High Court stays workers' right of unemployment allowance

High Court stays workers' right of unemployment allowance

The affirmative and bold step taken by the Department of Rural Development in Uttar Pradesh to pay unemployment allowance to laborers of district Sitapur under the NREGA Act was challenged by the BDOs in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court.

The Hon High Court has reaffirmed and upheld the jurisdiction and authority of the Commissioner Rural Development and has directed the Commissioner to give a hearing to the petitioners and ensure that payment is made to deserving persons only.

The Dept of Rural Development had indeed taken a very commendable step by upholding the Constitutional right of workers for unemployment allowance which is a right guaranteed to them if they do not get employment within the stipulated time period. (Schedule III Para 7 of the Act)

The amount has to be paid from the state treasury and not from the wages made available by central funds.

Incidentally, under the NREGA no laborer is prevented from working elsewhere. The state is bound to provide 100 days of labour failing which it has to give unemployment allowance if demanded.

The committee which was constituted at the district level to look into the whole issue of unemployment allowance in Sitapur was chaired by an SDM rank officer along with two more government officers along with representatives of the organization which raised the issue. The beneficiaries were part of the committee as NREGA itself gives power of social audit to the workers whose participation is in keeping with the basic spirit of the act.

I would like to underline that NREGA completes three years on February 2. However, in UP it has made commendable progress only during the last one year. The present administration has sensitively implemented the Act in its true spirit. This has been in terms of developing effective grievance redressal mechanism and introducing worker and gender friendly Schedule of Rate (SOR) to measure the workers’ output.

NREGA however, is not in the pink of health in the state. There are issues which still need to be addressed such as checking corruption and pilferage, increasing coverage and ensuring work to the needy and facilitating smooth payment.

It needs to be seen if the state government manages to check incidents like the one which recently occurred in Hardoi. Here an influential pradhan under patronage of a ruling party minister physically manhandled workers demanding their right to work. The acid test for the state government lies in rising above political pressure to ensure the right of workers as guaranteed under the Act.

Arundhati Dhuru
Advisor to the Supreme Court Commissioners in the Right to Food case
Phone: 94150 22772

Published in: The Times of India

BSP's Abdul Mannan urged not to shield those who beat dalit workers

BSP's Abdul Mannan urged not to shield those who beat dalit workers

A Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) office-bearer Ghanshyam rained baton rods on dalit workers on 14 January 2009. Ghanshaym is the husband of Urmila Devi, who is the Gram Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Aira Kake Mau, Block Bharawan, District Hardoi, UP. Ghanshyam is also the BSP Treasurer from the Vidhan Sabha constituency of Minister for Science and Technology in UP Government, Abdul Mannan.

The main grievances of these dalit workers was that they had been paid less than what was due to them under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and their Job Cards were either not given to them or contained arbitrary entries. The dalit workers had come to inspect the NREGS documents in accordance with the right of social audit given under the NREG Act, when they were beaten mercilessly by BSP office-bearer Ghanshyam.

The BSP cabinet minister Abdul Mannan is scheduled to visit the same Gram Panchayat of Aira Kake Mau in Bharawan block (Hardoi district, UP) on Saturday, 31 January 2009. "If a senior BSP cabinet minister Abdul Mannan will support a person like Ghanshyam who has mercilessly beaten up the dalit workers, then activists will believe that BSP is supporting and protecting the human rights abusers of dalit workers" said Neelkamal, who is the people's nominee for the 2009 elections from this region.

The people of this region have strongly condemned the increasing criminalization and corruption in politics. Hundreds of them descended in the state capital of Lucknow to stage a massive demonstration to press their demand that Abdul Mannan should not shield those who beat dalit people.

Ironically BSP has been claiming to be championing the cause of dalits. This is a blatant example where a BSP office bearer had been exploiting dalit workers, denying them their due and manhandling them in broad daylight as well. Instead of supporting the cause of dalit welfare and advocating for strict action against Ghanshyam, BSP’s cabinet minister Abdul Mannan is likely to support Ghanshyam by going to the same gram panchayat and participating in his programmes. "Is this the manner in which BSP is going to protect dalit people?" asks Neelkamal.

The activists of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and Asha Parivar are resolute to challenge this rampant corruption and criminalization of politics from now on.

"In her past stints as Chief Minister, Mayawati has given little attention to the well being of dalits. Dalits found it as tough to get cases registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act as ever and state SC/ST Commission provided no relief either. Matters related to violence against women also suffered a casualty in her regime. Neither did the situation of landless dalits, hoping to take possession of their legitimate pieces of land allotted to them by the panchayats, improved. All the other benefits through the panchayats continued to be siphoned-off by the unscrupulous elements. There was no clamp on corruption in the various schemes which could have possibly resulted in more benefits flowing to the dalits. With the possible exception of Ambedkar villages there was no overall improvement in delivery efficiency of the administrative system or justice to the poor" had said Dr Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) in an article published years ago. The situation hasn't changed much since then, as BSP Supremo Mayawati's regime continues.

[Photo caption: top - the dalit workers from Hardoi village who were beaten by BSP office bearer Ghyanshyam are staging a dharna opposite Vidhan Sabha in state capital of Lucknow; middle - senior Narmada Bachao Andolan social activist and Advisor to Supreme Court Commissioner on Right to Food Arundhati Dhuru; bottom - Neelkamal - the native of Bharawan block in Hardoi who is a nominated candidate for Member of Parliament elections 2009 from the same constituency this year]

Published in
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
Pakistan Christian Post, Karachi, Pakistan
Citizen News Service (CNS)

Shankar Singh: From a tout to an activist

Shankar Singh: From a tout to an activist

Shankar Singh was a tout at the Road Transport Office earlier and used to get people’s work done by paying bribes to the officials and take his own cut. Today he is a right to information activist working with a team in Kanpur to check corruption not just at the road transport office but also at other offices.

Born to a family of JK Jute Mill worker, his early days were tough. His father met with an accident and had to leave the job. He became an associate of communist leader S.N. Banerji and started a restaurant named Raja Tea Stall which was managed by eight of the twelve children who survived in the family. As Shankar grew up he managed to get a job with the Roshan Transport Company. He was paid Rs. 2000 a month to be stationed at the RTO to take care of the company’s work there. He used to get the roads and goods tax deposited. He used to take care of license, fitness, permit and registration of new vehicles. In 2006 he was unknowingly involved in the illegal sale of a Maruti van which was bought with loan from a company. When the new owner sought loan from another company, the first company objected as its payments were still pending and a complaint was filed. Shankar Singh was beaten by a clerk on the directions of the officer. This provoked his conscience. He decided to take on the system. He lodged complaints with the Chief Minister and the Commissioner about irregularities in the RTO. The Commissioner and the officer at RTO worked out a compromise for him and the clerk was made to apologize to him. That is how his file was closed.

But now he did not want to go back to the rotten system. He saw news about right to information campaign in the newspapers. He was attracted by it. He decided to go to the camp. Before he realized, he became a volunteer with the right to information campaign in Kanpur city. At the RTO where a learning license which costs Rs. 60 but is made for Rs. 200 and the regular license which costs Rs. 140 but is made for Rs. 350, when Shankar and his friends decided to organize a RTI camp, the licenses were made for the actual fees. His role was reversed. He was no longer facilitating corruption. He was there to check it. The staff of the office was terrorized by his presence.

Shankar now finds himself in a piquant situation. 1200 of his old colleagues, who prefer to call themselves as ‘transport advisors’ and are formally registered as ‘Parivahan Salahkar Samiti’ since 1982 as a society, want their profession to be legitimized. They claim that if their role is officially recognized and they are authorized to charge a legitimate fees for the service they render, they would stop facilitating corruption at the RTO. They have told Shankar that if he wants a corruption free system then he must lead the struggle for their livelihood rights. On the other hand Shankar has vowed that he would not allow any corruption to take place at the RTO even if it means going against his own former colleagues.

Shankar Singh joined the first RTI camp in Kanpur city on 15th November, 2006, the conclusion of which was attended by Central Government Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal, also the MP from Kanpur . Since then over the last two years Shankar Singh must have been present as a volunteer in hundreds of camps. There are about ten camps organized every month with two to three averaging per week. Anywhere from 50 to 200 applications are prepared in these camps which are filed in different government offices. Most of the applications are concerned with Kanpur Development Authority, Nagar Nigam, Kanpur Electricity Supply Corporation, Water Board, Police, RTO, Social Welfare Department, District Supply Office, Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Kanpur University , Awas-Vikas, Banks, Passport, District Magistrate’s office, etc. Recently after results for the High School were announced there was a huge number of students wanting to know whether they could see their answer books. The Kanpur Right to Information Campaign Committee, of which Shanker Singh is now a permanent and important part, immediately organized a six day camp in which 1200 students filed applications seeking photocopies of their answer books for various subjects. They suspect that they have not been fairly evaluated and would like to verify this. The RTI campaign has generated an empowering awareness among people as a result of which people feel that they can ask legitimate questions as their democratic right.

In May 2008 Shankar Singh also participated in a social audit of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the Miyaganj Block of neighbouring Unnao District. He now feels that his responsibility as a concerned citizen are not just limited to Kanpur city. As his horizon of understanding broadens he feels a growing commitment within him for other social issues too. He spent nine days in rural areas of Unnao trying to understand the way the village panchayats and the Block Development Office functions and how the vested interests are responsible for siphoning off huge sums of money from government schemes and how the papers are fudged. He proved to be an important member of his social audit team too which visited various villagers and interacted with ordinary village labourers and interviewed them to find deficiencies in the implementation of NREGS.

Shankar Singh’s life has taken an about turn. From slipping into the ever deadly world of corruption and crime he has dragged himself out with some effort and placed himself in a position from where he is rising everyday as a shining star. He has become synonymous for hope for many a people who have been victimized in some way. And Shankar is full of optimism. He always encourages people to stand up and fight for their rights. His exuberance inspires confidence in others.

Shankar Singh’s dream is now to serve the people from even bigger platforms. He wishes to contest an election some day. He has realized that the small battles that he is now fighting every day would become a little bit easier if he acquires a legitimate constitutional position. He wishes to serve more people and at a faster rate.

Dr Sandeep Pandey

(The author is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com, www.ashaparivar.org)

Published in
The Morung Express, Imphal, Manipur
Scoop Independent News, New Zealand
Pakistan Christian Post, Karachi, Pakistan
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
Citizen News Service (CNS)

Ideal of tribal self-rule degenerates into a police state

Ideal of tribal self-rule degenerates into a police state

On 6th December, 2008, the Jharkhand Police opened fire on a procession of tribals, numbering between eight to ten thousands, 3 m from Kathikund in Dumka district. The tribals were protesting against the setting up of a 1000 MW coal based power plant in Aamgachhi-Pokhariya villages of the area as well the earlier arrest of their colleagues Munni Hansda, Charan Kumar, Hopna Baski and Rajcharan Murmu. One tribal Lakhiram Tudu was killed, 7 suffered bullet injuries, 15 people, including women, were severely beaten. 9 people, including a rickshaw puller and a driver, were arrested. People who suffered bullet injuries were also arrested and when in hospital they were shackled to the bed. 2 people who have suffered bullet injuries are not coming out to get treatment from the government hospital for the fear of being arrested. The district administration and the government has branded the organizations leading the protests, Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch and Jharkhand Hulgulan Mahila Manch as Maoists.

The fact of the matter is that in October about four to five thousands strong gathering of tribals under the leadership of Munni Hansda had gheraoed the SP for three days continuously. This blockade was so peaceful and disciplined that the administration couldn't get a chance to take any action against it. But the administration, whose authority was seriously challenged, was waiting for an opportunity to get back at the people. First they filed a case against Munni and colleagues for having stolen a motorcycle belonging to her husband from the police station and arrested her on 26th November, 2008. The motorcycle was earlier confiscated by the police.

The Deputy Commissioner Prashant Kumar of Dumka claimed that the 6th December procession had nothing to do with the power plant issue but the people had come to secure the release of Munni and her colleagues, However, if Munni was arrested only because of the motorcycle theft issue, people would not have come out in such large numbers in her support.

An earlier DC Mastram Meena had come to the Gram Sabha meeting and endorsed a resolution opposing the land acquisition for the power plant project by putting his signature on the minutes of the Gram Sabha meeting, He respected the people's opinion but was transferred within a week of this incident.

According to the Santhal Paraganas Tenancy Act, The Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, Schedule V and Article 243 of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) the Gram Sabha has the right to determine how it would use its natural resources. The ideal of tribal self rule is enshrined in the abovementioned constitutional-legal provisions. The State government cannot take an action which violates this spirit.

When the district administration imposed section 144 in Dumka on 2nd December, the people declared a Janata Curfew in the area forbidding any police from entering their villages without the permission of the Gram Sabha. After the firing on 6th December, they decided to organize black day for 7 days in their villages by being in the open. In spite of the cold, children, women, old and youth-all stay put in their fields for a week to protest against the killing.

I went to Dumka along with activists of JUM on 27th December, 2008, and tried to meet Munni and Charan Kumar in the Jail. However, we were not allowed to meet them on the pretext that the meeting day is Tuesdays and that some people had met them on 23rd and 25th December and hence nobody could meet them now for the next 8 days.

We proceeded towards, Aamgachhi-Pokhariya to meet the villagers. However, we were stopped by a police vehicle coming from the front after having gone about 20 km from Dumka in the direction of Kathikun. Our identity cards were checked. We were neither asked about our destination nor the purpose of visit. The police asked Baijnath Prasad Beju, a JUM activist accompanying us to go into their jeep and told us to turn our vehicle and come to the Town Police Station. Two policemen accompanied us in our jeep.

After reaching the Town PS in Dumka the Deputy S.P. informed us that since Baijnath's name also figured in the FIR filed after the 6th December incident, he had to be arrested. He obviously didn't tell us why the remaining of us were asked to come to the PS.

The Jharkhand Police is obviously trying to create an atmosphere of terror in the region. The administration is restricting visitors to meet the jailed activists and the free movement of people. One doesn't find such restrictions in even troubled areas like J&K and the Northeast.

Jharkhand was created with the ideal of tribal self rule. However, the administration and the government, ironically till recently headed by a man who was the leader of the tribal autonomy movement, but is now finding hard to even win an election, has for the time being decided to convert in into a police state. The government, like the governments at the Centre as well as other States, has decided to collude with the private corporations to exploit the natural resources for profit without giving any consideration to the interests of the people. In spite of the lofty ideals of tribal movement that preceded the creation of the state, now the government, ignoring all the constitutional-legal provisions safeguarding the interests of the tribals, has chosen to use the anachronistic Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and anti-people authoritarian ways to dispossess people of their land - the only source of their livelihood. When encountered with a strong people's resistance it has chosen to defame and discredit the movement. The government doesn't want the political power to flow to the people in accordance with the self rule concept but considers it its prerogative to thrust decisions from top. It has left the tribals wondering about the purpose of the movement that they had been part of for so long for the creation of the state. Interestingly, some of the activists in the movement today against the government, who are being branded as Maoists, were fighting along with the Shibu Soren in the earlier movement.

Dr Sandeep Pandey

(The author is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com, www.ashaparivar.org)

Published in
Two Circles
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS)
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
Citizen News Service (CNS)

Farmer Field Schools - a unique way to teach farmers

Farmer Field Schools - a unique way to teach farmers

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) is a unique way to educate farmers and is an effective platform for sharing of experiences and collectively solving agriculture related problems. The first FFS were designed and managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Indonesia in 1989. Since then more than two million farmers across Asia have participated in this type of learning. During the 1970s it became increasingly apparent that pest resistance and resurgence caused by the indiscriminate use of insecticides posed an immediate threat to the gains of the Green Revolution. At the same time, new researches demonstrated the viability of biological control of major rice pests.

However, gaps still existed between the science generated in research institutions and common farmer practices, conditioned by years of aggressive promotion of pesticide use. Over the ensuing years, a number of approaches were tried to bring integrated pest management (IPM) to small farmers - particularly rice farmers - in Asia, with mixed results. Some experts claimed that the principles of IPM were too complex for small farmers to master, and that centrally-designed messages were still the only way to convince farmers to change their practices. By the end of the 1980s, a new approach to farmer training emerged in Indonesia called the 'Farmer Field School' (FFS). These field schools were designed basically to address the problem of lack of knowledge among Asian farmers relating to agro ecology, particularly the relationship between insect pests and beneficial insects.

The Farmer Field School brings together concepts and methods from agro ecology, experiential education and community development. These FFS were initiated based on two premises. Firstly, although farming itself is done mainly on individual farms, the rural community plays an essential role in farmer's strategies for survival and development. Farmers like to get together to share information and other forms of mutual support with others whom they trust. Secondly, farmers have a tradition of developing and applying technologies and refining it through experiences. They learn tacitly – learning by doing.

In this regard Dr. Shiraj A Wajih, President of Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group and member of State Agriculture Committee of Uttar Pradesh said, "The FFS approach is built around these two premises. It responds directly to the information needs of the small marginal woman farmers who have been largely neglected in conventional extension systems. The FFS offers farmers the opportunity to learn by sharing, by being involved in experimentation, discussion and decision-making. This strengthens the sense of ownership of rural communities in technological packages and evolving new knowledge and skills."

In the FFS process, village meetings are conducted and a seasonal action plan is prepared at the beginning of the year. A fortnight before the FFS day, problem cards are distributed to the farmers wherein they enter the problems encountered by them in their fields. The problem cards are collected and distributed to the Master Trainers, who are specialists in their fields, for providing remedial solutions to the problem and for identifying appropriate resource persons. Very often, farmers also invite resource persons and experts from agriculture universities, government departments, etc. to provide valuable inputs and remedial solutions to problems. On the FFS day, participants gather at a common place and the session continues for 4-6 hours. Follow-up session of preceding month's FFS day is also conducted. Participants visit demonstration farm site to observe encouraging changes brought on by the application of suggested remedies. The Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group has been running 12 such farmer schools in two blocks of Gorakhpur district since the last five years.

Amit Dwivedi

(The author is a Special Correspondent to Citizen News Service (CNS). Website: www.citizen-news.org, email: amit@citizen-news.org)

Published in
Central Chronicle, Madhya PRadesh and Chhattisgarh
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS)
Citizen News Service (CNS)
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
Op-Ed News (OEN), USA

Engaging philanthropists: This time it's personal

Engaging philanthropists: This time it's personal

"…I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life giving my time, money and skills to worthwhile endeavours where I could make a difference. I didn’t know exactly what I would do, but I wanted to help save lives, solve important problems, and give more young people the chance to live their dreams" (1)

While personal philanthropy has always played a role in the non-profit and development world, the tide has been quietly turning in ways that have increased its relative importance to the fundraising efforts of many organizations:

* Institutional donors have come under increasing pressure to reduce their transaction costs – preferring to administer larger grants to fewer organizations.
* The current climate of economic decline and uncertainty in many countries is bringing into question the sustainability of overseas development assistance programmes of industrialized countries and undermining the capital reserves of established foundations.
* Recent foreign exchange rate fluctuations have made the spending value of some secured grants unpredictable.
* Corporate and personal fortunes, combined with an increasing awareness of widespread equity challenges in many nations and communities, are fuelling a new era in philanthropy.

Engaging individual or corporate philanthropists is not simply a matter of sending the same fundraising proposal to a different contact. In many instances, new family foundations and corporate giving programmes reflect a personal motivation to make a difference in the world. In addition to being more ‘business-like’ than institutional donors (e.g. requiring higher levels of clarity and accountability), individual founders are often actively involved in their foundations. This means that understanding the underlying motivation of personal giving is vital to designing a sustainable philanthropy outreach and engagement programme.

Philanthropists are often driven by more personal needs and wants than other donors. They give, at least in part, based on an exchange of values that allows them to:

* enhance their own sense of self-worth
* see themselves in the beneficiaries being served
* do the ‘right’ thing
* create a return (or benefit) on their investment.

Loyalty and trust are key ingredients of philanthropist engagement. They are each commanded by organizations that:

* are seen as leaders in their field
* connect with supporters emotionally
* provide relevance and meaning
* help supporters to make a statement about what they value
* help supporters meet their own vision for the world
* provide them with a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.

Engaging philanthropists should first be about building relationships based on the assumption that they are interested in the success of your organization, and as a means to mobilize resources second.

"Yesterday, the most successful non-profits were those that donors knew best. Today, the most successful non-profits are those that know their donors best" (2)

References:
1. Former US President Bill Clinton in his book Giving: How each of us can change the world.
2. From: Hart et al (2005): Nonprofit internet strategies: Best practices for marketing, communications and fundraising.

Dr Tim France
(The author is the Managing Director, Inís. Website: www.inis.ie)

Published in
The Gautemala Times, Guatemala
Asian Tribune, Thailand/ Sri Lanka
Ghana News, Accra, Ghana
The Morung Express, Manipur, India
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
The Standard Times, Sierra Leone
Pakistan Post, Karachi, Pakistan
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
News Track India, Delhi
Bihar Times, Patna, Bihar
Citizen News Service (CNS)
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS)

In the online world, non-profits are what they do

In the online world, non-profits are what they do

As we start the year of 'social aggregation and syndication' (as 2009 has already been dubbed) Web 2.0 gurus Seth Godin and Brian Solis are talking up how your ‘digital identity’ defines who you are in the online world.

Godin asserts that two major factors influence the way we perceive people through their online incarnations:

* On the web, people are judged almost entirely by their actions – usually by what they write.
* Online interactions are largely expected to be intentional. On purpose. Planned. People assume you did stuff for a reason.

I don’t doubt that both those points are true. What they make me wonder though is whether non-profit organizations and international development agencies are taking too long to see that these new accountability rules apply to them too. I am convinced they are.

If you are what you do online, then the option for organizations to just rely on the reputation their logo carries is disappearing fast. Under the new rules, only organizations that are truly impartial, transparent and that provide reliable information about their work will pass the accountability test – and that does not apply to many health- and development-focused organizations at present.

The sooner individual organizations recognize this reality, and enter the online space in a genuine and open way, the better. Quick start entry options include:

* Introduce some simple and clear organizational policies for staff at all levels participating in online discussions and social networks.
* Develop guidelines encouraging senior managers in particular to start writing their own blogs.
* Keep track of what is being said about you by setting up Google Alerts on your organization, on specific technical priorities and high-profile people in your team.
* Set up a news/RSS feed aggregator that tracks web site content from your closest partner organizations.
* Find out who in your team has a real interest in Web 2.0. Task them with updating the team on significant new trends/tools in social networking. If nobody fits the bill, ask for independent advice from outside. Now.

Some of the most important players are stalled on the start line. The political realities and bureaucratic control that are central to some international organizations – such as those of many UN agencies – are incompatible with the openness and freedom of the online world. The paralysis resulting from that oil-and-water practicality will, unfortunately, not stop them from being judged by their online actions along with everyone else.

The good news is that this may present a window of opportunity for some smaller organizations and their flexible, forward-looking leaders, who can make the health and development sector's online space their own before the sumos eventually arrive on the scene.

Dr Tim France

(The author is the Managing Director, Inís. Website: www.inis.ie)

Published in
Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states (India)
Thai Indian News, Bangkok, Thailand
Citizen News Service (CNS)
The Guatemala Times, Guatemala
Bangladesh News, Dhaka, Bangladesh
The Darjeeling Times, Darjeeling, West Bengal (India)
In.Com
Assam Times, Guwahati, Assam (India)
Northern Voices, Chandigarh/ Himachal Pradesh
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
Hindi version on Northern Voices
News Track India, Delhi
Bihar Times, Patna, Bihar (India)
Twitter
Reddit
Digg.com
YouNews
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS), India
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
eCoComa web consultancy

Indian faces humiliation in Bangladesh

Indian faces humiliation in Bangladesh

I introduce myself as the chairman of the Group called 'Goldenagro'. We have two companies at Mongla EPZ (Export Processing Zone). Recently, on 25th August 2008, one of the factories suffered big damage due to a fire and I had to travel to Dhaka for a meeting with the MD of our insurance company. Below I will describe first hand of what I had to go through at Dhaka and the kinds of racism by Biman Bangladesh staff which left me very very bitter.


The incident I am referring is the incident which occurred on 14th-15th Jan 2009. I took boarding pass for BG 088 from Dhaka to Bangkok. The flight was shown to be delayed by one hour first. At this time they announced that they will give dinner at the restaurant in the lobby.

When I saw the food they were serving, I did not feel to eat. The rice is double full plate and one tiny bit of chicken in a cup with yellow water (can't really say this as curry). Looking to the standard of the food, I was came out from the restaurant without eating. The restaurant staff asked me why I am going without eating?, I replied I did not like the food, so he gave me one chicken sandwich. After eating I checked the flight status, it showed it is delayed by another hour, and again one hour.

Finally we were asked to proceed for security check at about 11.30 pm.

After security we were send by bus to the aircraft. The pilot then refused to accept the passengers so we again sit in the bus and back to terminal. At 1 am on 15.01.2009 some person came and asked me to go out from security area and sat and waited in the lobby.

At 1.30 am we all passengers were asked to go out side the airport for go to hotel. I did request that I don't want to go out without my luggage. Out side is very very cold and all my warm clothes were in the baggage which was checked in at the time of taking the boarding pass.

Since the Biman staff said I cant remain at airport as a rule so I came out with my passport, no one asked for canceling the stamp or no one kept the passport at the immigration at the time of coming out. (In fact as per stamp in my passport I am out of Bangladesh, but physically I am still inside the country of Bangladesh).

There was no person to guide which bus I have to board, no queue system.

All passengers were jumping to get first in the bus, once a bus is full another comes and again the same chaos. No system for boarding the bus.

Finally I along with few other passengers got a bus at about 1.45 am. We were drop by the bus at a hotel called 'Hotel Black Rose Int. Ltd.'.

After about fifteen minutes the receptionist starts the process to give us rooms. The moment he realized we all were the passengers of Biman, the receptionist asks us to wait and get out of the hotel. He returned after another 15 minute to say that the hotel has no rooms available, so we had to go to some other hotel. He then arranged a bus at 2.30am, and sends us to another hotel. We were all together 12 people in this bus (3 sardars Indian (Bangkok) + 3 aged sikh couples (Singapore) + 2 Bangladeshi men (Bangkok) + myself Indian (Bangkok).

The bus then brought us back to the airport, instead of another hotel.

The passengers who were turban wearing sardar Indians (Bangkok), were sitting near the gate of the bus, after reaching the airport, they refused to get down from the bus. They asked the bus to take them to some hotel. Now, a staff of Biman come and started to pull the Indian man by his hands. This man pushed the Biman man and did not wanted to get down from the bus. Now, another Biman staff came from behind and started shouting 'YOU BLOODY INDIAN', 'YOU BLOODY IDIOTS', 'BLOODY WE WILL KILL YOU'. At this point I thought it to be proper to get down from the bus, so I make my way and get down from bus and go to arrival hall and ask to go to the departure lounge. The security asked me to go to the departure from outside and follow the road which is used by cars.

I finally reach departure hall, there the security would not allow me to go inside the immigration area. They ask me to come back at 7am for to be let inside. In the mean time the same person of Biman comes there and he asks me what my problem is? He informs me that he will send me to some hotel. I refused to go to hotel as by that time it is already 3am and who know which hotel he is talking about again? I told that if I can go inside the lobby after immigration I want to rest inside and really feel to eat some food as I was very hungry by now. The man took me to immigration officer and requested him to allow me to go inside. Finally I was let inside and felt secure. I also brought some sweet curd to eat and tried sleep on the bench. The mosquitoes bit me whole night. The cold was beyond my bearing as I had no warm clothes.

Whole night and till I reached Bangkok, I felt that at any time I may be killed by these unruly Biman Bangladesh Staff. I never came across this type of incidents in my life, where I thought I was so close to death. I still think if those Biman people start a riot and start beating us in the name of 'BLOODY INDIANS' how many people would have joined to beat us? And what would have the consequences?

Due to the incident above, I have taken a decision to close both the factories at EPZ Mongla. This decision will result in loss of money for me, but to live with grace and peace is more important for me.

God bless to the people to have love in their hearts and not hate.

Bal Kishan Kayan

(The author is the chairman of the Goldenagro group and can be contacted at: kayan@goldenagro.com )

[Image: Scanned copy of the E-Ticket, Boarding pass, Baggage tags and the name card of the hotel 'Hotel Black Rose Int. Ltd']

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Further dilution of pictorial tobacco warnings feared

Further dilution of pictorial tobacco warnings feared

On 23 January 2009, the Group of Ministers (GoM) in India will again meet to assuage concerns of tobacco lobby on pictorial warnings, health activists apprehend.

This group of ministers (GoM) consists of: Pranab Mukherjee (External Affairs Minister), Kamal Nath (Commerce and Industry Minister), Priyaranjan Dasmunsi (former Information and Broadcasting Minister), S Jaipal Reddy (Urban Development Minister), Dr Anbumani Ramadoss (Health and family welfare Minister), and Oscar Fernandes (labour and employment Minister for state).

The pictorial warnings on tobacco products are proven to reduce tobacco consumption. Particularly in countries like India, where literacy rates are alarmingly low, it is vital to implement the pictorial warnings on tobacco products stringently without delay.

Pictorial health warnings on tobacco products were supposed to be implemented on all tobacco products from November 30, 2008 after being deferred and diluted several times since the first notification which came in July 2006. However, the GoM met again and further delayed the implementation of pictorial warnings to May 31, 2009.

"It is a matter of great disappointment that every time the GoM meet, the decision on implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products gets either delayed or diluted. The GoM has repeatedly put aside the critical health concerns of millions of Indian citizens. It seems that the people's representatives of the largest democracy in the world are more interested to boost the health and profits of the tobacco industry, particularly the bidi sector" said Alok Mukhopadhyay, Chief Executive, Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI).

The timing of the meeting on the eve of election announcement and the purpose of the meeting are feared to once again derail the already diluted pictorial warnings on tobacco products.

The GoM is apparently concerned about the global economic meltdown, giving unfounded arguments that the tobacco industry will be hard hit by it. However, the Prime Minister of India, a veteran economist and the former Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram have given statements time and again that the Indian economy is least affected by the global economic crisis. The tobacco major ITC has reported more than expected net growth in profit for the third quarter which ended in December 2008. Net sales during this period grew 11%, which was driven by the sales increase in stationary products and cigarettes.

"2500 people die every day due to tobacco related diseases in India, with about 10 lakhs people deaths attributed to tobacco use every year in India" said Professor (Dr) Rama Kant, who heads the Tobacco Cessation Clinic at CSM Medical University and was awarded by the World Health Organization's Director General in 2005 for his contribution to tobacco control.

Whereas, the cost to the government in treating tobacco related diseases is exorbitantly high. Economic costs related to treatment of tobacco related ailments are 16% higher than annual tax generated from tobacco. A recent paper on Economic Cost of Tobacco Use in India, 2004 reveals that the "direct medical costs of treating tobacco related diseases in India amounted to Rs.4125 crore for smoked tobacco and Rs. 1296 crore for smokeless tobacco. The indirect morbidity costs of tobacco use, which includes the cost of caregivers and value of work loss due to illness, amounted to Rs. 1810 crore for smoked tobacco and Rs. 473 crore for smokeless tobacco. The total economic cost of tobacco use amounted to Rs 7731 crore."

"Recession is no excuse for the current government to back off on protecting and promoting public health. India has been least hit by the current global economic crisis, no where in the world did any government compromise the health of its citizens due to these economic crisis as has been done by the India government" said Monika Arora, Director, HRIDAY (www.hriday-shan.org).

In the case of pictorial warnings, India also has time bound international mandate under Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (Article 11) requiring display of pictorial warnings on all tobacco products, besides, Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA) under section 7 echoes the same principles. It is ironical that the very same Government that has vehemently supported the guidelines on Article 11 of the FCTC (pack warnings) for the global community at the Conference of Parties in November 2008 at Durban, South Africa has backtracked on the same at its home ground. The Government in deferring the pack warnings has not only dishonoured its international commitment but also undermined the health of its 1 billion citizens.

"The rehabilitation of Bidi Industry workers in an alternative vocation along with its phasing out should be prioritized. We consider that is the only way forward to eliminate their misery, ill-health and exploitation by all direct and indirect beneficiaries of this highly unregulated industry blatantly flouting laws, in particular those related to Women and Child welfare. The Political Leadership can make the difference, but only if it decides to do so" said Dr Rakesh Gupta, Honorary Chairman, Rajasthan Cancer Foundation.

Advocacy Forum for Tobacco Control (AFTC) is a coalition of 51 pan Indian organizations (from 23 states and 1 Union Territory of India), working in the area of advocacy, awareness promotion and research related to tobacco control in India.

AFTC members demanded that the GoM meeting should not weaken, dilute or delay the pictorial warnings on tobacco products provision by any means and give precedence to health over profits.

Bobby Ramakant

- The author is a World Health Organization (WHO)'s WNTD Awardee (2008) and can be contacted at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com

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Indian agriculture is bouncing back

Indian agriculture is bouncing back

Agriculture is facing several problems in India. On the one hand natural calamities adversely affect agriculture production ,while on the other hand policy makers make agriculture policies which benefit industries more than agriculture.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau, Government of India, more than 1 lakh 50 thousand farmers committed suicide during the period 1997 to 2005. Two thirds of these belonged to Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. According to Dr. Shiraj A Wajih, President of Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group and member of State Agriculture Committee of Uttar Pradesh said, ''Increasing cost of agricultural production material, climatic changes, chemical farming, poor management of agriculture system, lack of government interest and low market value of agriculture produce-- all these factors tend to worsen the situation for small and marginal farmers."

He further said that suicides by farmers seem to be more common in relatively well-off states where they attempt to move up the value chain by going for risky cash crops, while farmers in poorer states stick to cereal cultivation and are averse to switching over to commercial crops.

In the years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, the government disbursed agricultural loans to the tune of Rs. 225 thousand crores and 280 thousand crores respectively. Thus during this two year period the farmers received 505 thousand crores rupees as loans, the annual interest on which amounts to around 45 thousands crores rupees. This means that the central government is collecting a huge amount of interest from the farmers. Yet it allocates very little budget for the welfare of farmers.

The development of Indian agriculture has always been inextricably linked with effective water-management practices that have been taken up by the state and/or local village communities. Water management has necessitated a certain degree of cooperation and collective spirit in the Indian countryside.

Only a small percentage of Indian farmers have enjoyed the luxury of natural irrigation, although in the past, in certain parts of the country, the soil used to retain enough moisture well beyond the monsoon months. However, it is equally true that the drying up of wells led to mass migrations, and sudden depopulation of old towns and villages.

Dr. Shiraj says, "Sustainable agriculture literacy can alleviate the problem of agriculture in India. We need to educate the farmers. Farmer schools can be a good measure of sustainable agriculture literacy. This school should be run by the community members and local farmers can be the best teachers and trainers of such schools." Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group is currently running 12 farmer schools in two districts of Uttar Pradesh. All these schools have proved to be a unique platform to resolve the problems of agricultural production faced by small and marginal farmers."

Thus there are signs of Indian agriculture bouncing back. It is scripting its own success story in spite of poor productivity, falling water levels, expensive credit, a distorted market, laws that stifle private investment, controlled prices, poor infrastructure, produce that does not meet international standards, inappropriate research, tax evasion by unorganized sector leading to the lack of a level playing field. We need to reshape our ideas and thoughts for the betterment of India's agriculture system only then we can be the food factory of the world.

Amit Dwivedi

(The author is a Special Correspondent to Citizen News Service (CNS). Email: amit@citizen-news.org; Website: www.citizen-news.org)

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BSP office bearer rains lathis on dalit labourers

BSP office bearer rains lathis on dalit labourers

BAHUJAN SAMAJ PARTY (BSP) OFFICE BEARER BEATS DALIT LABOURERS ON THE EVE OF MAYAWATI'S BIRTHDAY

The husband of Gram Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Aira Kake Mau, Block Bharawan, District Hardoi, U.P., Ghanshaym, who runs the show in this Panchayat on behalf of his wife Urmila Devi, started misbehaving with labourers, all of whom were dalits, and activists of Asha Ashram located in this Panchayat, when they reached his place according to a pre-agreed programme on 14th January, 2009.

The main grievance of the workers was that they had been paid less than what was due to them and their Job Cards were either not given to them or contained arbitrary entries. They had come to inspect the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) documents in accordance with the right of social audit given under NREGA.

When tension mounted the Station Officer of the Atrauli Police Station arrived on the scene with is police. Ghanshyam, who is the Bahujan Samaj Party Treasurer from the Vidhan Sabha constituency of Minister for Science and Technology in UP Government, Abdul Mannan, refused to show any records or make pending payments of the labourers. The labourers then began to write their complaints in order to register an FIR.

As the first application was being written he snatched the Job Cards, in the process of which he tore one of them, and his supporters came out with lathis (wooden sticks) and in the presence of the S.O. and police started raining the lathis on labourers and activists. In this attack one dalit labourer Medai s/o Narayan and an activist of Asha Parivar Ram Bharose were injured on the head. The Police, labourers and activists showed restraint.

After the incident Ghanshyam took all his supporters in a tractor-trolley to Abdul Mannan. The labourers and activists started a dharna outside his house. SDM, Sandila and Circle Officer arrived to resolve the matter. When the talks failed a complaint was filed against Ghanshyam under Section 25 of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) for making wrong entries on Job Card, keeping the Job Cards of labourers with him and tearing a Job Card.

For more information, please contact:
Ram Babu, 9452144454
Neelkamal, 9453898067
Ram Sagar Verma, 9451209863
Arundhati Dhuru, 9415022772 (senior Narmada Bachao Andolan activist)
SR Darapuri, 9415164845 (retd IG Police)
Dr Sandeep Pandey, 0522 2347365 (Magsaysay Awardee 2002)

Asha Parivar and National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), UP

January 15: Political drama on Mayawati's birthday

January 15: Political drama on Mayawati's birthday

Today, 15 January, is Mayawati’s birthday. This “great” political entity of India would be turning 54 on this day which, if her dictates would hold over the Nation, might be announced as the National Day of rejoicing and celebration for its people. At present, since her power runs only in Uttar Pradesh, the celebrations and its official ramifications can be seen only in the fore-corners of this State.

On this occasion, she will announce very large projects for the poor and the downtrodden. She shall be stating them as if it were all her personal property, forgetting and letting us forget that what she would be supposedly providing us from her own coffers would be the hard-earned money being returned to us that each one of us would have contributed to the State exchequer, willingly or unwillingly.

This year, she would probably be celebrating her birthday at a low-key level, apparently on the pretext of the Mumbai incidents and as insiders say, more so because of the hugely adverse press she got from the Manoj Gupta murder case which was directly linked with the money-extortion spree that has been going on in the State for the last two months or so. Like a great Yagna, here again, everyone big or small, has been making his own contribution to this great celebration. As Marx would have said- “ By each according to his capacity and (un)willingness.”.
Praises would be sung in her name by her party men, who all know that whatever power, perks and privileges they are enjoying is because of her single-handed charisma. Thus the need to pay their deference to this great lady. The State machinery, with the senior officers leading the pack, would be more than willing to show their extreme regards and submission to her by sharing the remains of her Birthday cake. They would be singing paeans in her praise, using hyperbolic statements with no relations to facts and figures. At the same time, they would be coming up heavily against the leaders of the other major parties.

In short it would be one huge great BSP drama.

Now, let us look at what the other political parties have been doing and how do they fare vis-à-vis the ruling party. As we all know, the chief rival of BSP in the State is the Mulayam Singh led Samajwadi Party, supposedly guided by the socialistic and humanistic principles of Lohia, Karpoori Thakur and so many others. But this is all in paper. What is the Party up to on the ground? On the 15th of January, it would be organizing what it has weirdly called as “Thoo-Thoo Diwas” (Spitting Day) when they would attempt to spit on the photographs of the Chief Minister and would be using all sorts of permissible offensive and abusive language against her, even forgetting the decency of public speech or the fact that she is a woman.
The BJP, the party-in-waiting at the National level, has asked its State women cell to come up with the “Laaj bachao, Suhaag bachao” (Save Honour, Save Life-partner) stir. The Congress has its own “Gaddi Choro” (Leave the throne) program.

Some of the lesser parties have even more colourful names for the various small and big political programs they have planned for the day. The Lok Janshakti Party of Union Coal minister Ram Vilas paswan has planned the “Khooni Diwas” (Bloody Day) to the “Hatyara Diwas” (Murderer day) of the Apna Dal of Sone Lal Patel. The Republican Party of India will have the “Shoshit Diwas” (The Downtrodden day) while the National Dalit Front (a very small and inconsequential outfit) has moved for “Vasuli Diwas” (Extortion day).

In short all these political parties will have the same agenda, the same programs and almost identical language and words, each one eulogizing themselves and condemning and castrating the Mayawati led government for all the ills that Uttar Pradesh faces. They would try the people to come to start believing that they are the sole panacea for them and that the present regime must be ended with immediate effect.

The inherent meaning and intention of all of these would be that what Mayawati is doing presently should be done not by her but by them- they should be given the power to abuse it.

Thus, the entire drama would revolve around self-praise, other’s bad-mouthing and a desire to dupe the people. No concrete words, no programs, no clear thinking, no facts and figures, no logic, no rational. Only loud words, only rhetoric and only sloganeering- to the tune of hooliganism.

If this is what we call democracy, then we in India have the best form of democracy. And Uttar Pradesh lags to none other.

Dr Nutan Thakur
(The author is the Editor of Nutan Satta Pravah)

The sad story of Indian democracy

The sad story of Indian democracy

We all know how much committed out political parties are as regards keeping criminal elements away from politics.

I would like to present only one example to show up to what disgusting and filthy levels our politics has reached in today’s world. Is it necessary that we support these people, who more often than not, look highly stinking and obnoxious?

There is a Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh by the name of Sultanpur. It is adjacent to the Lok Sabha constituencies of Amethi and Raibareilly represented by Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi respectively.

The Lok Sabha member from this Constituency presently is Mohammad Tahir Khan from BSP. His name had also cropped in the Human Trafficking scam in which a BJP MP along with others was arrested. Due to various reasons, the party felt that it was not proper to field him again and it searched for a newer candidate. The new person the party found out is Mohammad Rizwan aka Pappu, who at the moment is the declared candidate of the BSP for Lok sabha elections for Sultanpur seat. Having gone through the history of the two, all one could be able to say is that this must have been a typical example of choosing between the devil and the sea.
Interestingly while Tahir Khan has 5 cases registered against him, his to-be successor has 9 cases of serious nature registered against his name only in the City police station of Sultanpur.

This includes crimes like section 13 of the UP Goonda Act (case crime no- 581/87 in which a Charge sheet was later submitted), section 2/3 of the UP Gangster Act (which is considered the symbol of the most serious level of criminal activities in the State) with crime no- 41/90 and one case of attempt to murder (section 307) and murder (section 302) each. The murder case was that related to that a Recruit constable Kasmlesh Kumar of the Khairaghat police station in Sultanpur. Not only this, this would-be Member of Parliament has been booked thrice under section 294 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with Obscene acts and songs. The relevant provisions of the IPC are- Whoever, to the annoyance of others-(a) Does any obscene act in any public place, or (b) Sings, recites or utters any obscene song, balled or words, in or near any public place, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine, or with both. Thus our future Member of Parliament has been deemed a person fit to be charged under this section not once or twice but three times.

The story does not end here. Mohammad Rizwan also has two cases of rape (one with abduction) registered against him. The first is case crime no 1007/91 under sections 363, 366 and 376 IPC and the second one is case crime no 434/95 under sections 354, 376, 506 and 323 IPC. What is even more intriguing, baffling and saddening is that the second case deals with rape of a woman X (resident of police station Lambhua in Sultanpur) who herself belongs to the Scheduled Caste. That too when the BSP considers itself a party that specifically safeguards the interests of the Dalits. The other rape case was allegedly committed in a hotel near the Roadways station in Sultanpur where a young lady from Borovilli, Mumbai was duped, abducted and raped. She belonged to the Brahmin caste, the other caste the BSP has been wooing for the last few years and which has played an important role in the party gaining a clear majority in the 2007 UP state elections.

Because of these “brave” and “illustrious” acts of this person, the local police had branded him as a History Sheeter (HS) and his name was placed at HS No- 3 (Class A) of the Kotwali police station.

If things remain favourable to Md Rizwan, of which there is a good enough chance (he being a Muslim and Sultanpur being a Muslim dominated constituency, along with the traditional Dalit “vote-bank”) then we would have one more honourable Member of Parliament who has every such achievement that this post so much requires- half a dozen or more criminal cases, a few of them being more serious ones like attempt to murder and murder, a coloured Police record and loads of money (which Rizwan alias Pappu has in plenty).

If you ask the person about his police records and the spate of crimes he has been charge with, he invariably comes with the set answer- “These are all politically motivated. I have been innocent all through.” And the situation of the justice delivering system being what it is, there is always a greater possibility of the accused getting acquitted during trial because of so many factors like money, muscle power, political patronage, poor economic conditions of the victim’s side etc. At the same time, the party which is supporting such persons has another standard format for itself- “He might have been a criminal previously, but now he is a completely transformed person. And whatever is left, will get cleansed when he has joined us”. As if these political parties were the present day Avatar of Bhagirathi river which had the special powers of cleansing all the evils and ills existing so far. One thing I fail to understand is, why do these political parties always go for people who are already in the dark or the gray region. Do they not like associating with people who have so far been having clear records and decent public perceptions. Can’t any of them take an Arun Bhatia (the ex-Municipal Commissioner of Pune), a person with excellent track record and huge public regards?

And as if it needed a tit for a tat, the Samajwadi Party, the arch-rival of the BSP, only yesterday announced the candidature of Sanjay Dutt from Lucknow, the constituency till now occupied by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As we all know, Sanjay Dutt has not only been accused and has spend many months behind the prison but is also is a convict in the most infamous and notorious Arms case in the midst of the Mumbai blasts. But does it really matter? He is a film star and a popular one and that is all really matters.

Isn’t this the sad story of Indian democracy?

Dr Nutan Thakur
(The author is the editor of Nutan Satta Pravah)

Shibu Soren- A case of political shamelessness

Shibu Soren- a case of political shamelessness

The defeat of the Jharkhand Chief Minister from Tamar seat which became vacant after its Janata Dal (United) MLA Ramesh Singh Munda was killed by unidentified gunmen on July 9, 2008 on January 8 to a political upstart has begun a fresh debate on public posturing, political conscience and probity/ responsiveness in public life.

As is known to one and all Shibu Soren lost the seat by a margin of more than 9000 votes. This is possibly only the third instance in Indian democracy when a sitting Chief minister has lost his seat. This becomes all the more crucial because Soren was not a member of the State assembly and he needed to get into the Assembly as per the Constitutional requirements.

The relevant provisions on this issue are present in Part VI (The States) Chapter II (The Executive) has Article 164 whose clause 4 clearly says that a Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.

Soren had become the Chief Minister on August 27, 2007 and thus his six months expire on February 27. Anyway, with this loss Soren has lost all the chances of getting into the Assembly in the required time and thus legally, logically and ethically he should have resigned immediately. But what does this man do - he simply gives a blank look to every correspondent that comes to him, staring in the vacuum and saying that he would decide over things after having met with the higher ups of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in New Delhi. This clearly means that he would make a last-moment concerted effort to save himself and to continue remaining in the seat- by hook or by crook. With no morality left in politics and no remorse, no decency and no gentlemanliness, this is the latest visible drama of the worst kind where there is a free for all for everyone.

While Soren might finally have to resign but he would possibly try to get one of his own persons installed as the Chief minister (CM) and getting himself relocated back in the Union cabinet. Secondly, he might even stoop lower and say that he would resign from the post of CM and would then get back to the seat once again after some time, thus gaining another 6 months time to get elected to the assembly. The law seems a bit silent on this issue and he might try to take some advantage of this loophole. It might look too crass and cheap but does a leader like Soren, who is one of the true representatives of Indian politics, seem to be worried about such things. All that matters to him is power and like all the rest he would go all out for it- adopting all possible means and nefarious measures.

Look at the obstinacy and shamelessness of this man who instead of feeling ashamed was trying to show himself in complete control of the situation, all the time saying that he would take a decision on his resignation only after meeting the UPA leadership at the Centre. This was the same Soren who had earlier compelled Madhu Koda, another wonder of the Indian political democratic jamboree who became the first independent Chief minister of any state and ruled for nearly 2 years with the support of a plethora of parties and individuals to resign.

To understand Indian politics, it would be interesting going through the life and times of Shibu Soren- another rags to riches game. He who was born in an ordinary tribal family later rose to dizzy heights. He has been a member of the Parliament many a times and has also been a Union Cabinet minister more than once and even got his life-time ambition of becoming the Chief minister fulfilled when he reached this coveted post firstly for a few days and then second time on August 27.

But the long career of this temperamental leader has also been replete with all kinds of controversies which are illustrative of the malaise the Indian political structure is facing in the post-independence period. While the latest of these is this defeat but even before this, Soren has often been in news for wrong reasons. He had been convicted by a Delhi district court in the murder of his private secretary Shashi Nath Jha in 1994 and awarded life term which was later set aside by the Delhi High Court in August, 2007 on some technical grounds. Yet another murder case in which he is an accused in the Chirudih case of 23 January 1975 where ten people were killed in a violent attack led by him. This case came haunting him nearly 30 years later in 2004 when an arrest warrant forced him to resign from the Union Cabinet. But look at the impunity of this person who after having secured bail after spending over a month in judicial custody forced the present UPA government to re-induct him into the Cabinet and was given back the same coal ministry. Soon, there was the Jharkhand state elections in 2005. After the results he became the CM for nine days and then resigned after his failure to obtain a vote of confidence in the assembly.

Soren has also earned nation-wide notoriety for his alleged role in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) case where there was a reported deal between the Congress and the JMM to save the then Narasimha Rao government during the July 1993 no-confidence motion.

And despite all these badges of honour, the man remains completely unperturbed, undisturbed and unaffected as if these are part of a politician’s required bio-data.

He believes in the dictum- “Might is right” and will remain here as long as he has his sway over his people, the poor lot who don’t usually know who to choose between the two devils.

Dr Nutan Thakur

(The author is the Editor of Nutan Satta Pravah)

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