The Observer Issue 28

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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016 An IIJNM Print Publication

Volume 15 Issue 28

THE

WEEKLY OBSERVER

Thousands left stranded as farmers blockade airport road

Bemused tourists and angry commuters were left gridlocked by the protest

PayalGangishetty A tractor army of farmers blocked the main road to the city airport earlier today, leaving commuters stuck in traffic for up to four hours.

Police lathicharged farmers who broke through a barricade at Mekhri Circle but the senior officer in charge later claimed there had been “no traffic congestion” and that their plans for the protest had ensured everything went smoothly.

Images on social media clearly show officers--some in riot helmets--attacking farmers. One image, at the ITC WIndsor Hotel underpass, shows several pairs of sandals scattered across the main road.

Thousands of farmers from rural Karnataka converged on the city to protest over water shortages.

The busy airport road was one of several roads blocked for over three hours.

Different groups of farmers held the city’s traffic to ransom, while traffic police denied knowledge. The ACP for Bangalore West, G A Jagadish, said, “Everything was planned, and there was no traffic congestion.

Instructions were given

to cops for proper flow of traffic.”

The day saw four different groups come together to protest under the leadership of Kuruburu Shantakumar, president of the Indian Sugarcane Farmer’s Association.

(ISFA) One set of protesters claimed that the managing director of a financial company had cheated more than 80,000 rural investors by promising high interest rates.

The managing director, B.L Ravindranath, of Green Buds Agro Farm Ltd, B.L was taken under judicial custody a year ago and investigations are on-going.

Farmers and their families from various parts of Karnataka came in groups to stage a protest from Freedom Park to Vidan Soudha.

“We want the Chief Minister to take serious action against this issue. It is our hard earned money that we have lost. We will not go back until we get a positive response,” said Dineshappa, one of the farmers who was protesting.

According to the protestors Ravindernath owned large amounts of land and other valuable assets in Mysore.

He had been running Green Buds Agro Farm for more than 15 years and has

branches all over Karnataka. “ He promised 25 per cent interest on maturity after three months but we have not got a single rupee,” said Krishna Patil, an agent for the company.

He added, “I had around 120 customers who have deposited in that company and everyone has been duped, now they are asking me to return the amount.”

“He is under judicial custody and the investigation against him is almost completed, We will be filing a charge sheet very soon. All his identified property will be auctioned,” said Hemanth Nembalkar, Inspector General CID. Yet another three groups protested claiming that cooperative sugar mills owed them a total of Rs5,000 crores.

The group crippled traffic near Anand Rao Circle where vehicles were barred from using the flyover for a short space of time by the traffic police.

Apart from these, a group, ‘Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha’ (Karnataka State Famer’s Association), demanded a permanent solution to water shortages in Kolar, Chickballapur and Tumkur districts.

The group’s president is an independent MP from Hasan constituency, Kodi-

Credit: Harish Upadhya halli Chandrashekhar.

They demanded implementation of the ‘Yettinahole project’ to achieve this goal. The project would divert water from the Netharavati River to their districts.

The police imposed a ban on tractors causing traffic

to come to a standstill near Mekhri Circle.

ACP Jagadish added, “Around 180 protesters have been arrested from Chandrashekar’s group.”

Continued on P3

Tractors stranded near Freedom Park

Farmers protesting in front of Freedom Park

Credit: Harish Upadhya

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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016

OUTLOOK Should India #standwithJNU?

T India cannot #standwithJNU

Oindrila Sarkar

Should we stand with JNU? Yes. They have a right to free speech

Maqsood Maniyar

here is a virtual storm in the Delhi teacup with markings of a great public debate but if I may be excused, India cannot #standwithJNU. It was back in 1989 when the Kashmir Valley was awash with the slogan, “Hum kya chahte hai, Azaadi!” (We want freedom).

It was followed by a bloodbath and the genocide of pandits from the Valley & muslim infiltration across the LOC. On 9th Feb,2016 those voices were heard again in Delhi, now in JNU. It is tomfoolery to espouse these ideas of secession and self determination by people who refuse to read the writing in red- Kashmir is non-negotiable.

Thousands have died in its defence, their flames burn all year in the Amar Jawan Jyoti, silence in front of which is akin to prayer.

India cannot #standwithJNU from where voices of ‘azaadi’ are echoing.

JNU student Harshit Agarwal has written in Quora that since he was present at the event he

A

ll well meaning Indians should stand with JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University), not necessarily to support their views but to support their right to freedom of speech and expression.

The claim that JNU students are inherently anti national, if not seditious, terrorist sympathizers is stranger than fiction.

India has had a history, right from the colonial era where the well worn stick of sedition has been used to muffle dissent.

It is no secret that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP loathes JNU’s student bodies for their leftist leanings.

The ABVP figure that the best way to brow beat them into submission is to slander and discredit them.

The protest against hanging of Afzal Guru that took place at JNU on February 9 has been cited.

Source: Stand With JNU

knows more than Zee A typical JNU life con- fasionable when you are news and Times Now. Ex- sists of the labrynthine 20 something. But in JNU cept for the slogans ’Pa- corridors of the Teen even 40 somethings are kistan zindabad’ all the Murti Bhavan, attending loathe to leave the taxother slogans of ‘azaadi’ & seminars and conferences, payer subsidised campus.

‘Hindustan ki barbadi tak debating ‘nationalism’ and Afzal Guru and Maqbool jang rahegi’ (We will wage ‘dialectical materialism’ Bhat were punished after a war till India’s destruc- where due process of law. tion) were raised.

‘Bharat ki barbadi’ or InAfzal was hanged for But it was not just the dia’s destruction also be- being part of the 2001 JNU students but a lot of comes an idea to defend be- Parliament attack plan. outsiders who were Kash- c a u s e He had a long trial and exmiri were raising slogans. hausted all his legal remHe complains of JNU edies. Maqbool Bhat A typical JNU students being witch was a terrorist hunted. who hijacked life consists of the labrynthine The Truth Labs a plane in test say that the 1971,foundcorridors of the Teen Murti Bhavan, ‘Pakistan Zinder of the attending seminars and conferences, debat- t e r r o r abad’ video was doctored. ing ‘nationalism’ and ‘dialectical materialism’ g r o u p It implies an JKNLF. attempt at mis- where ‘Bharat ki barbadi’ or India’s destrucF o r chief by some Kashmition also becomes an idea to defend group of people. ri muslims Charges of sebecause ideas and their illusive halo they were dition cannot be freedom fightmake up their world. used aaginst Kanhaiers, but terrorists ya Kumar, Umar Khalid in the eyes of the Inor Anirban Bhattacharya dian nation state. India but JNU by organising i d e a s cannot #standwithJNU. this so called ‘Cultural and their illusive halo When the ABVP shoutevening’ shows us that it make up their world. The ed slogans like ‘yeh Kashhas become a haven for security of the nation mir hamara hai, sara people putting on an in- which provides them so- ka sara hai’ (the whole tellectual garb to rekindle cio-economic security Kashmir is ours) the orthe subject of secession in has been forgotten be- ganizers countered with the name of self determi- neath the revolutionary “Tum kitne Afzal maroge, nation. cry of ‘Azaadi’ which is har ghar se Afzal nikle-

ga.” Kashmiris angry over AFSPA shouted, “Bharat ki Barbadi tak jang rahegi, jang rahegi.” JNU & its Profs in the social sciences always had an aversion for any article, thesis or even an examination answer that professed a nationalistic school of thought.

People talking about the free circulation of ideas had always conveniently marked out students and speakers professing indigenous conservative ideas or traditions.

My experience with research fellows & my peers in JNU have nothing but scorn for the idea of ‘Nationalism’.

For them the nation state is an idea because they don’t need to stand with guns in snow and heat at the IBs, LOCs and LACs. They do not protect our skies, our waters, our soil.

It is slightly easier to read in the libraries when the air conditioner is also with taxpayer money.

There is a thin line between free speech, hate speech and irresponsible speech. India cannot #standwithJNU.

It was organized by former raised slogans such as “Jo to shout such slogans. members of DSU (Demo- Afzal ki baat karega, wo Harshit Agarwal, a stucratic Student’s Union). Afzal ki maut marega” dent present at the event Doctored videos of stu- (One who speaks of Afzal wrote, “In the meeting, dents shouting anti India there was a whole group slogans have emerged. of Kashmiri students Note that students which had come who allegedly raised from outside The claim that JNU students these slogans were JNU to attend not from JNU. the meetare inherently anti national, if not Also note that ing” seditious, terrorist sympathizers is stranger opposition to T h e executions of Delhi Pothan fiction.

Maqbool Bhat, lice havAfzal Guru en’t acted Regardless of one’s ideology, one should and Yakub against stand with JNU, for standing with them is the KashMenon is not without merit, it miri stustanding with the oppressed and the is also commondents who depressed. place. shouted those The ABVP instigatslogans at the beed trouble by disrupting hest of the BJP which the event and by doing so has been trying to salvage violated the right to free s h a l l a troubled marriage with speech of those who or- suffer Afzal’s fate). Kash- the PDP (People’s Demganized and attended the miri students who had ocratic Party) in Jammu event. come from outside JNU and Kashmir as reported The smear campaign responded with slogans by the Hindustan times against JNU students such as “Bharat ki barbadi and Economic times. was recently exposed by tak, jung rahegi” (The war Given the hyper nationa Huffington post article will continue until India’s alist hysteria whipped up which relates eye witness destruction). by the ABVP, someone accounts.

The organizers urged had to be arrested.

The ABVP activists the Kashmiri students not By producing doctored

videos and other lies as proof, they have managed to nab JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar, Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid.

In doing so, they have not only ‘pulled a Rohit’ but shamelessly gone a step further. Free speech in our universities is in grave danger.

In the past, JNU students have opposed Indian state’s brutal excesses in Kashmir, the forests of Dandakaranya and the north east which have left thousands of innocents raped, maimed or dead and left millions displaced.

Saying these things is not taboo, nor is it illegal.

These young minds should be lauded for standing up to state oppression, often ignored by the mainstream.

Regardless of one’s ideology, one should stand with JNU, for standing with them is standing with the oppressed and the depressed.

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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016

My Kerala license plate made me a target , says assault victim “I think they targeted us because of our bike which was registered in Kerala.

These kinds of attacks are very common in some pockets of Bangalore.”

Parvathi Benu The Sanjaynagar police have arrested four men in connection with an assault on five Keralite students.

Ranganatha Swamy alias Kiran, Basavaraj alias Babu, Sanathosha alias Anna and Badani were arrested on Sunday by the police.

They are currently in judicial custody.

The gang of five had beaten up six students, Mervin Michael Joy, Nikhil TP, Jebin, Muhammed Hashir and Mashood, all from Kerala, and their friend Kameshwar, from Nepal.

Mervin was struck on his head by a stick. He was severely injured and needed nine stitches. He is currently at his cousin’s house in Bangalore.

In an exclusive interview with the Observer he said, “I think they targeted us because of our bike which was registered in

The wound on Mervin’s head after he was struck with a stick by the assaulters

Kerala. These kinds of attacks are very common in some pockets of Bangalore.” He is recovering from his injuries.

He said that though there aren’t any direct threats, he had heard of the assaulters trying to influence a few of his friends.

Mervin did not speak more on the issue, fearing the potential repercussions.

“We have no idea who those people are,” said Nikhil, who was also injured in the incident.

“There were rumours that we were beaten up for eating beef and had a tiff with the gang, but these are not true,” he added.

“The assaulters asked Mervin if he was a Malayali or a Muslim before beating him up,” said Mashood. “They were suspicious since he had a beard,” he said.

The incident took place when two local men deflated air from the tyre of Mervin’s motorbike

when he had gone out to buy food, along with Jebin, Mashood and Kameshwar.

When the Keralites questioned the men, they said that the local cops had asked them to do so and had an argument. Later, the two men along with three others followed the boys to their house, were they were beaten up. Hashir and Nikhil, who came to their rescue, were also injured.

One of the victims said that the police did not seem interested to lodge the complaint initially and there was an hour long delay. Later, the police took the statement from the victims at the hospital.

Such incidents are not new to Mashood. He said that a friend of his who stayed in the locality, who does not wish to be named, faced a similar problem two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, a few young men from Kerala were beaten up by locals near Shantinagar. Also on Sunday, a 21 year old man was beaten to death by a group of men.

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Thousands stranded as farmers blockade airport road (contd. from Page 1) The traffic coming from Majestic heading towards Anand Rao Circle was diverted towards Old JDS Junction and Race Course Road and the Traffic from Sujatha Junction and Ryan circle was diverted towards KSM junction. “ I was stuck for four hours in a bus from Hebbal to Mekhri Circle, I was travelling from Yelahanka to MG road where I work,” said Rashmi Ramesh, a commuter.

She added: “I had to get to work by 4:45, and I finally

reached at 7:15. I was, of course, upset about the terrible traffic management. There was an ambulance stuck in the traffic and there was nowhere people could move to let it pass. While I understand that Bangalore Traffic Police have a reputation for efficiency, I think they could have handled this situation in a much better way.”

Another commuter, Himani Shah, who works for Amazon, said, “ I faced major traffic near Seshadripuram and MCC Palace Road around 4’ o clock it was terrible.”

Bangalore’s tweets on the chaos BTP @blrcitytraffic 3h3 hours ago Traffic from Hebbala towards Mekhri circle, Shivajinagar towards Mekhri circle is not yet opened. Pls use alternate routes.

BTP @blrcitytraffic 2h2 hours ago @AddlCPTraffic Now Traffic has been restored at Mekhri circle. Vehicular movement allowing from all directions. zubair ah @ZUBAIRZZEEH 4h4 hours ago Please do not pass mekhri circle today if you are coming from the airport. It’s been 2 hrs since I am in this traffic.

NewsXVerified account @ NewsX 2h2 hours ago Farmers blocked at Mekhri Circle in Bengaluru by Police. Huge traffic chaos in Bengaluru. @NoSylviaPlath 2h2 hours ago Farmers protesting near Mekhri Circle #Bangalore and traffic + school buses have been stuck for a long time. Hope the issue gets resolved.

Prabhath @prabhathg 1h1 hour ago Bangalore traffic. Can’t get through Mekhri circle. Avoid.

State online adoption service a tangled web Akshaya N Asokan The state government’s online adoption service allocated the same child to seven different sets of parents, according to one agency whose staff had been given just a day’s training on the new system.

A second feeder agency to the

Representational image

Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) revealed a second incident where another child’s future had to be resolved through the courts after two different sets of adoptive parents were able to select the same infant.

The co-ordinator of the scheme, Prason Kumar, has denied there is a problem.

Adoption agencies across Karnataka are raising concerns over

multiple selections of children put up for adoption.

The Central Adoption Resource Authority, in a bid to make adoption easier and quicker, introduced an online procedure for adoption last August. The system requires Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) to register with the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System(CARINGS).

The adoption agency then does a background check of these parents. Once they clear these checks, prospective parents are put on a waiting list. Before the system was introduced, adoption in the state could take as long as five years. The new system aims to cut that to a matter of weeks.

The parents then receive a login id and password sent by CARA and can log into the website and ‘reserve’ or choose a child.

According to the CARA guidelines, “the prospective adoptive parents can reserve one child within a period of forty eight hours for possible adoption and the rest of the children would be released through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System for other prospective adoptive parents in the waiting

list.”

Pramila Vaz, the director of Spoorthi Rural Development And Training Society in Udupi, said: “We were given one day’s training by CARA telling us that procedure would be made online.

We were not trained in the technical part. Once the child was reserved and matched online, we as an agency didn’t know what to do, so the other parents ended up selecting the same child.

“We were so unaware about the technology that, initially when the system was introduced, a child was selected seven times by PAPS.” Denying any such incident had occurred, Prason Kumar, the Karnataka coordinator of CARA said: “I have never heard of such incidents of a single child being selected by more than one parent.

“There is some discrepancy; the entire procedure is online and not done manually. Everything is system based, from registration to reserving a child.”

He said that the matching is system generated. “We are maintaining a database of both parents and children. The system automatically takes the parents details on the basis of registration num-

ber and matches with children according to the requirements specified by them,” he added.

Anju, a social worker with Mathruchaya, an adoption agency in Bangalore, also stated a similar problem. “A client from Maharashtra had reserved a girl child from our orphanage.

However, the same child was shown to another parent, which led to her selection again. The problem had to be legally resolved.”

Premila said that allotting of a child from another state has also posed problems for many parents. “Often these parents have to travel at least four times to the agency where the child is registered for legal procedure.

Stating that this problem lies completely with the parents Prason said: “They are given three options to list from where they want their child. They easily can fill their home state as the three options. They list other states as their option because often, their seniority list in their home state is way behind and registering with other state gives them better option and can get the procedure done quickly.”

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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016

Kids with little hope at a school with no name

A tent school reopened in Rajarajeshwari Nagar slum by Vidhya Vani, NGO.

Children of the migrants living in the Rajarajeshwari slum for ten years.

Sanskriti Talwar Fear of eviction prevents residents of the Rajarajeshwari Nagarslum from sending their children to school.

In 2013, The Weekly Observer reported that more than 40 children from the slum had never been to school.Soon after the report, the Director of Public Instruction atKarnataka Education Department visited the place and built a makeshift school for them in a tent.

MS Surabhi Foundation, an NGO, took responsibility for it.

But, it was shut down after a year or so.

Dinesh, 20, a resident of the slum said: “What will they learn?

For the time that we are here they will study, but, the government can ask us to leave any time.

“Already they have come twice and have told us that we may have to leave when the roads need to be broadened. They’ll move us from here probably by Holi.

Also,a child was once kidnapped from a government school in Anchepalya, 9 km away from the slum. Since then the parents are afraid to send their children to a schoolaway from home and have requested teachers to teach them in the slum.”

Geetha, a teacher from a school in Anchepalya,in collaboration with an NGO ,VidhyaVani,decided to re-open the school in the tent under the National Child Labour Project. Currently,

there are about 30 to 40 children studying here. Hindi, English and Kannada are the only subjects being taught in the school.

The National Child Labour Project Scheme targets children below 14 years of age working in specific areas of hazardous work.

A survey of child labour engaged in hazardous occupation is conducted, following which the children are withdrawn from work and admitted to special school to enable them to be mainstreamed into the formal schooling system.

The scheme says that the children in NCPL School are taught a condensed syllabus for a maximum period of three years, during which time the children are expected to complete the level of Class 5 and be ready to join the formal stream of education in the Class 6. Under the scheme a total of Rs 2,44,400 is spent annually for one school with 50 children.

The NGO gets 30,000 permonth from the centre of which Rs20,000 is used to pay off the teachers and accountants and the rest 10,000 rupees are kept for the children. Every student gets Rs150 in their accounts ,said Geetha.

A mother in the slum said, “If we had some assurance that we will not be evicted then we would have encouraged them to study. Since there is no certainty, we don’t see the point of making them study anything other than these subjects. “None of us are educated, so, we’ve never asked for anything.”

“I am,” said Kishan, her son.

“If we would have been living

in our village, I might have studied but after coming here I’ve been pulled into the business of selling teddy bears.Time has slipped away,” said Dinesh, who didn’t get a chance to study after moving to the slum.

Gopi,14, is the only kid among the many children living there who goes to a school in Checkpost. Around 9am, dressed in navy blue pants and a shirt which was three shades lighter,Gopilugged his backpack as he walked on the road, towards his school.

The anger and resentment that they feel can be seen in their eyes. “We are leaving after two or three days and it doesn’t matter which class he studies in,” saidGopi’s mother.

“We are leaving,” she repeated loudly and several other faces of her neighbours turned to look

at her.

“What’s the point in educating them?” asked another woman.

The initiative was taken to build a school so as to teach them in their native language.

Ankit,leaning ona wooden pole used to support to his tent, said: “I don’t like it there (referring to the govt. school at Checkpost), and they teach us Kannada there.

We don’t speak Kannada in our village. People there only know Hindi and English.”

Vishal, Ankit’s brother, said, “I dropped out, I don’t like studying there. Teachers there are not good and they abuse us.”

To this, their mother,Rekha,said,“They don’t like going to school. If they don’t study properly the teacher has the right to punish them, right?”

“She hit us!” saidAnkit.

“We have a lot of work to do at home and that is why we don’t go to school. Moreover we don’t like to go. We fill these teddy bears with cotton and stitch them.

Sometimes, we go to the nearby school, the one in our own slum,” said Tanu.The girls in the slum are occupied with the household work which does not allow them to attend tent school regularly.

“We’ve never been to a school, so, how will it help us now?” asked another girl.

“I don’t know what I want to be, I’ve never thought of it”, she added.

Geetha said, “Every morning I have to call each one of them from their houses. These people don’t know the value of education now. They think and believe that education will not help them in any way.”

Girls learning how to spell their names in the reopened tent school.

Team Observer Editor: Sanskriti Talwar | News Editor: Maqsood Maniyar | Chief Sub-Editor: Aparajita Khandelwal Sub-Editor: Akshaya NA, Irien Joseph, Mouli Shree | Picture Editor: Parvathi Benu