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NEW DELHI
RNI. NO. - DELENG - 2004/12605, Regd. No. KA/BGGPO/2508/04 - 06, Regd. No. G-9/DL(S)-01/3053/2004-2005

SATURDAY JUNE 11, 2005

VOL. 2 ISSUE 23 | INVITATION PRICE RS 10

the lying lady

MUJRAS AT PRIVATE PARTIES. AND HEERA MANDI. A CONCEALED PAST. A REPORT FROM PAKISTAN BLOWS AWAY MEERAS SMOKESCREEN

p30
INVESTIGATION

Rahul begins takeover as party prepares for a new order

UNPRECEDENTED
Stealth order by judge gives prime property to the sons of a fellow judge
p12

RED CORNER ALERT

Germany wants Amity owners extradited for financial fraud p14

I hate Indian critics
In a ballistic mood, Vidhu Vinod Chopra slams Bollywood and Suketu Mehta

p15
Medha Patkar on why illegal buildings of the rich in Mumbai should be razed
Current Affairs The probe into the UP sati incident has turned out to be an eyewash p6 The government is about to award a Rs 60-cr contract to Union Carbide Essays & Opinions Arjun Dev Why is the new secular history textbook full of blunders? p19 Samit Basu Few people say it like it is. George Lucas Star Wars is highly overrated p26 p7

BREAK THE NEWS Whats wrong with TV news? p23 p27

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02

LETTERS

Indias rape capital

Tehelka
The Peoples Paper Editor-in-Chief Tarun J Tejpal Executive Editor Sankarshan Thakur Editor-Features Shoma Chaudhury Editor-Investigations Harinder Baweja Editor-Analysis & Commentary Amit Sengupta Copy Editor Shobhan Saxena Associate Editors Nitin A Gokhale, Chitra Padmanabhan, Naresh Minocha (Business) Chief of Bureau Hartosh Singh Bal Senior Writer Vijay Simha Special Correspondents VK Shashikumar, Kumar Baadal, Poornima Joshi Senior Correspondents Arnab Pratim Dutta, Ashish Khetan Correspondents Ajmer Singh, Mihir Srivastava MUMBAI: Assistant Editor Sonia Faleiro Special Correspondent Samyabrata Ray Goswami Senior Correspondent Sanjukta Sharma BANGALORE: Correspondents M. Radhika, Chinmayee Manjunath PATNA: Correspondent Aman Khanna LONDON: Correspondent Priyanka Gill COPY DESK Deputy Copy Editors Rajesh Kumar, Vikram Kilpady Associate Copy Editors Lamat Ayub, Sharmila Bhowmick Senior Sub Editors Irene O'Brien, Vineetha Mokkil Sub Editor Deeptiman Tiwary ART Design Head Anand S Naorem Deputy Art Director Anu Dutt Design Team Ajoy Sen, Raju Kohli, Sudhanshu R Rout Associate Photo Editor Sharad Saxena Production Piyush Srivastava Systems Prawal Srivastava, Vijay Vardhan Accounts Brij Sharma, Subodh Mishra Publisher Tarun J Tejpal Business Head Rajnish Ohri Vice-President (Subscription and Marketing) Piyush Sharma Director (HR) Neena T Sharma MEDIA MARKETING
MUMBAI: AGM Sonia Desai (022 34406031)

bouquets&brickbats
INDECENT PROPOSAL
This is with reference to Shoma Chaudharys She, Slowly, Herself (TEHELKA, May 28). The editorial is very well-written and hits the nail on the head when the writer says, A court will ask you to consider marrying your rapist. More than anything, what makes one shudder is the willingness of the judge to consider the rapists offer to marry the victim. It brings to light the attitude that judges, in our country, have towards women. How can a guardian of law even allow such an offer to be made? It not only strikes at the victims self-esteem but also makes a mockery of the institution of marriage. Did the judge ever consider what kind of marriage this would be? Can there be love and nurture in such a household? It is shameful that instead of meting out the harshest punishment to the rapist, the judge thought it worthy to consider his repugnant offer. Perhaps, the judge was taking into account the high incidence of marital rape in his calculation. DIANDRA JOHN hafnium@rediffmail.com Vikram Jit Singhs report Death Wish In Green (TEHELKA, May 28) is only half truth. The report blames the government, the police, the moneylenders, weather and some other factors as the cause for farmers debt. These are no doubt important factors. But the real truth is that the maintenance of lifestyle, non-productive expenditure, issues of prestige and ego are the main factors that lead farmers into a debt trap. The farm machinery including the tractors is underutilised as the land holdings are decreasing on account of division at the time of inheritance. For small farmers, it is overdependence on the machine and lack of manual labour which is pushing them into debt. Other factors leading to the increase in debt are increasing drug addiction among the young population and preference for other occupations than agriculture. DR VITULL K. GUPTA Bhatinda, Punjab

HALF TRUTH

I READ with interest the disturbing feature on the typical Delhi male (Rogue Gene, TEHELKA, May 28). Over the years I have heard and read that Delhi is a city that celebrates power rather vulgarly. Why cant draconian laws be enforced to tame scoundrels who go around town outraging the modesty of women? If we keep wishing a change in the mindset of these brutes, many more women will become victims. Only severe punishment can deter these men. Women have as much a right to freedom as men, and this constitutional position must not be compromised under any circumstance.

ANAND SRINIVASAN Bangalore

Delhi appears to have emerged as the rape capital of India. Your cover story Rogue Gene (TEHELKA, May 28) has rightly raised the question: why is the Delhi male such a menace? Delhi male alone may not specifically be a rogue gene. If he behaves like that it means Delhi provides an environment conducive to such behaviour. And it is essential to take action to stem this rot. An Open Letter to Delhi University (TEHELKA, May 28) gives an indication of some measures to be taken in general. Action should be taken on these lines. Laws should be amended for deciding rape cases within a timeframe and stringent punishment should be awarded to rapists.

A. JACOB SAHAYAM Thiruvananthapuram

DOWN WITH COKE

I am a great admirer of TEHELKA, the peoples paper fighting for genuine problems of the common people of the country. I think it was unbecoming on your part to give an advertisement of coke, a Coca Cola product. I need not dwell on the details of the exploitative nature of the MNCs, including Coca Cola. Plachimada village in Kerala has now become a symbol of peoples struggle against the blatant exploitation of water resources. Do a story on what Pepsi and Coca Cola are doing in Kerala, West Bengal. M. THAHIR Thiruvananthapuram

GET REALISTIC
This is with reference to Vineetha Mokkils Get The Whole Picture (TEHELKA, June 4). Homosexuals are still portrayed as relationship breakers in our films, as attested by films like Girlfriend and Page 3. They are shown as trouble mongers out to devour straight relationships. Never have movies here portrayed a realistic gay relationship,

and some development rather than no development. Today, politics is not about the country and its people but about money and power. Shame on us for electing people like Laloo to power again and again. SHRIYA WALI New Delhi

TOO HOT TO HANDLE

Mallika Sherawat has often been criticised for exposing too much and leaving too little to the imagination (Male Catharsis, Female Skin, TEHELKA, May 28). She does not wear anything different from other Bollywood women. The only difference is that whatever she wears, makes her look too hot as she is more appealing than Bipasha, Aishwarya, Malaika or any other sex symbol. She cannot just sit back like a dumb doll. She needs to be bold and a big mouth to establish herself in the industry. And she is doing this too well. FARHA NAJAM New Delhi

GOOD REPORT
I read your special report on Disaster Awaits (TEHELKA, May 28) caused essentially by drought, whilst urban India continues to water golf courses, gardens and flush potable water literally down the drain. Nothing wrong with golf courses provided they harvest their own water and do not use sub-surface sources. Similarly, most housing societies and colonies use tubewells without recharging them. I have a suggestion in this regard. Along with engineering and plant resources available with the army, task forces could be deployed to create lakes, bunds and check dams. The men in olive green are doing a great job on our borders. They could also now participate in the development of the nation. A similar exercise conducted in the Mussoorie hills has yielded excellent results in arresting ecological degradation. PAVAN NAIR Pune, Maharashtra

and Rani Abhishek BachchanNDTV wasMukerji reading news on shocking. Objectivity and seriousness of journalism have gone for a toss with such innovative PR tactics. Soon we would find Dawood reading crime news
RAMMOHAN , rammohan@vsnl.in with its conflicts and triumphs. Fire was an exception (and this is where I differ from Pullapally who is quoted in the article) because during a scene when Radha (Shabana Azmi) is sympathising with Sita (Nandita Das) about the state of her relationship with her husband, Sita breaks down saying it wasnt that and kisses her. While her relationship with her husband is, no doubt, not much to write about, the scene indicates her feelings for Radha. Our filmmakers need to explore real life gay themes and come up with uplifting tales. Many rousing films in the West such as Maurice And The Hours have been adapted from literature. Having said that, it is a comment on our society that despite being a mainstream release, My Brother Nikhil failed to draw a crowd. VIKRAM JOHRI vikmail_j@rediffmail.com

CIRCULATION General Manager (Readership Development) Bharat Bhushan Assistant Manager Prem Gupta (Delhi) Circulation Executive Raja Sett (Kolkata) Printed and published by Tarun J Tejpal, M-76 (M-Block Market), Greater Kailash II, New Delhi-110048 at MP Printers B-220, Phase-II Noida, UP OWNER & EDITOR Tarun J Tejpal RNI Registration No. DELENG/2004/12605 Head Office M-76 (M-Block Market), Greater Kailash II, New Delhi-110048 Tel-011 51638750-55 Fax-011 51638750-54 E-mail editor@tehelka.com Volume 2, Issue 23; For the week June 11, 2005 released on June 03, 2005

CRAZY MALLIKA
Mallika Sherawat has always been given publicity, from shedding clothes to locking lips. But this hype is more due to her bold comments than her revealing outfits or acting skills (Male Catharsis, Female Skin, TEHELKA, May 28). Majority of viewers, including me, watch her interviews crazily, not because she is the favourite, but because we find her comments crazy. She is not the only hotshot babe with oomph in Bollywood, in fact we have many but no one has as big a mouth as hers. Any publicity is good publicity even if it is a mix of absurd comments. Grow up Miss Sherawat and show us some of your acting skills, as these bold self-boasting comments can only hold up the viewers for talk shows and publicity, that too not for long. MOINA KHAN New Delhi
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Apropos to Could Have Been Worse (TEHELKA, June 4). Manmohan Singhs performance in the past one year was no doubt up to the mark given the legacy he adopted and the challenges his government had to face, particularly from the Left. His government not only proved to be stable, but also placed the economy on a growth trajectory. One cannot downgrade the governments performance just because some of the provisions of CMP have not been realised. SIDDHARTHA RAJ GUHA Jabalpur, MP

FULL MARKS TO PM

IMMORTAL DUTT
Sunil Dutts family was fortunate to have an angel. They have seen the transformation of a person from being just another man to becoming the saviour of the masses. But even if everyone of us could not be so closely related to Mr Dutt, we all have seen his courage in times of adversity. He never let bitterness take over. The bloodshed that he witnessed during the Partition did not turn him into a bloodthirsty monster. ZOHRA JAVED Allahabad, UP

Subscribers who have not received their copy of our newspaper can write to us at Tehelka, M-76, IInd Floor, GK II, M Block Market, New Delhi or complaints@tehelka.com or fax us at 011 51638750-54 We will attend to all complaints as soon as we can. Founder and Engaged Circle subscribers please email prawal@tehelka.com for user IDs and passwords.

BRITISH RAJ BETTER

I am not an avid political worm but after reading your article Butas Bihar, Laloos Bihar (TEHELKA, May 14) I just want to say that India was much better under the British rule. At least, there was discipline in politics

can email their letters at the following address: letters@tehelka.com

READERS

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

CURRENT AFFAIRS

03

THE EDITOR RECOMMENDS

news&analysis
Such a long journey
what it refers to them as the true representatives of the Kashmiris. Similarly, the visit will no doubt help the Hurriyat too. Their long standing if unstated demand of being allowed to visit Pakistan was meant to signal to their own people that they were talking not only to the government of India but to the Pakistani establishment as well. That, they have always maintained privately, would help them handle the criticism that they sold out to New Delhi. Signals apart, the critical test will be the response the delegation gets from the militant groups headquartered in PoK. So far, the United Jihad Council headed by Syed Salahuddin, commander-in-chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, has opposed the peace process and criticised the fact that the Hurriyat is a divided body. The Hurriyat softliners cannot but be conscious of the fact that their senior colleague Abdul Ghani Lone was shot dead because he asked the foreign militants (mostly Pakistani) to leave Kashmir. They have staked their political journey by embarking on the trip.

WHY OXFAM is failing Africa? Inside the Make Poverty History movement, there is a growing fear that its aims are being diluted. Fingers are being pointed at

Oxfam. By Katharine Quarmby, at www.newstatesman.com. Afghanistans Karzai. Jon Lee Anderson writes about Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and the benefits and dangers of his relationship with the

US, at www.newyorker.com. Lessons not learnt from Abu Ghraib. Seymour Hersh wonders why 10 official US investigations into the Abu Ghraib scandal have left the US militarys top brass unscathed, at www.guardian.co.uk.

The Hurriyat trip gives Pak the chance to rein in militants

torical oppression, by denying them their rights? The Forest Bill has roots in earlier laws and in that sense theres nothing new about it. The 1990 MOEF circulars required that cultivation on forest lands pre1980 be regularised, the same requirement as the present law. Some conservationists have wrongly argued that the Bill will distribute 2.5 hectares of forest land to every tribal family or will allow each generation to claim new lands. And that the Bill will destroy 60 percent of Indias forests. All this is hogwash.

Skewed duty, strange ritual

Is there a fundamental righteousness in the fairness of sati?

BY SONIA FALEIRO

BY HARINDER BAWEJA

INALLY, AFTER years of wanting to lead a delegation to Pakistan, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference travelled the short distance between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. A trip that would have normally come packaged with a lot of hype became part of a journey that many Kashmiris have already made since the bus service between the two Kashmirs commenced in April this year. The Hurriyats visit is a purely political journey and will be weighed, therefore, in cold political terms. The visit was riven with political divisions even before it began. While the doves in the Hurriyat, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq decided to go ahead, SAS Geelani, the hardcore separatist refused to board the bus. His reasoning: Pakistan was being far too flexible on Kashmir. Geelani still prefers that Kashmir should be settled in accordance with the UN resolutions line, even though it has been abandoned even by General Pervez Musharraf who has travelled a fair distance from the time he hijacked the Delhi-Lahore bus to Kargil. Unlike Geelani, Musharraf has sensed the change in the way the international community looks at Kashmir (post-9/11 and the war against terror, they no longer refer to it as a nuclear flashpoint). More importantly, he senses the changing ground reality in Kashmir where its people, fatigued by violence and bloodshed, want a respite from the gun, both indigenous and the one that was being exported from Pakistan. By extending the invitation to the Hurriyat, Pakistan is serving an important self-interest. It is sending the signal that it is involving the Kashmiris while working towards a solution. By holding talks with the Hurriyat in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (even if their travel permits dont allow them to travel beyond), it is acknowledging them as

What has also gone against the tribals inhabiting forests is the timing of the Bill, when the nation is in a furore over the dramatic drop in tiger population
The Bill does not purport or intend to give a single square inch of forest land to anyone. The Bill only requires the government to give legal recognition to lands that people have already been farming since 1980. Section 3 (a) of the draft Bill clearly states that tribals will only receive rights to land under their occupation since October 25, 1980, up to a maximum of 2.5 hectares per family. No one, not this generation or the next, will receive rights to new lands. The Tiger Forum needs to understand this clearly. The systematic deprivation of tribal rights is staggering. How long can they suffer police brutality and harassment while the country debates the same issues again and again?

Kill the tribals, save the tigers

Conservationists think the Forest Bill will distribute land to tribals

BY VK SHASHIKUMAR
HE SCHEDULED Tribes and Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2005 has been attacked by some environmentalists on the ground that it will decimate Indias forests. Unfortunately, this pernicious stance has the potential to ring the death knell for Indias tribals, the glorious saviours of the countrys forests, and its ancient traditions. What has also gone against tribals is the timing of the Bill, when the nation is in a furore over the dramatic drop in tiger population. The tribals are not responsible for the disappearing tigers or the dwindling forests. The monumental corruption in state forest departments is well-known. The fact that there is a nexus between forest departments across the country and the timber mafia, in any case, merits no publicity. What really needs to be investigated is the complicity of the forest department with the poachers. TEHELKA has graphically exposed the fudging of tiger census figures as well as the evergrowing network of poachers. Its hard to believe that the babus in the MOEF and the forest department, and those professing their love for tigers knew nothing about this racket. The point is why punish the tribals, already living under a long his-

SATI of 75-year-old Ramkumari in UPs Bahundari village reveals a community puppeteered by tradition, which dictates not just life, but the time and manner of death. While the State Commission for Women in Banda district insists that Ramkumari was coerced and therefore murdered, her family says she was a virtuous woman, aware of her responsibility. In other words, Ramkumari knew that once her husbands life ended, hers had no right to continue. Whether the partially blind, barely mobile septuagenarian was murdered or committed suicide, is almost beside the point. What is, a reality in which the inherent dignity of life is considered so only when that life is a mans. Sati may be largely seen as a monstrous act, and a violation of the Constitution, but after Ramkumaris death, Bahundari has been flooded with devotees anxious to salute the grandmother hustled into an early grave. One persons brutal death is anothers route to beatification. Consternation for one community, is celebration for another. Of course, neither UP nor its adjoining state, MP, are strangers to sati. While Rajasthan may be the capital of this tradition, all three share a history of sati worship. Roads are dotted with temples marking sati, which are visited on important festivals. Annually, newspapers report satis attempted and HE

the odd one committed. Families feign ignorance and yet, are quick to build shrines on the pyre, offering more grist to this skewed interpretation of duty and morality. Since 1952, there have been seven reported satis in this region. The most notorious in recent time, occurred in 2002, in Panna and Ratnaguan. The fact that Ramkumaris death isnt isolated is a testament to the power of tradition. Of its magnetic, unassailable resistance to outside forces, once accepted by a community, which then works hard to ensure its continuation. Its unlikely that any of the victims were less beloved to their families than women elsewhere. Its doubtful their deaths were mourned less, or that

their commitment as daughter, wife or mother was in doubt. And yet, overriding every one of these basic human emotions is the most basic and base of all. The desire to kill. Not satisfied with revering the sacrifices of past satis, the compulsion to perpetrate new ones, generation after generation, suggests a fundamental faith in the righteousness of this act. Or, tremendous compulsion that necessitates it. Perhaps it is ignorance.

BHAJJI ON THE ROCKS?

The ICC should stop playing games with the bowler
BY VIKRAM KILPADY nom de guerres like Turbanator and what not, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh must have thought he was back in from the cold when the ICC okayed his bowling action. But the ICC, it seems, is a very, very wily creature. It bowled a googly at Harbhajan, saying he could bowl provided that he uses an action consistent with that used in the bio-mechanical tests conducted at the University of Western Australia in February 2005. Sounds like motorcycle companies claiming 100

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plus km mileage and then saying the mileage was under standard test conditions. The ICC report referred to another point, that bio-mechanist Marc Portus had noticed differences in Bhajjis action in the UWA labs and in the match against Pakistan in February where he was reported for chucking. The bowler himself,

crestfallen no doubt, told a daily that only his doosra was an issue. When a similar issue had erupted around Murali, the Lankan cricket establishment was ready to take on the ICC. But here the BCCI mandarins welcome the ICC decision as cricket friendly but wont venture further. Where does the bowler go from here? And why the indifference? Would the ICC run more tests every time some umpire calls him? TV news capsules showed Harbhajan, in his undies, bowling with wires strapped on his chest, arms and legs. No pain, no gain is an oft-heard phrase. But will this become all pain for Harbhajan and no gain for Indian cricket, as the commentators would say, remains to be seen. And remember another cricket clich it aint over until the last ball is bowled.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

Laloo, Nitish don gloves for title bout

UPA and NDA kick off campaigns, leaving Paswan in no mans land
AMAN KHANNA Patna
ITH THE state heading for another round of poll fever, politicians are readying for some hard bargaining and deal making. All major parties have started redrawing their war plans. The Congress, which along with Ram Vilas Paswan is blamed by Laloo Yadav for the mess, hopes to contest a large number of seats. The partys state unit President Ram Jatan Sinha says, Our formula is simple: you (RJD) keep the seats you won, and those where you got more than 30,000 votes; we keep the rest. It should come to about 130 seats. In the same breath he confesses, This is our formula. The decision makers sit in Delhi, not Patna. Sinhas optimism, however, is without any basis. Laloo is ready to accommodate others, but not at the cost of compromising his own interests. This is partially the reason, Laloo, at least for now, is against bringing Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Paswan on board. He doesnt want to provide oxygen to someone who could pose a challenge to him later on. If at all he brings in Paswan, it will be perforce. However, he cannot wish away the Congress central leadership and Paswans command over 4 percent Dusadha dalit votes. Last week, Laloo took a few potshots at Paswan at a railway function in district Munger. He panned Paswan for puncturing all attempts to form a UPA government. When he is a UPA minister at the Centre, why did he have any problems in forming a UPA government in

Bihar? Laloo shouted from the dais. Ironically, only days before, the wily Yadav had softened his stand vis--vis Paswan. Paswan, the loser in the entire exercise, is keeping whatever options he has under wraps. We will hold a national executive meeting and there we will decide how to go forward, he said in Patna on Tuesday. But he didnt rule out an alliance with the RJD entirely. If the UPA chairperson (Sonia) comes up with a concrete proposal on a secular al-

liance, we will consider it, he added. Insiders say the Yadav chieftain had offered more seats to Congress only to woo back the Muslim voters he lost to Paswan three months ago. The next elections would, indeed, be decided by the intensity factor: the intensity with which Muslim voters return to Laloo and on the intensity of the anti-Laloo wave. Laloo is determined to correct past mistakes. To begin with, party leaders say, he is making sure his brothers-in-law, Sadhu and

Laloo, at least for now, is against bringing LJP chief Paswan on board. He doesnt want to provide oxygen to someone who could pose a challenge to him later on

Subhash, do not call the shots this time. Like on all times before February this year, he will oversee distribution of tickets himself. Laloo has evinced interest in roping in Mayawatis BSP. The dalit party might have won just two seats in the last polls, but, more importantly, it was able to grab 4.4 percent of votes. Add that to Laloos 25.07, and you get a significant total of 29.11 percent, a good three-and-a-half percent more than NDAs last score. Even in 1996, when Laloo won a clear majority, he had returned with just 35 percent votes. Unlike the UPA, the NDA is finding the going easy; at least as far as ticket distribution is concerned. The independents and LJP dissidents intend to join either the JD(U) or BJP. Says JD(U) state President Vijendra Yadav, Sharing seats will not be a problem. It wasnt the last time. The winning independents and LJP MLAs will be allowed to run from their constituencies. The NDA kicked off its campaign last week with advertisements in local dailies, poetically, slyly lampooning Laloo for 15 years of misrule. And with Nitish Kumars picture splashed across, the chief ministerial candidates name, too, was put out on air. Laloo also has been quick off the mark. He has begun meeting his voters. At railway functions, he is reminding people of the good work he has done in his ministry and how, under the Presidents Rule, he feels helpless in solving common mans problems. This time there are no ifs and buts, it seems. The voters have a clear choice to make Laloo or Nitish.

BSF gets some teeth and rest

The modernisation drive will add more teeth to the organisation, he feels. Apart from the normal acquisition of the AK series of rifles, bulletproof jackets and vehicles, we are also concentrating on getting hand-held thermal imagers (HHTs) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for our troops. This will enable them to detect intruders and smugglers even at night, he says. Floating outposts to be deployed along Assams riverine borders with Bangladesh are also high on Mooshaharys purchase list. We have a proposal to acquire five special ships to set up floating border posts. One such ship has been already completed in Hasanabad in West Bengal, but we have been waiting for Dhakas nod for more than two years now, he says. Mooshahary, an IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, is a Bodo from Assam. He is aware that the 4,094-km border with Bangladesh always has the potential to flare up at the slightest pretext. He says special care is being taken to see that normalcy reins on this frontier. We are not unduly worried but at the same time, there is a proposal to reorganise our force in the Northeast by having another IG-level officer at Silchar in southern Assam, Mooshahary says. At present two IG-level officers one at Agartala and one in Shillong marshal the BSF troops in the Northeast. The BSF is also setting up 21 new centres across the country, including Chandigarh, Ambala, Panchkula, Shimla, Dehradun, Bareilly, Bangalore, Chennai, where its reserve troops will be posted. In some of these centres the BSF doesnt have a presence right now. At the new locations battalions moving out from counter-terrorist duties can rest and recuperate, he says. New locations are also being determined in a manner which can enable quick deployment of reserve battalions for any internal security duties or disaster management, Mooshahary adds.

Ideology

All private companies that take governments help should reserve jobs for SCs and STs

Set Free: BSF will now do only border duty

NITIN A. GOKHALE New Delhi

BORDER Security Force (BSF) is in for a major reorientation and modernisation drive. The 157-battalion-strong force will soon be spared of counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir and the Northeast, and will be asked to focus on its primary duty guarding Indian international borders. This apart, the BSF will embark on a Rs 3,000-crore modernisation drive over a period of five years. In Srinagar, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has already started replacing BSF battalions. This will allow us to deploy more forces along the difficult international borders like Sundarbans, the Northeast and the Sir Creek areas, BSF Director General RS Mooshahary says. Availability of more battalions will allow us to reduce the distance between the border outposts for more effective patrolling, he adds.
HE

Can activism and politics go hand in hand? Its not either you are an activist or a politician. It complements each other. My job as MP is to raise the issues people face, convert them into policy and laws, and then to see the implementation of the law at the local level. As activist our primary task is to raise the issues and problems of the people. I dont see much difference here. Do you support reservations in private sector? Yes, I do. I feel all the private companies that are taking government money in the form of bank loans or other schemes should have a certain obligation to fulfil. We cannot allow creation of islands of wealth in the society. Culturally, ours is a caste-bound society and therefore there is hidden bias everywhere. Many times, legitimate and competent people are denied opportunity. Unless SCs and STs have regular income from a job, they cannot climb the ladder of social hierarchy. There is around 15 percent tribal population in Gujarat. Why couldnt Naxalism take roots there? Naxalism spread to those areas where there was exploitation of tribals. That is not the case in Gujarat partly because the land reforms took place much earlier here. There were institutions set up as early as 1950 like the Gandhian institutions. The first thing they did was to spread education in tribal areas. The tribals of Gujarat are also more politically aware. We had a tribal CM almost two decades ago. So the influence of Gandhian workers and the whole concept of non-violence seem to have penetrated the tribal areas of the state. Personally, I think, Naxalism is not an answer to everything. MAHESH LANGA

DIPANKAR BHATTACHARYA

MADHUSUDAN MISTRY CONGRESS MP

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CURRENT AFFAIRS
Self goal The tendency of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation to pick the most inopportune moments to give endorsements that the BJP can make use of is causing much heartburn in the party. The first instance was just before the elections in Madhya Pradesh when Digvijay Singh found himself on the losing end of a war fought over the statistics of development, thanks to a Confederation of Indian Industry report prepared by the RGF. Now with Modi making the most of the endorsement provided to him by the RGF, some changes are more than likely in the foundation. Outsourcing scoops The report cards of the ministers doing the rounds have caused some consternation in the Prime Ministers Office. While quite a few of them are accurate, some are not. Interestingly, the erroneous ones

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

have been repeated verbatim in several newspapers and by at least one news channel. All these reports have been citing sources, but the fact that errors are being repeated by everybody reveals they have all been copying from the same source. So much for an inside take on political journalism. Pliant Arjun It has taken a year but Arjun Singh finally seems to have reconciled himself to the idea of Manmohan Singh as prime minister. Never the most voluble of men, Arjun Singh had for much of this period taken recourse to silence in the presence of Manmohan Singh and the joke doing the rounds was that he could not bear to address him as prime minister. Finally bowing to the inevitable, the thakur has ensured that his ministry has not caused any embarrassment to Manmohan Singh over the past few months.

s&m

SHOUTS AND MURMURS

The probe into Ramkumaris death has turned out to be an eyewash

Sati, suicide or brutal murder?

took place, says, It was after 8pm that I heard a commotion. I thought thieves had come. When I focused my torch, I saw the Tiwari family standing around the pyre and Dai writhing in pain. Then I ran away from the spot. According to Raidas, the family was accompanied by the village guard Ram Sajeevan. Jogeshwars family denies these claims. They claim to have returned home around 6pm after Jogeshwars cremation. At 10pm, one of Ramkumaris daughters-in-law went to give her milk, but could not find her in the room. People started searching and some went to the grove where Jogeshwar was cremated. Shiv Sagar, Jogeshwars nephew, says that when he reached the cremation site,
False Gods: Ramkumari (inset); police inspect the site of cremation PHOTO SURESH SAHU

Oriya gets a stately burial

BIBHUTI MISHRA Bubhaneswar HILE LANGUAGE chauvinism is gripping other states, Orissa is on reverse gear. About 140 colleges of the state, including 15 government ones, are going to scrap Oriya as a subject on instructions from the department of higher education. The department took the decision as part of its reforms drive. The student-teacher strength needed to be rationalised, so it directed the 32 government and 207 aided degree colleges to stop taking students in subjects where the enrolment is nil or very low. Thus Oriya became a casualty. Among the colleges scrapping Oriya are Ravenshaw College, Cuttack; Fakir Mohan College, Balasore; MPC College, Baripada and Sailabala Womens College, Cuttack. Ironically the last three colleges have been associated with leaders who have been torchbearers of Oriya nationalism. Educationists criticise the move. The government has dealt a deadly blow to the language. What is to be expected in a state where the CM has not learnt to speak in Oriya, asks senior scribe Dillip Hali.

SUMAN GUPTA Banda, UP Ramkumari, the 75-yearold wife of Jogeshwar Tiwari, a resident of village Bahundari, allegedly committed sati on her husbands funeral pyre on May 7, the administration has termed the death as suicide. The official report prepared by an additional district magistrate and a superintendent of police, however, raises more questions than answers. The report, activists feel, is an effort to cover up the role of former state minister Jamuna Prasad Bose, who belongs to the Samajwadi Party. Bose had gone to attend teravi of Jogeshwar in the village, 48 km from Banda when he was told by the villagers that Ramkumari had committed sati. He offered floral garlands at
AYS AFTER

the site and put the ashes on his forehead, as a mark of respect. Jogeshwar and Bose were childhood friends. Bose recalls that Jogeshwars sister too had committed sati. A visit to the village reveals facts that fly in the face of the official version. Prayers are being held regularly at the chabutara (platform) built in her memory. The platform is surrounded with bricks and ashes from Ramkumaris pyre have been placed for the devotees to see. People from neighbouring villages are flocking to pay their obeisance. The villagers, even those who offer prayers, dont have a clear idea of what happened the night Ramkumari died. Some say they knew about Jogeshwars death and his cremation, but how Dai (Ramkumari) came and what happened, nobody knows. Gangaram Raidas, who guards a grove adjacent to Jogeshwars land where the cremation

I saw the Tiwari family standing around the pyre and Dai writhing in pain. Then I ran away from the spot, says a witness
along with some people, he saw Ramkumari lying on the pyre with her face up. Social activists are wondering how a 75year-old could have reached the pyre on her own. They also point out that if Ramkumari wanted to become a sati she would have done it right at the time of her husbands cremation not three hours later. Jogeshwar is a well-known landlord in the region with more than 400 acres of land to his name. The familys proximity to politicians has affected chances of a fair probe, say some villagers. Many are scared to speak about the incident on record.

Zoo-ming neglect
The Mumbai zoo is on the path of self-destruction
SONIA FALEIRO Mumbai unnatural deaths. Plastic bags billowing in a moat where a crocodile seeks refuge from the sun. This is the Veermata Jijabai Bhonsle Udyan Zoo in Mumbais Byculla. Fifty-two acres with 200 animals, 450 birds, 60 reptiles and enough controversy for them all to feed off. Last year, Zoocheck Canada and People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released separate reports about the zoos substandard conditions filthy cages, empty water troughs, and visitors feeding monkeys food stuffed with tobacco. The reports followed several horrifyICKNESS AND

Life Imprisonment: a wolf at the zoo

There have been several horrifying deaths including that of a deer, discovered with 3 kg of plastic in its stomach
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ing deaths including that of a deer, discovered with 3 kg of plastic in its stomach. When Professor Jacob V. Cheeran of the Central governments Project Elephant visited the zoo in 2004 he pointed out that an elephant, Radha, was showing signs of TB. Officials ignored his concerns and this January, Radha died. Radhas death reignited debate about whether the zoo has the infrastructure and, in fact, interest to care for its animals. In March, the Bombay High Court ordered relocation of some animals because of a lack of space. Out of 52 acres, only one-third is for the animals. Gardens and administrative buildings consume the rest. The deputy superintendent of the zoo, Dr Murlidhar N. Wani says, The zoo was developed in 1873. Change takes time. But even during the transfer, officials were allegedly lax. Says Anuradha Sawhney, PETAs chief functionary,

The deer were released into the Borivali National Park among predators without conforming to wildlife guidelines. They couldnt have survived. Other recommendations, like providing a mate for Shiva the rhino, who at 25 is still single, are yet to be implemented. Nevertheless, their survival even in the zoo isnt guaranteed. Under signs requesting visitors not to feed animals, children give deer chips from plastic packets. Wani says the 40 animal keepers and 45 security guards intervene when rules are flouted, but animal activists dispute this. The guards work in three shifts, and at any given time only 15 patrol the entire 52 acres. Apart from protecting its animals, a zoo must also highlight the importance of conservation. The Mumbai zoo is bereft of educational tools. The animals, says advocate Raj Panjwani, who was part of the committee that gave the report based on

which the court passed the order, are a mere distraction for the visitors who come for recreation. The Mumbai zoo is no anomaly. Indias zoo keeping is marred by abuse. But, unlike other zoos, the available space, visitors and support from the manpower-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation afford the zoo less excuse. With an annual maintenance budget of Rs 1 crore, the zoo is by no means cashstrapped. It receives 10,000 visitors daily and 20 lakh visitors annually. Recently McKinsey & Company was asked to prepare a feasibility study on the zoos upgradation. But things wont be easy. While modern facilities will help the animals, what is even more important is a modern attitude towards their well-being. According to wildlife conservationist Bittu Sahgal, The zoo is a picture of misery for wild animals. Sadly, if the animals could, they would probably agree.

ASHESH SHAH

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

CURRENT AFFAIRS
fertiliser plants coming up in the country. Since then, UCC technology has never been used in the fertiliser sector. But apparently the government has not taken similar action across the board in all sectors because the IOC made the choice from among global players whose names were suggested by Engineers India Limited (EIL). While IOC has taken the plea that the technology, originally developed by UCC, is being offered after further R&D work by Dow Chemicals. The argument is clearly specious because the government in the Bhopal tragedy case has claimed that with the acquisition of UCC, Dow has inherited the liabilities of UCC and is required to pay for the clean-up. In fact a Bhopal-based NGO, the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS) headed by Abdul Jabbar, and 11 other organisations had filed a suit in the federal court of New York against Union Carbide (Dow Chemicals). While rejecting the suit, the court considered the argument regarding environmental damage as justified and ordered further hearing. On March 17, 2004, the court ruled that people suffering from the effects of toxic residues (see box) could approach American courts for compensation. The court moreover said if the governments of India and Madhya Pradesh issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the clean-up of the Carbide plant, it might order Dow Chemicals to dispose of the poisonous chemicals. The Government of India sent the requisite NOC on May 5, 2004. Given the complex technologies involved in cleaning up the toxic residues, which have seeped down to the groundwater, it is difficult to estimate the cost of a clean-up but the figure has been conservatively placed at Rs 200 crore. Sources within IOC state that if the Union government were to actually consider banning all Indian firms from using technology developed either by Union Carbide or Dow Chemicals, Dow would have no choice but to cough up the amount involved in the clean-up given the potential size of the Indian market. In fact activists have mounted pressure on the government to blacklist Dow. In a petition being

07

FLIRTING WITH THE BHOPAL VILLAIN

TOXIC LEFTOVERS
A STUDY of sediment from a waste storage area abandoned by UCC, surface soil near the plant and drinking water from adjacent areas was carried out in 1990 by the Boston-based National Toxics Campaign Fund. It revealed: High levels of dichlorobenzenes, which damage liver and kidney and cause nervous system damage, eye irritation, weight loss and sometimes death; Trichlorobenzenes, which are toxic to the liver and kidney; Phthalates which are highly nonbiodegradable and can cause liver and kidney damage, and birth defects; Polyaromatic hydrocarbons, many of which are carcinogenic; Trimethyl triazintrione, which may cause muscular weakness and convulsion. On high doses, it inhibits reproduction in animals.

The government is on the verge of giving a Rs 60-crore contract to the MNC behind the gas tragedy

Gas Chamber: victims at a shelter after the 1984 tragedy AP PHOTO

HARTOSH SINGH BAL New Delhi after the worst industrial disaster in the world, the Indian government is seriously contemplating another transfer of technology from the same firm responsible for the Bhopal gas disaster Union Carbide. This is happening at a time when the government is trying to press claims against Dow Chemicals, the company that took over Union Carbide Corporation (UCC ), for the clean-up of the Bhopal site. For the moment, the decision to approve the acquisition of technology for the Indian Oil Corporations (IOC) Naphtha cracker complex coming up at Panipat has been referred to the ministry of industry. But it turns out that the same ministry has already granted permission earlier, in one case as recently as last year, for the import of the same technology. There are no prizes for guessing the beneficiary in that case Reliance Industries Limited. According to IOC, the transfer of UCCs meteor technology is only a Rs 60-crore component in the Rs 63,000-crore Naphtha cracker unit project and alternatives are available. While IOC had gone through a tender process for the new technology and the subsequent choice was approved by its board of directors, the matter has been referred back to the Secretariat of Industrial Assistance (SIA) in the ministry of industry, in view of the controversy surrounding UCC. But the real questions even as this deal is being scrutinised relate to the role of the SIA in the past. In the last decade, Reliance acquired the technology from UCC for setting up
WO DECADES

its plants of Polypropylene at Hazira as well as Jamnagar complexes. In fact in the latest such case, UCC technology for a Polypropylene plant under implementation by Reliance at Jamnagar has been acquired from Dow Chemicals in 2004 after getting statutory clearances from the SIA. It is not clear why or how this was done despite a clear precedence that the country would not acquire technology from UCC in view of the 1984 gas disaster. In 1987, the department of fertilisers in the ministry of agriculture had clearly stated that no Indian firm could enter into a licence agreement with UCC for another kind of technology for carbon dioxide removal. In fact the Projects and Development India Ltd had been instructed to select an alternative method that would be used in all

In the last decade, Reliance acquired the technology from UCC for setting up its polypropylene plants at Hazira and Jamnagar, with the consent of the government

BHOPAL
revisited

circulated online among NRIs (visit http://www.petitiononline.com/ blackdow/petition.html) the demands include precisely these steps: Dow Chemicals and Union Carbide should be blacklisted, and prevented from doing any business in India; Indian Oil, GAIL, ONGC and other Indian public sector units must not do business with Dow Chemicals; Dow Chemicals assets in India should be attached to force it to produce Union Carbide to face criminal trial in the Bhopal case. What is missing is a call for accountability from the SIA that has seen it fit to make the transfer of technology from Dow possible in the exceptional case of Reliance Industries. Repeated requests to meet Union Minister for Industry Kamal Nath were not granted.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

months initially, worked for nearly five years (May 2000-February 2005). It met about 200 times in five years. The first year was devoted to collection of material on the riots and reports of the previous commissions that probed the violence. The hearing started in mid-2001. By August 2002, 200 witnesses were examined. Around this time Nanavati was made chairperson of the Gujarat panel. This started to affect the functioning of this commission, says a lawyer who attended the commission. From December 2002 to October 2003, the Sikh riots commission did not do any work at all. On the other hand, the commission on unauthorised colonies has met only 30-35 times in its tenure spanning nearly five years. And it is still functioning. Dunu Roy, head of the Delhibased NGO, Hazard Centre, says, After the constitution of the commission, notices were issued seeking depositions. Nothing has happened since then. Even the acknowledgment of receipt made by us were not sent. Meanwhile, the Nanavati-Shah commission is meandering along, averaging 50 sittings a year. The commission was to submit the report in one-and-a-half years. Three years have gone, and when the report will be submitted is anybodys guess, says Shah. All the while, Nanavati has been getting all the benefits that come with heading a commission in his case three commissions. As the chairperson of the Gujarat panel, he gets Rs 30,000 per month and an additional 67 percent dearness allowance. He also gets free air tickets; unlimited telephone and mobile connections; chauffer-driven car with 200 litres of petrol; and a house rent allowance of Rs 10,000 per month for accommodation in Ahmedabad even though he does not stay there. That is not all. Nanavati draws allowances and salary of a sitting SC judge from the Centre by virtue of heading the other two commissions. Till February 9, 2005, the home ministry was paying him salary for his work on Sikh riots. From February 10, after he submitted the 1984 riots report, his salary is coming from the ministry of urban development. Till February 10, the urban development ministry was paying Nanavati a fee of Rs 1,000 for every day the commission on unauthorised colonies met. Nanavati was allotted bungalow No. 3 on Tughlak Lane in his capacity as the chairperson of the Sikh commission. He will continue to live there till the commission on unauthorised colonies submits its report. Nanavati even finds time for arbitration. In one specific case, Saya Amusement Manufacturing Ltd vs Tourism Corporation of Gujarat, he is known to charge a fee of Rs 15,000 a day plus air travel and accommodation. Verma rues the intrusion into judicial matters by politicians. The commissions have become places to employ retired judges favoured by the government, he says. Efforts to meet Nanavati did not materialise. I was drawing everything from everywhere and you can do whatever you want to. I am not going to meet you, is all he would say.

Ranjit Singh Gill

tongues
Time to call their bluff

IN OTHER

HE RECENT announcement about a memorial for the victims of Operation Bluestar seems to be yet another effort by the political leadership to use religion to further their own interests. The very group advocating the memorial has been in power for far too many years. The fact that after over 20 years these people have realised the importance of a memorial reflects on their motive. They are raising the bogey of past wrongs to sideline immediate issues needed for the betterment of Sikhs such as the lack of institutions which produce educated preachers, the lack of schools and colleges of repute, etc. Similarly the issue of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwales death has been raised by the Damdami Taksal, the seminary once headed by him. Such political manoeuvres give credence to

Commission-er: Justice GT Nanavati

AP PHOTO

A JUDGE FOR ALL SEASONS

MAHESH LANGA AND MIHIR SRIVASTAVA Ahmedabad/New Delhi

The probe into Gujarat riots is suffering with Justice Nanavati serving on various commissions
only one judge chosen to head so many commissions? I believe there are many retired SC judges more than willing to take up such assignments, says Verma. The former CJI incidentally headed the commission that investigated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhis assassination. He had been able to submit his report well in time, in spite of being a sitting judge of the SC. Nanavatis presence in the three commissions obviously resulted in inordinate delays in the functioning of the three panels. The 1984 riots panel, the tenure of which was fixed at six

Sikhs have to realise that to redress a grievance one has to take the path of peace
the view that non-issues are being used to evade important decisions. These in turn allow the media to portray the whole community in a poor light. Sikhs have to realise that the way to redress any grievance is to move on a path of peace. This means we must look at every issue with a cool mind rather than jump into conclusions. A recent University of Maryland report reveals that the number of wars and armed conflict has come down considerably and even national boundaries are losing their relevance. At a time when the Wagah border is likely to be opened up, the Sikh leadership should concentrate on revitalising the community to reap this dividend. The building of memorials and discussion about past wrongs will help only if it brings together Sikhs. The leadership of any community, in this case the Sikhs, has to be conscious about raising hollow issues. The noise about an irrelevant movie has again exposed them. By raising such issues they have showed their contempt for freedom of expression. It is time for the community to rise above parochial concerns. The writer faces charges of murdering Congress leader Lalit Maken. He has already spent 17 years in prison, and is currently out on parole

a leading newspaper a few days back showed an ambitious kid aspiring to become a retired Supreme Court judge. The reason he gave: a retired judge gets to head commissions. A sardonic comment on the politics of commissions, the cartoon was not off the mark. Several retired judges are sitting on many commissions at the same time, drawing the perks that come with it. Justice GT Nanavati is one of them. A retired SC judge, he headed three important commissions simultaneously for three years. Nanavati was appointed chief of a commission formed in May 2000 to look into the killings of Sikhs during the 1984 riots that broke out after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhis assassination. Just three months later, Nanavati was again chosen to head another commission by the ministry of urban development, then under Jagmohan. This time to study why unauthorised settlements were coming up in Delhi. Two years later, Gujarat went up in flames. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, when the time came for appointing a commission to probe the violence, chose Nanavati again, to the surprise of many in the legal circles. Justice KG Shah is the other member on the panel. Former Chief Justice of India JS Verma questions the logic of appointing the same person to different commissions. Why was
CARTOON IN

THE PAYSLIP
Nanavatis earnings as Gujarat panel head Rs 30,000 salary 67 percent dearness allowance Free air travel from Delhi to Gujarat Electricity up to 10,000 units per year Rs 10,000 HRA Car with chauffer; 200 litres of petrol Rs 3,000 sumptuary allowance Rs 1,000 attendance allowance Telephone with unlimited calls One mobile with unlimited calls Two leave travel allowance per year Medical reimbursement Four newspapers and two magazines

Voters redo poll arithmetic

PC VINOJ KUMAR Chennai of vote bank politics may have just ended in Tamil Nadu. By voting for the AIADMK in preference to the seven-party alliance led by the DMK in the by-polls in Kanchipuram and Gummidipoondi Assembly seats, the electorate has proved all alliance arithmetic wrong. The verdict is an eye-opener on
HE DAYS

Gummidipoondi and Kanchipuram were also the Pattali Makkal Katchis (PMK) strongholds. It had secured 16.43 percent votes in Gummidipoondi in 1991 when it contested alone and 8.74 percent

the increasing maturity of the voter. The number of loyal voters, who vote for the same party in every election, has come down drastically. People are now aware of their rights and the games of politicians, says S. Thiyagarajan of the India Foundation, a society that studied the voter behaviour in the two seats. Psephologists had so far believed that the DMK had 25 percent votes, which it could call safe.

The sure votes of the DMK added to 40 percent. But still the AIADMK won
in Kanchipuram in the same election. The CPM and Vaikos MDMK, DMKs other partners, had received around 5 percent votes in Kanchipuram in 1996 and 2 percent in Gummidipoondi. If one were to add these so called sure

votes, the tally would be around 40 percent in both seats. Add to it the votes of other parties. But as things turned out, that didnt happen. The events have been a big turnaround. In the Lok Sabha polls, the DMK alliance got 78,201 votes in the Gummidipoondi Assembly segment and 80,725 votes in Kanchipuram. However, in the byelections, the alliance could secure only 56,554 votes and 69,626 votes in Gummidipoondi and Kanchipuram respectively. The results could result in realignments in the states political sphere. And it is also a sign that DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi can no longer rely on alliances to beat Jayalalithaa.

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SPECIAL REPORT

09

THE ISLAND OF HOPE

In 1999, Eloor was labelled a global toxic hotspot. This riverine islands small community has fought long and hard to make a difference. And its showing
premised on the polluter pays principle so that the funds could be used to monitor the health of the river and restore its ecology. But the state government has pushed Eloor into a time warp from which it is unable to extricate itself. Neither has the fine been collected, nor has the government taken remedial measures. Fortunately, intense community action has ensured that during the last six months, illegal discharges of hazardous wastes into the Periyar, either in the form of solid waste or liquid effluents, have largely been under control. Eloor is a grave hazard zone because there is no escape route in the eventuality of an industrial disaster. There is only one way to access Eloor that is by a bridge that connects this island to the mainland. If ever there is a disaster, its 30,000 residents would be confronted with unimaginable danger. Last year in July when the endosulfan unit of HIL caught fire, the country could have faced a Bhopal redux. We should hang our heads in shame for not having learnt from the worst industrial disaster the world has seen, says Purushan of PMVS. Environment activists warn that there could be significant long-term effects of the chemical pollutants released during the fire. Our chemical analysis shows the presence of dioxins in the food chain, says Purushan. Dioxins and furans are chemicals that are life-threatening. In 1999, Greenpeace India did a sampling study of Eloor and found 111 different chemicals in Kuzhikandum Thodu, a creek into which HIL, Merchem and other units discharge their effluents. Of these 111, there were as many as 39 persistent organic pollutants (POP). POPs are chemicals resistant to natural breakdown processes and are therefore long-living toxins. They build up in the fatty tissues of animals and humans, and might even cause severe health impacts like hormonal disruptions, loss of fertility and cancer. Though factories in Eloor have regulated the discharge of effluents into the Periyar, the residents allege that the factories use the cover of darkness to release air pollutants and continue to store hazardous wastes within factory premises.

PART II

They talk of nights when the stench of chemicals is so strong that breathing becomes difficult. No wonder many people living in the island suffer from respiratory diseases. Dr Mini George, the only doctor at the primary health centre, corroborates this. Though the industrial complexes have own hospitals, they are not accessible to the locals. She affirms that most of the cases she deals with are either respiratory diseases or those caused by consumption of contaminated water. MA Subramaniam, 53, complains of severe asthma and headache and attributes it to the heavy discharge of poisonous smoke from the factories. My family lives on medicines, he says. KK Sasi, 45, an asthma patient, says that for the past eight years he has been using Asthalin to check asthma attacks. I am panic-stricken if I ever step out of the house without Asthalin, he says.

Fishing in Troubled Waters: pollution has taken a toll on the Periyar PHOTOS RANA CHAKRABORTY

Eloor has only one escape route. Last year, when HILs endosulfan unit caught fire, the country could have faced a Bhopal redux
Kunjappan, 60, whose house is near a polluted, orange-coloured paddy field, is a victim of continuous exposure to Jarosite effluent of Binani Zinc Ltd. I used to take cattle out for grazing, but now I cant even take a few steps because of the swelling on my legs, he says. Recognising heavy pollution caused by this company, the SCMC directed the state government to ensure that Binani Zinc supplies water through pipeline to the residences of all the affected communities in the vicinity of the unit. The Eloor villagers also want the industries to compensate for the agricultural land destroyed by toxic effluents. Apart from the fact that we dont have access to drinking water because of the contamination of our wells, our agricultural and horticultural resources have been completely destroyed, says Mohanan, a farmer. Given the grave threat to their lives and livelihoods, local environment activists and community members are collaborating to plan the future course of their movement to force industries to adopt clean production technologies. Emboldened by the fact that the SC is backing our communitys movement, we will ensure that there is zero discharge of effluents by the industries into Periyar, says Zakir Hussain of PMVS. Eloor is an example of how communities can contribute to safeguarding their environment. Now our focus is on compensation and medical rehabilitation of the affected people. We will also force the industries to clean up all contaminated sites, says Jose. (This article is published under the fellowship programme of the National Foundation for India)
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VK SHASHIKUMAR Eloor, Kerala

HE CHINESE fishing nets are back on the picturesque river island of Eloor carved out by Periyar River as it gently glides and loops through a verdant land of swaying coconut trees and lilting paddy fields. VI Francis recreates an ancient tradition every day a little after dusk, like many others on this island near Kochi, when he mounts the platform jutting out into the river. He slowly lowers the huge net into the Periyar and prepares for the night vigil. He talks about a time when the Periyar was abundant in fish. A lunch of meen varuthatu and meen vattichathu (fried fish and fish curry) was only a catch away. Many years ago these nets became redundant because all the fish in the river died, poisoned by the discharge of industrial wastes. This

queathed his land and house to me, he also gave me clean air and water. The Periyar flows along my house and I want to make sure that I bequeath the same to my children, he says. When Jose began his struggle, most people in Eloor treated him like an outcaste. Many of them worked in the Eloor industrial estate and were afraid of supporting Joses cause. The threat of job loss prevented them from fighting the pollution caused by their places of work. But today there are many local environment protection groups in Eloor such as Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samiti (PMVS), Periyar Samrakshana Samiti (PSS) and Merchem Malineekarana Virudha Samiti (MMVS) which keep a watch on pollution by factories. Without these industries, many people will lose their jobs and small businesses will shut down. But if the environment gets polluted nobody will survive, says Babu, a restaurant

tion caused by the 247 factories of the estate, 106 of which released harmful chemicals. Several industries, like the public sector behemoth, Hindustan Insecticide Limited (HIL), should have long been closed because they are still relying on obsolete technology. HIL manufactures pesticides such as DDT and Endosulfan. DDT has been banned by most countries in the world, but is still used in India to control malaria. The disastrous health impact of endosulfan on farmers in Kerala forced the high court to ban its sale and distribution in the state. Yet, chemicals such as these continue to affect the environment and unabashedly suck hundreds of crores of taxpayers money. The Supreme Court monitoring committee on hazardous wastes (SCMC) in its August 2004 report recognised this by slapping a fine of Rs 2.5 crore on the entire estate. This was

When Jose began his struggle against pollution, most people in Eloor treated him like an outcaste. Many of them worked in the Eloor industrial estate and were afraid of supporting Joses cause. Now they back him to the hilt
happened after our agricultural land and wells became contaminated. This year we discovered that there is hope in community action. New fish shoals have come into the river, says Francis. The remarkable faith of the Eloor islanders in community action has come as a pleasant surprise to VJ Jose, who many years ago chucked his job as a salesman to begin a fight of a lifetime. When my father beowner. Jose, who was appointed by Greenpeace India as the countrys first river keeper, characterises this sentiment as collective community consciousness which has helped the 30,000-strong island community to at least ensure 40 percent clean-up of the Periyar. This was unimaginable when the island was declared a Toxic Hotspot by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 1999 because of the unbridled pollu-

Red Tonic: factories discharge effluents into paddy fields

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INTERNATIONAL

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

litical, military and economic benefits from the most important Jewish ally the United States. The FO summary makes it clear between the lines that the highway to Washington passes through Tel Aviv. The summary saying that Pakistan would not suffer any major setbacks if it recognises Israel, is reportedly lying with Musharraf for a final decision. We dont see any harm in recognising the Jewish state of Israel, said a senior FO official while requesting not to be named. He was quick to add that the summary was not their brainchild, but was ordered by their higher-ups. You can say that we carried out a costbenefit analysis, explained the FO official. Yet he agreed that being a member of the United Nations and a state recognised by an overwhelming majority of states, Israel certainly qualifies for recognition under international law. To another query, the official said Pakistans mighty military establishment understands that the state of Israel was a reality and it was in Islamabads interest to recognise it. He opined that recognising Israel would vastly improve Pakistans relations with western countries, increase the flow of western investment to Pakistan and help check military cooperation between Israel and India. However, the FO summary advised against an abrupt decision on the issue and has warned that a hasty decision could turn public opinion against the government. Therefore, an approval from Parliament has been advised on the highly sensitive issue. The FO further suggested that no formal contact should take place with were private and bilateral, while others took place at functions organised by the host countries, or by foreign missions accredited to the host countries. Sources say Pakistani diplomats have been discussing the recognition of Israel with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine and a few other Middle East countries that have always occupied an important position in the countrys foreign policy. While conceding that recognising Israel is a very contentious issue, President Musharraf, nonetheless, had been urging the Pakistani media to initiate an open and nonemotional debate on the issue. He has justified raising the issue on the ground that Pakistan does not have any dispute with the state of Israel. Even otherwise, do we have to be more Catholic than the Pope or more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves? he asked in an interview to Geo TV. Is that the correct attitude? Or should we make a change? We must reach a national consensus on the subject, rather than leaving it to the emotionalism of the extremists, he added. Musharraf s remarks refer to the fact that the Palestinians, the direct party to the dispute, have already recognised Israel. Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable for a Pakistani ruler to publicly mention the issue of whether the country should recognise Israel. Even now public opinion in Pakistan seems strongly opposed to recognising Israel, and thus, it is not surprising that Musharraf had to call for an open but non-emotive debate on the proposal. At the same time, there are many neo-conservatives in the Bush administration who believe that Pakistan in reality is a militant Islamic state with weapons of mass destruction. And the recognition of Israel, perhaps, is being put forth as a test of Pakistans moderation in foreign policy. Sources added that Musharraf s initiation of a debate on Israels recognition was the result of the establishments pre-occupation with external affairs at the expense of domestic developments. They said the establishments scheme for Pakistan has always rested on foreign concessions be these loans, debt waivers or aid packages that are usually obtained in exchange for harmonising Pakistans foreign policy with that of donors (mainly the US). In their opinion, Musharraf feels that the prospect of Israeli recognition would help thwart an impending alliance between the pro-Israeli lobbies in the US with Indian-Americans besides softening Congressional opinion about aid to Pakistan. Despite having secured a $3 billion promised aid package for five years from the Bush administration, sources pointed out, the Musharraf administration is still bound by US law to wait for Congressional approval for the aid package. Therefore, sources believe, Islamabads change of heart on Israel might be because of a tactical consideration, rather than a strategic re-appraisal of the countrys overall direction. The writer is a Pakistani journalist

INDO-ISRAEL TIES IN MIND, PAKISTAN LOOKS TO TEL AVIV

President Musharraf s regime seems all set to recognise the Jewish state. But before taking this important diplomatic step he will test the landing ground, making sure that the political risk involved is adequately rewarded

The Cause That Binds Them: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with Musharraf in Islamabad recently AP PHOTO

AMIR MIR Lahore

HE PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf-led Pakistan government may step into a territory that party-led governments have feared to tread: adopt a more flexible policy towards Israel and recognise the Jewish state at a suitable time. As President Pervez Musharraf continues to send out feelers and make space for some discussion on the issue of recognising Israel, it is no longer relevant to ask whether his government will recognise the Jewish state. The issue is when. Musharraf s efforts came into the open when on May 27 he told German magazine Der Spiegel that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is a bold man, great sol-

dier and courageous leader. This attracted strong criticism from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) president Qazi Hussain Ahmed a few days later. From available evidence, which points to outside pressure upon Islamabad to speed up the process, it is reasonable to expect that Musharraf can take that leap before the year is over. But before doing so, he will test the landing ground, making sure that the political risk involved will be adequately rewarded. In a confidential summary prepared by its Middle East section, the Pakistani Foreign Office (FO) has clearly spelled out the advantages and disadvantages accruing from establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. The summary says by recognising the Jewish state of Israel, Pakistan can reap a bonanza of po-

Senior Pakistani diplomats have already opened back channels with Israel. They reportedly met in Washington, London and New York
Israel while opinion-shaping in the media is underway. At the same time, the summary explained, covert contact with Israel should not be bound by any such considerations. A yes decision must be a step-by-step process and at the same time, Pakistan should minutely observe whether Israel honours the major commitments laid down in the (US-sponsored) Middle East roadmap. The year 2005 is the deadline for the roadmap and Islamabad must notice how much progress is made, the summary has suggested. Meanwhile, diplomatic sources say that senior Pakistani diplomats have already opened back channels to communicate with Israel. Such contacts were reportedly held primarily in Washington, London or at the United Nations headquarters in New York. A number of other locations, such as Yangon, Kathmandu, Tokyo, Lagos, Ankara, Teheran, Caracas, Ottawa, Brussels and Rome also functioned as meeting points for Israeli and Pakistani diplomats. Some of these meetings

Musharrafs remarks refer to the fact that the Palestinians, the direct party to the dispute, have already recognised the Jewish state of Israel
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Together: the highway to Washington passes through Tel Aviv AP PHOTO

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

BUSINESS

11

BUSINESS WATCH
Tata Motors Limited (TML) has consolidated its leadership in product engineering with the launch of mini-truck Tata Ace and the crossover vehicle Tata Xover, combining features of sports utility vehicle and luxury car. It is now further strengthening its R&D capabilities by entering into technical tie-ups with the worlds leading automobile design and engineering entities. TML has signed a new pact with Italys IDEA and amended an existing one. It has also signed two pacts with MIRA Limited of the UK for safety and noise management in passenger vehicles.

business&economy
Heavy traffic. Tax cuts on aviation fuel. Subsidies for airlines. The new aviation policy is a desperate move to take air travel to new heights

Ready for take-off?

TEHELKA BUREAU New Delhi

FTER SEVERAL drafts over the last 10 years, Indias civil aviation policy is set for take-off with a slew of new initiatives designed to make the hapless air-traveller the Maharajah of the skies. The proposed initiatives include tax reforms, a special fund to subsidise airlines that offer to operate on uneconomical routes, development of regional airlines and deployment of helicopters and sea planes to make aviation affordable and accessible to the public. At present only 2 percent of the population uses air services. The Centre would like more people to fly and air

traffic to grow by 16 percent per annum lines to reduce the cost of air services. by 2010. It is enthused by a 24 percent The government intends to keep airgrowth in air traffic this year as com- port user charges at internationally compared to 7 percent annual growth in the petitive levels. Another initiative to relast three years. It is also elated at the duce passenger tariffs requires the prospects of airlines buying 200 planes Centre to discontinue the practice of deover the next five years. manding compensation from foreign airAn official associated with policy final- lines. As put by the draft, all new servicisation says, The civil aviation sector is es by the foreign airlines would be free presently witnessing a high tariff regime from the obligations of mandated comas it is plagued by inflated systemic costs. mercial agreements. Enhancing affordability of air travel by All scheduled Indian carriers with a reducing systemic costs is, therefore, nec- minimum of five years continuous schedessary to boost air traffic. uled domestic operations and possessing A notable difference between the earli- a minimum of 20 aircraft will be progreser drafts and the latest one is that the lat- sively allowed to operate on international ter indicates the Centres willingness to routes. The draft policy also provides for throw open domestic airlines to equity creation of a non-lapsable Essential Air participation by foreign airlines in future. Services Fund (EASF) to provide explicit The policy draft awaiting Cabinet ap- subsidy to airlines operating on unecoproval says: FDI (foreign direct invest- nomical routes and to non-viable airment) has been increased to 49 percent ports. EASF, similar to the Central Road for domestic airlines. Foreign airlines are Fund, would be financed through a cess presently not permitted to invest directly on air travel. or indirectly in the equity of such venEASF would give out funds to operators tures. This will be rethrough a transparent The Centre would like process of minimum viewed in due course. The Ministry of Civil more people to fly and subsidy bidding. This Aviation has also mootwould ensure that the air traffic to grow by most efficient airline ed radical restructuring of the Airport Authority 16 percent per annum which provides service of India (AAI). It intends to the public at the lowby 2010. Last year, it est cost gets the subto hive off AAIS cargo sidy. Once the EASF and ground handling grew by 24 percent operations, consultangains root, the governcy, architecture and construction wings ment will phase out guidelines that stipinto separate subsidiaries. The ministry ulate domestic airlines to operate differis also open to the idea of creating ent routes including the ones that genera separate corporate entity under gov- ate modest traffic. ernment ownership for providing air It will also constitute the Airport traffic services. Economic Regulation Authority (AERA) The policy talks of creating a network of that will fix charges including air navigaworld-class airports in the country. To tion fee and lay down performance stanbring air travel within the reach of masses, dards for airports. The policy provides for the policy has suggested reduction in ex- setting up of a joint working group of civil cise duty, customs duty, sales tax and other and defence officials to develop and coorditaxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and avi- nate a suitable and safe mechanism for opation gasoline (AVGAS). These fuels would timum utilisation of air space. An official be notified declared goods under the justified the proposal to finalise and make public a civil aviation policy by pointing out Central Sales Tax (CST) Act to reduce CST. According to the draft policy, There that the Centre currently does not have a shall be parity in the level of taxation be- comprehensive document that addresses tween ATF supplied to foreign carriers and the issues relating to civil aviation. The proposed policy will reflect the to Indian carriers for international operations. The government will encourage government vision for the future and the competition in the supply of fuel to air- strategy and approach to achieve it.

NARESH MINOCHA

fireworks
Put Telecom Fee Bucks in Rural Kitty
ERTAIN SECTORS of the economy are rightly or wrongly viewed as milch cows by revenue administrations at the Centre and the states. The obvious ones include the petroleum sector, cigarettes and five-star hotels. The telecom services sector is a milch cow of another kind. First, it is a product of the liberalisation era. Second, the industry projects itself is a cash cow that should be tapped at the drop of a hat. The Union Government rescued service providers in 1999 by switching over from the upfront payment of competition-determined licence fees to revenue-sharing arrangement. The post-1999 telecom licensing arrangement provides for one-time entry fee, followed by a revenuesharing arrangement. Service providers also pay the one-time fee for licensing radio-frequencies and the annual charge for their use. The milch cow syndrome has, however, again surfaced following the submission of recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on spectrum policy with regard to proposed introduction of third generation (3G) mobile services. India currently relies on 2G or 2.5G. It is thus not surprising to see Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Group, mooting a one-time entry fee of Rs 1,500 crore for issue of 3G licence to each operator. Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal has opposed Tatas proposal. A news agency quoted Mittal as saying: This Rs 1,500 crore should go towards building 5,000 base stations. Why should it go to the government and raise tariffs?

DIPANKAR BHATTACHARYA

Tatas proposal is different from the bidding war. Moreover, scarce resources like radio spectrum cannot be handed on a platter to companies itching to make a fast buck
Tatas proposal is expected to command respect both within and outside the government as Rs 1,500 crore per licence is a golden opportunity for the industry to work for social development. The government must grab the proposal and utilise the funds for developing rural communications that Mittal and his ilk have neglected. Ratan Tatas proposal is different from the herd instinct-driven bidding war. Moreover, scarce resources like radio spectrum cannot be handed on a platter to companies itching to make a fast buck. The annual results of Bharti Televentures Ltd (BTVL) shows that the telecom service sector has the capability to post handsome profit even after paying licence fee. BTVL has earned Rs 1,439.27 crore net profit in 2004-05. That the industrys cash register is ringing despite tariff wars speaks volumes about the revenuegenerating potential of mobile telephony. TRAI and some mobile operators have argued partly or wholly against charging licence fee for radio spectrum by saying that either not levying or charging a lower fee would encourage rapid development of services. The government would thus collect higher revenue through the 10 percent service tax levied. But it should be noted that consumers bear this 10 percent service tax. But there is considerable merit in the industry argument that neither it nor the consumer should be subjected to the Centres service tax and the states sales tax. The issue of levy of sales tax on telecom bills is pending before the Supreme Court.
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HN SINOR
CEO, INDIAN BANKS ASSOCIATION

personalfinance
ideally a man should invest one-thirds of his money in liquid assets, one-third in stock markets and one-third in mutual funds. I am never tempted by schemes promising higher rates of return. Whatever the mode, I think it is extremely important to save. Usually, parents instill this value in their children. I was not born in a rich family. My parents struggle with money taught me the value of savings and investments. It is necessary to invest judiciously, given that the rate of inflation constantly depreciates the return on investments. I am an old-timer. I believe in making provision for the rainy days. There were no credit cards, mortgages or bank loans, so we had to factor in everything. These days there is much greater access to money but individuals should practice constraint and judge to what extent they can handle personal indebtedness.

I MANAGE my money on my own. My wife helps me in this. I believe in safe returns. So I invest in government or RBI Relief Bonds. I also invest in fixed deposits. But most of my money is in corporate deposits. Though I follow the equity markets, I dont invest in it because I am on the board of a company, and I need special permission to invest. But though I avoid investing in the equity markets directly, I do invest in mutual funds. I think

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12

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11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

Myth Or Fact? CBI Director US Mishra created a stir after his interview to an English daily in which he reportedly said that autonomy of CBI was a myth. However Mishra has now sent a rebuttal to the daily along with the transcript of the interview claiming the remarks attributed to him were not made by him.

investigations

OFFICIAL SECRETS

JUDGEMENT AFTER JUDGEMENT DAY

A Punjab and Haryana High Court justice writes an unprecedented post-judgement script, after pronouncing his main order in open court, to award a huge chunk of prime land to a company owned by the sons of a sitting judge. VIKRAM JIT SINGH reports
bonafides of the post-judgement script, he said: A couple of days ago I came to know of passing of an alleged post-script order bearing date February 14, 2005, of Honble Mr Justice Surya Kant in CWP (Civil Writ Petition) aforementioned of which I was not made aware by him till today. That Justice Roy, the senior member of the Bench, was not made aware of the postscript for more than two months is bad enough. What follows, however, is even more disturbing: a clear suggestion that the post-script was not written on the day when it is purported to have been written and is, in fact, an antedated order. I do not know, says Justice Roy in his letter, referring to the post-script, as to when it was prepared adding that it was not pronounced in Court by him (Justice Kant) on February 14, 2005. Both Justice Roy and Justice Kant delivered separate judgements on February 14, 2005, both reading out extensively from their judgements in open court. While Justice Roys judgement stated that he differed with Justice Kant on certain points, no mention of any difference with Justice Roys order was made in the judgement pronounced by Justice Kant. His post-script, however, states: Having heard the order containing the viewpoint of Honble the Chief Justice which has been read out by His Lordship in the Court and thereafter having gone through its contents on pronouncement, it needs to be clarified that the views, factual conclusions and/or the directions as contained in para Nos. 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15 thereof, to which I am unable to subscribe and which do not form part of the judgement which Ive pronounced today, are not the views, factual conclusions and/or the directions issued by the Division Bench. Countering reports that he had not sent in his draft judgement to Justice Kant before their judgements were pronounced, so as to occasion a post-judgement script by Justice Kant, Justice Roy states in his letter: This is in relation to the judgement dated February 14, 2005, ...which was pronounced and signed....by Honble Justice Surya Kant and Me... after exchange of their drafts....The law as I know is that after delivery of their judgements, the judges become functus officio in the case and for any correction or addition in the delivered judgements the cases are required to be listed in the cause list and then only any correction or addition can be made in Court in the presence of the parties. Though the post-script is dated February 14, it was not communicated to Justice Roy who was in Chandigarh for the entire day and left for Guwahati only on the morning of February 15 to join there on transfer. Both pronounced their judgements the first thing in the morning. Justice Kant had the entire day after the pronouncement of judgements to inform Justice Roy of his post-script. All the newspapers reported the verdict the next day, highlighting Justice Roys judgement but without any inkling of the postscript. Nor did Justice Kant make any effort to inform the media about the post-script. As requested by Justice Roy, his letter has been placed on the record of the PIL by Chief Justice Jain. Making the request, Justice Roy wrote, I had left Chandigarh around 10 am...to join as Chief Justice of Gauhati HC and I had remained Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana HC till about 10 am of February 21, 2005, when I took oath as Chief Justice of Gauhati HC. As my silence may be misconstrued, I consider imperative in the interest of justice on my part to clarify the facts and make the record straight hence this letter even though I had nothing to do with the affairs of

Prime land was allotted at Rs 900 per sq yard, leading to a loss of Rs 139 crore. The Bar Council was allotted land for a school at Rs 5,800 per sq yard
your HC on my becoming CJ of the Gauhati HC. I further think that it would be expedient in the interest of justice that this letter is kept on the record of the aforementioned CWP. I hope and trust that you will direct its placement on the record of the said CWP. It is also apparent that Justice Roys judgement was pregnant with consequences, including the possibility of an FIR being registered against the administrations top officers and the institute directors. Just what was the judgement that led or forced Justice Kant to write a post-pronouncement post-script? Para 10 of Justice Roys verdict: The property in question belongs to the Chandigarh administration, which under our Constitutional philosophy really belongs to the people, who gave the Constitution of India to themselves for their governance. Undoubtedly, the Chandigarh administration is a trustee, whose duty is also to see that the property belonging to the Chandigarh administration is not allowed to be squandered and/or sold away at a throwaway price like in the instant case as pointed out by its audit department itself that

Whither Justice? the land allotted to the company run by Justice Narangs sons
NDIAS COURTS have quashed many a discretionary allotment of land by politicians and bureaucrats to the favoured few. Such orders, like all judicial verdicts, have been pronounced in open court. But this bulwark of the countrys legal process lies in ruins after having clashed head-on with the allotment of a huge chunk of prime government land in Chandigarh to a private limited company run by two sons of a sitting Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge, Justice JS Narang, and persons closely linked with them. In the eye of the storm is a fellow judge, one of the two who had heard a PIL that challenged the allotment of 5.85 acres to the company for setting up a law institute. Located on the banks of one of the citys two main arterial avenues, Dakshin Marg, the land was allotted by the Chandigarh administration at a rock-bottom price of Rs 900 per square yard when even a statutory body like the Punjab and Haryana Bar Council had been allotted a plot nearby three years ago for the same purpose (setting up a law school) at Rs 5,800 per square yard.

As per a report of the Accountant General (Audit), UT, Chandigarh, who found the company ineligible for the concession, the allotment had resulted in a loss to the exchequer calculated at a staggering Rs 139 crore (see box). Though initially, on February 14, 2005, the allotment was set aside by then Chief Justice BK Roy, sitting in a Division Bench along with Justice Surya Kant, the case has opened up a new can of worms with the coming to light of an order passed surreptitiously by Justice Kant. The unprecedented Post-Judgement Script was written by Justice Kant after he had pronounced his main judgement in open court along with Justice Roy on February 14, 2005. This script, concealed from Chief Justice Roy, disagreed with the main portions of the latters devastating judgement on the controversial award of land. More than two-and-a-half months later on May 6, 2005, Roy (presently Chief Justice of the Gauhati HC) wrote a scathing letter to his successor in the Punjab and Haryana HC, Chief Justice DK Jain. Casting doubts on the

The post-judgement script by Justice Surya Kant (left); a copy of Justice BK Roys letter to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana Court

TEHELKA spoke to Chief Justice Roy. I have put down everything in my letter. As long as I was Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, I was never made aware of the post-script order by Justice Surya Kant. It was my duty to clarify the record. What further can I say about this, said the Gauhati Chief Justice
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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

Backdoor Moves: When the CBI sleuths went to quiz former UP CM Mayawati in the disproportionate assets case, the BSP supremo confronted them with a photograph of a building she claimed was owned by a CBI officer investigating the Taj Corridor case. However, when the officials produced their list of assets owned by her, she went on the defensive and asked the CBI team to leave through the rear gate. Discretionary Powers: Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh may be under fire for his controversial decisions on Aligarh Muslim University, but these days he is a much sought after man. Reason, admissions in Kendriya Vidyalayas. Singh can recommend 1,000 names out of his discretionary quota and all VIPs from Union ministers to state chief ministers to senior bureaucrats have lined up. CM Na Bole: Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has kept mum on Jo Bole So Nihal, as the films distributor, Ponty Chadha, is a friend. The secular CMs desire to emerge as the leader of the Sikhs has ensured that he does not alienate radical Sikh opinion. His visit to Dixie Gurdwara in Toronto, once the nerve centre of Sikh separatism, is in line with his approach of running with the hairs and humming secular sounds.

TOP SECRET

13

Jungle Wars: Joint Secretary, PMO, R. Gopalakrishnan, is at the centre of the debate over the Tribal Rights Bill. In MP, he had been advisor to Digvijay on tribal issues. But with the wildlife lobby commanding the loyalties of Delhis chatterati, he has been the target of the ire of a prominent columnist. Without naming him, the columnist dumbs his views maybe such things work in high society.

On the other hand, Justice Surya Kant avoided speaking to TEHELKA despite repeated attempts. When TEHELKA rang up his residence on May 28, his household help admitted that Justice Kant was available but later said he was in the bathroom and would take about half-an-hour. When this correspondent rang up half-an-hour later, he was told that Justice Kant had left for court. When TEHELKA checked up with the high court, it was told that he was not in court and would not be coming for the day
there is a clear cut loss of about Rs 139 crore to the exchequer. Apparently everything was done in a clandestine manner. Unprecedented settlement of the land in question in favour of the Chandigarh Law Institute was done surprisingly within few days. We appreciate the ambition of the directors of the company but their private interest is pitted against the public interest. Had the settlement been made through open bid/auction, the Chandigarh administration may have got even more than Rs 139 crore. Para 12: In the instant case, there was an apparent favour in favour of Chandigarh Law Institute, whose directors are influential persons. Shri Shailendra Jain, advocate is the standing counsel of the Chandigarh administration, two of the respondents are law students being sons of a sitting judge of this Court...and one is Prof Bansal, head of the law department of Punjab University. The company is a profit-making company. Nothing has been produced before us to show that this company is not a profitmaking company. It was also pointed out during the hearing that the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, which is a statutory body to whom land measuring about 5.5 kanals only has been allotted to for Rs 1.54 crore in the year 2002... The cause ventilated by him (petitioner) is definitely worth considering and the report of the audit submitted to the Chandigarh administration proves the allegations made by him. Para 13: I thus hold that this writ petition is maintainable. Para 14: The decision of his Excellency the Governor of Punjab-cum-administrator, Chandigarh administration, that the impugned allotment requires taking up of corrective steps suggests that it was made apparently arbitrarily, clandestinely, illegally and unconstitutionally. Obviously it cannot be corrected in view of our findings by making its re-allotment with the allottee. It has to be auctioned in terms of the observations and findings referred to in the judgement, that is to say, by a transparent process. It is clarified that the allottee cannot take advantage of any type from the earlier settlement culminating into lease

deed... as the allotment itself has been held to be unconstitutional. Para 15: We have full hope and trust in His Excellency the Governor...in finding out (i) who were the persons responsible for the apparent acts of commission (ii) whether the same requires taking of any disciplinary action and (iii) whether it even requires launching of prosecution? Taking quick advantage of the postscript, the Chandigarh administration as also one of the companys directors have moved applications for referring the case to a third judge under Clause 26 of the Letters Patent in view of the resultant difference of opinion between Chief Justice Roy and Justice Kant. A perusal of the two judgements and the post judgement script succinctly shows that the Honble judges have differed in their views diametrically. Resultantly, there is no executable order of the Honble Bench, states the application moved by Bansal. The ultimate irony of the post-script is that it negates Justice Kants own judgement on the first of the two vital questions examined by the Division Bench: the question of maintainability of the PIL. While expressing reservations on the issue, the judge had nonetheless concluded in para 44 of his judgement that the objection as to maintainability need not detain us from proceeding with the matter. The Bench had, in fact, gone still further and issued suo motu notice to allottees of 37 school sites in Chandigarh and impleaded them also as respondents. And yet, in his postscript, one of the paragraphs of Justice Roys opinion that Justice Kant expressly disagrees with, is para 13 which clearly holds the PIL to be maintainable. In effect, therefore, the post-script disagrees not only with Justice Roy (on the question of maintainability), it disagrees with para 44 of Justice Kants own original opinion!

SHOBHA AGGARWAL

critical case
Fire safety measures
Impact: The court did not hear the occupants of high-rises, even though the order affected them

HE CASE of Dr BL Wadhera vs Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi and others (CWP 2710 of 1996 and CM 4780 of 2003) was decided on May 9, 2003. The court directed that in all high-rise buildings in Delhi fire safety measures are to be provided as contemplated in the bylaws and National Building Code of India, 1970. Upon failure to do so within a stipulated period of four weeks, the respondent authorities shall disconnect supplies such as electricity, water and drainage and seal the building. Owners and occupants of high-rise buildings were not heard during the PIL proceedings though they were eventually adversely affected. Earlier this year, officials of Delhi Fire Service (DFS) were working overtime in getting supplies disconnected all in the name of fire safety. Threats to disconnect electricity supply of MCD-run Kasturba Hospital in Old Delhi were issued without understanding that patients could die by this wanton act of authority. In individual notices sent to citizens, the DFS requested the BSES and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to disconnect supplies. None of these bodies have such power. Moreover, even the Delhi HC cannot bestow such powers on the statutory bodies. The court order is not implementable as it ig-

The court order ignores ground realities. Would the Delhi Jal Board allow filtered water to be used for extinguishing fire?
nores ground realities. Each high-rise building owner/occupant is required to store two lakh litres of water in static tanks. Would the DJB allow filtered water which is in acute short supply even for drinking purposes to be used for extinguishing fire? The alternative of using ground water for such purposes cannot be exercised, as the Central Ground Water Authority has put a ban in parts of Delhi to dig borewells to extract water. Besides would 50-year-old buildings in Old Delhi withstand the sheer weight of two lakhs litres of water stored in overhead water tanks? The MCD would have to change its building bylaws so that citizens make necessary changes in their buildings to accommodate fire safety measures even if it means encroaching on public land. The DFS ought to approach the apex court to bring to its notice the untold suffering let loose on the people by its misplaced endeavour to implement the high court order. Even court judgements could go wrong and history teaches us that judgements could be reversed. Recently, the Chief Justice of Delhi HC lamented: Its orders were not being implemented in most of the PILS. Though on May 11, 2005 he had thundered to Delhi Police officials for their failure to provide police force to DDA to remove encroachments: Your duty is to implement our order not to question it. Even if it is wrong, you cannot question it like that. The writer is a Delhi-based lawyer

Audit nailed Chandigarh administration

HE AUDIT Report is a devastating indictment of the crooked ways and means resorted to by the top echelons of the administration in their eagerness to favour the Chandigarh Law Institute Private Ltd. The report, which has been relied upon heavily by Chief Justice Roy, states: As per the existing policy of Chandigarh administration, the societies/trusts registered in UT, Chandigarh, for the last five years are eligible to apply for land for religious/social/cultural/educational purposes and have at least 25 percent of the cost of land and building cost in their accounts. The scrutiny of records of STP (Senior Town Planner), UT, Chandigarh, revealed that M/s Chandigarh Law Institute Pvt. Ltd. was incorporated as private company under the Companies Act, 1956, on September 26, 2003, and was registered with Registrar of Companies at Jalandhar. The company submitted an application on September 30, 2003 (merely four days after its registration in Jalandhar) for allotment of seven acres (approx.) of land to the Estate Officer, UT, Chandigarh. The estate office did not find the company eligible for allotment of land as it was not registered in Chandigarh. The estate officer overlooked the objections and referred (October 7, 2003) to the finance secretary for placing the matter for allotment of land to the company in the meeting of the screening committee held on November 19, 2003. The chief architect, UT, also recommended to the finance secretary for the allotment of 5.85 acres (approx) of land to the Law Institute on 17.11.2003 (merely two days before the scheduled meeting of screening committee on 19.11.2003) without any reference from finance

secretary in this regard. The blocks No. 1 & 2 on Dakshin Marg in Sector 38A were reserved for public offices, cultural institutions and commercial buildings. It is pertinent here to mention that Block No. 1 was recommended for allotment to Punjab Tractors Ltd (PTL) at commercial rates on 12.1.1999. The estate officer offered Block No. 1 & 2 for allotment of land to National Law Institute measuring 5.75 acres (approx.) at concessional/ institutional rates of Rs 900 per sq yard at a cost of Rs 2,50,47,000 on 9.12.2003. However, actually 5.86 acres (approx) of land at a cost of Rs 2,55,38,607 was allotted by Estate Officer on 27.1.2004. The zoning plan of the Institute was sent for approval to the Finance Secretary on 11.2.2004 after the allotment of land was approved on the same day, whereas it should have been approved/changed before the allotment of land. However, zoning plan of the sub-sector has not been changed/approved so far. Concept Plan of the Institute was received in Chief Architect office on 16.2.2004 and was approved on 20.2.2004. The change of land use of Block Nos 1 & 2 by the Chief Architect arbitrarily from commercial to institutional in favour of a private limited company, supposedly established for profit-making, which was not eligible and was not covered under any policy of the Chandigarh Administration, has resulted in minimum revenue loss to the Government to the tune of Rs 139.33 crore (28376.23 x 50,000 - 28376.23 x 900 ie Rs 141,88,11,500 Rs 2,55,38,607) on the basis of rates for public commercial undertakings (offered to PTL but not availed of). No rates of allotment of land to private companies existed as the land was, as a policy, being allotted through public auction.

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14

TOP SECRET

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

of which was procured by TEHELKA, lists six cases against the Chauhans. In the first case, the accused submitted to the KREISS Bank one bill of exchange of over DM 496,628.00 for discounting and for crediting the discount proceeds to KUNSTOPLASTs account with the bank. The total damage to the bank was DM 487,832.58 (Rs 5,90,28,398). This bill was issued on November 18, 1993, and was due on March 5, 1994. The firm, KIVO, in Volendam, was the issuer and KUNSTOPLAST was the drawee. The acceptance of the drawee as well as the endorsement for KREISS Bank were signed by Ashok. The bill was protested on March 8, 1994, due to lack of payment. Another case was to the disadvantage of Savings Bank Naila, wherein by mutual agreement with the conspirators, the accused, Arun, requested that the bank discount a bill of exchange of over DM 448,200.00 and credit the discount proceeds to the account of KUNSTOCHEM. The bill was protested on March 11, 1994 for lack of payment. The total damage to the bank DM 438,980.53 (Rs 5,31,16,580). In the third case, KREISS Bank was commissioned by the accused to discount a bill of over DM 532,125.00 on behalf of the firm, KUNSTOPLAST . This bill was issued on November 22, 1993 and was due on March 16, 1994. Due to lack of payment the bank protested the bill on March 18, 1994. The total damage was DM 523,477.97 (Rs 6,33,40,717). The fourth case relates to disadvantage of Savings Bank Naila and the damage was DM 533,042.81. The acceptance of the drawee as well as the mentioned endorsements were signed by Ashok. The bill was protested due to lack of payment. The warrant states that the accused, Arun, disposed of the credit balance to transfer DM 544,000.00. The total damage was DM 533,042.81 (Rs 6,44,98,082).

SCHOOLED IN DECEIT
Behind Amity Internationals flashy promos lie international arrest warrants against its directors Ashok and Arun Kumar Chauhan, and an extradition request for duping German banks. AJMER SINGH reports

Nurturing Talent? Amity School complex

WENTY-TWO SPRAWLING campuses. 35,000 students. 130 professional degree courses. Thats the Amity universe. But what these promos fail to mention is that Amity directors Ashok Kumar Chauhan and Arun Kumar Chauhan also face an international arrest warrant. Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against them for alleged frauds committed in Federal Republic of Germany. The German Embassy has requested the Indian government for extradition, but the Chauhans have successfully evaded arrest/extradition for close to a decade. Ashok first went to Germany as a student, from western UP, and stayed on to trade in chemicals. Ashok and Arun duped banking institutions not only in Germany, but elsewhere too. The Delhi High Court, on a petition filed by US-based Formossa Plastics Corporation, had restrained them from disposing of or otherwise encumbering properties standing/acquired in the names of the Ritnanad Balved Education Foundation (Ashok is the founder president of the foundation which runs Amity institutions), Ritnanad Balved Medical Foundation, Europa Foundation and his Trust Foundation. Formossa requested the judiciary for registration of an FIR against Ashok and others for cheating them. The Chauhans purchased plastic material from the company, but did not bother to clear the bills. Their total lia-

bility: Rs 95 crore. Based on the US companys petition, the other properties on which the restraint order was issued were: 15 acres in Sector 44, Noida (Amity School complex); B-166, Sector 36; 113 acres at Panchgaon Manesar; and 5 acres in Saket. On another petition filed by KREISS Bank, Germany, the Delhi High Court attached bank accounts worth Rs 15 crore of Ashok and his family. A Netherlands-based company, KIVO, also filed a suit against the Chauhans for recovery of approximately Rs 10 crore, the bill for purchase of materials from the company. Ashok and Arun, now residing at E-27, Defence Colony, New Delhi, are accused of intending to get hold of unlawful property and of having caused property damages to others by concealing facts. According to the arrest warrant issued against them by the German judicial authorities, the brothers fooled credit institutions and banks. They claimed that their firms, KUNSTOPLAST and KUNSTOCHEM, in Germany, were solvent enterprises and between November 1993 and March 1994, Ashok obtained discounted loans on bills of exchange from various financial institutions. They pretended that the credit slips were good bills of exchange. But the bills of exchange were not paid on due date because the drawees were insolvent. The warrant states that the accused were

I want a long-term association with you

CCORDING TO the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) website, Ashok is the chairperson of the VHP European Central Committee. The committee was formed for expansion of the VHPs activities abroad. Ashok told TEHELKA, During my stay in Europe I was associated with VHPs activities. When asked about his connections with the high and mighty, he said, BJP leader Rajnath Singh is like my brother, but I have good links in both the BJP and Congress. Wards of ministers and bureaucrats study in my institutions. When confronted with the arrest warrant against him and suits filed by American and Dutch companies, Ashok said, All this is wrong and baseless. Asked about the bank frauds in Germany and the Interpol Red Corner Notice against him, Ashok said, I want to have a long-term association

with you, and left without answering the questions. During TEHELKAs first meeting with Ashok, he refused to answer the queries and said, Mainey socha aap kisi admission ke silsile mein mujhe milne aae ho. (I thought you have come to meet me regarding some admissions.) In response to TEHELKAs questionnaire, Arun said, There is absolutely no request for extradition from German authorities and there is no Red Corner Notice valid in India. Neither is there any international warrant against us or any criminal proceedings initiated by any company/bank/individual in any of the courts in India or Germany. No investigation has been sought by American authorities. Complaints purportedly filed by unidentified persons, after investigations were closed.

able to withdraw in time after spending nearly two decades in the country to escape German prosecution. They camouflaged their flights abroad as business trips, and never returned. Ashok left Germany after March 26, 1994 on the pretext of negotiating with sponsors to save his AKC group in Germany. On reaching Delhi, he filed a petition for bankruptcy (from June to November 1994). Alexander Frey, head, legal department, Kreiss Bank Frankfurt, told TEHELKA, Ashok and Arun have damaged KREISS Bank by $6 million (Rs 24 crore approx) and some more banks have lost between $15-20 million (Rs 60-80 crore approx). Public Prosecutor Dominique Crede also confirmed this in an e-mail. Frey in an e-mail said the district attorney in Frankfurt had been trying to get the Chauhans extradited to Germany since 1996. The German Embassy spokesman in New Delhi, Michael Reiffuenstuel, said, The arrest warrants against Ashok and Arun are open and valid. There is a Red Corner Notice against them for frauds committed in Germany. In 2003, the embassy wrote to the ministry of external affairs. Oral requests were also made for their extradition, but there has been no response. Further, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahmed, in a written reply dated May 12, to an unstarred question asked by Rajya Sabha MP RK Anand, confirmed: valid warrants of arrest issued by German judicial authorities against Shri Ashok Kumar Chauhan and Arun Kumar Chauhan, directors of Amity International, Ghaziabad, UP, exist and the Interpol has issued Red Corner Notices Nos. 453/1990 and 459/1998 at the request of Interpol Wiesbaden The Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany in India has requested for legal assistance in serving documents/extradition of Ashok Kumar Chauhan and Arun Kumar Chauhan. The minister also stated: As per Article 6 of the extradition treaty between the Republic of India and the Federal Republic of Germany, neither of the contracting states shall be bound to extradite its own nationals. However, as per the same article, criminal prosecution may be effected in India. Therefore, the ministry of home affairs, which is the nodal ministry in such matters has been requested to proceed in accordance with law. The arrest warrant, an English translation

Amity director Ashok Chauhan boasts of links in the BJP and the Congress. The VHP lists him as the chairperson of their European Central Committee
The fifth case was to the disadvantage of Bank and the damage was DM 568.619,40. The bank protested this bill on March 28, 1994, due to lack of payment. On December 27, 1993, the discount proceeds of DM 568,619.40 were deposited in the account and were used to credit the overdraft limit of DM 1 million, which was again by disposals in January and February 1994, fully exhausted. The total damage was DM 568,619.40 (Rs 6,88,02,899). The last case also pertained to disadvantages to KREISS Bank and the damage was DM 543,881.00. On March 10, 1994, the accused submitted to KREISS Bank a bill of exchange of over DM 556,400.00 with the request for discount to credit the proceeds to KUNSTOPLAST. The total damage was DM 543,881.00 (Rs 6,58,09,601). There are signatures of Ashok on the acceptance as well as endorsement of the drawee to the KREISS Bank. Due to lack of payment the bill was protested on June 13, 1994.
KREISS

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COVER STORY 15

RAHUL PADS UP FOR THE BIG TEST

The Grand Old Party of India needs a dynamic personality to lead it into the next Lok Sabha elections. The search begins and ends with one name Rahul Gandhi. Can the heir apparent inject new life into the Congress? HARTOSH SINGH BAL reports
DIGVIJAY SINGH, AICC General Secretary

SHARAD SAXENA

NEW TEAM MUST HAVE RAHUL GANDHI AS GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE AICC
The senior Congress leader stresses on the need for a generational change in the party to rebuild it from the grassroots
VERY POLITICAL party has to build up new leadership. In the 1960s, Indira Gandhiji picked up a number of young people who became chief ministers in the states, ministers in the state and Central government and important functionaries in the AICC. In the 1970s, Sanjay Gandhi did the same thing and then in the 1980s Rajivji picked up people like Ashok Gehlot and Ahmed Patel. I was made PCC president in Madhya Pradesh at the age of 37. This kind of generational change has to take place and we would like Rahul Gandhi to come to the organisation as soon as possible so that the most challenging task today the process of building up from grassroots to the AICC is done by a whole set of younger people. It may take some time but the process of generational change within the Congress party has to start. If you see the BJP they have a severe crisis of leadership. Atalji and Advaniji will be over the age of 80 in 2009 and the second rank of leadership of Arun Jaitley, Pramod Mahajan and others has not been able to come up to the mark. The party has a serious crisis on hand. Then you look at the Congress has to CPM, after a long time it has bring in new finally decided to make people so that for Prakash Karat their general secretary. With this in view the next 10 to 15 the Congress has to bring in years we have a new people so that for the next 10 to 15 years we have a new leadership new leadership at the helm of affairs. Of course these are my personal views and that of most of my colleagues in the party. While Soniaji has not indicated anything we have discussed this whole issue among the general secretaries and even had one meeting with the Congress president. A new team is to be set up with Soniajis re-election as Congress president. I strongly feel the new team must have Rahul Gandhi as general secretary of the AICC so that youth could be given predominance at all levels of the organisation. We have to slowly build up our own cadre and more so when we have to face the challenge of the BJP in some states and the Left Front in some other states. The Congress has always been more or less a mass-based party and not a cadre-based party. But both the BJP and the Left Front are cadre-based. We not only have to build cadres but also instill discipline in the party. The Congress president has been doing her best but over the years the organisation had been ignored. After Rajivji no one paid attention to the party organisation till Soniaji took over. Therefore now the attention is towards strengthening the organisation, which I feel is the need of the hour. Of course the veterans would always be around to offer advice. During Rajivjis time, he consulted senior leadership but he built up his own team at the cutting edge of the state and district level. The generational change that has to take place now has to be across the board extending to state and district units. As told to Hartosh Singh Bal
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Long Live the Dynasty: Rahul filing nomination from Amethi in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections

AP PHOTO

party are the senior functionaries more attuned to the winds of change. So it came as no surprise that when two airplanes with Congressmen landed in Mumbai for Sunil Dutts cremation, other calculations were already underway. The first flight had brought Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh from Delhi, it was obviously the plane to be on for anyone who mattered in the party. But when the plane returned with both on board, no one was too keen to be on it. Rahul Gandhi had decided he would take the other plane back to Delhi later in the day. The clamber to accompany Rahul turned into a virtual stampede and when the flight did take off, very few got a chance to talk to him
N NO

that the matter is under consideration. This is exactly what had happened when leaders like Digvijay Singh and Ashok Gehlot had asked her to return and lead the party. For years she paid no heed, the day she turned around and asked what such a course of action would achieve, they knew she was ready for the move. Much the same course of events has been repeated over Rahuls entry into the party organisation. So far she had always brushed away any such suggestion but recently when senior leaders of the party met her, she wanted to know how his presence would help. For Digvijay and other leaders, the indications are clear and today they have no hesitation in expressing views

So far Sonia has always brushed away any suggestions of a larger role for Rahul in the party but recently when senior members of the party met her, she wanted to know how his presence would help. The indications are very clear
as group after group of Congressmen lined up to meet him. Within the party, the message has gone out, Rahul is ready for the next step, and the wait will not be too long. No one in the party actually expects Sonia to announce the decision before things are in place but within the Congress there are other ways of gauging the mood at 10 Janpath. Sonia has never been known to commit herself to a course of action, but she is willing to listen and weigh every suggestion. Most of the times any such proposal would be dismissed out of hand but when this does not happen, indications are they would normally never commit themselves to (see box). The need to do so is born out of the reality that the party organisation is in bad shape. At the moment, the All India Congress Committees (AICC) Akbar Road office bears a deserted look. No one expects any serious work to take place there, or important decisions to be made. The only action that takes place is at the evening briefings, and even during the course of these, it is clear that the partys stand on important issues is decided elsewhere. On May 29, shortly after being re-elected, unanimously of course, Sonia chose to make the same point,

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16 COVER STORY

Tehelka The Peoples Paper 30/04/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

Mums the Word: Rahul watches as MPs implore Sonia to become the PM

PHOTO SHARAD SAXENA

stating that all her efforts would go into the revival of the Congress while calling upon party workers to put in more work to strengthen the organisation. This is where Rahul comes in. The state of the party organisation has been a result of long years of neglect. Moreover, the entry of veterans such as Pranab Mukherjee and Arjun Singh in the Cabinet has meant that the voice of the organisation carries no weight with the government. Men like Digvijay Singh and Ashok Gehlot, who for the five years of the NDA regime virtually carried the Congress flag aloft in the country, today find that they have little or no say. For them, in practical terms, this is a return to the Nineties before the advent of Sonia. And this lack of power with regards to decisions of the government ensures that most in the party see no need to work for the organisation. For Congressmen power or pelf has always been the motivational factor. Rahul as general secretary will change all this. Senior leaders say as much in private. His very presence at the party office will change the mood in the organisation. Points out an AICC veteran, Today when Congressmen from other states arrive in Delhi, they bypass the party office and head directly to the ministries. If Rahul Gandhi is around everything will change, the party will have a voice again. And it will not merely be a voice. A word from Rahul will carry weight and the government will have to respond. But this also explains the caution with which the family is proceeding. During the past year, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have

worked out a delicate equilibrium. Manmohan Singhs understated style and his unquestioned rectitude have also allowed him to evade scrutiny of actions that would have been questioned in case of any other prime minister. Nobody else would have been allowed to get away with presenting a report card on his government to a party functionary, even if the functionary is the party president. And even today the PMO wrestles daily with questions of protocol and precedence at every meeting attended by the two. Rahul as general secretary would reorient

His task would be more difficult than his fathers. Rajiv could tell men seeking help: I will tell mummy. But Rahul cannot be seen as dictating terms to Manmohan
this delicate equation. This would make Rahuls task much more difficult than the one that his father or his grandmother faced at a similar point in their careers. Rajiv Gandhi could afford to tell men seeking his help: Ill tell mummy. Indira Gandhi had similar privileges. But it is clear that Rahul would need a direct line to the government and hence the prime minister. For him to work through his mother would defeat the very purpose of his appointment. But he cannot be seen as dictating terms

COLD BLOOD
IN
SALMAN KHURSHID
UP Congress President
VIJAY SALUJA

HARINDER BAWEJA
just another commitment to the rest of the country. I think he is very specific and has a pretty long-term plan on it because he knows it is a deep-rooted problem.
But like other first-timers, Rahul has so far restricted himself to his constituency, Amethi?

I dont find any language barrier at all. We all get fluent in what I call, political language. Many of us dont have fluency in political language when we first get into politics.
How often does he remind you of his father?

But the mother is not visibly a hardcore politician.

What are the partys plans for Rahul Gandhi? Sonia has indicated that he would be taking up a larger role.

Nobody ever knows details about anybody in the Nehru family before they make it public. I mean there is talk but nobody can say it with certainty except family friends. There are indications. Mrs Gandhi has indicated that herself. There are a lot of people openly saying that he should come into organisational politics and that he should become the general secretary. People of the level of Ambika Soni have said so. UP is replete with individual leaders saying that Rahul Gandhi should come in. Mrs Gandhi certainly gave a small indication that it is round the corner.
Would his becoming a general secretary necessitate changes in the party?

I think he is doing an ideal job. A lot of MPs promise a lot but then find it difficult to live up to those promises. Forty percent of them dont return after five years. I think if you are looking for ideal constituency nursing, you could easily pick his example.
But then it does help to be a Gandhi?

Frankly, when I spoke to him the first few times, I just couldnt get to address him without thinking that I am talking to Rajiv Gandhi. He is so much younger compared to when one saw Rajiv, but it is clearly all there in every thing he says, in the pitch in which he speaks.
He reminds you much more of the father than the mother, doesnt he?

Well, she wasnt, she isnt, but what she is today is not what she was 10 years ago. She can surprise people with her ability to take very hard decisions.
So apart from the family and a circle of friends, are there people in the party he trusts?

Yes, of course, goes without saying. It helps to be a Gandhi and it helps to be the Gandhi. And he is not just a Gandhi. I mean he is this generation, he is going to be around for a pretty long time. He is going to have a very major role in Indian politics.
You have worked closely with him. What are his strengths and weaknesses?

Well, he doesnt have to remind you of the mother, because mother is there. Rajiv Gandhi is very clearly there in what he does. He is not just a clone, he has got something more, you can see that its the next generation, but very clearly, you cant get away.
Even Rajiv came in as a new-age politician?

I dont know. I think he has some close friends who help him in development works. I havent seen any signs of any particular political person. I think he likes things to be discreet and like his parents he certainly doesnt want people to be using their closeness or their association with him for their own advancement. Rahul, I would say, is meticulous in his career planning and not in a hurry. Politicians are always often in a hurry but he wants to do something that is strong and sound and deep.
His father had the Arun Nehrus and Arun Singhs...

He knows a crowd, can electrify a crowd, but he is not in a hurry. He doesnt want to show off his leadership qualities, I think he

Well, if he is general secretary, then it will have an impact right across the board, because he would be acceptable, he would be involved directly and regularly in decisions that a general secretary takes. As general secretary and a senior person from UP, he would then be able to have more direct and transparent involvement in decision making for UP.
What would you say has been Rahuls political impact in UP?

It helps to be a Gandhi and it helps to be the Gandhi. And he is not just a Gandhi he is this generation. He is going to play a major role
wants to take this very carefully, he wants to take a few steps at a time and be sure of the direction. He is very analytical, remarkably modern, technically savvy. The good thing is he knows how to handle men and machines. He has tremendous clarity and knows what needs to be done and how it is to be achieved and is not fuzzy headed at all. But of course he has just begun. No major challenges have come in his career, but he has courage of conviction.
What about the language barrier?

I am saying that this is the next of the new age. It is not like a repeat of the new age. People are getting restless and asking why he doesnt quickly modify himself. I think he is holding back. He wants to try it with a new model. He has the authority, is obviously close to his mother and will be able to call the shots. But I do know that Indian politics is a very tough game and quite often can obstruct all the wonderful ideas that a young man comes forward with. Let us hope that doesnt happen and he can fulfil the mission that he is setting out to fulfil for us.
How has Amethi prepared him for a larger role?

He did. I dont see any sign of any individual who influences his (Rahuls) politics, yet but I am sure in politics you need people, so as he goes along, he will find people he can trust and value.
Why does the Congress always have to keep turning back to the family?

His impact is immediate and electric but for him to have sustained impact in UP because it is a very difficult state it would require sustained attention. I think he intends to do that. He is committed and is working out for himself and for the party, what the modality will be. Not just his constituency but UP as a whole. His commitment to reviving the Congress in UP is paramount. It is not

I think it is very personal right now. Whatever is happening is happening within his mind, within his close family circle. It is like a young artist doing riyaz (practice). Nobody sees you or knows how good you are till you perform on stage. I mean you can train for 20 years and then comes a right moment when your mentor in his case I am sure his mother is his mentor decides when to take the big stage.

We dont turn back to the family. The family is there. People turn to the family and if people turn to the family, we will be foolish not to use the family as our mascot. I mean, why not? And it is not just the Congress. Indian politics has a built-in element of transferring goodwill from generation to generation. Sunil Dutt is now supposed to be succeeded by his daughter. The Nehru-Gandhi family happens to be the largest and longest surviving political family in modern India. They win elections. I mean, in a democracy what more do you need? They win elections, they win handsomely and we believe, we get more votes when they come to our constituency. So why shouldnt we support them.

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COVER STORY 17
be telling. Subhash Yadav is hardly a problem but when someone as senior as Natwar Singh is involved, no one in the party organisation can actually take him on especially with Sonia precluding steps against family loyalists. The very expression of interest by Rahul in Rajasthans affairs would be enough of a signal for everyone to behave. The other cause for concern is the functioning of the large number of family-run trusts such as the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF). Like the RGF, several such or-

One From the Album: Rahul (centre) with his father

Priyanka may monitor family trusts like the RGF, which lauded Modis governance. Several such organisations have been working without any supervision
ganisations have been working without any supervision since Sonia has had very little time to actually monitor their work. This has resulted in avoidable embarrassments such as the endorsement of Narendra Modis economic achievements in an RGF report. With Rahul concentrating on the party, this is where a role for Priyanka Vadra is being carved out. She is expected to take up regular monitoring of these organisations. With 10 Janpath committed to more active roles for both Rahul and Priyanka, indications are that the process of inducting Rahul would begin with the announcement of elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) later in June. The CWCs strength of 24 consists of 12 elected members and 12 nominees of the Congress president. While Rahul could easily be nominated, the family perceives that an election would be a better option. Clearly there will be no obstacle to Rahuls election, even though the prospect of actually contesting for the other CWC slots is worrying several senior Congressmen. The elevation to general secretary will be the next step and that is where the difficulties will begin.

to Manmohan Singh, it would be an image that would be a public relations disaster. Rahul also lacks the experience that Indira and Rajiv brought to their political careers. Before she became active in the party organisation, Indira had served as the official hostess for her father. She was privy to the day-to-day functioning of both the party and the government. Rajiv had a similar experience when he entered politics. Rahul was too young to have benefitted from his fathers experience and Sonia herself remains a novice in organisational matters and has no experience of governance. It is here that Rahuls year in Uttar

The Rising Son: Rahul at a rally in Amethi

looked far more at ease dealing with specifics but the rhetoric that dominates political debates in Delhi is not something he is yet comfortable with. And despite a year in politics his command over Hindi seems to desert him at crucial moments. In the new role that is being proposed for him, he will have to learn quickly. As general secretary of the AICC, in fact the most prominent general secretary, his interaction with the media will have to change. He will also need to gather his own team around him. So far Rahul has been content to depend on old loyalists for advice, an attitude that has always been the familys Achilles heel. The choice of Satyavrat Chaturvedi as AICC general secretary in charge of UP shows the failure of such an approach. Chaturvedi, a Madhya Pradesh politician with no base of his own, has been able to make little headway in UP. In fact he earned the familys trust entirely through the belligerent posture he adopted in the last Parliament in defence of Sonia. But that does not translate into an understanding of grassroots politics. His Amethi experience should have taught Rahul quite the opposite. Without an organisational base, even the immense family charisma at his command is politically irrelevant. It is only when he can har-

NISHYAM

Without an organisational base, even the immense family charisma is politically irrelevant. Only when he can harness the advantages of the Gandhi name to an organisation that can deliver on the ground can the party hope to succeed
Pradesh could prove crucial. His work in Amethi has granted him some knowledge of how the Congress functions. He was seen as a reluctant entrant into politics content to stay away from the limelight, he has continued to remain so. He rarely interacts with the media in Delhi, never granting interviews. In Amethi he is more accessible, he often points to what he has managed to get done in the constituency. But even here he is never seen to be drawn into discussions about Congress affairs outside the state. On the few occasions he has chosen to don a larger role, the results have been mixed. In March, with the NDA bent on a boycott of Parliament, he had led a dharna of younger MPs near Parliament House. But his comments on the BJP seemed out of place at a time when the Congress was embarrassing itself over the dubious happenings in Jharkhand. Far more forceful was his intervention in Parliament when he highlighted the need for disbursing arrears to the UP sugarcane farmers, forcing state Chief Minister Mulayam Singhs hand. The examples are illustrative, so far he has ness the advantages of the Gandhi name to an organisation that can deliver on the ground that the party can hope to ride on his shoulders in the next elections. It is precisely this possibility that Congress leaders are banking on, they now know that their chances of remaining in power are tied to the destiny of the First Family. They hope that Rahul will be the man leading them into the 2009 Parliamentary elections. To be able to do so successfully, UP must remain a priority but there are more immediate problems that demand urgent attention. In places like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the natural cycle of anti-incumbency already places the Congress in a strong position, the party units have not been able to take advantage of faltering BJP governments. In Madhya Pradesh, Subhash Yadav as state president, even in the face of the dissension sown by BJP leader Uma Bharti, has had little or no impact, while in Rajasthan, Natwar Singh and his son are doing enough damage to the party on their own. Again this is where Rahuls presence can
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18

COMMENTARY

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

Those who think Laloo is cute miss the point about Bihar

editorial
HARTOSH SINGH BAL

THE TEHELKA VIEW

WHO SOLD BIHARS MANDATE?

OTERS IN Bihar acted out their role in a democracy, but no one else seems to have followed suit. The dissolution of the state Assembly brings to an end a three-month-long farce that began with the counting of votes on February 27. Laloo Prasad Yadav has converted buffoonery into political strength, so much so that it now seems that every politician dealing with Bihar needs to follow suit. Nothing else can explain the vacillations of Ram Vilas Paswan who must have been the only one who could not foretell the fate that befell his party, or the BJP avowals of innocence as their leaders sat closeted with the breakaway MLAs. Nothing else can explain the acts of Governor Buta Singh who seems to have arrived at the conclusion that there was horse-trading afoot based on bazaar gossip or the act of a president sitting in Moscow who took the midnight recommendations of a biased Cabinet at face value. Now the lawyers have descended on the scene. But when Arun Jaitley and Kapil Did Buta Singh Sibal, formidable lawyers both, express their opinions, it really have is easy to guess their respecevidence of tive stances. Despite their horse-trading? rhetoric, neither has thrown much light on what actually transpired over a few days of May in Bihar. If an end must be put to such a mockery of the popular vote then the procedure of dissolution must be made transparent. It must not be enough for Buta Singh to say that horsetrading was afoot. He has stated that there is sufficient evidence in connection with horse-trading of MLAs. This is evidence that must surely have been scrutinised by the president, though how he could have possibly managed to do so far away in Moscow is not clear. Given the circumstances under which the MLAs broke away from Paswans party, many are willing to believe the charge. But mere belief cannot lead to acts that rescind the publics vote. Surely, if this evidence is available, it becomes the publics right to know. And if there is such evidence then action must follow against the BJP or any other party involved in horse-trading. There is enough in the law to allow for this course of action. But the questions linger: did Governor Buta Singh really have this evidence, did President APJ Abdul Kalam actually scrutinise it? If the answer is yes, then the matter cannot be left where it stands; till then the public is right to disbelieve the claim.

HAT DO you do with bad news after its been broadcast? What do you do with Bihar? Switch channels. The reality story is a double-barrel bore. Surf to the farce and caricature bit. Get to the floppy white-haired muppet or its strikingly true clone that roams under the alias of Laloo Yadav. Thats entertainment. Thats what you do after the bad news has been broadcast. Now that another election has been announced, the queue in mediahouses for tickets to Patna will get long. Where else can tamasha get as rich? Bihar is a living, throbbing, potboiler of a plot, replete with thrill, action, tragedy, comedy, drama, suspense and colour that beats Eastmans. And you have a one-man all-star cast Laloo Yadav, hero, anti-hero, comedian, villain, all rolled into a couple of loose kurta sleeves. For the media, there isnt a more enjoyable feast to be devoured than Bihar, dollop after bloody curdled dollop. Reporters have come back breathless with the unbearable delight of the miseries of this most wounded of our civilisations. Oh, the grinding poverty of Punpun; oh, the merciless feudalism of Bhojpur; oh, the fascinating private armies of the night, oh, the thrill of lurking threat; and oh, that coalition of criminals, feasting in the Assembly canteen, feasting in the jails, feasting in Patnas murky bars, feasting, feasting and fattening off a gorgonised mass of people. Isnt Mohammed Shahabuddin of Siwan just right for Ram Gopal Varma? A jean-clad, English-speaking, god-fearing man relentlessly hounded and victimised by some fatal attraction that Section 302 of the penal code appears to have for him. How phantasmagoric, how utterly real-unreal. What a great colour story Bihar is. But what about Bihar itself? What of its people? What does another election do for them? What does Presidents Rule do? These are standard prescriptions. Remove Laloo. Impose and extend Presidents Rule. Napalm that benighted piece of geography, that will relieve Biharis of Bihar. Or get Nitish Kumar. Get Paswan. You get Sweety

Darling in a Dark Phantasm

Singh and Lovely Singh for Sadhu and Subhash Yadav. You get Munna Shukla, Rama Singh, Anand Mohan and Pappu for Shahabuddin. Those are the choices you get in this multi-party mobocracy. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Bihar is a drag. True. If only Biharis had the luxury to think so too. If only Biharis were not being dragged along with the relentless fate of their state. But while that happens, what a colourful spectacle unpunctured with sulphuric acid? Or the colour of a famished-vanished road? Or the colour of a foundation stone forgotten? Or the colour of closed doors in primary schools and health centres? Or the colour of promises made and forgotten and of slogans betrayed? Or the colour of money ill-gotten? Or the colour of money that isnt even there? Laloo Yadav of the Sadhana-cut hair and the long kurta sleeves is not colour copy. Neither is he cute or endearing or a darling, fashionable media terms of endearment that actually slight both Laloo and the Bihar he is meant to represent. There lies a grim tale behind the cut of Laloo Yadavs hair. As a boy, he was spanked one day by the village thakur for having had the audacity to be combing his hair after his daily dip in the Phulwaria pond. Young Laloo was perhaps as vain a character as he is today but the thakur of those days was more vain; he would not countenance a Yadav boy styling his hair. The set of Laloo Yadavs hair is no cute style meant to endear, it is a rebellion meant to avenge bygone excesses embedded in the collective memory of those who have been at the wrong end of things for millennia. Those who think Laloo is cute miss the point about Bihar and where things Bihari come from. Or they dont want to get it. Africa was once sold by the White Man for it exotic primitiveness and that alone. The Indian was once sold for his mystic obscurantism by the same specie. Bihar is now being parceled out to the rest of the country as latter day phantasm. Laloo is the contemporary tribal chieftain, his plume, his accent and his inexplicable hold over his realm are his oddities. He is todays snake charmer, only he has cows instead of snakes. Bihar is the contemporary jungle, a nether world beyond the pale, teeming with exotica. The nation treats itself to Bihars magical realism; it will not confront the truth that Bihars realism is not magical, it is merely dirty. Dont mess your hands with the bad news, enjoy the entertainment.

SANKARSHAN THAKUR

Mop Rule: Laloo Yadav

What of its people? What does another election do for them? What does Presidents Rule do?
folds. Sadhu and Subhash go off-stage temporarily, Sweety and Lovely arrive. The ruinous rainbow rages on the blighted horizon. Whats to change things? Any prescriptions? Bihar is really quite beyond the stage of prescriptions, although there never is any dearth of them. This piece hasnt the arrogance of being a prescription. It can only weep a little on its futility. But perhaps there is a plea here that seeks hearing. Bihar is not a colour story. If there is a colour to the story of Bihar, it is a colour called dark. How else would you describe the colour of blood daily and wantonly spilt? Or the colour of caste feuding? Or the colour of eyes

T IS highly deplorable that more than 55

years after the Constitution of India abolished untouchability, banned its practice in any form and declared that the enforcement of any disability arising out of untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law, the centuriesold practice is still prevalent in its most cruel forms in many parts of the country. The victims of this caste Hindu tyranny, dalits, who constitute 20 per cent of the population, continue to be exploited socially, economically and politically and suffer all sorts of humiliation and discrimination. A decent and dignified life is still a distant dream for a majority of the over 20 crore dalits. But, how many Indians ever have the mind or time to think of their miseries? How many of the newspapers and magazines devote space to help create awareness about dalits plight among the millions of their readers? The answers to these quesFREE. FAIR. FEARLESS

S. VISHWANATHAN

PULPIT

LOOKING WITHIN: STATE OF INDIAN MEDIA-VII

Dalits: Caught in a space crunch

tions may not be encouraging. This is not to say that the mainstream newspapers do not at all take notice of the dalits sufferings. Their coverage of dalit issues is often confined to reporting atrocities against dalits as and when they happen. For them the loss of lives is news. The higher the casualties, the larger is the coverage. Even in covering violence against dalits they seldom go into the issues involved and often feign neutrality by equating the aggressor with the victim; at times they even twist the news to blame the victims. Most newspapers see anti-dalit violence only as caste conflict or a mere law and order problem. This is not surprising in a situation where most of the mainstream newspapers and magazines are market-oriented and ad-driven. They often blame their failure to cover issues relating to the socially and economically deprived sections, particularly dalits, on space constraints. Another oft-heard excuse for the media is that anti-dalit violence happens all too often and so there is no news in it.

It is not fair to paint all with the same brush. Unlike most of the English newspapers, the regional print media devote a little more attention to dalit issues. Even among English newspapers, some dailies, including The Hindu and The Times of India periodically publish well-researched articles on dalit issues, by writers such as P. Sainath, Gail Omvedt, Gopal Guru and Kancha Ilaiah, apart from giving detailed coverage of atrocities against dalits. The Pioneer runs a regular weekly column on dalit issues by Chandrabhan Prasad. Among the English periodicals, Frontline has been a shining exception. It has covered dalit-related issues, in a very positive way, and has published many articles that go deep into dalit-specific problems in different States. One could only wish that more joined the list. The writer is a journalist with Frontline magazine, Chennai

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

COMMENTARY

19

Look Forward in Anger

ARJUN DEV

Is there any book known to the publishing world which proclaims that it can be used for reference only? How come the new secular history textbook is full of blunders?
particularly women, who had to go long distances to fetch water. But, sadly, it had some social implications Earlier on the pretext of fetching water, women would go out and chat with their friends. Now such occasions got lessened. Providing water to every household through pipes and taps was not such a good idea after all. With all this, why the freedom movement? Was it due to a realisation, real or imaginary, of a basic antagonism between the interests of the Indian people and British colonial rule? Not really. It was all because of the news about the movements of German and Italian unification in Indian newspapers which were read by Indians involved in the national movement and they were aroused by what they read and they dreamt of doing something similar in India.

at the history textbooks during the past one year under the secular UPA regime shows some curious happenings. On July 20, 2004, the Minister of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Arjun Singh, made an important revelation in Parliament. He informed that NCERTs Executive Committee had accepted the findings of the historians committee set up by MHRD that the history textbooks brought out by NCERT since September 2002 (under the BJP regime), to replace the earlier textbooks written by historians Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra and others, were biased, badly written and full of inaccuracies rendering them unsuitable for continuation. However, it was decided to continue with the new textbooks for the year 2004-05. Hence, the NCERT, set up and controlled by the Indian State, sold the books that it knew to be biased, badly written and full of inaccuracies to unwary school students at a profit (NCERT books are not produced on no profit no loss basis), thus purveying wares it knew to be defective. The NCERT provided to each CBSE-affiliated school five copies each of the earlier history textbooks, the ones that had been withdrawn during the Murli Manohar Joshi-JS Rajput era (except for those meant for Classes IX-X), to be used by teachers and students for reference along with a short advisory. The advisory bore the title Learning History without Burden. Each copy of the reprinted older books carried a stamp For Reference Only as though the problem with the books which had been continued for the 2004-05 session was not that they were biased, badly written and full of inaccuracies but because they were a burden; also that the copies of the older textbooks were not meant as correctives to the books that were biased, etc, but for reference only. Is there any book known to the publishing world which proclaims that it can be used for reference only? Things that have happened recently are curiouser. It had been announced last year that the earlier history textbooks would be restored with appropriate modifications in line with the existing curriculum and minor corrections wherever required. The earlier textbooks had been based on syllabi which had been prepared in line with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) of 1988 while the existing curriculum, based on the NCFSE (School Education)-2000, have been condemned by historians as the communalisation of history. This has been truly reflected in the new textbooks during the BJP-led NDA regime. Recently, most of the earlier textbooks have been reprinted and restored. No author connected with these textbooks has made any modification in line with the existing curriculum. However, the publishers note which has replaced the earlier forewords in the history textbooks for Classes VI to X states, This textbook is based on the NCFSE-2000 and the syllabi prepared in accordance with it. The older history textbooks for Classes XI and XII are stated to cover the revised history syllabus prepared by the Neeladri Bhattacharya Committee, a syllabus no author of these books has seen or even heard of. It is not clear if the insult to the authors of pre-BJP period textbooks is unintended. It may be recalled that a three-member bench of the Supreme Court had heard a PIL challenging the NCFSE-2000 when Joshi was running amok. While the court had rejected
LOOK BACK

Dialectic of Enlightenment: Students in a municipal school in Old Delhi PHOTO SHARAD SAXENA

the PIL, two judges of the three-member bench had directed the Union of India to fill the vacancies in the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) and convene it to give its opinion on the NCFSE-2000. Joshi, who had declared CABE dead, paid no heed to the directive issued by the judges and took no steps to revive it. The UPA government brought CABE back to life. Sadly, it disregarded the directive regarding the Joshi-era NCFSE-2000 and did not refer it to CABE, which met in August last year, for its opinion. It may be recalled that every political party outside NDA, with the sole exception of AIADMK, had condemned the NCFSE2000 at a meeting held in November 2002. The Congress was represented by the present prime minister in the meeting. But the NCFSE2000 and the syllabi prepared in accordance

what like this: When this word is used to describe samaj, it tells us some characteristics. The civil war in Russia after the October Revolution is referred to as asainik yuddh, because one dictionary meaning of civil is asainik. The swadeshi movement slowly died (mar gaya). The tenancy acts enacted by the provincial governments under Congress rule to protect the tenancy rights of peasants are called kirayedar qanoon. What is the history that this book seeks to teach? The Industrial Revolution is supposed to have brought in fixed working hours, mostly from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening. There is no reference to the extreme misery that the Industrial Revolution created, while children were made to work from 5 in the morning till 8 or 9 in the evening as re-

THE EDUCATION DEBATE

There is no reference here or elsewhere to the assassination of Gandhi. It is mentioned under the heading Some Dates on the last page at the end of the chapter on 50 years of modern republic. There was, it would seem, no room in this textbook to say anything about who did it and why and what it meant or what Gandhi meant to the people of this country
with it continue for the second year even after the BJP-led government has been ousted. A case in point are the books brought out by the Delhi government last year with much fanfare. The decision not to use NCERTs communalised books and prepare its own had been widely appreciated. The accolades that the books received, it turns out, were perhaps more the work of good PR rather than critical appreciation. At least the history textbook for Class VIII would not have been allowed had there been a regulatory mechanism in position. Written by three historians with the present NCERT Director, Krishna Kumar, as chief adviser, four consultants, two subject advisers (one of whom is also an author) and three language editors, there is absolutely nothing that is right with this book. The language, Hindi, makes the reading a painful activity and there are numerous statements that make no sense. It is impossible to translate into English the flavour of the original Hindi. The term samaj is explained someported by a British Parliamentary Committee. And if the fixed working hours were from 9 to 6, with facilities for lunch in the canteen, why did the Second International give a call to workers all over the world to demand an eight-hour working day on May Day? This book covers the period of colonial rule (and the freedom struggle) in the country. However, there is nothing on the establishment of the system of colonial exploitation, not even a reference to the new land systems leading to the impoverishment of the peasantry. Nothing of the glorious achievements of British rule is missed books and newspapers, schools and colleges, fulfilling the need for water through pipes, hospitals and primary health centres, clocks and arrangements for lighting, railways, public buildings, and much more. Among these achievements, the best description is of the supply of drinking water. Water taps were installed in every house (ghar ghar mein). This certainly brought some comfort. It became simpler for people,

al inaccuracies. It would be too tedious to list them. One example: Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya had contested the election for the Madras legislature in 1926. She lost, but never mind, for she had the honour to be the first woman in the world to have contested an election. It is presented as a matter of great honour for Indian womanhood. Indeed, the reason for the pride is false for there are quite a number of women, in other countries, who had contested and won elections many years before Kamala Devi contested and lost. Another example from recent history may give some idea of the general tenor: Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister in 1991. Was he? And what about communalism? This book, along with others, was brought out in order to avoid using communalised versions brought out by the NCERT in the Joshi-Rajput era. However, this book is more or less silent on communalism and its role during the freedom struggle. The word does occur but the meaning given to it doesnt make it such a bad thing as some of the leaders of the freedom movement (and later pseudo secularists) made it out to be. The Hindu Mahasabhaites (there is no reference to the RSS) and Muslim Leaguers were not extremists or hostile to each others religion. But during demonstrations sometimes there used to be incidents of communal riots. These parties had no role during communal riots or no position regarding the freedom movement at least none is mentioned. There is a mention of Mountbatten coming to India as viceroy but none about his Partition plan the decision to partition the country was taken by the Congress. There is a reference about the transfer of power to Pakistan and India but none about independence. There are two pages devoted to Delhi during 1947 and 1948. Among others, it is mentioned that Pervez Musharraf and the wellknown teacher of history in St. Stephens College, Ishtiaque Husain Quraishi, migrated to Pakistan. But no reference here or elsewhere to the assassination of Gandhi, which, perhaps, the authors seem to have forgotten, took place in Delhi. It is mentioned under the heading Some Dates on the last page of the book at the end of the chapter on 50 Years of Modern Republic. There was, it would seem, no room in this textbook to say anything about who carried out the assassination and why and what it meant or what Gandhi meant to the people of this country. The writer is former Professor of History, NCERT
FREE. FAIR. FEARLESS

HE TEXT abounds in elementary factu-

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20

PUBLIC INTEREST
SOCIAL CONTRACT
TANUJA CHANDRA Film director

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

engaged circle

Education and health are two social problems that need to be addressed urgently. Ive long abandoned the hope that corruption can be reduced or the corrupt can be punished. Schools in the public and government system must be improved. Also, its important to try and achieve some reforms in

our public health-care system. AIDS is the most important issue of the time, and India is poised at the brink of a national disaster if we dont give it due attention. This is one area which even the educated and the rich need to be informed of. It really needs to be portrayed as the calamity that it can become.

MIDNIGHTS CHILDREN

Aakshi Magazine, national history topper this year, rips apart the examination system which pushes young minds into the ghetto of pseudo success and ambitions

AMIT SENGUPTA

do bigha zameen
Like a melody on phone
YAAR TUNEIN toh meri jaan hi lein li His handsome staccato voice on the line, two scorching summers back, still rings in my mind like a cool memory in trapped heat. It especially rings because that original phone song from Bimal Roys Sujata was my mothers favourite, and mine too: Sunil Dutt singing that immortal Talat Mehmood melody on the phone to petite Nutan, in this beautiful, progressive, love film against the curse of untouchability: Jalte hain jiske liye tere ankhon ke diye My mother used to say: Good people die. This truth keeps coming back as the finest of human beings disappear into the blue fog through a crack in the window. The only good thing is that few are lucky to die quickly and quietly, like a leaf falling from an autumn tree in one single gesture of falling. There is no reluctance, perhaps a short, swift, sensitive streak of pain. My mother died in just about half-a-second, the good woman who was so fond of Sunil Dutt. And Dutt Saab died in his sleep. Good people just pass by. Like a melody on telephone. Dutt Saab had called me because I had written an article in the Jaipur edition of Hindustan Times. I had travelled with him inside the interiors of Rajasthan, when the communal cauldron was boiling with the likes of Narendra Modi in Gujarat and Praveen Togadia in Rajasthan going berserk. Dutt Saab was leading a long march into the most troubled zones of the state and beyond with his committed soldiers of harmony and peace: Sadbhavna Ke Sipahi. A good, simple, brave man, besotted by the idea of secular pluralism and

Goose Bumps: and what about those who know a lot but cant write in the exam the way they know it?

HE EXAM results are out. And the

bored students are happy, sad, sad-shocked, happy-shocked, tense, disheartened, relieved, indifferent, proud and so on. This is the most important event of our lives. The most important exam of our lives. The most important decision of our lives. Most important mania. In the dark and never-ending tunnels of the tomorrow-is-result-day night, a 9-year-old-went to sleep. She is a class four student but she is witness to this horror story. In her innocence, she is watching everything, this journey through hell. Their journey. My journey. She sleeps through a night that met a million tense-awake students (and their parents). My 9-year-old cousin knows a lot. Except, off course, when it comes to the exam with an attached five letter prefix. The dreaded monster exam. So she slept. Unaware. Happy. In another dark and never-ending tunnel of that same night, a 17-year-old tried to sleep. She tossed and turned. And thought and worried. She unslept, the year old tension and pressure reaching a crescendo as morning emerged. Nothing surprising considering what all board students go through. The realism of fear: 365 days filled with your-future-depends-on-the-result lectures. Movies cant be seen till the exams get over. Parties are hijacked by board exam discussions. Suddenly, all known and unknown aunties and uncles are interested. Parents hope and wait for their feel proud moment; to make them feel proud about themselves, about you. By doing an exam well. Its torture. That has been going on for years. Students stuck with boring and incoFREE. FAIR. FEARLESS

herent syllabus books. Endless sample papers and tuitions. The repetitive vicious circle: 7am tuitions, 9pm tuitions. And what if your parents cannot afford that 100-rupee book of extra questions? Or that class at the coaching centre? What about the wide gap between the un-interested government school teachers and the over-interested private-public school teachers? The exam ignores it all. After all, its an equal and fair exam. With the same question papers for the whole country. An equal exam in an unequal society. And then there are the paper-checkers. The evaluators. People who decide your future with the correct answer lists in one hand, and the answer sheets in the

How come one examiner is given the power to decide how much you know and how much you dont? How come what you do ahead in life depends on one exam, that too one that is so unfair?
other. Forced to check piles of answer sheets for a meagre Rs 5 per hour, or some such amount. And so you, the sensitive student that you are, write neatly especially for them. With underlined important points and headings/sub-headings in capital letters. Anything for that 90 percent. If your paper happens to be checked by a strict examiner, then you are plain unlucky. End of discussion. How come one examiner is given the power to decide how much you know and how much you dont? And how

much you are going to know in the future? How come what you do ahead depends on one exam, that too one that is so unfair? And what about those who know a lot but cant write it the way they know it. Or those who dont know a thing but still manage to get through thanks to limited studies, guides, rote learning, etc. And those whose marksheets dont reflect the hard work theyve put in? There are endless flaws in the oh-so-important system. And yet they expect you to feel proud of your 97 marks. Yet you sit happily through their youve-done-us-proud speeches. When the result morning comes, the whole world wakes up to the result. The phones are busy. The Smses. An exam result. Just an exam result. Just a mere exam result is the talk of the day. On news channels. On the front pages of newspapers day next. With exclusive interviews of the toppers. And then, when students kill themselves over the result, they innocently wonder what went wrong. And then sleep over it. The 9-year-old sees it all. Sealed and stored in her memory. The origin of future pressure and tension. Hopefully, she will take a better exam in a better and sensitive education system when she grows up. Or better still, she might not have to depend only on an exam for deciding what she wants to do. Not that thinking of an alternative system is easy but at least a start can be made. You wonder what you did to deserve it. The writer passed 12th standard this year from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi, under the Central Board of Secondary Education. She is an all India history topper with 97% marks

Dutt Saab would sit in his old pyjama and crumpled T-shirt, no hang-ups, no shosha, and tell us the stories of his many long marches
peace, eating stoic roadside food, travelling long spells despite shooting pain in his injured leg and back, refusing to allow the fanatics to call the shots, touching hands, eyes, bodies, hearts, persuading the confused, celebrating humanism, telling the people, Dont abuse or hate. Learn to love. Learn to become human. In the pink city of Jaipur thousands came out to meet him, especially women, as in Tonk and beyond. Doors and windows started opening. The young thronged the streets: they came to see the father of Sanjay Dutt, and that too, when Munnabhai had not yet become a hilarious hit. As the night moved into midnight at the Tonk rest house, Dutt Saab would sit in his old pyjama and crumpled T-shirt, no hang-ups, no shosha, and tell us the stories of his many long marches, despite the air crash which almost killed him, despite his body refusing to agree to his spirit. The Nagasaki-Hiroshima march against the bomb, the long journey across South Asia to spread the message of peace, the marches through Bombay slums, and the Punjab yatra when Amritsar (and India) rediscovered the healing touch after being ravaged by violence. My feet had huge wounds. I was tired and weary. Women saw the wounds and started crying. I too couldnt hold back my tears, he would say. And Nargis, the love and idealism of his life. He would still call her Nargisji, and speak of her as if she is right there and here, next to him, serene in her beautiful dignity. I have never seen a man so deeply in love with his life-companion, so reverential, that she would come alive every time he would speak of her. Can this love ever die?

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

CAMPAIGN

21

IMAGINED HOMELAND

Mumbai is a divided island with the rich capturing surplus land while the poor dont even have a plastic sheet to protect them, reports SAMYABRATA RAY GOSWAMI
The government looks determined to go ahead with its eviction plans. The manifesto promise of protecting slums built till 2000 has been brushed aside by the Maharashtra Congress president as a printers devil. What is your take on this doublespeak?

Shadow Lines
THE DALIT VOICE PART III

HE EVICTION of slum-dwellers in Mumbai is becoming a big issue. Nearly six months since the government undertook a drive to evict encroachers, several poor people continue to fight for survival under plastic sheet shanties (or under the open sky) in a city with the largest number of homeless in the world. Even as the heat becomes unbearable, a new fear looms in the horizon. As the southwest monsoon gathers over the Arabian Sea, it is a matter of weeks before the rains hit Mumbai and push the megapolis to the brink of a human tragedy. The ordeal for the people started, when, despite promising in the

Demolish the illegal buildings T

The Congress-NCP government statements have been absolutely contradictory. They have had to accept that they did make promises, written and verbal, during their campaign speeches. All of them, including Govinda, Gurudas Kamat, the late Sunil Dutt, Eknath Gaekwad and others made such promises. Initially, they spoke against the move. That was just an effort to express their guilt. This continued till the protestors met Sonia Gandhi in February. Ms Gandhi took a position saying the evicted slum-dwellers must be rehabilitated. Sharad Pawar also stated that without a rehabilitation plan these slums should not have been razed. But soon after, Vilasrao Deshmukh questioned the feasibility of such a rehabilitation saying that there was no money. He showed an exaggerated figure of 11 lakh people who needed to be rehabilitated and that Rs 24,000 crore was required to facilitate this. There were no documents to prove the authentication of the figures.

ment figures, 19,000 families. Our estimate is that at least 25,000 families are affected. Then, there are about 35,000 more families affected by the MUIP project. There is no rehabilitation plan for them because of the MUIP project as well. So a total of 1.5 lakh families have been displaced, which means at least 7.5 to 8 lakh people. But still I dont know from where he got the figure of 11 lakh.
Where does your agitation for rehabilitation of the evicted slum-dwellers of Mumbai go from here?

The conversion bogey

Udit Raj Political activist A FEW in the crowd raised their voice. They said they would quit Hinduism. Almost 10,000 people attended it for the first time despite the terror of the upper caste. As I spoke, hundreds of hands were raised with a call to quit Hinduism. This was unbelievable because this kind of a mass dalit reaction was not expected in a feudal state like Rajasthan. The Emanuel Bible College and Seminary run by Dr MA Thomas has always been under attack. Last February, when participants from all over the country were coming to join its annual function, they were stopped and harassed by the Sangh Parivar. They accused Thomas of manipulating conversions. I know this institution personally and vouch for all the good they have done to help the destitute and needy. The school has en-

Long March: Medha Patkar leads Mumbai slum-dwellers in Delhi

PHOTO SHARAD SAXENA

We started the agitation as an indefinite action. It is very essential now that the evicted people are at least allowed to stay on the land where they have built temporary shelters. This has to be decided before the monsoons arrive. Second, the long-term rehabilitation plans should also be at a place which is acceptable to the people from the point of view of their livelihood. The government has gone to court so we will also have to take the legal course. Third, the government is not talking about the land details whether land is available within Mumbai or not. Even Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, in his speech at the Crystal Room of the Taj Hotel, spoke about the withdrawal of the Urban Land Ceiling Act. It is this which we are questioning. There is blatant violation of the Urban Land Ceiling Act in Mumbai and the finance minister is talking about repealing the Act! This is shocking. This is against the spirit of equity and constitutional guarantees. We have already given the government a list of illegal buildings in the city. They need to be demolished. The land there is being misused being illegally used by the rich and the elite. So, let them not say that there is no land in Mumbai. If these illegal buildings were demolished and the land made available for affordable housing, more than half of the evicted slum-dwellers could have been rehabilitated. The law says that land given beyond 500 sq m to a builder should be utilised for low-cost housing for the poor. In fact, 70 percent of surplus land (over the 500 sq m limit) has to be used for constructing 225 sq ft tenements. It is mostly not done. We have given the builders and authorities notices asking them to demolish the illegal structures on surplus land and make them available to the poor. We are now giving legal notices.
With monsoons not so far away, what are the slum-dwellers planning to do?

Why is it that when dalits are benefitting, the upper castes are blaming Christians for conversion?
rolled orphans, dalits and the poor. Their education is taken care of from childhood till graduation. These are, however, considered mistakes in the eyes of the Hindutva forces. Lets not forget: when the British tried to introduce social reforms in India, they were opposed by the upper castes. As a result, the British had to refrain from carrying out reforms to continue their rule in the country. Till a few years ago, English education was the monopoly of Christians, and the elite and upper castes received quality education. Then, why is it that no one accused the missionaries and objected to the conversion of upper caste Hindus? Why is it that now when the dalits are getting education, the upper castes are blaming Christians of religious conversion? This is not an isolated communal incident. Hindu-Muslim riots broke out at Bhilwara and Udaipur recently at the behest of the Sangh Parivar with the tacit backing of the Vasundhara Raje regime. The investigating police officers took action under the law. But they were transferred. Why? Because they belonged to the dalit community. To be continued

election manifesto to protect the slums built till January 1, 2000, the Congress-NCP government filed an affidavit on January 20, 2005 saying it would not extend the cut-off date for slums beyond 1995. The affidavit, filed in reply to a PIL, promised to remove all encroachers quickly. And then the bulldozers rolled in and thousands of shanties were razed. Later, under pressure, the government sought extension of the deadline from the court for regularisation of slums in Mumbai. The government asked that the cut-off date be extended till 2000. A Bombay High Court order, dated May 26, has now refused to allow the state government to regularise the post-1995 and pre-2000 slums in the state. Medha Patkars National Alliance of Peoples Movement (NAPM) and several other organisations intervened before the court, stating that the court should grant interim relief in the wake of the monsoon. The court has directed the government to file a fresh notice. Patkar says the governments constant flip-flop over the issue, including going to court, is a deliberate attempt to confuse people. With Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh backing the demolition of post-1995 slums, the intent of the government, she says, is dubious. TEHELKA spoke to Medha Patkar as she sat surrounded by hundreds of protesting slum-dwellers under a makeshift tent in Mumbais Azad Maidan. Excerpts:

Where will the little children, the old and the ailing go? This is a scale of human suffering which is no less than that brought about by the recent tsunami
We started the movement with 90,000 families who had been evicted through forcible demolitions by bulldozers and police atrocities. This means we are talking about at least 4-5 lakh people.
How long can this continue?

Those affected feel that we should now intensify our agitation and press forward the movement. Right now we are demonstrating in Azad Maidan. We have said that each displaced community will build some kind of a shelter right here if the government does not do anything by the monsoons. They need at least a plastic sheet above their heads before the rain comes. Where will the little children, the old and the ailing go? This is a scale of human suffering which is no less than that brought about by tsunami. And why only the government, even civil society should come forward to help these homeless people.
There is need for independent political participation by organisations like NAPM in the legislature. Do you agree?

What is the need to demolish the slums that are already settled? Slums are not built overnight. A poor family builds a home over at least a period of five years. The resources are slowly and painstakingly put together over the years. First, a kuchcha house with plastic sheets, then come the tin sheets, then the pucca houses are built. But even colonies of pucca houses were demolished. This is unacceptable, and when we were talking about these families, the chief minister brought in this figure of 11 lakh. The other families who have been affected are under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) and the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP). The MUTP, which is a World Bank funded project, is affecting, according to govern-

We certainly need political intervention. We are trying our best to make the political class listen. Some of the political parties have supported us but nobody has really taken it to logical conclusions. We have drawn the peoples political front where we define politics in a larger sense. We have not come to any decision on whether we want to be in electoral politics at all or not. In fact, many peoples organisations in Mumbai feel that they should intervene in the coming municipal elections which is due in two years, but the NAPM as a whole has not taken any view on this.

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22

WHATS RIGHT ABOUT INDIA

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

Asia has a huge presence in Kaziranga. The majestic pachyderm is a seasonal inhabitant of Kaziranga, since by its very nature the elephant is a migratory animal. And yet, in the last census conducted in March 2002, as many as 1,007 elephants were counted inside Kaziranga. A number of them migrate to the adjoining Karbi Anglong Hills towards the south of the park at the onset of the monsoon. Kaziranga has several well-defined corridors that are used by the elephants for movement between the park and the adjoining hills. Visitors on National Highway 37 will come across several boards asking vehicles to slow down and watch out for wild elephants since their natural corridors intersect with the highway. The Asiatic elephant normally lives in herds that vary in sizes ranging from five to 80 animals. The herds consist of elephants of various age groups from the suckling calf to the old ones. The most cohesive unit of the herd consists of family groups. Foresters like Dharanidhar Boro say that the large herds sometimes disintegrate into smaller groups for the purpose of grazing, or while migrating from one place to another in search of fodder. They, however, reunite once the conditions become favourable again. Members of one herd do not mix with another herd, but stray females and young males are known to do so. Kaziranga is also home to the rare and highly endangered Asiatic Wild Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). It is one of the few most significant habitats of the wild buffalo in the world. Though the present distribution of wild buffalo in the Indian sub-continent is confined to the grassy jungles of Nepals terai, Assam and Bastar on the Madhya Pradesh-ChhattisgarhOrissa tri-junction, Kaziranga has emerged as their best-known habitat, thanks to the special care taken by forest officials and guards. The wild buffalo is an interesting animal. It lives in harmony with the rhino, deer and the wild pig. Wild buffaloes are often seen grazing side by side with them. Researchers who have spent months observing wild buffaloes are of the opinion that the proximity to them provides animals like deer and rhino a vital protection from an attacking tiger. Tigers generally keep away from the buffaloes since they are known to be fierce. Buffaloes move in herds and therefore become much more aggressive when provoked. One of the least sighted animals in Kaziranga is the tiger. But that does not mean that this splendid animal is a rarity. Though there were only 20 tigers in the Kaziranga National Park in 1966, today their number has grown to a substantial 86 in the census conducted in 2000. Marked as the most endangered species in the world today, the tiger flourishes because it has a large prey base to feed upon. Forest officials say that poachers are not really as interested in the tigers as they are in the rhino since trade in tiger bone and skin is not as lucrative as that of the rhino horn. The tiger population mostly preys upon hog, deer, wild pig, swamp deer and sambar. Considered the main predator, tigers, in spite of the availability of easy prey, kill on an average 10 rhino calves a year. The highest number of rhino calves killed by tigers was 15 in 1973. They are also known to prey upon calves of wild buffaloes apart from domestic cattle in the villages in the vicinity of Kaziranga. Though the tiger does not differentiate between wild prey species and domestic animals, they generally avoid the latter because of the presence of human beings. Wildlife experts feel that the tiger plays an extremely important role in keeping the population of herbivorous animals under control. This happens because it is the only predator inhabiting the park. Studies have shown that the mean population density of the tiger in Kaziranga is 17 per 100 sq km, which is the highest density in India. Similarly, Kaziranga also has one of the highest density of large prey, which is 17 animals per sq km. Excerpted from Kaziranga the rhino century by Nitin A. Gokhale & Samudra G. Kashyap

MADHU SINGHAL

unsung heroes
Has helped the visually impaired by setting up a talking library

Tiger, tiger burning bright

Predator Instinct: one of the least sighted animals in Kaziranga is the tiger

Though the one-horned rhinoceros is the star attraction of Kaziranga, its the only place where the elephant, tiger, buffalo and deer live in co-existence, write NITIN A. GOKHALE and SAMUDRA GUPTA KASHYAP
KAZIRANGA is famous the world over for the largest concentration of one-horned rhinos, there are several other rare and endangered animals which inhabit this park. They include elephants, buffaloes, various kinds of deer, Royal Bengal Tigers, primates and reptiles. According to UNESCO, the Kaziranga National Park is unique since it contains as many as 15 species of Indias threatened mammals included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Act, 1972. The rhino apart, other mammals include capped langur (Presbytis pileata), hoolock gibbon (Hylobates hoolock), tiger (Panthera tigris) leopard (Panthera pardus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), Indian elephant (Elephas maximus), Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica), otter (Lutra lutra), wild boar (Sus scrofa), water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), gaur (Bos gaurus), sambar (Cervus unicolor), swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli), hog deer (Cervus porcinus) and Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak). Fearing nothing, caring for nothing/ Wander alone, like the rhinoceros. This is how well-known naturalist EP Gee describes the rhino quoting an unnamed Indian poet in his landmark book The Wildlife of India, the foreword for which was written by Jawaharlal Nehru. A majestic animal, slothful at first glance, serene in its demeanour, the onehorned rhino is perhaps the last link that the present-day world has with the Eocene epoch (60 to 40 million years ago). Scientists say that there were several dozen genera of the Rhinocerotidae family that existed on the earth, but thanks to various geological upheavals, climatic changes and biotic factors, most of the several dozen genera of this family became extinct. According to Arup Kumar Duttas Unicornis, At present, there are only five species distributed in four genera living in the world, two in southern and eastern Africa and three in tropical Asia. These species are: The African White or Square-lipped Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum); the African Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis); the Asiatic Two-Horned or Sumatran Rhinoceros (Didermoceros or Dicerorhinus sumatrensis); the Lesser One-Horned or Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus); and the Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis). There was a time when the Indian onehorned Rhinoceros used to occupy an extensive
LTHOUGH

ISUALLY IMPAIRED but with a grit of steel, Madhu Singhal stands out for her work. Having started Mithra Jyothi, a talking library and vocational training centre in Bangalore, Singhal has made studies easier for blind students from schools and universities with talking books textbooks converted to cassettes and lent for Rs 15 deposit per book, for a year. After their exams, the students return the books for the use of juniors, she says. It is a collective effort. Retired employees, housewives and other volunteers pitch in to do the voice-overs. The library has on rolls 850 members, including 600 students who use its 2,000 books in 20,000 volumes or cassettes. The library has talking books on general subjects too. A cassette costs little. Making a Braille book is difficult. It starts with buying loads of chart paper. A history textbook

range across the whole of the northern part of the Indian sub-continent starting from Peshawar (now in Pakistan) in the west to Assam in the east. It was extensively found in the alluvial floods plains of the Indus, Ganges and the Brahmaputra besides the terai regions of Nepal and present-day Sikkim. Presently, however, the one-horned rhinoceros is confined to a narrow belt starting from Assam, extending through north Bengal and ending in Nepal with Kaziranga remaining the focal point of its existence. Generations of foresters in the Kaziranga National Park, who have immensely contributed towards conservation of this magnificent animal, have recorded their observations over the decades. Minute observations about the rhino by pioneers like EP Gee, PD Stracey, Mahi Chandra Miri, Salim Ali and J.

S. RADHAKRISHNA

Skys the limit for us. We should be made an integral part of mainstream society
needs eight volumes of Braille books and 800-900 chart papers. You then need to engage a typist and pay him too, says Singhal. For Singhal, it is wrong to stereotype the visually impaired to jobs like carpentry or running STD booths. Skys the limit for us, says Singhal, who has started computer courses using the speech-based software JAWS. We should be part of mainstream society. Singal has only one regret she has no time to pursue Hindustani music she post-graduated in. Like her other visually impaired friends, she likes the film Black for its sensitivity. It brings out a blind womans sexuality as a human being. Families are very hesitant to talk about such things to a blind girl. But all that shouting and violence in the first half could have been avoided. Her favourite, however, is the film on Helen Keller. Singhal is restless and describes herself as adamant and difficult to work with. But that doesnt stop her from thinking big. She has already started dreaming of Mithra Jyothis new building on the outskirts of Bangalore.

PART TWO

From barely a dozen rhinos in the wilds of Assams plains in 1900, the park now boasts of over 1,700 rhinos spread across its 860 sq km expanse
Juan Spillet in the early years, in addition to the records documented by later generation of forest officers, go a long way in understanding this star attraction of Kaziranga. The untiring and selfless efforts of these dedicated officers and their staff have today made the conservation of rhino in Kaziranga one of the greatest success stories of the 20th century. From barely a dozen rhinos in the early 1900s in the wilds of Assams plains, Kaziranga can today boast of over 1,700 rhinos spread across the 860 sq km of the park. Naturalists say this is also the only place on earth where all the big five of the jungle elephant, tiger, rhino, buffalo and deer are found in co-existence. The Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus) known to be the largest terrestrial mammal in

M. RADHIKA

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PERSPECTIVE

23

THE EDITOR RECOMMENDS

Van Morrison: No Surrender. Johnny Rogan. Secker & Warburg. Recently, Ray, the film, brought alive a musical

arts&culture

legend. In a season of biographies, this one stands out for its unforgiving but illuminating portrait of a puzzling and reclusive performer. Morrison has made music of transcendental beauty for more than 40 years, but his story reveals a

dour, dysfunctional man, who left a trail of detractors so vast, its almost comic. An epic project, researched over 20 years, No Surrender is a kind of ventriloquism in which a huge sub-cast of characters stand in for the protagonist.

BREAK THE NEWS

Mixed signal: (clockwise from top right) Barkha Dutt reporting, an Aaj Tak anchor, Jassi, an NDTV bulletin, Bunty aur Babli

Mandira Bedis spaghetti straps or cricket? Kargil or Barkha in Kargil? Whats the real news? TV journalism is bending all the rules
Santosh Desai

REAKING NEWS: fictional characters Bunty and Babli presented the news on TV this week. Not Abhishek and Rani, but messrs B&B. Just like Jassi appeared recently on our screens not in any promotion but as a positive role model in a serious debate about the commercialisation of female beauty! The intrusion of entertainment into the once hallowed space of news reportage is by now so well accepted that this too will go without comment. Sting operations lend TV an air of real-time intrigue and crime shows emulate the lurid pleasures of paperbacks. The commercialisation of TV news happened some time back and the implications are strolling in. Already, TV news channels crawl with a rich ecosystem of commercially minded insects, of which PP Jewellers has pride of place. TV is redefining the meaning of journalism. Balance, dispassionate analysis and reverence for facts are giving way to the need for perpetual stimulation and the ability to make news interesting. TV is the modern amphitheatre for all kinds of bloodsport be it the public trial-bysympathy of Gudiya on Zee News or the whoshall-we-lynch -tonight format of Bishan Bedis cricket show on Star News. What we see today is a blurring of the lines that separated journalism from other modes of expression. The lines between fact and fiction (the news brought to you

by Bunty and Babli), reporter and reportage (whats the story: Kargil or Barkha Dutt in Kargil?), opinion and news, stories and advertising are all irrevocably blurred. News has literally become a breathless account of stories and news channels are storytellers that use some form of fact as their material. In the print world the newspaper is above all, an order making device. Every morning, the world comes to us, neatly ordered, with facts sequenced in order of significance, contained in the comforting familiarity of a fixed format. A central authority called the editor pronounces judgement on what is amiss in the world. Papers impose order but allow us the right to skip to the cartoon pages. TV has its own compulsions. It is located in continuous time and imprisoned in its unforgiving linearity. Everything needs to be sequential; a section cannot be skipped; only the channel can be changed. If the newspaper is an act of retrospective reflection, TV news represents that of overpowering immediacy. Introspection is the cosy cranny created by folding time backwards; on TV time can only race forward. Channels flatulent with information break news frequently and with little apparent provocation. Last week one channel broke this sensational piece of news: road to Bihar Raj Bhavan sealed. Yet another thought it fit to accord the same status to the news that Uma Bharati was appointed the deputy to Jaitley in the Bihar elections. The competition for breaking news has reached a crescendo of silliness and what with the somewhat dodgy hierarchy governing the triumvirate of Breaking News, News Flash and Just In, the world has become a place teeming with urgent news of staggering insignificance. The desire to be first with news often overrides the need for correctness; in TV, nobody remembers the past anyway. Remember the bally-hoo Zee News made about a sting operation on currency notes (billed as the Most Courageous Reporting on Indian TV), which turned out to be such a non-event? The distance between the codes of reportage between TV and print has widened in the last few years. In the early days, TV did its best to main-

tain the order-making role of news reporting. The studio was laid out like a newspaper page, movement was minimised so that we concentrated on the words, the newscaster wore an air of studied detachment and heavier news preceded the frivolous stuff like sports. But viewers couldnt help responding to TV differently from print. Minus hair and Salma Sultans dimpled smile were distractions that could not be avoided. With the commercialisation of TV, and the single-minded focus on viewership, this natural characteristic of TV has got amplified. TV news today competes in the toughest market of all the market for public attention. Ironically it is TV that creates a large part of this market in the first place even as it competes in it. No wonder, celebrities are such a big part of todays TV. As natural magnets of public attention, their presence is the glue that keeps eyeballs sticky. Increasingly, we see nobody who is unfamiliar on screen; everybody is first made a minor celebrity and then her/his familiarity is used. The purpose of TV journalism is not to act as a filter but as an amplifier, not be a commentator but a breathless spectator. In many ways, TV does not mediate anymore between the viewer and the news. It is the age of the Un-Media where the role of the intermediary is to expressly not come between the viewer and the news. Instead, it is the viewer who makes the news. Opinion polls matter more than analysis and no expert is free from challenge. Every show is interactive in the here and now. The screen is alive with the viewers opinions. Debates hark back to the town square where citizens challenged their leaders, but in todays electronic equation, it doesnt matter what the leaders say; who re-

Most news now is of staggering insignificance. The Economic Times uses its front page as a TV screen that has just discovered colour and LSD simultaneously
members anything said on TV? Unless its a great sound bite. The bite is the 30 second commercial of the news it offers an unparalleled economy of meaning to make sense of the fleeting image in a fixed unit of time. TV news also changes the traditional meaning of reportage. Interviews today scratches for pleasure rather than dig for knowledge. The mediums subversive power is never more apparent than in the case of cricket where Mandira Bedi uses spaghetti straps and Navjot Sidhu the extravagant metaphor to turn the gentlemanly game into something scarlet and vivid. The codes of TV news have rubbed on to print. The Page 3 phenomenon is just the televisionisation of print. The Economic Times, Indias most respected financial paper, uses its front page as a TV screen that has just discovered colour and LSD simultaneously. At its heart, TV news reflects the democracy unleashed by the forces of media capitalism. In this democracy of desire, media becomes an instrument in the hands of its users; news becomes what people want to see. Like any democracy, this is an untidy and malodorous activity. But TV does not lie, in part because it doesnt need to. The truth that it tells is less about the world it purports to report on and much more about who we are and what we want to be. TV holds a mirror, but not necessarily to the outside world. The writer is President, McCann Erickson
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24

OPINION
ESSAY

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

ment friendly electric car with included o you just passed the board Bose surround sound, GPRS and airbags. To exams, huh? Wow! Congratulations, you have just him, Bose is a Bengali man he meets for his made it through the worlds morning walk, GPRS sounds like a scary toughest test of memorisation medical procedure and he meets a lot of and subsequent regurgitation. I mean there airbags in the office everyday. The future of is a whole world open to you now. You could our nation has become like the re-release of become a doctor, engineer, actor, scientist, Mughal-e-Azam in colour. Old people comedian (wouldnt advise it) Youre showed up round the block, and a couple of young, intelligent and loaded with energy. Hey, let me younglings were dragged along kicking and screaming. ask you something. Have you ever thought about poliYou have to be from a political family: I have news tics? You know, as a career? You can make a killing (not for you. You are from a political family. Its called India. literally). Hey!! Hang on!! Where are you going? Its a large family; you have a billion siblings which My generation does not like politics. It is something means that youre bound to have some sibling issues. that we are forced to deal with in the papers and on the However, look on the bright side, your parents clearly news, but as a majority, we dont really have an interest got along well. in it. We have shown more collective interest in what Politics has become all about religion: I agree. Michael did with children than what Manmohan does Sometimes I feel if god actually saw the amount of slick for children. Jennifer Lopez is understandably more political maneuvering being done to invoke his name, captivating than Jayalalithaa. then he himself would have become an atheist. But isnt Recently I decided to conduct an experiment. I asked that an elitist standpoint as well? 20 young people why they were not interested in poliPolitics is not about religion, politics is about finding tics. The answers were hilariously stereotypical. a way to reach the people and gather support. It just so Lets start with the basics, shall we? happens that in our country, that way is religious. The dictionary defines politics as: (A) The activities Politicians will use what they can get. It is a novel idea associated with the governance of a country. This is the to preach the separation of politics and religion when actual definition of politics which is why it is so uninyou are an upper middle class, well-educated, morally teresting to my generation. We dont have time to think flexible individual. The remaining 90 percent of the about the behind the scenes activities. If it is functioncountry only has two priorities, survival and religion. To ing, why question it? We look at politics much like we them, a politician ensures their survival, and their relilook at a toaster. We dont give a damn about the activ- gion gives them the hope to survive. So lets accept this ities associated with the functioning one at face value, until mass educaof a toaster. Just as long as it protion prevails, they will always be inWe look at politics duces golden brown toast, were okay. termingled. (B) Activities aimed at improving like we look at a toaster. Politics is boring: I disagree. I think ones status within an organisation. politics has all the entertainment As long as it produces value of a good saas-bahu serial. Congratulations ladies and gentlemen, it seems that we are all politigolden toast, we dont Granted that some of the politicians cians in our own way. This only could use a few make-up/fashion tips means that when we are talking, give a damn about the and dramatic background music complimenting, lying, gossiping, could surely spice up the Lok Sabha way it functions working, tattling and negotiating for fights, but the content is still great. that improvement in work, relationMarriages are formed, broken, secret ships, salaries, annual vacations, mid size cars, flat alliances go on, people die, come back to life, lies are screen TVs and frequent flyer mileswe all have polititold, truths are revealed and leaders get makeovers. cal potential. The only difference is that it happens in the board Lets get to the excuses: Politicians are corrupt: No! room instead of the bedroom (except with Clinton who Really? I am sick and tired of people escaping by referhad a knack of combining the two). ring to politicians as a select group of corrupt, elitist, Why do you think so many actors enter politics? Its manipulative old men. In the spirit of pointing out the an easy transition. Give it a chance. Watching politics is obvious, let me also point out that our politicians did like watching formula one racing. Its an acquired taste, not parachute down to earth in the middle of the night but its fun to see people go round and round in circles. wearing tiny helmets with antennas (would have made Politics is kind of like the guy who frisks you at the a great movie though). They come from Indian homes airport. You wouldnt lend an ear to anything he has to and Indian families. And lets not forget that they get say. But when he has got his hands firmly gripping the voted in. The only people to blame for corrupt politiseat of your pants, you are one attentive listener. We cians are the voters themselves (If your guy didnt win, have developed this selfish attitude to politics where we youre excused). Quit saying that the politicians are cor- ignore it, but are suddenly up in arms when it affects us rupt. They are not corrupt, society is corrupt. They directly. We dont care who the chief minister is until he were just smart enough to figure it out first. starts closing the clubs at midnight. We dont care who All politicians are old. Their ideologies are is on the education board until cut offs for college are outdated: Wrong. Politicians are not old; they are just announced. We dont care about Indian foreign policy the only ones who are interested. If young people were until we get rejected for our visa to Disneyland. It is actually interested in politics, the average age would ironic that in a country where the young and educated drop. Mainly because the old people would die of carare rumoured to be its future, the rural and uneducated diac arrest upon learning that we finally woke up. These have a greater interest in politics for survival. allegedly old politicians are deliberating over cutting This is not one of those clichd You are the future! edge technology that they dont understand, modern ed- articles. This is also not a become a politician piece. ucation that they wont receive, and plans that they will Having chosen comedy for a profession, it is clear that not be around to see implemented. Why? Because they career counselling is not my forte. All I am saying is care. Call me an optimist, but thats what I believe. take an interest. Thats all it takes. Youre missing out Technically, an 80-year-old minister should not give a on some great stuff here. Lopez is just a singer, but damn whether future Indo-Japanese relations will Laloo is the real rock star. allow your kids to freely purchase the latest environThe writer is a comedian with a show on Zoom TV

culturepalette

PRAFULLA KUMAR MAHANTA

Former Chief Minister, Assam
How important is art in your life?

Art gives meaning to my life. Music, painting, drama, dance, literature are all as important to me as politics. I am very proud about the fact that it was during my tenure as chief minister that the Sankardeva Kalakshetra was established in Guwahati. This unique institution is a popular tourist attraction today. It has also become the meeting point for artists from different cultural streams of Assam.
Which art form are you most attracted to?

Lopez sings, but Laloo rocks

Politics has drama. Politics has great entertainment value. So why is the younger generation so disinterested in it?
Vir Das

I like watching bhaona (a form of theatre in Assam) and the Satriyya dance form. Earlier, I used to have time to read and listen to music. But these days, it has become very difficult for me to find the time to indulge in any such leisure activity.
What kind of books do your prefer to read? Who are your favourite authors?

I used to read a lot of books on history and biographies at one point of time. Dr Radhakrishnans

Todays movies dont interest me. They portray politicians as corrupt, uncouth and violent characters
books on Hindu philosophy used to be my constant companions. Of late, I have taken to reading books which deal with contemporary India. The last book I read was Open Secrets by former Intelligence Bureau official MK Dhar which details a lot of underhand dealings that take place in the corridors of power. It was interesting to read Dhars theory about how the Congress helped form the United Liberation Front (ULFA) of Assam.
Do you watch movies?

I dont get the time to go to cinema halls. But I do watch movies when my children are watching them at home. The current crop of movies dont interest me. Most of them portray politicians as corrupt, uncouth and violent. They are presented as one-dimensional characters. In my younger days I used to love watching movies with patriotic tones. The songs in those films were inspirational.
Any favourite actors?

ANAND NAOREM

reading
KANCHA ILAIAH
ACADEMIC

watching
MINI MATHUR
TELEVISION HOST

listening
POOJA BEDI
ACTOR

I used to enjoy watching the Assamese movies of the 1960s and 70s. As for Bollywood heroes, I liked Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand.
NITIN A. GOKHALE

I JUST read This Far by Faith by Aby J. Williams and Quinton Dixie. It talks about human equality and emphasises Jesus statements about it. It inspired the blacks of America to organise themselves into a social force that could liberate itself from slavery.

I JUST watched the film Mr Bean with my little niece. It was a wonderful experience re-visiting it. It is a great entertainer and an absolute stress-buster. Completely enjoyed the film and had lots of fun watching it.

I AM compiling a collection of CDs for a friend and getting to listen to some fabulous music from the golden era. Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and some of the best country numbers. Their voices are stunning. Its literally been a feast of music for me.

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

MONEEKA TANVIR

REVIEWS
1930-2005

25

She was the vigorous, unseen spirit that drove Naya Theatre. Her death has created a void
Vikram Iyengar

Who will slap Habib Sahib now?

HE FIRST I recall meeting

Zorro Isabel Allende

Moneekadi was in Delhi, 1992. I was in the city for some work and was staying with my aunt. Moneekadi and Nageen were there too. Both were recovering from illness and were not able to accompany Habib Sahib to wherever it was that he had gone. Having grown up watching Naya Theatre, I was understandably in awe of them. As I was leaving, Nageen had some altercation with the maid something to do with making too much noise as she was trying to listen to a Sulochana Brahaspati LP. Both voices were rising and as I hurriedly exited I heard another strident voice booming forth from the bedroom: Nageen, Nageen! Thats my first official recollection of Moneekadi heard, rather than seen. She always managed to make herself heard! A couple of years later, at college in Delhi, I began to meet the Tanvirs more often. They lived in Ber Sarai then and Habib Sahib would drive around the city in their little fiat looking very dapper in the winter months with his beret and pipe. Moneekadi presented a very different picture. Relaxing on an armchair in her patent sleeveless blouse, pallu thrown carelessly over her shoulder, she always reminded me of a particularly maternal and jolly bulldog. A hugely comforting and approachable presence. Once, my aunt, in a wholly unnecessary description of me, said that I constantly looked as if I had achieved nirvana. Immediately, Moneekadi shot back, Maybe he has. And out gushed that famous laugh, a deep rich hearty gurgle always too infectious to ignore. It is this wicked sense of humour that defined her. One never knew what she was going to say. Moneekadi, who had studied theatre at the University of Denver, had started a company called Garage Theatre. Habib Sahib joined her, and together they started Naya Theatre in 1959. Yet, she once told me Habib Sahib had cast

her in plays very rarely and always as a prostitute. This idea must have filtered through to Mira Nair when she cast her as the Madam in Kamasutra. The last time I met Moneekadi was in December 2004. She was in high spirits. Presiding over dinner, she recounted outrageous experiences some part of Naya Theatre and Tanvir lore. She told me about an incident early in her relationship with Habib Sahib. Times were hard, they had no

One fine morning the phone rang and she boomed, Vikram! We are here. Where are the girls? What could one do? I rustled up a group and sent them to the school where the show was to be staged that evening. Never seen on stage, Moneekadi was tireless behind the scenes. At the end of every show she would be introduced either rising laboriously from a seat in the auditorium or stepping carefully out of the wings to acknowl-

Habib Sahib would look dapper in his beret and pipe. Moneeka presented a different picture. She always reminded me of a maternal and jolly bulldog
money. One night they found themselves with nothing to eat and nothing to buy food with. So, she said, they decided to return to their rented accommodation, make a little love, and go to sleep. When they got home, they found a neighbour waiting with a large carton for her from her sister. It had some roast peacock inside. Moneekadi was nothing if not sudden. She called one day from Bhopal to say Naya Theatre would be performing Sasural somewhere in Calcutta in about a months time. They needed a few young girls for the crowd scenes. I spoke to a few people but there was no word from Moneekadi after that. edge the applause. Gripped by arthritis, one could never imagine that not a single thing happened backstage without her knowledge, not a detail of costume or prop she had not supervised: indeed, she probably knew where every single safety pin was. What else did she do behind the scenes apart from the thousand different jobs that keep a play going on stage? Well, she slapped Habib Sahib, for one. Pipe firmly in place he once recounted an incident during a show of Charan Das Chor in Russia. Playing the purohit in the second act, hed forgotten about an impending entry and gone off to the

dressing room to puff on his pipe. By the time he remembered and rushed back, some damage had been done and there was, in his words, a dead space on stage. Just as he reached the wings, Moneekadi greeted him with a resounding slap across his face. With such an impetus, no doubt the wiser, he went on stage as the wise purohit. But as he ruefully admitted, I deserved it. What I remember most about Moneekadi is her unbridled enthusiasm and vitality. They had both come to Calcutta in April 2004 to watch my production, Crossings, for which Nageen had composed the music. Habib Sahib had to leave after the fourth show, but Moneekadi stayed till the last day. Ill never forget their intense discussions and disagreements as they brainstormed every night about how the production could be improved. Moneekadi wanted a dagger to fly across the stage at a pivotal point. To that, Habib Sahib only said, Shes always been one for the dramatic. She saw six of the 10 shows of Crossings, hobbling into each one, swollen with arthritis, clutching my arm in a vice-like grip, her sari gathered up to enable her to walk easier. Her grip is something I will never forget: it gave ample indication of her tenacity and determination. Moneekadi was a livewire in Naya Theatre, a livewire in the theatre fraternity in India and also the world. Naya Theatre, quite frankly, cannot be Naya Theatre without her. She was so much part and parcel of Habib Tanvir, so much part and parcel of the theatre. During her recent illness, the troupe visited Calcutta for shows, possibly for the first time without both of them. Govind Ram, who has made the character of Charan Das Chor immortal, confessed to my mother man nahi karta. And rightly so. Moneekadi has truly left a void, as a theatre person, a human being, and as the staunch partner of a man who redefined what Indian theatre is about. The writer is a dancer and playwright

A dashing hero, dark villains and great romance. Allende packs it all into her new novel on the swashbuckling icon

The World is Flat Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Friedman explores the impact of globalisation and new technologies that flatten the world

SHARAD SAXENA

Mangal Pandey Rudrangshu Mukherjee

The book poses interesting questions. Most important among them was Pandey a martyr or an accidental hero?

Mirza Ghalib A Biographical Scenario Gulzar

Gulzar moves away from the conventional biography format to present Ghalibs life and poetry

Blood lines
A fitting tribute to a spirited writer and an erratic, lovable mother
Mridula Garg

Diddi, My Mothers Voice Ira Pande Penguin Books Rs 250

IRA PANDE says in the prologue of Diddi, While writing it I deliberately put aside all that I ever learnt as an editor. Ironically, the book can best be described as a work of brilliant editing. The centrepiece is a collage of carefully chosen samples of Shivanis fiction and memoirs. Considering her vast repertoire, the selection shows rare editorial skill and insight. The rest is more in the nature of providing links and daughterly comments. In that Pande has proven true to her own dictum, with which, I thoroughly disagree, ... all daughters ultimately grow up to be like their mothers. She has romanticised Shivani just as Shivani romanticised everything her pen touched, fiction or real life, including death. The drama and romance reached its pinnacle in the story Lati but is there in all her work. Prettiness be-

comes beauty; talent, genius; selfless acts are termed divine. Damsels are doe eyed, men, strong and handsome. Fittingly, in her last long story, Pootonwali, she finally created a heroine, graceless as a dhobis bundle, but the story is as romantic as Lati. Pande follows suit. A drama is made of the commonplace fact of not knowing that one of the siblings is a stepsister with someone exclaiming My God, what a woman your mother must be! But I am in full sympathy with Shivani for not baring her lifes sores in her memoirs. After all the whole purpose of literature is to provide an opportunity to use real life material for writing fiction. The hardships she reserved to narrate in her... stories. Three cheers for Shivani for not succumbing to cheap sensationalism. Not that the hardships were as onerous as Pande

makes them out to be. For example, she talks of a lack of money and also says, Much to my fathers chagrin, the run of the house was given to the servants who included maids for pressing feet. It shows that lack

Shivani romanticised everything her pen touched, fiction or life, including death
of money is a relative term and one can romanticise it ad infinitum. An incompatible marriage was her real cross and she managed to turn it to good account in her fiction as Pande fully endorses. Even those who are not fans of Shivanis romantic style of writing would admit that the Hindi literary pundits made their greatest blun-

der when it failed to honour it for its immense readability. Also for the rare quality which enabled Shivani to be her own person despite a middle of the road text and an allegiance to traditional form. Had they given her, her due, they would not be wailing for lack of readers today. I must give full credit to Pandes creative translation of the Hindi prose. I could get my teeth into the content far more easily in English, because the rich garnish of her Hindi had been toned down. Whether one savoured her poetic verbosity or choked on it, the ornate richness of the language was always a hurdle in getting to the text. This book is a fitting tribute to a spirited woman, an erratic but lovable mother and a unique writer who captivated readers who helped her thumb her nose at the holier than thou Hindi critics.
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26

IDEAS
I BELIEVE in god. God is a supernatural power that looks out for us humans. It manifests itself in many forms. I find god in the majesty of nature. Trees, flowers, birds, waterfalls, grand mountains all affirm my belief in the existence of god. They are works of art of the supreme creator. I think

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

GOD
&i
Ratan Thiyam
Theatre Director

Spirituality teaches you to introspect and know yourself to the core

that god has aspects of both the feminine and the masculine. God is multi-faceted. It would be simplistic to attribute a specific

gender to this power. Spirituality is an essential aspect that modern man needs to cultivate. By spirituality I dont mean the belief in a particular faith or adherence to rituals. True spirituality teaches you to think deeply, to introspect and to get to know yourself to the core. Once we know our-

selves completely, we will have the power to distinguish right from wrong and think before we act. A spiritually balanced person has the ability to contemplate the consequences of her/his actions. This self-knowledge will help to contain the endless cycle of violence which is engulfing the modern world.

Six films. Billions of dollars. Millions of fans. But whats the secret of the success of Revenge of the Sith? Lowered expectations. SAMIT BASU says what few others will: the whole Star Wars thing is very overrated
N The Empire Strikes Back, the most memorable of the six Star Wars films, Darth Vader, cinemas most famous metalhead, utters the series only memorable line I am your father. After Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith broke all US box office records again by collecting $158.5 million in its first four days, its easy to imagine Emperor George (Lucas, not Bush Lucas is the one with the beard) sitting with a globe in his hand going Whos your daddy? Six movies, billions of dollars, millions of fans, dozens of box-office records blasted into outer space. All to study one burning question: Is George Lucas a Jedi Master or a Sith Lord? Is he a living embodiment of the Force, or a mere peddler of Industrial Light and Magic? Most film critics would give Lucas a permanent seat in the Dark Sides evil assembly. Hes the big daddy of Hollywood masala, the man whos shown the world that with the double-sided lightsaber of marketing and merchandising, its possible to create one super-hit film after another with special effects alone. Who else could have created a mammoth franchise where all the interesting characters are mechanical, computer graphics or humans in fullbody costumes? Who else could make three huge films just to reach a plot twist the whole world knew about two decades ago? Whether youre a Star Wars fan or just sick to death of the whole thing, theres no denying that the Force is strong within George Lucas. Revenge of the Sith is, without doubt, the best film of the new trilogy in other words, its better than its two completely terrible predecessors, The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Whats the secret of its success? Lowered expectations. At the end of Sith, were just so grateful that the

HOMO SAPIENS

RETURN OF THE

We turn, once again, to the things that first drove us to films human stories starring human characters. These are what drive epics, however fantastical, and these are what machine-master Darth Lucas had to turn to in the final chapter of his great saga, to steer his lumbering spaceship towards a spectacular ending
humans actually do some acting, that there is actually the semblance of a story, that Jar-Jar Binks doesnt have anything much to do, and that Lucas, having finally realised hes hopeless at romantic dialogue, chose to let the films key romantic moment happen in silence, that we end up actually liking the movie. To give it its due, its not a bad film at all even in terms of the entire series, it comes a close second to The Empire Strikes Back. Like that film, there is actually a degree of tension and drama running through Sith, and in between the spectacular special-effects sequences, the humans actually end up talking to one another. Ian McDarmid, as the soft-spoken and utterly evil Senator Palpatine delivers another convincing performance, Ewan MacGregor should prove popular with the kids as Obi-wan Kenobi, particularly since he now sports a long and unintentionally funny beard. Hayden Christensen, as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader acts a lot better than he did in Attack of the Clones,

and not just in the scenes where his face is covered hes discovered a new depth and range as an actor, and his face in some scenes is now at least as mobile as Sonia Gandhis. Natalie Portman as Padme disappoints through no fault of her own her stomach acted brilliantly in Clones, but shes pregnant through most of this film. The only actor who could have made Revenge of the Sith better than The Empire Strikes Back Christopher Lee, who infused his character, Count Dooku, with some real menace in Attack of the Clones is beheaded early in the film by Anakin, no doubt because he flouted Lucas ban on humans out-acting the computer graphics. What is it about Christopher Lees epic villains? First his brilliant turn as Saruman got cut from the third Lord of the Rings movie and now Dookus head gets cut off in Sith, thus ensuring that the special effects, the most expensive ingredient in the movie, are once again the real star. Which is not a characteristic of the second trilogy alone the stars of the original trilogy have been vocal in expressing their feelings on their roles Harrison Ford (Han Solo) once said (about his lines) You can type this shit, George, but you sure cant say it. Alec Guiness (the original ObiWan) once gave a child his autograph on the condition That you never watch that awful film again, and Mark (Luke Skywalker) Hamill once famously said, I have a sneaking suspicion that if there were a way of making films without actors, George would do it. But in the end (or in the middle, which is where Revenge of the Sith leaves us) the Star Wars franchise is a pop-culture megalith that you have to experience because, well, like Everest, its there. However flawed this great Wookie-haired beast is, its one of the defining characteristics of our age. It marks the beginning and the end of the special-effects-for-special-effects-sake film era. Movie fanatics in the 1970s might have been swept away by the grand Star Wars spectacle, but todays audiences are no longer impressed by sound and fury alone. Post-Star-Wars special-effects film franchises have to have, in addition to mindboggling graphics, a grand emotional sweep (The Lord of the Rings) a tight plot and engaging characters (Harry Potter, Shrek) or superstar actors (The Terminator) to achieve both critical acclaim and box-office success. On the strength of nostalgia, marketing and sheer history the Star Wars saga has managed to pull it off, but other highbudget films with light and sound but no story (Van Helsing is a prime example) have disappeared without a trace. In the 21st century, we know that the bespectacled wizards sitting in animation studios all over the world are capable of showing us things we would find hard to imagine, and so we turn, once again, to the things that drove us to films, in the first place human stories starring human characters. These are what drive all epics, however fantastical, and these are what machine-master Darth Lucas had to turn to in the final chapter of his great saga, to steer his lumbering spaceship towards a spectacularly successful ending. The writer is the author of The Simoqin Prophecies, Penguin India

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

TRENDS

27

THE EDITOR RECOMMENDS

Mantra. The new album by Faakhir Mahmood, the Pakistani singer whose solo,

society&lifestyle

Mahi Vay picturised like a sequence from Chicago has been rocking on MTV. Faakhirs first album, Aatish was a kind of earthy, ethnic pop collection. The sound of Mantra is more experimental. It ambitiously

seeks to evoke the four elements: earth, fire, wind and rain. An electric engineer by vocation and a keyboard artist, Faakhir says that the Beatles, Queen and RD Burman are his eclectic inspirations.

I hate Indian critics

Sonia Faleiro
Why Parineeta?

The brat and the gem

Deepa Gahlot
TS QUITE a well-known fact, yet it seems to startle those who discover it anew. Vidhu Vinod Chopra is Ramanand Sagars halfbrother. But hes as different from the whole kitschy filmi culture as the Ramayan was from Munnabhai. He couldve had a passport to moviedom without lifting a finger, but he chose to learn filmmaking at Punes Film and Television Institute (FTII) instead. Mad and maverick are labels he revels in. He does do things considered crazy by the industry. Like refusing lucrative ad films because he doesnt want to be corrupted by money. The talent was soon evident. His diploma film Murder at Monkey Hill, about a hitman who falls in love with his target, won a National Award and international festival invites. His next film, a documentary, An Encounter With Faces, about street children, earned him an Oscar nomination. Reason enough for him to become a bit arrogant, and attack a critic who dared pan his first feature film Sazaye Maut. The film, about a jobless man who ends up killing his employer, was a dark, self-consciously arty film, just the kind FTII graduates make when they come out, full of the world cinema influences theyve imbibed. Earnest, but bound to fail. His next film Khamosh, a cheeky murder mystery set against a film shoot, is quite an underrated gem, but again, not a success. With his next film Parinda, Vinod found his style and voice. At the time he made the film, he was often quoted as saying that he had first built a structure on the foundation of commercial cinema and then slowly removed the scaffolding. Parinda, a technically accomplished gangster movie, had stars like Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and Madhuri Dixit willingly coming to his small suburban apartment to rehearse something unheard of in mainstream cinema because hed convinced them they were part of something special. Parinda was not a big hit, but the signs of arrival were there. The char-

He wants to sue Suketu Mehta. And slap people. This is Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Angry, bullish, confident. Talking about his new film Parineeta, the mediocrity of Bollywood and the dream of Hollywood

Its a film Im very proud of. Its as good as Gone with the Wind. And very expensive, unlike Munnabhai MBBS. When I see its promos between those of women thrusting their boobs at the camera, Im bloody proud. Its a 25-crore film with a new girl, whos bloody brilliant. Who else would take such a risk?
Kareeb and Mission Kashmir were panned. What went wrong?

Youre the only person to ever ask me this. This is a false question. Mission Kashmir was ranked by The New York Times alongside Costa Gavras Z under the title Two Thrillers, Two Traditions. People I respect, like Dustin Hoffman, have been very kind about Mission Kashmir. Kareeb wasnt a film I had a great time making. Sanjay Bhansali, who worked with me for eight years, was supposed to make his debut with it, but he made Khamoshi. Frankly, I got slightly bored. Anyway, there isnt a single Indian critic I respect. We have critics who criticise others while making movies I wouldnt piss on.
Youre part of Indian cinema, yet outside it... Is that true?

hes on the street. He writes, Im told, (I havent read the book) that he came to my house and there were my three wives. What is this nonsense? Renu (Saluja) was my ex wife, Shabnam is in Canada. I have had one wife for nine years. I havent spoken about this to the press, but talking about it to you makes me think I should sue him. It suits him to project this image of an Indian director, because it fits into the dangerous mind of Americans, who like to feel superior to everyone

I try very hard. But I get angry with people like Mehta. If he came here now, I would slap him.
Parinda set the tone for gangster films in India. What do you think of the new genre?

There is very little good Indian cinema being made. The last three good films I saw were Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and Black.
Black? Even though its a frame-byframe copy of The Miracle Worker?

Is it? I didnt know that. I havent seen The Miracle Worker. Im sho-

Who would give up Cambridge for a government course? asked a professor. A mad man, Vinod replied calmly
acter of the devilish don played by Nana Patekar (who won every award that year), the killing of Anupam Kher against a frenzied flight of pigeons, the hitman who plays the flute before every job, the aesthetically shot love making scene between Anil and Madhuri have been copied in many films after. Its also the first time Jackie Shroff won acting awards. By this time, Vinod was married to editor Renu Saluja, who he had met at the FTII. He says he gave up an opportunity to work in Hollywood because she didnt want to move, and he was too much in love to leave her. The break-up of this perfect match some years later came as a surprise to industry folk, more so because they remained friends and Saluja edited his films till she passed away. Vinod went on to marry documentary filmmaker Sukhdevs daughter Shabnam, which also didnt last too long. Vinods next film 1942 A Love Story was also a technical accomplishment, but not a commercial success. He had a running feud with critics, peevishly accusing them of running down his film because they were not invited to the premiere. His bratty, aggressive behaviour was often noticeable in those days, perhaps a way of concealing fear of failure and the tumult in his personal life. Success, that came in a limited way with Mission Kashmir, and marriage to journalist Anupama Chandra tamed him somewhat. Ironically, his biggest success came with Munnabhai, a film he graciously produced for his assistant Rajkumar Hirani. His new film Parineeta is directed by adman Pradeep Sarkar. Vinod himself has moved on to his international project The 5th Move. Hes also getting set to direct Yagna and involving himself in Gangsta MD, the international version of Munnabhai to be directed by Mira Nair. If there had been a vote amongst his FTII peers, Vinod would have been selected as the one most likely to make it internationally he has training, technique, style, imagination, individualism and the courage to make films without keeping an eye on the boxoffice. He is also conceited enough to call himself great. But he is on his way.

Im not in Hindi cinema. Im in cinema. If I compare myself to mediocre Hindi cinema, I am God, but compared to Ang Lee, Im nothing. But Im striving very hard to be there before I die. I was nominated for an Oscar at 21, and offered a job in Hollywood. Now I have a script at Warner Brothers, and Twentieth Century Fox bought Munnabhai MBBS. I had dinner with Peter O Toole in London, while publicising Parineeta. We talked about my script The Fifth Move and got drunk on single malt. Ill never forget how he praised my work. He showed me RADA that night, after I told him that as a kid in Kashmir Id really wanted to go there. When he took me, I said, Yes! This is it.
You refer to Amitabh Bachchan as Amit. Even his wife calls him Amit ji in public. It tells me a lot about you.

ASHESH SHAH

Suketu Mehtas crazy. I should sue him. If he came here, Id slap him. Aamir Khan was reading the book, but when he reached my chapter he threw it away. The book should be banned
else. The book should be banned.
Mehta mentions your desire to immigrate to Canada.

cked! Ill see it and decide who did a better job. Maybe Bhansali did!
Looking back at your early years, is there anything youd change?

(Laughs) His name is Amit! I think I live so much in isolation, I dont know how the rest of the world lives. I really like him. Hes a very good man. Watch him in Yagna. Hes a fucking bomb. He rehearsed for a year before shooting began.
Has your relationship with Suketu Mehta soured after Maximum City?

I dont want to talk about him. I let him into my house, took him everywhere. But for me that book wouldnt have been written. I never knew he was writing about me and my family, just about Hindi movies. If I didnt want to forget about it, Id sue his pants off. Aamir Khan was reading the book, but when he reached my chapter he threw it away.
You slap people when youre angry?

Mehta is crazy. His marriage is over,

Ive slapped a couple of critics, which is why I never get good reviews. But I havent slapped anyone for a long time. I have young children so

Id still want to be born in Kashmir, but Id ask for a better education. I wish my father couldve sent me to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). But its complicated. If Id gone to RADA I wouldnt be me. Id be discreet, which Im not now! But I think what I am to India, Id have been to the world. Ill still get there. ...I think Id have liked to get married only once. But again, I went through very beautiful relationships. No, Im happy being myself.

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28

TRENDS

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

minty tejpal

Im still Gurus cinematographer

Nine films. A lifetime. Guru Dutt and VK Murthy a rare team. As Time puts Pyaasa on its top-100 list, heres a glimpse into their duet
Chinmayee Manjunath
IS EYES light up as he muses, We never expected our films to become such classics. Sitting in his Bangalore home, VK Murthy smiles at the mention of Pyaasa in Times list of all-time 100 best films. Decades later, our hard work is still praised. He sounds surprised, this eminent cinematographer who worked on every one of Guru Dutts films. Far away from the studios where they created masterpieces together, Murthy says, Guru would have been so happy to hear this. Their partnership, which spanned nine films, started in 1951. Dutt and Murthy met on the sets of Baaz, Guru Dutts directorial debut starring Dev Anand. Murthy, armed with a diploma in cinematography, was an assistant cameraman in Mumbais Famous Studios. I suggested some shots in the

Tricked us!

FILM:

BUNTY AUR BABLI

DIRECTOR: SHAAD ALI STARRING:

AMITABH BACHCHAN, RANI MUKERJI, ABHISHEK BACHCHAN, RAJ BABBAR, AISHWARYA RAI I GO to see Bunty aur Babli with a smile on my face. The music, the cast, the entire look of the film looks promising. With a name like Minty, and an older brother whose pet name is Bunty, I have known odd balls like Bunty aur Babli all my life. Abbe, is phillum mei mazaa aayega! Rakesh (Abhishek ) is a small timer from Fursatganj, somewhere in UP, where his father (Raj Babbar) is a ticket-collector. They stay in a typical mohalla where people queue up for water at the community tap and a clerks job is considered perfect. But Rakesh aspires for a better life, illustrated by his fixing a shower on his terrace, which he plans to hire out for 50 paise per bath. Brilliant scheme! Toilet rituals often sum up the difference between a small towner and a city slicker. Between people who are content to squat over an Indian style potty making do with their hands, and others who will only grace a western pot with toilet

Guru knew how to tell a good story and hed create scenes on the spot. He never planned in advance. He had such a ear for music, Murthy says. Although back then, I never appreciated the lyrics. Sometimes I was almost bored, particularly with the tragic songs! But he used songs to take the story forward, not break it. Under Dutts patronage, Murthys work began to be praised. A shot in Pyaasa, where Dutt stands with arms sprawled in a theatre balcony, still draws compliments. Several song sequences also became popular. But the film that really won Murthy accolades was Kaagaz Ke Phool, Dutts last film and Indias first to be shot in cinemascope. A visiting unit from Twentieth Century Fox had left behind some specialised lenses in

embraced me after seeing the rushes and said he had never seen such work, Murthy says. That meant so much, coming from such a senior man. Murthy credits Dutt with being able to recognise and channelise talent He always got the best of his actors and technicians. Johnny Walker, for instance, always got good roles in Gurus films and did some of his best work in them. Mention Dutts now legendary status and he smiles, He was always a brooding fellow but really very informal, very jovial. He remembers that Dutt loved eating sambar rice from Murthys home. He would always ask Kya kha rahe ho, Murthy? After Dutts tragic suicide, Murthy began working with other directors. He worked on Pakeezah and Razia Sultana with Kamal Amrohi. Meena Kumari and I once had a famous cold war when she started out. Finally she cleared it on the sets of Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam. She was a nice person and it was terrible to see her ill in Pakeezah, he says. In Razia Sultana, Murthys shot of a baraat descending from the night sky was a hit. Hema (Malini) told me that I made her look beautiful. Girls always want to look glamourous, he says. Murthy also worked on films like Love in Tokyo, Naya Zamana and Jugnu. In the 1980s, he started working for TV I worked with Shyam Benegal on Discovery of India. When my former assistant, Govind Nihalani, made Tamas, I was the cinematographer. But TV never gave him the same satisfaction. The sheer reach and scope of cinema is incomparable, he says.

The con-tactics are too simple, not mad enough like the 70s films, though its nice to catch a movie shot in UP not Switzerland
paper alongside. Between the masses who cleanse themselves with a bucket of water under a slow tap and the privileged few who shower under uninterrupted rain. Rakesh dreams of the latter. Pop disagrees, so he runs away. Elsewhere, Vimmi (Rani Mukerji) refuses to get married and runs away to become a Miss India. After being booted around in the harsh world, the runaways meet in the most amazing manner at a railway platform when Rani asks Abhishek to walk her till the bathroom since its dark. Superb! Then the duo team up as Bunty aur Babli and set out to con the rest of the world. They buy hotels, rob malls, sell the Taj Mahal and make pots of money. Towards the interval we meet Big B, playing a cop who wants to catch the deadly duo. Unfortunately the con-tactics are too simple, not mad or fun enough like in the 1970s films. Towards the second half the film jumps around dizzyingly between Agra and Mumbai till it reaches a mad climax. En route Aishwarya Rai pops up in a song, and Babli has a son. The music is distinctive and catchy in bits, the kind you hum to. The detailing, from background music to clothes, is good, and its nice to watch a movie shot all over Uttar Pradesh not Switzerland. Rani, tarty and tangy in turn, is absolutely brilliant throughout, and Abhishek shines in a few disguises. The Big B has done it better before, though its nice to see him with his son. A fun film, but not as great as it seemed. I wouldnt see it again!

Actor-Director: (clockwise) Dutt in Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool and Chaudhvin Ka Chand

interludes of the song Samaya Guzarta Jaye and Guru liked them, he says. That day after pack-up, Dutt said to him, Youve inspired me, Murthy. Well always work together. Guru gave me the freedom to be creative, he says. Never interfering but always demanding, Dutt let Murthy experiment and create his own style. This, with the limited technical availabilities of the 1950s, was not easy. Murthy had to be very observant and innovative. In Aar Ya Paar, I placed the camera in a hole in the ground to shoot a speeding car. Another time, I was up on a tree, dangling the camera at a particular angle, he chuckles. Guru would scold me Murthy, be careful, you are more precious than the shot. Sometimes, Murthy would get into a fix by suggesting a certain shot enthusiastically and then having to work it out. One was a zoom shot where he had to focus on the heroines face. The lighting was casting shadows because we would attach a light next to the lens. Finally, I used movable rods with little bulbs attached, which could be manipulated by my light-boy, he says. He was also the first to use standing reflectors while shooting outdoors. Earlier they were placed flat on the ground. I made frames for them so you could manipulate the light, he says.

In Aar Ya Paar, I placed the camera in a hole in the ground to shoot a speeding car. Another time, I was up on a tree, dangling the camera. Guru would scold me Murthy, be careful, you are more precious than the shot
their Mumbai office. When Dutt came to hear of it, he asked Murthy to shoot with them. We took some shots of Geeta (Dutt) with stunning results. So Guru decided to shoot Kaagaz Ke Phool in cinemascope. The film showcases some of Murthys finest work. A beam of light that he recreated using mirrors was a landmark scene both in India and abroad. Guru saw a beam in the studio and asked me to recreate it. It was such a challenge, he says. Shooting in Chennais Gemini Studios, Murthy also broke an unwritten tenet of the time and shot outdoors without sunlight. All the studios cameramen came to see that shooting, he remembers. Kaagaz Ke Phool won Murthy a Filmfare Award but, more than this, he was praised by his contemporaries. Fali Mistry, Raj Kapoors cinematographer, Murthy reasons that despite technological advancement, nothing can compensate for a lack of observation. A wrong camera angle can make Madhubala look like Nargis, he says. No gadget can replace a keen eye. But he does find a lot of good work being done presently, especially by Santosh Sivan, who he finds excellent. Murthy retired and moved to Bangalore three years ago, where he lives with his wife, Sandhya, and their daughter. I still miss Mumbais buzz and the studios, he sighs. Accolades still pour in. Hes just learnt that he will be conferred with an award at this years International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) ceremony in Amsterdam on June 11. But no matter how much I work with anyone else, I am still known as Guru Dutts cinematographer, he says softly. Always associated with Guru.

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

ISMAIL MERCHANT

PEOPLE
1936 2005
The team did well on their American and Continental excursions. If Ivory was the skilled, unobtrusive director, Merchant was just the man to bring his highly individual talent to light. Merchant, the street-smart Mumbai businessman who had gone to America to acquire a business degree, did not actually need one. He was probably the most resourceful independent producer in America and possibly Europe. He combined sharp commercial sense with fine artistic judgement. He made sure Ivory got top-flight talent to work with cameramen like Mitra, Lassally and Tony Roberts, whose images lifted the fine Remains of the Day, and the considerable Howards End. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson gave their most moving performances in these films. Isabelle Adjani, Alan Bates, Christopher Reeves and Naomi Watts shed their star images to grasp the subtle thrust and parry technique to articulate a Jhabvala script interpreted by Ivory. Actors were at home in a Merchant-Ivory film because they were welcome there. Merchant, the Indian in exile, expressed his feelings about how Urdu was being driven to near extinction in an India dominated by right-wing forces in his film Muhafiz. But his directorial debut did not take off. Merchant and Ivory came together again in L Divorce in 2003, creating a charming comedy of manners. Merchant by then had very little to prove as did Ivory. Merchant, despite being a successful producer of American films with a European slant, paved, perhaps inadvertently, the way for filmmakers of the Indian diaspora. Because of him, Mira Nair, Gurinder Chadha, Shekhar Kapur, Deepa Mehta and others found acceptance and a fair degree of success. Merchant showed that the colour of ones skin need not come in the way of success provided one was totally committed to a goal.

29

HARTOSH SINGH BAL

earthetc.
Flower Power
T MAY be as close to universal truth as men will ever get. Women like receiving flowers. Recent research from Rutgers University has suggested this in the course of a series of experiments seeking to unravel the evolution of flowers. It is already known that many of the flowering plants that we see today have co-evolved with insects. Some of the best evidence for this comes from ultraviolet images of flowers pollinated by bees that reveal details not visible to the human eye. The images reveal guidance patterns routing bees to the dark centre of the flower where pollination can be carried out. Bees have very pragmatic reasons for their behaviour, such as the search for nectar and pollen, but humans seem to have brought in emotive considerations into evolution. The study by the Rutgers

Shakespeare Wallah
Partha Chatterjee

Charm, amazing resourcefulness, wily business sense and artistic commitment. Merchant had all this and more

SMAIL MERCHANT, in a career span-

ning 44 years, did exactly what he wanted make films of his choice. In 1961 he fortuitously met the soft-spoken James Ivory. Theirs proved to be the most durable producer-director team in film history. Their polished literary adaptations like The Bostonians (Henry James), A Room With a View, (EM

went on to be a lifetime collaboration. The film was shot by Subrata Mitra, who had photographed Satyajit Rays most memorable films. It found many takers in the West. Shakespeare Wallah, their next film, had hidden depths of genuine emotion. Filmed in black and white by Mitra, it revealed with an almost Chekhovian perception, the fate of

Merchant showed that the colour of ones skin need not come in the way of success if one is totally committed to a goal
Forster) and Quartet (Jean Rhys) won them great acclaim. Their 40-film collaboration garnered six Oscars. But there were also detractors who found these films too genteel and bloodless. When they began their first film, The Householder, neither of them, nor their scriptwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had a feature film to their credit. Theirs an English theatre company in post-independence India. The Guru, their third film, was shot in colour. Bombay Talkie was their last decent film in India, though their creative energies had already begun to flag by then. They did return almost a decade later to do Heat and Dust, a not too successful mix of Raj nostalgia and modern angst.

Bees eye view: ultraviolet image of a pollinated flower

The aesthetic preferences of women have been a crucial factor in the evolution of some flowers, says recent experiments

scientists tested flowers against other possible gifts such as a fruit and sweets basket and a large decorative candle. Of the 147 women tested, all those who received flowers responded with a smile; however, there were no smiles from 23 percent of those who got candles and 10 percent of those who got fruit. Such preference for the more aesthetically appealing of flowers seems to have resulted in many of the flowering plants that we see around us.

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30

TRENDS

11/06/05 Tehelka The Peoples Paper

SHOBHAA DE
Writer

Amir Mirs REPORT FROM PAKISTAN TELLS

US THAT EVERYTHING WE ARE BEING TOLD ABOUT Meera, THE NEW CROSSOVER SENSATION, IS A PUBLICITY CONSTRUCT. SHE IS A WOMAN WITH A DUBIOUS PAST AND A GIFT FOR SMOKESCREENS

I believe that villagers have the best sex life. Urban India is completely confused
What age do you think its okay to have sex? Sex is about responsibility. Most teenagers forget that vital aspect. There is no specific age for sex. The right age is determined by your levels of maturity. Does casual sex bother you? It bothers me. Theres nothing casual about sex. Just as theres nothing casual about commitment and communication. Im judgmental about sex outside marriage. I believe in honesty between couples. Even if you are open about an adulterous relationship, it leads to grief. Its just not worth the hurt. What do you find odd about the Indian attitude to sex? The odd thing is our schizophrenic attitude to sex. We are obsessed with it. Yet, so-holier-than-thou when it comes to dealing with it upfront. Our attitude is unhealthy very depressing. What change would you like to see in sexual attitudes? More openness. To hell with sex-is-

T IS an intriguing story. Deceitful, yet admirable for its drive. A woman who combines a dubious past and feline sexuality with an overweening appetite for respectability travels across borders determined to wrest her moment under the halogens. She has many gifts she peddles, but the gift she does not speak of is her gift for smokescreens. Meera now of Nazar and Mahesh Bhatt fame has recently been appearing relentlessly in the Indian press, casting a careful kaleidoscope of images: peace ambassador from Pakistan praying at the shrine of the chisti, gutsy woman braving fundamentalist ire, the ingnue with diamond dark glasses. Shes purred her way through interviews creating a perfect persona: I kiss on screen but I dont have any boyfriends; I go home every day after work and sleep next to my ammi; I became a star at 14, Ive never had a childhood; my father is a businessman, my mother is an educator; I love shopping in London and I want to marry Mr Right, but he must have money. There are slivers of truth there, but thats all they are. Slivers. The story Meera is not spilling is that she is really Irtiza Rubab, a girl from a lower middle-class family in Sheikhupura, dusky, pouting, hungry. When her father, Sarwar Shah died, her mother, Shafqat Zara Bokhari apparently married four times. The sliver of truth is, Meeras latest father is indeed a well-off businessman. Again, the sliver of truth is, Meera is something of a star in Pakistan. She has won four awards as Best Actress and has more than 60 Lollywood films to her credit. But the story shes not spilling is that she also has an infamous reputation in Lahore for dancing at private mujras, sometimes in the nude, and for being a paid companion. Her clients include illustrious people, ranging from senior officers in the army to members of the Pakistan cricket board and politicians in Benazir Bhuttos Pakistan Peoples Party. Meera flares up when shes asked about her infamy in Heera Mandi. Other than myself, Zeba Bakhtiar happens to be the only Lollywood heroine that does not belong to Heera Mandi, she flashes. Otherwise, almost all leading Pakistani actresses shoot from the red-light area. Technically speaking, she may be right. Meera, who came to Lahore at the age of 15, was not born in Heera Mandi, but shes dan-

Chanel. This is where she met Mahesh Bhatt; this is where she launches all her PR from. As she says, without a trace of irony, Being in showbiz, you have to put up a show. But scratch a little, confront her with some old stories, and the faux facade slips. Why make such a big deal about sex? she says exasperatedly. It is in animals. It is a natural biological process that is a part of life. It is a bodily function similar to going to the toilet and eating. Just look at the population of this country. We have so many people just because someone out there is having sex. Definitely not the voice of a little girl who sleeps with ammi every night, romantically waiting for Mr Right (with a lot of money) . Certainly more the voice of a woman who, the story goes, once disposed off a shawl, the only piece of clothing she was wearing, at a petrol station in Lahore, leaving the petrol pump crew flabbergasted.

The story Meeras not telling is that she has a reputation in Lahore for dancing at private mujras and for being a paid companion
In India, when Mallika Sherawat, the now internationally feted sex kitten, first came on the scene, she brazenly manufactured an oppressive, lower middleclass background and a conservative father she said she was escaping from. The media fed on her stories, loving the idea of a runaway Haryanvi iconoclast. It turned out none of that was true. Meera is doing the same. She might be manufacturing a different story a respectable past that does not exist but the impulse is similar: immense, unblinking ambition. Mallika had her eyes set on Hollywood. Meera does too. She used to be paid Rs 2.5 lakh for her Lollywood films, but Nazar has boosted her star. She recently turned down two Bollywood films, each offering around 13 lakh. Her reason? For me now, this is a petty amount, she says. I plan to shoot direct up to Rs 50 lakh per movie. Burgeoning vanity? No, not vanity, she insists. I know what I am and what I deserve. I know I am the best. I am the fairest of them all. Meera has not had a conventional education; she does not speak English well. At a recent press conference, she gave a little of herself away, when she opened the session with: Now the court is in your ball. She has since hired tutors to pave over such cobbles on the road to her metamorphosis. Her silicon implants might count for another such initiative. One can only admire the gumption. Beneath the heavy make-up, the diamond specks, the titillating gloss, the cosmopolitan airs, huddles a gauche girl. Or a crouching tigress, depending which way one looks at it. Directors speak of a self-obsession verging on paranoia. She is a perfectionist they say, who wants the best side of her face, the best angle of her mole, the perfect arch of her eyebrow to reach audiences. Even if it means a 20th retake, she will insist on it. She is not a natural born actress, but she is determined to take her place among them. No matter what it takes to pave the way: rich boyfriends, songs-in-the-rain, nudity, silicon implants. Or lies.

sex
what we think of it
sin hypocrisy. Indians need to grow up. Guilt kills sex. Most Indians are on an endless guilt-trip about sex. Do you think there are the differences in sexual attitudes in urban, rural and small town India? Of course. Its way too complex an issue. Rural India is most secure in its attitude. Small town India is in me-too mode. While urban India is completely confused. Which makes me believe that villagers have the best sex lives in our country! Is sex an enhancer in your life or are you indifferent to it? Sex is the ultimate creative energy. It is an enhancer when two people are in a compatible relationship. Good sex is based on good communication. I wouldnt say sex has broadened my mind or liberated me. I would never under-rate the importance of a strong sexual bond in a marriage mine included. On a scale of 110, I rate sex-inmarriage at 8. A marriage/relationship that registers a low of 3 or 4, is one that lacks the all-important frisson to keep it alive. Its a thanda arrangement. How can one improve ones sex life and make it exciting? Use your imagination. Invest. A strong sexual equation is built on trust. Press the right buttons at the right time. Tune in to your partner, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually. Sex cannot be seen in isolation. IRENE OBRIEN

Mallika Sherawat has brazenly manufactured an oppressive background while Meera is manufacturing a respectable one
ced there (initially) and at private mujras (lately). Her rate for a mujra is between Rs 3 to 5 lakh, while her record has been 25 lacs for a single mujra paid by a wealthy businessman from Karachi. Meera now lives in Defence, a posh enclave in Lahore, in a house gifted to her by Sheikh Saqib, an industrialist friend from Sialkot. The trappings are all in place. The demure lines. The simmering sexuality. The Guccis and Calvin Klein, the Givenchy and
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Shadow lines, the many faces of Meera: (from top) Praying for nations, on a peace march with Mahesh Bhatt, the siren past, the signature dark glasses

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Tehelka The Peoples Paper 11/06/05

TRENDS

31

IRENE OBRIEN
SON OF THE SOIL? Former Indian captain Kapil Dev knows how to weep out his heart for the country. Recently in Delhi, he did not mince words when asked to express his views on Greg Chappells selection as coach of Team India. Who is Greg Chappell, asked Dev. Is he an Indian? I am wondering myself if anyone other than an Indian can feel 100 percent for India in a cricket match. His blood wont boil if we lose badly. His heart will not throb if we win a thriller. Is Indian blood running in his veins? I dont think so, he says.

Inside-Out: Padma Lakshmi

NUDE CHARITY If you thought charity was not in Padma Lakshmis dictionary, then you are wrong. Model and wife of author Salman Rushdie, Lakshmi does her share of good work. But she does it in her own style by posing nude. If reports are to be believed then Lakshmis nude photographs have been doing the rounds, with avid fans shelling out thousands of pounds to get hold of the photographs. Taken to raise money for the Elton John Aids Foundation, Lakshmi has no qualms about the snaps. Certainly the photos are a little risqu, but eroticism is a fundamental part of the human nature. Its futile to ignore it. Its not scandalous to accept this as reality, she said.

pil Dev with wife Indian Bond: Ka

Chain Reaction: Abha Dawesar

PHYSICS MY DEAR, NOT CHEMISTRY Its the chemistry between two people that evokes sexual attraction, but for author Abha Dawesar, nothing but physics will do. Dawesar is excited about Anamika, the protagonist of her forthcoming novel Babyji. Anamika is a physics wiz, a 16-year-old who rationalises her multiple seductions in the language of her science and math classes. Im almost done with it and its fantastic; Babyji may accomplish what even my father couldnt it might persuade me to study physics, says Dawesar. Laws of action & reaction, that.

PICTURE PERFECT Every picture tells a thousand stories, is what photojournalist Rana Chakraborty proved by bagging the Mumbai Press Photo Contest 2005 award for the daily life section. Chakrabortys theme was based on migrant women and talaq. Asked why he chose to work on this subject, he said, I come from a family of migrants from Bangladesh. I have been a witness to many women who have lived isolated lives and fought odds after being left by their husbands. It was this plight that I wanted to capture and bring to the forefront.

Exploited and Tormented: the award winning photograph

whyhighsociety
REMO FERNANDES
SINGER

stinks

I DONT think high society stinks at all. I think high society has its share of stinkers, like all societies do. Unfortunately, as in all societies, the stinkers are the ones who grab most exposure. In the case of high society, make that Page 3 exposure. But just because this minority is high profile, it is by no means the sole representative of high society. I wonder if they are even entitled to the title. Why, in most of them the word high could only be associated with their state of inebriation, not their social calibre. As all societies, though, high society too has its vast silent majority. People

True high society is high on values. Not on champagne, cocaine, kinky sex and publicity. And believe me it exists in far greater numbers than the noisemakers
with true taste, culture, breeding, intellect, morals and altruism. You would rarely see these faces in the celebrity news you probably wouldnt even know their names because they choose to remain private. Many of them have lifestyles that are simple as compared to the wealth and power they own and wield; as compared to the flashy stuff they could

easily afford and flaunt. But flash to them is distasteful, unnecessary, and a waste of time. They patronise quietly and donate generously to genuine charities, and their motives go beyond tax deductions to actual involvement and personal work in homes for the aged and the dying, in orphanages, among the homeless, the abandoned animals, wherever their particular inclination might draw them without an entourage of reporters and photographers to make their actions known to the world and its cousin. To me, this is true high society. High on values. Not on champagne, cocaine, kinky sex and publicity. And believe me, it exists. In far greater numbers than the noisemakers, in far greater numbers than magazine readers will ever know. I have the privilege and pleasure of knowing a few, and naming them here is the last thing I would do. But I know who they are, and I know they dont stink.

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