian and freedom-fighter, who was born in 1918 in a tribal family (as she told) has been the role model for all tribal women in the region. At present, she is residing in Vedchhi. She took part in the freedom struggle and taught reading and writing to Smt Kasturba Gandhi. It can be a very good example of how these tribal men and women were actively participating in the freedom struggle. After independence, also, Dashriben devoted her full life to educate people.
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The author states that women in Valod perform various income generating activities. They are either engaged in agricultural activities or in Papad Udyog or in dairy production prominently. Very few women in this sample, i.e. 11, are engaged in Anganwadi activities and only four women work in government jobs. Those women, who are involved in agricultural activities, are also involved in Papad Udyog or in milk production. For example, Halpati women are basically agricultural labourers but they are doing well in dairy production. Women do not possess any land but those who are members of Self Help Groups are managing livestock and are having their own accounts in the banks. They are owners of those animals, who give them not only economic self-sufficiency but also make them empowered. Their economic status has been improved only because of Lijjat Papad and Milk Co-operatives. More than 50 per cent women also know the market value of their product. Women’s leadership in micro finance has been marked feature of the activities of Gandhian institutions in the region. They are active in Vedchhi Pradesh Seva Samiti (VPSS), Valod; Lijjat Papad Grihaudyog, Sampoorna Kranti Vidyalaya and Gandhi Vidyapith-Vedchhi, Traditional agriculture sector could not give them better economic status and social status as well. However, because of the above mentioned occupations their economic and social status has improved in the last two decades. There are only 11 women working in Anganwadi, but today along with Papad Udyog and Milk Co-operatives, Anganwadi activities are also increasing as Sakhi Mandals are emerging with the help of Anganwadi workers. Decision making, economic status and empowerment always go hand in hand. More than 70 per cent women told that their status has changed drastically. They see themselves in a different perspective and are thinking about the empowerment of their own daughters and well-being of the entire family. More than 50 per cent women said that, improvement in the economic status gives them status in the family and 33
in the society. Remaining women, though their status has not been improved, are well aware of their future. They wish that their future would be good. They do not want their children to suffer as they have suffered. They demand good educational and job facilities for their children. They want good educated husbands for their daughters. The habit of alcohol is still persisting in tribal communities; hence mothers want good non-addicted partners for their daughters. It is so encouraging to note that respondents from Vedchhi want to do something for their community and village. Respondents from Ranveri want their daughters to be educated, so that they would teach their children. It shows that, women from all the villages are well aware of their status. They have understood the importance of education. In the sample, there were very few widows, but nearly 50 per cent women said that there should be some special schemes only for widows. Those women, who stay below poverty line, want to improve their economic status. Educational process among tribals started with Vedchhi Movement and was later on flourished by late Shri Jugatram Dave, Founder of Swaraj Ashram – Vedchhi in 1930. Udyogwadi Unit started in 1954 and various programmes were undertaken by late Shri Babubhai Shah. Separate women’s section was started in Udyogwadi Unit. Women started getting guidance, income generating activities and vocational training from this Unit. Lijjat Papad Unit provides occupation based on self-sufficiency. All these institutions make women empowered in Valod. Self Help Groups, milk co-operatives, increasing participating of women in political activities, agitation against deforestation and alcohol by Self Help Groups, educational status of women and their children, accessibility to all kinds of infrastructural activities, improved decision-making capacity in all important aspects, knowledge and use of contraceptives show positive changes in the socio-economic status of tribal
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women in Valod. This improvement has not taken place overnight. Gandhian ideology definitely played a very important role in this respect. Self Help Groups are emerging on a very large scale in Valod taluka. Development from the grass-root level, a dream of Gandhiji, is now coming to reality. It is noteworthy that author’s recommendations emphasize investment in tribal women’s education, vocational training, meaningful participation of
tribal women in local self government bodies, anti alcohol efforts and prevention of domestic violence among tribal families through collective efforts and social intervention. I congratulate Ms. Rekha Talmaki for her praise worthy efforts and hope that readers from wide variety of backgrounds social scientists, political activists, researchers, policy makers and women’s organizations will deliberate on the issues raised by this book.
Dear Radical Humanists, We hope you are organising meetings, lectures, informal get-togethers wherever you are, in India or abroad, to acknowledge M.N. Roy’s contribution to modern Political Philosophy contributing in the celebrations of his 125th Birth Anniversary Year in your own way. Please send us the reports and pictures of the programs you are organising to publish them in the RH & and to post them on the Web Portal regularly in Roy’s entire Birth Anniversary Year. —B.D. Sharma, IRI President, New Delhi
Important Announcement
Encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists To be loaded on the RH Website (http://www.theradicalhumanist.com) Dear Friends, This is to request you to send in your personal details, contact numbers etc. (along with your passport size photographs) as well as a brief account of how you got associated with M.N. Roy/Radical Democratic Party/Radical Humanist Movement directly or indirectly through the philosophy of New Humanism. This is also a request to all those friends, whose deceased parent/parents were involved in or were sympathetic with Radical Humanism and its Movement, to send in accounts of their parent’s/parents’ association (as much as they can recollect and recount). This will be a loving and emotional tribute to their memories from your side. All this effort is being made to form an encyclopedia of the Radical Humanists right from the days of the beginning of M.N. Roy’s social and political activities in India and abroad. All this information will be uploaded and permanently stored on the RH Website in the Profile section for everyone to read and come in contact with one another. This will be a historical check-list to connect with all the crusaders who worked or are still working for the human cause on the humanist lines. —Rekha Saraswat
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Dipavali Sen [Ms. Dipavali Sen has been a student of Delhi
School of Economics and Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Pune). She has taught at Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, and various colleges of Delhi University. She is, at present, teaching at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is a prolific writer and has written creative pieces and articles for children as well as adults, both in English and Bengali. Dipavali@gmail.com] Book Review [The Arab Spring by Ishtiyaque Danish, Kojo Press, Pigeon Books India, New Delhi; 2012; paperback, pp 200,cover design by Abhishek, no illustrations; price Rs 160/-.]
An Atmosphere of Ijtihad refers to intellectual reasoning, and Ijtihad in this novel, Professor Ishtiyaque Danish, Professor of Islamic Studies, Hamdard University, has tried to portray several human problems in the Muslim world (such as Hijab, Polygamy and Multiculturalism) in an atmosphere of Ijtihad. Professor Ishtiyaque Danish belongs to the academic world but he is also into creativity. This creative venture of his aspired really to be the script for a film but metamorphosed into a novel. It begins in the sandy background of Riyadh.
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Abdur Rahman is a rich and prosperous businessman with business as well as properties in Riyadh as well as London. His wife Samya, the mother of four, is still attractive and considers herself most happily married. Ibrahim, her college-going son, is the protagonist of this novel, though his sisters too are important, especially the also college-going Unaiza. Abdur Rahman suddenly gets married to one young and pretty Humaira. He keeps his family in the dark about it. But they come to discover it accidentally. Going out to the restaurant, they take her to a ‘family cabin’. (p 18) The mother is agonized. The faithful cook-cum-companion empathizes with her. Her children weep with her. But she is a gutsy woman and accosts her husband with her question: why? “See this happens. The Shariah has permitted it”, he answers. (p 28) There follows a debate about the practice of having more than one wife, especially about keeping the first wife in ignorance about the second. The wife points out with dignity that this cannot be a divine order. The husband points out that it is ‘practical’ to do. The wife strikes a balance between her hurt feelings and her concern for the children. She decides to shift to London where too her husband has house property and business concerns. Abdur Rahman by now is quite penitent and requests his wife not to leave Riyadh. He had simply not thought that she would take it so hard. But when his wife sticks to her decision, he makes all the necessary financial arrangements. There are no quarrels or scenes but coldness and pain. Ibrahim and his sisters respect their mother’s decision and come away with her to London. There they are exposed to various cultures and attitudes with respect to, say, wearing the Hijab or veil and having physical relationships. Ibrahim falls in love with Azra, who is of Indian origin.
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Unaiza falls in bad company and goes in for belly-dancing lessons that almost lead to rape (p 122). Azra, modestly dressed without the Hijab, and an epitome of Indian culture, comes to the rescue of Unaiza, who happens to be her classmate. Ibrahim is lucky to find such a stable influence on his ravaged family. In Riyadh, Abdur Rahman misses his family and misses that love from his second wife which she had reserved for a possible handsome young bridegroom. He finally divorces Humaira and arranged a new match for her – a much younger business connection. He joins his wife in London and she welcomes him back on learning how he had disposed off the second wife.
The children are happy at this reconciliation and the family is united again (p 170). The novel ends with the marriage of Ibrahim and Azra, and its passionate consummation. It is a happy ending to a tale that began with a shocking revelation that broke a family up. The Glossary, though not very accurate, helps a reader who is not too familiar with Islamic terms. In spite of grammatical errors, the novel is daring in its attempt to treat delicate issues of traditional norms that are nevertheless very relevant in the globalised world of the present. Professor Ishtiyaque Danish has done well to write this first novel of his. There should be more of this genre, exploring human socio-psychology in an atmosphere of Ijtihad.
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Humanist News Section: I
Indian Renaissance Institute (IRI) Meeting Schedule: A meeting will be held between 5.15 PM to 8.00 PM on Saturday, the 29th September 2012, to discuss the ‘Report of the Group of Interlocutors on J&K’. Date: Saturday, the 29th September 2012 Time: 5.15 PM to 8.00 PM Venue: Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi A Short Note on: Report of the Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir The central government appointed the J&K Interlocutors Group on October 13, 2010. The Group submitted the Report to the Home Ministry earlier this year. The Report was made public by the Home Ministry on May 24, 2012. It may be noted that under Article 370 of the Constitution special status has been granted to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The power of the Parliament to legislate is restricted to defence, external affairs, communication and central elections. However, the President may with the concurrence of the state government extend other central laws to the state. Furthermore, in 1952, an agreement known as the Delhi Agreement was entered into between the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the central government. The Agreement too provided that the state government shall have sovereignty on all subjects except for matters specified above. However, since then, some central laws relating to other subjects such as environment have been made applicable to the state. Following political and socio-economic recommendation were made by the Group of Interlocutors. Political recommendations: · The Group recommended that a Constitutional Committee (CC) should be set up to review all the 37
Central Acts that have been extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1952. · The CC should come out with its findings within six months. · According to the Group, the CC should review whether, and to what extent, the application of Central Acts to the state has led to an erosion of the state’s special status. · The word ‘Temporary’ in Article 370 should be replaced with ‘Special’ which has been used for certain states such as Assam, Nagaland, and Andhra Pradesh. · Central laws shall only be made applicable to the state if they relate to the country’s security or a vital economic interest, especially in the areas of energy and water resources. · Currently, the Governor is appointed by the President. The Group recommended that the state government shall give three names for consideration for the position to the President. However, the Governor shall finally be appointed by the President. · Separate Regional Councils for Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh should be created and certain legislative, executive and financial powers should be devolved to them. · The subjects that could be transferred to the Regional Council include prison reforms, public health, roads and bridges and fisheries. Cultural, Economic and Social Recommendations: There are 16 centrally sponsored schemes which are mostly funded by the centre. However, most of the funds for these schemes have not been utilised properly. · The Group recommended that an effective system to monitor these schemes should be put in place. · An expert committee to review the state’s financial needs should be constituted. · The central government should tap the hydro-electricity potential of the state. Till date
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only 15 per cent of the potential has been harnessed. · Additional hydro-electricity projects should be established for which the central government should meet the entire equity capital. · Industrial establishments and other buildings occupied by the security officers should be vacated. · Financial package of incentives on the pattern given to the North Eastern States should be given to the state. · The hilly, remote areas should be declared as special development zones. · The restrictions on the internet and mobile phones should be reviewed. In order to fulfil these recommendations, the Interlocutor’s Group proposed the following roadmap: · The ‘stone pelters’ and political prisoners against whom no serious charges have been framed should be released. · There should be an amendment and review of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990 and the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978. · The state policy should provide for the return of Kashmiri Pandits. · A judicial commission to supervise the identification of bodies buried in the unmarked graves should be established. —News Sent by N.D. Pancholi, Secretary, IRI II Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA): JTSA released its report Framed, Damned, Acquitted: Dossiers of a ‘Very’ Special Cell on 18th September (Tuesday) at FTK-CIT Hall (Next to Ansari Audi, Jamia Millia), 2:30 pm onwards. The invited speakers were: Justice Rajindar Sachar (Retd.), Arundhati Roy, Mani Shankar Aiyar, N.D. Pancholi,
Md. Amir Khan (Acquitted after 14 years) and Syed Maqbool Shah (Acquitted after 14 years) About the Report: Framed, Damned, Acquitted documents 16 cases in which those accused of being operatives of various terrorist organizations (Al Badr, HUJI, Lashkar), arrested in main by the Special Cell of Delhi Police, were acquitted by the courts, not simply for want of evidence, but because the evidence was tampered with, and the police story was found to be unreliable and incredulous. The report relies entirely on court judgements. JTSA hopes that this document will provoke a debate about the utility of these elite forces, which in the name of fighting terrorism, have been granted blanket impunity. For copies of the report, please write to —News Sent by N.D. Pancholi III Anti Nuclear Plant Dharna: PUCL joined an Anti Nuclear Plant Dharna on 22.9.12 Saturday at Jantar Mantar (10 am to 4 pm) It was a People's Struggle to stop Koodankulam Nuclear Plant. People were asked to show their Solidarity with the Peaceful Democratic Struggle. It was a Protest against State Violence on Innocent People. It Condemned Police action for Framing False Cases against Protesters. The Dharna was organized by: FRIENDS OF THE KOODANKULAM ANTI NUCLEAR MOVEMENT, PUCL-National, PUCL-Delhi, AISA, SFI-JNU, Students Against Nuclear Plants, Indian Renaissance Movement, Democratic Citizens Forum and Artists Against Nuclear Plants. Mahi Pal Singh, National Secretary, PUCL. –News Sent by PUCL, Delhi Unit
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Letters to the Editor: I Dear Rékhâ, I could not manage to write earlier about the question you have shared with other parents among your readers. I think you must encourage your daughter to consult the inner voice hidden somewhere within and act accordingly, heedless of others’ opinion, as long as she does no harm to anybody (nor to herself). Warm regards. —Prithwindra-dâ, Paris, France *************************************************************** II Dear Dr. Rekha Saraswatji, A) Lots of wishes. I congratulate you for having given pucca real meaning for the word democracy as ‘Democracy is well-being of all the citizens in a country and happiness of all people in that particular society. While the wealthy continue to say that democracy is for the people, of the people and by the people this quotation might have been applicable in Washington DC but definitely not in our India. Here we find that the ruling class is malafidely and deliberately cheating the gullible masses, the poverty and hunger-stricken crores of our people. Unless and until we struggle for the cause of our people’s equality and for an egalitarian Indian society suppression, oppression and exploitation will continue to haunt us. I once again, congratulate you contributing and conveying many things through the Radical Humanist. I feel that Roy’s Ideals of Indian Womanhood can still give so many answers to the present day woman as it did earlier. With many good wishes and thanks a lot!! B) Shri N.K. Acharya has raised an excellent question in the August 2012 of RH, (page 18). Recently the courts are issuing summons to the ministers in corruption cases and the ministers are defending themselves by appointing Government Counsels and spending government money towards expenses required in that connection. This is purely a violation of Article 18 — Abolition of Titles, where every body has a right to equality and the minister needs to face the charges at their own cost. Once summoned to the courts they are simply the respondents and not ministers. It is also the violation of Article 50 where seperation of judiciary from Executive is clearly mentioned.The Executives are bound to do what is specifically stated in a particular Government Order. If they fail to do so concerned parties seek justice through the courts. Hence all the cost should be borne by the respondent. I would request Mr. Acharya to file a case of PIL. I thank Mr. Acharya very much for picking up this issue. — M. Kolandaisamy, M.A. L.L.B., 15, Arumugoan Pillai Street, Pudupalayam, Cuddalore, 607001, Tamil Nadu
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