balaji@bacall.UUCP (Balaji Narasimhan) (10/14/86)
INDIA NOW
News and Views from Indian newspapers and magazines
October 1986
Part 1 of 5
Contents:
Part 1:
Editorial Statement
Letter to India Now
High Court Orders Return of Passport to Journalist
Amnesty International report on Sri Lanka Disappearances
Do We Need an Aircraft Carrier?
CPM in Tripura
Time to Draw the Line - Border Dispute with China
Restricted Education
Child Labor
Banning Religious Processions
Religion on the Road
Ragging at IIT, Kharagpur
Spoiling Verdant Islands
Basu Opposes Inquiry Act
ONGC Proposes Gas Grid
India As A Multinational State
Are Indian States Indestructible?
Nepal As Zone of Peace
Jharkhand Agitation
Arjun Singh and Land Reform
Is Indian Polysilicon Good Enough?
Inflation Figures
Bombay High Crude
Mob Justice near Diamond Harbor
Behind Railway Accidents
Position of Untouchables
Inquiry into Problems of Bidi Workers
Seoul Meeting on Human Rights
Mahila Samiti Wants Action on Deaths
Invigilators Helping Law Examinees Copy
Three Miners Buried Alive
Contents of Remaining Parts at the End
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Subject: Editorial Statement
The material in India Now is taken from a variety of Indian
publications - Indian Express, Statesman, Economic and Political
Weekly, Times of India. Some articles are written by ourselves.
For reasons of space and relevance, the original articles are
not usually reproduced in full. However, we take care to ensure
that the excerpts do not distort the content of the originals in
any way. Beginning with the next issue, we will cite the
sources by name and date.
The material is compiled, edited and printed by Sekhar
Ramakrishnan, Kishan Bajwa, and others. Sekhar can be contacted
at 212-866-1616. Comments and suggestions are most welcome.
If you prefer a printed version of India NOW, please send
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India Now, Post Box 37, Westmount, Quebec H3Z 2T1,
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If you are using rn to read this digest, please type control-g
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------------------------------
Subject: Letter to India Now
Dear Friends:
Enclosed please find $20 for a subscription to India Now. I
also have some editorial comments on the first issue.
1. It would be helpful to have it more clearly indicated
whether an article is specially written for India Now, whether
it is a straight reprint of an article in another publication,
or a summary of such an article.
2. It would help to indicate from which publication(s) things
are extracted since that helps the reader judge the reliability
and/or political slant.
3. Book reviews should be set apart and, if the review is
lifted from another publication, that should be indicated. In
the review of Eight Lives, for instance, who is A.G. Noorani and
why do his views count?
4. Much is written from an intensely "insider's" viewpoint. In
the Shiv Sena story, who is Asghar Ali Engineer and why should
we respect his views?
I wish you the best success.
Hannah Lessinger
------------------------------
Subject: High Court Orders Return of Passport to Journalist
The Delhi High Court has passed strictures against passport and
immigration authorities for "remissness and lack of
communication" while ordering the return of a journalist's
passport, which was impounded at Delhi airport on August 20.
Allowing the petition of Brahma Chellaney, Delhi correspondent
of the Associated Press, the court ruled on August 25 that the
petitioner was "in possession of a valid passport and deprived
of his fundamental rights and freedom of movement."
Chellaney was prevented from going to Italy on August 20 by an
official of the foreigner's regional registration office on the
basis of a two-year-old order requiring Chellaney to surrender
his passport. The court noted that the officer was not aware
that this order was set aside following an appeal made by
Chellaney to the chief passport officer. The court awarded Rs
1,000 to Chellaney as damages.
Chellaney was present in Punjab at the time of the army attack
on the Golden Temple and was one of the few correspondents to
file eye-witness reports. He was charged with sedition.
However, he was acquitted of the charge in a trial.
------------------------------
Subject: Amnesty International report on Sri Lanka Disappearances
Eric Silver
South Asia Correspondent of Guardian, London
Two young Tamils, detained by the army in a camp in northern Sri
Lanka, were urged by their guards to look at a huge fire in a
jungle clearing 100 yards outside the perimieter. Asked what
they thought the leaping flames and black smoke could be, the
terrified pair answered they had no idea. "That," said one of
the soldiers, "is the Tamil Eelam army going up in flames."
A sworn account by one of the detainees of the apparent
execution and cremation of 119 Tamil suspects in December, 1984,
was published September 11 in an 89-page report by Amnesty
International on the "disappearance" of hundreds of Tamil youths
since the guerrilla campaign for a separate state of Eelam
intensified 22 months ago.
Amnesty publishes the testimony of witnesses in 272 cases where
it has "credible evidence" that the missing men were picked up
by the security forces in the predominantly Tamil Northern and
Eastern provinces. The organization says it has reports of
hundreds more, including the names of 341 who disappeared in the
Batticaloa area on the east coast between January, 1985, and
last February.
The secret execution of the 119 youths is alleged to have taken
place at the Iratperiyakulam army camp in Vavuniya on December
2, 1984, after Tamil gunmen had massacred 65 men, women and
children of the majority Sinhalese community at the Kent and
Dollar farm settlements.
The witness, who was subsequently released, is not named by
Amnesty to protect him from reprisals. He described seeing about
100 men wearing dhotis with their chests bare sitting under a
tree guarded by soldiers. He was then made to sit in an office
with his back to them.
"I heard rifles being fired five at a time. One of the
soldiers, a corporal, kept counting 'one, two, three, four,
five' in English. He would wait for a five-minute interval
during which a jeep was driven close to the spot. Again the
firing would go on and the same soldier would count 'one, two,
three, four, five' followed by a Jeep being driven to the spot.
This went on until the soldier had counted five about 20 times.
I presumed that about 100 persons were shot and killed."
In another case history, fellow-prisoners described the fate of
Thambimuthu Kamalarajah, aged 22, a mechanic, who was taken from
his home near Jaffna by the army on November 30, 1984.
"I heard Kamalarajah shouting in Tamil calling for his mother
from an adjoining room," one of the witnesses testified. "The
next day I and Kamalarajah were taken together for
interrogation. I observed that his forehead and hands at several
points were swollen and there was an abrasion on his chest."
On the following days the witness heard Kamalarajah crying in
pain as he was apparently being beaten in a neighbouring cell.
On one occasion, the sounds of beating lasted 1 1/2 hours. The
witness said that he too was beaten at regular intervals.
That evening soldiers were seen bringing bandages and
medication. Senior army officers were heard talking among
themselves in Sinhalese. Listening Tamil prisoners understood
them to be saying that Kamalarajah had died of tetanus as a
result of his wounds.
One youth, detained in the same camp at the same time as
Kamalarajah, said in a sworn statement: "I was hung upside-down
and they covered my face with a gunny bag which contained about
two kilograms of dried chillies. When it became unbearable the
gunny bag was removed.
"A little later they brought some nails and pricked my genitals
for some time. Some soldiers pulled my moustache with pliers.
After two hours I was carried back to my cell and handcuffed to
a bed."
Amnesty lists four main factors that have facilitated what it
calls "the occurrence of grave human rights abuses" in Sri
Lanka. They are: " The suspension of important legal safeguards
designed to protect those taken into custody, as a result of
which detainees may be held incommunicado for long periods; the
introduction of legislation which dispenses with or severely
restricts the holding of inquests into unnatural deaths; the
persistent refusal to investigate most cases of 'disappearance'
even when they are well-documented; and the failure to identify
those members of the security forces alleged to be responsible
and bring them to justice."
(Sri Lanka Disappearances, Amnesty
International, 1 Easton Street, London WC1X
8DJ)
------------------------------
Subject: Do We Need an Aircraft Carrier?
The Indian government has recently concluded an agreement for
the acquisition of an aircraft carrier Hermes (renamed Virat)
from the British. In an article in the Statesman, G.C.Katoch
summarizes the arguments for and against aircraft carriers.
According to the Prime Minister in Parliament, the navy would
like five aircraft carriers but is settling for two - one each
for the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The justification
for an aircraft carrier is the need for the navy to defend our
long coastlines and the farflung island territories, besides
keeping the sea lanes open for merchant shipping. The navy's
enlarged role now includes protection of the Bombay High and
other offshore projects, preventing poaching by foreign fishing
vessels, safeguarding seabed resources in the Exclusive Economic
Zone which covers over 2 million square miles, and the
projection of naval power to promote Indian influence among the
littoral states. In this background, two developments are
emphasized. One is that the Indian Ocean has become an area of
superpower rivalry. The other is that Pakistan has armed itself
beyond its "genuine defense needs" - in particular, acquisition
of the deadly Harpoon missiles for some of its submarines and
destroyers poses a new danger to our vessels.
Critics point out that first, unlike the US or the UK, our navy
has no global commitments. The Russian navy did not have any
aircraft carriers till the sixties.
Second, we can neither take on a superpower nor prevent big
power rivalry. Third, the mission of keeping the sea lanes open
in case of war: our defense planning is based primarily on the
expectation of a short, swift war. In case a conflict does go
on for three months or so, we can survive and sustain the
fighting even if not a single merchant ship is able to bring
supplies. As for defense against Pakistan, we do not need
aircraft carriers, just as Pakistan does not need them against
us.
While carriers may be all right for a deep thrust attack, they
tie up a number of ships for their protection and logistics,
which make their deployment counterproductive. For example,
Vikrant, the other aircraft carrier, needs an escort of 8-10
ships and submarines so that half the fleet is tied up for its
protection every time it is put out to sea. Some naval officers
refer to Vikrant as "the largest flotilla restaurant in Asia for
VIP entertainment." What other use has it been all these years?
It had no part to play in either the Sino-Indian conflict of
1962 or the Indo-Pak war of 1965, and its role during the
Bangladesh war was at best dubious. Besides, what exactly could
Vikrant have done if the advance of the American Seventh Fleet
had not been overtaken by the swift surrender of Pakistan forces
at Dhaka?
There is reason to worry about the island territories,
especially those with very few residents. However, a lone
aircraft carrier in the Bay of Bengal cannot be everywhere all
the time.
Some critics say that the proposal for a second aircraft
carrier, after having been stalled for years, went through only
because the present Chief of Naval Staff is an aviator and the
Prime Minister an ex-pilot.
------------------------------
Subject: CPM in Tripura
Some CPM leaders in Tripura are perturbed over the growing
influence of exclusively caste-based organizations within the
party fold, which they feel is detrimental to the process of
developing a class outlook.
In a state such as Tripura, where the peasantry is broadly
divided into the two dominant ethnic groups - Bengalis and
tribals - senior CPM leaders feel that there is no escape from
finding a solution to the nationality question. With this end
in view, the Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, CPM's biggest
tribal-based mass organization, emerged in Tripura in the late
1940's. It claims to have almost 37,000 tribal families as
members.
There has been a calculated move since the late 40's by the
Marxist leaders not to highlight the economic class division
among the tribals in view of the question of tribal development,
until the tribals are brought into the national mainstream. But
due to large-scale development of tribal areas and extension of
benefits by various financial institutions, middle-class and
some upper middle-class landowners have already emerged in
Tripura's tribal society.
Apparently, there is now a sharp difference of opinion on the
issue of organizing struggle by the tribal agricultural laborers
against exploitation by the middle and upper middle-class tribal
landowners. A patch-up arrangement that keeps the activities of
the party's peasant front and the agricultural laborers'
organization from expanding into the hill areas is continuing.
A section of the state's CPM rank and file is believed to be
critical of the alleged "increasing rightist domination" in the
party. It is also alleged that the legislation to safeguard the
interest of sharecroppers, which was made immediately after the
Left Front came to power in 1978, has not been enforced properly
due to the party's middle-class bias.
------------------------------
Subject: Time to Draw the Line
Statesman on Border Dispute with China
Shiv Shankar's statement in Lok Sabha on August 1 on the Chiense
intrusion into Arunachal Pradesh is significant primarily
because it suggests possible reasons for the government's
softpedaling the issue. It appears that contrary to earlier
assertions, the Chinese have not penetrated 7 km into Indian
territory but advanced 2-3 km south of the McMahon Line.
Further, the External Affairs Minister has categorically denied
some alarmist "disclosures" made by the Arunachal Pradesh Chief
Minister, Gegong Apang: no Chinese helipad has been built on
Indian territory after all. Ever since New Delhi chose to
reveal in July that some Chinese nationals had entered the
Sumdorong Chu valley in the Kameng district of Arunachal
Pradesh, further specifying that they had penetrated six or
seven km into Indian territory, there has been a spate of
conflicting reports. But the government did nothing to clarify
the exact position, let alone deny Apang's sensational
"disclosures," it did not even correct the inaccuracy of its own
assertions. Either it did not know the truth, or it gave an
exaggerated account of the incident in the mistaken belief that
this would strengthen its position at the seventh round of
border talks which, predictably, got bogged down over this
issue.
It has long been argued that the line drawn across the Himalayas
by Henry McMahon in 1914 lends itself to diverse
interpretations; if it is too "thick" on the map, as Shiv
Shankar has suggested, it was surely the government's
responsibility to determine it clearly before talking to the
Chinese. As it is, Beijing does not recognize the line as the
international boundary; since India insists on its
inviolability, New Delhi ought to have taken steps to define it
unambiguously on the maps. Shiv Shankar made no mention of the
Chinese claim that the entire Sumdorong Chu valley lies north of
the McMahon Line, or the reported Indian plea that if the
watershed criterion is applied, the disputed area is
unquestionably Indian territory.
After disclosing the intrusion before the talks in Beijing, New
Delhi has now indirectly conceded that there may in fact be a
legitimate dispute about the area in question.
------------------------------
Subject: Restricted Education
P.V. Indiresan, formerly director of IIT Madras and now a fellow
at Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, has expressed the view in an
article in the Statesman that student indiscipline is a direct
result of the absence of employment opportunities. He proceeds
to offer some unusual remedies.
"The present lopsided mismatch between what the economy demands
and what the education industry supplies costs the country dear
in four different ways: first, a large body of young men waste
several precious years in studying what is irrelevant; second,
like Eliza Doolittle who was transformed from an efficient,
self-supporting flower girl into a useless and helpless society
lady, these young men actually become less self-reliant and less
useful as a result of their years of wasteful study. Third, in
addition to the waste of time and atrophy of self-reliance,
their positive qualities of enthusiasm actually flip over and
become negative and destructive. And, fourth, the unwarranted
expansion of unwanted education bestows a false sense of
righteousness on the political, bureaucratic and educational
leadership, protecting their ego from the responsibility of
discharging their duty.
"It is a popular misconception that the beneficiaries of
education are students. A little reflection will show that in
most cases this is far from true. A nation like ours, which
asks for no university education for its Prime Minister and
Chief Ministers, for its chiefs of staff and for its captains of
industry, can get all the clerks it needs without waiting for
them to graduate from a university. With most students,
whatever employment they are able to get, whatever careers they
are able to carve out for themselves, they can manage without
any artifice or skill that any college can provide."
Under Indiresan's plan, subsidized higher education will be
reserved only for those who can find gainful employment.
"Here then is the scenario: any college may admit students in
three different ways. First, a number equal to those who were
successfully placed in employment in the previous year.
Evidently, the current resources of the college are adequate to
train them reasonably well; so, this set may be admitted at the
existing subsidized rates. Second, sponsored candidates may be
taken in, provided they have guaranteed prospects and the full
cost of their education is met by their sponsors. There could
also be a third category who seek education for its own sake and
not for employment. They also may be admitted provided they pay
the full costs. In order that this last category does not
become a backdoor entry into the job market, the nature of the
courses and the degree available to them should be different.
"By and large, the scheme suggested here will meet a variety of
needs and yet function as a continuously self-regulating
mechanism, constantly matched to the needs of the economy. It
will also add resources to enable colleges to expand
systematically, but those courses which contribute only to
unemployment will shrink. In effect, the colleges will be made
accountable without involving politicians and administrators in
embarrassing value judgements.
"This scheme may be resisted by the teaching community in the
name of academic freedom. Objections will also be raised by the
new breed of entrepreneurs who are starting new colleges to
exploit gullible parents and innocent youth. There is also the
argument that only four percent of the concerned population
enjoy tertiary education. Actually, the real tragedy is not
that only four percent enjoy this facility, but that even this
is more than what the economy can support."
------------------------------
Subject: Child Labor
Indira Menon, New Delhi
The Minority Rights Group in London has expressed the fear that
abolition of child labor through legislation might have the
effect of forcing children into the "uncontrolled" sector. This
is what has been happening in India. The Factory Acts banning
employment of children below a specified age are confined to the
organized sector, so that child workers have penetrated every
part of the unorganized sector. If a blanket ban is imposed on
employment of children below a certain age either for wages or
as apprentices (a disguised form of free labor) in any sector,
the problems will be minimzied to a large extent. But it
requires strong political will to go against the vested
interests.
On July 21, the Minister for Labour told the Lok Sabha that a
Bill to regulate conditions of child labor was under way; that
while employment of children violated the Constitution, the fact
of its existence showed that it was a very complicated issue and
banning it was not feasible at present; and that his ministry
had not conducted any survey of child labor but had funded
projects of some agencies.
For a minister to admit as much in Parliament shows how utterly
insensitive and irresponsible our government is. After
following a policy of drift and ignoring the recommendations of
an earlier commission and numerous reports about the plight of
child workers, it is now taking the line of least resistance by
conferring legitimacy on this social evil. For whom have the
anti-poverty programs been devised if, ultimately, we are to
depend on infants to alleviate the poverty of their parents? By
depriving these children of their basic right to education, we
are doing them a great injustice.
(letter to the Statesman)
------------------------------
Subject: Banning Religious Processions
P.C. Chatterji, New Delhi
Indians should declare and act on the declaration that they will
not agitate on matters of caste, language and religion. But we
have to go farther. Indians must refuse to participate in
ritualistic religious practices which interfere with the
fundamental rights of others. Religious processions cannot be
described as agitations, but they negate the rights of citizens
to use public thoroughfares and they are the single most
important immediate provocation for communal holocausts. The
Constitution empowers the State to interfere with religious
practices if, among other grounds, they pose a threat to law and
order. Religious processions should be banned, one and all
without exception.
If out of the Punjab tragedy I see one ray of hope, it is that
Hindus will come to realize what it means to be a Sikh in Delhi
and Haryana and a Muslim in any part of India. In essence, it
means that you can be slaughtered, your property destroyed and
you can get neither protection nor redress from the government,
especially the police force.
This fictional talk of majorities and minorities confuses the
entire picture. Those who have gained from agitations are the
real minority - Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and others - who have
political power, wealth and vested interests which they
callously pursue in utter disregard of the lives and welfare of
the majority.
(letter to the Statesman)
------------------------------
Subject: Religion on the Road
P.C. Chatterji
(former director-general, AIR)
Replying to a debate in Parliament on the recent Ahmedabad
riots, Buta Singh, while admitting that religious processions
were a major cause of riots, said: "Banning religious
processions is not practicable since we cannot offend the
feelings of the people." This so-called sensitivity to "the
feelings of the people" is an argument which is trotted out in
other contexts also and its utter lack of cogency must be
tracked down.
In any situation, whatever action one takes, or fails to take,
is going to injure the feelings of someone or the other. It is
relevant to inquire whose feelings are hurt and for what reason.
Do we consider those feelings worthy of respect and the grounds
for them defensible?
For example, the abolition of untouchability has hurt, and
continues to hurt, the feelings of many and that is why
untouchability is a potent factor in our lives even today.
Nevertheless, when Indians declare that they desire a social
order based on equality where untouchability has no place, I
presume they mean that they are prepared to offend some people
for an ideal which they consider worthy.
And then, apart from hurt feelings, are we not to take into
account the lives lost, the women widowed and the children
orphaned and maimed? Are they not to be considered in the
calculation of the pro and con factors in deciding the issue?
It is unreasonable to contend that the only, or even the most
important, factor in deciding the issue of processions is
sentiment.
A vital question which has to be asked, and answered, is whether
the taking out of a procession is religious activity. The
Constitution does not clearly define what constitutes an
essential religious practice and, unfortunately, not much light
has been thrown on this subject by the courts. However, the
Constitution does distinguish between a religious practice and
what it calls "economic, financial, political or other secular
activity associated with a religious practice." Explanation I
attached to this Article (25(2)) informs us that the wearing of
kirpans by Sikhs shall be deemed to be included in the
profession of the Sikh religion. Ordinarily dress would be
considered a secular matter, but the Constitution rightly draws
attention to this exception since the wearing of kirpans for
Sikhs was ordained by the tenth Guru.
What, however, of processions? So far as I am aware, they are
nowhere prescribed in any religion. The Moharram procession
taken out by the Shias in this country - often the cause of
Shia-Sunni riots - is a procedure confined to the subcontinent.
It is not the custom in most Islamic states, including Iran and
Iraq. So it is a custom, a secular activity associated with
Shiism.
And what about the rathayatra, which probably had its origin in
Puri when the three gods of the Jagannath temple are taken to
the Gundicha temple or garden house down a broad thoroughfare
hardly a furlong away and brought back after a week. Here again
it seems to be a tradition dating back to Vedic times,
associated with religion. Even if the gods have to go to the
garden, it does not follow that they have to go in the rath.
The huge rath was not a hazard to human life in olden times but
is a menace today.
Recent Origin
Apart from this particular rathayatra and a few others, the vast
majority of so-called religious processions are of recent
origin. Bhiwandi provides a good example. We have ample
information thanks to Justice D.P. Madon's remarkable report.
The question of a Shiva Jayanti procession was first mooted in
1964, and when the local administrator agreed to permit it, a
junior police officer foresaw clearly what was to come. Six
years later, the Shiva Jayanti procession triggered off a
violent riot and since then Bhiwandi witnesses these periodic
holocausts.
In Maharashtra, these so-called religious processions have
reached gigantic proportions. According to official figures,
the number of rathayatras have gone up from 656 in 1985 to 944
this year. Ram Navami processions which were only four in 1984
are 68 this year. Much the same has been happening in other
parts of the country. The Ganapati Jayanti procession in Delhi,
unheard of till a few years ago, has become an occasion for a
show of strength with several lakhs of people participating. In
Hyderabad, some Muslim groups have invented a "pankhawala"
procession which they have now started taking out annually in
cycle rickshaws!
What is the legal position about processions? Justice Madon
summed it up cogently in his report on the Bhiwandi riots of
1970. He points out, "(1) The right to go on a procession
stands on the same footing as the right which the general public
has of passing and re-passing a highway. (2) No religious
community has the right to insist that the procession of another
community should not go by its place of worship. (3) The right
to take out processions extends to both religious and
non-religious organizations and includes the right to take out
such processions with the accompaniment of music. (4) This
right, however, is not an unfettered or unrestricted right, for
it is subject to: (a) the rights of other users of the highway,
(b) the orders of the local authorities regulating the traffic,
and (c) the directions of a magistrate under any law of the time
being in force for the prevention of a breach of the peace."
It has been rightly pointed out that, whereas religious and
communal organizations have published the second and third
aspects of these judicial rulings, they have ignored the first
and fourth. The fact seems to be that the ordinary individual's
right of free passage on a highway has been thrown overboard.
In fact, the "success" of a religious procession is counted in
terms of the number of roads blocked and the length of time for
which they remain so.
It is high time that the government exerted itself to protect
the right of the individual to use common highways. It is
strange that these so-called religious processions flaunt
slogans which have nothing to do with spiritual and moral
teachings, but are blatantly political and often downright
abusive. These religious processions are in fact a form of
communal baiting. They should be seen for what they are and
stopped. The sentiment that lies behind them has nothing to do
with the spiritual and humane aspects of religion which our
Constitution seeks to protect. Let us remember that the freedom
of religion granted in Article 25 is subject to health,
morality, public order and fundamental rights. The so-called
religious processions violate the last three conditions.
------------------------------
Subject: Ragging at IIT, Kharagpur
S.K. Bose, Calcutta
Ragging used to take place at IIT Kharagpur with the full
knowledge of the authorities till the 1981-82 session. It was
only in the 1982-83 session that a formal notification was
issued banning ragging. In August 1979 two members of the
faculty were rebuked by the acting director for having written
articles condemning ragging. In 1981 a seminar was organized
where a large number of teachers, including some wardens (one of
whom later became president of the Gymkhana) openly advocated
the cause of ragging. On August 20, 1980, some residents of a
hostel were threatened with severe punishment for opposing this
"culture." Some teachers and students conducted a sustained
campaign against ragging even before 1982-83.
Ragging of freshers by seniors lasts only 15 days. But ragging
by the authority continues till you leave the campus. You are
ragged in the class, ragged in the NCC, and harassed by clerks
in the students' section and in the accounts section. As much
as 20% of your marks are totally at the mercy of teachers; and
cases of victimization are not rare at Kharagpur.
(letter to the Statesman)
------------------------------
Subject: Spoiling Verdant Islands
N.C. Chakraborty, New Delhi
It is depressing to know that plans are afoot to develop the
Andaman and Nicobar islands for tourists on the lines of
Maldives, and that there are similar plans for Lakshadweep
islands too. These islands are among the last vestiges of
unspoilt Nature, not yet infected by the virus of our brand of
"development and progress," of whicch we have a surfeit on the
mainland with all the concomitant manifestations of crass
commercialization, profiteering, corruption, crime,
exploitation, and pervasive pollution, both physical and
cultural. Being comparatively free from such diseases, these
islands still have human societies which embody exemplary social
virtues and provide us with an object lesson in civilized and
community living, though we arrogantly regard these people as
primitive and our pompous anthropologists treat them as human
curiosities.
Who has given us, or for that matter the Indian government, the
right and authority to foul the entire ecology and the way of
life of the people on these islands? The government in Delhi is
a federal authority, not an imperial power that can treat
islands, as also the mainland, as its colonies. Why are not the
natives allowed to run their own administration through
organizations and systems of such size and nature as may be
suitable?
(letter to the Statesman)
------------------------------
Subject: Basu Opposes Inquiry Act
The West Bengal government will never use the provisions of the
amendment to the Commissions of Inquiry Act, which allows the
withholding of reports from legislatures, Jyoti Basu announced
in Calcutta on August 5. Describing it as deplorable, the chief
minister said the amendment "sets one more dangerous precedent
for our democracy," and made it clear that the state government
would have no use for the amendment.
------------------------------
Subject: ONGC Proposes Gas Grid
The Oil and Natural Gas Commission has proposed a national gas
grid on the lines of the national power grid. The new gas finds
in the Krishna-Godavari basin, Tripura and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan)
have apparently prompted ONGC to seek high priority for its
plan.
The Statesman points out that a national gas grid would be a
highly expensive permanent asset. While the country is
estimated to have gas reserves equivalent to 2 billion tons of
oil, only 10% of the reserves have been actually established.
The bulk of the usable sources is expected to be offshore.
The paper also points out that technologies for efficient use of
gas have yet to be acquired or developed in India. Of the daily
output of 20 million cubic meters of gas, 40% is being flared
away since consumption is still below production.
------------------------------
Subject: India As A Multinational State
Gurbhagat Singh
Punjabi University, Patiala
The rise of insurgency in the hill states, the turmoil in
Punjab, and now the demand for Gorkhaland suggest that
federalism as contemplated in the Constitution is not working
satisfactorily. There is a gap between the way the federal
structure was conceived and the way it actually functions. When
such a gap increases beyond a point, people begin to show their
resentment in various violent and nonviolent ways.
In the Constitution it is stated that India is a "union" of
states. And, by definition, a union is not a unitary state but
one in which power is shared between the federal authority and
the states. Two successful examples of federal governments are
those of the USA and the USSR.
India is made up of various nationalities. If a nationality is
defined as one having its own language, a geography, common
history, shared folklore and traditions, then most of the states
and union territories like Mizoram are homes of nationalities.
The logic of Indian federalism should have moved toward
recognizing the reality of these nationalities and their
autonomous cultures. What we today call "Indian culture" could
then have been elaborated as a dialog of multinational cultures
and, in fact, that is the case historically.
But our ruling elite - which itself emerged from different
states - has not recognized the reality of these diverse,
national or regional cultures with autonomous structures of
their own. Instead of encouraging the growth of each
nationality, this ruling elite, consisting of a fast-expanding
industrial class and the feudal remains cooperating with it, has
given some inappropriate slogans of one-nation nationalism and
one-nation "national integration." It believes that a
multinational dialog will not fit into its framework of
"nationalism." The policies which it has framed are of
absorption and not of coexistence or multiple existence.
Our rulers, especially in the post-Nehru era, have emphasized
certain unitary strains of the Constitution and blocked the
development of India in the federal logic of a union in which
the states could be recognized as homes of different
nationalities. They have tried to subvert the federalism of
India and push the country towards a unitary state oppressing
the nationalist consciousness in the states by using police,
military and other forces of repression. Why have they acted in
this manner?
First, there is ignorance and misunderstanding of cultural and
political dynamics. With enhanced political and cultural
awareness, backed by economic growth, regional-nationalist
aspirations have become stronger.
Secondly, the ruling elite is subverting the development of a
full federalist logic because it has its own class interests to
serve. Directly or indirectly, it is exercising power on behalf
of a growing class of industrialists for whose expansion it is
necessary that India is organized on unitary lines so that a
tight market system can develop.
Another reason for our ruling elite's anti-federal approach is
that it is not historically experienced. The Western industrial
class, before it got to its present status, had to undertake the
task of replacing the feudal political and production system
through the industrial and technological revolutions. But our
ruling elite has simply borrowed Western instruments and
ideology. Unless it is willing to work hard and develop its own
model or indigenize the borrowed one, it cannot save itself from
nervous and occasionally reckless activity leading to ad hoc and
callous decisions.
The historical experience of revolutionizing political and
production systems generates tremendous strength. Since the
ruling classes of the nonsocialist third world, for instance of
India, do not possess this strength, they are unable to take
daring steps with understanding and patience.
The desire of various nationalities to acquire distinct
identities, along with their cultures, languages, traditions,
etc., should be respected and encouraged. There will be no harm
if, like Jammu and Kashmir, each state is allowed to have its
own constitution.
On the pattern of the agreement between the Centre and the Mizo
leader, Laldenga, certain specific features of each nationality
or culture need to be recognized and accommodated in the Indian
federal structure. Demands for such recognition should not be
treated as treasonable or antinational. The Mizo accord for
that reason is historic. If implemented in its spirit, it will
not subvert the unity of India but, rather, strengthen it.
The restlessness in Punjab, especially among the youth, needs to
be understood as the outburst of economically hardpressed sons
of the marginalized peasantry and small traders, predominantly
Sikh. Combined with the consciousness of the assault against
some cherished cultural structures by the rising industrial
culture, the protest of the youth has become violent. To label
it simply as anti-constitutional or terrorist is to decceive
oneself. Rather than think of police or military solutions, the
country's economic structure should be modified and industrial
backwardness, as in the case of Punjab, be removed.
In order to let the dream of an authentic Indian federalism
blossom fully, it is necessary to redraft our constitution.
While doing so, we can profitably learn from the confederalism
of Switzerland. The Swiss constitution is unique for its
flexibility: it recognizes not only various linguistic groups
but also accepts the specific cultural features of different
regions, and has even allowed varying political institutions to
function according to tradition and local environment.
------------------------------
Subject: Are Indian States Indestructible?
Saran Singh
(letter to the Statesman)
Your editorial, Time to be Firm, finds the Venkataramiah award
ambiguous and devoid of "any degree of strong supporting logic."
Yet in a curious antithesis, the editorial concludes with the
warning that if Barnala does not agree to this illogical and
arbitrary dispensation, "he will forfeit all claims to the
country's sympathy."
To be sure, the task of Justice Venkataramiah as successor to
K.K. Mathew was unenviable. But, purely as a judicial
commission, the procedure he adopted was scarcely designed to
encourage respect for the majesty of the law. Nocturnal
consultations, ex parte session at residence, absence of a time
schedule and the political wheeling-dealing - as press reports
suggest - robbed the exercise of the weight and gravity normally
associated with courts.
Even more bizarre is the postscript to the report. The judge is
believed to have pontificated, in effect, that India is
indestructible; the states, however, are not. If this profound
dictum could be logically pursued, it should be entirely
legitimate to ask the Indian government why the vast state of
Uttar Pradesh cannot cede some of its Haryanvi-speaking areas
enjoying contiguity to Haryana, instead of insisting on
mutilating an already truncated Punjab.
------------------------------
Subject: Nepal As Zone of Peace
The recent visit by President Zail Singh to Nepal has been
reported as a success. The decade-old proposal by Nepal to make
it a zone of peace continues to be an irritant in India-Nepal
relations. In 1975, King Birendra said during his coronation
that it is "important that we refuse to be dragged into the
rivalries of big powers and contribute to the cause of world
peace through adherence to the philosophy of non-alignment,
mutual cooperation and understanding among nations. It is in
keeping with this belief that we in Nepal have desired to have
our country declared a zone of peace."
About 75 countries have expressed support for the proposal,
including China, Pakistan, US, Japan, and many European
countries. The major absentees are the Soviet Union and India.
It is thought that the king had three reasons for the proposal:
the annexation of Sikkim by India in 1975, suggestions by some
Indian leaders that Nepal's interests fall within India's
security interests, and a desire to divert public attention from
domestic problems.
The Indian government is said to be suspicious that Nepal is
interested in terminating the 1950 treaty between the two
countries; there is also fear that China will become more
prominent in Nepal.
------------------------------
Subject: Jharkhand Agitation
The demand for a separate Jharkhand state is being intensified
with the decision of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to observe
August 15 as a "black day" throughout Chhotanagpur and the
Santhal Parganas. The Morcha boycotted all official functions
on Independence Day.
According to Shibu Soren and Suraj Mandal, two leaders of the
Morcha, people were instructed to wear black badges on August 15
to protest "stepmotherly treatment" meted out to the tribal
regions of Chhotanagpur and the Santhal Parganas by both the
central and the state governments.
"Look at the way the Bihar government is functioning,
particularly in Chhotanagpur and Snathal Parganas. There were
45 incidents of police firing in Bihar in less than 18 months by
the present regime of Bindeswari Dubey," Soren said.
To cap it all, the state government justified the police firing
in Banjhi in the Santhal Parganas last year in which 18 adivasis
were killed including a former MP. The Morcha is demanding a
fresh judicial inquiry by a Supreme Court judge.
When asked if the intensification of the movement would lead to
violence, Soren said they were all for a peaceful agitation, but
if the government attempted to apply force, violence could not
be ruled out.
------------------------------
Subject: Arjun Singh and Land Reform
Arjun Singh has directed Congress(I) chief ministers to report
soon on the land reform measures that have been put into effect.
While the directive may cause embarrassment in the state
capitals, Arjun Singh himself has stated that "much needs to be
done" and reaffirmed his party's "commitment to the millions of
the dispossessed and the poor in rural India."
According to the Planning Commission, 7.2 million acres have
been declared surplus, out of which 4.4 million acres have been
distributed. Another 1.6 million acres are involved in
litigation, mainly in Andhra (500,000 acres), MP (126,000) and
Bihar (80,000).
------------------------------
Subject: Is Indian Polysilicon Good Enough?
There is renewed controversy over the manufacture of polysilicon
in India. In the face of stiff opposition from the Department
of Electronics, the firm of Mettur Chemicals in Tamil Nadu has
gone into production of polysilicon with indigenous technology
developed at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
A committee headed by the director of the Defense Ministry's
Solid State Physics Laboratory has found the Indian-made
polysilicon to be as good as the imported variety. The
Department of Nonconventional Energy Sources, Bharat Electronics
and BHEL have offered to buy the polysilicon in bulk. A
technical panel from the DOE itself has expressed full
satisfaction with the product and capabilities of Mettur
Chemicals.
However, the DOE has rejected the report of its technical panel
and has revived its earlier proposal to set up a national
silicon facility at Baroda based on the Hemlock technology
bought by it from the US.
The 25-ton-a-year Mettur unit has been set up with an investment
of Rs 40 million; it can be expanded up to 100 tons a year. The
200-ton-a-year plant based on the Hemlock technology was to have
cost Rs 920 million. It is thought that the DOE's proposal to
revive its original project to meet future needs is a backdoor
device to thwart Mettur's efforts. The Prime Minister has
ordered a probe into how the Varadarajan Committee, appointed
two years back, came to reject the Mettur technology as purely
"experimental" and "immature."
------------------------------
Subject: Inflation Figures
The wholesale price index (base of 100 in 1970-71), which was
hovering around 357 between September 1985 and March of this
year, rose to 378 in the next four months, an annual rate of
about 15%.
------------------------------
Subject: Bombay High Crude
Crude oil production from Bombay High, which went from 12.9
million tons in 1982-83 to 17.4 mn tons in 1983-84 and 20.1 mn
tons in 1984-85, went up only a little to 20.8 mn tons in
1985-86.
------------------------------
Subject: Mob Justice near Diamond Harbor
Ten people were beaten to death at Netra village near Diamond
Harbor in West Bengal on August 11. The ten were believed to be
a criminal gang that extorted money from local shopkeepers and
molested women. The villagers resorted to this extreme action
apparently because the police never did anything about their
complaints.
The police deny this charge but the villagers told a Statesman
reporter that the police knew about the activities of this gang
but left them alone. A teacher described how he had to wait for
a long time at a police station when he went there to complain
against an attempt to molest a school girl near the Netra
market. When he protested against the police indifference, he
was threatened with arrest.
The killing of the ten was apparently preplanned. A crowd of at
least a few hundred from seven villages assembled at Netra
market on a Monday morning, picked up the ten men, killed them
with lathis and other weapons, and burned about six shops owned
by the gang at the market. The gang and their relatives and
accomplices numbered about 50 but the rest reportedly ran away
after the killings.
Though CPM and Congress(I) are evenly matched in the area, the
villagers deny any political overtones to the action. There
were also no communal differences.
------------------------------
Subject: Behind Railway Accidents
Official statements on the Palamau disaster, in which at least
45 people were killed in a collision between two trains over a
bridge, have stressed human failure. Mohsina Kidwai, the new
minister for surface transport, told Parliament that the
accident was likely due to human failure, even before any
inquiry had been conducted.
The Statesman suggests in an editorial that mechanical failure
was more likely and that this is a common occurrence on the
Indian railways. According to an official audit for 1984-85,
there were 1,740 cases in five months of delinking of wagons
from rakes. In the Palamau case, the driver of the goods train
was apparently unaware that this had happened. There are also
reports that the goods train had no guard. Further, that the
collision occurred over a river bridge shows that, despite
claims to the contrary, large numbers of major railway bridges
remain unprotected by mechanical or manual safety devices. The
Statesman concludes: "It would appear that much more than mere
'human failure' was involved in the Palamau accident; it was a
failure of the system for which the responsibility lies at much
higher levels than those of station masters, drivers and
signalers. Under these circumstances, it is not difficult to
see why the minister shied away from accepting the demand for a
judicial inquiry."
------------------------------
Subject: Position of Untouchables
Editorial in the Statesman
Even if the Rajasthan government launches an impressive number
of Harijan Welfare schemes, as recently directed by the state's
acting chief justice, this alone will not change the bigoted
attitudes that led to the order. Nor were the findings of the
one-man commission set up by Justice Guman Mal Lodha really
surprising, for they merely confirmed that the bureaucratic
personnel as well as Harijans themselves are both prisoners of
Hindu society. It is naive to affect astonishment at the
disclosure that a primary health center worker, a court sweeper
and a municipal chowkidar are denied access to the common
drinking water because they are Harijans. The people they work
for understandably share all the inhibitions of their class, and
cannot be expected to attain enlightenment merely because they
are in official employ. What is, however, deplorable is that
their perpetuation of a pernicious system should not have been
noticed and punished by superiors who must surely be aware of
the law and the egalitarian goal that India claims to have set
for itself.
This failure again draws attention to the real problem: the
government, using the term in its widest sense to include the
political, administrative and social establishments, is not
really interested in removing repugnant practices but only in
exploiting the Harijan vote bank with rewards that benefit the
community's elite. The success of this cynical exercise to some
extent explains the Rajasthan Commission's second finding, that
there are "untouchables among untouchables" and that the
hierarchy among Harijans leads to the perpetration of the "worst
indignities." This, too, is not surprising for India's 105
million Harijans are divided into no less than 1,086 castes and
it goes without saying that they are not all on the same
footing. What complicates this traditional structure, as it
does the rest of society, is the new class system created
through various forms of official patronage.
Social and economic discontent accounted for the Harijan
assembly in Arwal, Bihar, on which the police opened fire on
April 19, killing at least 21 people. In Kahar too, where 10
villagers died on July 8, Harijan and caste Hindus were engaged
in disputes over agricultural wages and fishing rights. The
activities of the Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samity revealed that
even the most disadvantaged of the Harijan groups had found a
champion. Bindeshwari Dubey's ban on it is neither here nor
there for the warning of resistance - that Harijans will fight
back - cannot so easily be wished away.
------------------------------
Subject: Inquiry into Bidi Workers
A tripartite committee, formed to look into the problems of bidi
and cigar workers in West Bengal, decided at its first meeting
on August 19 that the workers should first be identified. After
the meeting, the state minister for labor, Shanti Ghatak said
that bidi and cigar-making in factories were gradually being
abolished by the employers to avoid workers' demands. Instead,
they now used contractors to distribute the raw material among
workers to be processed at the workers' homes. Out of a total
of 350,000 bidi workers, only about 15,000 were identity card
holders (working in factories), entitled to medical benefits,
house-building loans, and other facilities.
Ghatak said that employers' representatives at the August 19
meeting had been unwilling to issue identity cards to the
workers. Ghatak proposed to involve panchayats and
municipalities in worker identification, and also ask the
workers to approach the state Labor Department.
------------------------------
Subject: Seoul Meeting on Human Rights
The 62nd biennial conference of the International Law
Association in the South Korean capital in early September was
to devote attention to the strict and effective enforcement of
human rights laws, especially in third world countries,
according to Dr Kamal Hossain, former Foreign Minister of
Bangladesh and a leader of the Bangladesh Awami League.
A jurist, Hossain told the Statesman on August 20 that the need
for proper monitoring and finding an effective remedy for human
rights violations had become imperative as martial law, state of
emergency, state of siege and suppression of fundamental human
rights were becoming increasingly popular in the third world.
Even the minimum standards laid down by the ILA's 1984
conference in Paris, which sought to ensure and protect human
rights in a state of emergency, were being grossly violated.
"The sad part is that none of those standards is being observed
in third world countries. I do not want to say anything about
what is happening in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But in my own
country, there is almost a total negation of the right to vote
as anti-socials with the help of the military and the police not
only prevented a large number of voters from casting their votes
but rigged the poll in the recent parliamentary election in
favor of the government-backed party. Two of our party MPs and
dozens of student supporters have been killed. A large number
of students have been detained without trial and are being
tortured."
Hossain said that the Seoul conference would lay great emphasis
on evolving an adequate and effective machinery for monitoring
human rights violations and taking remedial measures. The
present high-power human rights committtee does not have enough
powers for data gathering and make on-the-spot visits to various
countries for checking human rights violations. Also countries
wielding considerable economic and political power forced the
human rights committee to follow double standards.
Hossain said India's Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati will chair the
ILA's working session on human rights in Seoul.
------------------------------
Subject: Mahila Samiti Wants Action on Deaths
A deputation of the Ganatrantik Mahila Samiti met Jyoti Basu on
August 20 and complained about police inaction in the arrest of
persons involvedin the alleged murder of three housewives, Bani
Chatterjee in Behala, Amita Roy in Muchipara, and Krishna
Bhattacharya in Chetla.
Basu told the delegation that Calcutta police would be asked to
take up the cases.
------------------------------
Subject: Invigilators Helping Law Examinees Copy
Some teachers at Calcutta University have complained about mass
copying in this year's law examinations. Copying has now
assumed alarming proportions according to the teachers. Some of
the invigilators are said to be helping the examinees in
cheating by fetching books and papers from outside and giving
them to the candidates. The University Syndicate, which met
soon after the examinations began, did not discuss the issue.
The Board of Studies of Law had earlier formed a committee,
which made suggestions to check mass copying. These were not
deemed practical by the university authorities. One suggestion
was to allow students to bring reference and textbooks.
------------------------------
Subject: Three Miners Buried Alive
Three miners were buried alive in an accident at Dhanbad on
August 22. The accident occurred in pit number 5 of Khaira
colliery under Bharat Coking Coal when an underground roof caved
in when an old pit-prop was being removed. Eleven miners were
working; besides the three killed, four others had to be
hospitalized.
According to eye-witnesses, the portion of the mine where the
accident occurred had remained abandoned for 12 years. There
was no justification for the colliery management to get the
miners to remove an iron girder holding the roof up.
------------------------------
Subject: Contents of forthcoming parts
Part 2:
Krishna Iyer on CIA in India
Complaints about Indian Red Cross
Home for Orphans in Assam a Non-starter
Setback to Atomic Power
Leprosy on Rise in Calcutta
Neglect of Rural Base in Seventh Plan
Jayalalitha Upstages Veerappan
Knife Mela and Tattoos for MGR Fans
President's Rule in Jammu and Kashmir
New Forces Spell Trouble for Kashmir
Floods and Control
Encephalitis in Assam
Post Haste
Mizos and Their Land
Must Rajiv Gandhi Speak Like This?
Sheep Business
Drug Addiction in India
Racial Discrimination on Rise in Britain
Prejudice in Canada
Growing Up Abroad
Racism in Canada
Part 3:
Right to Know: Inquiry Commission Reports
Rajiv to Head Africa Fund
Indian Jets to Aid Zimbabwe
Sarat Chandra Bose Statue
Bihar MP Charged with Trafficking in Women
Doordarshan's Editing Challenged
Muslims in Assam
Job Bonanza for Riot Victims?
Foreign Funds
Pollution from Doon Distillery
Andhra Reservations
Anti-Reservation Agitation in Andhra
Supreme Court Strikes down Special Verification
Supreme Court on Women's Rights
Who's Afraid of the Supreme Court
140,142 Cases Pending in Supreme Court
The Case of the Expelled Jesuit
Voices Emerging from the Wilderness:
Excerpts from Aatish-i-Chinar:
Autobiography of Sheikh Abdullah
Book Review: Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya:
A Study in Society and Consciousness
Part 4:
Government Clampdown on Voluntary Work in Bhopal
Government Action Denounced by Press,
Civil Liberties Organizations
British Volunteer Arrested in Bhopal
350 Gas Victims Arrested in Bhopal
Appeal to Readers
Government Files Lawsuit Against Union Carbide
Bhopal: Voluntary Groups vs. Government
"Incriminating Documents" siezed in Bhopal
Police Browbeat Bhopal Activists
Bhopal: Whose Side is the Govt on?
Marathon for Bhopal Victims
Police Repression on Protest Against Arwal Killings
Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti Banned
MKSS Chairman Dr. Vinayan's Interview
Part 5:
For Order in Punjab: Case Against Using the Army
Army and Civil Administration
Security Belt: Setback for Security?
PUCL Against Central Rule in Punjab
Dalit Voice Editor Arrested and Released
Momentum Gaining For Sikh Nation
High Court Orders Return of Passport to Journalist
An Editorial in SIKH NEWS
Sikh Response to Muktsar Massacre
Two Opinions
Badal and Tohra released
Extremist violence in Punjab
Assassination attempt on Gandhi?
GNLF Agitation creating headaches for CPM leaders
Steps Against GNLF Counter-Productive
News Briefs
-----------------------------
End of INDIA NOW news digest
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