Vol 5 < Issue 5 < July, 2015 < INSIDE
6 Group Editor M.K. Tiwari Editor Vinod Varshney Executive Editor Dr. Bhagya Rajeshwari Ratna Assistant Editor Anjalika Rajlakshmi Campus Editor Adithi Sonali Cine Editor Meera Singh Special Correspondent A.K. Chaturvedi Regional Editor M.P. Aaditya Tewari Regional Editor C.G. Gopal Thawait Senior Graphic Designer Ashi Sinha 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 M.P. : Paraspar Colony, Chunabhatti, Kolar Road, Bhopal-462003 Ph.: 0755-4030162 E-mail : lokayat01@gmail.com C.G. : Thawait Bhawan, Kankali Talab, Main Road, Raipur Ph.: 0771-4221188 E-mail: lokayat_rpr@yahoo.com Sub Office Ram Bhawan, Manohar Cinema, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh Ph.: 07752-428835 E-mail: lokayat_bsp@yahoo.com Head Office 133, Pkt-D, Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Delhi-110091 Ph.: 011-22723900, 32550442, 43062417, 43082859 E-mail: lokayat01@gmail.com Subscription: For 3 year : Rs. 1,500.00 For 5 years : Rs. 2,500.00 For 10 years : Rs. 5,000.00 (Inclusive of postal charges)
Haryana 24 All is ‘Not’ well in Haryana Punjab 32 Gurdaspur attack and after ….
Bihar elections to decide direction of national politics
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Himachal Pradesh
34
Law of the land for tribal women Uttarakhand 36 Uncertainty continues over dams in Uttarakhand Gujarat 38
Should same-sex marriage be a private affair?
Give reservation benefit to those who really deserve West bengal
40
Mamata’s London dream
19 Beginning of a new future in Nagaland
Rajasthan 44 Dangawas killing exposes continuing caste oppression Jammu & kashmir
50
Unprecedented protest against BJP in Jammu
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Andhra pradesh
52
Drought forces migration
Delhi will grow vertical like Shanghai
Kerala 55 Kochi, the world’s first solar-powered airport
REGULARS < 05 With Candour < 64 Sport < 71 Business & Economy < 58 Campus < 68 Health is Wealth < 74 Filmworld <78 Funny Times
Website: lokayat.co.in Published, printed, edited & owned by M.K. Tiwari Published from 133, Pocket-D, Mayur Vihar Phase-II, Delhi-91 Printed at Vrindaban Graphic, E-34, Sector-7, Noida (U.P.)
Letters in sizes to earn profit no matter they are unhealthy to eat. We throw puja samagri after performing yagnas. Bhai, Indians are irreparable creatures since ages. Therefore Ganga and for that matter all other rivers will never be clean no matter how much Anuj Sinha and his ilk write. You need to have a huge cultural cleanliness drive before you even think of cleaning Ganga. A K Sharma, Ranchi (Jharkhand)
The Future of God
Seema Qureshie is right about boy friends The interview of Seema Qureshie in the June, 2015 issue of Lokayat was bang interesting. I liked the ideas expressed by her, as they are as beautiful and beautifully expressed as she herself is in looks. Her opinion on boyfriends however made me sit up. It must be her experience that having a boyfriend becomes a hindrance in pursuing one’s career. But I find it hard to digest. I have heard of stories about boy-friends that become inspiring spirits and help achieve excellence. I expect she might change her opinion once she finds a real good boy friend. For the time being I can only extend my greetings to her for the hard work she is doing to emerge as one of the finest actresses. Ruchira Malhotra, Ludhiana (Punjab)
Ganga can never, ever be cleaned The article on Ganga is a superb example of erudite sentimentality. No matter what politicians and bureaucrats and technologist and market forces like to claim and brag, it is India’s basic culture to pollute whatever pure and good. They adulterate even milk. They use injections to make fruits and vegetables bigger
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Read the book review of The Future of God. It truly gave plenty of new ideas and prompted me to buy it, and read it in full. This is true that religions have been misused the world over to threaten, harass and kill people so many times and writer is sensible in stating that it does not mean that we deny God’s existence. Yes, blind faith is bad, but there is scientific logic in claiming that somewhere and in some form the all pervasive God exists, though it may be realised only through faith. The book I found is however full of many intractable logic. At many a places it becomes boring and one fails to understand what the writer wants to say. However, I share Deepak Chopra’s anxiety about the dwindling faith in God. Dr Sudhir Patra, Meerut (UP)
An Olympian Megalomania This article on sport is more like a literary piece on the Indian mindset and immensely pleasurable to read. The humour and satire is subtle but unmistakable. Who can miss such expressions—‘Given time, maybe someone will discover that Olympic Games were held in India in Vedic times!’ Very well said! My congratulations to the writer Ramu Sharma for such a nice analysis of the Indian politicians’ megalomania! The article gives a factual idea of what it does mean
to organise sport events of International ranking. I feel that for some real greatness in whatever field we want to achieve, we need to be first humble and persevering in our efforts. But we are just the opposite. We want quick success and arrogate about our capabilities. Narendra Modi is no exception! Ha..Ha..Ha! Sudhakar Mani, Lucknow (UP)
Foreign affairs are well covered in Lokayat Articles on foreign affairs are really very good in Lokayat. They help me prepare for the competitive exams I am going to write. In the June issue article about elections in Britain gave a clear and comprehensive idea about what happened there and what may happen in coming years. It is very astonishing that Britain under huge colonised world the sun would not disappear even for a minute is now in such a pathetic situation. The main article in the magazine on Modi’s visits to so many countries was quite informative and well-written. Surprisingly I did not find any article so far (I am reading Lokayat for more than a year) on Nepal’s internal politics and the failure of the politicians there in giving a constitution to the country. I urge the editor to please publish an article on Nepal in the coming issue. Ranjit Bahadur, Delhi
s at E-mail your letter om, l.c lokayat01@gmai ai hotm l.com vinodvarshney@
With Candour
The Powerful’s Desire to Become an OBC!
T
he agitation of Patidars in Gujarat brought immense discomfiture to prime minister Modiji by exposing his much-publicised Gujarat model of development. Agitators cried hoarse that job opportunities had reduced in the informal sector as nearly one-third of the small and medium industries in Gujarat were sick and the income from the agriculture was dwindling. Hardik Patel, the new youth icon of Patidars, also accused that government jobs in Gujarat could only be availed by paying a hefty sum. So as a remedy, they should be given reservation in education as well as government jobs. The frustration of Patidars grew when the Anandiben government ordered a strong police action to tackle riots after Hardik’s arrest, which took some 11 lives? Meanwhile, people across the country are befuddled how all of a sudden a 22-year-old young guy, a BCom graduate with below average marks, belonging to a middle-class rural small time business family could build up such a big agitation. The question is being asked who is behind him. Who provided enormous means to organise big rallies attracting lakhs of people. Some political party! None has taken credit so far. Nor has Hardik named any. Was it truly a spontaneous expression of anger and frustration among the Patidars? Or is there some conspiracy to take the sheen off prime minister Narendra Modi? Some say it is a ploy to block reemergence of the Congress in Gujarat. People wonder more on how at all Patidars can ask for reservation when the community is so rich and politically influential. Whatever economic sector in Gujarat, the cooperative or the industrial, they have a lion’s share in the pie. They own one-fifth of all motels in the US. They own businesses in Australia, England and New Zealand as well. And for political clout, they have the chief minister of the state, 7 Patel ministers in her cabinet and 37 MLAs out of 167. Political pundits are confused about the real motive behind the agitation. The way Hardik theorised his agenda, it looks he is raising only what the RSS and its parivar had all along been advocating, ie, the reservation on the basis of economic criterion. One can recall 1981 when the anti-reservation movement in Gujarat was built up and propped aggressively by the parivar. A year ago, the Mandal Commission had recommended 27% reservation to the OBCs. The anti-reservation agitation again flared up in 1985 when Congress CM Madhavsinh Solanki introduced for the first time reservation to the OBCs. A question is also being asked if the Gujarat government helped build up the agitation. It was only this government that happily allowed 125 odd rallies across the state, then made Hardik the hero by arresting him. Surat rally was attended by more than five lakh people. Such a big organisational feat cannot be performed alone by Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti which Hardik had started only a few months ago. Media has revealed that Hardik Patel had close association with the RSS, the VHP and its firebrand leader Pravin Togadia and BJP leader Gordhan Zadaphia. Some news reports revealed that Hardik drove the car of Arvind Kejriwal when he had gone there to a much publicised mission of exploring the truth of Gujarat model, implying the former might have some link with the Aam Aadmi Party. There is no dearth of tongue wagging within the BJP. Many insiders say that Amit Shah, the national BJP president, is behind the stir as he had been a rival of Anandiben Patel before she became the CM. There are others who say that there are three sections of Patidars, and one of them, ‘Anjana’, along with three Muslim communities were included in the state OBC list recently. And this is their real grouse. They are sore at the current system of adding new castes in the OBC list. Patidars also say if Jats and Marathas can demand OBC status, why can’t they.
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Cover story
Bihar Elections
to Decide Direction
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Cover story
of National Politics Extremely important it is for Narendra Modi to win the forthcoming Bihar assembly elections to remain an effective leader at the national level and carry out economic reforms demanded by corporates and foreign investors. And of course, no stone will be left unturnedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all the tricks and tactics that the BJP has in its armoury will be used. There is no dearth of resources to carry out an intense carpet bombing type election campaign. The national party president Amit Shah, master strategist and expert in micro-managing elections right upto the booth level, is at the helm in the war room. If surveys are to be believed Nitish Kumar has a lead over Narendra Modi, though very slender, at this stage when the election dates are yet to be announced. But many electoral pundits doubt the sustainability of this early lead which may fizzle out when the BJPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campaign would acquire momentum and reach its pinnacle. Already hundreds of high-tech Parivartan Raths are criss-crossing the state to change the public mood and discourse and numerous rallies of the prime minister have been planned which might be used to announce varied sops to the people of Bihar and mountebanking his development theme for bringing Achche Din in Bihar. However, a small chunk of political analysts predict that Modi, despite all this, may meet his Delhi fate in Bihar as well. Delhi is remembered as Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Waterloo when his unstoppable victory chariot was convincingly stopped by Arvind Kejriwal despite aggressive campaigning by him, immensely assisted by the media. The BJP could win only 3 seats out of 70 in Delhi assembly elections. JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Cover story By Bodhi Shri
A
s the election time in Bihar is drawing closer, bitter cacophony and blistering poster attacks are increasing on a daily basis. Bihar has virtually become a political war-field of immense implications. Each of the two major alliances, one lead by BJP and the other by JD-U are claiming sure win for them. This election doubtlessly is extremely important for prime minister Narendra Modi as he needs to demonstrate that he retains his appeal among masses no matter what the opposition says about him. No wonder then that most political analysts say this election is not of relevance just for Bihar only but of paramount importance to the national
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The Lalit Gate, Vyapam and PM’s studied silence on these issues have already become hotly debated issues in Bihar’s public sphere. Modi’s jumlas are being recounted ad nauseam; one of them, Na Khaoonga, Na Khane Doonga, which was pronounced with profuse lung power with both hands stretched up in the sky during Lok Sabha elections, has virtually fizzled out in the wake of Vyapam scam and Lalitgate. politics. Many political pundits believe that Bihar elections would not be fought on local issues, Bihar-pride and caste calculations, but would focus on the performance of Modi government and deliverance of his promises made during the Lok Sabha elections. The Lalit Gate, Vyapam and PM’s studied silence on these issues have already become hotly debated issues in Bihar’s public sphere. Modi’s jumlas are being recounted ad nauseam; one of them, Na Khaoona, Na Khane Doonga, which was pronounced with profuse lung power with both hands stretched up in the sky during Lok Sabha elections, has virtually fizzled out in the wake of Vyapam scam and Lalitgate. An even more famous jumla about bringing back black money from abroad to the tune of Rs 15 lakh in each and
every bank account within 100 days has become a historic joke. Claims on reforms, bringing the governance out of the policy paralysis, revival of growth, good governance, freeing of economy from malaise of crony capitalism and generation of new jobs are suspect even in the eyes of corporate honchos. The issue of farmers’ suicides has dented the image of the prime minister. He has been accused of acting against farmers’ interests, whether it is the issue of announcing minimum support prices of their produce or issuing ordinances repeatedly negating the fair compensation Act passed unanimously by the previous parliament on acquisition of farmers’ land. But Narendra Modi is a leader who does not lose heart in the storm of criticism and accusations, no matter how genuine and fierce they are. He continues to roar and make fresh slew of promises as he did in Muzaffarpur during his first rally in Bihar blowing BJP’s auspicious poll bugle.
Cover story
NDA did not announce its CM candidate
Prime minister Narendra Modi and the national party president Amit Shah knowing too well the importance of this election, have decided not to name any chief ministerial candidate, a pattern which the party had adopted in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra assembly elections after the Lok Sabha elections. The tactic was changed in Delhi when the BJP imported Kiran Bedi to take on Arvind Kejriwal and the gambit backfired. The top leadership does not want to take any risk in Bihar on this count as the state BJP is already riddled with its own share of dissension, not surprising in a state where rival caste interests plague almost all political parties. Outside the BJP and within the alliance there is a good crowd of claimants for the top post. So no mistake, the BJP and its alliance partners rightly decided to face
the challenge emerging from the Mahagathbandhan of JD-U, RJD, Congress and NCP by pitting prime minister Modi as the face of the NDA in Bihar. And accepting the challenge Modi launched his Bihar assembly poll campaign on 25th July with his characteristic blistering onslaught on Nitish Kumar and cautioning the people of Bihar to not bring the edition-2 of the infamous Jungle Raj. National president Amit Shah had already set the tone when he launched the official campaign a week before on July 16. BJP leaders’ ‘hunkaar’ was suitably responded by chief minister Nitish and former chief minister Lalu Yadav. They reminded people about what Modi had promised during the Lok Sabha elections and what people got in return in the first 15 months of his rule. Their job was made easier by Amit Shah who had chosen to defend Modi’s superlative promises as Jumlas
(juicy rhetorics) that are normally showered in election campaigning. This explanation, however, would continue to put a big question mark on the credibility of the promises that the prime minister would be making in Bihar during his campaigning. Modi has already been nicknamed by chief minister Nitish Kumar as Jumla Babu and his party as Bhartiya Jumla Party. To win the elections BJP will use all tacts and tactics that the ‘largest party of the world’ has acquired in its armoury. The much publicised Chanakya of the party, Amit Shah, is working overtime with huge army of enthused party workers, its overactive social media team and party’s App-driven campaign management. Just as during the Lok Sabha elections the corporate houses are keen that Modi should win Bihar elections as they feel there is so much at stake for them. The caste
BJP leaders’ ‘hunkaar’ was suitably responded by chief minister Nitish Kumar and former chief minister Lalu Yadav. They reminded people about what Modi had promised during the Lok Sabha elections and what people got in return in the first 15 months of his rule. Modi has already been nicknamed by the chief minister as Jumla Babu and his party as Bhartiya Jumla Party.
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Cover story
Lalu Yadav campaigning for the forthcoming elections.
combinations have already been taken into consideration. All the dissenting and disgruntled elements of the rival coalition are being wooed and encouraged to desert the proverbial ‘sinking ship’ of Nitish Kumar; some of them might be fielded as candidates to cut into votes of the Mahagathbandhan. Lalu Yadav has warned his castemen to be wary as he feared the BJP might field 3-4 Yadav candidates as independents in each Yadav-dominated constituency. The resource-rich BJP has flagged off 160 well-equipped Parivartan Raths to facilitate BJP’s resounding shankhanad (clarion call) about winning two thirds majority in Bihar heard in every nook and corner of the sprawling state. It may be recalled that Bihar voters had rewarded BJP-led alliance in the Lok Sabha with 31 seats out of the total 40 when Biharis had put their faith in Modi as the only Vikas Purush in the country. The Gujarat model under him was seen as a credible template of development. Amidst widespread anger against Congress owing to various mega corruption cases, Biharis too put their faith in the promises made by Modi to bring Achche Din in the country. But the perception of people about Modi has now changed. Lalu Yadav has emerged as a new champion of secularism who is constantly reminding Biharis of the looming threat emanating from the rise of communal forces. There had indeed been some 10 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
disturbing communal incidents in Bihar also since the BJP came to power in the Centre. His tone and tenor is supported by Left parties, who have formed their own separate alliance. But the BJP is not much worried about it as it can counter this challenge using Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen to split Muslim votes. This had been
A couple of surveys have revealed that Mahagathbandhan is ahead of the NDA in Bihar. Nitish Kumar no doubt is considered as a better chief minister than any of the NDA’s possible candidates like Sushil Modi, Ram Vilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha, Shah Nawaz Hussain and Jitan Ram Manjhi. tried in the Maharashtra assembly elections with good results for the saffron parties. BJP has also chosen to focus on Mahadalits to counter Nitish influence on them. The easing out Manjhi as chief minister is being described as a patent example of humiliation to the entire community of Mahadalits.
Surveys showing Nitish ahead A couple of surveys have revealed that Mahagathbandhan is
ahead of the NDA in Bihar. Nitish Kumar no doubt is considered as a better chief minister than any of the NDA’s possible candidates like Sushil Modi, Ram Vilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha, Shah Nawaz Hussain and Jitan Ram Manjhi. Media reports on surveys have indicated that the popularity of Modi has plummeted since the Lok Sabha elections. Nothing surprising, given the lacklustre performance of his government on almost all fronts in the first 15 months. The growth is not picking up, communal incidents have increased even in Bihar especially where BJP had emerged stronger, ceasefire violations by Pak at the border have increased alarmingly, not much has been done on return of black money, farmers’ distress has increased, job-generation is not happening and on top of all, Modi has been accused of observing a ‘Chuppasan’ (deliberate silence) on controversial issues. Media drive of Nitish Kumar is not too bad. He is being projected as a true Vikash Purush, who believes in inclusive economic growth rather than growth of only business houses and corporates. The average economic growth of Bihar under Nitish Kumar has been higher than Gujarat’s under Modi in the last ten years. Surveys have prompted BJP to increase its communication drive using all the channels including direct contact with people. A high technology driven monitoring is
Cover story done of campaign’s an effectiveness regularly and decisions are being taken to address shortcomings. Pundits differ if the Bihar elections would finally be fought on national issues or local issues. Some surveys have indicated that a very large number of voters in Bihar feel that the election in Bihar would be fought on state-level issues only? In fact state level issues are so many: the demand for special category status to the state, ending electricity scarcity, industrial development, job creation, improving healthcare and education system, making Bihar a new knowledge process outsourcing hub etc. Modi and Nitish both claim themselves as protagonist of development. But their development philosophies differ. Bihar’s growth is more inclusive though it is still counted as a Bimaru state along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. BJP’s biggest hope is the dormant antiincumbency feelings that are being fanned against Nitish Kumar’s ten year old rule. Though he has successfully raised pro-Bihar issues like the special category status for the state and also ran a reasonably satisfactory administration, but aspirations keep on increasing. Today a larger number of people believe that a lot more needs to be done in Bihar as despite high growth rate during last decade, the state continues to be derided as being much behind other states in most of the social and economic parameters.
Kejriwal factor in Bihar Bonhomie between Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is well known. When Kejriwal was facing problems of not getting adequate staff from lieutenant governor
BJP’s biggest hope is the dormant anti-incumbency feelings that are being fanned against Nitish Kumar’s ten year old rule. Though he has successfully raised pro-Bihar issues like the special category status for the state and also ran a reasonably satisfactory administration, but aspirations keep on increasing. Today a larger number of people believe that a lot more needs to be done in Bihar
Najeeb Jang ostensibly at the behest of Modi government to run successfully the Anti-corruption Branch in Delhi, it was Nitish Kumar who loaned his officers from Bihar. On the contentious issue of full statehood to Delhi, Nitish Kumar is the lone chief minister who has come out openly in favour of this. It may be recalled that during the assembly elections in Delhi not only West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee but Nitish Kumar also exhorted Delhi voters to support Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Even before this JD-U president Sharad Yadav had gone to Varanasi to campaign in favour of Arvind Kejriwal when he was pitted against Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha elections. The natural question emerges if Kejriwal also go out of Delhi, support JD-U in Bihar and campaign for it.
AAP has announced that it is not going to field its candidates in Bihar as the party structure in the state is too weak to take an electoral plunge. But when AAP government in Delhi was allegedly being harassed by the Centre on almost all fronts including by using police against its leaders, MLAs and volunteers framing cases against them on frivolous complaints, the miffed party announced that it would certainly campaign against the BJP, especially prime minister Narendra Modi. Many leaders from Delhi will go to tell Bihar voters about the true nature of his government. Arvind Kejriwal has accused Modi government of using dubious methods to harass, derail and destabilize his government, which was formed after winning a historic mandate of 67 seats out of 70. Naturally in 24x7 TV coverage days, people of Bihar are fully aware of the peculiar standoff between Delhi government and Centre. Arvind Kejriwal and his party is seen as fighting a valiant battle against the highhandedness of Modi government. Nitish Kumar has expressed his concern a number of times how a legitimately elected government in Delhi state is being interfered in its day-to-day functioning, making a mockery of democracy. JD-U leaders have labeled Modi government’s conduct resembling the pre-emergency period when it was routine for the Central government to harass state governments. Most political analysts believe that Bihar elections would be fought on state level issues and caste considerations and Arvind Kejriwal factor would only help boost image of Nitish Kumar among the youth who are supposed to live some idealism, brook no tolerance for corruption and JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Cover story
Where did By Manvendra Singh
T Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
Bonhomie between Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is well-known. When Kejriwal was facing problems of not getting adequate staff from lieutenant governor Najeeb Jang ostensibly at the behest of Modi government to run successfully the Anti-corruption Branch in Delhi, it was Nitish Kumar who loaned his officers from Bihar.
authoritarianism. Interestingly, there is no clarity if Kejriwal would go to Bihar to campaign in favour of Mahagathbandhan. At the same time it should also be noted that a host of BJP leaders are propagating a view that Bihar will suffer like Delhi if BJP-led NDA government is not formed in the state. Prime minister Narendra Modi on his part has hinted in his rally at Muzaffarpur that he would fulfil his promise of extending Rs 50,000 crore assistance to Bihar 12 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
at right time. It is expected that he would announce a hefty package for Bihar in his future rallies. There is no doubt that it would be an intensely contested poll. But the mood of voters would continue to vacillate till the date of voting. Leaders’ campaigning does help voters taking a final call. At this stage it is difficult to predict what would be the choice of Biharis in the forthcoming elections. Ratindra Nath, who has deep understanding of Bihar
he mood in Bihar was proBJP until recently. Then suddenly what happened that all the surveys are now indicating decline in BJP’s popularity? Knowledgeable people say none but the BJP alone is responsible for that. According to Bihar experts the BJP has failed to take some decisive steps in areas where Nitish Kumar is powerful. Nitish on the contrary has succeeded in making BJP vulnerable in its citadels like Bhagalpur. Nitish proved this in the by-election. Now, Shatrughan Sinha’s wife Poonam Sinha may be fielded by the JD-U in Patna a strategic move. This symbolic gesture would have wider repercussions all across the state. Its impact BJP leaders cannot visualise sitting in Delhi. BJP could not also dent Nalanda, which is known as chief minister’s stronghold, though an opportunity was available. Sources say, Satish Kumar a prominent leader of Nalanda, wanted to join BJP but was not accommodated the way he desired. Had this materialised the Nitish Kumar’s base would have got seriously eroded.
politics, says the ground reality is much different from what is being projected by major parties before the media. He says Nitish Kumar would have to confront the fallout of his ten years’ incumbency. This apart, it cannot be said decisively that Modi’s appeal has vanished all together. The BJP is also armed with immense resources. Its national president Shah is master of using all the good and bad tricks to achieve his goal. He is even otherwise an expert of micro
Cover story
the BJP err? People of Nalanda do look positively towards the BJP but there is no leader of any reckoning in the party. Satish Kumar is not only popular among people in the region but his sub-caste is in majority in Nalanda. Nitish knew well of his popularity, but being wary of him all along during the last eight years lest his influence increased even more, he was not inducted in the party; but now he has shed his fears and roped him in. His joining the JD-U has made the party stronger now. Nalanda is the place where Aam Aadmi Party also has some influence and now seeing the bonhomie between AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha by several there is no risk of division of anti-BJP here. In fact, the BJP should have done in of his statements has made Nalanda what Nitish Kumar did to the BJP in Bhagalpur and Patna. his disenchantment with the Sources say that BJP leader Sushil Modi is still sympathetic, though mildly, BJP known to one and all towards Nitish Kumar. Knowledgeable senior political journalists tell that both of them had very good equations all along their political careers. Incidentally all the three stalwarts of Bihar— Lalu, Nitish and Sushil—have always maintained their cosy relations with each other since their student days. People who keep a close watch on Bihar politics even say that Lalu and Nitish both help Sushil Kumar Modi to retain his supremacy within the BJP. People have noted that Nitish and Sushil do not ever hit below the belt whenever they have to criticise each other. Bihar’s politics in the past has been riddled too much with permutation and combination among caste groups. Media too had continuously discussed Bihar politics in terms of various caste combinations like MY (Muslim-Yadav), PMRY (Paswan-MuslimRajput-Yadav). This time a new acronym has come into currency MYK (Muslim-Yadav-Kurmi). But, caste calculus of many political pundits may go wrong this time in Bihar. Nitish Kumar also admits that there is change in Bihar politics. Now more than caste equations development is the buzz word. People recall that Lalu Yadav ruled Bihar for 15 years by nurturing MY. This also helped Lalu win 24 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in 2004. On the force of this parliamentary strength he became union railway minister in UPA-1. But unexpectedly the balloon of MY got punctured in the assembly elections of 2005. It has been accused that Lalu did garner Muslim votes but did nothing for them during 15 years of RJD rule. He invoked only fear psychosis among them about the BJP that if it came to power, the life would be hell for them. He did give some prominent positions to Muslims, but did not intervene when they were humiliated by his protégés. Prof Zabir Hussain is often cited for having been maltreated by Subhash Yadav. Lalu never intervened to save his honour. Zabir Hussain on the contrary became suspect in the eyes of Lalu Yadav when Ramvilas Paswan put a condition that a Muslim should be made the chief minister to get his party’s support in 2005 to form a RJD government and suggested Zabir’s name for this. However, with unprecedented resurgence of BJP, Lalu Yadav has become Muslims’ first choice in Bihar, but this gain gets nullified by reduced support for him among his own castemen. Many of his supporters have now shifted their loyalty to Pappu Yadav and Ram Kripal Yadav. Pappu Yadav alone is told to be influential in at least 30-40 seats and with the help of BJP he is sure to give a very tough fight to the Mahagathbandhan.<
Bihar politics also gets influenced by caste combinations. Currently caste combinations are in favour of Nitish-Lalu. But the way campaign has been launched warning Biharis to be wary of the next edition of Jungle Raj, many fence sitters and caste neutral young voters may get influenced by this. management. He goes directly to the worker and is able to inspire them. Bihar politics also gets influenced by caste combinations.
Currently caste combinations are in favour of Nitish-Lalu. But the way campaign has been launched warning Biharis to be wary of the
next edition of Jungle Raj, many fence sitters and caste neutral young voters may get influenced by this. Communication strategy of BJP is quite effective. The RJD-JDU have agreed to contest 100 seats each, leaving 30 seats to the Congress and just 3 seats to NCP. This treatment to NCP has angered its state leadership and may walk out of the secular Mahagathbandhan. Even within the RJD there is resentment as many aspirants would fail to get tickets.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Society
SHOULD SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BE A PRIVATE AFFAIR?
The US has become the 21st country in the world where same-sex marriage has now acquired the legal sanctity to the horror of millions who live with the normal belief that a marriage can only be a union of two people belonging to opposite sex. They consider it a worst kind of perversity. But in the days of courts which have become the arbiter of what people should believe in, the latest US supreme court judgement by 5-4 will continue to be discussed as judicial encroachment in the realm of nature.
D By M R Dua
own the ages, marriage or matrimony has been deemed to be a union between a man and a woman. Another identical view of such a union is that marriage is between ‘one man
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and one woman in a permanent union for the purpose of raising children.’ Procreation, that is. Besides that, as history has it that marriage has always, and has invariably been, as also universally deemed, to be strictly a personal and private affair. But, as they say, change is the law of nature. So also
with the institution of marriage. It ‘is a constantly changing institution that adapts to social and economic pulls and pressures and conditions. And when these conditions change, meaning of marriage also changes.’ However, for the last few decades in the US, as also in many other countries in the West, a pleth-
Society ora of new laws and rules also regulate the union between and a man and a woman. But in some countries, even man-woman marriages between certain castes or communities are prohibited socially, traditionally or due to religious reasons. In India, over the millennia, for example, matrimonial union between a man belonging to a particular caste, under the ancient caste system, cannot, or does not, marry a woman belonging to another caste. In the US too, as history tells us, inter-racial marriage between black and white American was not legally sanctioned until 1967. And, a marriage between the same sexes was a simple no, no until 1972! In any case, generally speaking, matrimonial alliance between man and man, or between woman and woman, has not had legal, social, religious or moral sanction in many countries, though being gay or lesbi-
The US supreme court judges were equally divided on the issue which has deep implications for the future human civilisation. Finally, Justice Anthony Kennedy tilted the balance in favour of the same-sex marriage. He wrote in the majority judgement, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they wereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The majority verdict also mentioned the constitution which protects against any discrimination. Now it means people cannot be discriminated on the ground of type of marriage.
Before the US supreme court passed its verdict approving the same sex marriage as equal to the opposite-sex marriage, 36 states, covering 70 percent of the population of America had legalised it already. After the latest apex court verdict it has now become valid in the remaining 14 states also. JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Society
The people’s opinion in the US changed very fast. One can recall the first Gallup poll on the same sex marriage done in 1996 when it revealed that 27 percent people wanted to give approval for same-sex marriage. But the most recent Gallup poll carried out in May showed that 60 percent Americans approve this unnatural union. Is it social development or social decay, ask many people.
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an was, and has been, a recognized human characteristic over the ages. Remember, the noted English author, Oscar Wilde who spent several years in prison where he penned some of his best works like ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ and many others. Meanwhile, differing religious and political views during the last fifty years, Americans, as also people in some other countries have fiercely debated the highly contentious issue of same-sex or gay marriage, also called LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender).
Recent news reports from Ireland and Mexico also tell us that the same-sex marriages have been legalized by their legislatures. In a referendum in Ireland only recently, for instance, people freely and enthusiastically voted in favour of legalizing gay weddings. Mexico too has constitutionally sanctuined same-sex marriage. Press reports from that country indicate that ‘state laws restricting marriage to heterosexuals are discriminatory.’ Meanwhile, in the two-day sittings of the US supreme court
Society
during last May, heated arguments exchanged among the pro and antisame-sex marriage advocates amply revealed that Americans’ views on same-sex marriages had vastly altered; prodigiously tilting general public’s attitude supporting such weddings. Moreover, all the 50 US states enjoy adequate constitutional freedom to enact civil matrimonial laws of their own. Currently, America’s all states have diverse marriage laws. But, only 37 states had permited same-sex marriage; while 13 banned it. Since, supreme court okayed the same-sex marriage law in its June verdict, many aspiring gay couples waiting the highest court’s sanction were overjoyed, and solemnized their long sought-after unions. Under the new law, if any two adults, irrespective of their sex, consent to live-in together and share life forever, nobody will be facilitated, legally speaking, to question the union of such consenting adults. Moreover, as their right to equality under the new constitutional provisions allow this, why will now anyone object to same-sex weddings? Whatever the traditional, religious or moral thinking, it’ll be hard to overlook the social reality. Thus, it’ll have to be recognized that the long-awaited legal approval to live-in or cohabitation among the same-sex adults that has in the US travelled a long journey in transforming the ‘modern’ definition of
marriage has at last been accepted in law. How many other countries in the world follow the US, will be interesting to watch.
A DIG AT HISTORY OF SSM Meanwhile, a casual look in the past shows that supporters of traditional view of marriage had been sounding alarm that the same-sex marriage would result in undesirable consequences for society. Interestingly, despite these apprehensions, derelict, deviated or differently natured men and women, having been attracted to one another, had chosen to live as
Now it seems sex and fulfilment is more important than the true purpose of marriage. The relevant question is how marriage started between man and woman? It came into existence as a vital need to sustain human society. It came into existence naturally. It was not religion or politics or court judgement dictating it. The chief justice of the supreme court John Roberts wrote in his dissent: Marriage arose in the nature of things to meet a vital need: ensuring that children are conceived by a mother and father committed to raising them in the stable conditions of a lifelong relationship.
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Society gay, lesbian couples, or as same sex married people in many other countries, besides the US. The Netherlands is said to be the first country in the world to allow samesex marriage. But in the US, several courts had in the past invalidated
the marriage ‘has been with us for millennia;’ it’ll be very difficult for the court to say, ‘Oh, well, we know better’ and will order change. Meanwhile, to ‘exclude samesex couples from ennoblement and dignity of marriage,’ was difficult
several long-enacted marriage and sex laws, such as the Defence of Marriage Act, popularly called DOMA, was struck down in 2013, as also the Dishonourable Passions: Sodomy Law. Before finally passing this law, US supreme court judges, six men and three women, furiously battled. Plethora of mighty and weighty arguments was exchanged among the contending parties, their counsels and also among the judges. The moot questions before judges were: Does the US constitution require all the states to license marriages between people of the same-sex marriage, and, if not, must all the states at least recognize the lawful same-sex marriages performed in the states where these were not recognized? The court considered Americans’ right to equality before law, as also their right to procreate, right to family. But, the important conundrums at stake were the ‘conflicting views on history, tradition, biology, constitutional interpretation, the democratic process and the role of courts in prodding social change.’ The court opined that while the ‘traditional definition of
for the court. A strong view in gays’ favour was: Is it for the individual or the government, to decide to marry, and with whom, or, for him / her? The latter would be considered to ‘give them the
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Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, a fierce opponent of gay marriage decried the court judgement by issuing as statement saying this decision will pave the way for an all out assault against the religious freedom rights of Christians who disagree with this decision. Most religions in the world, in fact, do not approve this perversion, feel so many others. However, president Barrack Obama hailed the judgement as victory for America.
stain of unworthiness.’ As a judge averred, permitting the same-sex marriage would not be aligning the act of marriage with the existing institution, but it would amount to ‘changing the institution of marriage.’ Another judge branded the same-sex union as ‘abomination of God.’ Moreover, the court too seemed to be utterly divided; while the Obama administration representative, Solicitor-General Donald B Verrilli Jr, supported the same-sex marriage, saying, ‘gay and lesbian
people deserve equal protection of the law, and they deserve it now.’ Justice Anthony M Kennedy noted that he was concerned that changing the ‘conception of marriage that has persisted thousands of years based, or on a little more than a decade of experience with same-sex marriage in the United States?’ Kennedy’s role in pronouncing the judgement is believed to have been profusely significant and critical in the verdict the court delivered. ‘Suddenly you want nine people (apex court has nine judges) outside the ballot box to require states that don’t want to do it to change what marriage is to include gay people.’ Finally, Justice Kennedy seemed to have carried the day: ‘If you think that our country and constitution are about protecting fundamental freedoms, it’s hard to come up with something more fundamental than to be able to marry the person you love.’ That significantly, and ultimately crystalized the US supreme court’s innate, historic decision handed down to the American people.<
Nation
Beginning of a New Future in Nagaland Finally the Modi government has crunched a ‘historic’ framework deal with the largest Naga organisation NSCN (I-M) to usher in lasting peace in the troubled Nagaland. But it needs to be ensured that chief ministers of bordering states, Assam, Manipur & Arunachal Pradesh, be also kept in the loop as the trouble-free implementation is more important than just signing the deal. It is also not in the spirit of the cooperative federalism to not consult elected leaders of the three states especially when their people’s stakes are also involved.
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By Kusum Varshney
agaland is changing and looking for a new future having lived six decades in strife, insurgency and bloodletting in which 70,000 people lost their lives. Nagas are proud of their unique culture and history of having declared independent a day before India became free, then forming an underground government and waging a guerilla war against the Indian state, but there had always been a host of moderate and peace-loving Nagas who never had any problem with being a part of India. Finally after having a long rollercoaster ride they seem to have succeeded in convincing the majority and now want an environment of lasting peace,
development and progress within the framework of Indian constitution. Such hopes seem substantive after the recent ‘historic’ framework agreement signed between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (I-M) and the government of India. Nagas’ younger generation, fed up with constantly looming threat of gun-battle, wants to enjoy freedom from the conflict, sometimes with the Indian security forces and at other times either with some rival Naga outfit or other hostile ethnic
groups. Nagas have a plurality of political groups; some of them still believe in continuing the ‘war of independence’ and even seek assistance from across the border. But most Nagas, not just they want freedom from unending conflict and violence, they are also tired of the continuing burden of double taxation—one the legal one levied by the state and central government; and the other imposed by their political organisation like NSCN (I-M) to fund insurgent activities. Because of the unrelenting peace efforts of various governments JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Nation of India, civil society and the local Church over the decades, and free flow of news, ideas and information thanks to all-pervasive internet, there exists now a helping environment to usher in the lasting peace. However, petty politics needs to be jettisoned by all stakeholders. The new generation of Nagas has legitimate aspirations in education, career-building and business, opportunities for which are immense and open to any Naga across India. They also want to have their share in the national pie of elites by joining the IAS, IPS, IFS and universities and research institutes and earn name and fame by scripting success stories for themselves and winning accolades, awards and prizes nationally. To some extent they have already been achieving all this. But now all this would happen more and more after the largest of Naga organisations, the NSCN (I-M)’s acceptance of the Indian constitution in toto, thereby reportedly dropping their major demand of Greater Nagalim, which has been the main hurdle in the way of arriving at a lasting settlement.
Despite getting the separate Naga state, rebel elements kept on pursuing insurgency and waging guerilla warfare against the Indian state. However, Indira Gandhi the then prime minister could achieve a major breakthrough in 1975 and Shimla Accord was signed by no other but Angami Zapu Phizo, the father of the Naga movement. This was not only the unconditional acceptance of the Indian Constitution but also surrender of arms by the Nagas. However, some doubts have cropped up as the contents of the ‘historic’ peace agreement remain secret. It has also turned out that the so-called historic agreement is only a framework agreement and its finalisation might take 3-4 months more. Meanwhile chief ministers of the three bordering states, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, have expressed their lingering worries about what actually has been agreed upon. They expressed their anger at not being consulted on the agreement. Their worry chiefly is about the Naga demand of a greater Nagaland seeking merger of adjoining Naga-dominated areas to it no matter being parts of other states.
Peace efforts had been continuing ever since the Independence even while military was trying to curb insurgency. While the father of Naga nationalism, Angami Zapu Phizo went into exile to London on June 12, 1960, prime minister Jawahar Lal Peace efforts continue Nehru and Imkongliba Ao, head since 1960 of the Naga People’s Convention Peace efforts are continuing conjured up a peace accord on since the time of Angami Zapu July 30, 1960 through which a Phizo went into exile to London separate Naga state was agreed on June 12, 1960. Prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and Imkongliba upon within the Indian union. This Ao, head of the Naga People’s was indeed historic as it meant Convention (NPC) agreed to of a Naga state within a firm acceptance of Indian Con- formation the Indian union on July 30, 1960. A 42-member interim governing stitution by the Nagas. 20 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
assembly headed by Imkongliba Ao was also established on February 18, 1961. The statehood for Nagaland as agreed was granted in 1963 and the first ceasefire came into effect on September 5, 1964 thanks to all these efforts. But there is a parallel trend—whenever an agreement is signed by the moderates, the hardliners would start accusing them of a sellout. Thus the demand of Nagaland as a separate country continued and also the insurgency. Next major attempt to resolve the issue was made in 1975 by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi and Shimla Accord was signed by no other but Angami Zapu Phizo, the father of the Naga movement. There was an unconditional acceptance of the Indian Constitution and surrender of arms. But those were different times geo-politically; and China was bent upon keeping the Naga insurgency alive by extending all kinds of help including training Naga insurgents in guerrilla warfare and supplying them with arms and
New rebel groups would emerge soon after a peace accord was signed, calling always the accord or agreement a sell-out. Thus the insurgency would continue though at a subdued level. Prime minister PV Narasimharao took a fresh bold initiative and met rebel Naga leaders in Paris on June 15, 1995. Talks continued even after him during the tenures of H D Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee government recognised in writing the ‘uniqueness’ of Naga history and situation which resulted into a ceasefire ‘without territorial limits’ on July 25, 1997
Nation
Prime minister Narendra Modi with the NSCN (I-M) leader Isak Muivah
The demand of creating Greater Nagalim by merging contiguous areas of other states in the Nagaland state continued to remain a hurdle in achieving final resolution of all issues. Talks continued during prime minister Manmohan Singh’s period as well to thrash out the issue. In 2011 RS Pandey, the Manmohan Singh government’s interlocutor and NSCN (IM) general secretary T Muivah, agreed on a framework and issued a joint statement agreeing in principle to resolve all pending issues with more rights to the Nagaland assembly in line with the provisions of the Indian constitution (article 371A). ammunition. Recall, when the news of Shimla accord was being aired the current Naga leaders Isak Chisi Swu, then 45, and Thuingaleng Muivah, 41, were returning from China with their newly trained cadre. So no surprise, the next top three leaders in the line, Isak Chisi Swu, T Muivah and SS Khaplang revolted against the supreme Naga leader, Phizo. Five years later the trio—Muivah, Isak Swu and Khaplang formed Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland to wage war against Indian security
forces seeking independence. Five years later in 1988, they split into two separate organisations—NSCN (I-M) and NSCN (K)—after a bloody war among themselves. Thus unfortunately Nagaland remained plagued with insurgency, conflict and violence, with moderates and the peace loving Nagas always at the receiving end. Another serious attempt to find a political settlement through talks was made by the Congress government under PV Narasimharao who met Naga Leaders Muivah, Swu
and others in Paris on June 15, 1995. Talks continued during the tenures of H D Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee government recognised the ‘uniqueness’ of Naga history and situation in writing which resulted into a ceasefire ‘without territorial limits’ on July 25, 1997. Talks continued to thrash out the remaining contentious issues. Over 80 rounds of talks between the two sides have been held so far. As a major breakthrough in 2011 RS Pandey, the Manmohan Singh government’s interlocutor and NSCN (IM) general secretary T Muivah, issued a joint statement agreeing in principle to resolve all pending issues with more rights to the Nagaland assembly in line with the provisions of the Indian constitution (article 371A). When Modi government took charge, a fresh initiative to resolve the problem was launched. The PMO appointed Ravindra Narayan Ravi, chairman of joint intelligence committee, as the new interlocutor JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chishi Swu in October, 2012 gave in writing that Nagas accept the Indian Constitution which meant that the demand of Nagaland as a separate country as well as Greater Nagalim had been dropped. The government interlocutor RS Pandey proceeded further with the negotiations and insisted that a deal was possible if it did not include redrawing of state boundaries even as the NSCN (IM) kept on insisting on merger of Naga-dominated areas in Manipur districts of Tamenlong, Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel with Nagaland state. This was in November, 2013. for Naga peace talks on August 29, 2014. The recommendation of home ministry in this regard was overruled by the PMO. The NSCN (I-M) questioned the sincerity of the government in resolving the issue as Ravindra Narayan Ravi was known as ‘prejudiced’ against Naga cause. The Naga leaders expressed apprehension that after 17 years of talks the progress might get blocked in absence of a neutral interlocutor. Much worse happened when rival faction NSCN (K) led by SS Khaplang, a Myanmarese Naga abrogated the 14-year long truce on 27 March, 2015. A few North East specialists termed it a policy failure of the Modi government in allowing NSCN (K) to drift away from the earlier peace accord. NSCN (K) Chairman S S Khaplang had signed the ceasefire agreement with Indian government on April 28, 2001. 22 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
Three contiguous states
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he chief ministers of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, are worried at the ‘historic’ Naga Peace Framework Agreement, the contours of which have been kept secret. They slammed Modi government for this secrecy and not consulting them on the agreement. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi accused Modi of not acting in the spirit of cooperative federalism and parliamentary democracy by not consulting him and other Congress chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur though it was such an important matter concerning their states as well. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala targetted Modi for keeping the three elected chief ministers in complete dark and not involving them in negotiations and finalisation of terms. He said that for the first time there was a peace agreement in the history of India which the Cabinet never discussed.
Chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi
After its abrogation, this faction started attacks on Indian security forces. The worst was an ambush in Chandel district killing 18 Army jawans, which however was responded well by the Indian Army liquidating two Naga camps inside the Myanmar territory in a surgical strike. It is told that the NSCN (K) was seething with anger as the Modi government was only giving importance to rival group NSCN (I-M) to conjure up a peace agreement. The negotiations were going on for several months with the latter, but reportedly the agreement was hurriedly signed on August 3, 2015 as the health of NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chisi Swu was reportedly deteriorating, who was seeking treatment in a Delhi hospital and wanted an agreement signed in his lifetime. NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak
Chishi Swu had in October, 2012 already given in writing that they accepted the Indian Constitution which meant that the demand of Nagaland as a separate country had been dropped. The government interlocutor RS Pandey proceeded further with the negotiations and claimed that a deal was possible if it did not include redrawing of state boundaries which NSCN (I-M) insisted upon with Naga-dominated areas in Tamenlong, Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel districts of Manipur to be merged with Nagaland state. The deal did not materialise. This was in November, 2013. Nagaland has similar claims of territory in Assam as well. Several times the acrimony with Assamese escalated so much that even border clashes broke out, one of such incident happened on 12 August last year, when 11 people
Nation
worried at the secret ‘agreement’ Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi reminded that in contrast to the current attitude of the Centre, over a decade ago Vajpayee government had consulted the states even on the issue of extending the ceasefire agreement with the Naga insurgents. Fearing perhaps the Centre has agreed to the demand of Greater Nagalim, though in diluted form, the chief ministers of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur declared that they would not cede an inch of their land. The original demand of Greater Nagalim comprises ‘all contiguous Nagainhabited areas’ along with Nagaland. That would mean several districts of Assam, Arunachal and Manipur. The seriousness of the issue can be realised from the fact that not only the Naga insurgents but the Nagaland Legislative Assembly had as many as five times--in December 1964, August 1970, September 1994, December 2003 and as recently as on July 27, 2015--endorsed the demand of Greater Nagalim.< Chief minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh
Chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Nabam Tuki
The final obstacle regarding protecting the special rights of Naga people in contiguous Naga-dominant areas, now seems to have been sorted out. However, there is plenty of speculation about the contents of the latest framework agreement with Nagas. It is understood that the deal involves creating a mechanism to have institutions allowing autonomy to Naga tribes living across the border in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. were killed and over 10,000 had to take shelter in relief camps opened by Golaghat administration. An unfortunate border war took place in 1985 when the police forces of Assam and Nagaland clashed in the Merapani area, which took 40 lives. Even worse happened in 1979 when 100 people got killed. Such areas are kept under the Central Reserve Police Force. Nagaland had not accepted the constitutional boundary with Assam though it had for long been a part of it before the Britishers had formed a separate Naga Hills
district for administrative purposes in 1925. The district boundary became the inter-state boundary in 1963 when Nagaland became the 16th state of India. Assam wants that this constitutional boundary be respected by Nagaland and any change should not be made in it by way of any peace accord. Such are the complex issues— they would require to be sorted out when the ‘historic’ peace framework agreement would be finalised in coming months. Doubtlessly, the consent of adjoining states of
Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh would be a must. The contents of peace accord are not known but it is believed that the main contours of it are very much similar to the joint statement signed between the Nagas and government of India in 2011. There is speculation that some special economic package might also be announced for speedier development of Nagaland. Also the deal involves creating a mechanism to create institutions allowing autonomy to Naga tribes living across the border in Manipur and Assam. This will be a sharp departure from an earlier demand of merging Naga-dominated areas of Manipur in the Greater Nagalim. There is also a contentious issue of laying down arms which is being contested as NSCN (I-M) wants arms for self defence of its cadre given the nature of past attacks on them by rival groups.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Haryan
Parineeti Chopra ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ ambassador in Haryana
All is ‘Not’ Well in Haryana Not just Narendra Modi acting as a presidential prime minister in the Centre is known to ignore opinion of his cabinet ministers on variety of issues, Haryana chief minister Khattar too is behaving in a similar fashion. He has repeatedly shown the proclivity to announce decisions of ministries even without consulting the minister incharge. There is however at least one minister Anil Vij who has not taken all this lying down. 24 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
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By Lokayat Correspondent
he Haryana government decision to appoint Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra, as the brand ambassador for its ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ campaign, caused immense embarrassment to the ruling BJP after state health minister Anil Vij expressed ignorance of the move immediately after the chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced this decision. Vij is already upset with Khattar, who had in recent times launched many programmes and schemes pertaining to the departments handled by the former, this yet again brought to fore the simmering differences between Haryana chief minister and health minister.
Chief minister Khattar had tweeted, ‘We welcome Parineeti Chopra as the brand ambassador for the Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao programme, to promote the cause of the girl child’. He followed it up with another tweet, ‘An all-day ‘call to action’ event will be held in Gurgaon on July 21 to give the campaign a boost.’ The 26-year-old actress Parineeti hails from Ambala district and Vij is a five-time MLA from Ambala Cantt constituency. But Vij, apparently, was not taken in the loop before naming her as the brand ambassador. Not surprisingly, Vij took on Khattar the very next day by making his displeasure known over the move. ‘I do not have any information of anybody appointed brand ambassador of my department for Beti Bachao programme’, he tweeted.
Haryan
Khattar not taking ministers into confidence ? Suggesting that Khattar was not taking even the concerned ministers in confidence before taking key decisions, the five-time MLA, Vij, maintained that ‘the issue of the actress being made as the brand ambassador was never discussed in any of the meetings of my department, nor has my department any knowledge about it’. Vij also went on to say that there was no need of any celebrity to run the ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ campaign, aimed at ensuring survival, protection and empowerment of the girl child. It was launched by prime minister Narendra Modi from Panipat in the state in January this year, at an event in which Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit was also present as brand ambassador. ‘My (health) department is the sole responsible department for this entire campaign in the state. My doctors are conducting raids day in and day out to check the menace of female foeticide and help bring to justice those violating the law by allowing girls to be killed in the mother’s wombs, my doctors are undertaking grave risks. I don’t think we need any actor or actress for this campaign’.
Vij stays away from event Vij didn’t attend the state level ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ function, where film actress Parineeti Chopra was present as the brand ambassador along with Khattar. Claiming that he was not invited to the function, Vij tweeted an image of a Hindi newspaper advertisement about the programme in which his name was not there and said that he had neither been informed nor invited to the function at Gurgaon and it was also not in the ambit of the health department. However, women and child welfare minister Kavita Jain claimed that all ministers, including
Vij, were invited to the function that was attended by senior officials of the health ministry. ‘Not just him (Vij) but all ministers were invited to the event. I don’t know what he is saying on the social media,’ Jain said.
Health minister Anil Vij
Vij shot back saying, ‘If she (Jain) is saying so, the government may have sent an invite which never reached me. Till last night, I didn’t even know whether the function was being organised by an NGO or the government.’ On Parineeti being appointed as the campaign’s face, Jain said no official contract had been signed with her. ‘There should be no controversy over Chopra as the state has not signed any contract with her. She wanted to be attached with this (campaign) and we believe that she can be a role model for girls, so
we welcomed her. Who made her the ambassador is irrelevant,’ she said.
Opposition takes pot shots As controversy erupted, this war of words gave Opposition another opportunity to take pot shots at the Khattar government with Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda saying that the issue had brought to the fore internal squabbles within the BJP. ‘The chief minister chooses to do one thing, his health minister says another thing. Some other minister says something else. This sums up the way this government is functioning,’ Deepender said while questioning the choice of the film actress for the campaign. ‘They could have also chosen somebody who would be like (late astronaut) Kalpana Chawla so that people could get inspiration,’ he added. Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda ridiculed the state government for jibes between Khattar and Vij. ‘The government has appointed Chopra as the campaign’s brand ambassador when there is no dearth of women in the state who have done exceedingly well in every filed. Sportswomen such as Saina Nehwal, wrestler Geeta Phogat and her sister, Indian Women Hockey Captain Ritu Rani and hockey players Rani Rampal and Savita Punia are just a few names,’ Hooda said. INLD’s Dushyant Chautala also said there was no need of a film actress to be made state’s brand ambassador. As the BJP high command is believed to have taken notice of the reports pertaining to differences, Vij later softened his stand against the chief minister. He tweeted: ‘The chief minister is my fast friend with whom I don’t have any differences and only the defeated pawns of the Congress are trying to spread such talk’. But the damage was already done.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Delhi
Delhi Will Grow Vertical like
Shanghai
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Delhi
Population growth in Delhi is staggeringly rapid with ever-increasing migration of people from various parts of the country. This has put a huge demand on dwelling units and public transport in the capital. Unfortunately, a very large part of Delhi population has to live in unplanned, unmanageable, unauthorised colonies, lacking basic civic amenities. To mitigate the transport woes, Metro, however, has come as a big relief to millions of residents of Delhi, yet it has neither reduced congestion on roads nor the pollution load. Seventy percent of air pollution in the capital is contributed by motor vehicles and their number is only increasing. The Delhi Master Plan-2021 has tried to give a solution to both these problems by introducing the concept of TOD (Transit Oriented Development). Experts, however, doubt that TOD would be suitable for densely populated areas in Delhi and they recommend it should be implemented only in the proposed new smart cities.
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By Vinod Varshney
ransit-oriented development (TOD) has become a new buzz word in Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eagle-eyed and profit-hungry realty sector. Described as a game changer for the sector, this is a new concept for India. Even abroad it is comparatively a new thing and has only been tried out in a few countries. One successful example is Arlington, north of Washington DC. Having seen its amazing results, several cities, counties and states in the US are now working out TOD strategies. The concept is practical and robust as it focuses on creating living and work spaces integrated together along the public transportation system like Metro or BRT (bus rapid transport). Delhi also has a successful Metro, so why not TOD here? Transit oriented development may especially turn out a boon for cities yet to be developed like the 100 odd smart cities planned in India. But then why it is being sought to be promoted in Delhi?
The peculiar circumstance of high valuation of properties and lack of office spaces is forcing the government to go for it aggressively. This apart, TOD has been necessitated by lack of land to meet the demand of increasing population in Delhi, baying for more dwelling units and cheap public transport. There is a huge lobby of specialists who define TOD as an ideal solution to tackle shortage of dwelling units, pollution load and transportation problem of Delhi. Advantages also
include more revenue for the government and more business for the realtors and builders and jobs for construction workers, engineers, architects and material suppliers. All this means helping Indian economy to come out of its sluggishness. The Delhi Master Plan-2021 has given special focus on TOD with high rise buildings along the mass transport corridors. Thus their location would reduce substantially the need to take out private vehicles on the road. The proposition is JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Delhi
Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu
being sold as capable of reducing traffic congestion and pollution. The concept prima facie looks fine. But the real problem would be its implementation. The BRT (bus rapid transport) has already failed badly in Delhi. And the Metro in Delhi passes through densely populated areas, thus the problem of relocation during redevelopment would pose huge problems. As a solution
to the first problem, an idea is doing rounds that old buildings would be acquired by private entrepreneurs, which would demolish them to create skyscrapers, changing the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skyline, very much similar to Shanghai. The union ministry of urban development approved the policy for TOD in Delhi on July 13, 2015. Since then there is a lot of excitement among builders, architects and property developers. Some well-known builders have formed new companies specifically for redevelopment. The opportunity is huge as FAR (floor area ratio) has been increased to staggering 400 percent in TOD zones, which would extend up to 500 meters on both sides of the Metro. Earlier the maximum FAR was 250 percent. Another change introduced by
TOD policy is to allow mixed land useâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;residential-cum-commercial at one place! This has made the proposition all the more exciting. It has been estimated that some 20 percent area of Delhi would come under TOD and this will drastically change the landscape of the capital city.
Fantastic concept for new cities The TOD concept sounds fantastic for newly developing city but how far it would be practical for an already over-congested city like Delhi can be anybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guess. But the proponents say it is the only solution to meet the ever-increasing demand for dwelling units. There is concern about how the increased floor-area would be shared equita-
Land Use in TOD Zone
T
he TOD stipulations require that minimum 30 percent of the over-all availability of floor area should be used for residential purposes, minimum 10 percent for commercial and another minimum 10 percent for community services. Remaining use of 50 percent floor area will depend on the land use category. The TOD will be allowed only on plot size of minimum one hectare (2.47105 acres or 10,000 square meters). To meet the objective of affordable housing 45 percent residential floor area would be earmarked for smaller, one or two bedroom studio flats. Even needs of the economic weaker section would be addressed.<
TOD means developing sky-scrapers along transit corridors whether it is Metro or Bus Rapid Transport or some other. These ultra-tall buildings would be allowed within half of a kilometer on both sides of the transit corridors that means transport for people available at a walking distance. The interesting feature of this development is that commercial, entertainment and residential spaces will exist together. It means no need to use vehicles to reach the place of work, shopping or entertainment.
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Delhi bly. Would it be used only for bigger flats for higher income people or there would be enough spaces for middle and lower classes? Any redevelopment plan can be called successful only when marginalised population is also able to meet its housing needs through it. There is not much clarity on this issue yet, but the sources say the proposal under consideration is to include smaller flats in adequate numbers in the high rise buildings so that the poor people can also get dwelling units there. It is a well-known fact that poor people cannot spend money on transport for commuting and their place of living should be near their work place. If they do not get to live in TOD areas then one of its main objectives would be defeated. Since the private sector is known to focus more on bigger flats to cater to the rich and
elite, especially NRIs, the ministry officials say that 45 percent of the permitted floor area for residential purposes in TOD zones will be reserved for affordable housing. Needs of economic weaker sections would also be taken care of by a mandatory provision of flats of 25 square meters also. Some experts, however, have raised doubts about feasibility of steep vertical growth in Delhi. According to them it would put extraordinary pressure on the existing weak civic infrastructure like sewer, water, parks, connecting roads and last mile transport. They therefore advise caution in implementing the policy. They insist that such a vertical development should not be allowed without impact assessment over civic infrastructure. Even if the policy looks
The TOD concept is gaining ground in developed countries including the US where the pressure of cutting down carbon emission is increasing amidst climate change fears. Arlington in the US is one fine example of successful implementation of TOD. However, it took 30 years to show its results to convince others to follow suit. Now several states in the US are working out TOD strategies.
fine, an extensive planned approach before implementation would be necessary. Dwarka is often cited as a case of poor planning where thousands of flats were ready to occupy but no water availability. Servicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; elaborate planning should therefore be a must for making TOD successful.
First two TOD projects in East Delhi The DDA has planned three TOD projects of its own, two of them in East Delhiâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;one at Karkardooma and the other near Trilokpuri Metro station. DDA will construct a 100-storey tower at Karkardooma, the first such super tall building in Delhi in a plot of 40 hectare. A dangerous proposition indeed! Though Delhi falls in zone four of the seismic risk, east Delhi will experience damage as if it was in zone five, which denotes the highest risk. Another TOD project, the commercial-cum-housing lake view complex in Trilokpuri will be developed on a plot of 10.26
Lieutenant governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung
Where to get funds from?
R
edevelopment, anyway, is a costly proposition. Therefore, major problem before housing societies will be of arranging adequate finance. Who would make it available for the redevelopment? Either there should be a public finance institution like Delhi Co-operative Housing Finance Corporation to fund such redevelopment projects or the societies will have to fully depend on builders who would dictate their own terms like laying their claims on the prized commercial section in full in addition to some share in residential units. Thirty percent of the permitted total FAR is expected to be allowed for commercial utilisation which will be keenly eyed by the builder in exchange of the redevelopment of the old apartments.<
JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
29
Delhi hectare. The tower here would also be 60-storey tall. The third such project is planned in Dwarka. This 28 hectare project would have three segmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;entertainment, housing and commercial. In the commercial segment banking and non-banking financial companies would be given priority, which may result into a financial hub in the capital. Karkardooma project would be the first of its own kind in the country and would be watched across the country with due interest. Its success may attract a lot of FDI in the redevelopment sector in Delhi and elsewhere. The good thing about the three TOD projects is that vacant land for these is available and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) itself is developing them. These three projects essentially would act as demonstration projects. But true potential of TOD will emerge when redevelopment of old low-height buildings will be undertaken. And if this materialised then it would really be a game-changing phenomenon in the realty sector.
How many more commuters Metro will serve?
The TOD has been conceived chiefly in the context of Metro. But Delhi Metro is already overstressed and people find it even without TOD over-crowded on almost all routes. Would high rise buildings, housing millions and millions more people, not increase an unprecedented pressure on Metro, ask many. One great advantage of TOD has been publicised as creating conditions when there would be less dependency of citizens on private vehicles. But given the Indian cultural craziness of treating cars as a status symbol, there is little chance the lure of cars would be waning any time soon despite the TOD. The use of private vehicles has not come down despite arrival of Metro and Delhi roads are still congested and the city heavily polluted (70 percent pollution owes its existence due to motorised vehicles). Interestingly, TOD guidelines for the two East Delhi projects stipulate three car parking spaces for each commercial unit and two car parking spaces for each residential unit. How does this reconcile with the principle of discouraging private vehicle use? There is gen-
uine fear among specialists that a denser development through TOD would only increase unprecedented load of private vehicles on already congested roads. Urban plannersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; doubts about the feasibility of TOD projects on a large scale in Delhi are thus not baseless.
Land-pooling for redevelopment For redevelopment to take place in large parts of Delhi would require amalgamation of fragmented land ownership. A new policy template for amalgamation of fragmented properties would be required. A land pooling policy was formulated in 2013, under which land owners can surrender their plots in a central pool to be re-developed. After redevelopment 40-60 percent of the land is given back to the original owner. But this land pooling policy is today only for bigger plots ranging from 2 to 20 hectare. Appropriate tweaking would have to be done in the policy to pool small land holdings, especially for cooperative group housing societies. Many of them have smaller plots than even 1 hectare.
The TOD is being eyed as a game changer by real estate developers in India and abroad. This would throw open a huge opportunity for business and property development. The attempt in India is being made to dovetail this concept with the national goal of providing housing to all by 2021.
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Delhi
Delhi is experimenting with three TOD projects as of now. Two of them are in East Delhi, which is known as less developed part of the capital. The ambitious 100-storeyed Karkardooma Tower comprising residential and commercial spaces in East Delhi near the Metro route is being showcased as the first TOD project in the country. The other East Delhi TOD project is planned near Sanjay Lake, which may also be a 100-storeyed building. The third TOD project is coming up in West Delhi at Dwarka which is proposed to be developed as a financial hub in the capital, matching Mumbai.
Experts have expressed concern about the fragile soil condition in East Delhi and describe experimenting with the very first 100-storey tall TOD tower in East Delhi as an unwise step. The good thing is the vacant land is available here. In rest of the length of the Metro corridor old buildings would have to be razed to grow sky-scrapers. This would create unprecedented challenges in terms of relocation of people during construction period and meeting enhanced requirement of services. However, DDAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two ambitious projects in Karkardooma and Trilokpuri have triggered interest in cooperative housing societies existing in the vicinity of Metro route. They have started exploring possibilities to gain from the TOD policy. Private builders have started their surveys to assess the mood of society managements and feasibility of undertaking redevelopment of their buildings. According to a marketing representative of Omaxe Capital Redevelopment Pvt Ltd who gave presentations before societiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; office bearers, there are three DDA policies regarding redeveloping of society apartments to utilise enhanced floor area ratio. Under the old redevelopment policy, the FAR (floor area ratio) is permitted upto 200 percent of the available land as per the Master Plan-2001. In seventies the
permitted FAR had only been 133 which was raised later to 167 and 175 percent in 80s when the demand for housing increased with rapidly growing population accentuated by high level of migration. To utilise the increased FAR of 200 percent, old cooperative societies, have been allowed to either make additions in their existing buildings, or build an additional tower. But any addition in the existing structure is fraught with plenty of risk as the foundation and other structural components like beams and columns might not be able to take extra load and render the building extremely unsafe during quakes. Another policy relates to a situation when the existing building is to be fully demolished for redevelopment. In such cases the permitted FAR is 300 percent of the available land. In such
redevelopment of buildings, the ground coverage would be less and the building would naturally be taller, going upto 13-14 storeys. The third policy is applicable to those societies which fall in the TOD zone, ie, within half of a kilometer of the Metro route. Here the allowed FAR is up to 400 percent. In TOD zones there are certain new obligations, like entire water requirement of the building occupants would have to be ensured from water harvesting. Use of groundwater would not be permitted at all. Buildings in TOD zones would also not be allowed to demand more MCD water supply! Another important obligation on the part of owners will be to have a Sewer Treatment Plant of their own. Really good ideas! But would they really come into practice?< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
31
Punjab
Gurdaspur
Punjab Police personnel who took positions during the terrorist attack
Attack and After ….
Situation in Punjab is worsening. Gurdaspur terrorist attack recently which took seven lives is a testimony to this. Some security experts believe that such an incident was expected. Numerous anti-national activities have indeed taken place recently. Many hardliners observed death anniversary of Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. They also observed anniversary of ‘Operation Bluestar.’ Some Sikh groups had earlier even observed the 2015 Republic Day as ‘black day’. But the Union government seems helpless and keeps its eyes shut as Akalis are their alliance partners. And such are the times that for the sake of power and votes, important national concerns would be ignored.
P
By Jyoti Thakur
unjab government and its security agencies heaved a sigh of relief once it turned out that none of the three terrorists involved in 27 July terror attack in Dina Nagar of Gurdaspur were Sikhs. Though Punjab has been free from terrorism for nearly two decades, the speculation about the suspected role of Khalistani militants had initially caused concern for the
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Badal government, more so because it is already facing charge of being soft on radical elements and turning a blind eye to the alleged revival of Sikh militancy in the state. Gurdaspur terror attack took seven lives including of four policemen. Security experts like AS Dulat, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, believe that writing on the wall was clear that some trouble was brewing. To be precise, security agencies had been warning of the revival of Sikh militancy for
over a year now. The slogan – Khalistan 2020 – has resurfaced among its proponents abroad and the supporters are tapping the growing frustration among Sikhs over the alleged lack of justice in 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. Even the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has been in the firing line on this count. Punjab’s minister for NRI affairs Tota Singh and his delegation were recently assailed by some Sikh groups in New York who were an-
Punjab gry with the state government for its How can people ignore the failure to convict police officers who worrying fact that the hardwere responsible for the killings of innocent people in the counter-insurliners openly proclaim that gency operations conducted in the they will get Khalistan in India nineties. Punjab chief minister Parkash by 2020? Such pronounceSingh Badal and former Punjab DGP KPS Gill both maintain that there is ments need to be read in the no chance that Sikh militancy would backdrop of demands being resurface in the state. KPS Gill who visited Chandigarh after the Gurmade to release convicted daspur attack also spoke in the same Khalistani terrorists. This vein. Amidst clamour of the demand to end the capital punishment on issue has already put Punjab idealist ground he says, ‘Anyone politics on the boil. Even the who has been convicted for capital punishment should be sent to the Akalis submitted a memorangallows.’ dum to union home minister How can people ignore the worrying fact that the hardliners Rajnath Singh in New Delhi proclaim that they will get Khalistan early this year seeking release in India by 2020? Such pronouncements need to be read in the backof 13 Sikh prisoners who are drop of demands being made to release convicted Khalistani terrorists. jailed in other states. This issue has already put Punjab politics on the boil. Even the Akalis submitted a memorandum to union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi early this year seeking release of 13 Sikh prisoners who are jailed in other states. The list included Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a Khalistani terrorist who was convicted in the assassination attempt on former Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta in 1993. Badal government succeeded in getting at least Bhullar shifted to Amritsar jail from Tihar jail. The Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma had opposed this demand and stated that Policemen carrying the body of a militant after encounter in Gurdaspur his party was against it as this could disrupt the peace in the state. There was a demand of considering release or transfer of jasthan and one each in Karnataka, 65 Sikh convicts doing their term in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. various jails in the country. Twenty The ruling SAD, which had of these prisoners were undergoing promised that they will pave the life imprisonment and 15 of them way for release of former terrorwere lodged in other states including ists has been left high and dry by eight in Union Territory, 4 in Raa Supreme Court order which says
that those facing charges under TADA cannot be granted clemency. According to the criterion set by the supreme court, only two out of the 65 convicts can be released in near future as they have completed their minimum sentence. CM Badal has informed the hardliners about this but they are not ready to see reason in the legal situation. Vote bank politics is aggravating public sentiments with assembly elections drawing nearer. Despite clear directions from intelligence agencies that mass transfer or release of convicted Khalistan terrorists can fan the anti-national wave, Punjab’s politicians and hardliners continue to raise the demand in one form or the other. Accusing the Punjab CM of raking up Khalistan agenda, former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has also joined the chorus now. He has announced his support to Surat Singh Khalsa, a Hassanpur resident who was on a hunger strike for six months before being forcibly lifted by the Punjab Police last week as his condition worsened. ‘Surat Singh Khalsa’s demand is totally justified since it is against the law and the Constitution to keep somebody behind bars even after he has completed his sentence,’ Amarinder said. AAP’s Sangrur MP Bhagwant Singh Mann had also raised the matter under Rule 377 in the Lok Sabha on releasing the prisoners from jails who have completed their jail terms in Punjab. The BJP government at the Centre is reported to be wary of the Punjab government’s espousing of the militants’ cause. The situation is alarming. Many hardliners observed death anniversary of Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale recently. They also observed anniversary of ‘Operation Bluestar.’ Some Sikh groups had earlier even observed the 2015 Republic Day as ‘black day’.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
33
Himachal
Law of the Land for
Tribal Women In a landmark judgement, Himachal Pradesh High Court has given land inheritance rights to tribal women and set aside almost a century old customary law that allows only men to inherit ancestral property if it is not bequeathed.
Social activist Rattan Manjari, who is working to secure property rights for tribal women
T
By Lokayat Correspondent
he historic June 25 Himachal Pradesh High Court judgment on land inheritance rights has come as big relief to women, who had been denied the right to inherit ancestral property, particularly in the tribal regions of Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur. The judgment was delivered on a case dating back to 1996. A Gaddi tribal, Rasalu, left his family entangled in a legal battle over the right to his property. His son Bahadur challenged the mutation of the land, registered in the name of all the six siblings, claiming that in his tribe, property could be ‘given’
34 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
only on to sons, and daughters had no legal rights to the same. In the lower judiciary, Chamba’s senior sub judge in 2002 went in favour of the appellant. This judgment was challenged and the case went all the way up to the High Court, where justice Rajiv Sharma held that the tribal women were entitled to inherit property as the ‘Equality of Rights’ was a constitutional arrangement and shall prevail over statutory rights. The court also observed that the provisions to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, could not come in the way of inheritance of property by daughters belonging to tribal areas, where Hinduism and Buddhism are followed.
Justice Sharma added that the Hindu Succession Act should be read as consistent with the Constitutional objective of removing gender-based discrimination of Hindu women. It added that women have the right to elimination of gender-based discrimination, particularly with respect to property, so as to attain economic empowerment.
The Genesis of Discrimination Comprising around 6 per cent of the state’s population, the tribes in Himachal include Gaddis, Bhoti, Kinnauwaras, Gujjar, Jhadh Khampa, Lamba Panghwals, Swampla, Bhera, Damba and Joba. Most
Himachal of these tribes inhabit Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and Chamba, while the Gujjars and Gaddis are scattered across the state. The genesis of the discrimination goes back to Wajib Ul Urj, a law written in
per family which make everyone a marginal farmer. ‘Further fragmentation of these small holdings will make the situation worse and the family land could be sold by the daughter of the family, after this
The genesis of the discrimination goes back to Wajib Ul Urj, a law written in 1926, for Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti. It permits only men to inherit ancestral property, if it is not bequeathed. The patriarchal law even bars widows from inheriting their husbands’ property, which under the customary law is transferred to the sons.
1926, for Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti. It permits only men to inherit ancestral property, if it is not bequeathed. The patriarchal law even bars widows from inheriting their husbands’ property, which under the customary law is transferred to the sons. The High Court upheld an order passed by the district judge of Chamba in 2002 to grant legal property rights to women.
Some Concerns However, there is concern among many over the negative fallout of this development if necessary precautions are not taken. Some tribal representatives point out that the land holdings in Kinnaur are barely nine to 10 bighas
court order,’ said a Pradhan. The 7.5 percent reservation for tribals in government institutions and jobs changed their life over the years and led to migration of almost 70 per cent of the population. A large number of administrative officers, including the IAS, come from tribal belts. But that does not make its inhabitants indifferent to the developments, like the court ruling, that ‘challenge’ their customary laws. There are people who cite the court verdict as harmful in more ways than one. For example Sanjeev Kumar, chairman, Lahaul Panchayat Samiti, argues that once the Rohtang tunnel is completed which will facilitate winter travel
from Manali to Keylong, it will open floodgates for winter tourism since this place receives the maximum snowfall in the country. We are afraid outsiders marrying our daughters will get to our land, and they will turn Lahaul-Spiti into a concrete jungle like Manali. Locals do complain, they are losing their distinct cultural identity. Close to 80 per cent of the population is Buddhist; the remaining are a mix of Hindus and Buddhists since many families follow cultural practices of both religions. ‘Educated women marry outsiders, more and more women sport sindoor and mangalsutra. There is an effort to turn tribal customs into Hindu culture,’ comments an officer who does not wish to be named.
Are such concerns valid? Likes of 61-year-old social activist Rattan Manjari, chairperson of the Mahila Kalyan Parishad, a women’s rights group, are however dismissive of any such concerns. She affirms that a majority of the women are happy and there is no question of the tribal culture being lost as on marrying a non-tribal, the land will automatically come back to the family as non-tribals cannot own tribal’s land. ‘The women commanded much respect in tribal society, especially with the polyandry system in vogue until a few decades ago, and never felt the need of the right to inherit property. With times changing, however, there were many cases when women, after the death of husband or parents, were abandoned by the family members, forcing them to do petty jobs (for survival). It is really a victory over social evil. The condition of deserted women, widows and spinsters in tribal regions was deplorable due to the customary law,’ said Manjari. Incidentally, Manjari has got entire agriculture land as bequeathed by her mother though she had a brother.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
35
Uttarakhand
Uncertainty Continues Over Dams in Uttarakhand
Lata Tapovan Dam site in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand
The future of the six dams supported by the Centre in Uttarakhand is still unclear despite Supreme Courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interference. The union ministry of environment and forest has constituted yet one more committee of experts, rejecting the recommendations of the earlier Ravi Chopra and Vinod Tare committees of not allowing them. The new committee is evaluating fresh designs submitted by the developers if the concerns related to damsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; impact on the fragile ecosystem of Uttarakhand have been fully addressed. The civil society is vociferously raising the issue of disastrous consequences of the proposed dams and opposing them tooth and nail.
T
By Lokayat Correspondent
he new committee of experts is examining the modified designs of the six hydro power projects which the Centre is supporting despite the hue and cry of agitated environmentalists.
36 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
The logic of the government is liner and straight forward that development cannot be stopped on certain perceived grounds and some risks will always remain in whatever type of developmental activity is undertaken. However the NGOs accuse that it is shocking that the government has conveniently
forgotten the tragedy of flash floods in Uttarakhand in June 2013 which took 5,000 lives and caused massive destruction of properties. It may be recalled that after the disastrous flash flood the Supreme Court hearing a PIL had banned all hydropower projects in Uttarakhand. The ministry of
Uttarakhand
The Six Proposed Hydro-projects awaiting nod Project Name
Lata Tapovan Alaknanda-Badrinath Kotlibhel 1A Jhelum Tamak Bhyundar Ganga Khirao Ganga
: Capacity
: 171 MW : 300 MW : 195 MW : 128 MW : 24.8 MW : 4.5 MW
environment and forests appointed expert body had given its report that majority of the proposed dams could have serious impact on biodiversity of the river basins and should not be constructed. In fact, overwhelming feeling among cross section of experts is that the flash flood of June 2013 was a man-made destruction, wrought by unplanned hydel power projects in a sensitive and fragile ecosystem. The expert bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s report said the problem with the dams was their location in a very highly bio-diverse area. The altitudes also come in seismic and glacial zones where rivers are capable of mobilising tremendous amount of sediments under intense rainfall conditions from the receding glaciers. They can cause havoc in the vicinity as witnessed at the Vishnuprayag barrage site in June 2013 disaster. The Centre in December, 2014 said before the apex court that expert panels had indicated the dams had contributed to the damage caused during the unexpected downpour of 2013. The apex court hearing public interest litigations (PILs) on the future of new and existing dams in Uttarakhand naturally asked the Uttarakhand government to stop work on all the ongoing projects. But the court later shifted
: Developer
: NTPC : GMR : NHPC : THDC : Super Hydro : Super Hydro
focus of the case and asked the Centre to decide the fate of only 6 hydropower projects which are already in the pipeline and had sought all environmental clearances before the infamous disaster. But even report of experts given in February, 2015 said the six projects would be disastrous for Uttarakhand, especially because of the changed geological and physical conditions of the hill state after the 2013 tragedy. The government had
environment and forests rejected the two reports of the experts, known as Ravi Chopra and Vinod Tare recommendations and has formed a third committee of experts. The move is being seen as the determined bid of the ministry to allow the six projects. However, it would only be done after suitable changes have been made in the designs of the dams to the satisfaction of the committee of experts.
prepared an affidavit to this effect and gave it to the other parties in the Supreme Court case though it did not submit the affidavit to the court. Why the Centre changed its mind is not known. But the fact is that the union ministry of
Uttarakhand has a hydropower potential of the order of 20,000 MW against which only about 3,164 MW has been harnessed (in operation) so far through 45 hydropower projects of different capacities in central and private sector.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
37
Gujarat
Give Reservation Benefit The reservation policy was passed in the Parliament after India’s Independence to uplift the country’s economically weaker and marginalised sections for a limited period. It is ironical that today the quota policy has become virtually a handy tool for our modern day leaders for their political interests.
G
By Lokayat Correspondent
ujarat’s influential Patidar (Patel) community has been agitating all over the state seeking reservation under the OBC quota that can ensure them admissions in colleges and government jobs. The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) spearheading the agitation has threatened to continue the agitation till their demands are met. They want reservation announced before the next assembly elections in 2017. Patels are around 20 percent in Gujarat’s total population, obviously a huge vote bank. The issue of reservation benefit to OBCs is quite old in Gujarat. Congress’s chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, an OBC himself had begun the process as early as 1973. He appointed a three-member committee to recommend communities for the
state’s OBC list. It recognised 82 communities in the report submitted in 1976. Five years later after due deliberations, the state government announced 10 percent quota for them. Today Gujarat has a permanent OBC commission and 146 communities have so far been notified as OBCs. The last community that was added to the list was ‘Darjis’ or tailors. The Modh Ghanchi community, to
Protesters took out a large rally in Gandhinagar
38 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
which prime minister Narendra Modi belongs, also figures in the list. There are 17 Muslim communities as well in it. Question arises why Patels, who are quite rich and influential, be given the OBC status. This seems to be the outcome of more and more communities getting included in the OBC list which corner most of the higher education opportunities
Such is the expediency that prime minister Modi who had never flaunted his caste to garner votes, now seems desperate to do so in the wake of Bihar elections. But the problem of reservation is causing fresh headaches to his own government as Jats have threatened to mount their agitations for getting included in the central list of OBCs. The similar kind of problem is being faced by chief minister Anandi Ben Patel from Patidar agitators in Gujarat. All this patently is an outcome of caste based politics being whipped up in the country.
Gujarat
Now to Rich & Powerful
Members of Patidar Patel community holding a protest demanding reservation in education and government jobs in Gandhinagar
and government jobs, so much so that even capable Patels feel left behind. The phenomenon is quite similar to Marathas in Maharashtra and Jats in North India, who also demanded reservation and given by governments in respective states. However, the court rejected this favour given to Marathas in Maharashtra and Jats in the Centre. The Gujarat state already has an OBC commission before which any community can present its case and if prima facie there is merit in the demand, then it carries out a survey and examines on the given parameters whether the claimant community can be so notified or not. This mechanism has also been approved by the apex court in the country. Then, why this arm twisting method of agitations? Truly Patelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demand has acquired a political colour. Seeing their large share in population no party can afford to ignore them. But without proper basis for such a favour, any reservation extended to them would not pass the approval of the court if challenged. But these are bizarre times when even PM flaunts his caste. The BJP government led by Anandi Ben Patel has now an unenviable task cut out for her. To
douse the raging sentiments among Patels her government invited the protesters for talks. A special committee has been formed to talk with the agitators who had held more than 30 rallies in July to press their demand. When asked on what basis they think that the community is eligible for inclusion in the OBC category, some of the leaders say it is for the government to think about. Health minister Nitin Patel has meanwhile accused that the opposition Congress was instigating the Patel community to demand reservation. The Patel community in order to further spread their agitation has planned to organise a big convention on August 16. The agitators say that despite better
Reservation politics in the country is being misused blatantly for political gains resulting into even those communities are demanding quota which are rich, powerful and influential. Unfortunately, many individuals who really need reservation are not getting it.
academic records the Patels lose out due to reservation given to so many castes. They also argue that every Patidar (Patel) family in the state is not wealthy. Forty percent of Patels are poor. Their arguments may further a new kind of debate as to who should be given the reservation even among the OBCs. It seems quota politics is not going to stop in the near future as it has become a useful weapon in the hands of our greedy leaders always looking for vote banks. It is a fact that every reservation campaign in the country, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Patels in Gujarat, Jats in Rajasthan or Marathas in Maharashtra, has had the backing of one party or the other. As the Patel reservation agitation in Gujarat is gathering momentum, the recent posting of Patel police officers in Patel-dominated areas of north and central Gujarat is getting everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention. The government transferred 65 deputy superintendents of police apart from the posting of young women police officers at important posts. In fact, Gandhinagar and Mehsana are the epicentres of agitation. Another Patel area in central Gujarat, Anand, will also get a Patel police officer.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
39
West Bengal
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s frequently stated ambition is to turn Kolkata into a London of the East. It was for this reason above all others that she with her 100-member delegation flew to London recently at the invitation of British prime minister David Cameron. She also wants to attract investments from abroad which is becoming a difficult task in the non-conducive industrial environment in West Bengal. She had visited before this to Singapore, but not much has come from there as investment. Naturally, questions are being raised over whether the state will gain anything from chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s London visit. 40 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
Mamata’s London Dream West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee
F
By Lokayat Correspondent
or centuries, Kolkata and Britain have had close connections. Kolkata was a colonial city developed by the British East India Company and then by the British Empire. The City of Joy was the capital of the British Raj until 1911 when the capital was relocated to Delhi. The two cities have, of course, a shared history that dates from Kolkata’s 17th century foundation as an English trading post. Both retain elegant and occasionally bombastic imperial architecture – neoclassical or Gothic – while in the grand domed outline of the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata has the largest monument to a British monarch – perhaps any monarch – erected anywhere. Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s frequently stated ambition is to turn Kolkata into a London of the East. It was for this reason above all others that
she and her numerous party flew to London recently. Her visit to London to seek foreign investments came as no surprise as it is a venue most Indian chief ministers love to visit. Although Rajasthan’s Vasundhara Raje cancelled her scheduled London trip following the Lalit Modi controversy, Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi had visited Britain last year. Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik too was in London in 2012 to scout for investment. There have been questions raised by several people about the utility of the London visit by Mamata. However, there are hopes that things can change with the right decisions and their implementation. Ahead of the 2011 assembly elections the Trinamool chief had promised to redevelop Kolkata like London. After her visit to Singapore, the UK tour was Mamata’s second foreign visit in quest of foreign investment in a resource-starved Bengal. Perhaps, Bengal shall see
West Bengal some investments in future from Singapore, apart from the investment in the aerotropolis at Andal, a flawed project started by the previous Left regime. Mamata went to London at the invitation of the British prime minister David Cameron which he extended during her meeting with him in 2013. Mamata had held discussions on developing water transport in Kolkata, besides various aspects of town plan-
an Industries (CII), Sanjay Budhia managing director of Patton Group, Anirudh Dhoot, director of Videocon and Sangita Reddy joint managing director Apollo hospitals. Mamata Banerjee set a realistic target for her London trip, saying even a 30 per cent success would be a big achievement. ‘We started from negative.... I won’t say I will achieve 100 per cent. Even if we can get 30 per cent, it will be a big achievement,’ the chief
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee discussed with David Cameron about the state policy and future aspect of investment in West Bengal
ning. She held a meeting with the industrialists before the visit to get a sense of what can be achieved in London. At least 40 persons in the delegation were business leaders from West Bengal and rest of the country including ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar, Sumit Majumdar president of Confederation of Indi-
minister said. Industrialists in the state pinned immense hope in the London visit which was aimed at inviting investment from industrialists of Europe. The industry captains said they expected positive outcome from the trip. ‘There are immense opportunities in the fields of educa-
21 MoUs Clinched
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amata Banerjee-led delegation to the UK clinched 21 MoUs with the UK in the fields of industry, health, education and urban development. The agreements were signed during a bilateral meeting with Britain’s minister of state for employment and British prime minister David Cameron’s Indian diaspora champion Priti Patel at a reception hosted at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The MoUs included academic exchange programmes between the University of Cambridge and Presidency University, Kolkata, in the field of Arts and Humanities and between London-based School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Presidency for the study of Bangla language. In the health sector, a MoU was signed between the Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Government of West Bengal, and the UK’s Royal College of General Practitioners for technical support for running post-graduate diploma courses on family medicine. It also included a technical collaboration for development of micro climate controlled bio domes for ‘Eco Tourism Township’ in Kolkata. On the education front too, there was a sense of satisfaction. MoUs were signed with the University of Cambridge, East Anglia.<
tion, infrastructure, healthcare and tourism that need to be showcased there,’ said Sanjay Budhia, MD, Patton Group.
Burden on Exchequer, cry Opposition JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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West Bengal
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited Buckingham Palace on the invitation of Prince Andrew, The Duke of York
Protests by Religious Community
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amata Banerjee did not have an entirely smooth sailing during her five-day visit to London, which was cut short by a day due to storm that hit a few districts of Bengal. Ms Mamata was surprised to see protesters from the UK ‘Dharmic’ (religious) community, with origins in Bengal, Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra, demonstrating against her alleged inaction regarding human trafficking, corruption and money laundering. They had gathered outside Asia House on New Cavendish Street with placards and banners excoriating her for her inaction in the Tuktuki Mandal case, in which a young Hindu girl was allegedly abducted by a male member of another religion, and who later returned.<
Union minister Babul Supriyo questioned the efficacy of the exercise and lamented lack of conducive industrial environment in the state. Noted economist and NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy said the hope for investment pouring in was ‘too big an expectation.’ Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury expressed his doubts of a positive outcome. ‘People are yet to see any dividend arising out of her Singapore trip, and heading to London with a delegation of over 100 members is a needless burden on the exchequer. What is the use of going on a foreign trip when people in the state are dissatisfied,’ Supriyo, the minister of state for urban development, said. Only the future will tell how much investment this trip would bring to the state, from where the redoubtable Tatas
folded up their Nano car venture on the grounds that it was not an investment-friendly state. Ratan Tata had said at that time that he could not invest with a gun pointed at his head. The Mamata government claims to have made business processes easier and speedier in Bengal but questions persist on law and order and land availability. Offering the government land bank and promising law and order can evoke applause at chamber gatherings in Kolkata, but foreign investors would need specifics about the size and location of the land parcels and local infrastructure to be tempted. The more important factor in attracting foreign investments is the follow-up with (prospective) investors. Can Didi make it possible? Only time will tell!< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Rajasthan
Dangawas Killing Exposes Continuing Caste Oppression Killing of five Dalits in Dangawas (Rajasthan) despite the police being sounded about the likely murderous attack on them is a testimony to the fact that the administration, riven by caste affiliations, failed to protect the oppressed despite legal and constitutional provisions. Occupying land of Dalits by hook or crook remains one of the major reasons for the caste-based violence in rural areas.
Some of the Dalit victims of the attacks
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By Sunil Kumar
alit oppression by dominant castes is routine in Rajasthan where a Jat mob of around 200 according to the FIR made to the police,
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killed 3 people in their murderous assault with sticks, iron rods and other weapons. Three others out of the 11 injured died later in the hospital. The attackers brimming with hatred razed their recently built dwelling by tractors. They ran over their tractors over injured also.
Their properties were burnt and women were beaten and humiliated by hitting at their private parts. Surprisingly they did so after a village panchayat passed an order to vacate the land which the Dalit family had regained after a court verdict.
Rajasthan
One of the Dalit victims in the hospital
Dangawas falls in drought affected district of Nagaur. Earlier people were not interested in land there that much. But with the rural economy picking up thanks to modern agriculture and land prices increasing, the greed to forcibly occupy the land of Dalits is increasing according to the local people. It is well-known that Dalits have negligible agriculture land in India, but Dalits along with Jats own plenty of fertile land in Nagaur. There is a historical reason for that. A local resident Dharm Ram Dewal told that Jats and Dalits (Meghwal), both used to work as forced labour for the king Baldev Raj Mirda, and by dint of this the two communities got to occupy the land ever since. There are several communities in Dangawas village, but Jats are in majority with 50 percent population in the village. Every community except Muslims has some agricultural land but Jats and Meghwals have the maximum. The casteism is rampant and if some outsider visits
the place, his or her caste is the first thing that is asked. The disputed land came into possession of a Jat resident more than fifty years ago after it was attached on failure to repay the loan of Rs 1200 by the Dalit owner of the land. However, there is a
It is shameful that the district administration did not take timely action despite aware of the open threat to Dalit lives for getting their land back by a court order. The CBI is investigating the crime. One can only hope that not only the murderers but their covert supporters also in the administration would be booked.
specific provision in the Rajasthan Tenancy Act that a property owned by a member of a Scheduled Caste cannot be transferred or sold to a person of any other community. So when the matter went to the court seeking the land back from the Jat-occupant, the court verdict obviously was in favour of the Dalit family. But the local society, panchayat and administration living with old mores, caste prejudices and egos unfortunately were not prepared to accept the court order. The current caste-based politics has only vitiated the society. The mindset of the new generation is alarming. It has been reported that after the Dalits were beaten up, injured, killed and their women humiliated, it was celebrated on the social media for having taught them a right lesson. A local resident told this writer, when local policemen went at the spot to investigate the gruesome killing, they smiled at the tell-tale signs of brutal assault on women. JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Rajasthan After the murderous attack on the Dalit family, Dangawas Sangharsh Samiti was formed. Its president Rajendra Ria told that there were a few more similar cases of forced occupation of land in the village. He lamented village politics and village panchayat for adopting backward-looking oppressive approach. Panchayat took a decision against the Dalit family, dictating it to vacate the disputed land, ignoring
making murderous assault though it was informed of impending attack as soon the attackers started gathering at the land site. Police got the injured admitted in Medta hospital, where three more persons died of injury, one of them a non-Dalit. The brutal killing was flashed not only in local and state media but got headlines at national level also. But the district administration became serious about the incident
Another victim in the hospital
Only after the president of the National Commission of Scheduled Castes visited Dangawas, the district administration realised seriousness of the crime. The whole incident was so frightening that even after a couple of weeks the victims were not ready to return to their village. They were escorted by police when a non-Jat police post was opened there at the instance of the state government for their protection. the court verdict. After this the Jat community according to the victims adopted an overtly threatening attitude. The terrorised Dalit families made a complaint to the district administration and the police seeking safety for their life. But neither the administration nor the police took any preventive measure. Police reportedly reached the spot only when the attackers had left the place after 46 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
only when P L Punia, the president of the National Commission of Scheduled Castes, visited the village. The whole incident was so frightening that even after a couple of weeks the victims were not ready to return to their village. They were escorted by the police when a nonJat police post was opened there at the instance of the state government for their protection.
After the incident, some progressive organisations from different communities, including some religious and minority groups came forward against the state administration and asked for a CBI investigation in the whole incident. It is unfortunate that after two months of assurances by the state administration, no relief and compensation has been given to the victim families. Amazingly, Vasundhara Raje has continued to maintain that it was a fight between two families. Her attitude was challenged by many who ask which family has 200-300 people as these many people were involved in the attack. They assert it was a community conflict which should not become a trend. The victims have given a list of 48 attackers and described another 250 as unnamed attackers. But so far police has arrested only 6 persons. It is true that caste factor is a grave obstacle in modernising Rajasthan socially. Dangawas boasts of having modern facilities like primary health centres and schools, but the social backwardness rules the roost. The involvement of some political bigwigs in this case is a matter of shame. Even the police personnel were allegedly not impartial and favoured the oppressive community. The CBI is investigating the matter, but the victim families have yet not been given the custody of their land. This attitude shows the insensitiveness of the state government towards the helpless people in the state. Dangawas incident is not the only incident of attack on Dalits. In one year four major incidents have occurred in Nagaur district alone. This is true that Dalits are becoming assertive and demanding their due rights. But should this be met with Dangawas kind of killings? Will Indian society even after 68 years of independence continue to deny their due rights?<
Rajasthan
The Temple Twist The month of June was quite tumultuous for Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje. The Lalitgate controversy and opposition clamour for her resignation had barely subsided, she was haunted by another trouble, this time from the home front. Jaipur Metro has been a seat of controversy ever since its inception but what made the Raje government face public ire was the demolition of temples falling in the way of Metro corridor, some of them as old as 200 years.
Protest against demolition of temples
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By Abha Sharma from Jaipur
he Pink City is also known as Chhoti Kashi due to the presence of old temples in the walled city. So when some very old temples were razed and deities shifted elsewhere, there was obvious public resentment. Ironically, right under the nose of the chief minister who is supposed to be highly devotional as far as worshipping deities is concerned! It got more vocal when the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) supported a major protest—‘Chakka Jam’ call given by the
The state government has now reportedly assured the Mandir Bachao Samiti to restore the temples either in the vicinity of their original place or a suitable place suggested by all stakeholders. Why demolished them if the government plans to reconstruct?
Mandir Bachao Sangharsh Samiti on July 9. The protest was bound to invoke debate over ‘heritage versus development’ in the city but eyebrows were also raised over the entry of RSS, at a rather late stage. Political circles were rife with discussions whether it was a damage control exercise or a move to corner the chief minister. Some even went to claim that it was the lords’ fury over demolition of old temples like the Rozgareshwar and Kashtharan Mahadev that landed the chief minister in the Lalitgate controversy! Priests, shopkeepers, old JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Rajasthan and young people had their own observations and sentiments on the temple demolition issue. Is the Metro being brought to destroy the heritage of Jaipur, asked one priest. The satellite towns need to be better connected with Metro than the walled city, Om Prakash Sharma, priest of a Hanuman temple said. The president of Mandir Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, Badri Prasad Choudhury firmly believes that six
‘BJP itself was politicising the issue. They are razing the temples on the one hand and holding protests on the other end simply to save their face.’ It was an obvious attempt to calm down the hurt sentiments of Jaipur voters given the adverse feedback government might have got. The RSS and Raje never had very cordial relations; and supporting a public movement, if not fuel-
One more group of protesters on the streets of Jaipur
temples older than 100 years were removed to facilitate the Metro corridor. The Samiti asked the state government to take action against guilty officials and restore the temples. Another member of the samiti, Dinesh Khandelwal opined that they supported prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’. So many religious structures were removed in Gujarat but without any discrimination and with full respect. Here, they are doing it recklessly. Hence, public resentment is natural. The Congress party took the RSS-backed protest with a pinch of salt. The Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot took a dig at the Chakka Jam by saying that
ling it could be the Sangh strategy to exert control over the chief minister and the state BJP. Whatever it may be, it did pose a dilemma for city BJP MLAs, whether to actively participate in the protest or not. Those who enthusiastically participated were the ones who are most vocal adversaries of chief minister Raje like former ministers Ghanshyam Tiwari and Narpat Singh Rajvi. The former, however, preferred to sit at a prominent Chakka Jam site and observe silence. Ram Charan Bohra whom the city sent to the parliament with unprecedented majority, state BJP chief Ashok Parnami and education minister Kali Charan Saraf were
conspicuous by their absence while social justice and empowerment minister Dr Arun Chaturvedi made only a symbolic tour of the Chakka Jam points! The state government has now reportedly assured the Mandir Bachao Samiti to restore the temples either in the vicinity of their original place or a suitable place suggested by all stakeholders. Why demolished them if the government plans to reconstruct? The state BJP chief Parnami says, ‘the idols are worshipped, not temples. It was necessary to shift the deities to facilitate Metro corridor. The government doesn’t want to compromise on anything--neither development nor public sentiments.’ The RSS spokesperson Vivek Gupta sounds happy that the protest had positive impact and the government has agreed to all the points Mandir Samiti had raised. He said the government has agreed to restore 13 temples at their original place including the Rozgareshwar temple. The government also handed over a list of 87 temples removed by administration including 23 temples over 100 years old. The government did admit administrative lapse in demolishing the temples. The minister for social justice also admitted that due sacred procedures were not followed at some places which hurt public sentiments. But at the same time he said that the Raje government is the only government which is spending so much money on religious tourism. Over 30 temples were removed in previous Congress regime but not a single was restored. But Raje government is working on allotting proper space to all the temples. To prevent any further discord, a Mandir Sanrakshan Samiti will be constituted to make sure that temple removals, if needed, are done with proper consent of all concerned. The chief minister has survived the Lalitgate turmoil and the saffron party in all probability would not like to take another chance of inviting the lords’ ire! < JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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JAMMU & KASHMIR
Unprecedented Protest Against BJP in Jammu Jammu simmered and boiled for six days resurrecting the scenes and sentiments of 2008 when there was a bandh for as long as 56 days over refusal of land allotment to the Amarnath Shrine Board. That time the chief minister of the Congress-PDP government was Ghulam Nabi Azad who was accused of acting at the behest of the PDP and the agitation was led by the BJP. But this time the Jammuites’ anger was directed as much against the BJP as against the PDP. Nobody could have imagined Jammuites’ sense of being cheated so early as only a few months ago they had given an unprecedented mandate to the BJP.
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By Lokayat Correspondent
ll India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) of New Delhi is indeed such an institute, that a demand to set up one like this in a particular region can easily become a big political issue. And shifting elsewhere after granting it, of course, can put the loser region into a state of tizzy. This exactly happened in Jammu recently. Promise of setting up AIIMSs is seen as vote-catching gambit. So no wonder, in 2003 six new AIIMSs were announced by the NDA government under Atal
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Behari Vajpayee, the same promise was later repeated by the UPA government in 2006, then the current union finance minister Arun Jaitley of the NDA government announced four more in his first budget and then another six more in this year’s budget. There was one for the state of Jammu & Kashmir. But finance minister Arun Jaitley made a mistake of announcing in the Lok Sabha to set up the premier institute in the Kashmir valley, the new constituency where his party wants to increase its clout and support among people. But it led to a feeling of being short changed, and not unreasonably also, given
the political history of the BJP of polarising the people in Jammu against the valley. But now they found an institute announced by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government to be set up in Jammu, was going in the valley. It provided powerful ammunition to start an agitation. Though the decision of granting the AIIMS in valley was not that preposterous as it was made out to be since the other two premier institutes—IIT and IIM were being set up in Jammu to strike a balance between the two regions of the state. BJP initially was confident that the people would see reason in the balanced approach of the party. But the issue was lapped
JAMMU & KASHMIR up by the parties defeated in the elections, the Congress and the National Conference. They gave the logic that if there can be two separate Central universities for Jammu and the Valley, why not two AIIMSs. They helped fan the fire of discontent for their political benefits though officially the agitation was spearheaded by the civil society. An AIIMS Coordination Committee (ACC) was formed to lead the agitation, comprising 70 social, religious, political and business organisations which gave finally a 72 hour complete Jammu bandh call from July 31 to August 2, but it was extended by another 72 hours on August 3 when the BJP leaders appeared unrelenting. It was a strange scene across Jammu that the same people, who
fresh momentum every passing day. The intensity of protests and peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anger was reminiscent of the stir in 2008 when the bandh had lasted an unprecedented 56 continuous days. That time, the issue was refusal of allotting land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board to build some essential infrastructure. The PDP had been accused of preventing the Ghulam Nabi Azad government for this. Seeing a situation when
The agitation was recalled only when the Centre announced that there would be two AIIMSs in the state, one each for the Jammu region and Srinagar. The union health minister J P Nadda was coaxed by the state BJP leaders to announce the decision at the earliest lest the situation should go out of hand.
Bandh demanding an AIIMS in Jammu
had given the BJP an unprecedented mandate during the last elections a few months ago, were shouting filthiest slogans against its leaders. They were being described as cheats. People were all the more angry because the deputy chief minister Prof Nirmal Singh of the BJP in order to increase partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s base in Kashmir valley had gone to the extent of declaring that no power on earth could shift the AIIMS from the valley. The ACC leaders also accused the BJP of trying to scuttle the agitation when it was acquiring
demand and the ACC leaders had withdrawn the 3-day bandh call on June 20. But soon they discovered that it was only a dilatory tactic. The Jammu bandh which could have gone the way of 2008, was finally recalled when the Centre announced that there would be two AIIMSs in the state. It even asked the state government as a proof of its sincerity to identify 200 acres of land each for Jammu region and Srinagar for the institutes.
the ground support of the BJP started dwindling and the tempers were soaring high, union health minister J P Nadda was coaxed by the state deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh, health minister Lal Singh, state BJP president Jugal Kishore Sharma, party J&K affairs in charge Avinash Rai Khanna and general secretary Narendra Singh to announce an AIIMS for Jammu at the earliest. In fact prof Nirmal Singh was trying to douse the simmering sentiments for quite some time and had given a written undertaking to fulfil their
Some political analysts have asked if it was just an agitation for an AIIMS in Jammu or a ruse to fan sentiments against the Kashmir valley, a trend always pursued with vigour by the BJP and earlier its precursor Jan Sangh. National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on August 5 did give an indication of this when he warned that the PDP-BJP combine was inciting regional passions. He urged that J&K state has to flourish as a single entity and any attempt to trample this peculiar character should not be destroyed.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Andhra Pradesh
Drought Forces Migration The drought situation in Telangana has fuelled migration from districts, with lakhs of villagers moving out to bigger cities in search of livelihood. And with this have also started a fresh round of allegations and counterallegations among political leaders. Telangana Rashtra Samiti has accused both Congress and Telugu Desam for the current predicament as irrigation projects were neglected by their governments in the past.
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By S Santhanam
s many as 10 lakh rural people from Mahabubnagar have migrated to Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts in search of livelihood in the last couple of months. They have gone to these places mostly as daily-wage labourers, watchmen in colonies/ apartments, servants in shops. Some have gone seeking jobs in granite and construction industry on the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outskirts. The reason: severe drought conditions in Telangana for the second year running. Mahabubnagar is not the only region to witness an
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Telanganaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Palamuru lift irrigation project has come under threat after Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu wrote a letter to the Central Water Commission to stop it. This evoked strong protest by Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which called for a bandh in Mahbubnagar where people are already suffering immensely due to drought conditions and migrating to Hyderabad in large numbers
Andhra Pradesh
Yagnas to propitiate Rain God
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exodus of people. Medak (8 lakh), Nizamabad (7 lakh) and Adilabad (5 lakh) are some of the worst sufferers, who have left their villages, seeking greener pastures! Some of the people leaving their villages said that it’s difficult to earn even Rs 100 per day in villages in drought conditions whereas in Hyderabad they could earn up to Rs 500 per day as daily-wagers and working as watchmen, security guards etc. The severe drought conditions have led to crop failure, mounting debts, chronic unemployment and failure of the NREGA scheme.
unemployment. The roads and highways surrounding villages and interior areas witness a high number of theft cases. Citing instances, a government official said that the districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Medak and Warangal had recorded 60 per cent higher crime rates between 2000 and 2004 due to consecutive droughts, with most being road-side thefts near Khanapur, Basar, Ramayampet, Dichpally etc. The drought conditions have also unleashed allegations and counter-allegations by politicians. For example, T Harish Rao irrigation minister
The drought situation is no better in Andhra Pradesh where the government has identified 235 mandals as severely drought-hit. Due to deficit rainfall, the area sown in the state is only 12.87 lakh hectares in July as against the normal area of 42.56 lakh hectares for the season. Drought conditions have hit not only the agriculture sector but have caused several social problems. There were instances earlier of increased crime rates where drought migrants had settled because of poverty and
of Telangana put the blame on Telugu Desam and Congress for the situation when people are forced to migrate to big cities. According to him negligence in construction of irrigation projects has led to the current
n the days of science & technology the present day governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are encouraging people at government level to perform Yagnas. Andhra government directed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam to ‘perform yagnas’ in temples to propitiate the rain God. Similarly, Telangana state endowments department proposed to hold ‘Sahasra Ghataabhishekam’ to be performed at all the Shiva temples and Varuna Yagna in other temples to appease the rain god since monsoon had been playing truant leading to severe drought conditions in the state. People recall that late chief minister YSR of the undivided Andhra Pradesh had ordered special prayers in all places of worship in June 2009, when monsoon failed, affecting agricultural activities across the state. This essentially according to the rationalists remains an effort to reduce the mental agony of people suffering from the drought conditions. In olden days Yagnas were routinely performed for the general welfare of society, to increase fertility of soil, to invite rains, welcome peace and health for society, but continuing to follow all this speaks volumes about the lack of scientific temper in modern India. A government official said Vedic rituals are an important part of the temple culture and since times immemorial, Indians have been performing Yagnas and Yagnas every year to propitiate deities like Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Varuna, Agni and Indra. There are scientific Yagnas also like seeding of clouds and producing rains artificially. But given the traditional mindset and lack of resources these are not practiced.<
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Andhra Pradesh
Drought and Suicides
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ot just the agriculture is badly affected by droughts, health of people also become a big problem. Shortage of rainfall creates problem of access to safe drinking water. Most typically food consumption is reduced creating malnutrition. Research has indicated that landless people decrease their food consumption by 35 percent during a drought year, and large farm households even more by 37 percent. When drought causes crop failure, farmers have to face acute financial crunch and arrange cash to repay their loans. They tend to seek loans from their relatives when all other means like selling of valuables are exhaust. As a last resort, they migrate in search of some employment. Unfortunately, some farmers do not hold any hope and choose to commit suicide. A recent study has revealed that suicides committed in rural areas often follow intensive pressure and humiliation from moneylenders. A study of debt-related suicides has revealed the irony that many of these people had taken loans to improve their wells so that they could survive during drought conditions. Crop failure has been reported to be a factor in 42 percent of the suicides.<
predicament. He charged that even now the Naidu government is writing letters to the Central Water Commission objecting to the construction of Nakkalagandi and Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift irrigation projects. Furious chief minister C S Rao called for a bandh in Mahbubnagar to protest against the attempts to stop irrigation projects. Palamuru lift project is an old one and had
chief minister had laid the foundation stone. Retaliating to the charges both the major opposition parties, Congress and TDP, blamed the current TRS government for not taking appropriate measures to mitigate problems of the drought affected people to check migration and suicides. The drought situation is no better in Andhra Pradesh where
been sanctioned by the undivided Andhra Pradesh government. YSR Reddy had ordered a survey for that while Kiran Kumar Reddy sanctioned Rs 6.91 crore for a detailed project and later Telangana
the government has identified 235 mandals as severely drought-hit. Due to deficit rainfall, the area sown in the state is only 12.87 lakh hectares in July as against the normal area of 42.56 lakh hectares
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for the season. Though officials of the agriculture department are in a positive frame of mind over increasing the area of sowing as Southwest monsoon extends up to August end, they are only being optimistic as the situation on the ground is really bad. Even this 12.87 lakh hectares sowing, which accounts for only 30 per cent of the total area that is normally covered by sowing during Kharif, was done due to good rains at the beginning of Southwest monsoon in June. There are other social problems being witnessed on account of drought. One is increasing dropouts in government schools in rural areas due to families migrating to urban areas. Late last year, several school going children in Telangana were forced to turn farm labourers. With no solution to acute power crisis and drought staring at them, more than 350 farmers ended their lives by committing suicides. This left many young school going children turn labourers to earn livelihood to run their families. Meanwhile the meteorological department has forecast that by mid-August good rains are expected and this might wipe out the drought conditions to a considerable extent. Currently the recorded rainfall deficit in Telangana is 23 percent and in Andhra Pradesh, 14 percent. Drought has several forms. A meteorological drought is announced when average rainfall is 25 percent less in an area over a prolonged period of time. A hydrological drought is announced when there is significant reduction in water bodies such as rivers, ponds, tanks and groundwater. It becomes an agricultural drought when crops fail because there is insufficient moisture in the soil during crucial times in the harvest. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, both are experiencing all the three types of drought, the former much more.<
Kerala
Kochi, the World’s First Solar-powered Airport Cochin International Airport will soon be the world’s first airport to meet its energy needs fully by solar power. Two months before the Paris meeting on Climate Change, this will be coming as a national announcement on India’s commitment to increasing use of new and renewable sources of energy to cut down its share of carbon emission, which has been held responsible for the climate change fraught with potential of unprecedented calamity to earth systems wreaking havoc to human life and property. The Cochin airport feat would inspire airports across the world to adopt solar power. Already Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is in the process of doing the same in India.
Solar panel arrays at Kochi International Airport
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By Lokayat Correspondent
he Cochin International Airport, the fourth biggest in India by passenger traffic would soon become the world’s first airport to operate completely on solar power by mid-August. This remarkable feat of the airport company, CIAL, the first public-private venture in the aviation sector in India, will inspire other airports and big consumers
of electricity to adopt solar power to meet their electricity needs. The airport company took it as a mission to showcase feasibility of solar power in aviation sector. The first milestone was crossed two years ago when it completed a pilot project of installing a 100 KW solar power system over the roof of its Arrival Terminal. Once it was found economically feasible, it started working on a 120 times bigger project, a 12 MW solar
station spread over 45 acres, an area equivalent to 25 football fields. It is learnt that not just the electricity needs of the airport would be met by this solar station but it would also leave some surplus power to be supplied to the grid. There is already a policy in existence in Kerala to supply such excess power to the grid. The JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Kerala
Machine cleaning solar panels
During the months of low sunlight and monsoon clouds in Kerala, solar cells may not generate enough electricity to justify setting up solar systems. The state is sunny only 54.3 percent of daylight hours. Yet the Cochin International Airport ventured on to fully depend on solar power. Its real impact will become clear only over time, say some doubting Thomases.
daily generation of electricity by solar panels at the airport would be around 50,000 units, which is more than the current requirement. This solar power project of Rs 62 crore has been implemented by a Kolkata based company Vikram Solar which accessed technological support, material and know-how from a German company Bosch. It will be interesting to see how 56 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
soon other airports across the world emulate Kochi Airport’s example. In India there is at least one more, the Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, that has planned to do the same on slightly a bigger scale—a 15 MW solar station. The efforts of these two Indian airports are very much in line with the ambitious national goal of
increasing use of renewable energy. India has only recently announced a drastic, five times increase in the national goal of installing solar power capacity, from 20,000 MW to 100,000 MW by 2022. Prime minister Narendra Modi announced this with a target of attracting a staggering $100 billion into the sector over the next seven years. It is heartening that most states have shown interest in enhancing their goals and working out plans and strategies to achieve the ambitious national target. Kerala government has announced that it would have a 200 MW solar park at Kasargod with a central assistance of Rs 40 crore. Answering questions in the legislative assembly in July state electricity minister Aryadan Muhammed informed about the project. He told that Solar Energy Corporation of India and Kerala State Electricity Board would jointly implement this solar park project. The central government earlier aimed to establish 17 solar parks across the country with a combined capacity of 12,739 MW. The ultimate aim was to establish 25 such parks for generating 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power over a period of five years under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched on the 11th January, 2010 by former prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. But now with an adventurous plan of 100,000 MW of solar electricity by 2022 much more is expected to happen than just 25 solar parks. Solar energy is gradually becoming financially attractive also as over the period the generation cost is likely to become nearly equal to the new plants of conventional coal and gas based generation systems. Increasing use of new and renewable sources of energy is all the more necessary in India after China’s announcement of its emission-cut targets June this year. All eyes are now set on how much
Kerala
R & D to reduce cost of solar power
S
olar energy continues to be very expensive if the cost is calculated without taking into account environmental and subsidy benefits. Its initial cost is prohibitive and only the government’s subsidy programme makes it affordable. There is also an international programme of carbon-credits, which can be sold to partly meet the high capital cost. To make solar power generation cheap, research and development efforts are going on globally. Our union ministry of new and renewable ministry is also supporting numerous research and development programmes to reduce the generation cost. There are at least 16 research projects related to photo-voltaic (PV) systems and 10 to solar thermal systems that the union ministry is supporting financially. For Photo Voltaic, the thrust areas are: development of silicon and other materials, efficient solar cells, thin film materials, concentrating PV technology, PV system design with the objective of significantly reducing ratio of capital cost to power generation. For Solar Thermal, the thrust areas are development of technologies for power generation, industrial process heat systems, solar cooling; technology improvement for various low temperature applications like solar water heating, solar cooking, etc. In both, solar PV and solar thermal, storage methods are also important. Therefore, enough focus on R&D in this area as well. It is expected that global R&D efforts would succeed sooner than later helping reduce the generation cost. In 2010-11 the generation cost in India was Rs 12.14 per Kwh (unit) which is expected to come down to Rs 9.00 by 2016-17. But it needs to be reduced further to match the current generation cost of new coal based power plants where it is less than Rs 5. To the industries the purchase cost is even higher around Rs 6-7 per unit which they grudge as they find it makes them uncompetitive vis-a-vis other Asian countries. That is the reason a few economists have raised an alarm over Modi’s adventurous solar plan of 100,000 MW by 2022. They assert that it would foil Modi’s cherished another plan—Make in India.<
cut India is going to announce in forthcoming climate change international meetings. With about 300 sunny days in a year, India’s solar power reception on its land area alone is about 5,000 trillion kilowatt-hours (units) per year. The solar energy available in a year exceeds that of all fossil fuel energy reserves in India. Thus India is well placed to use solar energy. Coming back to Kerala,
according to experts the state is sunny only 54.3 percent of daylight hours receiving an average sunshine of only around 5 kWh per square meter per day which is the minimum requirement for feasible solar generation units. During months of low sunlight and monsoon clouds, solar cells may not generate enough electricity to justify setting up solar systems. Yet the Cochin International Airport
went ahead to go entirely for the solar power. It speaks a volume about the vision, commitment and courage shown by it. Its true impact, however, will become clear only over time. The experts involved in the project say that over the next 25 years airport’s solar power station would save 300,000 tons worth of carbon emissions. This is equivalent of planting three million trees.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Campus
Why Not Create Job-Oriented Graduates? The country has witnessed a high rate of growth since the liberalisation of economy took place in 1991. It has created a lot of job opportunities. But the education system did not keep pace with the needs of the employers which has resulted into mass frustration among job-seekers as well as employers. It has been found that 65 percent graduates in the country are unemployable. What needs to be done? Currently the government is in the process of formulating a new national education policy. Will it take care of the needs of the country?
M
Dr Pushker Srivastava
any recent engineering graduates in India after months of job hunting say that they are still unemployed. They are told by potential employers that they lack the skills necessary to join the workforce. Critics say corruption and low standards in educational institutes are to blame for this unenviable situation. As per
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Campus
the recent study by a pink newspaper showed that only 10 percent of the graduates coming out of Indian universities are truly eligible for direct employment, 30 percent are trainable and can also be recruited but rest 60 percent are morons. They have only shallow knowledge of their subjects. Essentially this is this crowd which makes huge hue and cry about growing unemployment. The recruiting agencies tell that there are companies which are desperate to find eligible recruits who can perform independently after a brief training. A senior HR manager of a call center in Bangalore rues that he finds it difficult to find candidates who can give proper answer questions of clients by phone or email. It wanted to hire 3,000 people last year but in this country of 1.2 billion people, it appeared to it an impossible goal. He complained that so few of college graduates who came through the door could communicate effectively in English, and so many lacked basic skills like comprehension of a text, writing skills. The result was the company could hire just three out of every 100 applicants. This is a funny situation as India projects an image of a nation churning out hundreds of thousands of students every year that are well educated and a looming threat to the better-paid middle-class workers of
A survey conducted annually by Pratham, a non-government organisation looked at students’ performance at 13,000 schools across India and found that about half of country’s fifth graders can’t read at a second-grade level.
the West. Their abilities especially in mathematics was cited by president Barack Obama as a reason why the US was facing competitive challenges. This is quite uncharitable for India that this company finally had to expand its search to Philippines and Nicaragua. More than half of its 8,000 employees are now based outside of India. In the nation that made off-shoring a household word, the company found itself so short of talent that it went to offshore. India’s rapid economic expan-
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Campus
Government keeps tuition fees low, which makes colleges accessible to more students, but this also keeps teacher salaries and budgets low. What’s more, say educators and business leaders, the curriculum in most colleges is outdated and disconnected from the real world. sion after liberalisation in 1991 was supposed to create opportunities for millions to rise out of poverty, but it failed to reform its education system. Under the new wave of liberalism government it allowed untrammeled growth of private institutions, which took education as a business rather than producing quality institutions. There are only a few private sector institutions which offer quality education. Mostly they remain degree selling institutions. No wonder then that India is not getting the right kind of educated youth. Corruption in education sector has done an incalculable harm to the national economy. This alone is not the problem of Indian education sector. It is also hampered by overly regulated system impacting autonomy of institutions and their innovation. Executives connected with Wipro 60 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
Technologies, which launched a teacher-training programme so that the quality of engineers coming out of colleges could be improved say colleges are hampered by overbearing bureaucracy and a focus on rote learning rather than critical thinking and comprehension. Government keeps tuition fees low, which makes colleges accessible to more students, but this also keeps teacher salaries and budgets low. What’s more, say educators and business leaders, the curriculum in most colleges is outdated and disconnected from the real world. ‘If you offer peanuts, you get monkeys’, says a top executive from a well known recruitment firm that also runs job-training programs for college graduates lacking the skills to land good jobs. Muddying the picture is that on the surface, India appears to have met the demand
for more educated workers with a quantum leap in number of graduates. Engineering colleges in India now have seats for 1.5 million students, nearly four times the 390,000 available in 2000, according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies. But 65 percent of technical graduates and more than 65 percent of general graduates are unemployable by India’s high-growth global industries, including information technology and call centers, according to results from assessment tests administered by the group. Another survey, conducted annually by Pratham, a non-government organisation that aims to improve education for the poor, looked at students’ performance at 13,000 schools across India. It found that about half of country’s fifth graders can’t read at a second-grade level.
Campus At stake is India’s ability to sustain growth—its economy is projected to expand 7.5 percent in coming few years which may go even higher— while maintaining its advantages as a low-cost place to do business. The challenge is especially pressing given the country’s more youthful population than the US, Europe and China. More than half of India’s population is under the
More than half of India’s population is under the age of 28, and one million people a month are expected to join the labour force over the next decade. The fear is that if these young people aren’t educated and trained well enough to participate in the country’s glittering new economy, they pose a potential threat to India’s economic stability.
age of 28, and one million people a month are expected to join the labour force here over the next decade, the Indian government estimates. The fear is that if these young people aren’t educated and trained well enough to participate in the country’s glittering new economy, they pose a potential threat to India’s economic stability. ‘Economic reforms are not about goofy rich guys buying Mercedes cars,’ says managing director of an employee recruitment and training firm. ‘Twenty years of reforms are worth nothing if we can’t get our kids into jobs.’ Yet even as the government and business leaders acknowledge the labour shortage, educational reforms are a long way from coming to a reality. The NDA government has announced to bring a new national education policy by early next year which would take care of all the issues. The new policy is coming after 29 years. The last one was announced in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was leading a big campaign to take the country in the 21st century. Modi government has invited suggestions and ideas from various
stake-holders, including the industry. The final shape of the policy would be known only when its final draft is released. But the discussion is raging around promoting research and innovation which might be achieved by linking teaching with research. The ministry has asked for suggestions how research would be financed in an educational institute and how use of information and communication technology would be used extensively. The issue of improving the quality of teachers would likely be given due focus. Whether the new national education policy will also give more autonomy to design their own curriculum has to be seen as whatever little autonomy premier institutes enjoy today, is being snatched away by the present government. The purpose of the new policy should be creating opportunities for quality education with an aim to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate quality manpower shortage in science, technology, academics and industry. It is hoped with suggestions coming from India and abroad, from academia and industry, and from administrators and common people, the final draft of the policy would be a robust one. This writer took pains to approach students to know their attitude. Pradeep Singh, 23, who graduated last year from RKDF College of Engineering, one of Bhopal’s oldest, engineering colleges, has been on five job interviews—none of which led to work. To make himself more attractive to potential employers, he then enrolled in a five-month-long computer programming course run by NIIT. Singh and several other engineering graduates said they had JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Campus learned quickly that they needn’t bother to go to some classes. ‘The faculty take classes casually, and the students also take even more casually, like they’ve all agreed not to be bothered too much,’ Singh says. He admitted that he routinely missed a couple of days of classes every week, and it took just three or four days of cramming from the textbooks at the end of the semester to pass the exams. Others told that cheating, often in collaboration with test graders, is rampant these days. Deepak Sharma, 26, failed several exams when he was enrolled at a top engineering college outside of Delhi, until he finally figured out the trick: Writing his mobile number on the exam paper. That’s what he did for a theory-of-computation exam, and shortly after, he says the examiner called him and offered to pass him and his friends if they paid 10,000 rupees each. He and four friends pooled together the money, and they all passed the test. ‘I feel almost 99 percent certain that if I didn’t pay the money, I would have failed the exam again,’ says Sharma. However, pro-vice chancellor of the university, where Sharma studied, said in an interview that there was no cheating at his school and that if anyone were spotted cheating in this way, he would be ‘behind bars’. He said he had read about a case or two in the newspaper, and in the ‘rarest of the rare cases, it might happen somewhere, and if you blow it out of all proportions, it affects the entire community.’ The examiner couldn’t be located for comment. Cheating aside, the Indian education system needs to change its entire orientation to focus on learning, says the senior vice president in human resources at Wipro Technologies. He says the company has struggled to find skilled workers. The problem is immense: ‘How are
Whether the new national education policy will give more autonomy to design their own curriculum has to be seen in the context of whatever little autonomy premier institutes of the country enjoy today, is being snatched away by the present government. Without conferring autonomy, the goal of research and innovation while promoting education would remain a mirage.
you able to change the mind-set that knowledge is more than a stamp?’ Average graduate’s ‘ability to comprehend and converse is very low’, says a head of hiring for a big call centre in India. ‘That’s the biggest challenge we face.’ Indeed, demand for skilled labor continues to grow. Tata Consultancy Services expects to hire 300,000 people this year, up from 38,000 last year and 700 in 1986. Trying to bridge the widening chasm between job requirements and the skills of graduates, Tata has extended its internal training program. It puts fresh graduates through 72 days of training, double the duration in 1986, says its chief executive. Tata has a special campus in south India where it trains 9,000 recruits at a time, and has plans to bump that up
to 10,000. Wipro runs an even longer, 90-day training program to address what the human-resources executive, calls the ‘inherent inadequacies’ in Indian engineering education. The company can train 5,000 employees at a time. Both companies sent teams of employees to India’s approximately 3,000 engineering colleges to assess the quality of each before they decided where to focus their campus recruiting efforts. Tata says 300 of the schools made the cut; for Wipro, only 100 did. Tata has also begun recruiting and training liberal-arts students with no engineering background but who want a secure job. And Wipro has set up a foundation that spends $6 million annually to train teachers. Participants attend week-long workshops and then get follow-up online mentoring. Some say that where they used to spend a third of class time with their backs to students, drawing diagrams on the blackboard, they now engage students in discussion and use audiovisual props. “My family has invested so much money in my education, and they don’t understand why I am still not finding a job,” says Mr. Shivanand. “They are hoping very, very much that I get a job soon, so after all of their investment, I will finally support them.” There n number of such stories but as parents and educators we have to see that why graduates are not up to the mark and one of the basic reasons apart from others, students lack of reading habits which are dying fast. They believe more on visual communication and lack the first hand or basic information about the current affairs, their subject specialization and habit of doing all the pending work at the last moment which just accumulates so big that it is difficult to manage at last.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Sport
Football :
Its Complexities, Ramifications & Violence Seventy four people killed in soccer riots in Egypt in 1972 (Courtesy: Indiascanner.com)
Ever since the beginning of the world there have been fighting between people and among countries. There have been any number of battles and many wars. But there has also been sporting contests but unfortunately, human beings what they are have resorted to fighting even in these competitions. The biggest example is provided by the game of football, the most popular sport of all if also perhaps one of the biggest money providers. The most enjoyable of sport at all times this game has also become one of the most aggressive modes of expression. The World Cup Football competition, arguably the most exciting event in the world every four years has also produced some of the bitterest moments in the history of mankind.
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By Ramu Sharma
an you imagine countries going to war over the outcome of a match? This happened when Honduras and El
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Salvador met during the 1969 World Cup qualifier. What happened in the Stadia soon spilled outside and developed into a full-scale war between the two Latin American neighbors that resulted in the death of nearly 4,000 people. The two broke off diplomatic relations and both, ruled by dictatorships forged by the US and supported by that country, expelled immigrants who had crossed over for work. This led to a lot of displacement and human
misery apart from the casualties. Sports writer John Turnbull’s definition of football as a ‘game of contested space’ became a truism in this context. The issue of space became relevant here because Honduras is about five times as large as El Salvador. With a population of 2.62 million in 1969, compared to El Salvador’s 3.636 million, the problem of overcrowding and decline in quality of life for most Salvadoran citizens,
Sport and many spilled over to nearby Honduras, which is less densely populated, can be imagined. As border dispute continued to simmer and resentment grew, soccer matches between the two were poised to arouse nationalist passions. And that was the genesis of the war. Between 1960 and 1980 Britain provided the world with the word soccer hooligans with organised viciousness but these ‘firms’ generally restricted themselves to Britain itself. But what dominated during the World Cups were three battles, the Battle of Berne, the Battle of Santiago and the Battle of Nuremberg. In 1962 the match between Chile and Italy was one of the violent ones with two expulsions, a broken nose and armed guards to help out the officials in what came to be known as the Battle of Santiago. It all began with disparaging comments in the Italian media that hurt the Chileans who were recovering from a devastating earthquake. They had heroically built the stadium despite all the problems. Another rough match was between Hungary and Brazil, which became a battle between two ideologies, of communist Hungary and Catholic Brazil. Two Brazilians were sent off as also a Hungarian and soon after the final whistle there was mayhem in the ground as police stood helpless. The brawl spilled over to the tunnel and into the dressing room. This quarter final at Berne in Switzerland was important not only for the game but for its ferocity on and off the pitch. Within the match, Hungary dominated although Brazil was strong but succumbed to the superiority of the Magical Magyars who were characterised as the best national team in the world during the 50s. The sequel was not proportional and the Battle of Berne was the last great appearance by the Hungarians. With the Soviet occupation of Hungary most of the players stayed back and didn’t go home. In Argentina and Brazil, for
Argentine captain, Antonio Rattin
Another rough match was between Hungary and Brazil, which became a battle between two ideologies, of communist Hungary and Catholic Brazil. Two Brazilians were sent off as also a Hungarian and soon after the final whistle there was mayhem in the ground as police stood helpless. The brawl spilled over to the tunnel and into the dressing room.
Patrick Battiston who played for the France national team in three World Cups and won the 1984 European Football Championship
Zinedine Zidane played as an attacking midfielder for the France national team
example, a lot of soccer related deaths occur but these are, according to media reports, actually those who have been shot by police. Though police claim they’re only reacting to check fan violence, there is always a clear negative role they play in these conflicts, probably a reflection of a broader trend of police corruption. Tragically, the soccer violence in Egypt in 2012 when more than 70 fans were killed had the veil of inevitability about it. The Egyptian soccer movement, known as Ultras, was at the forefront of the revolution that toppled the strongman Hosni
Mubarak a year before. They were some of the first people on the streets. The seeds of the revolution had been planted in soccer stadiums years ago, for the relative safety of the agitators from the heavy hand of the police. In the 1982 World Cup semi-final, Germany came up against France and that was the first time Indians were able to watch the game live on television, though in black and white, across the drawing rooms, thanks to the Asian Games. The German goalkeeper Schumacher collided with France’s forward, Patrick Battiston with the JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Sport latter being rendered unconscious. Battiston lost three teeth and had to be taken off the pitch on a stretcher. The incident has divided opinion to this day about whether it was deliberate or not. Battiston went into a coma but recovered. The German goalkeeper never apologised. A poll, which was carried out in France soon after, revealed Schumacher as the most hated man in the country and the second place went to Adolf Hitler.
been spread out for the Queen and scrunching their flag. But all of Latin America supported the Argentines. The Latins accused the Germans and British, sworn enemies, of colluding, and charged that the game had been stolen. The Argentines to this day revel in Rattin’s breach of protocol, where it has been proudly replayed in a commercial. He is still a defiant hero in Argentina while the British are still mad over it.
cheated the Argentines 20 years earlier with a crooked referee’? A record of sorts was set when four red cards and sixteen yellow cards were flashed by the referee in the match between Portugal and Netherlands in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Players of both teams thought the best way to win was to kick each other instead of the ball. Portugal eventually won 1-0 but the Battle of Nuremberg will be remembered as an encounter
In 1966, in a world cup quarter final match in London, a German referee threw out the Argentine captain, Antonio Rattin, under a questionable call. Rattin went on to insult the British by sitting on the red carpet that had been spread out for the Queen and scrunching their flag.
Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal
Right from the beginning of the last century the British prejudice would not allow Argentines to play with them and the latter never forgot the insult. They started teams of their own and eventually outperformed the British though, oddly, they either kept or adopted English names for their clubs. But the Argentine-British rivalry is the real microcosm of soccer. In 1966, in a world cup quarter final match in London, a German referee threw out the Argentine captain, Antonio Rattin, under a questionable call. Rattin went on to insult the British by sitting on the red carpet that had
Argentine legend Diego Maradona
In 1978, during the Dirty War in Argentina, it was reported that the detainees who were being tortured and the torturers took a break to listen to the World Cup playoffs where both rooted for Argentina. Four years after the Falklands War in 1986, during a quarter-final, Argentine legend Diego Maradona would knock a goal into the British net with his hand. The referee did not notice the foul. After the game Maradona had to say memorably that the goal was the ‘Hand of God’. Argentina would win by 0ne point and they had taken revenge for Falklands. As to the Hand of God Goal, ‘hadn’t the hated British
Italian footballer, Marco Materazzi
in which more cards were issued than any other World Cup game in history. This wasn’t as brutal as some of the others but it is worth mentioning since it brought the curtain down on a legendary career in a not so glorious a way. The iconic Zinedine Zidane lost his cool when Marco Materazzi made some insulting remarks about the French player’s sister. Zidane’s response was to headbutt his adversary in the chest. The Italian fell to the ground and Zidane was sent off in his last competitive game. Italy won the World Cup after a penalty shoot out but not before Zidane had stolen the limelight for one last time.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Health is Wealth
Making Weight-loss Healthy & Lasting By judicious choice of foods one can achieve the goal of weight-loss. There are so many foods, especially among vegetables and fruits that contain negative calories to offset the surplus availed from calorie-rich foods. You need to adopt a practical approach while choosing your food to make your diet balanced and healthy.
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By Dr P K Mukherjee
besity is proving these days to be a real epidemic. People run for out of the shelf solutions for that and even spend handsome sum
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of money for that when they are genuinely worried about obesity. Obesity has been found as a root cause of many lifestyle diseases like diabetes, cardiac, kidney and knee problems. Some simple methods like judicious dietary changes can indeed rid the body from excess fat and help people lose weight. However, losing weight by dieting is not a very prudent way as, in the long run, it might prove injurious to your health and can give rise to some complications. In
place of losing weight by dieting or remaining hungry, eating healthy, low-calorie diet is the desirable option. This would make weight loss healthy and long lasting. The quest for a magic bullet for weight loss by the physicians and dieticians has led to the identification of certain foods. Some of these foods are called negative-calorie foods. Actually, these are foods which burn more calories in the process of chewing, digestion and absorption when compared to
Health is Wealth
Drinking cold water also consumes some surplus energy as it finally has to acquire the body’s temperature. Even three glasses of fridge-cooled water at 4 degree Celsius would spend some 25 Calories (equivalent to one tea spoonful of sugar) to come to the normal inner body temperature. This is the simplest method to consume some extra calories. But this alone cannot be a solution; it should only be a part of an over-all strategy to plan energy consumption.
the number of calories provided by them to the body. Such foods create a calorie-deficit in the system which can aid weight loss. The term ‘negative calorie’, however, can be misleading and it might suggest that such foods have no calories at all, which is not true.
How do negative-calorie foods work? First of all, it is important to understand that all foods we eat invariably consume calories. About 10-15 % of calories from the foods we eat are needed in the process of digestion which involves breakdown and absorbing proteins, carbohydrates, fats etc present in our food. These calories ultimately are derived
from the food we eat. However, there are certain foods that require a lot of calories (energy) to breakdown and get absorbed by the body. Some of these foods contain fewer calories than needed to digest them and, therefore, they force the body to call upon its energy sources in the form of stored fat and glucose to finish digestion of the food. Such foods
actually work like negative-calorie foods. Water is the only exception which has
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Health is Wealth
zero calories. However, cold water may be considered to have negative calories since the body must warm it to body temperature. Five or six ice-cold glasses of water burn about 50 extra Calories a day. But, excessive drinking of cold water can again be dangerous. Here are some examples of negative calorie foods. One is broccoli; one can burn about 80 Calories digesting 100 grams of broccoli that provides the body 25 Calories. This means, consuming 100 grams of broccoli leads to a net loss of 55 Calories from our body fat. Similarly, raw cucumber would need many more calories for chewing and digestion than it offers, resulting in a net loss of calories from our body fat. Other examples include vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, beet, carrot, celery, turnip, radish, lettuce, green beans, garlic, onion, spinach etc and fruits like apple, pineapple, raspberry, strawberry, papaya, watermelon, guava, peaches etc. One may be tempted to think that by consuming lots of vegetables and fruits, which are mostly negative calorie foods, one can lose weight easily. However, a diet restricted to only these foods could lead to malnutrition as the body might miss out on many essential nutrients. Therefore, one must be extremely careful as eating only and too much of negative calorie foods can lead to various deficiencies. Negative calorie fruits and vegetables can actually help in weight loss if they are included as part of balanced diet. As a matter of fact, including 5-9 servings of foods with negative calories in a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daily diet is recommended. But, following extreme diets and choosing foods only on the basis of negative calories can cause imbalances and nutritional deficiencies. Negative calorie foods are not the panacea for weight loss. They have to be used with proper and judicious management. For example, a person desirous of burning calories cannot do so by eating a lot of sweets or chocolates followed by a piece of cucumber. A piece of sweet roughly provides 400 calories while only 150 calories are needed for its digestion. This means, by eating a piece of sweet, 250 calories remain surplus and get absorbed by the body, which eventually get stored in the form of body fat if they are beyond the needs of the day. Advisable, therefore, is to eat cucumber first so that there is minimal space left for chocolates or sweets. Actually, negative calorie foods need to be combined with other food groups such as whole grains, pulses, low-fat dairy products and lean protein like soy, nuts and seeds. Such a combination can indeed go a long way in making weight loss healthy and long lasting.< 70 | LOKAYAT | JULY 2015
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Innovative Marketing a Must for Box Office Success It is not enough to make a great movie these days. Essential is to have a great promotion and marketing strategy to make the movie click at the box office. Earthlier methods of trailers, posters, interviews to media and spreading scandalous rumours about hero and heroines are not effective anymore as people are fed up with these stale tactics. One has to be creative to be successful. And the new thing is social media and digital platform. These cannot be overlooked as 50 million Indian access internet and their number is growing by leaps and bounds.
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By Our Film Critic
one are the days when film promotion in Bollywood was limited to trailers, posters and hoardings. Filmmakers and actors have given up outdated methods and trying something new. Like Sridevi had stated when she staged her comeback with ‘English Winglish’ the other day that promotion and marketing of a film meant giving interviews to a few magazines and freelancers a couple of weeks before the release of a film till a few years ago but everything has changed in a big way now. Today while the stars prefer to give one on one interview to the TV channels,
the print journalists are mostly asked to come for a group interview now. Now some innovative methods: Vidya Balan was spotted in different Indian cities in a pregnant avatar just to promote her film ‘Kahaani’. This was the latest addition to the novel ideas Bollywood has started adopting of late in a desperate bid to market its films. Ramgopal Varma’s publicists worked 24/7 a week before the release of his latest film ‘Bhoot Returns’ to send news stories to every paper in town that the child star Alayana Sharma’s mother filed
a case against the filmmaker because the child was affected badly after she saw the film. The rumours, however, did not help sell tickets for the film which sunk at the box office. The rumours, however, fail to pull audiences to the cinema halls as people are fed up of baseless and stale strategies in Bollywood. JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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BUSINESS & ECONOMY People are now looking for some creativity, not only in films but also in their promotion. One successful example is of Luck by Chance’. Its makers started a campaign in Mumbai by branding some autorickshaws as ‘Auto By Chance’ and those, who spotted these autos, were given free rides anywhere in the city. Then, Anurag Kashyap distributed condom-shaped passes for the premiere of ‘Dev D’ and multiplexes sold 12 different flavours of popcorn during the screening of Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘What’s your Rashee’, which had Priyanka Chopra in 12 different roles. For ‘3 Idiots’, Aamir got stickers pasted on the back of auto-rickshaws in Mumbai to market the film. The stickers read ‘Capacity: 3 Idiots Only’. The strategy was successful in creating a lot of buzz for the movie at a very low cost. So it’s not just about movie promotion, but promotion in a unique way! Among other ways the filmmakers are resorting to market their films is winning awards in international film festivals, thus establishing the film’s brand value before its release. A number of such awards and rave reviews had generated enough buzz about Vikramaditya Motwane’s debut film ‘Udaan’, and people were awaiting the movie’s release. Imtiaz Ali, with the idea of inclusive marketing, had asked people to vote for one of the three
title options, before naming his film ‘Jab We met’. The industry has gone techno-savvy to use social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and
Twitter to connect with their audiences. Today, making a great movie is not enough. It has to be accompanied by a great marketing plan to taste success at the box office. When it comes to film promotion, Aamir Khan is
considered as the most innovative brain in Bollywood. In fact, he is credited to have started the trend of unique and smart promotion techniques with ‘Ghajini’. For this blockbuster, Aamir not only himself sported a bald hairstyle but also managed to tie-up with a few multiplexes to have their staff do the same two weeks before the release. So when people went to watch Shahrukh Khan’s ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’, they were welcomed by the staff in ‘Ghajini’ look and their curiosity to watch the film was doubled. It was the most interesting and truly unique kind of marketing Bollywood had ever seen. Bollywood has started increasing spending on digital marketing as well. Typically, total marketing budgets of a Bollywood movie comprise 30 per cent of which 15 per cent is spent on digital marketing. This is still small when compared with Hollywood flicks which invest up to 30 per cent of its budget on digital promotions. With around 50 million Indians accessing the internet, movie marketing budgets are bound to include online platforms.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Filmworld
‘Being Myself Has How does it feel to be the coach of a reality music show?
A By Jyothi Venkatesh
Shaan, the handsome singer-cum-actor is a part of so many reality shows. He states that being a part of television is a lot of fun. Earlier, he was a host and got to meet a lot of great maestros and legends of this industry and in the process learnt a lot. This apart, at the end of the day, getting visibility on television is also something that helps an artist, he admits. Some excerpts of a brief talk with him.
s a coach there is certainly a lot of responsibility involved, but at the same time it’s easier when you know your job. However, being the coach, I will be involved in things such as selecting songs, figuring scales, thinking how we can add a twist to it, how we can enhance the performance and decide on a few variations that the contestants can do. I do have a little experience of being a coach and I’m going to put that in to practice to make this role even bigger and better. A lot of time and energy needs to be put into this, and I want to be able to be there for the contestants. What is so different about The Voice India from other reality music shows?
E
very round is exciting – very different and innovative. The blind auditions itself is an amazing concept because it’s just your ears and your instinct that you rely on. Even when we make the teams, one needs to make sure that what you have heard is not repetitive adding versatility within the talent. Going forward it will get more interesting as it proceeds. But, of course, one needs to use a lot of their singing experience as well as logic to make it happen. What kind of talent you are looking for in your team?
I
am looking for talents who are all-rounders… which means that I will prefer someone who is not a specialist or one dimensional. Someone who is comfortable across genres and can add to versatility is who I will be looking out for. Have you followed the international editions? Who is your favourite coach?
I
have never followed an entire season. But whenever I sit to watch an episode of The Voice, I get immersed into it and it is a lot of fun. I have watched a lot of episodes with Shakira and I thought she was brilliant because there was no wall between her and the contestant. Though they were all so enamoured by her, she quickly made friends and created a kind of bonding, it’s fantastic watching her train them and she is so amazingly talented, it’s fantastic. Why do we not see the contestants being judged on their expertise in classical or folk music but rather on the basis of their performance on popular numbers?
W
ithin popular songs you will find folk, you will find classical, you will find these genres that have been very smartly infused by composers over the years. Being an entertainment GEC channel, you can’t do something that is absolutely unheard of or very vague. You can bring in freshness to the same song by giving it a twist, by making it sound new, sound different and that’s what we’re trying to do. You don’t feel that it’s the same song again, sung the same way and you don’t choose the songs that have been done to death. At the same time, I wouldn’t sing a song that would completely switch my audience off. It
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Filmworld
Worked for Me’ won’t work for the show neither for the talent. In all these years you realize that there are certain things that you need to adhere to, you need to stick to and within that how much freshness you can bring in, how much you can play around with it. It’s all a matter of audience preference. So it’s very dynamic, things change, you never know tomorrow maybe a classical show might just become popular. As a coach, what kind of challenges will you put them through to enhance their talent?
I
will definitely not want to stress them out and I don’t want them to tire their voices, so it’s not going to be very rigorous. At the same time, I want to keep them engaged and not lose focus. I would certainly want a lot of cohesive learning to happen from within the team. What kind of mentor are you going to be?
I
want to be approachable and be very connected so that they don’t feel that they can’t contact me. Very honestly, I feel that one needs to have that student alive within, only then will you be able to mentor and guide the other person because you yourself are learning so much in the process. Is judging an aspiring talent purely based on his/her voice restrictive?
I
have been judging talent for a while now and I don’t use contact lenses or wear my glasses, so most often I judge blind (laughs). I have been judging on the basis of the voice. I think it makes a lot more sense as you can be influenced by the body language, by the confidence that the person is showing physically, which may not be shown in the voice. You can also be influenced by knowing the fact that the person may not be comfortable with the genre and has still made the effort and done it. It’s much more objective when you only hear the voice.<
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Filmworld
Vipul Shah Comes Back After 5 Years
T
he hit director, Vipul Shah who started his career with ‘Aankhen’ is back after a break of 5 years with the sequel to ‘Namaste London’ called ‘Namaste England’. His journey has been illustrious as a writer, director and producer. He started his career in a theatre as an actor, more precisely as a backstage boy. He once admitted, he believed that acting was just a part of a process and in the greed of enjoying the entire process he became a director who drafts the vision of the film and contributes starting from writing to editing. He does write, act, produce but direction is his forte. He acknowledges that films taught him everything. ‘There is a lot of competition and jealousy but I don’t have that in me because I have not trained under someone or assisted anyone and thus I started with open mind to learn film making’, he says. On Hollywood movies, he says maximum of them are based on books and in India the book culture has not started yet. I come up with my original stories which are much better than copying Hollywood movies. ‘I did not like stealing stories’. He is coming back after such a long gap of five years, why? He reveals that he incurred huge losses in ‘Action Replay’. With his last few productions he has made up the losses and now he is again in free mind to be able to direct films.<
Producer Does Make-up Also for Juhi Chawla
S
ubhash Singh who has been doing Juhi’s makeup for years now, will continue doing the same in his maiden production venture! You never forget your roots! Makeup man turned producer Subhash Singh has been doing actress Juhi Chawla’s makeup for over 18 years now. He approached her for his maiden venture titled ‘Chalk N Duster’ for which she agreed on doing. Now, even after so many years, the veteran is still doing her make-up for his movie. According to the sources, Juhi Chawla has a great rapport with Subhash. After being with her for so many years, the Dadasaheb Phalke award winning actress wanted him to do it as she has abiding faith in him. Their friendship goes back to the days when Juhi was taking Bollywood by storm. But she would always be sweet and polite to all her crew members, and that’s when they instantly struck a chord. Ever since, the duo have been inseparable and formed a working partnership. Before the shoot for ‘Chalk N Duster’ commenced, she cheekily asked him if he would be doing her makeup in the film, Subhash gave her an instant nod saying, ‘Ye bhi koi poochne ki baat hai?’ The movie also stars actresses Shabana Azmi, Zarina Wahab, Divya Dutta, Upasna Singh in major roles along with Girish Karnad, Jackie Shroff, Sameer Soni and Arya Babbar in pivotal roles. The movie is about teachers, the education system and the commercialisation of the system in the country, and focuses on the plight of teachers.<
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Filmworld
‘Highway’ may turnout a block-buster
U
mesh Kulkarni, the maker of Marathi films like Valu and Vihir is now all set to come up with a film with a universal appeal like Highway. This film is very urban-centric. Why did he choose this topic? He revealed on being asked this question that he had travelled hundreds and thousands of times when he was making ‘Valu’ in shared taxis and cars. When the journey begins one knows nothing about the co-passengers but by the time the journey ends, you know what exactly is happening in each one’s lives. The film was shot in 35 to 40 days in a span of about three months. But Kulkarni had spent over a year thinking about the subject and then writing it. And he had to spend eight months on editing of the film which was a big task. Casting in the film was another tough task, says Kulkarni, as there are as many as 35 characters in the film. Even while the script was being written, a certain notion developed about who will play which character in the film. For over three months the team auditioned even for the smallest of the characters, sometimes even opting for as many as 30 to 35 auditions. It is hoped the film would turnout as block-buster Marathi film.<
South Actress Nidhi makes her debut with ‘Time Bara Vait’
M
arathi film industry is going through significant changes in the last few years and as a result it has attracted the audience as well as actors, producers, technicians and many others towards the Marathi film industry. One can find many non-Maharashtrian artists in the Marathi film industry which had always given to preference to talent. Now there is one more name will be added to the list of non-Maharashtrian artists working in the Marathi film industry. Nidhi Oza, a popular actress from down south is making an entry into Marathi film industry and the audience will get to watch her acting skills in ‘Time Bara Vait’. In today’s hectic time schedule nobody can deny the importance of time and the film ‘Time Bara Vait’ is based on this element. Noted editor Rahul Bhatankar who has done editing of many hit films is making his debut as a director through the film. The audience will get to watch storyline which is very different from run of the mill stories. Bhushan Pradhan, the latest hot crush of college going girls from the Marathi film industry will be playing an action hero in the film.< JULY 2015 | LOKAYAT |
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Funny Times
Dirty Politics in Peace-craft
P
eace is a fundamental human urge among all societies, communities and civilisations. Clashes of perceptions related to identities and insufferable claims of one being superior to the other give rise to tension and animosity among people and societies. Constructive cultural leadership, even well-meaning politics can bridge the gap ensuring the bliss of peace.
That exactly in short is the narrative of what continued to be attempted to bring back peace in Nagaland. Efforts to bridge the gap between perceptions have continuously been made officially by all the governments and unofficially by the intelligentsia and civil society since the days of Nehru. Nagas have been projected more often than not as incorrigible insurgents with their ever-splitting political groups acting at the behest of their instigators in China. But truly there have always been in a larger number the peace loving Nagas. Threat of violence kept these peace-loving moderates subdued while the hotheads in the name of Naga nationalism continued to beef up antagonistic feelings aided and abetted by our neighbour, China, especially during the period when it was drowned neck-deep in the swirling waters of cold war. Once the cold war was over and the attitude and policy of China towards India changed, things became easier. But despite India being such an inclusive country where people of so many religions, castes, tribes, linguistic diversities and ethnicities can live in harmony, it is only surprising why it took so long to bring Nagas round to what is being encapsulated now in the framework peace agreement which prime minister Narendra Modi declared as ‘historic’. Unfortunately the peace mission drew many negative headlines thanks to the attitude of the Modi government only. According to the Congress spokesperson, the ‘historic’ element in the agreement was only that it was signed without any discussion on it in the Cabinet and even with the chief ministers of the three Congress-ruled states—Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. From the government which projects itself as the pioneer of peace and change, such behaviour looks even more bizarre. It for sure smacks of petty politics which can never produce sustainable outcomes. From the prime minister who is more concerned about continuing his crusade of making the country a Congressmukt Bharat and while pursuing this goal who does not have any compunction targeting the Congress even in foreign lands, exposing himself as a party pracharak rather than the prime minister of a great nation, it was a whiff of unexpected relief when speaking at a function remembering Raani Maa of Nagaland, he gave some credit to previous governments also for the peace efforts made by them in the past. The gesture lightened the taint of his being vain in attempting to usurp full credit to bring Nagas round to the peace agreement whose contours are still unknown and have been kept as a well-guarded secret. The political improprieties and their criticism are natural in a democratic polity. But the main issue of bringing about peace in Nagaland should not be overshadowed by ill-will, political expediency and claimmongering. Nagas are our brothers and sisters. They insist on their unique identity, culture and history being respected, protected not just in existing geographical boundaries of Nagaland, but outside as well. There should not be any disagreement on this. The only challenge is how to bring it in the form of a legally binding obligation in other states. But if intentions are right, the solution would emerge. I wish this happens sooner than later!
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