E magazine nov14 lokayat by sahani group

VOL 4 < ISSUE 9 < NOVEMBER, 2014

INSIDE

Gujarat SHREE MAA PRAKASHAN PVT. LTD.

Communal tension returns to Gujarat

Maharashtra

Modi’s man promises moon to masses Group Editor M.K. Tiwari

Haryana

Editor Vinod Varshney

Non-Jats vote BJP to power in Haryana

Executive Editor Dr. Bhagya Rajeshwari Ratna Assistant Editor Anjalika Rajlakshmi Campus Editor Adithi Sonali

CBI

Under a Cloud

17 19

Jharkhand

Secular alliance formed to combat BJP

Jammu & Kashmir

Delhi

Cine Editor Meera Singh

Election fever to catch Delhi soon

Special Correspondent A.K. Chaturvedi

Nation

Regional Editor M.P.

BJP and PDP hope to emerge gainers

CPM: swansong at Visakhapatnam?

Aaditya Tewari

Senior Graphic Designer Ashi Sinha

The CPI in Kerala on the boil !

Modi’s next rockstar moment

Regional Office Incharge Tamanna Faridi U.P.: B-120 / 121, 1st Floor, Prince Complex, Hazratganj, Lucknow-226001 Ph.: 0522-4003911 E-mail: lokayatlucknow@gmail.com

Tamilnadu

Jayalalithaa’s bail out & queenly return

Madhya Pradesh

Shivraj lures investors with three aces

Odisha Modi magic fails again in Odisha

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Kerala

Regional Editor C.G. Gopal Thawait

West Bengal

Bangla terrorist module in Burdwan?

Hudhud ko gussa kyoon aaya?

Rajasthan Raje’s likes and dislikes

Punjab

Sub Office Ram Bhawan, Manohar Cinema Parisar, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh Ph.: 07752-428835 E-mail: lokayat_bsp@yahoo.com

BJP's success makes SAD leaders nervous

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Special Kerala’s unique model for women

Special

Uttar Pradesh

For the SP its Mission 2017 starts now

Noble efforts to save street kids win Nobel award

Karnataka Senior IAS officials spar in public

REGULARS < 05 WITH CANDOUR < 65 TECHNOLOGY < 60 CAMPUS

< 68 BUSINESS & ECO. < 74 FILMWORLD

< 66 HEALTH IS WEALTH < 71 SPORT

< 78 BOOK

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Published, printed, edited & owned by M.K. Tiwari Published from 193, Pocket-D, Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Delhi-91 Printed at Vrindaban Graphic, E-34, Sector-7, Noida (U.P.)

LETTERS lead to anger or disillusionment which might leave the feeling of disappointment in the person's mind. This might prove to be an impediment in having proper sleep. The bottom line is an act that has soothing or relaxing effect on the nerves will induce sound sleep in an individual.

livelihood. On the face of the scale of tragedy, the central as well as state assistance is peanuts. The unfortunate part is that many in remote areas are still away from the assistance. Afsar Ahmed, Faridabad (Haryana)

Dr PK Mukherjee, Delhi

The very well written story about Jayalalitha was a pleasure to read. Her rise and fall has always been an interesting tale, but this time it must work as a sobering lesson to all politicos and bureaucrats who hardly care about how people think of them and have least regard for the law. Jayalalithaa’s case has re-established the fact that however strong an individual may be, he or she can’t escape the justice machinery of courts. Her dethronement, disqualification and incarceration have again put a question mark on her political career as now she is in her late 60s and may not be able to come out of its vicious cycle. Rachna Pathak, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)

MODI BECOMES A ROCK-STAR IN US

HOW TO GET GOOD SLEEP! It is good to read that health stories are being liked by the readers. The problem raised by Mr Chintak through his letter calls for deeper analysis (Reference—Sleep deprivation wreaks havoc, September 2014 issue). Actually, every individual has a unique sleep pattern. A specific act that induces good sleep in a person may not work with another person. Mr Chintak has raised three specific queries viz. taking tea, indulging in sex and reading book before sleeping are not able to induce sound sleep in him. It has been known that caffeine found in tea, coffee etc is a stimulant that interferes with sleep and its effect lasts for about 5 hours. Therefore, one must avoid tea or coffee immediately or a few hours before going to bed. Reading a light, enjoyable or inspiring book (and not just any book) relaxes the nerves as it has a soothing effect and so is instrumental in inducing good sleep. However, an exciting book relating to detective or horror story, for instance, may stimulate the nerves and might interfere with sleep. So is the case with having sex before sleep. The act must be enjoyable, leading preferably to orgasm. However, if there is partial or no satisfaction during sex or if the person is not able to sexually satisfy his partner it might

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

Your cover story over prime minister Narendra Modi’s US visit gives much insight and is full of many startling facts and revelations, which were rare to find anywhere else in an age when media organisations are playing more to the tune of political parties than being committed to bringing out the truth. Modi during his much publicised US visit may have had over 36 engagements and addressed many a gatherings besides one to one meetings with several top notch people from America’s politics, business and trade, but the net results remained insignificant much to the chagrin of the people who expected so much from him. His propagandist and well managed Madison Square Garden show has only established him as a rock star rather than a statesman. Ravi Malhotra, Delhi

KASHMIR STORY BRINGS OUT TRUE FACE OF THE TRAGEDY The Jammu-Kashmir story brought to us the true face of the unprecedented tragedy. The flash floods really devastated the dreams of lakhs of people in the valley who were already reeling under severe strains of multiple natures. Even those who are fortunate enough to stay safe, now fail to reconcile with the loss of their near and dear ones. Majority of the people lost almost everything from home to means of

JAYALALITHAA’S STORY, A PLEASURE TO READ

EBOLA STORY IS FASCINATING Your health story is truly fascinating. I never read a story on Ebola like the one in your magazine which gave me so much information about how the deadly disease germinated and grew in African countries, taking toll of over four thousand people. Uttam Kumar, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh)

tters at E-mail your le ail.com, gm 1@ lokayat0 y@hotmail.com vinodvarshne

WITH CANDOUR

CORRUPTION IS IMMORTAL! ear 2011 burst into protest movements to end corruption and bring Lokayukta and Lokpal. What a ruckus created targetting ministers and leaders of the UPA and how social media overflowed with barbs and abuses against them, which made the path for its coming back to power impossible. The mood of anger conjured up by Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan was in fact responsible for the ouster of the government at the Centre. Corruption and black money stashed away in foreign banks were big issues and they caught the fancy of people and leaders of anti-corruption movement started dreaming on to acquire political power riding piggyback on Anna Hazare. Many people would not believe, but the truth is, Ramdevâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s politics too was subtly driven by his own hunger for power. Kejriwal had an elaborate plan to capture seats in the assemblies as well as the Lok Sabha. But the advantage was reaped by the BJP from the anger generated on the issue of price rise, corruption and black money stashed abroad. The big question which roiled the minds of BJP leaders in the back stage was why only Modi and it became the main issue to tackle for the RSS chief. No open debate took place if there were other better candidates for the PM. Fatefully, Modi succeeded in bemusing almost all classes of people by his fiery oratory. Even as rampant corruption and price rise dented the image of the UPA government, Modi heightened the aspirations of the youth, while lack of capability to take decisions among the second rung leaders of the Congress running the organisation ensured its decay. Maneuvered by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah media were made to dance to the BJP tunes. If we critically assess the outcome of the elections, we will find Modi took his party and organisation to such places which were alien to it. New issues, ever weakening national parties especially Congress and rising regional aspirations helped regional parties to remain still stronger. Everybody knows that roots of corruption have gone deeper and deeper. And there is no chemical formula to destroy them completely. Courts are flooded with numerous cases of corruption, which are proving intractable due to constitutional issues. Then politicians, top officers and industrialists who are under the scanner, never let the investigative agencies and judicial process to take their logical ends. The successful investigation basically depends on the intention of the government. The police play a major role right from the registration of the case to prolonging the trial. The corruption had started quite early in independent India: Jeep scam took place in 1948, but it was swept under the carpet. Then finance minister had directed the LIC to purchase shares in 1957 to wrongly benefit Haridas Mundra who was finally put behind the bars. In 1962, Dharam Teja who had opened a shipping company with just Rs 200 could secure a loan of Rs 22 crore which he deposited in a foreign bank. He was arrested but leaders and officers related to the case remained unscathed. Leaders remained out of the reach of the law because the judicial processes had their own limitations. Getting dates after dates in the courts is routine so much so that now nobody takes it something as unusual. Lack of proper training of officers is also responsible for failure of the system. There is hardly any ethical or moral training given to them. It has been observed that officers do expose corruption cases, but they fail to take them to their logical conclusion. Some brain-storming is needed to effect big administrative reforms, but this happening any time soon appears improbable. Punitive processes are not strong enough. Even if some constitutional amendment is done to bring major reform at all the three levels of administration, there is little chance that it would not peter out after some time. Inducing a sense of honesty among government servants too may not be able to improve the system. There were ways to tackle these issues in the ancient time, but those measures also lost their efficacy with the time. In the present dispensation, corruption has acquired a form of normal courtesy. Use of corrupt methods has become a sure shot formula for success. Any brainstorming and implementation of the resultant solutions will not succeed. Only a call from the heart can bring the real change!

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

COVER STORY

CBI UNDER A CLOUD On the one hand people and politicians invariably demand allegations to be investigated only by the CBI to get at the bottom of the truth, on the other there is widespread feeling that it is always politically inclined towards the ruling party rather than being an independent, accountable and autonomous one. What needs to be done to make it truly effective and reliable?

Ranjit Sinha is the controversial head of the CBI

By Manish Dixit & Dhoomketu

he CBI has compromised its reputation by its own deeds. Who can deny that its investigations have been found lacking in cases related to several high profile accused persons like Sant Singh Chatwal, Ottavio Quattrocchi, Warren Anderson, Father Thekkekkara and a few others. This apart the CBI has been accused of witch-hunting of political rivals since ages. Every government in power in the past has used it for its own

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

benefits, arm-twisting the opposing political parties and their leaders. The CBI was publicly seen as ineffective and politically inclined while tackling the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy case. Former CBI joint director B R Lall had said that he was asked to remain soft on extradition of Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson and drop the culpable homicide charges against him. In the Priyadarshini Matoo murder case, the investigative team deliberately acquitted Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a senior IPS Officer. The murderer of the 22-year-

old law student got scot-free, enraging media debate and public anger. Embarrassed CBI Director R K Raghavan appointed two special directors, P C Sharma and Gopal Achari to study the judgment. The CBI, then appealed the verdict in Delhi High Court in 2000, and the court issued a warrant for the accused. In October 2006 the High Court found Singh guilty of rape and murder, and sentenced him to death. In 1991 arrest of militants in Kashmir led to a raid on Hawala brokers, revealing evidence of large-

COVER STORY scale payments to national politicians. The Jain Hawala case encompassed former union ministers Ajit Kumar Panja and P Shiv Shankar, former Uttar Pradesh governor Motilal Vora, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha and many others. But the premier investigating agency proved what Jeffery archer’s bestseller novel ‘The Eleventh Commandment’ says— thou shall not be caught. The Judge ruled that there was no prima facie evidence against the accused, which could be converted into legal evidence. Those freed included erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party president L K Advani, former union ministers V C Shukla, Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, N D Tiwari and R K Dhawan, and former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana. Special Judge V B Gupta discharged the 20 defendants. Recently, none other but the Supreme Court, which is overseeing CBI’s investigation into alleged irregularities in allocating spectrum licenses between 2003 and 2009, criticised the CBI for making changes in its reports, at the behest of ministers and bureaucrats and had described CBI as a ‘caged parrot’. Caged parrots often sing well, only to their master’s tune. Many years ago India was called a caged tiger. This was the 1990s when financial reforms were taking place. Decades later, the cage remains. The animal has changed. Politicians so often accuse that the government of the day uses the CBI as a tool to manage political rivals. The charges had been made that CBI was used to tackle Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati who were facing investigations into charges of disproportionate assets owned by them. The latest allegation came

When action is taken to punish people for corruption various voices of dissent are raised. For example when strong action is taken by the Supreme Court it is criticised as judicial activism. When CAG exposes a scam, it is accused of needlessly sensationalising the issue. When CBI booked several senior bureaucrats in coal and other cases, the action was described as leading to policy paralysis and when cases were filed against IB officials, an alarm was kicked up saying the national security was being jeopardised.

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

COVER STORY from Haryana politicians when they implied that BJP managed Dera Sachcha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support who has big following among Dalits, to win the assembly elections held last month by using the CBI which was investigating cases of a rape and two murders ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Not just loud mouthed politicians some, CBI officers too from time to time have accused governments pressuring them to be soft in some cases. India needs to have a reliable investigating agency against increasing heinous crimes and corruption at high places. But, unfortunately this high

After this raging controversy the former central vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar has suggested a monitoring and accountability system for the CBI as well as internal checks and balances. He has suggested constitution of an accountability commission formed from a group of retired SC judges, CVCs and eminent persons to have an oversight over the functioning of the CBI. 8

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

profile investigating agency has again come under a cloud at a time when people wanted it to be more efficient, independent and effective in its investigations in the wake of so many corruption cases it is handling presently, many of them at the behest of the Supreme Court. A 5-member constitution bench under chief justice RM Lodha in May this year had unanimously freed the CBI from the governmental hurdle in carrying out investigations to the relief of those who want to see the country free from corruption. It held the Section 6A in the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act as unconstitutional

which had mandated government nod as a must to initiate any probe against officers of joint secretary rank and above. However, this judicial pronouncement has caused immense disquiet among the top bureaucracy. When new PM Modi had a meeting with them, a few raised this issue with him asking for a change by bringing in legislation to overturn the Supreme Court verdict. Modi government is reportedly working out a legal recourse to restrict the CBI freedom again. Good outcome of the Supreme Court verdict became visible very soon when the CBI caught red-handed

How to make it accountable and autonomous he big question is how to make the CBI effective, accountable as well as autonomous. A suggestion was to keep it under an independent Jan Lokpal. To make CBI effective it needs also to be freed from its dependence on the government for its administrative and financial needs. The agency has to depend on the home ministry for its staffing needs since many of its investigators come from the Indian Police Service. The agency also has to depend on the law ministry for lawyers. Another major issue is that CBI has a total strength of only about 5,000 personnel. Delhi Police is more than 80,000! Delhi Police has a budget of Rs 4,356 Crore compared to Rs 520 crore of the CBI for the fiscal year 2014-15.<

COVER STORY Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director S K Jain who had allegedly demanded Rs 50 lakh as a bribe to oblige an industrialist. CBI director Ranjit Sinha had expressed his happiness saying it was the Supreme Court verdict that made it possible. He assured the country that now it would be possible to go after big fish and the chairman’s ‘arrest was the first such big thing in nearly two decades.’ But whenever some strong action is taken no matter by which agency a different kind of criticism follows supporting vested interests. When Supreme Court takes a strong action, it is criticised as judicial activism. Recently when the SC cancelled 204 coal blocks many articles appeared in media citing it as a travesty of justice and against the economic interests of the nation. When CAG exposes scams, it is said it is sensationalising. Finance minister Arun Jaitley recently appealed not to do this. One can also recall the time when CBI booked several senior bureaucrats in coal and other cases, the action was described as responsible for policy paralysis and when cases were filed against IB officials then a brouhaha was kicked up saying the national security was being jeopardised. If the corruption has to be reduced and finally eliminated, an autonomous investigating agency is definitely required, but the latest controversy related to the current director of the CBI has alarmed many right thinking citizens. They feel the situation might become much more frightening if the CBI does not have proper internal checks and balances and there is no oversight mechanism. Most people think the task of restraining the CBI should not be with the government. The question is being hotly debated as to what could be the most appropriate mechanism to keep the CBI free from abuse. The issue of oversightmechanism over the CBI has acquired even more urgency after the issue related to CBI director Ranjit Sinha’s extra liberal hospitality to scam-accused people was brought to light by AAP

leader and human rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan. He had alleged that the CBI director was meeting 2G and coal scam accused persons and requested the SC to direct him to dissociate himself from these high profile corruption cases. However Sinha has described it a ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’. He even accused that he was being snooped and doubted the veracity of the log register presented to the Supreme Court. Many people may tend to believe his version as he had taken stringent action in some of the controversial cases, including the Ishrat Jehan case so much so he did not hesitate booking IB (Information Bureau) officers in this infamous case of fake encounter. Many believe that the

AAP leader Prashant Bhushan

disclosures against Sinha may be an outcome of that harsh approach. But the question remains why people who represent scamsters should meet him privately at his residence and not in his office in the presence of investigating officers. The log register which Prashant Bhushan had handed over to the Supreme Court, showed entries of people associated with scams, visiting the CBI director’s residence and even at odd hours and repeatedly. The question was raised by the CBI director how Prashant Bhushan got the visitors’ log register. Controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi reportedly met him 70 times over the period of 15 months. Similarly Deepak Talwar, whose name had figured in Niira Radia tapes, visited his residence 54 times. Sinha however has disputed the figures and alleged that

names and vehicle numbers seem to have been repeated as they didn’t visit according to his version as frequently as has been made to appear. He appealed the Supreme Court to restrict the media to disclose identities of the people who visited him, arguing that whoever comes to meet him at his residence is a private matter and disclosing would be the breach of his right to privacy. The SC, however, did not oblige him. Sinha has also threatened to file a case of perjury against Prashant Bhushan. However, the government has seen it as an undesirable behavior. Reportedly some talk has started in the government about not having adequate provisions to remove a CBI director whose conduct it may judge as undesirable. Due to repeated demands over the period to give more autonomy to the CBI, some measures including a fixed term of two years for the director were introduced. This apart an appointment procedure was also laid down according to which a committee headed by the Central Vigilance Commissioner would recommend the appointment. But the UPA government had moved a proposal to create a provision for removal of the director at the report of the Central Vigilance Commissioner. The suggestion is already before the Supreme Court. Currently there is no provision to remove a CBI director, but he can be transferred, that too with the consent of the committee headed by the CVC. But due to his age factor Sinha cannot even be transferred. Meanwhile the Supreme Court has asked him to file an affidavit to explain why action should not be taken against him for offering hospitability to people who are under CBI investigation for various crimes. As has been reported widely the names of controversial people from the log register were provided by a whistle blower to an NGO--Centre for Public Interest Litigation. The CBI director fumed over the stunning revelations and demanded the identity of the whistle blower be disclosed and the SC initially

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

COVER STORY

People feel cheated on black money rime minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders of his party during the Lok Sabha election campaign had made tall claims to bring back the black money stashed away in foreign banks, promising Rs 15 lakh would come in each bank account, claiming the total money could be around Rs 100 lakh crore. But when the time came to deliver on the promises, his government is expressing its sheer exasperation and helplessness to even disclose the names of the foreign account holders and the exact figure. Modi himself in a radio address to the nation, made it clear that neither he, nor his government or the earlier government knew about the extent of black money. One can now ask why people were befooled by the false propaganda to malign the UPA government. The actual behaviour of the government is nothing short of chicanery. First, the attorney general representing the government expressed the inability to divulge the names before the Supreme Court as doing so goes against the tax treaties made with countries and may also hamper further investigations to the benefit of the guilty. But when noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani challenged the argument of the government and the apex court ordered the BJP led NDA government to divulge all names, it submitted the list of 627 names to the SIT formed at the behest of the Supreme Court. Earlier the SIT could not be constituted during the UPA rule as the nominated judge by the Supreme Court had refused to accept the responsibility. Among the list, half of the names are of NRIs who don’t come under the purview of black money related Indian laws. Besides, sources say the total amount parked in overseas banks could hardly be around Rs 50 thousand crore which is much-much less than what the BJP and the BJP supporter Baba Ramdev used to claim when the UPA was in power. Arun Jaitley, the high profile finance minister in the Modi government who on several occasions fought with the previous government in and outside parliament on black money issue, now has backtracked, saying India was unable to participate in the recent multilateral pact on automatic exchange in Berlin as confidentiality clauses are widely considered to be unconstitutional in Indian law. The people obviously feel cheated. Sensing this PM Modi tried to quell the growing disenchantment of people on this issue in his radio address ‘man ki baat’. He called upon the people to trust their pradhan sewak as the return of the black money was an article of faith with him. To manage public perception, the government is talking of its intention to set up a unified command on black money for better coordination among different agencies like CBI, ED, CBDT, FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit), IB, RAW, RBI and DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) and NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) involved in investigation and speed up the process of bringing back black money.<

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

instructed NGO’s advocate Prashant Bhushan to reveal the name. But when it was argued how in the past whistleblowers like Satyendra Dube, S. Manjunath, Amit Jethwa and Shehla Masood were killed after their identities were disclosed and provisions of Whistle Blowers Protection Act were cited, the SC relented to keep the name secret. Prominent activists like Aruna Roy, Ajit Ranade, Jagdeep Chhokar, Shailesh Gandhi and Nikhil Dey had also appealed by writing a letter to the chief justice R M Lodha against revealing the whistleblower’s name. Whistle Blowers Protection Act 2011 mentions about maintaining such secrecy; but, Supreme Court Rules 2013 provides for asking for the

Former chief justice of India RM Lodha

Source: Livelaw.in

source’s name, to check the authenticity. Amidst this raging controversy the former central vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar has suggested a monitoring and accountability system for the CBI as well as internal checks and balances. He has suggested constitution of an accountability commission formed from a group of retired SC judges, CVCs and eminent persons to have an oversight over the functioning of the CBI. In Vineet Narayan & Others v Union of lndia AIR 1996 SC 3386, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Central Vigilance Commission should have a supervisory role over the CBI. The Supreme Court from time to time by its verdicts has tried to streamline the functioning of the CBI. In a 1996 judgment the court said the minister for personnel, public grievances and pensions had the power to review the working of the agency and give broad policy directions regarding the investigation of cases. The minister can also evaluate the work of the head of the CBI and senior officers within the agency and can call for information regarding the progress of cases, the court said. But the SC added that these powers didn’t permit the minister to interfere with the course of investigation. But the next year chief justice of India J S Verma laid down guidelines for independence of CBI from the clutches of the Establishment, citing the Jain Hawala case.<

GUJARAT

COMMUNAL TENSION RETURNS TO GUJARAT The BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victory has emboldened hardliner Hindus to raise communal temperature even in Gujarat. Not just this; the general law and order situation is worsening there after Modi became the PM. By Lokayat Correspondent

hen the Gujarat police in jeans and T-shirts in Bollywood style raided a Muslim locality in Shahpur (Ahmedabad) on the eve of Eid, the residents mistook them as rightwing Hindu activists out to recover cows from being slaughtered. They offered stiff resistance, pelted stones, threw crude bombs and even fired bullets, forcing the police to fire in retaliation and killing 20-year-old Ashraf Pathan and injuring scores. For two-three days the police denied killing Pathan, but post-mortem report finally forced them to accept that the 9mm bullet which hit the young boy is used by the crime branch personnel. This is just a small part of the worsening law and order situation in Gujarat after Narendra Modi became the prime minister. Modi used to claim that he had built an efficient policing system making Gujarat free from riots after the infamous 2002 communal massacre in Godhara which took more than 1,200 lives, mostly of the minority community. Reports of National Crime

Records Bureau also indicate that there had been incidents of communal violence almost every year, but they were nipped in the bud and did not become a conflagration. The sudden decline in the law and order situation resulting in communal clashes in several parts of the state,

including Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar is baffling. Goons and bootleggers have been found clashing with the police. In Shahpur, the rioters snatched the pistol of a sub-inspector.

In Dabhel in South Gujarat three policemen were injured in a mob attack. Vadodara from where Modi won the Lok Sabha election and later quit his membership from the constituency in favour of Varanasi was disturbed by communal violence during the sacred days of Navratri. The trouble started with an obnoxious posting on the Facebook allegedly by one Sunil Rajput, in which morphed images of Maa Ambe and Lord Ram were superimposed on a picture of the Kaba. Soon rumours spread across the city through mass messaging and social media, forcing the administration to suspend mobile internet and bulk messaging services for four days in the city. The violence and tension continued for days marring the festive mood of Dussehra. Similar mischievous incidents were reported from other parts of the state as well. Congress leaders have alleged that respect for the law has diminished in the state. People in general feel that with the departure of Modi, the state is facing a leadership crisis which results in the worsening law and order situation. They find rapid action cells inactive when they should rather be proactive. Similarly, local crime branch police and vigilance squads too have become ineffectual. Knowledgeable sources say that politics in administration is also taking its toll. This apart, emboldened by the BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ascendant power, Hindu hardliners have started creating nuisance and communal disharmony. For instance, the VHP was reported to have warned Muslims and Christians against taking part in Dussehra festival. And it urged the government to issue a directive preventing people of other religious groups from entering venues where garbas were organized.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY

MODI’S NEXT ROCKSTAR By Nilova Roy Chaudhury

rime minister Narendra Modi departs on November 11 for another high-profile, programme-packed tour of three nations, starting with neighbouring Myanmar, then Australia and

rounding off in Fiji. The India-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS) take place in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw. Myanmar is the current chair of ASEAN. The occasion will provide Modi a chance to spell out the contours of India’s ‘Look East’ policy and engagement with ASEAN countries. He will have his first interaction with Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s newlyelected president who assumed office on October 20, and who, like Modi, carries the weight of huge expectations for reforms from his countrymen. The ninth East Asia Summit, scheduled for November 12, will also help Modi reconnect with US president Barack Obama and Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe. He

After his much publicised visits to Bhutan, Nepal, Brazil, Japan and the US, Modi will now embark on a ten-day sojourn to Myanmar, Australia and Fiji. While his itinerary is fully crowded, his engagement in Australia will probably be a repeat of his rock-star performance in the Madison Square Garden of New York a few weeks ago. A special ‘Modi Express’ train has been arranged from Melbourne to Sydney to carry a large number of Indians to welcome the new prime minister. The four-day visit is significant because an Indian PM is having a date with the southern continent after 28 years during which time non-resident Indians’ presence there has multiplied several-fold and Indo-Australian relations have taken a giant leap. On the homeward lap he will pay a day’s visit to Suva, capital of Fiji, the nation with 37 percent people of Indian origin. Again Modi becomes the first Indian PM to visit the Pacific islands in three decades. Indira Gandhi had toured Fiji way back in 1981. 12

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

SPECIAL STORY

MOMENT

Indian minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj attending the 4th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting at Myanmar International Convention Centre in Naypyidaw, in August, 2014

will meet Chinese premier Li Keqiang and South Korean president Park Geunhye, among others, for the first time. The East Asia Summit is a unique forum of leaders of 18 countries of the Asia-Pacific region intended to promote regional peace, security and prosperity. It has evolved as a forum for strategic dialogue and cooperation on political, security and economic issues of common regional concern and plays an important role in the regional architecture. It would give the Indian prime minister a chance to interact with the entire leadership of the strategically crucial AsiaPacific region in a relaxed atmosphere. This gels with India’s resolve to integrate more closely with its south-east Asian neighbours through enhanced connectivity (physical, strategic and economic) and engagement. The ‘not just Look East, but Act East,’ policy that external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj articulated

when she participated in the ministeriallevel meetings of the India-ASEAN Regional Federation and the EAS, and during her August visit to Vietnam, will find vivid expression during Modi’s interactions. The prime minister is not visiting Vietnam during the current tour, but he has already played host to that country’s prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Understandably, Vietnam has now become the pivot of India's 'Look East' policy, especially after a series of recent highprofile visits. Shortly after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Hanoi, president Pranab Mukherjee was there in September. In October Vietnam’s PM paid a state visit to India during which a host of significant agreements were concluded. These include oil exploration in South China Sea and raising the levels of bilateral defence cooperation. With

Modi will spell out the contours of India’s ‘Look East’ policy in Myanmar where India-ASEAN summit and East Asia summit are scheduled to take place. With ChinaASEAN ties coming under considerable stress following Beijing’s aggressive territorial claims in South China Sea, India intends to step up its credentials as a responsible regional stakeholder. India will make a strong bid for upholding not only freedom of navigation, but also access to natural resources in accordance with international norms. Vietnam set to be the coordinator for India in the ASEAN community from 2015, this relationship is bound to grow, giving India a definite footprint in the region and within ASEAN.

India’s prospects eastwards But India needs to do more than it has done to emerge as a serious player in the region. China’s yearly trade with ASEAN is as much as US$400 billion and it remains far better integrated in the area. Yet ruptures in China-ASEAN ties in recent years have provided India with new and better opportunities. A resurgent India looking to base its foreign policy initiatives predominantly on economic factors must recognize the fact that its brightest prospects lie eastwards where the global economy’s future development is most likely.

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY While China-ASEAN ties are under some stress following Beijing’s aggressive territorial claims in South China Sea, India is trying to step in by emphasising its credentials as a responsible regional stakeholder. In this endeavour India will make a strong case for upholding not only the freedom of navigation, but also for access to resources in accordance with international law. Immediately after his confabulations with EAS leaders including Australian PM Tony Abbott, Modi will go for a four-day, four-city tour of Australia (Brisbane, Canberra,

measures to boost trade as well as economic growth. Trade is regarded as the key instrument of job creation. Although world trade is expected to grow at 4.7 per cent this year, significantly higher than 2.1 per cent growth witnessed a year earlier, it still remains below the pre-2008 level of about 6 per cent per annum. But if G-20 summit's trade agenda has to be successful, negotiators have to put their best proposals forward. Extra measures needed range from traditional tariff reductions, addressing non-tariff barriers, logistical improvements, modernising custom procedures, beefing

Sydney and Melbourne). It will be the first visit by an Indian PM to that country after Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. Preparations are on to ensure that Modi repeats in Brisbane the ‘rock star’ performance he staged this September in New York. After the most substantive part of his tour—the G-20 Leaders' summit—in the city on November 14 and 15, the PM will address a mixed gathering of Indians and Australians there. On November 17 he will be given a grand reception exclusively by the Indian diaspora in Sydney’s famous Olympic Park. The event is being organised by Indian-Australian Community Foundation. According to PTI, around 13,000 people are expected to attend the gathering, for which the organisers have arranged a special train service from Melbourne called the Modi Express. The summit of G-20 leaders, who together represent around 75 per cent of global trade, will be discussing

up trade-related infrastructure and so on. India is likely to find itself in a corner after it refused to sign a trade facilitation agreement (TFA) that had been finalised during last year's 'Bali Ministerial' on account of its concerns over food subsidies. India was against setting a limit on providing subsidies. At the Brisbane summit, India will have to deal with 19 other member-states who want the TFA passed. Modi will visit Suva, capital of Fiji, for a day after concluding the Australian tour. He will be the first Indian PM to visit the Pacific islands in three decades—after Indira Gandhi in 1981. Modi has been in contact with Fijian PM Voreqe Bainimarama since he called to congratulate Modi on his electoral victory in May, and promised to ‘make India – Fiji relations stronger in coming years.’ The visit will be part of Modi’s outreach to countries with substantial Indian-diaspora. Fiji, an archipelago of

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

The negotiations at G20 would be of paramount importance for the world trade which is regarded as the key instrument of job creation. The world trade is expected to grow at 4.7 per cent this year, significantly higher than 2.1 per cent witnessed a year earlier, but it still remains below the average growth level of 6 per cent per annum from 1980 to 2007. At the summit, India will have to deal with 19 other countries on the issue of Trade Facilitation Agreement, which it has refused to sign over its concern on limiting food subsidies. East Asia Summit membership stablished in 2005, EAS membership consists of ten ASEAN member states (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation and the USA. It is an initiative of ASEAN countries and is based on the centrality of ASEAN.<

332 islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, has a population of around 850, 000, of which roughly 37 per cent are of Indian origin.<

MAHARASHTRA

MODI’S MAN PROMISES MOON TO THE MASSES Maharashtra politics during recently held assembly elections created ugliest scenes of bitterness, acrimony and casting aspersions on the rivals. The BJP as expected emerged as the clear winner, but voters have not totally repudiated claims of other political forces either, creating a situation which may give anxious moments to the new BJP government in Maharashtra, formed under a young inexperienced leader Devendra Fadnavis. By Umanath

fter an unprecedented ruckus and standoff before and after assembly elections over issues like partnering, seat sharing and chief ministership, BJP’s state unit chief Devendra Fadnavis finally took oath as the 27th chief minister of Maharashtra on October 31st in a gala ceremony in Wankhede Stadium specially designed by a Bollywood art director and attended by 30,000 odd guests, which is alleged to have cost the exchequer around Rs 100 crore. Besides his inherent skills, political acumen, RSS’s strong backing, Fadnavis proved equally fortunate like his mentor and prime minister Narendra Modi, who endorsed him for the top post ignoring all top leaders like central minister Nitin Gadkari, BJP top state leaders such as Vinod Tawde, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Eknath Khadse. Central minister Gopinath Munde was the tallest BJP leader in Maharashtra but he died in a minor road accident in Delhi. Though, Munde’s elder daughter and second time MLA Pankaja Munde too pitched for the post, but her voice was rudely muzzled in absence of a God father.

Prime minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at his swearing-in ceremony in Mumbai (PTI photo)

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

MAHARASHTRA

Fadnavis too left nothing to appease they fought separately. It sufficiently state, promising the moon to the people. his big boss just after he took charge of BJP -Sena again engaged in shows that they are still potent political the state, saying he would develop the forces and can’t be easily written off. hard bargaining CMO on the lines of the PMO to ensure Both parties are still strong in some Both BJP and Sena are though faster and efficient functioning of the pockets of Maharashtra, a state earlier forced to go hand in hand again after the administration by selecting a group of known as Congress bastion. The results elections threw a hung assembly, as the competent bureaucrats who would be also reflected had Congress and NCP saffron party needed at least 10 more assisting the ministers in carrying out fought the election together, the scene seats even if small parties and tasks and speeding up executions. would have been different and possibly independents lend it their support, both The most interesting facet of the for the fourth time in succession they are still engaged in hard bargaining Maharashtra assembly election is that it would have formed their government as especially on the issue of deputy CM. broke a number of jinxes for the BJP. BJP-Sena had already separated before Making the post-poll scenario a little The saffron party had been playing Congress-NCP parted their ways. more complex, the NCP soon after the second fiddle for last 25 years when late In the meantime, Govind Rathod, results, announced to lend its BJP leader Pramod Mahajan and Bala BJP’s legislator from Nanded district, Saheb Thackeray had stitched an alliance unconditional support to the BJP with its died of a heart attack, reducing the BJP 41 MLAs, but wary of its scam tainted under which Sena got 171 seats and BJP number to 121. However, chances are 117 in assembly elections, Sena would mollify its stand while Sena was apportioned 22 against the BJP if offered some Party Votes share (%) Seats won seats and BJP 26 for any Lok prized portfolios and NCP also Sabha election. Under the decided to abstain from voting BJP 27.8 122 agreement, the Sena always removing all the concerns for Shiv Sena 19.3 63 treated the BJP as its junior Fadnavis to prove his majority partner and took decisions on the floor of the house. Congress 18.0 42 almost unilateral in state Governor C Vidyasagar Rao matters however that was when NCP has given him 15 days’ time for 17.2 41 charismatic Bala Saheb was this. MNS 3.1 01 there and even Atal Bihari However, the acute Vajpayee and L K Advani used Independents bitterness that came on casting 4.7 07 to visit him at his beckon and the ugliest aspersions at each Others 9.2 12 call. But all that is a history other during the elections by now. Uddhav, his youngest son BJP and Sena would continue NOTA 0.9 00 doesn’t have even a fraction of to haunt the alliance and his commitment, appeal and seriously affect the functioning image, the BJP couldn’t afford to go charisma. and stability of the government. Sena in with it. Investigations are already on into its mouthpiece Saamna has already given However, despite his limitations various scams that took place during 15 Uddhav succeeded in keeping the party enough hints about its future intentions, years of continuous rule of the Congress- when it compared the new government intact. In the Lok Sabha when Sena won NCP alliance in the state. And the new 19 seats, it was attributed to the impact with a newly-wed woman who has to CM has already announced that the of Modi wave, but assembly elections please her mother-in-law to stay in government will not spare any one. The proved it wrong, making it abundantly position, cautioning not to take people clear that Sena’s cadre is still behind him go-getter CM is sure to take on the NCP for granted. more than the Congress as charges are and the cracks created by Raj Sena knows it well that the BJP will more against the Sharad Pawar and his Thackeray’s MNS in the Sena have leave nothing to eat into its vote-base, over-ambitious nephew Ajit Pawar led largely been repaired, rendering Raj may be slowly but incessantly, hence party. However, NCP’s support to the almost toothless with just one assembly Sena will take each step cautiously and BJP certainly gave it more space to seat in his kitty. In a multi-cornered wouldn’t let the government do anything bargain with the Sena and push it on to contest, Sena won 63 with only the BJP which would mar its political prospects. the back-foot. going ahead of it with 122 seats, which Earlier it was made out that Uddhav will The performance of the Congress is much less than 145 seats for a simple not attend the oath-taking ceremony, but and the NCP may not be as per their majority in the 288 member assembly. It after much persuasion, he did attend. expectations, but it was much to the all happened when BJP’s star Now only time will tell how Fadnavis envy of the BJP and Sena, with Congress will bring ‘Achhe Din’ to the people campaigner and PM Modi addressed getting 42 and NCP 41 seats even when more than two dozens of rallies in the promised by his boss, Modi.<

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HARYANA

NON-JATS VOTE BJP TO POWER IN HARYANA By Jyoti Thakur from Chandigarh

ven after winning seven of 10 Lok Sabha seats, many were still doubtful if the BJP—a fringe player in Haryana politics restricted mainly to urban areas— will repeat the feat in assembly elections. And that too without

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s intensive campaign addressing 11 rallies in which he leveled charges in his characteristic carpet bombing style, humongous TV publicity of his Madison Sqaure Garden speech for days together on the poll eve and finally the support extended by Dera Sachcha Sauda chief which diverted Dalit votes towards the BJP made the anti-incumbency feelings towards Bhupinder Singh Hooda excruciatingly punishing. The result was a fantastic victory for the BJP in a state where it had been a fringe political power. Rivals need to learn the new style of electioneering if they intend to come back in future.

winning 47 seats of the 90member assembly. What a sharp contrast when we put it in the backdrop of the situation when the BJP had won just four assembly seats in the 2009 polls and its highest ever tally has been 16. While the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal remained the second largest party with 19

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar along with the newly inducted ministers wave after taking oath of office in Panchkula (PTI photo)

any mass leader in its ranks to match Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress and Om Parkash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). But all such doubts proved wrong as the ‘Modi magic’ seemed to work yet again and the BJP—which had not contested assembly elections in Haryana on its own till now—got the clear mandate to form government by

seats, the Congress—ruling the state since 2005—surprisingly came a poor third with 15 seats. The remaining seats were begged by the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (2), Bahujan Samaj Party (1), Shiromani Akali Dal (1) and independent candidates (5). Riding on the Modi wave, the saffron party managed to open its account even in the Jat community

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

HARYANA strongholds like Uchana Kalan, Rohtak and Bhiwani which have traditionally been voting for the INLD or the Congress. The BJP relied on prime minister Narendra Modi's charisma and focused its campaign on him. Addressing 11 rallies in the run-up to the October 15 polls, Modi promised to end ‘the corrupt rule of Hooda government’ and usher in ‘good governance’ in Haryana whose politics have been revolving around the ruling Congress and the opposition INLD till now. The alleged corruption in land deals and discrimination in development works as well government jobs hurt the ruling Congress as the party found going tough due to the strong antiincumbency wave. A record 76.54 percent of Haryana's 1.63 crore electorate voted in the Assembly polls this time.

Though the BJP, which had given 27 tickets to Jat candidates, seeing challenge from the two Jat stalwarts. Though the party managed to win only nine seats in Jat-dominated constituencies, the gambit contributed in consolidation of Jat votes in favour of either of them. Division of Jat votes between the BJP, Congress and INLD and consolidation of non-Jat votes in favour of the BJP helped the party getting to the majority. The party got 33.2 per cent votes in assembly elections which are slightly fewer than 34.7 per cent votes BJP polled in the Lok Sabha elections. While the ruling Congress won 10 of 14 seats in the ‘Deswali belt’ consisting of Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat districts, the INLD retained its stronghold in Sirsa, Jind and Fatehabad districts by winning majority of seats. Thus it is the non-Jat voters who

Prime minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, homer minister Rajnath singh, chief minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and L K Advani at the swearing in ceremony of Manohar Lal Khattar (PTI photo)

The INLD, which had won 31 seats in 2009 and is playing the opposition role for a decade now, clearly failed to project itself as an alternative to the Congress. But party managed to win 19 seats due to its hold over the Jat community. Jats, which comprise about 26 percent of Haryana population, dominate the state politics and determine the formation of government. No non-Jat chief minister has served the state post 1996 when late Bhajan Lal who belonged to the Bishnoi community.

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swung the polls in BJP's favour by helping the party sweep majority of seats in northern and southern Haryana. The party won 21 of the 23 seats in the six northern districts of Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Panipat where Jat voters have no influence. Similarly in southern Haryana, the saffron party won all the 11 seats falling in Gurgaon, Rewari and Mahendergarh districts. The BJP won a seat or two in the remaining districts except Sirsa and the Muslim dominated Mewat and Palwal districts.

Defying the Modi wave, Jats had similarly voted for the INLD and the Congress in Lok Sabha polls and helped them win two (Sirsa and Hisar) and one seat (Rohtak) respectively even as the remaining seven seats went to the BJP. It was no surprise then named a non-Jat Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister despite having contenders for the post from the Jat community including Capt Abhimanyu and O P Dhankar. Khattar (60) is a bachelor who had joined the RSS as a full time pracharak in 1980 before joining the BJP in 1994 when he was made the state general secretary. The central leadership rewarded his leadership qualities by fielding him in the electoral battle at the last moment despite opposition from local leaders. He is believed to have blessings of his former colleagues prime minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. A first-time MLA elected from Karnal, he won with a record margin of 63,773 votes. A low-profile organisation man, Khattar is the first Haryana chief minister belonging to the Punjabi community. He was born at Nindana village in Rohtak district in 1954. In formation of his council of ministers, Khattar has done a fine balancing act by trying to please all communities. The ministry has one Brahmin face in Ram Bilas Sharma, two Jat ministers, Abhimanyu and Dhankar and one Punjabi face—Anil Vij. Kavita Jain represents the Vaishya community while Rao Narbir Singh is from the Yadav’s. Apart from probing the alleged land scams including the case involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, the Khattar government is showing his intention to re-visit the decisions of the previous Congress regime regarding recruitments and appointments. But Khattar maintains his government ‘would not act with the spirit of vendetta’ and ‘law will take its own course’.<

JHARKHAND

SECULAR ALLIANCE FORMED TO COMBAT BJP IN JHARKHAND Three secular parties—Congress, JDU and RJD—have formed on the Bihar pattern an alliance to face the challenge of Modi wave in Jharkhand which has remained troubled by never-ending political instability since it acquired statehood. Despite showing better economic growth rate during the last five RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar years than stable and much lauded BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the Soren’s leadership has been under constant criticism for very poor human development index, high unemployment rate, along with the continuing Naxal menace in almost all the districts. The state definitely needs a stable government to sort out its festering problems. And the BJP indeed plans to focus on stability, development and job generation to win the elections after forging an alliance with AJSU. By Janmesh Jain

een as a test-case for next year’s Bihar elections, mineral rich and politically volatile Jharkhand has virtually converted into a no holds barred electoral battleground, where the pitched battle for votes may ultimately take place between the resurgent communal and defensive secular forces. Smaller parties face the worst ever threat to their existence. BJP

has an edge over all other parties due to invincible Narendra Modi wave which recently helped the party win the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. Despite very high average annual growth rate over the last five years, averaging to 10.32 percent on constant (2004-05) prices, which is much better than much publicised stable and model BJP-ruled states, viz., Gujarat (8.73), Chhattisgarh (6.02) and Madhya Pradesh (9.31)—the severe anti-incumbency factors, high

unemployment rate and acute income disparity have created enough ground for voters to seek change the continuing one and a half year old coalition regime of JMM-Congress-RJD etc. Unfortunately, the Congress broke its alliance with the JMM on disagreement on seat-sharing. The reaction of chief minister Hemant Soren on this was that he had been cheated by the Congress. However, thanks to the efforts of Lalu Yadav, the secular alliance of the three parties—JD-U, RJD

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

JHARKHAND and Congress—still retains some steam in it even without the JMM. Amidst political volatility in the state the Jharkhand Vikash Morcha (JVP-M) of former CM Babulal Marandi has tied up with Trinamool Congress of Mamta Banerjee. Marandi’s party had displayed its political sinews by drawing 12.1 percent votes though it did not win any seat in the Lok Sabha elections. Marandi is angry with his parent party BJP as it poached its six MLAs and dropped the idea of having a tie-up with it. His proclivity towards BJP distracted Congress away from him. However, Marandi did not remain a loner after TMC came forward to hold his hand. However, to his dismay, several of its top leaders like former Jamshedpur MP Dr Ajay Kumar shifted their loyalty. Dr Ajay joined the Congress. Lalu and Nitish have declared that they would campaign together in Jharkhand to recreate the Bihar bypoll moment when they together had taken the wind out of the saffron party’s sails within a few months of its sweeping the Lok Sabha elections. JMM has a chameleon streak in it, having a track record of tying up with the Congress and the BJP on different occasions. It assumes itself as the natural claimant of the tribal votes which constitute around 24.2 percent of the total population of the state. Many political observers too think that despite being isolated the JMM can still fetch good number of tribal votes as chief minister’s father Shibu Soren remains a much revered figure among the tribals despite his controversial past. But its claim of popularity becomes questionable when it is judged from the available data. It got only 12.1 percent votes in the recent Lok Sabha elections and could win merely two out of the total 14 seats, remaining 12 going to the BJP. Congress drew blank in the Lok Sabha poll, but it polled 13.3 percent votes, the second highest after BJP’s 40 percent. Congress has 12 MLAs also in the present assembly. It therefore was not prepared to accept humiliating

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Polling will be held on November 25 and December 2, 9, 14 and 20. Counting will be held on December 23. Since 22 of the 24 districts of the state are Maoistaffected the Election Commission has decided to conduct elections in five phases, a move small parties have criticised as they do not have the resources to sustain such a long campaign. However, the longer is the campaign it suits the BJP more, which is resource-rich as it is being supported massively by the corporate houses.

treatment in seat sharing with the JMM and broke the alliance. Congress general secretary incharge of Jharkhand Hariprasad was in touch with Babulal Marandi but could not rope him in an alliance.

BJP ties up with AJSU The BJP is on cloud nine after the victories

in Haryana and Maharashtra, where the party chose to break alliances and fought independently. Pursuing the Maharashtra strategy it has tied up with a small party All Jharkhand Students Union, giving it eight seats to contest. AJSU has presently 6 MLAs in the assembly and has an appeal among students and youth. However, tie-up with AJSU has resulted into a minirevolt in the party and at least three local BJP leaders have resigned. There is also criticism of the BJP leadership for giving ten tickets to turn coats. But the BJP leadership at the moment is unconcerned. In the Lok Sabha election, the party had got 40.1 percent votes, giving it enough reason to be confident as well as arrogant. There is intense rivalry between the two factions, led by former CM Arjun Munda and Raghubar Das, a close associate of former finance minister Yashwant Sinha and both of them project themselves as chief ministerial candidates. To forge unity among them Amit Shah visited the state and is believed to have strictly directed the warring groups to forget about the CM candidature at this Hemant Soren stage and Jharkhand chief minister instead focus upon getting majority.<

JAMMU & KASHMIR

BJP AND PDP HOPE TO EMERGE MAJOR GAINERS

This is Modi's second visit to Jammu & Kashmir after becoming the prime minister

After the BJP won assembly elections in Maharastra and Haryana recently, now all eyes are set on its mission 44+ in Jammu and Kashmir. The PDP appears to be dominating the valley which usually determines the way state goes, however this time round the electoral picture in Jammu and Ladakh has also become cynosure of all eyes, banking upon which the saffron party wishes to replicate its success here too. By Anjalika Rajlakshmi

ust after a day prime minister Narendra Modi spent Diwali in Kashmir with flood victims, announcing Rs 175 crore for renovation of six major hospitals, Rs 570 crore for rebuilding the damaged homes for the devastated people in the recent flash floods and free books to students, besides assuring all possible helps to resettle people’s lives, elections came knocking their doors amid relief and rehabilitation

works far from being over. It was the second visit of the PM to the state in a span of just two months after floods hit it. Earlier, he had announced a special package of Rs 1,000 crore for the state and directed all central agencies to take maximum care, which gave enough hints that he targeted something else too in the state. Like Haryana and Maharashtra, in Jammu and Kashmir too the ruling combine is facing immense antiincumbency which will make the going really tough for Omar Abdullah led

National Conference and its ally Congress which withdrew its support at the eleventh hour, washing its hands of from the government failures and misdeeds. In 2008, NC had emerged as the largest party winning 28 seats out of 87 assembly seats. PDP had stood second with 21 seats, Congress ranked third winning 17 seats and the BJP could only win 11 seats. With the support of Congress, Omar became the state’s youngest ever CM at 38, promising a new era for the state with whole hearted support from the UPA government at the Centre, especially Rahul Gandhi who backed him through thick and thin. In 2009 Lok Sabha poll the two parties fought unitedly winning 3 and 2 seats respectively out of the total six seats. But with his numerous contentious decisions the tide soon turned against him. And by the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the popularity of these two parties in the masses became so low that they could not win a single seat and BJP and PDP shared 3 seats each. NC could garner just 11.1 percent votes and BJP maximum 32.4 percent. The worst ever floods the state witnessed in its history in September have swept away the remaining chances of the ruling combine. The indecision and helplessness on government’s part to tackle the disaster and then the scale of devastation has made the Omar government even more unpopular. And being an alliance partner, Congress too has become a victim of the public resentment. The grand old party is now banking upon the Muslim majority Kashmir region than the Hindu dominated Jammu region where it had won 13 of 36 seats in 2008 and now is feared to face reverses in the backdrop of perceived Modi wave in the region. Congress state unit chief Saifuddin Soz and star campaigner Ghulam Nabi Azad may be toiling hard with other state leaders, but things don’t look rosy for the party which recently lost power in Maharashtra and Haryana after facing ignominious defeat in Lok Sabha poll in the hands of Modi led BJP.

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Contest narrows down between PDP and BJP With Congress and NC not appearing dominant players, at least for now, the contest has now narrowed down to between PDP and BJP. The PDP has already displayed its might under the tenacious leadership of Mehbooba Mufti. Unlike NC, PDP has an unde-

chief Mehbooba Mufti from South Kashmir are star campaigners. In the valley, PDP took lead in 36 of 46 assembly segments in the parliamentary poll. Now it hopes to better its performance. While, in Jammu region the party has roped in Vikramaditya Singh, the elder son of former Sadar-e-Riyasat Karan Singh. He joined the party only in August. He would be PDP’s face in

people of the state, which has rattled the non-BJP political parties. Even separatists appear clueless, which according to some political observers would be driven finally to support the PDP. BJP is trying to take advantage of the situation after the devastating floods. It is saying the giant task of rehabilitation would be possible only if there is a BJP government in the state,

Prime minister Narendra Modi sharing sweets with the officers and jawans of Indian armed forces during his visit to Siachen on the occasion of Diwali (PTI photo)

fined tilt towards Pakistan backed separatist forces which brings it close to the people in remote areas of the valley. In the Lok Sabha poll, it swept the valley winning all three seats. Mehbooba’s father and former central home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is making his last ditch effort to see his daughter at the helm of the state. Taking the election as a golden opportunity, PDP is also invoking a sense of belonging and raising some kind of sub-nationalism among Kashmiri people almost on the lines of what Modi did in Gujarat. Its all three Lok Sabha MPs—Muzaffar Hussain Beig from North Kashmir seat, Tariq Hameed Karra from Srinagar and party

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Jammu region where his family still wields much influence.

BJP’s emergence and Mission 44+ BJP which was till recently a fringe force in the state, has in recent days emerged as the dominating force in the state, aspiring to come on the steering. Riding on Modi wave it now aims to achieve ‘Mission 44+’ by promising a new era of development, peace and prosperity. The party preaches people to join mainstream politics, emphasises to end discrimination with Jammu and Ladakh and defeating communal forces. The Centre under Modi has shown a series of gestures reaching out to the

as it will ensure better coordination and easy fund transfers from the Centre. The party hopes to garner maximum seats from Jammu and Ladakh regions where 41 seats lie. In the Lok Sabha elections, it had taken lead in 29 of Jammu’s 36 assembly segments. Sources say party’s game-plan is to emerge at least as the largest party in the state, if not majority. The decision to conduct elections in J&K in winter and amid flood ravaged scenes may have been criticised but central agencies term it a strategic and pragmatic decision. During the peak of winter all mountain passes get closed which make the Pakistan army sponsored infiltration almost impossible.<

DELHI

ELECTION FEVER TO CATCH DELHI SOON

A woman looks out of her window in the curfew bound Trilokpuri, two days after a clash between two groups (PTI photo)

The elections in Delhi may create some unseemly scenes of bickering in coming days. If intentions of people are correctly read the citizens of Delhi want development, good governance and corruption-free administration, not communal tension, a recent phenomenon in certain areas of Delhi. Unfortunately the communal temperature has systematically been allowed to be raised in Delhi by the BJP. Do its leaders feel it cannot win the next elections in Delhi without using this tactic?

A couple wait outside their house in the curfew bound Trilokpuri, two days after a clash between two groups (PTI photo)

By Kusum Varshney

elhiites were expecting assembly election in Delhi along with J&K and Jharkhand after BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spectacular win in Haryana and Maharashtra. But the Election Commission announced only by-elections on three seats that were vacant after their MLAs got elected to the Lok Sabha. But within a few days the BJP leaders had to change their strategy in the wake of stiffening attitude of the Supreme Court at Aam Aadmi Partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s petition for getting

RAF men patrol in Trilokpuri, a day after a clash between two groups (PTI photo)

assembly dissolved and fresh elections announced. The apex court was expected to take a decisive stand on

November 11. But the lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung already under gaze of the Supreme Court, invited

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

DELHI political parties to know their views on the government formation. All the three major parties—BJP, Aam Aadmi Party and Congress—expressed their inability to form a government. BJP’s refusal paved the way for the LG to recommend the dissolution of the assembly to the president of India. After that the union cabinet decided to accept the LG’s recommendation. The elections are expected in the month of February, though Arvind Kejriwal has desired them to be conducted with Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir. When the EC had announced byelections only for three vacant seats, the AAP had accused the BJP for buying more time. The question was raised why BJP was ‘running away from elections’ in Delhi, especially when some surveys had indicated that the BJP, riding on the Modi wave, might get a clear and handsome majority this time. Several local BJP leaders, including Jagdish Mukhi, a chief ministerial aspirant maintained on a TV channel the other day that if central leaders give their nod, the government could be formed in 72 hours. Interestingly Congress’ former chief minister Sheila Dikshit was supportive of this move. However, the rest of the party took a different political line which reflected in Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad saying, ‘BJP is trying to come to power through back door with the help of the honourable Lt Governor and trying to run away from elections.’ Reactions from the AAP were more scathing. Now as the elections have been announced, the BJP has to pull out all the stops to win the elections. The party feels that after the Maharashtra and Haryana win, the workers in Delhi are full of enthusiasm. However, to win elections the BJP has its strategy already on the roll-out for quite some time. To lure Sikh votes Modi government unexpectedly announced on the death anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi an additional compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the next kith and kin of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots’

victims. The total package is worth Rs 166 crore. It happened after BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal’s national vice president Onkar Singh Thapar met home minister Rajnath Singh to demand compensation to the tune of Rs 20-25 lakh. Manmohan Singh government had also granted a package of Rs 717 crore out of which compensation of Rs 3.5 to the family of each person killed and financial assistance to the injured and reparations to property losses were given. Of the 3,325 Sikhs killed, 2,733 were in Delhi alone. The BJP on this count is wary of AAP, which created a special niche in the hearts and minds of Sikhs when Kejriwal government had ordered setting up an SIT into the 237 cases

granting holiday on Chhath, as an appeasement to Bihar migrants in the capital. The most revulsive of its strategy is fanning of communal tension in Delhi. Shockingly a HinduMuslim riot occurred in Trilokpuri area which had never seen any such thing for decades despite Hindus and Muslims living cheek by jowl. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi commented Trilokpuri was ‘part of an emerging pattern since BJP's ascent to power whereby riots break out in states scheduled to go to polls.’ Similarly, Bawana is simmering where a mahapanchayat, attended by 2,000 odd locals had put a ban on Muharram procession. However, no untoward incident took place on that day.

Policemen patrol as brick bats are seen at a road in Trilokpuri, Delhi a day after a clash between two groups (PTI photo)

related to riots for investigation which were closed down under pressure of the then Congress government. The lieutenant governor had approved the AAP decision but did not issue any notification. Arvind Kejriwal has now repeated this demand. Meanwhile some Sikh rights group have criticised Modi government’s decision to give Rs 5 lakh, arguing compensation cannot be a substitute to the prosecution of the perpetrators. Some 2,000 Sikhs gathered at Jantar Mantar to protest on the next day of the compensation announcement. Sikh students called a bandh in Punjab, which met a mixed response. Not just additional compensation to Sikhs, other tried and tested methods are being deployed by the BJP. One is

AAP has expressed its dismay at the low grade hate-laden politics of the BJP. There are allegations that despite tension prevailing due to stone throwing for two days in Trilokpuri, the police did not impose section 144, palpably under pressure from the new political masters. Later before the Muharram, the Police have made special arrangements to thwart any possible breakout of violence. Some 100 students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University had staged protest against Delhi Police for the apathy in Trilokpuri case and Congress had demanded resignation of home minister Rajnath Singh and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung for the 'inaction', accusing the BJP of seeking to polarise voters ahead of the elections in the capital.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

NATION

Communists in India are at the crossroads. They are at a loss to know where to turn. The CPI is all but only in name. The CPM is rudderless, has been so for some years. Disenchanted cadres are leaving the Marxist party in droves. Factionalism, mafiaism, corruption, rapeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;name any crime, so many party men are involved. Such a state of affairs was unthinkable in the communist party a few years ago. The real blame should lie with the leadership. They had no control, rather had no charisma to exercise authority. It is in this scenario that the 21st Congress of the CPM is being organised at Vizag next spring. Changes at the top and radical working reforms are mooted. Will the CPM Congress prove to be a watershed in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s politics, or will it be curtain call for the CPM?

CPM: SWANSONG AT VISAKHAPATNAM? 26

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

NATION

By VSP Kurup

y now the Communist Party of India (Marxist) must have become fairly immune to shocks and setbacks. After the loss of West Bengal and Kerala followed by its virtual decimation in the recent Lok Sabha poll, the party might have reckoned that it had reached the nadir of its fortune curve and nothing worse could happen. As political parties usually do, it kept up appearances and told itself that victory and defeat were part of the political game and it would bounce back at the next turn of events. Alas! It was terribly wrong. It received three sharp knocks in quick succession—within one week in September—raising the existential question once again. The first incident was the daylight murder of K Manoj, an RSS district shikshan pramukh in Kannur, north Kerala. The police quickly picked up some culprits while others surrendered in court; all of them were reported to be CPM workers or their paid killers. The prime suspect is alleged to have confessed to the crime. According to sources, the surrender and confession were designed to forestall the investigation being handed over to the CBI which, the CPM feared, would trace the case to top party leadership. The development rattled the party because the verdict in a similar murder two years ago of T P Chandrasekharan (former CPM leader) in which also some top party men are accused, has not yet been pronounced. The

Polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury can stem the rot that has engulfed the party. He is willing to lead the party unlike many other capable leaders, but would other leaders allow him to succeed Prakash Karat?

Many lay blame for all the maladies in the party at Prakash Karat, the general secretary. He could have relinquished his position two years ago, but he lingered on because constitutionally he could continue for three terms. Now the priority before the party is to choose a leader which can revive the moribund party. Many believe Sitaram Yechury is able, ebullient and willing, but he may be cornered by other leaders for his outspokenness.

TP case, which had cost the party dearly in the assembly and parliament elections, continues to haunt the party. To make matters worse, the Manoj murder was ‘liked’ in a Facebook post by the son of a CPM leader, an altercation with whom is said to have triggered the fatal assault. One major incriminating fact already brought out is that telephones of several CPM leaders in the area were found switched off

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

NATION on the day of the crime. Then came West Bengal byelection result. Though the CPM had campaigned hard, it could take neither of the two assembly seats contested—Trinamool Congress and BJP took one each. While the BJP opened its account in West Bengal defeating the CPM candidate by a slender margin from Basirhat (south), in Chowrangee the Marxists were relegated to the 4th place after TMC, BJP and the Congress. It was a severe blow to the waning hopes of the party to retrieve its position. The discomfiture of the party was complete with the neglect and scant regard shown by the Chinese president Xi Jinping during his three-day visit to India. Neither did he seek a meeting with any Indian comrades, nor was a request made by CPM/CPI leaders for an audience. Previously all visiting Chinese dignitaries—that applied to leaders from Russia as well— invariably held a tete-a-tete before returning. Even at official dinners for the visitors Indian communist leaders used to be invited. In 2006 and 2010 such mutual bonhomie was very much in evidence. The agony is greater this time because Xi took care to have a meeting with Sonia and Rahul. May be just a courtesy call; but why or when did Indian communists become persona non-grata to Chinese? Is it because China is no more a defacto communist country, or because Indian comrades themselves have abandoned the Marxist ideology?

They saw degeneration coming, but didn’t take corrective measures Whatever the answer, the CPM and CPI are immensely worried about the bleak future staring them

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

The discomfiture of the party is complete with the neglect and scant regard shown by the Chinese president Xi Jinping during his three-day visit to India. Xi took care to have a meeting with Sonia and Rahul. But why did Indian communists become persona non-grata to Chinese?

in the face. Their membership (support base) is shrinking and cadres are leaving and joining other outfits. Lacking any ideological convictions or discipline many are having ‘business’ links with mafia groups of all colour and shape. Corruption and sexapades are also rampant. The basic trouble is lack, or failure of leadership. The signs of degeneration and disintegration at all levels of the party were visible for a long time, but no corrective action came. In the case of the CPM many lay blame for the creeping malady at Prakash Karat, general secretary. They wanted him to go two years ago, but he lingered on because constitutionally he could continue for three terms. It is when the CPM is facing the most severe challenge in its history that it is planning to hold its 21st Congress at Vizag in April next. A crowded agenda awaits it, but the priority is to choose a new

general secretary to take the mantle from Karat who has to quit. There is no clarity as yet on who will take over. S Ramachandran Pillai is in line by seniority, but he is disinclined to take up the responsibility, owing to age and ill-health. Next is Sitaram Yechury who is able, ebullient and willing, but he is not favoured by other leaders on account of his transparency and outspokenness which is ill-suited to the office. There are a few other over-eager minions, but they have no all-India stature. Actually the search for the present has been suspended. Leadership is the least worrisome, however. The most serious is how to get the party out of the rut where it has been for some time, and give it a pragmatic push and direction. The old communist values and objectives are no more valid in the changed environment. Russia and China dropped them on the wayside long ago. What should be the new norms? The Indian comrades have realised the need for change, but late in the day. They no more talk about any armed revolution to capture power or about dictatorship of the proletariat, though full belief in parliamentary democracy is yet to come. Noises they make about the irrationality of strikes, illegality of nokkucooli ( forceful extraction of arbitrary wage for work claimed as right, but not done), and lately a readiness, even admission of necessity to end political murders forever, are welcome but their sincerity is suspect. If, however, the communists decide to end bandh, violence and strikes, the 21st Congress of the CPM in April would prove to be a watershed in India’s political history; if it limits to talk and no walk as usual, it will be the swansong of communism in the country.<

KERALA

THE CPI IN KERALA ON THE BOIL ! By Lokayat Correspondent

disturbing development involving Communist Party of India (CPI) is in process which may have grave implications for other political parties as well. The story starts with the selection of a rank outsider, Bennet Abraham as LDF candi-

date for the Thiruvananthapuram seat assigned to the CPI in the recent Lok Sabha elections and his defeat by Congress rival Shashi Tharoor. Even at the time of his choice the local committee of the party had strongly objected to the imposition, but it was over-ruled by some leaders. It was alleged that Bennet was a money-bag and some leaders wanted to milk him for the poll expenses. An amount of Rs 1.87 crore was said to have changed

Kerala Lokayukta has taken an unprecedented action against the Communist Party of India by ordering the police to search and seize any evidence relevant to the alleged cash-forticket scandal, including party minutes. The CPI is boiling with anger at this assault on their democratic rights to freely function as a political party.

hands in this connection. The fact would not have come out but for the shattering defeat of the candidate and subsequent acrimonious post-mortem. To assuage the feelings of the cadre and fix responsibility for the wrong selection of Bennet over-riding local committee’s opposition, a commission was appointed. It found the allegations substantially true and at least three top CPI leaders conspired to make illegal monetary gain. The CPI state council took

stringent action including demotion against two of them while the third resigned from the party. Following the probe report and subsequent punishment of two CPI leaders, one A Shamnad approached the Kerala Lok Ayukta alleging that the reported ‘purchase ’of the electoral seat constituted a corrupt practice under the law and it should be investigated. The Lok Ayukta bench constituting Pius C Kuriakose and K P Balachandran accepted the complaint and ordered IG of Police Suresh Raj Purohit to conduct a preliminary inquiry. Other than Bennet Abraham the inquiry was to cover the party’s state secretary Pannian Ravindran and its two top apparatchiks C Divakaran and P Ramachandran Nair, the main respondents in the case. The court empowered the police officer to search and seize any evidence relevant to the alleged offence including relevant party minutes in case his official requests went unheeded. It specifically ordered Purohit to collect the report of the party commission that probed the allegations, though the report was not binding on it. The court ruled that the party apparatchiks were public servants and hence came within the purview of the state Lok Ayukta Act. If the allegations were proved, the action of the respondents would amount to corruption and maladministration. It asked the police officer to identify the persons guilty of corruption and submit a report before December 24. Now, there are two opinions in legal circles about the unprecedented order issued by the Lok Ayukta: whether it had the authority to order the police to raid a political party’s office and seize records, or not. According to Advocate Kaleeshwar Raj it is a bold

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

KERALA step to forestall corrupt and unhealthy practices that have crept into the electoral scene; the Lok Ayukta is fully empowered for the purpose under Section 7 of the relevant Act. And, when an inquiry is ordered into corruption charges, it may become imperative to search and seize all documents wherever they are. Political parties cannot claim immunity in this matter. But Dr Sebastian Paul, a left-leaning public figure, does not agree. He argues that the Lok Ayukta’s order is an encroachment, even if legal, on democratic political processes. It also creates a wrong precedent. Matters like selection of candidates and allotment of seats come within the sphere of legitimate political functions and cannot be subjected to judicial scrutiny, he said. Income-tax department or election commission alone has the authority to probe any complaint here. While the debate is going on thus, the CPI is boiling with anger at the unexpected and unusual assault on its privacy and freedom of functioning. It is determined to fight the Lok Ayukta’s move politically and legally. While it would challenge the ‘search and seize’ order in the High Court, it would also try to mobilize other political parties against this fresh erosion of their democratic right. Already they are opposed to the move to bring political parties under the purview of the Right to Information Act. Now this! Probably the last straw!<

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

JAYALALITHAA’S

BAIL OUT & QUEENLY RETURN

TAMILNADU

By Kurupster

amilians are great film fans; they attribute divinity to film artistes and even worship them. Their sycophancy sometimes reaches quixotic level and some of them build temples, install idols of their favourite film-stars, and do poojas. Such iconolatry in Tamizhagam is strange, because most people there are either in the DMK or AIADMK,

Dismissing doomsayers Jaya is upbeat about overturning the verdict in the disproportionate asset case and reclaiming the chief minister’s chair before long. She is planning to move the High Court and the Supreme Court, if necessary. Jaya is reported to have said on returning to Chennai after getting bail that no adversity, no problem of any kind could dispirit her. She has done it before, she would do it again. But legal circles are skeptical.

the anti-religious creed of both of which sprang from the anti-Brahmin campaigner and iconoclast, late Ramaswamy Naicker. There is nothing unusual about their radio-active decay, however. Like the Kerala communists who visit temples on the sly and conduct rituals at times of extreme despair, many Dravida Kazhagam faithfuls of both lineages have also left their atheistic ideology on the wayside long ago. Before her conviction and sentence in September Jayalalithaa had made obeisance at innumerable temples and proffered golden crowns, diamond-studded necklaces and even elephants to save her from the on-going civil and criminal suits. No divine intervention, however, helped her so far. Probably there is still time. A far more baneful characteristic of Tamil people’s fanatical hero-worship is their blind faith in their matinee idols’ ability to do filmy gimmicks even in politics. Thus three Tamil silver-screen personalities (MG Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi, J Jayalalithaa) who had no prior political or administrative experience were enthroned as chief minister of the state. They remained in the top political office for full term and more with nothing better than their survival instinct and blind support of their fans. No other state in India with the singular exception of Andhra Pradesh has shown such morbid propensity. The point germane to the present discussion is Tamil people’s inability to see their filmy idols jailed even if they are found criminals by a court of law. That Jayalalithaa had amassed inconceivable wealth and used every means to subvert administration of justice did not worry them. On the other hand they wanted Jaya freed from the clutches of law at any cost! The out-pouring of emotions around the Bengaluru court on the day of her arrest, unconscionable number—28 on last count—of self-immolations by persons grieving at her incarceration, AIADMK cadres’ 21-day long

camping outside the jail anticipating her bail, and lastly, the tumultuous welcome—it was befitting a reigning queen-- she received along the 15-km route from airport to her Poes Gardens residence in Chennai—all point to her fans’ scant respect for the processes of law, perverted sense of loyalty or utter mental depravity. One could make allowances for the irrational behaviour of common folks. But how does one explain the lawless conduct of some advocates who should know better than demand instant bail for Jaya? Or, the shameful crying in chorus by AIADMK stalwarts, including chief minister-elect Paneerselvam, in front of camera while taking oath as members of the cabinet? Seeing the noisy hoopla all over Tamilnadu on the day of Jaya’s arrest, one wag commented that if mobocracy could win the day, she would be home by evening! How did Jaya command such consummate loyalty of a large majority of Tamil electorate? By bribe, or what is euphemistically called freebies, of course. She spent lavishly on people their own money in the treasury as no other elected ruler had ever done. There was a deliberation behind the extravagance. She was clever enough to anticipate the day of the judgment, and she wanted to do everything possible to ensure the unstinted support of people who are the final arbiter. But she had fatal weaknesses too. She was ruthless and undemocratic to boot. She could not tolerate dissent: she suppressed rivals, enemies and opposition by all means. In the last three years she sacked 15 ministers-–seniors and juniors—for minor offences or indiscretions. She enjoyed hiring and firing. Her sadistic game was to keep everybody guessing so much so when any punishment was meted out, even senior colleagues accepted it meekly. Surprisingly, none of the left leaders who vainly hobnobbed with her off and on made any comment on her arrest and bailout.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

MADHYA PRADESH

SHIVRAJ

LURES INVESTORS WITH THREE ACES

Investment promises worth Rs 6.79 lakh crore lit up Madhya Pradesh almost a fortnight before the Deepawali festival. The much-hyped fourth edition of the Global Investors’ Summit (GIS) at Indore was marked by the presence of prime minister Modi, who stood like a guarantor for the state. With a host of other central ministries pitching in to help, stakes are now higher for both the state and the central governments in realising the investment dreams. The state can’t afford to fail this time around.

REMOVAL OF he Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) makes the news in Madhya Pradesh as often as the ruling BJP and the state government do. The latest reason was the appointment of the new party general secretary in charge of the state. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, former political advisor to the union minister Nitin Gadkari, replaced Ananth Kumar who held the position for eight years. Sahasrabuddhe, part of the higher echelons of the RSS as a member of the think tank, might change the way the party looks at the state unit and the government. Ananth Kumar, who was close to party patriarch L K Advani, had understandably enjoyed a strong rapport with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, another Advani protégé. Incidentally Chouhan has replaced Ananth Kumar in the party’s central parliamentary board. Sahasrabuddhe was advisor to

By Chandrakant Naidu from Bhopal

he commitments during the three-day mega event came both from the private sector and state-run players, the highest being from domestic companies. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan even announced a monthly

T 32

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

monitoring mechanism and a time-bound road map for the execution of promises. In the ten years of the BJP rule the

MADHYA PRADESH

SONI GIVES CREDENCE TO RSS ABHIYAN The RSS point person Suresh Soni used to play more politics than the politicians. He made all efforts to give another term to former state unit chief Prabhat Jha. He also lobbied for Jha to replace Chouhan as chief minister. Earlier in 2005 Soni was accused of causing former chief minister Uma Bharati's ouster from the BJP. Some of the decisions attributed to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat or the BJP were apparently arbitrarily taken by Soni. Gadkari when he headed the BJP. As a member of RSS intelligentsia he founded the Public Policy Research Centre, a BJP-aided research wing. He is also regarded an adviser to the new BJP president Amit Shah. The Sangh hit the headlines earlier with the ouster of senior RSS leader Suresh Soni during the preDeepawali clean-up. Soni was accused of playing more politics than the party politicians. He was admitted to the Margdarshak Mandal, the kind of old-age home the Modi-Shah duo created in the BJP for Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and A B Vajpayee. Soni’s alleged involvement in the Professional Examination Board (PEB) scam in Madhya Pradesh could have proved to be last straw for the organisation. The inquiry into the PEB scam that runs into several hundred crore rupees is in crucial stage. The Congress accused Chouhan of avoiding a CBI enquiry as it would expose the role of RSS functionaries into the scam. Soni is said to have escaped the axe earlier because of his proximity to prime minister Narendra Modi. Few RSS functionaries were involved in as many controversies as Soni. Madhya Pradesh bore the brunt of his machinations when he sided with anti-Advani elements.

Advani had been seeking his removal for quite some time. Chouhan along with former state party head Narendra Singh Tomar convinced former presidents Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh to get Soni replaced as

the RSS point person for the state. Soni made all efforts to give another term to former state unit chief Prabhat Jha. He also lobbied for Jha to replace Chouhan as chief minister. Earlier in 2005 Soni was accused of causing former chief minister Uma Bharati's ouster from the BJP. Some of the decisions attributed to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat or the BJP were apparently arbitrarily taken by Soni. When Advani resigned in protest against Modi’s nomination as prime ministerial candidate, one of the conditions he had put was the removal of Soni as the RSS-BJP interface. Soni played a major role in undermining Advani’s candidature even if at the

behest of RSS. Bhagwat then marginalised Soni and persuaded Advani to withdraw his resignation. In Madhya Pradesh the discussion revolves around Soni’s alleged role in getting his men inducted in various educational institutions and government services. His name was mentioned in the report of the special task force which enquired into the PEB scandal. Such was Soni’s clout that the chief minister had to do a lot of explaining to RSS over his name figuring in the enquiry. Earlier this year after former minister for higher education Lakshmikant Sharma was arrested in connection with the scam, one of his aides mentioned Soni's name during interrogation. Mining baron Sudhir Sharma, who was arrested after six-week hide and seek with the STF in July, was also considered to be a close associate of Soni. Income tax inquiries had shown Sharma’s firm having more than once paid for Soni’s travel. The controversial extension offered to the vice-chancellor B K Kuthiala of Makhanlal Chaturvedi Media University in Bhopal also kept Soni in the news. One of the former senior functionaries said the RSS point person would frequently send instructions for recruitment of one or the other organisational activist in the university.<

state has seen several such meets and summits in major towns. While the investment in the summits has multi-

plied each year the returns have hardly matched the promise. At last year’s GIS at Indore the state signed memo-

randa of understanding (MoU) with a large number of investors but failed to draw big ticket investments.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

MADHYA PRADESH Media exposure of fudged figures scrubbed the sheen off the state government’s claims last year. It transpired that the government signed at least 14 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 675.88 crore for projects which were already completed. This year the government decided not to sign any MoU but to follow up the investors’ intentions through the official website.

taken a loan of Rs 4,400 crore from the market and requested Reserve Bank of India for another loan of Rs 10,000 crore. With such a heavy debt the state is bound to be under stress to draw investments. There are reports of the government planning to borrow another Rs 25,000 crore to improve road network in the state. Poor roads have put off investors in the past. The state government has not come

Prime minister Modi in GIS, Indore

The Congress had expectedly demanded a white paper on the outcome of last three Global Investors' Summits (GIS). State Congress president Arun Yadav believes GIS have been waste of people's money. He said about 27,000 hectares of land was lying unused with sick industrial units while the government was acquiring 20,000 hectares more. ‘Why doesn't the government take back the land from sick industrial units?’ asks Yadav. Besides the four Global Investment Summits, the state hosted three other investors’ meets at lower scale. The seven investors' meets thus saw 1,330 MoUs worth Rs 1,063,300 crore being signed. But, half of these MoUs were worth only the paper they were signed on. The government leased out about 71,000 acres land to 40 big investors through MoU at Re 1 each without taking the gram panchayats’ approval. This while the state government had

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

out with details of money spent on GIS. The Congress claimed it was Rs 250 crore and said such expenditure was a 'cruel joke' on a state facing grave financial crisis. Senior Congress leader Manak Agrawal questioned the logic behind organising lavish summits despite repeated failures. He also questioned the wide gap between claims of Shivraj Chouhan and union IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad on the job potential of the two IT parks proposed in Bhopal and Jabalpur. While Prasad estimates 15,000 jobs to be generated the chief minister put the figure at 8,000. But, on the positive side is the prime minister Narendra Modi’s praise for the state. ‘Madhya Pradesh is the only state which has started working on the announcement we have made. Be it investments in the defence technology, digital industry, the Jan Dhan policy or my highly ambitious project Make in India, the state has started implement-

The Congress has demanded a white paper on the outcome of last three Global Investors' Summits. State Congress president Arun Yadav believes GIS have been waste of people's money. The state government has not come out with details of money spent on GIS. The Congress claimed it was Rs 250 crore and said such expenditure was a 'cruel joke' on a state facing grave financial crisis. ing the announcements made by the Centre,’ Modi said. Dr Gautam Kothari of Indore, who has watched the state's industrial progress for decades now, sees the ‘Us and Them’ syndrome. The earlier lot of the industrialists who set up business in the state are vary of sharing the shrinking resources with the prospective invitees. The older industrialists complain that while opening up to the prospective ones, due care is not afforded to the existing ones. Madhya Pradesh had tried to lure the investors with ‘three aces’ of Power, Manpower and Industrial peace. Power is no longer the state's strongest point. Most of the skilled manpower is absorbed in the existing industries and the new ones have to invest more in acquiring trained hands. Yes, industrial peace continues to be the state's major asset.<

ODISHA

MODI MAGIC FAILS AGAIN IN ODISHA BJP candidate has lost again in Kandhamal despite using all the tricks in its bag, including this time the famous Modi magic. It is a lesson to the so-called demoralised secular parties which need to introspect as to why they could not retain their turf amidst the Hudhud cyclone of the BJP.

Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh who defeated BJP candidate in Kandhamal Lok Sabha by-poll by a huge margin, securing 61.5 percent of the total votes cast

By Ashok B Sharma

JP failed yet again to prove Modi magic in Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat. The BJP had deployed all its resources in this communally sensitive and Maoist insurgency-hit constituency in the 2009 polls after anti-Christian riots following the death of the VHP’s Swami Lakshmanananda, but the attempts to polarise votes in the name of religion did not succeed. The same trick was repeated in April 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but again the BJP candi-

date saw defeat at the hands of BJD candidate Hemendra Chandra Singh, who won by a margin of 181,017 votes. Untimely death of Singh necessitated a by-election on October 15 and his widow Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh trounced the BJP candidate and former MP from Kandhamal Rudramadhab Ray again, by a whopping 298,868 votes in a seven-cornered contest. Political observers wonder why ‘Modi wave’ fails to influence Odisha voters. In April 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi held several rallies in Odisha still the BJP could win only one out of the total 21 seats. In the state assembly polls which took place simultaneously the BJP could not win enough seats to emerge even as the main Opposition party replacing the Congress.

But the BJP takes a cover behind the argument that in the recent Kandhamal bypolls neither Modi showed up nor did his master strategist and national party president Amit Shah, so this result should not be seen as a reflection on the Modi wave. However, two union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Juel Oram had camped there shouldering the responsibility of conducting an intense poll campaign in Kandhamal. Results of bypolls in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and previously in Uttarakhand and Bihar are enough to show that ‘Modi magic’ or ‘Modi wave’ does not work on its own. It needs stimulation and pumping by none other but Modi himself. Following the defeat of BJP candidate in the Kandhamal bypolls, signs of revolt are emerging in the state unit of the BJP. Ashok Sahu, a former Indian Police Service officer who held the post of state vice-president and spokesman for the period 2009-13, said the party’s state unit required immediate surgery. He called for immediate introspection. ‘The Kandhamal by-poll result is a lesson for the BJP to introspect why Modi wave peters out in Odisha unlike other parts of the country,’ he said. To stem the tide of revolt, Sahu has been suspended from the party and served with a show cause notice. However, the BJP can still draw solace as its vote share has increased to 23 percent. In the constituency where the voter turnout was 67.96 percent, the victorious BJD candidate bagged 61.5 percent votes. The Congress failed miserably with mere 11 percent votes. This has caused dissension within the Congress as well and some leaders have written to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for a change in the state party leadership. Finally, it is the Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik who won the popularity race despite allegations of several scams and scandals. He has been successful to stem the ‘Modi surge’ in Odisha.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

WEST BENGAL

The initial surmises following investigation of the accidental bomb blast in Burdwan strengthen NIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s suspicion of the involvement of Jamaat-ulMujahideen Bangladesh operatives in West Bengal. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who initially opposed any central probe into the matter, has changed tack and offered all cooperation to NIA to unearth the designs of the suspected terrorist modules. Meanwhile, an attempt to malign all madrasas has created disquiet among Muslims in the state. Many saner voices have urged political parties to leave the responsibility of finding the truth to the investigating agencies rather than vitiate social harmony in order to score political mileage out of the incident. Already political clashes over the issue have taken three lives. 36

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

BANGLA TERRORIST By S Santhanam

he Burdwan blast has put India in an embarrassing situation. So far, India has been railing against extremist outfits using foreign territory to plot against the republic. Now, the Burdwan blast and subsequent disclosures suggest that terrorists had found a safe haven and launch pad within India itself. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh has been found involved in the blast following preliminary investigations.

West Bengal shares a long border with Bangladesh. The area on either side of the long border has become a hotbed for fundamentalist activities. The state government has admitted that Bangladeshi terrorist outfits having links with al Qaida are involved in the Burdwan incident. It has been found that Bangladeshi infiltrators are having bases along the Indo-Bangla border and elsewhere in Murshidabad, a district having at least 100 km-long river border with the

neighbour. They easily obtain vital documents like ration cards, voter ID or EPIC card which are required for getting a valid Indian passport. Armed with such documents, the terrorist groups find it easy to move across the border and maintain communication with their modules on both sides. The investigations have revealed that many important papers used by suspected militants originated from Murshidabad. After the recent blast, questions have risen over the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role, amid allegations, of a cover-up. The blast in a three-room apartment (in Khagragarh in Burdwan district) under which there was a Trinamool office suggests volumes about the unholy nexus between political groups and terrorism. It seems there is political patronage to the trade of illegal arms and ammunition across the border while the common man continues to suffer the attacks of these anti-social elements. Two suspected militants were killed and one critically injured when an IED they were allegedly making exploded in the flat used to assemble the explosives. The killed militants were identified as Shakeel Ahmed from Nadia and Shobhan Mondal from East Midnapore. The injured one, identified as Hasan Saheb is from Murshidabad. During the investigation half-burnt papers were found on which there was mention of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and IM. Security agencies suspect that since the militants were already assembling IEDs, they might have planned to hit an Indian city in a few days. Central agencies found as many as 59 home-made

WEST BENGAL

MODULE IN BURDWAN? bombs and 55 hand grenades in the flat. the suspected terror network so that their The discovery is a stinging slap on the sinister designs could be thwarted. face of the Mamata Banerjee government The Burdwan blasts have provided an that had opposed a central probe into the opportunity for all parties to look at the blast of which ramifications are widening by the day. Women wailing after houses were set ablaze during the clash between TMC and BJP workers at Makra village in Birbhum (PTI photo) The incident set in motion intense political activities. There have been back-to-back rallies by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Trinamool Congress and the BJP in Bardhaman. BJP rally has been exceptionally successful: the attendance there was far more than at Trinamool rally. State BJP leaders were larger picture, making a clear distinction reportedly astonished at the huge turnout between political interests on the one hand in this CPM stronghold. This is being seen and national interests on the other. But the as a sign of political shift in the state. BJP way the incident is being used to brand all leaders in the rally demanded NIA probe madrasas as breeding ground of terrorism into the blast, and the Centre ordered it has caused disquiet among the Muslim within hours. community. Siddiqullah Chowdhury, general secretary of the state committee of the Jamiat Ulema-eWest Bengal shares a long border Hind is reported to have demanded that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;no madrasa in with Bangladesh which has lately Bengal should be closed become a hotbed of fundamentalist West down either on account of panic activities. There is no doubt that or as an administrative measstrong deterrent action is needed ureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. He cautioned that any attack on madrasas would have to put an end to the burgeoning serious repercussions. He described as preposterous BJP security menace against India. leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; assessment that five to seven percent of Muslims in To take stock of the serious situation madrasas might be involved in jihadi National Security Advisor Ajit Doval activity in West Bengal. along with top officials of other agencies It is appropriate that NIA has taken up landed in the state capital, met chief mininvestigation to expose the threat posed by ister Mamata Banerjee and shared the disBangladeshi terrorists. The suspicion is turbing information collected during the focused on a number of Jamaat-ulinvestigation. Mamata offered all support Mujahideen Bangladesh operatives whose to the investigating agencies to unearth phone call records are being studied.<

The safe haven irbhum has no record of past terror-related activities and it does not share its border with Bangladesh from where many extremists are believed to have sneaked into West Bengal. Therefore one is surprised that Kirnahar, a dusty village nestled in one corner of the district has become a den of terrorists suspected to be behind the October 2 blast. Police sources said several blast case suspects, including those who ferried bombs made by the Burdwan terror module to the Bangladesh border, used to stay in Kirnahar. The module members brought the bombs there before ferrying them to the Bangladesh border through Murshidabad. Kirnahar was considered a safe and convenient haven. Kirnahar is part of Nanoor block, where the political situation has been volatile for more than a decade. Outsiders allegedly frequented Nanoor to make crude bombs for use during political clashes with the patronage of various parties. Chemical components for making bombs, stockpiled in a bomb-assembling flat in Burdwan were bought from a shop on Shakespeare Sarani in Calcutta, investigations have revealed. On October 26, three-hour long violence between the supporters of TMC and BJP saw gun-battles and bomb-attacks which took 3 lives in village Makra in Birbhum district. The village is known as a BJP strong-hold. <

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

ANDHRA PRADESH

HUDHUD KO GUSSA KYOON AAYA?

The super-cyclone Hudhud made a surprise visit to the new state of Andhra Pradesh early in October and left in its trail the entire coastal areas including the port city of Visakhapatnam a vast debris heap. While visitations of such elemental fury from the Bay are not uncommon in the east coast, it is probably for the first time that an Indian port city suffers so vast a devastation. By Lokayat Correspondent

n early October Vishakhapatnam on the east coast, famous for heavy industries, huge steel plant and the largest seaport and oldest shipyard in the country was considered a fortunate township like Ajmer and Allahabad to have earned the smart city status in the first lot. But before the celebrations subsided a savage cyclone with the name of the beautiful bird â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Hudhudâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hammered the booming port

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| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

and surrounding areas into a vast scene of devastation. Met officials rank it as the third fiercest of the 575 cyclones that have hit India since 1891. It was an unfortunate visitation because the new state had not yet settled down after a heart-breaking division. It would take a long, long time and tremendous effort before a semblance of sanity is restored in the truncated part. Surprisingly none of the previous cyclones had ravaged any Indian city. Then why was Vizag chosen for an extremely cruel treatment

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu interacting with cyclone-hit people in Visakhapatnam (PTI photo)

this time? Scientists have no clear answer. It will remain an enigma to researchers unless the changing sea currents can provide any clue. Hudhud hit Vishakhapatnam and the neighboring districts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam at a speed of 206 km per hour. The enormity of destruction the cyclone has left in its wake cannot be conceived by people in other parts of the country. It felled some 60,000 electricity poles, 20,000 in Vizag alone sending this bustling modern city into

ANDHRA PRADESH

Why Hudhud! udhud is a colorful bird native of Afro-Eurasia and is the national bird of Israel. Why the devastating cyclone was given its name? There is no mystery: the christening is done by an international panel on tropical cyclones which was set up a few years ago in a spirit of co-operation to name cyclones in order to make reference easy . Eight countriesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Sri Lanka and Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; are partners in this exercise. They have come up with a list of 64 names, eight from each country, for upcoming cyclones. So this time, following alphabetical order, it was Oman's turn to the name. Next time when a cyclone hits the region, it would be Pakistan's turn and it will be called Nilofar.<

total darkness and silence of the cemetery. Mercifully human toll was minimal, thanks to timely warning and effective preventive measures. However, some 60,000 houses were flattened or severely damaged. The famous steel plant has been so badly dented that it may take 4-5 months to resume normal operations. For days together people remained deprived of basic necessities like water, food and a roof over their head. The biggest problem was water. Some media reports said a 10litre can of water cost as much as Rs 2,500. Standing crops got damaged extensively. The loss to the state is roughly estimated at Rs 70,000 crore. It certainly was ruination of tsunamic proportions.

The third biggest cyclone to hit India he cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999 has been the strongest to ravage Indian coast since 1891 when regular recordings started. It had a wind speed of nearly 250 kmph. The second strongest storm with a wind Prime minister speed of 220 kmph was Phailin that hit Narendra Modi taking an aerial survey of Odisha last year. Hudhud made the landfall cyclone affected at a maximum wind speed of 206 kmph. Norareas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha mally Nellore, Krishna, East Godavari and (PTI photo) Srikakulam in that order are the receiving ends of ends of cyclones in Andhra Pradesh; Hudhud, the latest has corrected the misconception that Visakhapatnam is safe from the menace. A puzzling question is why all cyclones hitherto had made landfall in the plains and semi-urban areas on the east coast, and why this time it made an exception and hit a green city like Vizag.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

ANDHRA PRADESH Prime minister Narendra Modi was struck dumb on seeing the massive devastation and promptly announced a Rs 1,000-cr interim assistance for immediate restoration in the state. He also announced Rs 2-lakh ex gratia payment to families of each killed in cyclone-related incidents and Rs 50,000 each to those injured. Following the Meteorological Department’s warning well in time, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was able to arrange evacuation of some 1.1 lakh people from the most vulnerable coastal areas. He remained in the port city personally overseeing the rescue and relief works— he operated from a bus from where he coordinated and monitored urgent operations. The cyclone claimed at least 46 lives in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Hudhud cyclone was similar in fury to Phailin, the secondmost severe hurricane that laid waste Odisha coast last year. Phailin did not molest Vishakhapatnam then, only whizzed past it. Met experts had been confident that Vizag’s unique topography would make it immune to A man (bottom) jumps into the water to rescue a woman (centre) who fell due to strong tidal waves on the Bay of Bengal coast at Gopalpur, Odisha (PTI photo)

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

Wind blowing at a speed of 100 km per hour at Gopalpur as cyclone Hudhud hits Ganjam District (PTI photo)

Fishermen watch their cyclone damaged fishing boats in Vishakapatnam (PTI photo)

cyclones. It didn’t. The experts are flummoxed. Naidu has asked the Centre to declare the devastation caused by 'Hudhud' as a national calamity and sought an ad hoc relief package of Rs 2,000 cr. The restoration work is proceeding on a war-footing. But the poor response time of government agencies make people impatient and angry. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, along with state Congress leaders, visited areas in Vizag and Vizianagaram districts and distributed financial aid to families of the deceased.<

RAJASTHAN

By Abha Sharma from Jaipur

ajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje recently became the most popular woman politician on the social media. In midOctober, her fan following reportedly crossed 30 lakh on Facebook in addition to the 1.5 lakh twitter followers. The tremendous flow of ‘likes’ is obviously a boost for Raje’s popularity but with her recent cabinet expansion post Diwali, she also seems to have invited some strong dislikes, within the party. In her first cabinet expansion after returning to power last December, she tried to do a balancing act. While adding 15 new faces in her team, she included female faces, gave adequate representation to tribals and also to MLAs from backward classes. But despite strong posturing by some senior members, she did not oblige former ministers Ghanshyam Tiwari and Narpat Singh Rajvi. The third one, Rao Rajendra Singh, long awaiting his desired inclusion too was given a cold shoulder by Raje. Tiwari held the education portfolio in her previous term and Rajvi, former minister of state for irrigation is the son-in-law of former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The expansion was most awaited specially after irrigation minister Dr Sanwar Lal Jat moved to the national capital as an MP. Raje couldn’t afford to defer the expansion any further since it would have led to a constitutional crisis in the state. It was going to be six months on November 15 since Jat was sworn in as MP. In the 200 member Rajasthan assembly, the government must have a minimum of 12 ministers. The Congress party has been raising the issue of constitutional validity on this score for a long time ever since Jat won the Lok Sabha polls. So it is celebration time for the new faces and also existing ministers who have got their portfolios elevated soon after the expansion. Raje has kept 15 departments including finance and

RAJE’S LIKES AND DISLIKES Vasundhara Raje is the most ‘liked’ woman politician on social networking sites and she knows how to give clear signals about her ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. This is exactly what she has done by her recent cabinet expansion. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje

power with her while Panchayat Raj minister Gulab Chand Kataria, a core RSS leader now holds home and civil defence. Arun Chaturvedi, the minister of state for social justice is perhaps the luckiest man in the Raje ministry. After returning to power with thumping majority in December 2013, everyone expected Tiwari’s inclusion due to his seniority, oratorical skills and also as a face of the Brahmin community. Tiwari was quite vocal in opposing Raje in her previous term on the issue of Special Economic Zone and she obviously didn’t want any trouble monger in her cabinet. Arun Chaturvedi, a rather docile face too wasn’t a great favourite of Raje till a few years ago. She had even replaced him as the state party chief in 2012 but he gradually won her heart with his modesty and loyalty. That is why in his maiden term

in the assembly, he first became the minister of state and now sees his elevation to cabinet rank. The inclusion of three women ministers—Kiran Maheshwari senior leader and also one of BJP’s national vice presidents, Anita Bhadel and Krishendra Kaur Deepa—is a welcome move. Raje also elevated Hem Singh Bhadana to the rank of cabinet minister rewarding him for his appreciable role in containing the Gurjar agitation. She also tried to keep both the Meena and Gurjar community happy by including Nand Lal Meena as tribal minister. Politics is a game of chance and Chaturvedi gained what Tiwari lost. The most ‘liked’ woman politician on social networking sites after all knows how to give clear signals about her likes and dislikes.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

PUNJAB

BJP'S SUCCESS

MAKES SAD LEADERS NERVOUS

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

PUNJAB By Jyoti Thakur from Chandigarh

JP gained a bit much by ending alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Haryana Janhit Congress in Haryana, which has cast its shadow over the future of party's alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab. Nevertheless leaders of both parties stress that there is no threat to the alliance. Ground reality however, is that the BJP leaders in Punjab have begun to flex their muscles making the SAD Akali Dal (SAD) led by Parkash Singh Badal, nervous. The suggestion for going alone in Punjab is increasingly finding favour with saffron party’s state leaders. The cracks in the alliance had indeed started appearing following alliance's dismal performance in Punjab Lok Sabha elections for which the latter blamed the bad public image of Akalis. The BJP leadership was further enraged when the SAD fought the assembly elections against the BJP in neighbouring Haryana in alliance with the INLD though this was the case even in the Lok Sabha elections. Apart from propping the campaign for the INLD when its supremo Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala were in jail, the SAD fielded its candidates on two seats—Ambala and Kalanwali--and won the latter. BJP’s frustration with the SAD can be seen in acerbic utterances of former BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Sidhu, who during the Haryana campaign made no holds barred attack on Badals, alleging them of back-stabbing the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Being the bigger party in the alliance, the SAD chose not to allow much say to the BJP in major policy decisions of the government or even in the seat-sharing. Citing this as big brotherly oppression, sizeable section of state BJP leaders want their party to go it alone in 2017 assembly elections and indeed they have already started behaving like members of an opposition

BJP’s prestigious electoral victory in Haryana and Maharashtra after breaking the alliances has resulted into increased attacks by state saffron party leaders on the Badal government. How long in such a situation the BJPSAD alliance would continue, is the moot question. Many within the party demand that the BJP should contest the 2017 assembly elections on its own to protect itself from the antiincumbency. Right now it is silently trying to polarise non-Sikh voters across the state. party, taking pot shots now and then at the failures of the Badal government. Day by day the rift between the two allies is widening. There is, however, little chance as of now that the BJP would break its alliance with the SAD in a huff, but the party clearly intends to be more assertive in questioning the unpopular policies of Badal government and prepare ground for itself to contest the next assembly elections on its own. Who knows Modi wave survives till then!

They have projected themselves as being against the most unpopular decisions like property tax and free power to farmers and claimed that these decisions were taken without their consent. They also crib that chief minister Badal went to meet prime minister Narendra Modi to seek a financial package for the state without taking them into confidence. In the 2012 assembly polls, the BJP under the alliance had contested 23 of the 117 seats. Going by its recent performance, the BJP is certainly aiming a lot more. The mood can be assessed by the slogan ‘Haryana to ek jhanki hai, Punjab abhi baaki hai’ raised at a recent BJP meeting in Karnal. After the unexpected fruitless alliance with the INLD in Haryana, the SAD leadership is a bit worried and playing down the BJP's newly found aggression in Punjab. The SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said there had been no effect of the Haryana polls on the SAD-BJP ties. ‘These are minor skirmishes that will be sorted out with time. The SAD will continue to support the BJP, which can’t act rashly as the SAD has a strong base in Punjab,’ he said. Badal’s son and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, who is also the SAD president, also does not take seriously the pressure being built up by the junior alliance partner. He is confident to win the elections on his own if need arises. Efforts made by the SAD to bring Congress MLAs into its fold, making them resign and win byelections can be seen in this context. These moves are to ensure the government has no problems if the BJP suddenly snaps the ties. The SAD has 57 legislatures, two short of a majority in the 117-member assembly whereas the BJP has 12 MLAs. Meanwhile traditional section of the SAD is suggesting return to the Panthic agenda to retain its vote bank in the rural areas to combat the BJP’s quiet attempts for a reverse polarisation to consolidate the nonSikh votes.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY

NOBLE EFFORTS TO SAVE STREET KIDS WIN NOBEL AWARD

By Sankar Sivadas

he Nobel committee has once again sprung a surprise by nominating Kailash Satyarthi of India and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan jointly for this year’s Peace Prize, a masterstroke that would have been frowned upon only by Taliban (of the Pakistan variety) and some perennial naysayer NGOs in India. While for Malala it had been one long journey from Swat in Baluchistan to Birmingham in England, for Satyarthi it has been a comparatively shorter one, by railroad, from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh to Delhi. In making the announcement of the Peace Prize the Nobel Committee also showed a rare sense of timing-- it might have been just accidental-- but it could not have come at a more appropriate juncture any way. For weeks the two nuclear guntoting neighbours have been in a confrontational mode, shelling across the line of control and international border in Jammu & Kashmir. This is why Malala thought it fit to invite prime ministers of both India and Pakistan at the jointpresentation ceremony at Oslo.

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

This year’s Peace Nobel is shared by Kailash Satyarthi, the second Indian to be honoured with the coveted Prize. A few years ago it was conferred on R K Pachauri for his seminal work on climate change. Mahatma Gandhi was nominated five times for the Prize but never awarded for political reasons. Honouring Kailash Satyarthi with the Prize is an attempt to make amends to a historic mistake. Satyarthi is an activist of the Gandhian mould, who showed ‘great personal courage’ and maintained his idol’s tradition of staging relentless protests and demonstrations peacefully, focusing on innumerable ways of abusing and exploiting children. Yet it is surprising that in his own country his long and arduous labour in this neglected area was not accorded due recognition even with a modest Padma Shree. In contrast, Malala Yousafzai the Pakistani teenager who shared the Prize with Kailash Satyarthi was lucky to get due plaudits in her country three years ago when she received the first National Youth Peace Prize.

SPECIAL STORY

(PTI photo)

By giving the Peace award to a Hindu and a Muslim -- an Indian and a Pakistani at that--at a time when security forces of the two neighbours were shelling at each other’s positions across the border raising fears of a major conflict, the Nobel Committee was making a deafening statement. Observers think that the underlying message the esteemed committee was stressing was that nothing whatsoever was more valuable and prizy than world peace.

While the trajectory of Malala’s ordeal and flight from Pakistan has been covered in meticulous detail in Western media, Satyarthi has not been as fortunate. Even in the national media he has not received the space he deserved. And in that sense the Nobel committee’s adroit way of drawing attention to his silent, but seminal work is a reminder to the authorities as well as to the civil society at large that they need to look hard for pearls among the rubble. If Malala has helped to highlight the plight of children, especially girls, in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, Satyarthi has directed public conscience through his work to the problem of child labour rampant in India. His work in rescuing, educating and rehabilitating legions of under-age boys and girls who ought to be studying in schools or playing outside, but were actually toiling in Dickensian working conditions in numerous clandestine sweat shops across the country where they spent long hours without proper food or rest, has spanned over three decades. Satyarthi’s journey began in an MP village when as a five-year-old he noticed a child, as old as himself, sweating it out on a cobbler’s mat, near his school. Since then he has been busy trying to bring whatever relief he could to such children. At the same time he was at pains to raise child rights issues at international fora for which he has received handsome compliments in western media. He has also received several international human rights commendations for his yeoman service to the cause of abandoned (street) children. He is on the board/committee of several international organizations as well. But ironically his work went unnoticed in India, either by the government or the media. In these three decades and more long endeavour he has been able to save and rehabilitate over 78,500 children from bondage, from factories, farms and sweatshops-- leather units, carpet weaving joints, firecracker outfits etc-- that flourished under the respectable sobriquet, cottage industries. In sports goods manufacture to silk weaving to the modern farms that grew cash crops where they used the most lethal chemicals and pesticides, these hapless children were employed for pittance, without health cover or freedom to leave. Often Satyarthi had to take the help of the police or social activists to get their release. Satyarthi’s ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ was in the forefront of activities wherever child rights were involved. The number of those whom he helped to free might be small be in comparison to the enormity of the problems in this sector but his

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY

The scourge of child labour is so rampant in South Asia that only the most callous could have ignored it any longer. Go to any street in India, it hits you in the eye-- in the ramshackle dhaba where they attend to customers day and night without rest, in agricultural farm where they are made to handle harmful chemicals without any gloves, in godowns where they are asked to carry heavy loads--it is an omnipresent sight. This is the pathetic way we utilize our invaluable demographic asset of which we are so proud.

efforts certainly did make a national impact. In this yagna sometimes he has had to clash with the powers that be and become persona non-grata. Undaunted, he continued his pioneering effort and spread his efforts even outside the panIndian landscape. Interestingly he was hounded out of Pakistan once in 1987 while campaigning in Lahore when Malala was not even born. The sports goods industry in Lyallpur, Pakistan was one of his early stomping grounds.

That such relentless pursuit has at last been recognized is a tribute to the true grit of Satyarthi. The spectre of child labour is so rampant in this country that only the most callous could have remained a passive spectator. Go to any street in India, it hits you in the eye- in the ramshackle dhaba where they attend to customers day and night without rest, in agricultural farm where they are made to handle harmful chemicals without any gloves, in godowns where they are asked to carry heavy loads--it is an omnipresent sight. This is the pathetic way we utilize our invaluable demographic asset of which we are so proud. Every turmoil, be a cyclone, civil disturbance or accident, throws up its share of orphans and homeless. And they continue to be buffeted by every succeeding event, uncared by the civil

Many do not know that Satyarthi’s work extended beyond the country’s borders--to Pakistan as well. It is painful to remember how he was hounded out of that country while campaigning in Lahore in 1987 when Malala was not even born. The sports goods industry in Lyallpur in Pakistan was one of his early stomping grounds.

society. Quite often these children become easy prey to anti-social and unscrupulous elements. Satyarthi has been more than a godfather to them. But Satyarthi has his detractors. They are not confined to some jealous NGOs. The establishment has also been inexplicably unkind to him. Not only has he not been conferred any award, he has also been studiously excluded from outfits the government regularly consulted. In a sense he has been treated as a pariah. This is probably because of the perception that he is working at the behest of agencies that are not truly altruistic and have other agendas. The laudatory references he gets in the West and the platforms he uses for propagating his mission had probably cast doubts on his true motives. The abolition of child labour, for instance, affected carpet industry substantially across the Mirzapur-Bhadohi belt in Uttar Pradesh. The Kancheepuram silk weavers in Tamilnadu have been adversely affected by the GI certification requirement that has been imposed due to the worldwide campaign against child labour. Of course, the beneficiaries in both cases have been the mechanized western carpet and silk factories. Malala Yousafzai, on the contrary, got recognition in her own country quite early when in 2011 she received Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. Internationally also she was nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the International Children’s Peace Prize. She was able to hog international media limelight thanks to her strident criticism of the Taliban. She became famous worldwide when Taliban leaders decided to kill her and indeed a masked gunman entered her school bus and shot her with a single bullet which went through her head, neck and shoulder. She survived the shooting, but remained in a critical condition for long. Malala today is used as an iconic figure by international human rights organisations who decry various social, economic and political factors that deny formal education to girls.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY

KERALA’S UNIQUE MODEL By Lokayat Correspondent

naugurating the 16th anniversary celebrations of Kudumbasree (meaning prosperity of family) at Thiruvananthapuram in August Congress president Sonia Gandhi commended the socioeconomic march of Kerala women and said it

I The idea of empowering women by organising neighbourhood action groups is not exactly new. In Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat in India and in Bangladesh much earlier, neighbourhood groups of women have blazed new trails in providing microcredits and encouraging small entrepreneurships, thus enhancing their self-esteem and socio-economic status. In Kerala similar women’s Self Help Groups with 40.54 lakh members, organised under the ‘Kudumbasree’ banner have covered more than 50 percent households in the state. Apart from the statewide sweep that makes the Kerala experiment a great success story, what makes it a unique movement empowering women and earning plaudits from national and international bodies, is its innovative ideas of carrying it to new vistas hitherto considered out of bounds for women. 48

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It started as neighbourhood groups of poor women collecting and disposing garbage from homes in urban areas. The purpose was double—to provide livelihood to jobless women without any resources and to end the menace of garbage piling up along roads should serve as a model not only for other Indian states but for the entire developing world. She noted that no government could provide jobs to all its citizens or find solutions to all their problems. A government can only help people to help themselves. In this respect the Kerala’s experience should serve as an inspiring example of emancipating women from poverty, injustice and exploitation—all by themselves. Secret of people’s acceptance and success Kudumbasree encourages and assists in organising women into neighbourhood SHGs to set up small-scale enterprises of their choice and convenience. Wherever necessary, Kudumbasree will arrange procurement of raw materials, expertise in a particular industry or profession, train personnel, sale of products, in book-

SPECIAL STORY

FOR EMPOWERING WOMEN keeping, credit facilitation and so on. The approach is holistic. That is the secret of its acceptance and success. The Kudumbasree has a three-tier structure. At the grassroots level are neighbourhood groups which send representatives to the ward-level Area Development Societies (ADS) which in turn send their deputies to Community Development Societies (CDS). This three-tier set up ensures smooth and effective functioning of Kudumbasree. Today there are 2.58 lakh NHGs, over 19,700 ADSs and 1,072 CDSs in the Kudumbasree network. Local selfgovernment agencies like panchayats and municipal corporations extend unstinted support to Kudumbasree in all its multifarious endeavours -sorting out problems and finding solutions. The large set up—still growing—had a humble beginning. It started as neighbourhood groups of poor women collecting and disposing garbage from homes in urban areas. The purpose was double—to provide livelihood to jobless women without any resources and to end the menace of garbage piling up along roads. With gain in experience and confidence the SHGs branched out to encourage savings, providing small credits to enterprising women and helping them start their own small-scale activities like envelop making, vegetable growing, poultry farming, dairying, tailoring, basket making and so on.

Initially their products were sold or consumed locally; later when operations expanded and raw materials had to be procured and outside markets had to be found for sale of finished goods, Kudumbasree at the organisational level extended help:

where necessary. Participating women received full benefits of sale proceeds without any intermediaries: they got wages, a share in the profits and finally had the satisfaction of seeing their bank accounts growing through compulsory savings. With a job of her own, daily income for sustenance and a bank balance even if modest, a woman member of Kudumbasree was no more indigent, hungry or unemployed. She became empowered and dignified.

Several ambitious initiatives

arranging for processing and transport, training for personnel, helping with accounts etc. It also helped in contacting banks and facilitating credits

From these early timorous steps it was a quantum jump to bigger things. Today Kudumbasree is into several ambitious projects enabling women scale new heights, striking out to areas where women hesitated to enter before. Building construction industry is a typical example. Organized, allwomen groups of civil engineers, supervisors, masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other ancillary staff are now taking up contracts to build multi-storey flats! All the personnel have been given thorough training. Before moving into this field Kudumbasree teams had undertaken ‘care-taker’ responsibilities like repair and maintenance of groups of houses and flats, including house-keeping, security and gardening. They undertake these jobs as a package. In Kerala there is an acute shortage of workers (most skilled workers here seem to find West Asian air more enjoyable) to do these jobs and it is into this void that Kudumbasree has stepped in.

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY

New areas are even more exciting Members of Kudumbasree have struck out or are about to enter new areas, a few of them are: [ Cafes and eateries at bus stands and railway stations [ Parking lot attendance and car-care services [ Post-natal care (Women enlisted under this scheme are given short-term training and are called ‘therapists’) [ Managing e-toilets [ Running she-taxies (exclusively by women for women. (Women-friendly taxis and auto- rickshaws manned by women’s teams are already operating in two cities.) [ Mobile kitchen (to prepare nourishing food items and deliver them at places of consumption in real time. Ten mobile food vans are in operation now. They also accept orders for wedding, birthday parties etc.) [ Cleaning railway coaches [ Home shops (to promote sale of Kudumbasree products. Soon it plans to have a women-friendly portal having home delivery service.) [ Food Security Army or FSA (to provide personnel for farm operations including sowing, weeding, harvesting, repair and maintenance of farm machinery. So far over 168 FSA batches have been trained.) [ Food processing and packaging [ Mapping crime against women. The project is aimed at preparing a map for all the panchayats and urban local bodies so as to draw up an action plan to combat the problem.

Community Colleges Kudumbasree has a data bank of all members: they belonged to all strata of society whose talents, abilities, preferences and qualifications differed vastly. It is from this pool appropriate women are selected to form the requisite teams. Even so, fitting them in suitable neighbourhood working groups and fixing their service conditions, positions, responsibilities and wages is an onerous job. But any differences in these matters are sorted out within the

dairy farming. In this endeavour the Kerala Agricultural University and Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University would be associated. The third college would conduct courses in automobile servicing and construction work and the fourth in general administration. According to K B Vatsala Kumari, executive director, admissions to these courses would be exclusively for Kudumbasree members and their families, and fees would be kept at affordable levels.

Women are entering in areas where they hesitated to enter before. Building construction industry is one typical example. Women groups of civil engineers, supervisors, masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other ancillary staff are now taking up contracts to build multi-storey flats! organisation itself. Often finding enough experienced women is difficult and hence qualified personnel for jobs like management, bookkeeping, quality control etc have to be hired from outside. In order to obviate this vexed problem, Kudumbasree is foraying shortly into the area of education and training. The plan is to start immediately four exclusive community colleges. One will offer Post-graduate Diploma in Development in association with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The second will provide short-term courses of three to six months duration in basics of agriculture, pest control and

The Kudumbasree way of empowering women and raising their socio-economic status has already attracted the attention of the world community. The laudatory references and awards from UN agencies like UNDP, UNCHS and Habitat and national and international organisations such as CAPAM and HUDCO are testimony enough. Teams of development administrators from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu which visited the state to study the working of the Kudumbasree Mission have also returned impressed with the new Kerala model of women’s empowerment.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPECIAL STORY

KAMWAALIS OF DELHI

Kamwaalis have become an integral part of middle class homes in Delhi where life is busy and hectic leaving working women with little time to attend to household chores. Female part-time domestic helps are a big relief to them. As for the housemaids, however, wages are meagre and there is no social security. Most of them do not have even ration cards.

By Leesha Madaan & Koomitara

elhi, the second most populated metropolis in the world with 2.5 crore people, is a place where life is terribly hectic. Usually work places are far away. Employees have to commute to their places of work and that leaves little time for necessary household chores. In increasing number of families the lady of the house also goes out for work; then dependence on fulltime house maids to look after kids, for washing, cooking and other housekeeping work becomes inescapable. This situation has created here a thriving job market for female domestic help. But life of a housemaid in Delhi is really hard. She has to work in her own home, often walk long distances to do chores in her employer’s house and then walk back. Yet she is sometime treated harshly and on top of that wages are scanty. But her pain remains hidden behind her innocent face. Recently as a Lokayat reporter, I interviewed some housemaids who were unanimous in their opinion that they were underpaid and there was no mechanism available to them to

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

seek a wage increase commensurate with the rise in prices of essential commodities. Their effective wage went down due to general rise in prices. If they had any choice, they would not like to do the domestic job as many a time the treatment meted out to them by the families where they worked was unduly harsh. Sarita, 27, a native of Nepal who works in a middle class family in Dilshad Garden, told that she never wanted to be a housemaid but her family’s financial condition was desperate and she was forced to go out and do some work. ‘My husband is not earning enough to meet our basic needs’, she said. She has been working for four years in three homes and spends 2 and a half hours cleaning floors and washing kitchen utensils.

She gets Rs 500 a month if she has to clean the floor only; if the job includes washing utensils, she gets Rs 1,000. Her average income is Rs 2,000-2,500. She admitted, ‘I am satisfied that at least I could earn something, but not happy completely.’ The main reason of her satisfaction is that the housemaid’s job is easily available. She could find another job whenever she lost one. She says she and her husband do not want their children to face similar hardships; so they want to educate them as far as possible. Surprisingly, despite living in Delhi for so many years, she has not been able to get the ration card and does not know if there are any schemes for poor women in Delhi. Her husband is a security guard in Dilshad Garden and they have been provided with a room to live by the colony

SPECIAL STORY management. She has four children-- 2 boys and 2 girls—the elder boy studying in class 5th and the other in 2nd; one daughter is also in 5th class and the other in 2nd. Another housemaid, Suja, also from Nepal, revealed that many young women were compelled to take up housemaid’s work when their husbands’ earnings were found insufficient to meet the cost of living in Delhi. ‘It is not like in the village back home. Here everything is unimaginably costly; oneroom tenement, electricity, water, food items, medicines, transport-- everything is beyond our means.’ It was good to hear from several maids including Suja that they do hire a

Most of the part-time domestic maids are married. They take up this work when their husbands’ earnings are insufficient to make both ends meet due to low wages in the unorganised sector and sometimes sudden job-loss during an arbitrary lay-off.

tutor to coach their children as they are poor at their studies. It also emerged that they have heard about a law providing for minimum daily wages, but they cannot demand this for fear of losing their job. Suja’s income is less than that of Sarita. She charges Rs 400 for floor-cleaning and earns Rs 1200 from three homes. Her husband is also a security guard. The husband-wife duo lives in a basement accommodation. Suja is 20 years old and has no kids. Rekha, 38, from the Khagaria district of Bihar also did not want to become a housemaid; but some 12 years ago the need to feed and clothe her six- member-family forced her to take up this work. Her husband’s salary alone was not sufficient. He has been working in a wire factory for the last 20 years. They have two sons and two

daughters. Her elder 17- year-old son also works in the wire factory and supplements the family income. Rekha has no clear answer to the query as to whether she is happy with the job. She says she is ‘half satisfied and half dissatisfied with her lot; she has to do very hard work to earn Rs 6,000 per month. She does not want her daughters ever to be in such straitened situation where they have to work as housemaid. She works in six houses and in each of them she spends one to two hours. Her family lives in a rented one-roomkitchen tenement for which the rent is Rs 2,000. They also have no ration card. Tara, 35, is relatively new in this profession; she took up this job three years ago. She does only floor-cleaning for which she charges Rs 600 per

month. She has three children-- one boy and two girls. Her husband’s income is insufficient to meet their growing needs. She wants her children to get educated so that they could land some good job. She is otherwise satisfied with her lot and her job. She is happy that her children are going to school, thanks to her contribution to the family kitty. She also does not have a ration card. Geeta, 27, came to Delhi from Jhansi after marriage. She is lean and thin but smart, a mother of one son, admitted to an English medium local school. She is proud of her own education up to 6th class. Her 8th pass husband is a salesman and earns Rs 9,000 out of which, Rs 3,ooo goes to pay rent, water and electricity bills. She had no choice but to take up a housemaid’s job when she felt the pinch of rising inflation. Her sole ambition is to ensure good education for her son. She is not happy with the wages she gets for her part-time work, but owing to responsibility towards her family, she does not want to take up additional work outside. Generally housemaids are blamed of thieving, but she has never been accused of any such thing. There is an interesting comment about her for wearing fashionable clothes: why does she not show being just a menial worker? She has ration card but is not aware of any welfare schemes for the poor. My survey reveals that most of the part-time housemaids in Delhi are migrants, mainly coming from UP, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Nepal. Largely they are illiterate, landless and belong to some marginal castes. They migrate to Delhi with families in search of livelihood. Some came as female construction workers, and when no such work could be found, they started doing domestic work. If they have young children they limit themselves to fewer homes. It is a win-win situation for the maids as well as the families. The jobs are plenty and easily available and the families get their work done fairly cheaply.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

UTTAR PRADESH

FOR THE SP ITS MISSION Netaji, the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had earned many banner headlines in UP newspapers by criticising his son Akhilesh off and on for poor governance and failures of his government, has finally handed over the baton to him, ostensibly pleased at party’s good showing in the recently held by-polls, in which the BJP candidates licked the dust in their own strongholds. The move has given the young CM a much-needed pep and confidence to run the show, the way he wants, uninterrupted by other powerful leaders in the party, including his indomitable uncle.

By Ratan Mani Lal from Lucknow

he month of festivals ushered in major changes in Uttar Pradesh politics with the Samajwadi Party’s chief minister Akhilesh Yadav gaining more strength in independent decision-making, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) facing the danger of not only losing its national party status but also getting marginalised in state politics. On the other hand, the national convention of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also held in Lucknow, steered clear of the Ayodhya Ram temple issue, saying instead that the issue was for the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre to decide. The convention proceedings also indicated that the RSS may not raise confrontational issues for the time being, preferring to give time to prime minister Narendra Modi to move ahead with his agenda of ‘good governance’. While this may mean that the RSS will also not rake up the issue of the socalled love jehad which in any case had failed to do any good to the BJP’s campaign, the ruling SP is moving

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

ahead with its preparations for the 2017 assembly elections after a confidenceboosting win in the by-elections. The three day convention of the Samajwadi Party held in Lucknow in early October saw an affirmation by party president Mulayam Singh Yadav of fully backing son Akhilesh in whatever the latter wished to do, and an acknowledgement by all concerned in the party and the government that Mulayam was, after all, handing over the baton to the next generation. The convention came a few weeks after the results of assembly byelections came in with good news for the SP. Asserting firmly that the ‘good work’ being done by the SP government had been acknowledge by the voters who ignored the ‘divisive’ politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party, speaker after speaker at the SP meet hailed Akhilesh as the leader of the future. The speakers also took their time criticizing the Narendra Modi government and the BJP for everything that the government has done so far. Senior minister Azam Khan went to the extent of condemning the cleanliness campaign launched by Modi, saying that the campaign threatened the livelihood of safai karmacharis. Akhilesh Yadav too displayed his new-found confidence by choosing to attack primeminister Narendra Modi for his alleged failure to fulfill election promises. He attracted a sharp rebuttal by the BJP spokesman who said that

Akhilesh had failed to control spiraling crime across the state, and had been hostile to the clean-India campaign launched by the prime minister. The SP has also targeted the governors in general for acting as agents of the Centre, and the barbs were directed more at Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik who hosted a dinner for the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat a day prior to the RSS meet. One SP leader went to the extent of calling Naik an agent of the RSS, but Akhilesh controlled the situation later by saying that he had good relations with governor Naik. A couple of days after Diwali, Akhilesh dismissed 72 political appointees to various posts of chairmen, vice-chairmen, advisers and members of several boards, commissions and authorities enjoying the rank of ministers of state. These individuals had also been enjoying the attendant perks including a red beacon car, office, staff

UTTAR PRADESH

2017 STARTS NOW

and fixed emoluments. However, most of these had contributed precious little to the departments or organisations where they had been appointed, but had been throwing their weight around, threatening policemen and indulging in property disputes, besides of course proving to be a drain on the state’s exchequer. What sparked the drastic action was a recent incident in Baghpat where the father of such a nominated ‘minister’ ill-treated and threatened a policeman over a petty dispute. The need to identify non-performers and ‘traitors’, was impressed upon by several speakers at the SP meet, and for this a review of all such appointments was suggested. A senior SP leader had pointed out that many of these appointees had been found working against the official SP candidate in the Lok Sabha election as well as the recent by-elections. Those who were spared include

The national convention of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh held in Lucknow steered clear of the Ayodhya Ram temple issue, saying instead that the issue was for the Modi government at the Centre to decide.

Gopal Das Neeraj, chairman of UP Bhasha Sansthan, Udai Pratap Singh, chairman of UP Hindi Sansthan, Sunil Jogi, chairman of Hindustani Academy and Naveen Chandra Bajpei, deputy chairman of UP State Planning Commission. A few months ago, immediately after the dismal performance of the SP in the Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh had similarly dismissed 36 such nominated ‘ministers’ in the wake of similar complaints. As if to put his stamp of approval on what Akhilesh did, Mulayam on Monday (October 27) re-appointed Akhilesh as Samajwadi Party state president. Mulayam also re-constituted the SP central parliamentary board with Mulayam, brothers Ramgopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav and son Akhilesh, minister Mohd Azam Khan, Kiranmoy Nanda, Ravi Prakash Verma and J Antony being named as board members. The Bahujan Samaj Party, on the other hand, is also set to undergo a massive revamp as party supremo Mayawati stares at the prospect of the party losing its national status. Having scored a zero in the Lok Sabha election and fared poorly in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections, the party has to respond to the Election Commission notice in this regard. The party has failed to meet any of the three stipulated conditions for being recognised as a national party. It is learnt that Mayawati is planning to go in for a massive enrolment drive, seeking to attract youths and students. It is also learnt that the party will now focus on reviving the core agenda of Dalit empowerment. Till the time the campaign takes off, the BSP also has to contend with the problem of desertions. Many supporters are learnt to be looking at both the BJP and the SP as being with the BSP does not appear to provide the political clout it once used to offer.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

KARNATAKA

SENIOR IAS OFFICIALS SPAR IN PUBLIC The Siddaramiah government is increasingly finding it difficult to keep its bureaucrats under check. Especially, as even with enough years in service, these officials have thought nothing of going public with their grievance against each other or, for that matter, in upbraiding junior officers. That too in the presence of the chief minister himself, as was evident at a recent press conference.

throwing to the wind the Code of Conduct, but certain aggrieved officers went even further, arranging physical attacks in retaliation. And Siddaramiah government watches helplessly. Such indiscipline is not unnatural when senior ministers themselves set ugly examples. They think nothing of slapping and abusing traffic cops merely because the

affected employees who are now attacking their superiors in public, a clear indication that Conduct Rules do not matter at all these days. Evidence of this was provided by the recent attack on Rashmi Mahesh, director general of the Administrative Training Institute, Mysore, by a section of the institute's staff after the official

The feisty IAS officer Rashmi Mahesh

By Lokayat Correspondent from Bengaluru

enior Karnataka bureaucrats are making mockery of their high positions by settling scores among themselves in publicâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they did not just level charges in press conferences

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

hapless constables fail to provide way for the VIPs' vehicles to pass. Veterans from different parties as also retired bureaucrats tend to explain these traits as a combination of growing instances of power abuse, intolerance and the ability to take pressure, not to mention the confidence that they can always go scot free. This trend has also

went to condole the death of an employee who had allegedly committed suicide. The matter, however, did not stop at the temerity of the employees to attack their boss and that too a woman, even as the police remained a mute spectator. The attack prompted Rashmi to go public in a press conference where she

KARNATAKA detailed allegations against, Ms Amita Prasad, her immediate predecessor and senior by ten years. According to the ATI director general, her senior had turned a blind eye to the scores of irregularities in the institute, including appointment of people, contractors and vendors, in the process causing losses to the prestigious government body. She said a detailed report to chief secretary, Kaushik Mukherjee, was sent about this a month ago but to no avail. The development took the cautious Mukherjee by surprise who argued that he had already referred the matter for probe to another senior officer even while seeking to maintain that Rashmi had no business to go public with her complaint against another IAS officer. Especially as her predecessor was ten years her senior. This is not all .The ATI director even accused Amita Prasad's husband and director general of state intelligence. She charged that because of his instructions, the local police failed to provide her the required security. For good measure, she added that the attack on her came immediately after the couple concerned was forced to leave the ATI staff quarters that they were occupying. Predictably, the Prasads have rubbished the charges against them, even attributing the allegations as an ‘act of jealousy’. Amita Prasad even maintained that she had built up a reputation as an upright and competent official, having served the state for over 30 years. Supporters of Rashmi Mahesh, on their part, assert that she is known as being a no-nonsense person and does not brook any compromise over integrity. She has also taken on the powerful if only to protect the underprivileged, as she did with the religious institutions in the state, during her tenure in Medical Education department. She prevented the blocking of medical seats by unscrupulous elements, an act which even led to her transfer.

Rashmi claims she had gone by the book While senior bureaucrats have given conflicting views about Rashmi’s decision to go public against another official from her cadre, there is little unanimity here. Especially, as most find

Rashmi is known as a nononsense IAS officer, who raked up corruption cases no matter where she was posted and which party ruled Karnataka. She was subjected to frequent transfers, but things surpassed all levels of basic decency when this feisty Administrative Training Institute director general was assaulted by a mob when she had gone to pay her condolences to a canteen contract worker found dead in the institute’s campus. Her action against some officers is told to be reason behind this attack. nothing wrong with the ATI officer’s decision arguing that she had gone by the book. Whichever way one looks at the case, the fact is that it leaves a poor impression of the government’s administration and its ability to deliver effectively, in the process showing the chief secretary in poor light. Adding to the controversy are the comments by Srinivas Prasad, minister in charge of Mysore who has come out in support of Rashmi, arguing that she had done nothing wrong. What is worse,

the minister even lashed out at the chief secretary for ‘disfavouring’ the ATI director general. Clearly, if anything, such developments will only go to undermine the confidence of the state bureaucracy. Whatever his own feelings, the minister has no business to criticise the chief secretary—and that too in connection with an issue involving a comparatively junior officer who is required to report to him, as the administrative head. If this was not enough to mar the atmosphere, Ms Ratna Prabha, additional chief secretary, found nothing wrong in upbraiding her officials in the presence of chief minister last week. All because she felt they had sought to undermine her position and authority by not approaching her for information which was to be submitted to Siddaramiah. Instead, she said, her juniors were approached for the information. This development also raised questions of propriety, conduct rules and, above all, behaviour in public. That the situation is getting out of hand was evident earlier this year when Ravindranath, additional director general of the Karnataka State Reserve Police was caught taking photographs, discreetly, of a girl in a coffee bar. He was in civilian clothes when caught in the act. Instead of regretting the incident, however, he lashed out at his senior, police commissioner, R Auradkar, accusing him of playing caste politics and targeting him because of his lower profile. This apart, he even got the KSRP jawans and their families to block the main commercial street of the city, in his support. Ultimately, Ravindranath was embarrassed when the truth came out following a probe. These incidents, however, are reflective of the Siddaramiah government’s inability to stem growing instances of indiscipline among its officer, be it the IAS or the IPS. For that matter, even the lawmakers, including senior ministers, from misbehaving with the traffic cops, in the process impacting the morale of all concerned.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

HIMACHAL

HP BABUS FEEL

As the current chief minister Virbhadra Singh and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal are locked in a bitter rivalry ever since the change of government in the hill state, Himachal babus are apparently caught in the crossfire between the two stalwarts. As names of at least half-a-dozen IAS officers have figured in the charge-sheet being prepared by the vigilance bureau in cases pertaining to the previous BJP regime, there seems to be a simmering discontent among the babus who feel they are being made victims of witch-hunting. By Lokayat Correspondent

he Virbhadra government is apparently keen to nail the alleged corruption in the previous Dhumal regime and the Vigilance Bureau has been given the job to probe allegations that figured in the Congress chargesheet prepared before assembly elections in 2012. While the role of Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur, who is three-time Lok Sabha member

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

from Hamirpur, remain the main focus of investigation, the role of some IAS officers -- close to the then BJP regime – has also come under the scanner. Two IAS officers — additional chief secretary Deepak Sanan and RS Gupta (retd) — have been chargesheeted in connection with the ‘illegal’ transfer of land to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) headed by Anurag Thakur, who is also the president of Bhartiya Yuva Morcha. Other officers whose

HIMACHAL

THE PROBE HEAT ‘Illegally’ acquired Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium is unique as it is situated at a height of 1,457 m above the sea level with snow capped mountains in the backdrop

names figured in the course of investigation include PC Dhiman, principal secretary, social justice and empowerment, KK Panth, currently on central deputation, Ajay Sharma, deputy commissioner of Bilaspur, and retired additional chief secretary PC Kapoor. Panth, in his capacity as deputy commissioner of Kangra had chaired the meeting in which the public works and education department were asked to examine the condition of the residential quarters of lecturers, which were later knocked off to make way for the HPCA stadium. Dhiman had already been probed by the Vigilance Bureau in the alleged phone-tapping case. Even as Dhumal had been warning IAS and IPS officers against dancing to the tune of Virbhadra Singh in allegedly implicating the BJP leaders and the officers close to them in corruption cases, babus are indeed upset for having been made the scapegoats in the political war between the ruling Congress and the BJP. Upset over inquiries being conducted by the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau into decisions taken by them during the previous BJP regime, IAS Officer’s Association has lodged a strong protest for ‘selectively naming officers’. Expressing anguish over officers

A group of babus have come to Congress government's defense stating that vigilance inquiries were not a new thing and often happened with a change in regime. If one has acted in accordance with rules, then there’s nothing to fear. Those who have obliged political bosses in violation of norms to get plum postings will have to pay a price, say these officers. being targeted for decisions taken during the Prem Kumar Dhumal regime, the State IAS Officers’ Association has made it clear that it was having a negative and demoralising effect on them. ‘The officers, who have to work in continuity, must not be made victims of political witch-hunt with change of power. It will become difficult for them to work fearlessly and objectively if

they are made scapegoats,’ the Association said. The officers have sought the support of officiating chief secretary P Mitra and urged him to convey their displeasure to the chief minister. But a big reason behind the targeting of officers is the divide and rivalry that exist among IAS officers in the state. As some babus are using the big fight between Virbhadra and Dhumal to serve their own purpose and settle scores, the IAS association remains far from united on the issue. No surprise that some of them have questioned the stand taken by the Association. A group of babus have come to Congress government's defense stating that vigilance inquiries were not a new thing and often happened with a change in regime. ‘If one has acted in accordance with rules, then there’s nothing to fear. Those who have obliged political bosses in violation of norms to get plum postings will have to pay a price,’ an IAS officer said on the condition of anonymity. With murmurs of discontent among the babus becoming public, Dhumal has joined the issue by lionizing the officers to speak up. ‘When it is a question of their self-esteem, they must speak up or else they will set a wrong precedent,’ he said. But the chief minister Virbhadra underplays the resentment among the IAS officers, saying, ‘The government is not targeting any officer, but those who have done wrong will face the music’. Asserting that there is no resentment among the IAS cadre, the chief minister said some individual officers might have been aggrieved because of different reasons, but investigation into charges is not victimisation, it is rather an opportunity to prove their innocence’. Refuting charges that some IAS officers are being targeted by his government, Virbhadra retorted ‘victimisation’ of officers was the culture of the previous BJP government headed by PK Dhumal which instituted false cases against him.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

CAMPUS

HIGHER EDUCATION The country has witnessed massive growth in past few years so far as the number of higher education institutes is concerned. But, as is bemoaned by one and all, the quality has been the real victim of the fast growth. If the quality has to be improved, many policy initiatives are needed. The focus should be to enforce high standard of transparency on them as the first step. By Dr Pushker Srivastava

ndian higher education has expanded at a break-neck speed. Between 2006-07 and 2011-12, post-secondary student enrolments grew by nearly 9.4 million students. In the same five-year period, the number of institutions increased by 58 per cent from 29,384 to 46,430. But this much needed expansion came at the expense of quality, primarily due to an inadequate and incoherent policy and legal framework. One of the most challenging problems facing Indian higher education institutions is funding mechanisms and trained professional faculty. According to the policy framework, institutions are required to have a non-profit structure, irrespective of how they are funded—by public sources or private. At the same time,

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

degree-awarding powers rest only with universities as specified by the University Grants Commission.

A complex system The act has resulted in a unique and complex system of hundreds of ‘teaching’ colleges – private or public – ‘affiliated’ with public universities. Public universities themselves can be funded by state or central government sources. To achieve the goals of expanding access to higher education given the constraints of public funding, privately-funded universities were allowed. These private universities in turn can be approved by state acts or the central authority, UGC. This complex framework resulted in four types of universities in India – central universities, state universities, private universities and deemed to be universities which are

mostly private. The complexity is further compounded because of the large number of regulatory bodies that sometimes have overlapping scope, resulting in power struggles and additional confusion for stakeholders. Consider the recent example of the conflict between the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on the regulatory jurisdiction for management programmes. Regulatory bodies are seeking ways to work around the politics of Indian higher education. In May last year, the UGC announced that existing and future partnerships would require their approval to offer any joint degrees or twinning arrangements. The policy vacuum resulted in many twinning partnerships and a few branch campuses starting without any regulatory oversight. Unsurprisingly, quality is at risk and students are often deceived by the high cost and the lack of recognition of the degree they earn.

Transparency of information for students Overall, the regulatory environment

CAMPUS

WITH TRANSPARENCY for Indian higher education is complex and fails to improve its quality and address deficiencies. One of the key solutions for addressing the challenges of higher education is to improve accessibility to credible, consistent and current information about institutional performance. The current policy reform directions are seriously limited by the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s political approach of using control and bureaucracy as a way of assuring quality rather than using transparency for empowering students and fostering competition. One specific recommendation for achieving transparency goals is to mandate high standards of institutional performance data disclosures by institutions. These data could be uploaded to a userfriendly and easy-to-use national database. Hence, students would be able to make informed choices based on the data they have obtained. Consider the case of regulation in the financial system. How is transparency ensured in publicly traded companies? It is through mandatory and easily available audited financial reports coupled with strict oversight by the financial regulator. In contrast, the parallel information of institutional performance for higher education institutions is unavailable. This results

For achieving transparency, performance data disclosures for the based on various parameters. institutions should be made colleges Since the students have easy access mandatory. These data to comparable information on each could be uploaded to a user- collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s institutional performance, they can decide on the programmes they friendly and easy-to-use wish to pursue and in the process create national database website. a state of enhanced competition among institutions. In addition, policy-makers Students then would be and researchers also have access to rich data and this can help improve the able to make informed education system. choices based on the data Consequences of available to them. rapid growth

in all sorts of academic, financial, regulatory and marketing malpractices.

Transparency of the US system As applied in the US, transparency through data reporting and information sharing is an important policy-tool enforced by the US Department of Education where the National Center for Education Statistics collects, collates, analyses and reports on American education. Data reported by the institutions are uploaded to a free website, namely College Navigator, enabling students to search and compare

Indian higher education has expanded at a fast rate and the policy framework has failed to adapt and change its complex system. The system has remained embroiled in the politics of policy-making and suffered in terms of quality. Given the pace of growth and unmet demand, the success of higher education lies in finding adaptable and innovative solutions. A focus on enforcing higher standards of transparency should be the first step in enabling a stronger institutional accountability and addressing the complexities and challenges of Indian higher education.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

CAMPUS

What is deemed varsity status? nlike traditional universities, a deemed university cannot have several colleges or institutions affiliated to them. Thus a deemed university is a stand-alone institute empowered to grant its own degrees to its students. They have a legal status equal to that of a university. Of the total 129 deemed universities, 74 were established during 20022008; Tamil Nadu had the highest number of themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; 29. The main advantage of a deemed university is that it becomes eligible for financial grant from the UGC. In 1958 there were just two deemed universities. But later this status was misused and their functioning drew a lot of criticism. Many of them were virtually teaching shops. Even the Supreme Court had once expressed concern over the corruption: how they got the status without proper infrastructure and educational standards. Some deemed universities even did not have proper class rooms, what to say of quality education!<

CLEAN-CHIT MOVE TO DEEMED UNIVERSITIES FOILED

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The soul of the UGC gets transformed with every change of government at the Centre. This proved true again this time when the higher education regulator changed its stance on the Four- Year Undergraduate Programme in Delhi University. This also reflected in its u-turn in the case of those deemed universities which faced de-recognition. While it was hell-bent earlier on derecognizing 44 deemed universities (which could be stopped only through the intervention of the apex court), in August it gave clean chit to 34 of the errant universities and declared them eligible for recognition. The enlightenment came after listening to presentations made by the university representatives. The Supreme Court intervened again to stop this new move and ordered the UGC to do physical verification of 41 disqualified deemed universities. A five-member committee has been formed to do the job.

CAMPUS By Bodhi Shri

he issue of fraud in seeking recognition and running teaching shops as deemed universities has not been taken to its logical conclusion yet. Stringent norms were framed for the purpose in 2010. One Tandon Committee examined the claims of these 126 universities and found that at least 44 of them did not deserve the august status at all. But thousands of students, teachers and parents panicked and rushed to the Supreme Court to seek relief from the onslaught of the government. Even now thousands of students of 41 deemed universities facing derecognition are unsure of the status of their degrees. As the last date for the next hearing of the apex court approached, a report prepared by the Devraj Committee said that 34 of the 41 universities qualified for the deemed university status and only seven needed to be derecognized. The issue took on a sense of urgency after the new government assumed power. The UGC promptly formed a committee in the month of June to verify the claims of the universities. It was claimed that it had not enough time to physically verify the claims of the universities; so it relied on the video presentations made by them. One aggrieved university challenged this procedure and asked how things could be ascertained merely on the basis of photographs and videos. The appalled Supreme Court rightly ordered for the physical verification of all 41 deemed universities’ claims about infrastructure and other facilities. The UGC accordingly formed a five-member committee to do exactly that. To weed out the rot, the HRD ministry had constituted Tandon committee in 2009. It made an assessment of all deemed universities through photographs and videos and classified all 126 universities into three categories -A, B and C on the basis of 9 parameters like conformity to the provisions of the UGC Act and guidelines, aspects of governance, quality of teaching and learning HRD Minister Smriti Irani process, innovations in teachinglearning process, research output, number and quality of PhDs and other research

Deemed university status was initially intended to honour certain institutes of excellence so that they could give their own degrees and did not have to suffer the indignity of being under the control of affiliating universities which usually offered inferior education compared to them. But soon this arrangement became a big racket and easy tool for amassing illegal wealth. In five years from 2002 their number increased rapidly, thanks to the policies of late Arjun Singh, then Union HRD minister. When uproar grew against the questionable quality of these universities—some of them did not have even basic facilities like proper class-rooms, what to say of quality education—the next HRD minister Kapil Sibal tried to make the rules truly stringent for such universities. A Tandon Committee was formed by the ministry to verify claims of these universities. It found that 44 universities of the total 126 did not deserve this status at all. But when the UPA government initiated action to de-notify their deemed university status, the aggrieved parties rushed to the Supreme Court which stopped the government’s move on the ground that it would create havoc in the academic field and lakhs of students would be punished for no fault of theirs. The court ordered the government to find a constructive solution. A committee was formed accordingly to reassess the claims of the errant universities. This committee under H Devraj verified the claims of these disqualified universities on the basis of presentations made before it towards August end this year and declared in September that only seven universities ought to be de-recognized. The Supreme Court was appalled at the cavalier manner in which it was done and ordered to verify the claims of each university physically.

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

CAMPUS programmes, faculty resources, admission process and award of degrees. Based on these parameters, Tandon committee had put 44 universities into ‘C’ category, declaring them unfit to continue with the deemed university status. Then also the question was raised, how things could be verified reliably by photos and videos. Of these 44, two universities themselves surrendered the deemed varsity status, while one was converted into a centre of national importance. When it became clear that in one go 44 universities would lose their right to issue degrees, panic gripped students, university managements and academicians. They approached the Supreme Court. At least half of the reputed names in the legal world

appeared in defence of the aggrieved universities citing students’ interests. They punched holes in the Tandon committee report and termed its classification of universities into A, B and C as arbitrary. They also argued that the Tandon Committee had no legal validity. Why the HRD ministry was taking action on the basis of the report of such a committee, they asked. Some of them demanded physical verification of all 126 deemed universities. However, the court turned down their request and ordered physical verification of only 44 universities which were found in category-C. People connected with the issue point out that physical verification may turn out to be embarrassing for the UGC as there were bound to be stark

The seven deemed universities which, according to Devraj Committee, faced de-recognition on being found not to have improved their system even after four-five years are: Manav Rachna International University (Faridabad), Maharshi Markandeshwar University (Mullana-Ambala), Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation (Salem), Academy of Maritime Education and Training (Karathur), Bharat Institute of Higher Education and Research (Chennai), Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Technology and Science (Thanjavur) and Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (Sardarshahr). They scored very poorly on requisite parameters.

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differences between the two assessments. This may put the UGC as well as the HRD ministry in the dock. Interestingly, the UGC was not happy with the court order because it had already made physical verification of claims of these universities before granting them deemed university status. Besides, it argued that even physical verification might not be fool-proof as people who go for physical verification could be bribed. There is no gainsaying that thousands of students and their parents are on tenterhooks at the latest development. They feel that after the court’s grim order these universities would finally fulfill all the stipulations but the uncertainty refuses to go. The HRD ministry and the UGC say that all steps are being taken to ensure that the students’ future is not compromised. In fact the Tandon Committee itself had suggested measures to safeguard the interests of the students. It had pointed out how such de-recognized universities could still run as colleges and seek affiliation with some state university after fulfilling all the criterion and conditions.<

TECHNOLOGY By Our Staff Writer

ndroid means ‘a robot with a human appearance’, but it is now known more as a Linuxbased open-source operating system which is the technology leader today in the world of smartphone. This operating system, also used for tablet computers, was developed by rat-tag software enthusiasts of Android Incorporation in 2003. It soon caught the attention of

ANDROID JALEBI! Google which bought it in 2005. After buying Android, Google initiated Open Handset Alliance with 84 different manufacturers to develop an open source code for smartphones in 2007. Google also launched its own Nexus series of phones, in 2010. Thus Android platform helped coming together of several hardware and software companies. Chipset manufacturers like Qualcomm and Texas Instruments also joined in. Incidentally, one of the major chipsets used in Mangalyaan by ISRO is sourced from Texas Instruments. Have you ever wondered what went behind the making of touch screen interface? It is an offshoot of defence research for application in fighter jets. While carrying out speedy manoeuvres, fighter pilot’s vision goes slightly blurred due to tremendous gravitational force. It takes a couple of seconds for the vision to return to normal. But the on-board computers in the fighter jets

need the pilot’s immediate attention and inputs. Bright icons with high contrast background help the pilot punch in his inputs on a touch screen faster and more accurately. Basically, a touch screen can compress 100 application inputs into one screen, as small icons and subicons. Smartphones are also being made for various uses like as a TV Remote or a hand-held control of a Game. Touch screen is a blessing for common mobile phone users. Android One- based smartphones which are quite cheap and recommended for those who

is called Lollipop. Going by sweet dishes, what about naming the future versions as Android Jalebi followed by Android Rabri! Sounds more like Indian, and definitely less robotic. Security concerns do exist in smartphone use. This year in the third week of October, Indian Air Force asked its personnel not to use Xiaomi Redmi1S smartphones. It is an Android model of which more than a million handsets have been sold in India. The craze continues unabated, the phone being cheaper and richer in specifications. The mad rush is so much that Flipkart opens

In western countries all the mobile phones have touch screen. Android makes it possible for people of developing countries also to enjoy the marvels of this technology. But beware! The Big Brother is keeping a tab on you….

are going to buy their first smartphone have been launched in developing countries. For the first time in the world, it was launched in India in September 2014. Soon it would be available in Nepal, Philippines, Thailand and the African continent. In the West, high-end Apple and Samsung rule the roost. Interestingly, Google names all its Android software updates after sugary deserts. Cupcake was followed by Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean and then KitKat. The latest launch was in the last week of October 2014. It

its sale only for a day every week-Tuesday-- for which the registration goes on the entire week. There are reports that the lot booked over a week gets sold within few seconds. The reason why IAF software security experts put a bar on its use by its personnel is that it sends usage and phonebook contents to a server in Beijing surreptitiously! In Google phones also this risk of being snooped exists, not by China but by the National Security Agency of America. Data mining is said to happen all the time in Google phones and browsers, though there is a provision, but not followed, to take the consent of the user. Wikileaks warns that Google is a CIA infested company, and NSA snoops on all Google data. To avoid this, what should we do? Manufacture our own chipsets and our own smart phones software versions.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

HEALTH IS WEALTH

BARIATRIC SURGERY: DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T THROW CAUTION TO WIND Bariatric surgery is a new fad among people desirous of losing their pounds and unwilling to change their faulty life style. Surprisingly, some doctors too routinely advise this as a quick-fix method of weight-loss. However, the surgery is fraught with many risks and the awareness about them is found lacking among people who go for this surgical option.

By Dr P K Mukherjee

hese days we are hearing a lot about obesity or gastric bypass operations. These are weight loss surgeries which, in medical terms, are known as bariatric surgeries. Ideally, this kind of surgery should be undertaken by patients who have uncontrollable diabetes; and, therefore, they have the risk of developing comorbidities. This means the patients who are at the risk of falling prey to adverse effects of diabetes such as kidney failure, effect on vision etc are advised to undergo bariatric surgery. However, with rising obesity rates in India more and more people are seeking surgery for weight loss. In a way, this has caught up like a fashion with even

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teenagers (below the age of nineteen) undergoing this surgery. Bariatric surgery is a surgical procedure in which the stomach is attached to the middle of small intestine. This allows the food to bypass the part of the small intestine that absorbs most of the calories available from the food we take. In a way, bariatric surgery changes the way in which the body absorbs nutrients. However, bariatric surgery has its own pitfalls and attendant risks. A person undergoing this surgery may develop infection or complications. Short term risks associated with the surgery include respiratory problem, infection, lung collapse and haemorrhage etc. Long term risks may include nutritional deficiencies such as anaemia, osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease and complications like abdominal hernias that may require follow-up operations. Therefore, patients must be clearly told about these short term as well as long term effects of bariatric surgery before they opt for

HEALTH IS WEALTH

this surgical route for weight loss. Bariatric surgery costs up to 3 lakh or more in India. Therefore, obese diabetic patients, who can well afford the treatment cost and moreover who do not have the time or patience to make lifestyle changes, are often tempted to go in for this surgery without bothering about its consequences. However, it must not be forgotten that bariatric surgery is not

this argument because they are sceptical about the efficacy of this surgical procedure and they all raise worrying questions about its safety. They caution that patients above the age of 65 and below 18 as well as those with uncontrolled thyroid conditions, hormonal imbalances and depression should in no case be advised to undergo this surgery. It is not that these apprehensions about the safety of gastric bypass operation are

infection that developed after he underwent a gastric bypass surgery in not too distant a past. Obese, diabetic patients undergoing bariatric surgery may, after a few years, again start putting on weight. This is the clear indication of remission. Therefore, remission can take place even after the surgery putting the patient in a still worse condition. The remission rate in some cases is very high, about 90-95 %.Under these circumstances, is it advisable to blindly go in for bariatric surgery? The answer is it is best to

a quick-fix i.e. a sure shot â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for diabetes. Despite its limitations, some doctors advise patients routinely to undergo this surgery. They say that although bariatric surgery is offset by initial high cost and risks for surgical complications, it does result in substantial weight loss with excellent diabetes control. Still, there are many in the medical community who do not buy

without a basis. There are many cases of weight loss surgery which have gone awry and the patients have succumbed to complications. A glaring example of case in point is that of the 48-year old TV actor Rakesh Diwana who, earlier this year, died in an Indore hospital after undergoing this surgery. Also, one of the senior cabinet ministers has recently been hospitalised, probably owing to an

exercise caution and wait for the results of well designed trials so that the long term effects of the surgery are finally brought to the fore with some degree of certainty. At any rate, it is better to observe good health practices like doing exercise and making lifestyle changes. This will not only help control weight but also lead to better diabetes management in the bargain.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

ACTIVISM CLEARS-UP POLICY CHAOS Finally, sanity is returning to government’s policy on allocation of natural resources to private parties following two major Supreme Court verdicts—on 2-G spectrum and captive coal mines. The ripple effect is already felt as the Modi government raised natural gas price only moderately as against trying to double it by the UPA government earlier. 68

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By Vinod Varshney

he Modi government is taking quick follow up actions after the cancellation of 214 coalmine licences issued by the governments of Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh over the years. The Supreme Court had found these allocations ‘arbitrary’, ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional’ and cancelled them. Much credit goes to the anti-corruption and RTI activists and law courts for getting the Augean stables cleaned. It may be recalled that Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai had observed a fast from 26 July 2012 to 3 August 2012 demanding investigation into the coal scam.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

On getting no response, the matter was taken to the Supreme Court. What is happening now in the aftermath of the SC verdict in the coalscam, is a repeat of what was done by the Manmohan Singh government in creating a fair and transparent system for auctioning the spectrum after the devastating verdict on 2-G rejecting the ‘first-come, first-served’ policy in place since the previous NDA days. To catch up with the SC deadline of 1 April 2015, the government has already issued an ordinance for carrying

out e-auction of 74 coal blocks in the first phase—42 operational and 32 in line to start production. The ordinance would have to be converted into an Act during the winter session of parliament. These mines of which licences were cancelled would be offered afresh only to those companies who have projects in notified end-uses such as steel, power, cement and coal washing. One great thing about the new policy is that convicted companies would not be allowed to participate in the auction. To fix a reserve price international market would form the basis. Since the earlier allottees made investments in land and machineries etc, they would be compensated from the money realised from the auctions. Rest of the money would go to the states where the mines are situated. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha thus would be the main beneficiary while Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh would also gain. Sources say the government may set up a Directorate-General of Coal on the lines of the DirectorateGeneral of Hydrocarbons to carry out the auctions. Industry as a whole is happy, especially because the ordinance allows commercial mining also, which is being seen as a step prior to de-nationalisation of the coal sector. The government is extremely cautious at this stage and has assured that the public sector Coal India Ltd, responsible for more than 80 percent of coal mining in the country would remain untouched. However, the proposed Bill intended to replace the ordinance would have an enabling provision for future de-nationalisation. Given the strike threat from the entire spectrum of trade unions, the government has no option but to defer the de-nationalisation plan despite immense pressure from the industry to do it right now. The first unsuccessful attempt to de-nationalize was made by the Vajpayee government in 2000, but the Bill had to be shelved amidst strong opposition from trade unions and left parties.

Another important policy decision is that government would give out coalmines to state and central public sector units directly without resorting to auction. There is some pressure that the government should give preference to those captive block allottees who have operational or soon to be operational projects. The government seems to be in no mood to buckle under this pressure.

Natural gas price hiked moderately Just before the Lok Sabha elections, the Manmohan Singh government’s decision of doubling the natural gas prices had become a blistering political controversy after Arvind Kejriwal as chief minister had ordered the AntiCorruption Bureau of the Delhi government to file an FIR against the then union petroleum and natural gas minister Veerappa Moily, Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and some senior officers, and investigate the alleged conspiracy to double the natural gas price from $4.2 mmBtu to $8.4. Kejriwal had also dug out an old letter written by the Gujarat government under Narendra Modi to raise the natural gas price to $12 for the state’s public sector company. A PIL was finally filed in the Supreme Court challenging the UPA government’s decision to double the gas price by some eminent citizens. A plea was made to the Election Commission also to block implementation of the decision during elections, which it acceded to. Not just the AAP, several political parties had voiced their concern at the attempt to double the natural gas price. For example, the AIADMK’s election manifesto said that people were the owner of natural resources of the country and producercontractors could not claim international price for national resources. Left parties were wholeheartedly in agreement with this view. Seeing that the matter is before the Supreme Court, the Modi government

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Deep-water drilling for gas

is extremely circumspect in deciding on the hike. The imminent assembly elections of Haryana and Maharashtra also dissuaded the government from taking any precipitate action. Meanwhile two things happened making it easy for the government. One, the BJP won both the assembly elections and second, fortuitously international prices of crude fell steeply since the BJP assumed power at the Centre. Brent crude prices came down from $115 to $85 a barrel in a few monthsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time. It gave confidence to the Modi government to change the price formula worked out by C Rangarajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank, and take out the price of imported LNG from the basket to determine the international price. The new price worked out is $5.61 mmbtu in place of $8.4. But a new provision has been created that the price would change every six months depending upon the international market prices. This means if the international prices of crude and natural gas go up, Indian natural gas price will also rise. Not just this, the government has also decided to give additional incentive in the form of higher price for deep-water exploration. The government pursued the UPA

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policy of allowing Reliance Industries Ltd the hiked price only when the company produced the entire quota of gas according to the production agreement. The company had been accused of deliberately hamper gas production waiting for the price-hike. Soon after the hike the natural gas distribution company Indraprastha Gas Ltd decided to increase CNG prices by Rs 4.50 per unit and domestic gas prices by Rs 2.66 per unit in Delhi. The rate of subsidized gas cylinder has also been raised. The decision is going to impact the prices of fertilizer and power. The estimated power price increase would be around Rs 0.85 per unit. But luckily at this juncture only 57 percent of electricity production is gas-based. To offset this price rise the government simultaneously announced a cut in diesel price by Rs 3.37 per litre. The demand was already becoming a chorus following the sharp fall in crude prices in international markets. Diesel price-reduction came as a big relief for the public which had suffered by the decision of the UPA government to raise its price every month by Rs 0.50. The process had started 19 months ago when the international financial agencies threatened to downgrade

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sovereign rating if it did not reduce its alarmingly high fiscal and current account deficits. Despite general elections looming large, the UPA government took the extremely unpopular decision to increase the diesel prices by Rs 0.50 per month till the subsidy burden did not come down to tolerable limits. It occurred in early September only. The far bigger decision on the diesel front is to deregulate its prices which cheered up the industry immensely. Now international market price would determine the Indian diesel price. Petrol had been deregulated earlier by the UPA government. Deregulation of diesel will not only ease the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fiscal situation but will also spur investment in exploration and production, as the upstream companies would not bleed anymore by being forced to sell cheaper the fuel which is imported at higher rate. The NDA government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee had also deregulated diesel, but withdrew the decision after a few months when the international crude price started rising alarmingly. Seeing the fate of the earlier attempt, the UPA government did not dare to do it again.<

SPORT

ASIAN GAMES AND ECONOMIC PENDULUM

India with a total of 57 medals ended at the 8th place in the recently held Asian Games while China with 342 medals was at the top. China is a different proposition but what about the others. People take to sport willingly, and for pleasure and competition. And in the present day for big money! But what is holding India back? Indiansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attitude! They show so much dedication and devotion when it concerns religion and accompanying rituals, but for sportâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;none!

By Ramu Sharma

he first Asian Games, held in New Delhi in 1951, heralded freedom from colonial shackles for most part of the

continent. India was the unquestioned leader of the freshly unearthed free countries and arguably the most vocal. Japan, rededicating itself after the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and brushing aside the defeat in the World War II, proudly lorded over the Games in an imperial manner while India, slowly shaking itself out of lethargy of centuries of slavery, put up a brave face. Iran was the other country which brought up its

fiercely challenging front from the other participating nations. China which had survived a Japanese invasion followed by a massive ideological war fought in every city and street to attain stability as one country in 1949, did not take part. It was to remain out of the international sports orbit for another decade till the Asian Games in Teheran in 1974. It then took another ten years to descend on the international arena and shake the world. This was the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984. Come now to the recent Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea. The year now is 2014 and one wonders if it is the same world of 1951! What a great contrast among the participating teams and what a great difference between the

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

SPORT

Asian Games 2014 Medals Tally Rank Country

Gold Silver

China

149

107

337

Kuwait

Korea

228

Myanmar

Japan

195

Vietnam

Kazakhstan

Philippines

Iran

Pakistan

Thailand

Tajikistan

DPR Korea

Iraq

India

UAE

Qatar

Sri Lanka

Chinese Taipei

Cambodia

Uzbekistan

Macau

Bahrain

Kyrgyzstan

Hong Kong

Jordan

Malaysia

Turkmenistan

Singapore

Bangladesh

Mongolia

Afghanistan

Indonesia

Laos

Saudi Arabia

Lebanon

Nepal

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Bronze

Total

Rank Country

Gold Silver Bronze

Total

SPORT struggling, war-torn nations of those years with the industrial giants of the present day. And of India, the most vocal among the participants then, a leader of the aspiring nations, and almost at a standstill on the sports field with little to define outside of it. China, Japan and Korea are among the leading industrial nations of the world while India is considered among the developing countries, the future

84 bronze while third place Japan, the original champion nation has 47 gold, 76 silver and 77 bronze to total 200 medals. What has India, the shining democracy got in comparison? India is gloating over the fact that it beat its traditional rival, Pakistan, to win the hockey gold. For the rest it has been dwarfed into nothingness compared to the top three teams. It has an overall

the world hail from industrially favoured nations. That these countries also lay emphasis on sport and outdoor life is another matter. India is not in a position to match, say the Chinese. In fact few nations are. Sport in China is not optional and competence in a discipline is monitored. Every champion is selected at a young age, his physical and mental aptitude test, his body chemistry is studied before putting him through rigors of training under expert guidance. And everything is done on a mass scale. For every champion China fronts, there is at least a hundred or more in the waiting list. India certainly cannot match China in both mental and physical sense. It is a different ball game altogether.

What is holding India back?

economic giants. But with a proviso, a shameful tag of an enormous poverty level and lamenting worldwide that toilet is not an accepted facility and there is dirt all around and the country needs to be swept clean. That too because Mahatma Gandhi said so! It says much for the country that it has to resurrect Mahatma Gandhi in order to clean up its premises. A look at the medals tally in the Incheon Games and the story is there for everyone to read. China which had led the medals tally in every Asian Games after the 1974 edition has a total of 342 out of which 151 are gold, 108 silver and 83 bronze. Then comes hosts South Korea whose total of 234 is made up of 79 gold, 71 silver and

tally of 57 medals comprising 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze. The medals graph as well as the progress chart of the top three countries, and India at the 8th position indicates how poorly India has progressed during the past 60 odd years. With the possible exception of Japan India was on equal terms with China and Korea and other Asian nations in 1951. And just look at the difference between the top three countries and India. What is overlooked in India is that achievement in sports is closely linked with progress in economy? One look at the top performers on the sports field is enough. With rare exception the top sportsmen and sportswomen in

China is a different proposition but what about the others. People take to sport willingly and both for pleasure and competition. And in the present day for big money! What then is holding India back? The old complaint of lack of equipment and facilities do not hold good anymore. Considerable amount of money and material has been poured to help out sportspersons. And any number of foreign coaches has been employed at huge salaries to train the aspiring players. But the returns are far from encouraging. The sportspersons are still grumbling. Agreed, much more can be done by the government but there has to be more than adequate response. Frankly the continuing stagnation or lack of competitive progress among the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sportspersons defies logic. What else can one say when with each passing international competition it is the same story. Perhaps not much effort is being made to match international standards. It is a pity. Indians show so much dedication and devotion when it concerns religion and accompanying rituals. Why not the same for sport?<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

FILMWORLD

READY TO DO A SEX COMEDY:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

In what way has the action scenario changed over the year? oday the times are different and there is not much risk when a producer sets out to make an action packed film unlike in the past because then producer insures the film as well as

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the actor , who is playing the risky role in his film. Action has changed over the years and is well groomed now though it was very raw earlier. I remember when I used to jump from choppers, air bags were never there. In AAWARA PAAGAL DEEWANA, it was I who introduced the cable. I prefer to do all the action on my own because I enjoy

doing such roles. How do you keep the actor in you alive? t is every actorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hunger and thirst to do different types of roles instead of getting typecast for all the time. You will not see me at all in similar kinds of

FILMWORLD

AKSHAY your doorstep, you will see me in dynamically different roles in my forthcoming films like BABY and GABBAR, which are ready for release. How would you describe yourself as a producer? ven as a producer, I do not want to play safe and produce only formula based films with an eye on the box office. I want to produce different kinds of films like I made HOLIDAY and FUGLY, which are as different as chalk is from cheese or for that matter a Marathi film like 72 Miles-Ek Pravaas, which was also an entirely different film altogether.

What suggestion do you want to give to the government at the Centre? hope the new government makes martial arts a compulsory subject for every student in every school, because I feel that knowing martial arts will help the students much more than knowing what Sodium Nitrate is. I make it a point to train students in martial arts for three years and even send them abroad for further training.

What ails Indian Cinema today? e have content in India, though unfortunately we do not have the kind of budgets that Hollywood makers have at their disposal to make a GODZILLA. Abroad, they make a film with a budget of 135 million dollars. It is creditable that in our country, when filmmakers set out to make their films, they have trust in themselves and go ahead and make films with a lot of conviction

roles. As an actor, I have to diversify all the time, because I am of the opinion that if you are repetitive, the media will be the first to catch you and make you realize it. That is the reason I keep on producing as well acting in different genres of films. Though you do not always get wonderful script like OH MY GOD at

comedy is a good genre. I have already done GARAM MASALA long before MASTI or GRAND MASTI came up. It is after all just a film and you are doing a character. It does not mean that you turn a sex maniac and vulgarity does not become part of your life if you set out to do a sex comedy. Is your wife Twinkle contemplating on staging her comeback as an actress in films? ina has her own life. When I asked Tina recently, she confessed to me that she has no plans to stage her comeback as an actress. Today she is so busy that she does not have time even to read the scripts that I get.

Do you plan to induct your son Aarav too as an actor? want my son Aarav to lead a normal life. It is too early for us to decide on what exactly he would become. Right now, he is happy in his space in school. Tina and I are proud that recently he had won a gold medal in Judo.

On what basis do you choose your heroines? t is the director who decides which heroine will work opposite me. I do not take the final call. I have worked with several new actresses. I was Bipasha’s leading man in her first film AJNABEE, Priyanka Chopra’s hero in her first film ANDAAZ. Now, after working with Sonakshi Sinha in HOLIDAY, Tamannah Bhatia in ITS ENTERTAINMENT, I am working with Tapsee Pannu in BABY.

Okay, what’s next? Are you open to be part of a sex comedy? am not averse to doing any kind of a film, including a sex comedy. Sex

he Shaukeens opposite Lisa Haydon, directed by Abhishek Sharma will be the first to release soon.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

FILMWORLD

WHEN SHARMAN JOSHI MADE REKHA EMOTIONAL! harman Joshi who has been whipped up in a viral frenzy thanks to the debut of his extremely touching and emotional video on mothers has revealed that he only put up the video post showing it for approval to none other than Rekha, his SUPER NANI co-star! Sharman first showed the video to Rekha, on his laptop she got emotional! Rekha was choked up with tears but blessed Sharman for making it! Directed by Indra Kumar and produced by Indra Kumar and Ashok Thakeria, SUPER NANI is an ode to woman power. For Sharman, every day is a Mother’s Day. The short film, which also stars Sharman, revolves around an incident wherein Sharman sees an office colleague scolding his mother for calling him up in the middle of work and starts telling his colleagues about how some people work throughout the year and even during festivals without a single holiday and without any salary. When his colleagues scoff at this and demand to know the identity of such people, Sharman discloses that he was talking about mothers, who slog for their families. As realization sinks in, the colleague, who had spoken rudely to his mother, decides to call her back.<

BADLAPUR BOYS IS REMAKE OF TAMIL HIT VENNILA KABADDI f LAGAAN was on cricket and CHAK DE INDIA on hockey, producer Satish Pillangwad is now all set to come up with his film BADLAPUR BOYS, directed by Sailesh Verma, which will eulogize the game of kabaddi. The film starring FTII graduate Nishan Nanaiah was last seen in Subhsh Ghai’s film CYCLE KICK, which incidentally was on football. The film also stars Saranya Mohan, Kishori Shahane, Annu Kapoor and Aman Verma. It is the remake of the hit Tamil film VENNILA KABADI which was directed by Susindran in 2009. Though the renowned editor A Muthu who has edited more than 50 films like SADAK, DEEWANA, BALWAN, RAJA BABU, JUDWA, ZIDDI, HASEENA MAAN JAYEGI etc had bought the remake rights of film VENNILA KABADI, he chose just to edit the film and had relinquished the rights to Satish. BADLAPUR BOYS deals with a plot of social family romantic drama with sports as a backdrop and the lead hero Nishan Nanaiah, who is quite popular in Malayalam films, states that people who have dreams of being successful will surely connect with the subject.<

NOVEMBER, 2014 LOKAYAT |

BOOK By Our Literary Critic

ndia is a country which has a rich tradition and long history of joint family system. However, it has come to a stage now that if a husband and wife stay together, it is called a ‘joint family.’ What a pity! Happy, stable marital relationships are not built on just romantic love but on intimacy and understanding. That’s why they don’t usually last, except on celluloid. It is said marriages are made in heaven. Perhaps, they are broken on earth. At the rate the ancient institution is crumbling, couples are thinking twice

disappointment, the couple begins to think their marriage is a mistake. The feelings of trust, the sense of well being, the illusion of oneness, are shattered, and they lose their intimate connection. What ails the ancient and most enduring institution called marriage? Why are more and more couples caught in endless circles of conflict and despair? Why more and more couples

HOW TO OVERCOME TROUBLED RELATIONSHIPS? before tying the holy knot. Even a small issue can result in a break-up these days. For a marriage to survive, a couple need to become involved in a dynamic, interactional process, one that draws them together into a relationship in which they both take responsibility for meeting the other’s needs and resolving the problems that emerge. Through this process, they achieve a sense of mutual love, acceptance and intimacy that will last. Marriages are evolved around certain human values such as integrity, honesty, sacrifice, forgiveness, harmony, unity, etc. Many couples, however, find themselves totally unprepared to deal with the conflicts and problems that gradually begin to accumulate in their marriage. Without knowing exactly what the problem is, they become aware of a growing sense of frustration and hurt and a deepening sense of unrest over their loss of intimacy and understanding. As their relationship becomes overwhelmed with feelings of

| LOKAYAT NOVEMBER, 2014

Title

: Couples in Harmony Nine keys to enriching Relationships Authors : Dr Sujatha D Sharma and Dr Avdesh Sharma Publisher : Pentagon Press Pages : 315 Price : Rs 295

are allowed to fall apart? Why is the rate of divorce cases on the increase in India? The book ‘Couples in Harmony’ makes an attempt to extract the salient features of premarital and marital counseling approaches into a self-help format that gives insights into the readers’ own discordant relationship with his/her partner. Co-authored by doctor couple and mental health professionals Sujatha D Sharma and Avdesh Sharma, the book tries to find solutions to the serious problem that has confronted contemporary society. The book includes several case illustrations and practical techniques to solving

relationship problems. The unique aspect of the 315-page book is navratnas (nine gems) that reflect nine different relationship dimensions that are keys to positive growth among young married couples. The nine keys, according to the authors, open the door to success and satisfaction in committed and marital relationships. The nine keys are: respect, freedom, cooperation, compassion, selflessness, trust, honesty, tolerance and courage. The authors also advice couple who are going through tough times and rough patches in their intimate relationships to seek help of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists to strengthen the marital bonds. If we really value harmony in our relationships with others, we will make it happen. If we give greater important to proving ourselves right and our own ego, then there will be a constant feeling of superiority and inferiority which breeds conflict. If we keep reminding ourselves of the desirability of harmony we won’t allow ourselves to become cantankerous and miserable; we will work hard to think of others. When you have differences that divide you there is only one way to find agreement and restore the harmony you desire, and that is by finding a compromise with one another. Compromise is achieved when both partners make concessions that enable them to find middle ground. Compromise or give-and-take is surely missing in today’s young couple and that is the main reason for the large percentage of divorces in our society. The authors emphasise that young couples ‘need to adorn themselves and their relationships with appropriate core attributes to truly enhance and empower their marital lives.’ Young couples who go astray could benefit if they strictly follow the guidelines given by the authors to create harmony in their marital life. The basic problem in today’s world is that everybody talks of rights but no one talks about duties. The ball is now in the young couples’ court!<