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Towards
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Over a period of eight decades, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences
has emerged as an institution of excellence with its focus on
high-quality research and socially significant interventions

Jindal School of International Affairs

India's First Global Policy School
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ADMISSIONS ANNOUNCEMENT 2015-16

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O P. Jindal Global University la a non-profit university recognised by the University Grante Commission (UGO) and
established by the I-leryana Private Universities (Second Amendment) Act, 2009, in Sonipat, l-laryane (NCR of Delhi)

Distinctive Features of Jlndal School of international Affairs (JSIA)

Giobd curriculum and pedagogy
Partnerships with the best educational establishments around

the globe
interdisciplinary courses to train students in ernerghg areas of
global policy studies

Mandatory internship end foreign language training

Extensive careerguidence

Bachelor of Arts (Hons.l [Global Affairs)

BA. (Hons ) (GA) is e three-year programme it is an inter-

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lntemaiional studies library with over 50.000 volumes end

exdenslve electronic databases
intemaiionai student and teouity exchange programmes
Regular public lecture series and seminars engaging eminent
scholars. govemment representatives and practitioners from
aroundtneworld
Fully wireless campus with high-tech classrooms and modem

lrallsof residence

Master of Arts (Diplomaq, Law & Business)

diecipllnery undergraduate degree to train atudenta for

MA. (DLB) in e two-year inter-disciplinary social science

Meeteredegreethattrainesurdentetorlntemetionaicereere
and advanced teeming inworideffaire. ltwasleunched in
lheyeer2011.

aerlatand2ndyeare

Programme Modes: Monday to Friday (Residential) and

Saturday-Sunday (Non-Residential) for working

lntemelloneicareersthroughbasiclearnlnglnworidalfairs.
Academic Course Structure 6 Semeeters with lntemehlp
Specialisation in regional studies of Africa Latin America,
Europe Middle Eeet&Aeie Pacific
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organisations

professionalsofNCRDelhl
Academic Course Structure: 4 Semeetere. 4 Core Coureee
andanoptiontochooeeeiectivesfromtaw,Bueinees,
internailoneilelra, Public Policy and Humanities
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careers. Careerbirectoracetatestudents infinding the rightinterahipe both in the countryand abroad

Sample of lnternehlpe : Aotionaid, Save the Children. CNN-IBN, Croce Domain, Human Rights Watch, Oxfarn, IDSA, Amnesty

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VOLUME32

conrnovsnsv

NUMBER12

JUNE13-26.2015

|S5NO970-1710

WWW.FRON1'LINE.lN

covsn sronv

ESSAY

Redening social sciences

Through creative partnerships and meticulous research, the TISS tries to close
the gaps in state intervention to address
i|T Madras:
Derecognising dissent

crater in Tanzania

crimes against Dalits

interview:
Anand Teltumbde,

30

civil rights activist

32

He was the blues

91

ART
Riyas Komu's show:
Experiments with truth
In conversation

PO LITICS
Tamil Nadu:
34

Aruna Shanbaug:

Between life and death

Karnataka:

T H E STAT E S
Interview: Chief Minister
43

THE JUOICIARY
On having images of

47

WORLD AFFAIRS

105

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
The hounds of Mudhol

41

95
98

E UT H A N ASIA

Assets case: Karnataka to

36
appeal against acquittal
Kejriwal takes on
Lt Governor in Delhi
38

leaders in advertisments

67

T RIB U T E
B.B. King:

Maharashtra: Rising

K. Chandrashekhar Rao

TRAVE L

Africa's ark, the Ngorongoro

2!

Rajasthan: Murder for land 27

Telangana: One year on

61

18

SOCIAL ISSUES

One-sided contest

Ambedkars legacy

social deprivations and sufferings. 10

COM MUNALISM
Haryana:Arson at Atali

Sangh Parivar and

116

ISSUES IN FOCUS

RELATED STORIES

Hashimpura victims:

Left high and dry

Interview: S. Parasuraman, Director,

Tata Institute of Social Sciences I.
Agents of change 10
Interview: S. Ramadorai, Chairman,
Governing Board, TISS 12
Local thrust 1!.
Interview: R. Ramakumar, Dean,
School of Development Studies 17

117

C0LUMN

C.P. Chandrasekhar:
Great dream of prosperity A9

Jayati Ghosh: Orchestra

in search of a conductor 101
K. Satchidanandan:
Of Dalit life and resistance 109
SCIENCE NOTEBOOK 120

Rohingya refugees:
Nowhere people
Iraq: Fall of Ramadi
United Kingdom:
Warning against the ISIS

51

56

On the Cover
A representation of the emblem oi the Ti55.

59

ll]'\/Lil lJl:'_~I'_j~N U. iJi_'ii-VA .:i~Ai\-\.iii~i

DATACARD

122

THIS FORTNIGI-IT

124

BOOKS
LETTERS

83
129

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JLiNE26,20l5

FRUNTLINE

COVER STORY

I{EDEI*II\IING
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Inte1'\~1'ew with S. Pz11'z1su1';11m111, Director of the Tata Institute 01" Social
SCiG11CGS. er R.K. RAIJHAKRISHNAN
E

-___-0 ~ '| .

_"

S. PARASURAMAN, Director, TISS: "Social science research is fundamental to peace, solidarity and national security."
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for emerging social and health problems in

lndiaageing, social distance, mental illness, disability,
homelessness, migration, displacement, inclusive

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) started

out in 1936 as the rst South Asian institution for professional social work education. In the past decade, it has
developed as an institution committed to social sciences
education, research, eld action and disaster manage-

to this aim from a research perspective?

ment. As its Director S. Parasuraman says in this interview, social science is about showing us the mirror.
In a diverse country with a population of 1.2 billion, an
uneven yet spectacular economic progress and rapid so-

People live in various social, economic and political

contexts. Demographic and economic changes are not
the same everywhere. It is important, therefore, to understand the context rst and then locate people within the

cial changes, the TISS has made itself deeply relevant by

its research into social processes and patterns of deprivation and its quest for solutions through knowledge and

context. Only then do we begin to understand what

happens to various groups of people who are embedded
in diverse contexts. We take research very seriously. It is

direct intervention at the community level.

only through good research that we can contribute to

critical issues in the 21st centuIysuch as poverty, vulnerability and human rights. Often, identifying who is
vulnerable can be a contested issue, vulnerability being a

Addressing the 75th Annual Convocation of the TISS

on May 12, N. Ram, Chairman of Kasturi and Sons

Limited, said: One of the characteristics ofIndia's system of higher education... is its lop-sided concentration
on engineering and technological education at the expense of the basic sciences and, in a more pronounced
way, at the expense of the arts, humanities, and social
sciences, which are often treated as so subjects." The TISS has been one of the few

major educational institutions that have

gone some way in addressing this imbalance. S. Parasuraman says in the interview
that it is important to understand social
processes: If we do not understand the so-

cial processes, we will not be able to anticipate and cope with strifes and conict that
increasingly emerge from disaffection. In

fa

development, and so on? How has the TISS contributed

multidimensional concept. For example, being a Dalit

and a woman in an ecologically fragile region is a relatively more vulnerable situation compared with being a
man in better-developed areas.
Having done the research, one looks at

as-15,4

5)Q

ways of addressing the core issues. Current-

ly, we are working on the issues of elderly

people. So we havejoined hands with groups
working with the elderly across the country.
An example is our collaboration with the
Pension Parishad, with whom we have con-

irfw

TISS

recent years, the TISS has combined its

strong research thrust with practical eld action and has

entered into fruitful collaborations with organisations

trying to make a difference in situations of disaster,

deprivation and economic and social backwardness. Not

the least of the TISS achievements has been to produce,

DY
sauntna ducted research on the condition of elderly

people in various parts of the country. We

are a knowledge-development institution
that provides academic credibility to collaborative research, which ultimately leads to socially useil

policies and interventions.

Our work with the government is always very important. We are working with the new government [at the

year after year, dedicated social work professionals who

Centre]. There has been some success, such as in the

emergent programmes for the elderly in Rajasthan. Ra-

are willing to accept the challenge of working in the most

difficult circumstances in the most backward districts of
the country.
In the decade that Professor S. Parasuraman has been

jasthan has developed a higher level of welfare pension

and is thither bringing the elderly in the ambit of all
welfare schemes meant for children.
For instance, the elderly can now avail themselves of

its Director, he has reset the course of the institution,

the midday meal programme. Since they are considered

reinforcing its commitment to issues ofsocial justice and

poverty alleviation. This period has seen the expansion of

to be below the poverty line, they are also eligible for

the TISS to ve campuses, including the ones in Guwa.ha-

This is a shining example from Rajasthan which other

ti and Hyderabad; an increase in the number ofacademic

States can emulate.

programmes, from a few courses to about 54- now; greater

opportunities in social work education; and important

Let us take the example ofthe elderly again to demonstrate how we work on multiple dimensions, for which

collaborations with non-governmental organisations

(NGOs) such as the Mental Health Action Trust

(MI-IAT) in Kerala and The Banyan in Chennai. Today,

research serves as a starting point. In this case, at one

level we are working to create a welfare pension programme, at another we are working for creating im-

the TISS work covers communities ranging from those

proved care for elderly people through our vocational

living in the cold deserts of Ladakh to tribal people in the

remote Nicobar Islands. In a wideranging interview,

education programme on gerontology. The course brings

together both clinical and community care components.

Parasuraman, who steered the transformation in social

The latter is especially important in the context of migra-

work education, research and applied work in India, tells

Frontline that much more needs to be done.

tion and povertywhen children move away, the elderly

How can social work education contribute to solutions

provisions under the PDS [public distribution system].

are left behind. Not everyone can afford individual care.

So we are demonstrating a model of community care in
Kerala.
FRONTLINF.

JUNE 2n. 2015

germinated. The vision was to create human service professionals who would work with people in difficult situations. Social work has always been a profession that is
supposed to deal with problems that are created by social,

economic and political churnings and which in turn

O-_\l<v-

affect the life courses of groups and individuals.

In developed societies, the wealth generated through
capitalism is redistributed to care for people who nd
themselves in difficult conditions. In a feudal society like

ours, inherently exploitative situations and appalling living conditions exist for many peoplebeing Dalit, being
tribal, being a woman was never easy. Within such a
societal frame when you introduce development of a
liberal or neoliberal type, problems magnify for the al-

ready disadvantaged. It is an old predicament. Do you

wait for the appalling conditions to become abysmal to

IllL

if

AT THE MUHBAI CAMPUS of the TISS.

ls community interested at all in caring for the elderly

or the marginalised people?

begin social work, or do you anticipate problems and

work to minimise adverse effects so that the problem

stays manageable?
Most social workers in India tend to work with the
absolutely underprivileged people, people in difficult situations. But there are also social workers who think that

it is possible to deal with structural issues or to humanise

A community care model for the elderly can work.
Witli the panchayat, the responsible authority for disbursing the pension money, as the locus, convergence of
programmes can happen. Vi/hat we are trying to demonstrate is that with the resources that can be mobilised
through pension [Rs.l200 in Kerala], coupled with other
social welfare benets, it is possible to organise services

development. VVhen you see people who are dealing with

the structural issues and trying to inuence developmental issues that are creating impediments to people,
then you see the social workers as a warring tribe. Our
country cannot afford a rcdistributivc model of development, what it follows instead is an Anglo-Saxon one
which does not seek structural change, where wealth

for the elderly at the community level. The elderly can be

creation take centre stage but poverty is very acceptable.

brought to the community care facility where doctors can

This process throws ever new challenges for human ser-

attend to the group rather than the elderly seeking

healthcare individually. The elderly may also spend time
in group activities and entertainment at the centre as a
protection against neglect and isolation. That is what we
are trying to demonstrate in Kerala.

vice professionals.

If you are wealthy, you can have individualised care.

But for elderly people who lack income and support, it is
possible to create community care using state resources.
At the same time, we must work with the government to

What is the prevalent model of development all

about? Historically, development is viewed as a process
whereby nation states have moved from being largely
agricultural to being largely industrial, largely rural to

enhance the resources for the elderly so that holistic

largely urban entities. Along the way, access to and con-

support can be made available to them.

trol over the means ofproduction have been reorganised.

FEELING Tl-IE PULSE OF SOCIETY

Inclusive development... is it even possible?

Some people accumulated wealth and the means ofpro-

In India, more often than not, the visible social work

duction, while a large number ofpeople lost access to and

practitioner is seen as an activist, a kind of thorn in the

flesh, so to speak, be it the Narmada agitation or the

control over these. Since the limdamental assumption is

many movements across the country. It is always a

social activist who takes centre stage and leads

agitations. Why does this happen? What other roles can
a social worker assume given the fact that there is no
great respect for a social worker in India?

the investment and productivity ofcapital, accumulation

has taken centre stage.

We have a situation today where one percentage of

the world's population controls over 99 per cent of the

world's wealth. That is where the model of economic

The TISS was established in 1936 at the height of the

development takes us. Some nations believe in better

redistribution through welfare. Others are distrustful

Great Depression, when liberalism as an ideology had

even of welfare, charity and philanthropy. In such places

failed, the world was recovering from the First World

you leave people where you nd them. Here, they may

War and heading towards the Second. The Indian econo-

never get access to better education, skills and better

my was in ruins. In Mumbai [then Bombay], there was

employment. They may regress very far away from well-

unemployment and deprivation. It was in this context

being. Such a model of development cannot be inclusive.

that the idea of establishing a school of social work

It is not meant to be inclusive.

FRON'l'l.lNF.

JUNE Zn, ltili

THE TlSS'S RESTRUCTURED PROGRAMME and collaborative work with the government improved its academic

quality, says Parasuraman.

There is a view that social science research is an elitist

indulgence in a country where a billion people go
hungry. ls that a fair criticism to make?

stand the nature of people's movement from rural to

urban areas. VVho were the migrants, why were they

large majority ofpcople have very little to consume. What

coming, where were they coming from, and what interconnections remained between urban living and the
rural context. Understanding urban and rural contexts in
continuum, rather than in isolation, has been integral to
our work. We need to explore the factors and processes
that push people out of rural areas. Development theory
predicts that rural land use and resource patterns eventually change. Simultaneously, people's skills evolve to
match new conditions. We all know that while the Eu-

social science does is to study whats happening to social

ropeans had close to 4,000 years, the industrial revolu-

processes and economic processes. It is able to say what

the condition is, why it is so, and suggests how you deal

tion and the imperial colonies to make that transition, we

with it. It does not matter if a country is rich or poor

pressed. I/Vhile displacement of people from traditional

because social science docs not take much resources

livelihoods is happening at a rapid rate, we lack the

compared with even basic research in the natural sciences. Social science is about showing us the mirror.

capacity to create alternative employment for them.

Hence the urgency to understand and intervene in the

Now, the truth is often very uncomfortable, so we tend to

transformation taking place in rural areas, even as we

think it is unnecessary. But then, we also need to under-

address the influx of people and spread ofdeprivation in

stand the social processes. If we do not understand the

urban areas.

W'hy do billions go hungry?

Yes, not because of allocation to social science

research...
Billions go hungry because 10 per cent of the pop-

ulation consumes 90 per cent of the resources. And a

are dealing with a situation where time is painilly coin-

social processes, we will not be able to anticipate and

cope with the strife and conflicts that increasingly
emerge from disaffection. Social science research enables
us to feel the pulse ofsociety, chart the change processes
and the causes and consequence of change. It is indamental to peace, solidarity and national security. Viewing

social science as a burden is unrealistic.

RESTRUCTURING TISS

When you were handed charge of the TISS, you

obviously had a set of goals in mind. What were these?
How much of that have you been able to achieve? What
areas need more work?
Truthfnlly, I simply had no idea what was waiting for

There seems to be an over-emphasis on rural

deprivation compared with urban deprivation. Your own
students go more to the rural areas than to urban
areas. With the teeming millions flocking to the cities
looking to make ends meet, don't you think you should
focus equally on urban deprivation?
Urban studies have always been an important part of

me. I was on a P5 United Nations posting in Bangkok.

My annual salary at my present employment is less than
my monthly salary there. So people were laughing at me,

saying "this person is crazy". My employers kept the seat

warm for me for sh; months after I left for the position at
the TISS.

In 2004-, the only thing people in the selection com-

work at the TISS. The Centres for Rural Studies and

mittee asked of me was whether under my leadership the

Urban Studies were established in the 19605 to under-

institution could be transformed, keeping in mind origiFRl]NTI.INE

JUNE 3e.z:a15

nal vision and newer needs. The TISS presented an academic and managerial challenge. At that time, the
teaching and research faculties at the TISS were clearly
demarcated. Social work faculty were located in the

teaching departments, social scientists populated the research units. There were 80 faculty members, and the
annual student intake was 125. The institute was doing
good work, but was it too little, fragmented and isolated
from wider changes in economy and society? The one

thing that I believed very strongly in, then and now, is

that quality education is the best way to transform the
people and the nation. I can say this from personal
experience, hailing from a small village where my father
was a marginal farmer, where we waited for festivals to

have rice cooked at home.

The TISS governing board gave us permission to
restructure the institute. We began a process of review
and reection with the Academic Council and the faculty
to discuss and rethink the vision and mandate of the
institute. From September 2004- until February 2006, all
faculties, departments and units engaged in discussions
about vision, relevance, mandate and our contribution to

HA;-l

THE TISS has several new rnulti-disciplinary

programmes such as Development Studies, Disaster
Management, Public Health and Social Entrepreneurship
to address the varied needs of the social sector.

the extemal world. We commissioned two papers to

document the critical reflections about the institute's
functioning, the relevance of its courses and contributions, emergent challenges and ways to address these. On
the basis of these discussions, older departments and
units were reorganised into schools and centres with

order to demonstrate our commitment to engage with

the needs of the contemporary world. Often it was not
easy to nd resources to initiate new programmes. There
is an interesting story around the setting up ofthe centre

for Disaster Management.

diverse disciplinary focus. Also during this time, new

programmes were introduced and faculty members were

FINDING PARTNERS

recruited. A long process was involved in establishing a

relationship with the government. We had to debunk

What is the rationale behind expanding the way you

many myths. Everybody thought we were a private institute! Working with the govemment ministries was
extremely important for achieving the goal of working
with people.
Our restructured programme and collaborative work

have done?
We are a country of1.2 billion people. In early 2000s,
only 120 students graduated from the TISS every year.
What difference could we make as an institution? Most of
our students went to work for industrial houses or NGOs.

with the government improved our academic quality and

created diversied employment opportunities for graduating students. This year, we were able to place 1,000
students. We run the Prime Minister's Rural Develop-

VVhile all the time what was really needed was social
sector professionals. This country continues to need disaster management professionals, public health professionals, and of course social entrepreneurs. We can't be

ment Fellowship programme. We are going to run the

Prime Ministers Skill Development Programme. What

talking about social and political empowerment without

began as a TISS fellowship experiment is now emulated

by many State governments that wish to initiate the Chief
Ministers Rural Development and Skill Development
Programmes. Our contribution has been to create possibilities and increase the scope ofwork in the social sector.

economic empowerment.
Initially, we only had a small campus in Mumbai.
Many State governments requested us to create regional

campuses. Finally we agreed on Hyderabad and Guwahati because these gave strategic access to the southern
and eastern regions. We could disperse the students in

In the near future I can envision at least one development

worker in every panchayat. Millions of jobs are needed

different contexts, attract new faculty and create work

with regional focus. We made concerted investment in

and must be created in the social sector because it is

areas where more immediate attention was needed.

extremely underdeveloped.

As globalisation intensied, mental health became an

cussed mainly on the discipline of social work. We in-

important area of concern. Ten to 12 per cent of India's

population needs some form of help. For this, we had

troduced several new multi-disciplinary programmes

only psychiatrists with a highly clinical approach to men-

such as Development Studies, Disaster Management,

Public Health and Social Entrepreneurship to address

tal illness. But mental health is more than a clinical issue.

It is also a social construct. There are socioeconomic and

the varied needs of the social sector. It was necessary to

develop this expertise in our faculty and programmes in

political processes that create conditions for people to

develop mental illness. Mental health, the way it is con-

Earlier, the institutes academic programme was fo-

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h,l()l5

ceived and dealt with, is different in different contexts.

We wanted to approach mental health from a social
perspective and create skills to enable professionals to

World Bank in 1995, he said, 10 years from now if anyone

thinks about sustainable development, they will come to
the Bank. Most of the multilateral and bilateral agencies

work with people who were grappling with mental ill

transformed their mding to lend only to those institu-

health at various levels and contexts. We wish to become

tions that are aligned with their ideological framework.

very good at what we do, and to meet the challenge of

creating professionals in mental health we are collaborating with the best institutions in the country.

So now when we talk about sustainable development, we

dont know what it is. \Vhen we talk about participation,
the question is, whose participation? So basically this is
what happened to social science research when the state

All premier institutions seem to think that way...

withdrew and the mding agencies came in with their

agendas. If you were for that kind of agenda-research,

We have our strengths, but many institutions are also

doing cutting-edge work in areas such as mental health.
We believe in working closely with such institutions. For

you had resources. Ifyou had an agenda that was devel-

instance, can we replicate what Adaikalam [The Ba-

the nation and society, then you had a problem.

nya.ns transit care home for mentally ill destitute women] is doing? What The Banyan is doing? Do we have a

SPACE FOR CIUTICAL THINKING

oped organically by the faculty on the basis ofthe needs of

theory for it? VVhile we have academic expertise, we must

institution in the past. In recent times, we have established many such collaborations to meld knowledge and

Staying with theory itself, there are political parties left

of centre which have penetrated academic institutions
and have tried to establish themselves very firmly in all
areas of academic and institutional functioning. Then

practice, which in turn would enhance both to create

you have the rightists who are trying to make inroads.

better solutions to social problems.

Does this fundamentally affect the working of an

also develop the ability to work with other organisations

and institutions. That is something we did less as an

institution like the TISS?

How easy or difficult is this process? Does it fly with
academic councils or governing councils? How do you
select partners across India? ls not long-term
partnering risky, considering that most institutions are

individual-centred?

Do the institutions have avision? D0 they have clearly

dened objectives and an agenda on where they want to
invest their resources? Make it public, make it known.

Institutions must provide space for the depiction of all

persuasions. Dont limit to one particular ideology or

We have to be very careful. We are choosing NGOs

paradigm. Provide the lll range understanding of all

that have an accountable and transparent system and

development paradigms. Allow the organic growth of

who respect the people they work with. They must have

individual capabilities of the students. If there is clarity

demonstrated skills and knowledge in that particular

area and they should be willing to share that knowledge
with others. We do a lot of assessment to understand
whom we are working with. And I am willing to withdraw
if preconditions are violated. We don't work with in-

about that, then it is always clear on the direction taken.

An academic institution should be the space for critical
thinking and not dedicated to any one ideology. This is
where the institutions governing board, academic council and faculty need to be vigilant. We have a strong ethics

stitutions with prot motive. If service to people in difficult situations is your motive, then we will work with you.
We work with groups like Aruna Roys MKSS [Mazdoor
Kisan Shakti Sangathan], Barefoot College, The Banyan.

committee to clear research proposals. The faculty and

the students and the governing board are watchful of the
work ofthe institute. This is very important. Thats where
the TISS culture is very different. Our students can come

Some like the Childline are established by our own

and question us on specic research proposals. Our faculty have several forums to discuss issues and bring clarity

students.

to our work. Our functioning is absolutely transparent.

STATE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

The TISS is on a path of explosive growth. Why did you

Are you satisfied with the quality of social science

research in India?

want to leave?

The quality of social science research is very poor,

fundamentally because the research agenda is set by the

funding agency. We do the research because they give us

relentless, extremely diicult and tiring. Much of my

energy has been spent in worrying about nances. There
have been other pressures. I teach a minimum 10 hours a

the money. Social science research needs to have organic

week, guide M.Phil and PhD students and travel three

growth. The scholars must be able to establish the agen-

da, to have strong theoretical and conceptual orientation

days a week. This has been extraordinarily diicult. It has

been an exhilarating but also an exhaustingjourney. The

and framework, and be able to invest time and resources

Governing Board of the TISS with Government of India

in investigating instead of being driven by sponsored

research. Sponsored research is destroying the social

and Tata Trust nominees and independent experts have

been instrumental in shaping its direction. A new lead-

sciences.
When James Wolfensohn took over as President of

ership with vision, energy and some courage can steer the
TISS towards further excellence in the next 10 years. El

The last 11 years as the Director of TISS have been

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE lo, 2015

COVER. STORY

Agents of change
Through creative partnerships and meticulous research, the TISS
tries to close the gaps in state intervention to address social
deprivations and sufferings. av n.K. RADI-IAKRISI-INAN
In 1993, two young women barely out of college,

Banyan and the TISS, realising that mental health issues

Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar, took

upon themselves the challenge of caring for mentally ill

were largely dealt with by psychiatrists and treated with

medicines in the country, wanted to address the treat-

destitute women. They founded The Banyan, in Chennai.

ment gap. Mental health issues cant be solved by cor-

Our responses were patient-centric and based on the

recting serotonin and dopamine levels [in the brain]

perceived need. We took up the issue of homeless [mensor Vandana Gopikumar, founder trustee.
It did not. Rehabilitated patients wandering away

alone, distress can be a result of structural barriers and

these have to be addressed," says Vandana Gopikuma.r.
The need to address multiple, complex, inter-related
issues in a structured manner resulted in The Banyan

from their homes after being reunited with their families,

setting up an academic centre, The Banyan Academy of

the lack of mental health care facilities in twothi1ds of

the country's districts, and The Banyans own belief that
institutionalisation is not the way to go ahead in caring
for the mentally ill, forced it to transition into a centre

Leadership in Mental Health (BALM). The TISS found

in BALM a partner that worked on the same set of
objectives: BALM was founded with the aim of forming

that offers comprehensive care packages for men, women

knowledge with other interested stakeholders to expedite

and children in distress and/ or alicted with severe and

care for the mentally ill and close the treatment gap.

common mental disorders. Its strategic focus to prevent

and/or adequately address a descent into homelessness

Effective human resources, trained in an ecosystem that

is representative of the real world, was crucial in this

or a state of acute psychological distress, often as a conse-

vision. The TISS-BALM collaboration currently offers

quence of illness and untreated mental disorders, has

emergency and therapeutic services for homeless persons
with mental health issues; inclusive ecosystems for per-

three Masters programmes through three schools and a

diploma programme for community health workers in
mental health. The Banyan Academy also hosts three
centresfor Health and Mental Health Policy Research,

sons with mental health issues; health and mental health

Inclusive Development and Social Innovation (in collab-

systems and NAl..AMsocial inclusion, skills development and well-being.

oration with Vrije Universiteit (VU), Amsterdam, the

It took The Banyan more than two decades to build a

try Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, Bos-

tally ill women] hoping it would end there, says Profes-

resulted in the development offour critical areas ofwork:

standard operating protocols and sharing this body of

Harvard School of Public Health and the Global Psychia-

model that comprehensively addresses the needs of

ton) and Mental Health and Marginality.

homeless people with mental health issues on the streets,

in hospitals (transit care centres), in open shelters and in

TISS AND ITS COLLABORATIONS

the community and arrive at designs that take into account diverse needs, including long-term care, which is a
growing problem in mental health care globally. With

This is at the heart ofwhat the TISS does and what it has
become in the past decade with S. Parasuraman as its
Director. Vith a clear mandate from the Governing

self reliance and personal recovery as goals, most models

are geared to promoting exits from institutionalised care

Board to reach out to the unreached and chart new

to foster an environment of choioe and social mobility

pathways in social work, Parasuraman began building

partnerships with institutions and nongovernmental

and build an ecosystem of social mixing, capabilities

organisations (NGOs) across the country. The TISS is

promotion and inclusive development.

strong on theory. There were hundreds of organisations

In 2005, when The Banyan was discussing issues in

across the country that were great on the eld and had

the sector at multiple levels, the Tata Institute of Social

Sciences (TISS) was also seized of the same issues. The

redened multiple areas ofsocial work. Ifthe TISS had to

retain its position as a go-to place in social work theory,

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l0l5

_l
tr

Zr

AT TISS, HUM BAI. The TISS goes beyond linkages to cater to needs across the country.
research and practice, it needed to build strategic linkages, work on the glaring social issues and hand-hold

multiple partners even as it remained focussed on socially relevant research and interventions.

are all in place to scale up mental health services, develop

human resources and build and lead a community that
talks mental health.

The TISS goes beyond linkages to cater to needs

Parasuraman is very clear why he began partnerships

across the country, be it in Ladakh, Nicobar, or the Rann

such as the one with The Banyan: They can articulate a

of Kutch. It does not abandon an area for want of -

theory [on the intersection of mental health, poverty and

nancial resources to support a project. TISS professionals

homelessness]. So basically I said that there are many

stay on each field-action project on a long-term basis.

For instance, when the Ladakh Autonomous Hill
Development Council was established following a 1995
Act, the idea was to involve the local people in the devel-

more organisations doing much better work and we can

join hands with them. We are theoretically strong, we

have the ability to work with other people. Let's join
Parasuraman says this was an important decision.
Aware that mental illness was set to oust most other
communicable and noncommunicable conditions to position itself as one of the highest contributors to the

opment process. The Council approached the Tata Trust,

which turned to its trusted solution for social and development issues, the TISS. The institute was tasked with
preparing village development plans and train community workers, community members and government of-

global disease burden by 2020, the TISS began its collab-

cials on how to implement the plans. The other part

oration with NGOs in Kerala or Bihar or Tamil Nadu.

These have added value, knowledge and depth to its

involved making local people competent to handle the

tasks on their own in a sustained manner. So, the TISS

work. The TISS invited Vandana Gopikumar into its

conducted a year-long diploma programme on sustain-

faculty as a Professor in its School of Social Work, soon

able development. It also undertook the painstakingjob

after she was awarded a PhD for her work on Mental

Health and Marginality from Vrije Universiteit, Arn-

of doing micro-level planning of all villages in Ladakh.

This is hard because villages in the cold desolate desert of

sterdam. This is unprecedented in Indian academia, a

fact that was not lost on many, including Professor Vikram Patel, Professor of International Mental Health,

ladakh are far away from each other. We took about one
and a half years to do the micro-level planning, Paras-

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This

is nothing short of a miracle," he remarked at a function

When the need to develop a perspective planahead

of the Twelh Five Year Plancame up, the TISS made

in Chennai, in which the professorship was awarded.

available the data gathered from the area under the

hands.

uraman said.

Council at the block-level ofce and the village-level

The TISS wants to develop Chennais BALM as a Centre

office. The TISS has also trained councillors and panchayat leaders to use the data for planning, which was

of Excellence in Mental Health. BALM is ready, too, says

Vandana: models, approaches, strategies and direction

useful for implementing the Twelith Plan and the perspective plan.

BALM IN CHENNAI

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE 2h, 2015

The TISS and the Council also developed the Ladakh

Vision 2025 document, which Prime Minister Manmo-

ing to contest panchayat elections. They were taken on

exposure visits to Rajasthan and Kerala after a one-weeklong training programme in Mumbai. The programmes

han Singh released in May 2005. The exposure of elected

representatives to altemative settings, thoughts and

began with the very basics: what a panchayat is; what the

ecologies has been an integral part ofthe TISS training.

powers of the leaders are; how they can plan; how pari-

Soon aer the TISS began its work in Ladakh, panchayat

leaders were brought to Mumbai every year. Late last
year, it organised a visit for 120 women who were prepar-

chayats have the power to demand the services and support from the state.
The TISS responded to the severe oods in Ladakh in

'

TISS 1s a movement

Interview with S. Ramadorai, Chairman of the Governing Board of the TISS.

every single interview.
What is a comparable
vision that is possible in
an institution like the

For S. Ramadorai, revered in industry circles for catapulting Tata Consultancy Services into the billiondollar league, heading the Governing Board of the
Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) was a natural
tion, it is a movement, Ramadorai tells Frontlinc in a

TISS?
The comparable vi-

rare post-retirement interview. Heading the highest

authority at the institute that shapes the path forward
for Asia's rst graduate school of social work, to create
innovative and inclusive pathways for nation building,
Ramadorai says that there is much work to be done

sion for this kind of institution [such as the

TISS] is the inclusion dimensionsocial or nancial
or
youth

choice. The TISS is much more than a mere institu-

in
Ii

because never before has the country felt a greater

employment. You

need for social scientists and social workers.

S. RAHADORAI.

can

measure the impact by

what we

do

on

the

What is your role as the chairman of the Governing

Board of the TISS?
As the chairman ofthe Governing Board one must
engage with the various campuses ofthe Tata Institute
of Social Sciences, engage with the governing board

the [Maharashtra] Governor gave [in his convocation

through the Director, and formulate a strategy with

making sure that water reaches everyone. This is mea-

them to ensure that the institution achieves its set

goal.... I have been here for the last couple ofyears. Its
a pleasure being part of this movement and seeing
younger people graduate year alter year.

sure impact made possible by people who pass out of

this institution. The people who graduate will take up
social work through corporates or through NGOs and
be part of creating this impact.

ground. We can set up a matrix for it to say that we

have touched so many lives. Looking at the example

address], that of a place going from rain surplus to
rain decient, and then social workers intervention

Development through measurable action-orient-

ls there any particular reason why you chose to take

up chairmanship at the TISS? You are guiding quite a

ed activities on the ground creates a multiplier effect

in every single walk oflife. The mindset is how do I
engage, apply, measure, improve and create impact.

few other organisations, apart from some business

entities.
VVhat impressed me most and excited me, whether
it is the chairmanship ofthe TISS or the national skills

How do you converge your various roles at the many

institutions?

development corporation which the Government of

India requested me to take up, is that it is all for social
impact. You have done your corporate life, you have

The centre of what I do is the youth ofthis country.

VVhether it is the Skills Mission, the TISS, or whether

been a part ofthat for 4-3 years, you have made money,

given it back to shareholders and society. I look at the

converge to one single goal, namely addressing the

needs of the youth. If we include everything as part of

scale ofopportunity and the impact it can create, and

this, you are touching the lives ofthe youth and conse-

that's what excites me.

quently their families.

You took TCS from a $400-million company to a

The TISS, and even social sciences work in India, is

$1 -billion company. I am sure you have heard this in

not spoken in the same breath as the work being

rRim'|'i.|w. .llINF.2n,1ol5

it is technology, whether it is business, all of them

11

2010 by initially engaging in relief work and then taking

charge of reconstructing one large village that had been
destroyed. The initial funding for reconstruction came

was to establish the identity of the people affected. The

Nicobar people, like many Indians, do not have any
identication papers, without which the government

from the Tata Trust; funds for training and capacity

machinery found it ditcult to extend resettle1nent/reha-

building from NDTV; and funds for village development

bilitation provisions. The TISS, which commenced an

from IDBI Bank.

In Nicobar Islands, the TISS was requested to help
out after the 2004- tsunami. The major task at that time

assessment of all the households in the islands, found

that most of the elders in the hamlets had been killed. It
then decided on a training programme for the residents
and conducted a leadership development programme for

carried out at, say, an IIT or IIM or the llSc. Why is

this so?

over 100 people over three months. Now every village

has two-three people who are trained. And they have
become the leaders now," Parasuraman said.

After most organisations left the islands, the TISS

All of us are responsible for this. We have not said

stayed back to create an early warning system, organise

or realised that the liberal arts are as important as the

other subjects of study. The realisation comes later,
some of us realised this in the course of our corporate
jobs. I think the nature of solving complex problems
begins with a healthy mix of science, engineering and

village knowledge centres and work on livelihood promotion plans. It also got involved in social issues. It entered

social sciences. We need to do a lot of advocacy. Its the

responsibility ofall stakeholders, including NGOs, the

hamlets. The officials retaliated by denying TISS experts

and schola.rs entry passes to the hamlets (these are re-

govemment, institutions and students to take the ad-

quired to go to the non-tourist islands). The TISS respon-

vocacy part forward. Now, there is a realisation that

ded by securing permission letters from the Union Home

social sciences are becoming aspirational.

Ministry.

What specifically should the TISS focus on in the

HOLISTIC APPROACH

coming years given the fact that a large number of

issues and problems are staring at the country?

The TISS brings a holistic approach to bear on its engage-

Every region where the TISS has a campusbe it

Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad, Guwahatihas a
unique characteristic. So we must bring that core
competency into that part of the country. It does not

mean that the competencies should be conned to

into a longdrawn-out engagement with the local and

Central governments, insisting that action be taken

against officials who illegally sold liquor in the tribal

ments. In the fragile Himalayan ecosystem of Ladalth, for

instance, it looked at the basic questions that planners
face: Wltat sustainable development would mean in that

cold desert; and how much tourist inow it could support. In the Nicobar Islands, too, the TISS looked into

country. I think in the iture it will be a collaborative

these planning issues. The questions to which it sought

answers included: What has been changing? I-Iow have
the lands changed? What does sustainable development
mean in a remote island?
The TISS's work in the arid and semi-aricl regions of

method of problem solving.

Mental health is a major problem for us [in India].
Public health is another major problem. If we don't
address prenatal care, the under-ve children, then

Kutch, undertaken from its Thuljapur campus, explores

the possibilities of sustainable development in the dry
terrain. "We get in because the government and the
people want us to come, we provide the support that is

we cannot address skills or anything else. Education,

neededintellectual, research, policy advocacywe also

vocational skills, all of this is connected together.

conduct research on some ofthe fundamental issues such

that region alone. Second, all the campuses are con-

nected so that the knowledge database is shared with

everyone and the expertise is available across the

as water, sanitation, health, ecosystem, carrying capacity,

How can social work education contribute solutions

sustainabilitya whole range of issues are explored. We

to emerging social and health problems in India?

will make available all the data to all researchers, said

I think community participation, how we engage

with the community, is a responsibility all of us carry

Parasuraman.

with us. The impact you make, whether to create

livelihood means or to solve a community problem

T I 5 5 I N ll E P A L

through the expertise and knowledge each ofus has, is

25, the TISS sent a team of two doctors and a psycho-

what nation-building is all about. Inclusion of all

social health care professional to Kathmandu. This team,

kinds is what the TISS is trying to inculcate in its

working with groups there, identied the needs which

graduates. It's social inclusion, nancial inclusion and

were not being fullled and sent in a report a week later.

opportunity for all, so that nobody is left behind. That

Soon alter the May 11 convocation at the TISS's Mumbai

is the ultimate aim. This will go along way in contributing to the solutions.

campus, 15 students, all qualied medical doctors who

are also disaster management graduates, left for Nepal to

R.K. Radhakrishnan

support the TISS relief work. On May 12, another group

of 20 reached Nepal. These are the people with skills.

On April 27, aoon afterthe earthquake hit Nepal on April

FRONTLINF.

JUNE 20, 2015

~\

Local thrust
W'hen the Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences decided
to establish an off-campus for the north-eastern region of India, it had one condition: people should not
be displaced from the land that was offered to the
institution. Guwahati was the preferred location be-

cause it is well connected to all the States ofthe region.

The Assam government offered an eightl1ectare site
on the premises ofthe Guwahati Engineering College.
Two government Ministries, in 2013, allocated a total

of Rs.150 cmre for the campus. Construction is now in

progress.
The TISS Guwahati now functions from a tempo-

rary campus. As much as 66 per cent ofthe seats in the

courses are reserved for students from the northeastern region and the seats are distributed among
candidates from all the States in the region. Other

=x
<1

-1
.i

AT TISS GUWAI-IATI, where 66 per cent of the seats

in the courses are reserved for students from the
north- eastern region.
:1

I he TISS Guwahati has been researching on top-

TISS campuses offer the mandatory 49.5 per cent

ics such as access to justice and child labour. In a vast

reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes

swathe where tribal customs trump government sys-

and Other Backward Classes.

In an effort to be relevant in the region, the TISS
introduced courses in social development that dealt
with environmental protection and development,
conict management, peace building and disaster
management, and a ve-year integrated programme
in the social sciences. In addition to inter-disciplinary

tems, how do people perceive their access to justice? It

has completed another research on child labour in the
mines of Meghalaya, and is also working on entrepreneurship development models for the diiferent States.
Parasuranian says that all stakeholders in the region have been supportive of the work that the TISS
has been doing, though not contractors. The TISS ran

Masters programmes, the TISS also started regular

foul of the contractor lobby when it began advocating

Master's courses in subjects such as anthropology,

construction of houses using local materials. The

economics and political science. The second batch of

students received their degrees at a convocation at the

model we developed and demonstrated cost a third of

campus on June 9. Even before the convocation, all

the students have been placed," said TISS Director S.

the money that it takes to build a conventional house.

We could demonstrate this in just three or four villages. Then we had to withdraw.

Parasuraman.

R.K. Rtld/zaklishrzun

And they know it is not an easy job. There is no comfort.

But they understand the ethics of relief and rehabil-

as associate members. This has now emerged as an enormous knowledge resource for any issue in the Himalayan

itation and the process of doing it. That's what we do,"

region.

Parasuraman said.
The TISS is also committed to helping Nepal through

In times of natural disasters, there is no time to think

a 2005 arrangement. That yezu', the HindukushHima-

about funding. After the earthquake in Nepal, the TISS

decided that it had a responsibility to help. Parasuraman

layan Region Universities oonsortiumwas formed.

sent the team without waiting for the money to material-

While working in Ladakh, the TISS realised that it had no

experience of working in a Himalayan desert but many
institutions located in the Himalayan region had. So it
linked with the a United Nations institution, Interna-

ise and thus avoided procedural delays. So it invested

upfront and is hopeful that this will be made good by the
organisations that have come forward to help.

tional Centre for Integrated Mountain Development,

The TISS gets involved because it is aware that if the

institute docs not do it, then that part of the work will not

Kathmandu, considered the best in mountain development in the region. The Centre and the TISS jointly

psycho-social health care, an aspect of disaster manage-

conducted the training programme in Ladakh. Soon af-

ment that the TISS specialises in and has pioneered in

ter this came the idea of a consortium of universities in

India. Now it has become a mainstream work in disaster

the region. As many as 40 universities in Afghanistan,

areas. The TI SS will train people in Nepal on psycho-

Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and Bhutan are now

social health care and provide support until such time

part of this consortium. Universities from other parts of

that the professionals there can run the programmes on

the world working on the Himalayan region were added

their own. We have gone to Nepal, but we will be there

FRUN'l'l.l.\lF.

JUNF. Zn, ll

be done. In the case of Nepal, the TISS's role is to provide

for another 10 years. Where will we get the money? That's

not very diicult once you have established the need for
work, the work you are doing. Then money comes," Pa-

objective of repealing the draconian beggary prevention

law, which fails to recognise the circumstances that force
people towards destitution and criminalises poverty and

rasuraman said.

acknowledges the historical and contextual realities like

Be it Nepal, Ladakh, the Kutch or Nicobar, the work

resistance and exclusion faced by de-notied communi-

is not easy. In Nepal, for instance, even in normal times

the roads are bad. After the earthquake, even those roads
are gone. Helicopters are not able to land in some places.
Many of the areas near the epicentre have barely been

ties, transgender community, persons with mental illness, those affected by leprosy....
SOCIALLY RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL
E D U CAT I O N

reached. Psycho-social health care seeks to help survivors

address their trauma. How you rebuild your life is a very
important component. You can treat an injury, but how

As natural disasters become common, disparities grow

do you treat an injury to a person's condence? To emotions? That is what psycho-social health care does, Parasuraman said.

uramans preferred phrase for them is social protection

and state support dwindles, the TISS tries to train more

social workers and send them out to the eld. Paras-

A unique feature of the TISS is its eld action projects

(FAPs). As many as 3:3 FAPs address a range of issues

professionals. In 2014-15, student enrolment stood at

4,029 across all campuses of the TISS, says the Annual
Report for 2014-15. Seventy-eight years ago, the rst
TISS campus was set up as Asias rst graduate school of
social work. It was established to produce socially rele-

including violence against women, the rights and rehabilitation of persons being processed by the criminal

vant knowledge, and its stated commitment was to create

an inclusive pathway for nation building.... Solving in-

justice system and children in conict with the law,

equalities and discontent within a context of rising aspi-

homelessness and beggary, child and adolescent mental

rations and possibilities will not be possible just through

health, tribal and Dalit youth empowerment, health care

in rural and tribal areas, corporate social responsibility,
sustainable livelihood, food security, adult education and

your efforts, it calls for a very high degree ofcollaboration

between industry, corporate, NGOs and the local govern-

health.

The role ofTISS ambassadors on the ground is to inform

One FAP is located close to the Deonar landll. Deonar, a Mumbai suburb, is the countrys biggest waste

public policies, strengthen peoples entitlements, and

empower communities," he reminded them at the 75th

dumping site. It is situated in a polluted locality that is

home to a host of industries and reneries. The FAP is

convocation on May 11.

The TISS continues its work across a spectrum of

Transforming M (East) Ward and is anchored in the

identied priority areas despite the fact that money for

School of Habitat Studies.

Located on the north-east edge of Mumbai, M Ward
is its ghetto with about eight lakh people living in its 256
slums and 13 large resettlement colonies. The M (E)
Ward in Mumbai is a microcosm of the city: it is an

social science research and action is dwindling, a fact that

FIELD LCTIOII PROJECTS

ment, says S. Ramadorai, Chairman, Governing Board.

both Parasuraman and the chiefguest at the 75th convo-

cation, N. Ram,
highlighted.

Chairman,

Kasturi

and

Sons,

One ofthe characteristics of Indias system ofhigher

extreme example of skewed development in the metropolis, with virtually all indicators showing an urgent need
for action that is multidimensional, comprehensive and
strategic to serve its burgeoning population, notes a

education, which has been widely remarked on, is its

2015 TISS report, Social Economic Conditions and Vulnerabilities: A report of the Baseline survey of M (East)

ities, and social sciences, which are often treated as soft

subjects. Thanks to the ourishing, against the odds, of a

Ward, Mumbai.

few major institutions of leaming such as the Tata In-

lop-sided concentration on engineering and technological education at the expense ofthe basic sciences and, in a
more pronounced way, at the expense ofthe arts, hu man-

The 2011 M Ward initiative brings together TISS

stitute of Social Sciences, we can entertain some hope

students and faculty and the stakeholders to work on

that the imbalance can be redressed, Ram said. bet us

elements that can transform the locality. "The project

seeks to create linkages between ideas and resources for

remind ourselves that the challenge has to be met in the

context of declining resources available to universities, a

positive change and ensure their deliverance to communities in the M' Ward. The M' Ward is not the universe of

change, but it is hoped that making a beginning with an

situation that presents a stark contrast to the tremendously increased public resource support given to institutions of higher learning in China during the same

area that represents the maximum challenge will also

period. Against this backdrop, it is commendable that the

make a positive difference to policies pursued in the rest

of the city and create a model for such work in urban

Tata Institute of Social Sciences has pushed ahead in the

last decade to stand out among leading universities and

areas of the country, the Annual Report says.

social science institutions as an institute of excellence

Koshish, an even earlier project that caught the attention of multiple State governments, was started in 2006

explicitly committed to developing and applying knowledge in pursuit ofsocialjustice and human rights for all,
he added.

and is now operational in Mumbai, Delhi and Patna. The

Annual Report says that it was started with the primary

There was some good news for the TISS in the rst
FRONTLINF.

JUNE 20, 2015

ti

J4

'r'i'>i~
ll
,z
)_ u~

t-1.'..<l.\'

_>5

'.

7,

TISS HYDERABAD STUDENTS at their convocation.

week of June: the Union Ministry of Human Resource
Development decided to release lnds to the institute
after effecting a 5 per cent cut in its annual allocation. In
2013-14-, the TISS received a total ofRs.50 crore 'om the

sciences, and secure funds for expanding research, it

UGC. The Ministry wants to reduce government funding

in India unlike any single institution in the country from

to 50 per cent. The crux is the government's blinkered

the time of independence. Sustaining this rate of growth,

view on ensuring compliance with 12B rules of the Uni-

ensuring quality of work and remaining relevant in a

versity Grants Commission Act of 2015-16, which lays

fast-changing world will be the main challenges for the

TISS at one level. At another level, the question offunding remains. Even though most people in the City of
Maximum Greed look the other way, a few show up

adds.
The TISSs expansion under Parasuraman has been
dramatic and has signicantly impacted the social sector

down the criteria on which a university or a college can

receive government funding. The Economic Times had
rst reported on the issue in late May this year. The TISS

has been in the grip ofa nancial crunch after the HRD
Ministry and the UGC framed a new policy for funding
deemed universities and chose to withhold funds. The
TISS had to get bank loans in March and April and dip

unfailingly to support the TI SS, never mind that they are

not from Mumbai. Some, like Ramadorai, an optimist,
believe that the CSR funds from corporates will be a new

source for TISS social action projects, if not for the TISS

into reservesessentially funds generated through con-

sultancy workto pay salaries and keep the institute

itself.
A lot now depends on how autonomous the TISS

running," the paper said.

remains. lt has a Governing Board, which is headed by

The TISS campus, inaugurated by Prime Minister

and has signicant representation from the Tata Trust

.Iawaharlal Nehru, has been a fully government mded

(together with representatives of the Union Ministry of

institution since 1964-, when it was declared a deemed

university.

Human Resource Development and representatives of

the State government). The Director of the TISS is select-

Parasuraman says that the institute expanded despite

ed by the board aiter an elaborate process, and the selected candidate is appointed by the UGC.
The TISS is a deemed university funded by the UGC.

the nancial constraints. The 2014-15 Annual Report

notes that the social sector had expanded in the last

decade with Central and State government funding. But,
it is unfortunate that organisations and individuals with

Nevertheless, it has innovatively used the space available

inuence and capital do not see Social Science education

Trust. But as the TISS steps out into the unexplored

and human development as a priority.... Our task has

terrain of a multi-campus university which works with

been very diicult and considerable effort has been devoted to motivating the State to professionalise the social

unconventional but proven NGOs and a variety of other

protection sector, open up employment opportunities for

ence, which can only come with the formal recognition of

graduates with degrees in interdisciplinary areas ofsocial

it as an institution of national importance.

FRON'l'l.|NF.

JUNE Bo, lli

to it to achieve a great deal, with the support of the Tata

stakeholders, it needs more autonomy and independ-

16

El

Molding theory with practice

Interview with R. Ramakumar, Dean, School of Development Studies, TISS.
PROFESSOR R. Ramakumar, one of the youngest
professors at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences,

recently took charge as Dean, School of Development

Studies. An agricultural economist, he was invited to
the TISS by its Director, S. Parasuraman. Ramaku-

mars work on microcredit, rural poverty and agricultural workers is among the most quoted scholarly

works in India. In conversation with Frmztline:

In development studies, is there an undue emphasis

on rural deprivation as compared with urban

deprivation?
Well, ifyou ask it that way, I'd say in a country like
India it would be a natural bias and not an articial
bias. Because you have the majority of people living in

the rural areas, and because rural poverty is much

higher than urban poverty, you would naturally expect
in a course like development studies a bias of that
nature to come in. Id say it is inevitable.

But to the near-exclusion of urban deprivation?

R. RAHAKUMAR.

stance, one suggestion that is in front of us, something

That is not true because we have courses on urban

relating to public policy. That is a suggestion that is on

studies and urban development. It is not that urban

our table. We are beginning to discuss that proposal.

development is neglected, but Id say every subject has

Maybe in two or three years, something will happen. If

scope to further improve itself. What we have done in

at all something happens, it will happen on that front.

development studies is that students can actually go

out of the school and take courses. We are the only
school that allows every student to take four credits
outside the school. We are open to things like that. It is
also partly because we dont have the expertise. We
need faculty to teach as well. So I'd admit that might
be part of the reason why that kind of impression is
created. Probably because lot of our visible writings
are also about rural areas. That is also there. It is
interesting that you asked me that question. It sets me

thinking about it.

The coexistence of theory and practice in almost the

same footing in the TISS is rather unique in an Indian

academic setting. Basically, universities are

supposed to do theory rather than practice. The TISS
does both. How easy or diicult is that?
It is not a question of easy or difficult. Thats the
way to go. Even if it's difficult that's the way universities should try. In fact, about 20 years back, the
TISS was known as a place with very little theory and a
whole lot of practice. Then, theory came in; devel-

opment studies, for instance. We teach what capital-

The interplay between theory and practice and the

ism is. We teach students development and its

way things have been going on now at the TlSSthe

pace of expansion of the place is so fast. Do you feel

theoretical constructs and at the same time we also

the same pressure in development studies?

No. Actually we have taken care not to grow at the
rate that the TISS is growing. In the sense that... our

allow students to go for intemships, eld work, which

allows them to test some ofthe theories that they have

school offers only two M_A. programmes whereas

learnt on the eld. There are many people, who in class

say, what's the point oftheory it's about doing it in the
eld. But in going to the eld they miss the larger

many schools offer much more with smaller faculty.

picture [if they are not strong on theory]. If the larger

We have had suggestions in the past, we still have

suggestions on what programmes to add. But we have

picture was factored into their analysis, they would

have been better informed. I am not saying that there

to be careful. We do not want to start one for the sake

has to be a balance. I think theory reinforces practice,

of it. Once we are convinced about it, once we have a

practice reinforces theory, and there is no rigid com-

concrete concept note in front ofus, once we have the

partmentalisation of theory and practice.

faculty who can actually teach it.... We have, for in-

R.K. Radhakvtklznan

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE lo, 20

CQNTBOVERSY

Derecognising
dissent
Controversy rages over the decision of the Dean of Indian Institute of
Technology Madras to dcrccognisc u student group. the Amhcdlsar

Pei-i_\'ar Study Circle, allegedly for its anti-Modi and anti-Hindutva

VIEWS. BY ILANGOVAII RAJASEKARAN

THE management of Indian In-

tivities since its formation last year

IIT management handled the sensi-

stitute ofTechnology Madras (I ITM)

(on April 14.~, 2014-), thus violating the

tive issue. That these stringent regu-

has found itself at the centre of a

raging controversy following its uni-

code of conduct independent student bodies on the campus should

lations are not applicable to other

student groups such as the Viveka-

lateral decision to derecognise one

adhere to. He insisted that its mem-

ofthe student groups ofthe institute,

the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle

bers remove the names of both Dr

B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar E.V. Ra-

nanda Study Circle, which is stridently

promoting
right-wing

(APSC), allegedly for its anti-Narendra Modi and anti-Hindutva views.

masamy from the organisations title, as these names, he claimed,

stark partisan attitude of the IIT

management, said a postgraduate

A mail from the Dean ofStudents

polarise the students on caste lines".

student. No wonder, as a student ac-

(DoSt) ofIITM, Sivakumar M. Srini-

Further, he reportedly asked

tivist pointed out, that Vinayagar

vasan, on May 22 derecognised" the

study circle after receiving a commu-

them to give an assurance that they

would desist from any activities that

Chathurthi processions were organised on the campus.

niqu from the Union Ministry of

were considered inimica] to the pol-

The students rejected the letter

Human Resource Development

(MHRD), which had received an

icy of the IIT management and route

their activities through his adminis-

outright as the management was unable to provide them convincing rea-

anonymous complaint in this regard.

The reason cited: Misusing the privileges given to students by organis-

trative ofoe instead of the usual

practice of interacting with the facul-

sons for the derecognition. IITM

ideologies, speaks volumes about the

considered the APSC activities a

breach of guidelines only after the

ing meetings and issuing pamphlets

ty adviser, who, as per norms, serves

as the bridge between independent

that spread hatred against the present dispensation and its policies.

student groups and the management, especially in matters relating

The Dean was well aware of the ac-

to non-academic space.

dissemination of information on

claim, has against heavy odds managed to create some space" for II-

This unilateral action against

the circle is unprecedented and we

caste and caste-based discrimination

because caste still plays a powerful

Tians to talk about socially-relevant

issues such as caste and religion on
the Chennai campus, which, according to many students that Frontline
spoke to, is administered with a rig-

have never heard of such things on

any other higher education campus,"

role in an individuals access to education. Powerful social barriers still

said Akhil Bharathan, an active

exist because of the exclusionary

member of the study circle and a student of the Department of Human-

pressures exerted by the dominant

group, said IIT research scholar Ad-

idity uncharacteristic of an institu-

ities and Social Sciences. Can a

itya Narayanan.

tion ofhigher learning.

technocrat or a scientist be a whole-

The present row has more to it

The Dean told the student members in a one-to-one interaction that

the study circle was found to have
been engaging in controversial ac-

some product without having any social responsibility?" he asked.

than meets the eye. In fact, the APSC

has emerged as a Special Purpose

What surprised him and his fel-

Vehicle (SPV) for those who wish to

low students most was the way the

take up social and political issues

The study circle, as its members

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l0l5

18

letter it received from the MHRD.

tivities. The APSC is involved in the

contained extracts from the speech

of Vivekananda Gopal, besides copies of the pamphlets and posters
printed during the Ambedkar birth

anniversary programmes by stuII

dents along with copies ofthe posters

published by members of the Revolutionary Student Youth Front
(RSYF), which were found pasted on

' 1

t- -51!!

the walls outside the campus. R. Karthikeyan, RSYF unit secretary, told
Frontline that the Front had been

highlighting such issues continuously. The pasting ofposters on April 14-

coincided with the Ambedkar birth

anniversary," he said.
The anonymous letter, under:1

5 T U D E N T 5 0 F IIT Madras reading BR. Ambedkars "Annihilation of Caste"

in protest against the derecognition of the Arnbedkar Periyar Study Circle in
the institute on June 3.

signed Students, IIT Madras, dated

April 29, and addressed to Madam
(probably addressing HRD Minister
Smriti Zubin lrani), accused the
APSC of trying to dealign the S.T.

[Scheduled Tribe] and S.C. [Schedthat have not been raised in public on
the sprawling 100-hectare heavily
wooded campus for long. The sole
avenue ofcommunication for the libcral minds has been social media.
These students use it to their full
advantage to spread their ideas and

Dr Anibedkar by Prof. Dr R. Vivekananda Gopal, Dravidian University,

Kuppam, on the campus, in which he
reportedly made certain references
to the Hindutva agenda and the anti-people and antilabour government of Narendra Modi". Much

uled Caste] students".

It accused the study circle of creating hatred among students. They
are trying to create hatred against
the honourable Prime Minister and

organise activities around them and

earlier to this, we had also organised

MHRD for its stand on a separate

to interact with the outside world. In

discussions on the important issues

dining place for vegetarians and the

fact, the students and the faculty of

IITM were taken by surprise by the

relating to the land acquisition Bill,

use of Hindi in IITs.

labour laws, the ban on beef eating,

cow slaughter and ghar wapsi,

The copies ofthe RSYFs and students posters and pamphlets were
also sent to the Ministry, which,
based on the letter, despatched a

intensity that the present controver-

sy has assumed in the national media

and the debate that it has generated
amid academics and scholars.

pointed out Akhil. It is in this line

that the students organised the

Hindus." The students, it charged,

had issued pamphlets criticising the

note to II'I'M seeking clarications

on the issue. However, it must be

to the developments that are taking

meeting on Ambedkar too.

But since then they have been
kept under watch. For the student
coordinators, the April 14- pro-

place in the social, cultural and polit-

gramme looked like yet another

against any group or individual. But

ical spheres outside the institutes

the Dean, without clarifying the is-

walls. Hence, the charge that the IIT

event of the type they had organised

in the past one year, until the com-

handled the controversy clumsily is

muniqu from Prisca Mathew, Un-

sue with the students concemed, derecognised the study circle.

not entirely wrong. We, in govern-

der Secretary, Department ofHigher

The students, of course, did not

ment colleges, deal with more serious and sensitive issues than this on a
day-to-day basis," said the Principal
of a Government Arts and Science

Education ofthe MHRD, dated May

21, to the IITM Director seeking
comments of the Institute on the
distribution of posters and pam-

refute the claims that they had issued

posters and pamphlets containing
the extracts ofGopal's speech and Dr

College in Chennai.

phlets on the campus of IIT Madras

The IITM management has, for

long, been perceived as impervious

on April 13 and 14- and creating ha-

noted here that the Ministry had not

recommended any specic action

A1nbedkar's quotes such as Hinduism is a veritable chamber of hor-

DISCUSSIONS ON ISSUES

tred atmosphere among the students

rors" and You must destroy the

religion of shrutis and the smrithis".

The problem can be traced to the

by a group namely Ambedkar Peri-

Yes. We have issued pamphlets that

APSC's Ambedkar birth anniversary

yar. The letter forwards [to the Di-

are critical ofthe policies ofthe Modi

celebrations which coincided with its

rst anniversary celebrations, on

rector] a copy of anonymous letter

government. We do not understand

alleging serious complaints received

how dissent and criticism ofthe gov-

April 14- this year. It organised a talk

from Students, IIT- Madras.

ernment's policy is akin to spreading

on the Contemporary relevance of

The

Ministrys
19

communique

hatred, said Krishna, a study circle

FRUNTI.INF,

JUNE lo, Zlili

supporter at the institute. They,

however, distanced themselves from
the posters that the RSYF published

tion in staffselection. (According to a

notication issued in 2008 by the
MHRD, the IITs were asked to in-

those against it protested in Chennai.

They wanted to know whether the
management of IITM had initiated

under the heading Manu Dharma

troduce reservation in teaching posi-

any action against those who fought

Reigns in IIT Madras, which ac-

tions, which included 15 per cent for

against the government policy on

cused the IIT of denying social justice by not implementing the

reservation system since it is under
the governance of brahminical tyranny.

S.C., 7.5 per cent for S.T. and 27 per

cent for OBC candidates, but IIT
managements asked the Ministry to
revise it.)

Reservation was one ofthe issues

reservation at that time. The administration, the students claimed, was

taking refugee under technical and
procedural issues to camouflage its
hostility to radical thinking.

debated by the APSC oiten. The is-

In fact, media reports on May 25,

RESERVLTION, LN ISSUE

sues of reservation, caste discrimi-

2006, claimed that 100 students

Reservation in IIT is an issue indeed.

nation,

Hindi

from IIT Madras and medical colleg-

Arun Sudarsan, Project Assistant,

imposition

anti-rationalism,

es in Chennai raised anti-reservation

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IITM, has sought inInformation (RTI) Act on the category-wise composition of caste rep-

etc., have been hot subjects of debate

and discussion on IITM premises for
which the APSC played the role of a
facilitator," said Akhil. The management, according to Akhil, has made

slogans in front of the government

guest house at Chepauk in Chennai.
A senior faculty member said antireservation students in the IIT protested inside the campus.

resentation in the enrolment of

students in M.S. and PhD pro-

feeble attempts to stall such debates.

The action against the APSC has

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes

grammes in IITM. From 2008 to

been the toughest one on the cam-

(NCSC) has sought a detailed report

2015, a total of14-2 S.C. and nine S.T.

pus," said Aditya Narayanan.

on the present incident in the IITM

students were admitted to the PhD

programmes as against 1,592 under
the general category, (forward
caste groups), and 740 under the
Other Backward Classes (OBC) cate-

However, through an exhaustive

but sharp email response to the
Dean, the student activists told him
that the IIT had many meetings that

campus. In 2012, the NCSC's Chennai office, based on a representation

from a few students, had asked the
institute management to explain
how it implemented the reservation

gory. Just 29 S.C. and three S.T. stu-

policy in recruiting faculty. Since the

dents were admitted to the M.S.

initiatives of the current and previous elected governments and other

programmes across all departments

social issues, among them the reser-

satisfactory response, the Chennai

as against 1,19-1~ under the general

vation policy, which, they claimed,

ofce referred the issue to its parent

category and 4-29 under the OBC cat-

was still to be implemented in letter

and spirit in IITM.
They also drew attention to an
incident wherein when the reservation notication was issued for IlTs,

body in New Delhi on July 30, 2012.

formation

under

the

Right

to

egory.

The composition offaculty members based on social category sought

by Akhil Bharathan shows that 86.57

vegetarianism,
and

discussed the policies and legislative

per cent (total: 4-64) of the faculty

management did not come up with a

The students wondered how the

MHRD and IITM could give any im-

portance to such a venomous anonymous mail with full of hatred

towards the S.Cs, S.Ts and Ambedkar. Our pamphlets do not have any
material that would surprise a sociological or political scientist. It has

members are from the general category followed by OBCs in a distant

second with 11.01 per cent (59). The
S.Cs are an insignicant 2.05 per

cent (11) and S.Ts come last with a

been sourced from media, books and

journals. Any higher education in-

dismal 0.31 per cent (2) in the total of

stitute should be a platform where

536. Mind you, nearly 90 per cent of

critical thinking and right to dissent

ought to be encouraged and where
brave new thoughts are to be nurtured. On the contrary, IIT seems to
be in a sad state of affairs where sci-

the department heads and senior

professors are from the upper caste
groups," said a faculty member.
IITM, an autonomous institution, has nearly 650 faculty members

_ii
.u

and about 8,000 students, besides

.|

3,000-odd non-academic staff and

other workers. It was not a mere

'n

coincidence, but part of a planned

"CAN A TECHNOCRAT ora

conspiracy against the implementa-

scientist be a wholesome product

without having any social
responsibility?" asks Akhil
Bharathan, an active member of
the study circle.

tion of reservation, says a note from

the RSYF. The Senate of the IIT, it

irther noted, had even passed a resolution in the past against reservaFRON'l'l.|NF.

JUNE Zn, lli

20

entic temper and social justice are

being curtailed," the mail said.
Criticising the IIT and the Union
govcmment for exhibiting an ex-

treme level of paranoia against a

humble student organisation for its
freethinking and secular orientation,
its coordinators asked how anybodys sentiment could have been

hurt when the entire discussion was

been the monopoly of religious right

wing to propagate its metaphysical

idealist ideology and as a platform
for corporate think tanks. When the
ta.\'payers' money is being spent for
propagating anti-people, anti-rational agenda, pro-people, rational
groups like APSC have to collect
money from the students to conduct
its events," the students claimed in

"'0

their mail. Chaman Lal, however, ad-

dressed the students on the campus

in a programme organised through

another socially active group, IIT for

Society, the students claimed.

Discussions, meetings and pain-

phlets were meant to kick-start a dcbate on the campus and among the
academic fraternity. The IITM [an

autonomous statutory organisation

iimctioning within the Institutes oi
Technologies Act 1961, as amended

by the

R A N G 0 0 N, 19 51.; Ambedkar with Periyar when they met in connection with

a Buddhist conference there. The IITM Dean wanted the study circle to
remove the names of Ambedkar and Periyar E.V. Ramasamy from its title as
these names "polarise the students on caste lines".
about the right ofevery individual to

Institute of Technology

(Amendment) Act, 1963] is a public

funded institute whose vision and
mission should abide for the upliftment of the common masses. The
right to function of any independent
student body was not the prilegc
given by the authority but rather the
democratic right of students themselves. We strongly believe that what
we stated in our pamphlets and the

MHRD circular on vegetarian and

eat meat in the mess halls is seen as

dangerous, then the continued e:o'stence of our study group becomes all
the more important." On the imposi-

non-vegetarian mess halls for stu-

tion ofHindi, they said that as ratio-

dents.

nalists, they felt that though Sanskrit

They claimed that there were sev-

The IIT's website says it at present has 15 mens hostels and two

had valued place as part of the culture and liistoryofcertain sections in

eral students organisations active on

the premises propagating the views

women's hostels and six dining halls

society. it also was an instrument in

ofdiverse strands in society. A few oi

(messes). Ofthesc messes, one is nin

spreading a dominant brahminical

by staff members of the Oice of

narrative".

them are elected bodies while other

forums oflike-minded groups are independent. They can organise programmes oftheir choice but in close
coordination with their respective
faculty advisers. But the strongest

decide what they could eat with rcgard to the controversy over the

Hostel Management, the other five

(including one for girl students) are
run by private caterers on contract,
and there is also a food court. Students claim that there is a separate
mess for Jain students. They say that
only vegetarian food is served in the

mess halls, though students are al-

'5T|FL|NG D|55ENT'

The recent developments, their mail

pointed out, indicated how dominant the establishment had become
when it came to stifling dissent. The
IITM, they said, had rejected many
oftheir moves. They faced stiff resist-

content ofour discussion are correct

and as per the Constitution," the mail

contended.

presence on the campus is rightwing groups such as the Vivekananda Study Circle; the RSS (Rashtriya
Swayamscwak Sangh) shakha; Hare

ancc when they tried to bring personalities such as Prof. Chaman Lal
of Jawaharlal Nehru University

Rama, Hare Krishna; Vande Mata1'a1n; and Dhruva, to name a few.

(JNU) through the institutions Ex-

DEAN'5 DEFENCE

tra Mural Lccturcs (EML), a platform for the IITM campus

The Dean, however, defended his dccision strongly in the present case.

progressive ideas in an otherwise

community to interact with speakers

He maintained that certain proce-

retrograde emironment. If such a

from diverse elds.

dures were to he adhered to and that

lowed to bring in non-vegetarian

food. Even this privilege would be

withdrawn at any time, their mail
said.
The mail reiterated the essentiality of a group such as the APSC with

trivial freedom such as being able to

Since its birth, the EMI. has

21

the APSC had violated the code of

I-'RlIN'l'l.lNl-1

.|l'NF. Zn. 3015

conduct by misusing its privileges.

He informed the media immediately
after the study circles derecognition

and run most of the things through

me, although some posters/events
might have been missed, he said.

partments and organisations that

no action should be taken on the
anonymous/pseudonymous
com-

that the action was inevitable and

In fact, IITM has a Department

plaints. But the MHRD seems to be

taken after a detailed investigation

of Humanities and Social Sciences,

blissfully unaware of this. Nor does

into the allegations against the circle,

which were found to be true.
IITM (administered centrally by
the Council of IITs) did not curtail

one of its oldest departments, founded in 1959, which allows students to

develop an appreciation for diverse
eldsincluding development stud-

IITM seem to have known about it.

Chaman lal recalled the APSCs
invitation to him to deliver a lecture
on Bhagat Singh's thoughts on In-

the freedom of evpression but would

expect all student groups to adhere to
the guidelines, said the Dean, who

dia on March 7.
In his tweet, he said: I was told

did not take his permission for the

ies, economics, English studies, environmental

studies,
history,
international relations, philosophy,
political science and sociolog'and
gives them a multidisciplinary back-

event that was organised on April 14to celebrate Ambedkar's birth anniversary. They did not show him the
posters prior to publishing them, he
said.

ground.
A senior faculty member pointed
out that a lot of socially relevant research projects were being undertaken. Independently and also

comparison to Dalit and leftist student groups. I wonder how the Ministry of HRD took notice of an
anonymous letter. One wonders
whether this is the rst step towards

But as the issue began sizzling,

the Dean claried that the derecog-

partnering with prestigious institutions such as the Asian College of

Journalism, the Humanities Department has taken up research studies

acting against other universities like

JNU, D.U. [Delhi University] and

on various issues, including manual

scavenging, plantation workers
plight and the labour movement."
How can such an institution of a

Association] and SFI [Students'

Federation of India]. Is this the beginning ofachhe din for higher education in India?

infrastructure for meetings and programmes azer informing the Board

of Students (BoS), he said.)
The APSC's case will have to be
presented in a formal hearing before

very high repute with social grounding promote a majoritarian ideolo-

The row in its entirety kicked up

gy? asked an academic at the

University of Madras.

intellectuals and civil rights advocates on the critical issues relating to

the freedom of expression that at-

the BoS, the institute body comprising both faculty and student representatives from the Students Aairs
Council (SAC). IITM Director Baskar Ramamurthi said that it was not

ANONYMOUS COMPLAINT

tempt to dene the role and respon-

While the role of I ITM in this issue is

squarely criticised, observers raise a
vital question on the legitimacy of

sibility of students of any higher

the anonymous complaint based on

a ban and IITM had only sought an

which the action in question was ini-

deance, the academics say. Students have gone on social media

explanation from the APSC on cer-

tiated against the student group. A

against the dereoognition, inviting

tain issues. The issue will be sorted

out soon, he said. But nothing short

circular from the Central Vigilance

Commission dated November 25,

the views of all. On the rst day of its

posting, in the last week of May, it

of a total revocation of derecognition

2014-, on Action on anonymous and

received 600 supporters and their

will satisfy us," said a student activist.

pseudonymous complaints categorically instructed all Ministries, de-

number is growing.

added that the APSC coordinators

nition was not based on political

stances, and reiterated that it was

just provisional and not a ban or a
shutdown as portrayed widely by the

media and other online blogs. (The

groups could make use ofthe campus

Members of the APSC also al-

by the students then that the IIT

management is more in favour of
rightist student groups on campus in

Jamia Millia and leftist student

groups like AISA [All India Students

an intense national debate among

education institution in this context.

Dissent can never be construed as

The writer and activist Arund-

leged that the Dean had assumed the

hati Roy, in a statement, says that at a

role of their faculty adviser. (Each

time when I-Iindutva organisations

study circle will have a faculty adviser

who guides them in organising

and media outlets are outrageously

celebrating Ambedkar, the man who

events.)They said that they had been

interacting with Associate Professor

Milind Brahme, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, as their

faculty adviser. Brahme told Fron-

tline that he was under the impression that he had been the faculty

adviser for the APSC though there

was no official communication designating him as one. But the stu-

dents of the APSC did contact me

FRONTLINF.

.ll|NF.2h.l()l5

Anti-reservation
students in the
IIT had held
protests inside
the campus
earlier.
22

publicly denounced Hinduism, as

though he is their very own man; at a
time when the Hindu nationalists
campaign ofghar wapsi (a revamped

programme of the Arya Samafs

Shuddhi" programme) has been
launched to get Dalits to return to

the Hindu fold, why is that when

Ambedkafs real followers use the
name or likeness of Ambedkar they
get murdered like Surekha Bhot-

TH E H EAVI LY fortressed IIT Madras campus during a protest ouside it on June 1

manges family in Khairlanji? VVhy is

except the Bharatiya J anata Party

rst woman politician to condemn

it that if a Dalit ma.n has a ringtone

on his phone with a song about Ambedkar he gets beaten to death? Why
has the APSC been derecognised?
It is because they have seen
through this charade and have put
their nger on the most dangerous

(BJP) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
in Tamil Nadu reacted sharply to the
issue. One of the alumni, Deepak
Johnson, former students' general
secretary, called the action of the
Dean a shame to the institute.

the derecognition. She asked its Director to allow free speech inside the
IIT campus.
Dravidar Kazhagam leader K.
Veerarnani criticised the attempt to
stifle progressive voices among the
youth. Their agenda is Hindutva

possible place. They have made the

Sitaram Yechury, general secre-

and it should be defeated," he point-

connection between corporate glob-

tary ofthe Communist Party of I ndia

ed out. Though a group of students

alisation and the perpetuation of

caste. There is hardly anything more

and the majority of the faculty have

accused the APSC of whipping up a

tablishment than doing what APSC

did celebrating both Bhagat Singh

(Marxist), says the banning of the

APSC appears part of the larger design ofthe RSS ideological project of
transforming the secular democratic
Indian Republic into their version of

dents and their groups on the cam-

and Ambedkar. This is what has

brought them into the line of re.
This is what is sought to be quashed.
The APSC derecognition is a recog-

an intolerant fascistic Hindu Rashtra'. Such a ban strikes at the very

root of our constitutional guarantees, negating the spirit of an adven-

pus have extended their solidarity to

it. The APSC could moderate the
tone of its language used. The argument that IITM being an autono-

nition of a kind, she said.

ture of ideas in institutions of higher

mous body can formulate its own

The Kerala-based Indian English

education and replacing our syncret-

guidelines to regulate the students

Dalit poet S. Chandramohan points

ic civilisational history with Hindu

activities can only hold if such guide-

out that the resurgent Hindutva

mythology."

lines are not against the constitu-

threatening to this present ruling es-

frenzied campaign against the IITM

management, the majority ofthe stu-

since the 2014 general elections has

A surprise support to the APSC

tional spirit ofthe nation, felt Aditya

been rolling back the ongoing reconstruction of India along the demo-

came from the noted American

mathematician David Bryant Mumford who, in his letter to IITM Direc-

Narayanan, who is doing his research in ocean engineering.

cratic and egalitarian ideals of

Jyotirao Phule, Periyar and A1nbedkar. The APSCs rising against such

tor Baskar Ramamurthi, posted by

the students on the social media, has

The students are overwhelmingly

euphoric over the support they have

garnered. But they are also appre-

right-wing forces is a welcome sign of

the dernocratisation and egalitarian

expressed his deep shock over its derecognition. I bclicve campuses

hensive about a backlash. IITM's

graduation pledge says: We shall

student participation in nation-

must allow open discussions of divi-

devote all our energies to promote

building," he said.

sive issues even when it offends some

the unity and secular ideal of our

people so that all aspects of an issue

country and utilise our knowledge in

are out in the open, he wrote.

the service ofour nation and society.

Besides Congress leader Rahul

Gandhi and HRD Minister Smriti

Irani's spat on the issue on Twitter,

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Dravi-

various political and social groups

da Munnetra Kazhagam MP, was the

23

They hope that the IITM management will live up to this pledge. El
FRUNTLINF.

JUNE lo, Ztili

C
Q

Arson at Atah
The attack on the Muslim community at Atali, a village in Haryana, by
a mob which included women gives the lic to the claim that minorities
are safe under the present regime. BY T.l(. RAJALAKSI-llll IN BALLABHGARH

J.
1'
-i
.1
11
1
I
I
t.

r2

c
i
L

0 N E 0 F TH E I-I0 M E S that were attacked at Atati on May 25. [Right] Outside another attacked home.

THE 1,000-odd Muslims ofAtali

village in I-laryana's Ballabhgarh
tehsil, Faridabad district, have paid

lence were put on buses with tinted

windows and driven to the Ballabh
garh police station, at nearly ll p.m.

to be told that policemen were on

their way. The mob used cooking gas
cylinders and petrol bombs to blast

heavily for attempts to build a

mosque: nearly two dozen homes

Many ofthem had to be rescued from

burning homes. Some 50 families

our walls and burn our vehicles. We

took refuge inside our homes and on

and shops belonging to members of

the minority community were burnt,
looted and vandalised by a mob led
by women and armed with hoes
(pharsa, in local parlance) and other
improvised weapons on the evening
of May 25. The police were hope-

have been lodged in a makeshift tent

rooftops. With smoke all round us

at the police station, put up by well-

and we being pelted with bricks, we

wishers. Some other families have

fled to safety further away.
The Ballabhgarh police station is
village. Some ofthe victims who have

were completely helpless.

Twenty people have been named
in the rst information report (FIR),
most of them from the village; the
victims claim that they know most of

lessly outnumbered, and they received reinforcements too late to

taken refuge there told Frontline

that they had informed the police

the attackers. At the time of writing

this report, no arrests had been

stop anything. No one was killed, but

some two dozen people of the target-

about the mob build-up on May 25,

well before the violence started. One

made. Nor were FIRs registered on

behalf of each individual victim on

ed community received serious in-

of them said: We made repeated

the basis of each of their statements,

juries. Curiously enough, not a single

person in the rampaging mob was
hurt.
Around 8-30 p.1n., the police -

calls that day. The SHO [station

house officer] came, but he le: leaving behind only ve policemen.
Wlien we saw the mob gathering,
with women in the 'ont, we made
frantic calls to the police station, only

which was what the victims had

wanted. The only apparent response
of the government to the failure of
law enforcement agencies to take ef-

nally managed to bring the situation

under control. The victims ofthe vioFRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l0l5

just six kilometres away from Atali

2|.

fective action has been to transfer the

SHO who was on duty that day.

Though curfew was imposed in the

village soon after the incident, under
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure, youngsters were seen

moving

around

freely

in

large

groups, and even reportedly assembling for meetings. The day the Minority Commission members came
to Atali, we pointed out one of the
arsonists who was roaming freely.

The police nabbed him, but only to

release him later," one of the victims

at

the

Ballabhgarh

camp

told

Frontline.

The trigger for the violence was

the

planned construction of a

mosque. Atali village has several

temples, including several ancient

structures that look like they were
recently built, but no mosque. The
Muslims of the village, who have
lived there for generations over sev-

eral centuries, travel to the nearest

mosque in Ballabhgarh, nearly 13 km

away, to pray during Ramzan or on

other religious occasions.
Efforts to build a mosque in the
village started in 2009, and some pillars were built. But the construction
could not progress in the face of ag-

T H E H 0 5 0 U E under construction at Atali, which triggered the violence.

gressive posturing from members of

the majority community. Moreover,

two residents of the village led a

case in the civil court alleging that

the mosque was being built on pan-

chayat land. On March 31 this year,

Civil J udgc Vinay Sharma threw out

the claim. Village nambardar (keeper of records of land registrations)

Isak Ali's son Naseem said: We won

the case. They then approached the

SDM [Sub-Divisional Magistrate]

court. The court held that individual

appeals would not be entertained.
We were prepared for a compromise

with the panchayat. The walls were

VICTIM S of the violence at the makeshift camp at Ballabhgarh police station.

already coming up, only the roofhad

to be put."
An attempt to obtain a stay from
the SDMs court failed. On May 10,

lage of about 13,000 people. Jats

dominate the village community, nu-

This relative and recent prosperity may have fuelled the anger of the

after completing the requisite ver-

merically and politically. Brahmins

majority community to some extent,

ication, the SDM directed that construction of the unfinished mosque

play a crucial role, too. Many of the

Muslims are landless, but a few own

as suggested by the targeting of

should continue. The Communist

some livestock. Some, like Sharafat

pecially since some of the wealthier

Party of India (Marxist) has said in a

who works as a shi manager at a

Muslims were known to be nancing

statement that the May 25 violence

cinema hall, have salariedjobs, while

the construction of the mosque. But

was an attack on the rule oflaw".

a few have done well in recent years

the entire community was attacked,

by securing government contracts

rich and poor alike. Victims at the

for infrastructural work.

Ballabhgarh camp said that an old

Muslims are a minority in Atali,

numberingjust about 1,000 in a vil-

25

homes and household appliances, es-

FR(]N"l"l.lNE

_Il.'NE 2h, Z015

whom Frontlinc spoke to said they

had no say in the matters of men and
that everyone was bound to accept
the dictates of society.

The targeted community believes

IF'3~

the attack was premeditated. Sabir

Ali, a contractor for the Electricity
Board and the Health Department,
said: All our economic activities are

tied to the Jats. Barring the fact that

we do the namaaz, there is nothing
diiierent between the two communities. We share many similarities.
Was there any need to do all this?

He said that in 2009 the elders ofhis

community had even prostrated
themselves before the majority community leaders in order to reach a
peaceful compromise. We do not
R A P I D A C T I ON F 0 R C E personnel deployed at Atali after the vioience.

want to ght. We want to live and let

live. Why do they consider us inferior? Is it because we are landless?

But we are educated. They do not

man was attacked on May 27. The
victims also said that most of the
village residents, cutting across caste
lines, were involved in the attack. But

of the violence. The new SHO, Preet

Pal, said that a police chowlci had
been set up in the village after the
incident. Two hundred Rapid Action

involve us in any village decisions.

This was pre-planned, otherwise
they w0uldnt have the courage to
attack us like this, he said.

there were also some people from

nearby villages among the attackers.

Force (RAF) personnel and 500 police personnel, including women,

Fmntlitne spoke to young people

'om the majority community who

We could see them from the roof-

have also been posted there.

said that in the days leading up to the

tops, said Sharafat.

The police told Frontline that

Atali village is in Prithla Assembly constituency. Tek Chand Sharma,

attack, meetings were held repeatedly in a temple and volunteers from

what made it so difficult for them to

tackle the violent mob was that wom-

who represents the constituency, is

the lone Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)

en were leading it and there were no

member of the Assembly and had

women police personnel available.

The police were not prepared for

been backed by Muslims of the constituency, including those of Atali

the Bajrang Dal were active in the

village. There was a membership
drive on, too. For two consecutive
days after the incident, Bairang Dal
volunteers reportedly met and as-

this eventuality. But these tensions

village.
According to the grapevine, he
won with the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) help. At any rate, he de-

always seem to get accentuated

around panchayat elections. Some of
the affected people are panchayat

sured the majority community of Full

support.
The Atali incident is just one in a
series of communal incidents that

members," said a senior police oilicer. Indeed, panchayat elections are

clared his support to the BJP soon

after he got elected. In the Lok Sab-

have occurred in recent months in

the State. The attack on a church

scheduled to be held in Haryana in

ha, Faridabad is represented by

under construction in I-Iisar, inam-

August. The ofcer added that in

Kishan Pal Gujjar, Union Minister

matory

comments

2009, too, it was around the time of

for Social Justice and Empowerment

claimed

leaders

the panchayat elections that tensions

had ared up in the village. He ad-

and former president of the B.IP's

State unit.

represent Hindus, and the activities

of belligerent cow protection com-

mitted that the attack in Atali was

one-sided and the main priority for

Members of the majority community at Atali made light ofthe violence. It was a skirmish between

mittees encouraged by the recent

legislation banning cow slaughter
have set the pattern. In June last

A senior police oliicer who did

youngsters. Nothing major. These

year, an accident involving a youth in

not want to be named said: There

things happen. They were building

were around 2,000 people in the

the mosque. There was a hardening

the Tauru-Mewat region was given a

communal colour, following which

mob. The police had to be mobilised

ofpositions on both sides. Thats all,

curfew was imposed. That there has

from all over the district. What could

we do? He could not give a satis-

said one of the village elders. Some

urchins who took the Frontline team

been a systematic attempt to polarise

factory explanation as to why it took

the police so long to reach the scene

through the gutted lanes were told

oti by village elders. Some women

nal lines is now getting well estab-

the police was to save lives.

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h,l()l5

26

by

self-pro-

claiming

to

communities in the State on commulished.

El

S O ClAL1SS_UES

In a land dispute that turned into caste violelicc, ve members of a

Dalit family are killed in Dangawas village in Rajasthan.

BV T.K. RAJALAKSHMI IN NAGAUR

DANGAWAS in Nagaur district

at Ajmer, are the only witnesses to

from the tourist town of Pushkar.

The village was in the news recently

sions including trolleys, and razed a

brick dwelling that had been constructed on the eld. Three people
died on the spot and the others suc-

for the wrong reasons: the wanton

killing of six persons on May 14-, ve

cumbed to their wounds in hospital.

The dead and the injured were re-

on the Dalit family started with Ratnaram Meghwal staking his claim to

ofthem members ofa Dalit family. A

portedly run over with tractors. The

the piece of land by constructing a

dispute over the ownership of 3.77

only person other than the Megh-

dwelling on it in the rst week of

hectares ofland saw the majority residents of the village getting mobil-

walsRatnaram, Pokarram, Pancharam,

Ganpat
and

May. I-Ie was, he reckoned, the rightful and legal owner ofthe plot.

ised on caste lines, with the sole

intention of nishing oft" the clai-

Ganeshararn-to die was Rampal

of Rajasthan is just 59 kilometres

the carnage. Some women alleged

that they were molested. The events
that led to the premeditated attack

mants to the land, who in this case

Gosain, a non-Dalit, who succumbed

to injuries from a bullet. The source

TRIN 5FER

happened to be 16 members of the

Scheduled Caste Meghwal family.

of the ring is still shrouded in

mystery.

The descendants of a Jat family

claimed that the piece ofland, origi-

According to the rst informa-

Even the women of the Dalit

nally owned by Basta Ram Meghwal,

tion report (FIR), a mob of around

family, young and old, were beaten

had been sold to Chimna Ram Jat in

200 Jats (survivors say there were

more) chased them, beat them with

mercilessly. They and some of the

young men, who were admitted to

1964 by one Ghisa Ram Meghwal.

But, according to Section 4-2 of the

sharp objects, set re to their posses-

the Jawaharlal Nehru Civil Hospital

1955 Rajasthan Tenancy Act, prop-

DALIT PROPERTY AND

5 U RV I VORS 0 F TH E ATTA C K on Dalit families in Dangawaslleftl Khema Ram, who was run over by a tractor, and
[right] women of the Meghwal familyat the Jawaharlal Nehru Civil Hospital in Ajmer.
27

|"RUl\TlllF

|llNF2h

2015

erty owned by a member of a Scheduled Caste (S.C.) community cannot

be transferred or sold to a person
from any other community, including Scheduled Tribes. It says: The
policy of the State contained in Section 42 ofthe Act placing restrictions
on transfers of land by persons belonging to S.C. or S.T. is in the in-

\_"\l'

terest of such persons and it cannot

be allowed to be frustrated although

a person belonging to a S.C. or S.T.

may be a party to such transfer unwillingly or otherwise. The disability

imposed on khatedars of S.Cs and

S.Ts not to be able to alienate their
land to nonS.C. classes is absolute
and in their long interest as a group
of weak persons. It is a legal provision to ensure securing the ends of a
considered public policy.
As such, Jagdish Narayan Shar-

i"I. !;G\Il\

TH E SIT E of the murderous attack in the disputed area of 3.77 hectares of Land

which was claimed by both the Meghwals and a Jat family.

ma, Ratnarams counsel until recently, toldFr0ntlz'ne that the sale deed to
Chimna Ram could well be a fab-

she had been molested by Chimna

Rams sons; this oomplaint of hers

ricated one. Chimna Ram claimed

too was not taken cognisance of.

title to the property in 1998 on the

Again, a magistrates order was re-

Meghwals are among the more outspoken of Dalits in Rajasthan. Compared with other Dalit sub-castes,
they have done relatively better for

grounds that he and his ancestors

had held possession of the land for

quired for the police to register an

FIR. Despite her statement recorded

themselves and are more assertive.

In Nagaur, the Meghwals, de-

the past 35 years. It was rejected in

under Section 164 of the Code of

spite their low numbers, were lan-

2007. After Chimna Rams death the

same year, his sons, who are the main

Criminal Proced|.ue, no arrests were

made.

downers and were not entirely

dependent on the landed upper

accused in the May 14 attack, produced the sale deed claiming that the
land had been sold to their father by
Ghisa Ram.
Ratnaram led a counter-claim
that year that the title was his, but he
withdrew it subsequently. However,

In the rst week of May, Ratnaram, perhaps advised by his new

counsel that the only way the matter
could be settled was to take physical
possession of the land even as the
case over the title continued in court,
decided to construct a dwelling on

castes although a few of them told

Frontiine that land alone was not
enough for economic sustenance and
they worked for the other communities occasionally. These are 21st cen-

his sons filed a suit claiming that the

land could have never been sold to

the piece of land. That proved to be

his nemesis.

democracy. It is not easy to bully

them anymore, said a local resident.

Chimna Ram as the original owner

was a Dalit. They also challenged the

Had the departments of Revenue

or Land Records not prevaricated on

They descended on us like animals. Even animals are not treated

authenticity of the sale deed. After

settling the issue of ownership and

like this, said Arjun Meghwal,

the oourt stayed further proceedings

title, the bloodshed could perhaps

have been avoided. But seldom has

tury Dalits. The new generation has

grown up with ideas of freedom and

ters remained in limbo.

Meanwhile, on April 10 this year,

the rightful ownership of land been

whose father and brother were

killed. His mother, Bidarni, was admitted to hospital with fractured

restored to those in the lower rungs

arms.

the Jat claimants dug up a small area

within the plot for a pond. Ratnaram

of the caste hierarchy. Revenue records show that the title to the land

Bhanwari, whose father~in~law

was killed and who herself was ad-

went to the police station to file an

was with the Meghwals. There was

no mutation, or transfer of title
deeds, in the name of Chimna Ram
Jat.
Dangawas is a village dominated
by Jats. According to the village patwari, ofthe 2,500 households in the

mitted to hospital with fracture, told

ed the women. I was hit on the head.
I remember someone holding my
arms and legs. I fainted after that.
They hit us wherever they could, she
said. Her children had gone to school

village, there are 1,200 Jat families

and 130 Meghwal families. The

and except for them and a few others

the entire family was in the eld

on the controversial sale deed, mat-

FIR, but the Station House Ofcer

(SHO) of Merta police station did

not think the matter was serious. On
April 15, Ratnaram got a magistrates

order to le an FIR. The FIR was

registered on May 1.
On April 21, Ratnaram's wid-

owed daughter-in-law alleged that

FRONTLINF.

JUNE 2.l()l5

28

Frontline that the attackers molest-

when the mob came attacking.

The village was reportedly mobilised to teach the Meghwals a lesson.

make necessary arrangements and

Rampal Gosain was called specially

The Sub-Divisional
Magistrate
(SDM) of Merta has been given an
Awaiting Posting Order. Indian Administrative Service probationer Ni-

tehsil civil hospital too where they

to join the mela, as one of his rela-

kya Gohain, the new SDM, was

were brought for treatment rst. The

tives described it. This was the third

such meeting that he had been called
for in the past two months. He said
he would be back for lunch. But we
only got his body. It was a village

trying his best under the new circumstances.

The administration could have
prevented the massacre at various

doors and windows of the hospital

were broken.
The State Human Rights Commission did not think it a t case to

levels. One, by settling the land dispute, and two, by taking measures to

visit the village. It was only after P.L.

Punia, Chairman, National Commis-

prevent the orchestrated build-up of

tension. Land is going to be a major
issue in the coming years. And the
majority ofdisputes involve land that
has been forcibly taken away from
Dalits by dominant castes, said P.L.
Mimroth, chief mctionary, Centre

sion for Scheduled Castes, visited the

village and other groups protested

matter. I-Iow could he have refused to

join? It was only to explain to the

Meghwals that the crowd had assembled. We had nothing to do with

them. They are Jats, we are Gosains,

she said. However, the Meghwals
were never called to these meetings,
she added.
Like the Meghwals, the Gosains,

attend to their medical needs. The

injured were attacked in the Merta

that a CBI inquiry was ordered.

After the Dangawas incident

happened, the Congress got into
proactive mode, demanding amendments to the Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of

with their 10 families, are a minority

in the village. Rampal, who has left

for Dalit Rights. It is estimated that

there are around 1.5 lakh revenue or
land-related cases pending in courts

Atrocities) Act according to a Standing Committee report which recom-

behind his widowed mother, his wife

and one or the other litigant in each

mended the setting up of special

Sohni Devi, and three young chil-

case happens to be a Dalit.

courts for offences against Dalits ex-

dren, all under 10 years, worked as a

loader, apart from doing other petty
jobs.
The rst arrests were made six
days after the incident. Six persons

Apart from posting police persons in the village and announcing

clusively at the district level. But the

fact is that even during the Congress
regime, atrocities against Dalits continued unabated.
Dangawas will never be the same

some compensation to the dead and

the injured, the administration has

protests in Delhi, Ajmer and Jaipur,

the case was handed over to the Cen-

done little to clamp down on caste

assemblies by the majority community. At the time of writing the report, a Jat mahapanchayat was being
organised in a nearby villageas

anymore, said the residents of the

village. The general feeling is that
one had to abide by what the village
wanted, which is a euphemism for

tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led
government of Vasundhara Raje reacted predictably. When asked by reporters about the slow pace of

Dangawas was under prohibitory orders as per Section 144- ofthe Code of
Criminal Procedurein order to
mobilise support for those arrested.
A State Minister was present at the

the dominant community. Had Ratnaram succeeded in his objective of

securing titular possession of the
land, he would have opened a Pandoras box, said a lawyer on condition

arrests,

meeting.

of anonymity.

were arrested though 12 people were

named in the FIR. Following a lot of

Home

Minister

Gulab

Chand Kataria said the government

When we visited the injured,

It is doubtful whether the State

did not have any magic wand. The

governments apparent reluctance to

they were so scared to talk. In the

village, we found that the water sup-

government will intervene in the settlement of such disputes. The CBls

be proactive in the matter is understandable. Of the 25 Lok Sabha

plyto the Meghwal families had been

disconnected and that they were tak-

investigation would at best reveal the

cause of and the people involved in

members from the State, seven are

ing drinking water from a pond. The

the murders, but the remedy, as is

from the Jat community and there

compensation is very little and not

being recognised, lies in nothing less

are around three dozen MLAs {tom

enough for what the family has gone

than land reforms and land redis-

the same community in the 200member Assembly.

through, said Kusum Sainwal, State

secretary of the All India Democratic

tribution. That is a tall order.

The J aipur-based Centre for Da-

ADMINISTRATIVE
INDIFFERENCE

Womens Association (AI DWA).

She said that other Meghwal
families in the village were also

lit Rights has compiled a list of 560

cases of discrimination, violence and

The indifference of the administra-

afraid to speak up after what had

the last one year from April 1,

tion showed itselfin many ways. The

Superintendent of Police (S.P.) and

happened. The continuing caste

2014-. In addition to conict over

meetings too had not helped in any

land, other atrocities against Dalits

the District Magistrate of Nagaur re-

way to restore condence in the ad-

include not letting Dalit grooms ride

ached the spot 36 hours after the

incident.

ministration. So much so that the

injured who are in hospital do not

horses (some 20 cases reported in

2014) and not allowing Dalits to cre-

A Deputy S.P. and the SHO of

Merta tehsil have been suspended.

consider going back even though

the administration has promised to

mate their dead in crcmatoriums or

27

atrocity against Dalits in the State in

enter temples.
FRONTLINF.

El
-

JUNE 20. 2015

SDCLAL LSSUES

R'

'

'th h t

Crimes against Dalits are on the rise in Maharashtra. Among the root

causes are land-grabbing and slicer rage of dominant castes against

the deance of the lower castes. er nut BAVADAM
CASTE tensions are simmering

for this brutality was something as

came up to Sagar and asked for his

in Maharashtra, where in the past 12

months alone there have been seven
caste-related murders. The seeming-

innocuous as his cell phone ringtone,

Kara lciti/1-1' halla, majboot Bhima-

name. When he replied, he asked Sagar to switch off his phone. Sagar
refused, saying it caused no one any

ly low gure is signicant because

cha killa (Raise your voice all you

want, Bhim's fort remains strong). It

the seven people lost their lives only

is a song of strength for Dalits, a

combined with his obviously Dalit

because of the lower social status as-

rallying cry with its references to soli-

surname, was enough for the man

cribed to them by birth. And the

State revels in calling itself progres-

darity and community togetherness

and the leadership of B.R. Ambed-

and his eight friends to attack Sagar

and his cousins with beer bottles.

sive and modern. The murders were

of a gruesome nature; it was as if

kar. The higher castes perceive it as

Akash said the bar owner called the

police who apparently replied they

some vengeance was being exacted.

deance, especially if they nurture

resentment towards Dalits. This is

Only some of these cases have

been registered under the Scheduled

what seems to have happened in

Shirdi.

Al-cash pointed out that that the police station was just two minutes

Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Pre-

Sagar had come home to Shirdi

vention ofAtrocities) Act, though on

to attend a wedding. On May 16, he

As the ght turned more violent,

the face of it there are adequate

pointers to a caste angle to all of

and two cousins went to a local beer

bar. At some point, his phone rang

Sagar got the worst of it. He was hit,

kicked, punched, dragged out of the

them. Analysis of National Crime

and this apparently annoyed some

bar in

Records Bureau (NCRB) data for

crimes against Scheduled Castes un-

men in the bar. Recounting the story

later, his brother Akash said a man

dumped onto a motorbike and taken

away. His cousins alerted the rest of

der the Prevention of Atrocities Act

from 2001 to 2012 shows that Maharashtra had 3,210 reported cases of

problem. That innocuous statement,

had no vehicle to come to the site.

walk away.

a semi-conscious state,

the family, but even a second appeal

to the police station was turned
down. The inspector apparently said,
He was just hit with a few bottles,

atrocities in this period. The State

Pradesh topped with 26,378 cases

wasn't he? He will be back in the

evening. Unsatised with this, the

followed by Tamil Nadu with 10,845.

boys gathered their friends and

Priyadarshi Telang of Manuski, an

organisation that campaigns for so-

mounted a search. We knew the

general direction in which the bike

was ninth on the list, which Uttar

cial justice, says Maharashtra has an

annual conviction rate of less than 3
per cent and thus holds the State
responsible for the increasing caste
atrocities in Maharashtra". The lat-

i
\L|
.|
F:
if

-1

<1

est ease, the murder of a young Dalit

L.
I.

man in Shirdi, highlights the growing trend ofviolence against Dalits in

Maharashtra. On May 16, nursing
student Sagar Shejwal was murdered
and his body mutilated. The reason
FRON'l'l.|NF.

JUNE Zn, EOI5

i1.

had gone and kept asking people,

said Akash, and we nally found his
body in a jungle.

Signicantly, the ght was captured by the bars security camera.

This played a big part in the six ar-

rests that have taken place so tar. But

what happened outside the shop was

SAGAR SHEJWAL, the Dalit

far worse and for this there are no

youth who was killed for his

ringtone extolling Ambedkar.

witnesses. Once he was dumped on

the bike, Sagar was taken to a wood-

30

ed area, where his body was later

found stripped of clothes and with

multiple fractures and telltale marks
of a two-wheeler having been driven

over him. The autopsy report said he

died of multiple fractures. The six
men have been booked, among other
things, for murder and offences underthe Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes
(Prevention
of
Atrocities) Act. Sagar's assailants belong to the Maratha caste and Other

Backward Classes (OBC).

The other sis murders too highlight some commonalities. All of

them were caste-specic. ln all the

reported cases, the aggressors were
either from the Maratha community
or from the OBCs, people belonging
to communities just one level higher
than Dalits in the caste hierarchy.
Explaining this surprising lack of

empathy for their kindred folk, Paul

PA R E N T5 o F N IT I N AG H E. a Dalit teenager who was strangled in April

Divakar of the National Campaign

on Dalit Human Rights says that
those communities which were not
traditionally upper caste", have now
risen economically and are part of
the power structure. Marathas, for
instance, are new entrants to a high-

2014 for talking to a Maratha girl, outside their house at Kharda village in
Ahmednagar. \folence against Dalits has been increasing in Maharashtra.

serious crimes as trivial offences (like

the police inspector in Shirdi who
told Sagar's family that it was just a

Manoj Kasab. The reason: Kasab became sarpanch thanks to reservation

and Chavan was offended that he

er social standing. Keen to maintain

har brawl) or introduce a Dalitboy

had been usurped" by a Dalit. Ka-

this, they ally themselves with the

upper-caste-girl" love angle in order

sab's assailant was a Maratha and he

upper castes and prove their alle-

to lessen the gravity of crimes that

actually have their roots in land-

was hooked under the Prevention of

Atrocities Act along with 10 others

grabbing, sheer assertion of caste

who had helped Chavan.

giance by stomping on the traditional underdog, Dalits.

Another commonality in the

dominance, or rage by dominant

On April 25, 2014, Umesh Agale

cases is the police baulking at regis-

castes at what they see as deance

was stabbed to death in a village in

tering cases under the Prevention of

Atrocities Act. They either dismiss

or the lower castes getting above

themselves. The Dal it writer and activist Anand Teltumbdc said: This
comes handy for the police to divert

Aurangabad district. He was suspected of having an affair with an

upper-caste girl. Three Maratha men

lured Agale out of his house on the

attention and create indignation

preteirt oftalking to him, killed him

among the people. It is a typical ploy

in the adjoining elds and dumped

which extends to the judicial process

too that the atrocity was not due to
caste motive. Khairlanji [where four
members ofa Dalit family were killed
in 2006] exemplies it wherein the
lower court dismissed the argument

CRIMINAL OFFENCES

his body in a well. There was initial

resistance to treating this as a caste
atrocity case, but the police later registered it as such and booked the
three men.
Three days later, on April 28, a
teenaged Dalit boy was strangled to
death and his body was hung from a
tree in Ahmednagar district because
he spoke to a Maratha girl. The boy,

Some of the fatal crimes against Da-

Nitin Aghe, was taken from his

lits in the past 12 months arc listed

below.

school by the girls brother and an-

that there was caste motive in the

gory incident."

On April 3, 2014, a former sar-

other man, beaten and then strangled. initial investigations did not

Shirdi where Sagar Shejwalwas

panch named Ganesh Chavan in .lal

even treat the death as murder, let

killed.

na district assaulted a Dalit called

alone a caste crime. but later this was

TH E SPOT near the beer shop in

31

FR(]NTl.lNE

_Il.'NE Zn, llili

reversed and a case was registered

under the Prevention of Atrocities

Act.

On May 1, 2014, Manik Udage

was crushed to death in a stone quarry by four Maratha men from his own
village in Pune district because they
objected to the celebrations Udage
had planned for Ambedkar Jayanti.
It took a year for the police to register
a case under the Prevention ofAtrocitics Act.

A fortnight later, on May 16, Sanjay Khobragade, a Dalit activist in his

angle was discovered, in which the

victim's wife was apparently engaged

forties, was set on re in Gondia district. He was trying to prevent a high-

in a liaison with someone else.

October 21, 2014, saw three of a

er-caste family from usurping land

family butchered in caste violence in

set aside for a Buddha vihar. Despite

90 per cent burns, Khobragade managed to give a dying declaration to
the police implicating six people of a
Powar family. They were charged

Ahmednagar district. Sanjay J adhav,

his wife, Jayshree, and their son Sunil were murdered in the early hours
of the day. When farm labourers told
Sanjay Jadhav's brother they had not

under the Prevention of Atrocities

turned up for work, a search was ini-

Act but were set free when a new

tiated. The mutilated bodies of the

Maharashtras poor record

Interview with Anand Teltumbde, writer and civil rights activist. BY |.n.4 BAVAIJAM
ANAN D TELTUMBDE, writer and

to the higher court, the punishment

civil rights activist with the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights in Mumbai, has
written extensively on Dalit issues.

is usually annulled. Khairlanji illustrates certain aspects ofthis process,

but the recent judgments ofthe Pat-

He is unsparing in his analysis even

Ranvir Sena criminals in the ghastly

if it means highlighting the ills in

massacres of Dalits [in Bathani To-

the Dalit community. Excerpts from

an interview he gave Frontline:

la] in Bihar that took place in the

In the past 12 months there have

been at least seven recorded
incidents of the killing of Dalits in
Maharashtra that are clearly casterelated. What does this say about
the liberal State of Maharashtra?
Maharashtra has falsely ac-

na High Court acquitting all the

1990s do it far better. Actually, right

L

\.

\\
ir.

:1

:,
|_l

ANAND TELTUHBDE:

"Maharashtra has falsely

acquired an image of a
progressive State."

quired an image of a liberal and pro-

gressive

State.

Its

record

in

extremely low. There are no authen-

repressiveness is rather infamous. It

is the land that produced Hindutva
ideology; most of its proponents

tic gures; the available gures vary

widely. In any case, the so-called

have been born here. The very fact

that [Jyotirao] Phule and [B.R.]
Ambedkar were born in Maharash-

conviction rate needs to be dened.

For instance, the lower court may
punish the culprits, but they may be
acquitted by the High Court.

tra could also be construed as a response to this innate repressiveness.

Firstly, the dynamics of caste

atrocities need to be understood.

Even the birth of the Dalit Panthers

Only cases that ignited a public hue

in the 1970s was tangibly in re-

and cry are discussed. My analysis of

Khairlanji tells me that invariably

sponse to the caste atrocities that

happened in the previous year. As
regards caste atrocities, Maharashtra is at best a middling State.

What is the rate of conviction in

cases oi atrocities against Dalits in

the State?
I am not aware, but it has to be
l)\lllI\l-1-.lli.\'I~'.3n

lla

the real culprits are sheltered and

some dummy people are projected
as criminals. If there is public attention, the lower court invariably
awards them harsh punishments,

from the rst case of this new genre

of atrocity, Keezhvenmani in Tamil

Nadu in December 1968, there is no

justice done to Dalits in atrocity
cases despite the legal facade raised
with the so-called Atrocity Act. This

Act with teeth also is rendered

toothless by the system.

All the assailants in the seven

cases mentioned are either
Maratha or OBC. Can you explain
this trend please? In the caste
structure they are just one step
higher than Dalits and so some
degree of empathy would naturally
be expected, but this does not
seem to be the case. (an this anger
be linked to the fact that Dalits are
making a successful effort to
improve themselves?
It is always the B.C./OBC who

has been perpetrating violence

against Dalits. It is notjust one step

being higher than Dalits. That one

step denes the kink in caste hie-

which may not be warranted in law

based on the facts of the investiga-

rarchy, which divides caste and

tion. When the case goes in appeal

able. B.Cs/OBCs that interface Da-

32

non-caste, touchable and untouch-

men were found strewn around in a

farm. The womans body was found
with a deep injury on the head. The
cause of this violence was attributed

to an alleged alliance between Sunil

and an upper-caste girl. No immediate arrests were made, but later the
very man who had led the rst infomlation report (FIR) was arrested.

He was the deceased man's nephew

and the police maintain that the reason for the crime was a family dis-

lits in villages matter more

than the so-called upper castes
like Brahmins. Even in Phules

days, the combination of Shudras and Ati-Shudras that he

carved out did not work. It is

1
:i

4'

.._

the basic reason that a separate Dalit movement had to

spring up. During the post-In-

dependence decades, the po-

R EPUBLICAN PARTY OF INDIA SUPPO RTERS protesting in Mumbai against

the killing of three Dalits in Javheda in Ahmednagar district in November 2014.

litical-economic changes that

befell the agrarian sector aggravated

this

divide

and

brought Shudras in material

contradiction vis-a-vis Dalits.
I have amply explained
this process in my writings and

explained what caused Keezh-

pute. Once this arrest was made, the

charge of family dispute safely took
the case out of the realm of the Prevention of Atrocities Act. Nothing
more was heard about the initial

ones. There are many that have not

ended fatally and many remain un-

claim that there was an alliance between Sunil and an upper-caste girl.

from pursuing justice. Dr V.A. Ramesli Nathan, general secretary of

reported because of the tedium ofthe

legal process as well as dominant
caste arrogance that deters people

venmani and all the atrocities

thereafter. The land reforms,
for instance, were implement-

On January 1, 2013, Ahmedna

the National Dalit Movement for

gar district saw the murder of three

Dalit men who worked as sqii kam-

ed to carve out a class of rich

farmers in villages as an ally of

gars (cleaners). Sandip Dhanwar,

Sachin Dharu and Rahul Kandare

Justice, says that at the national level

conviction takes place in fewer than
10 per cent of the cases under the
Prevention of Atrocities Act. Com-

the central ruling class, and

were called one morning to clean a

septic tank at the house of Prakash
Darandale, a Maratha. At 8 p.m., a
relative of Dhanwar received a call

Indian Penal Code (IPC). He attributes the low percentage of convic-

nudes Dalits of the traditional

from the police saying he had

drowned in the septic tank. Knowing

tions to poor investigation and

implementation of the law.

safeguard of the jajmani sys-

two other peopie had accompanied

In almost all eases, counter-

tem inherent in the caste sys-

Dha.nwar, the relative asked the caller about their whereabouts. He was
told they had already left. A few
hours later, he received another call
from the police informing him that

cases are led and the victim or their

family is forced to withdraw their
original case. In the special courts
there is a nexus [between the authorities]. They do things like not ling

the other two were found dead in a

well. The bodies of these two were
mutilated, with Dharus head and
limbs severed from the body. Cases

the charge sheet on time," said

Nathan.
If the Prevention of Atrocities
Act is to be seen as the deterrent it is

the entire gamut of politics after the 1960s is explainable

under the Prevention of Atrocities

Act were registered and the police

meant to be, then cases need to be

resolved with some speed. While

said that it was related to honour

constitutional and legal means of

within this framework ofpolit-

killing because of some involvement

justice exist for Dalits, their imple-

ical economy.

with an upper-caste girl.

These cases are just the reported

mentation is sluggish. For many this

the Green Revolution, a capitalist strategy in agriculture,

on the one ha.nd enriches this

class and, on the other, de-

tem. The class contradictions

between Dalits and the Shudra-caste rich farmers begin

manifesting through the familiar fault lines of castes. Every incident of caste atrocity
may not explicitly expose these
equations but they will be at

the root in some way. In fact,

33

pare this with the 44- per cent convic-

tion rate for cases led under the

is as good as no law.
FRUNTLINF.

El
-

JUNE 2h, 2:115

P O Ll_Tl_C S

I\i\

One sided
contest
As J ayalalithaa prepares to contest a
by-election to firm up her ])iJ.\lIl()]l as Cliit-i

.\lllllHlLl', the opposition, except the Left, is

wary of what it sees as a losing battle.
BY 'l'.S. SUBRAHANIAN

WITH the Assembly elections in

would contest against Jayalalithaa.

Tamil Nadu due in less than a year,

He said, There is no question ofgiv-

the major opposition parties in the

ing a wide berth to elections in a

State seem to he least interested in

putting up a ght against Chief Min-

democracy. Since we believe in democracy. we are condent that all

ister J ayalalithaa in the Assembly by-

those who light corruption and com-

election scheduled on .Iune 27. This,

munalism will pledge their support

despite every opposition party de-

to us. The CPI and the CPI(M) will

nouncing the Karnataka High Court

jointly introduce the candidate." G.

verdict of May 11 acquitting .Iayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets

case, which has enabled her to contest this by-election, and despite
their constant attacks on her govern-

Ramakrishnan, State CP I(M) secretary, however, was worried that the

ruling party will bring into play the
official machinery and its moneypower in this election".

Every

The principal opposition party

major opposition party has backed

off from the battle, citing the ruling
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
K21/.liagam's (AIADMK) money

the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

(DMK) and the Pattali Makkal
Katchi (PMK), the Congress, the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), the

why the DMK wanted to avoid" a

contest. He recalled that aer the
trial court's sentencing of.Iayalalithan on September 27, 2014, which
obliged her to resign as the Chief
Minister, the Election Commission
took 75 days to announce the byelection to the Srirangam constituency, which had elected her in 2011.
The announcement came only on Ja-

power, questioning the Election

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra

nuary l2. But after the AIADMKleg

Commission's (E.C.) neutrality, and

Kazhagam (MDMK), the Viduthalai

islator P. Vettrivcl vacated the R.K.

attacking the E.C. for announcing

Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the

Nagar seat on May 17 to make way

the R.K. Nagar election at short

notice.

Puthiya Tamilagam have all decided

not to contest. At the time ofgoing to

for Jayalalithaa to contest from

there, the E.C. took just 10 days to

press, Vijayakanth, the lm actor

announce the by-election, he pointed

LEFT TAKES UP CHALLENGE

who founded the Desiya Murpokku

out.

Only the Left partiesthe Commu-

Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), had

Karunanidhi also noted sarcasti-

nist Party of India (Marxist), or the

CPI(M), and the Communist Party of

not revealed whether his party would

contest. He has not snapped the alliance forged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2014 Lok
Sabha elections.
DMK president and former Chief
Minister M. Karunanidhi explained

eally how money power had played a

big role in the Srirangam by-election

ments

"non-performance.

India (C-Pl)are in a mood to ght

the election. After a meeting of the
leaders of the two parties on June 3,
R. Mutharasan, State CPI secretary,
announced that a CPI candidate
!-'Rl)\l'lI|\il"

ll"\'I~1n

101%

34

and how policemen had acted with

honesty and a sense of fair play not
only in that election but the 2014 Lok
Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu also.
Vlfhen we, therefore, know clear-

giance to Vasan. However, the TMC

cadres' sympathies lie with the

AIADMK, and they have made that
clear to Vasan. This was one of the
reasons for Vasan's refraining from
any criticism ofJustice Kumaras\vam_v's verdict acquitting Jayalalithaa.
Just as we did not criticise the
D'Cunhajudgment, we do not attack
the latest verdict now," Vasan said.

FE)

55

His publicly stated stand on the

TMC's preference for an ally for the

coining Assembly elections is this:

We will go with the alliance that

people want."TMC cadres read it as a

euphemism for forming a front with
the AIADMK.

On June 2, Vasan explained why

the TMC would not contest in R.K.

Nagar: A political party's paramount dut_\-' is to take part in elections. A by-elcction was once a gauge

to measure the ruling party's performance. But those days are gone,
and the situation today is that the
niling party always wins the by-elections. ln particular, it is the ruling
party which has won every one of the
22 by-elections that have been held
in Tamil Nadu since 2001. On that

basis, the TMC did not contest the

Srirangam by-election. N0 occasion
has arisen to resile from that stand.

We, therefore, have decided that the

AIAD M K wo R K ER 5 campaigning in the R.K. Nagar constituency on June 1+.

l_v what kind oftrcatmcnt deniocraey
will receive in this l)_v-election. and

DM DK or the Congress ifthcse par-

the Assembly elections are to be held

ties contested from R.K Nagar,

which, it hoped, would prepare the

within a year. the DMK does not

ground for an alliance with one of

want to contest in R.K. Nagar," he

them for the 2016 elections. But it

said.

did not happen. One DMK leader

T.K.S. Elangovan, DMK spokes-

said that the Congress is only a sec-

man, said that the DMK contesting

the by-election would be a waste of
energy and resources". He added
that the DMK was preparing for the
bigger event of the 2016 Assembly

ond option for us alter the TM C" led

by G.K. Vasan in the Assembly elections. lf the DMK were to forge an
alliance with the TMC, the C PI(M)
and the CPI might also come into the
fold. In the DMK's reckoning, this

elections and wanted to "take the

message of the allround failure of
the AIADMK government to the

people in the coming months.

Informed sources said that the
DMK was worried that ii'.laya1alitl1aa won by a big margin against a

would bring in Vijayakanth, too.

The TMC was founded only on

November 3, 2014-, after Vasan quit

the Congress. But the DMK is keen

TMC will not stand in the R.K. Nagar

by-election."
The BJ P seems to be divided on
the issue. Pon. Radhakrishnan,

Union Minister of State for Shipping, said on .]une 2 that his party
would consult allies such as the PMK
and the DMDK before deciding on
elding a BJP candidate. Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, the State BJP
president, said on the same day that
the BJ P would back the DMDK ifthe
latter contested.
Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister AI'un Jaitley has categorically

said the BJ P would not team up with

either the AIADMK or the DMK for
the 2016 Assembly elections.

on an alliance with this nascent par-

COMPETING AMBITIONS

ty. This is because the TMC claims to

One party that both the BJP and the

DMK seem to be wooing with an eye

DMK candidate, she would start

propaganda that the people were

have grown beyond its own expectations with a membership ot'45 lakh.

with her and not the DMK. The party

Almost the entire Congress cadre

though it is emaciated alter the

reportedly planned to back the

base in the State has shifted alle-

crossing over ofscveral ofits legisla-

35

to the 2016 elections is the DMDK,

I-'RlIN'l'l.lNl-1

.|l'NE Zn. 3015

tors to the AIADMK in the last couple of years. The rub is that

accommodate Vijayakantlfs ambition, of either leading the alliance or

Karunanidhfs son M.K. Stalin, who

is the DMK treasurer, is a powerful

Vijayakanth, an aspirant for the

Chief Minister's post, would like to

being a chief ministerial candidate.

What is, in a way, thwarting the

contender for the Chief Ministers

post and a natural leader for any alli-

lead the alliance himself, whether he

opposition unity is that there are at

ance that the DMK may stitch up.

is in the company ofthe DMK or the

BJ P. There is no way the DMK can

least three chief ministerial aspirants

among the opposition parties now.

Then there is Dr Anbumani Rainadoss, son of the PMK founder Dr S.

was not enough for Karnataka to say

Little choice

that it had already discharged its

THE Karnataka government has fi-

cision, which dramatically over-

nally decided to le a special leave

petition (SLP), under Article 136 of
the Constitution, in the Supreme
Court challenging the acquittal of
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others in the 19year-old disproportionate assets
case. Legal experts see the decision,

turned the trial courts verdict, has

been seen by many legal pundits,
including Acharya, as being riddled
with legal and arithmetical flaws. In
particular, Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy's methodology in computing

the quantum of disproportionate

assets is seen as problematic. While

duties by setting up a special court,

hosting the trial and appointing a

Special Judge and an SPP. A former

AG said: "With the Supreme Court
clearly stating that Kamataka is the
sole prosecutor in the case it has a
constitutional right to le an appeal.
It cannot abandon the legal process
midway.
Amid speculation that the Kar-

which came on June 1, as afait accompli since the special public pros-

the trial courts calculation (page

852 of the judgment) of 10 loans

ecutor (SPP), B.V. Acharya, the

taken byJayalalithaa, the three oth-

States Advocate General (AG) Ra-

ers and their rms from national-

nataka government was not keen on

ling an appeal because of political
and other considerations, the
State's Law and Parliamentary Af-

vivarma Kumar, and the Law Department

had
all
strongly

ised
banks
amoimts
to
Rs.l06,731,274-, the learned judge

fairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra

sought, through the La.w Depart-

recommended that the State should

of the High Court totalled these at

ment, two legal clarications from

appeal. (Karnataka is the Supreme

Rs.241,731,27-1-. This grave miscal

culation, according to Acharya, re-

the AG. This move, which came after the SPP and the AG had given

sulted in the acquittals. A corrected

computation would push up the

their recommendations, were seen

Court-designated
prosecuting
agency in the case.) The State government thus had little choice but to

appeal

against

the

as delaying tactics.
What the Law Department

quantum of disproportionate, unexplained

assets to 76.76 per cent,
way beyond the 8.12 per
cent assumed by the
High Court.
The controversial

tion from the competent authority

was necessary for ling an appeal
and whether the consent of the
ChiefJustice ofthe Karnataka High
Court was necessary to appoint an

order also suffers from

SPP to argue on behalf of the State

vocate in the case,

:- legal inrmities such as

including high-value

before the Supreme Court. Ravivarma Kumar felt it would be a great

Sandesh J. Chouta, authorised by the Su-

cash gifts received from

persons who
later

travesty ofjustice" to allow the High

Courts acquittal of Jayalalithaa to

Karnataka
High
Courts May 11 verdict

exonerating Jayalalithaa and the others of

all corruption charges.
Law Department
ofcials said that the
SPP and his junior ad-

chaired

wanted claried was whether sanc-

government

become nal by not appealing. He

boards and corpora-

pointed out that requirement ofany

one of the State governments advocates on record

tions as legitimate income; and recognising as legitimate

sanction from a competent authority was absurd since the question of

(standing counsel) in New Delhi in

a debatable newspaper subscription

sanction arose only at the prosecu-

the rst week ofJuly when the court

scheme that had been established as

tion stage, in particular, prior to tak-

reopens after the summer vacation.

It is a time when the court takes up

fake by the trial court.

Commenting on the decision to

ing cognisance of the offence

against a public servant. He pointed

urgent matters. Legal experts believe that the apex court is likely to
admit and hear the case expeditiously, in keeping with the general
trend in corruption cases.
The Karnataka High Courts de-

appeal, Acharya said: The government has gone strictly on the legal
merits of the case and the advice of
the Law Department, the AG and
myself. This is a t case for an appeal. Legal experts explained that it

out that it was the constitutional

right of the government to le an
appeal and that consent from the
ChiefJustice to appoint an SPP was
also not needed as the State had the
powerto do so under the Kamataka

preme Court, would

le the SLP through

U\ll'll\lF

.lUYI'3h

101:

B.V. ACHARYA.

36

Ramadoss, and Vijayakanth. The

massive turnout at a public meeting

in Madurai on May 24 has enthused
Stalin. Addressing the meeting, he
urged the people to rally under one
front for the Assembly elections. I
have come to Madurai to draw the

law Oiccrs (Appointment

and Conditions of Service)
Rules, 1977.

Legal experts pointed out

that the Governor ofTamil Na-

du had granted sanction for

Jayalalithaas

prosecution.

That was way back in 1997. and

without it the court could not

DMK PRES1DENT M. Karunanidhi.

CHIEF MINISTER Jayalalithaa.

have proceeded against her.

The validity of that decision

first battle line to put an end to four

The ruling AIADMK, mean-

was upheld in 1997 by both the

years of the AIADM K's atrocities,"

Stalin said. He spoke of the

while, is an awkward situation.

Cadres are jubilant that .Iayalalithaa

AIADMK governments nonper-

is back in the saddle, but there is

formance on a variety of fronts and

accused the AIADMK of not fullling the promises it had made to the
people. It is a crime if you maintain
silence and do not ght against injustice, he said.
The PMK is ploughing a loncly

nervousness at the party's top echeions after the Karnataka government

decided to le an appeal in the Supreme Court against her acquittal.

trial court and the Madras

High Court.
Denying any delay on the
part of Karnataka to le an appeal, Jayachandra told Frontline: Legally we had 90 days

to le an appeal and we have

'l'he party is wary ofaligning with

delay?" He also insisted that

the Congress high command

tional Democratic Alliance (NDA)

the BJP for the Assembly elections

because it fears the loss of minority
community votes. Besides, the TMC,
which s\vears by secularism, will not
join the AIADMK bandwagon if it
allies with the BJ P.
In the coming months, the

led by the BJP, but it is only a sullen

AIADMK plan is to galvanise the ad-

was in no way concerned, nor

and inactive partner in the coalition.

ministration, complctc pending in-

was it consulted on the question. This is a State matter, not

A united opposition is yet to materialise, but Tho]. 'Ihirumavalavan,

frastructure projects, organise the

much-vaunted Global Investors

a party matter, so where is the

need to seek advice from the

VCK founder, has set his sights far

Meet in September, and project itsell

aeld. His party is organising a con-

as a formidable party under a strong

ference on .Iune 9 in Chennai on

leader.

done it well within that period.

I had sought some clarica-

tions from the AG. Once the

clarications came and the
Cabinet met we took a decision.
So where is the question of a

high command?"
The Minister also said that
the Supreme Court, when
transferring the case to Kama-

taka in 2003, had trusted

[the] high reputation of the
Karnataka judiciary, and the

State, as the prosecutor. Vi/e

are not against anybody. But we

have been declared by the Supreme Court as the sole prose-

cuting agency and we cannot

move away from this responsibility. Iiegally we have no

choice but to appeal and take

the case to its logical end.
Ravi Sharma

furrow. S. Ramadoss has repeatedly

ruled out an alliance with either the
DMK or the AIADMK_ The party

may not have walked out of the Na-

Forming Coalition Governments in

Its leaders are condent that it

Tamil Nadu. 'Ihirumavala\~'an met

the Left leaders Ramakrishnan and
Mutharasan, MDMK leader Vaiko
and Vijayakanth, enlisting support
for his idea. After meeting Ramak-

can return to Power in 2016 without

any allies if the opposition remains
fractured. As a forerunner, it is keen
on proving in R.K. Nagar that the
people arc with it. And it is against

rishnan, he told reporters: "For a

long time in Tamil Nadu, political

this backdrop that the AIADMK

agged off its campaign from the
constituency on May 31.

parties representing marginalised

communities and the minorities and
the Leit parties are unable to share

But now that the Leit parties

have decided to send a candidate into

power. For 20 years now, coalition

the ring against Jayalalithaa, the

governments have become the norm

at the Centre. A similar situation

other opposition partiesthe DMK,

the Congress, the TMC, the MDMK

should be brought about in Tamil

and the VCKmay nd themselves

Nadu. We are engaged in such

in a quandary: to support or not to

efforts."

support the CPI nominee.

3'7

Cl

I-RllN'I'l.lNl-1-.|l'NF. 2o.3lI1S

POLITICS

apital stand-off
The hattlc over the (lL\'l)lllil()ll oi po\\m'.-' between the Delhi government

on the one side and the Lt Governor and the Central government on
the other points to an attempt at political sabotage of an elected
government. BY AJOY ASHIRWAD HAHAPRASHASTA

THE initial stand-off between

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejri-

wal and Lieutenant Governor (LG)

Najeeb Jung over the appointment
of a temporary Chief Secretary has
developed into a full-blown constitu-

tional battle over the crucial issue of

devolution of powers. In early May,
Kejriwal objected strongly to the

LG's unilateral decision to appoint

Shakuntala Gamlin Acting Chief
Secretary in the absence of ChiefSec-

retary K.K. Sharma, who was on

leave for 10 days. Jung claimed that
he was well within his constitutional
right to appoint oicials without
consulting the Chief Minister. The
confrontation triggered a legal
conict.
The appointment was blown out

of proportion as Kejriwal accused

Shakuntala Gamlin of lobbying with
the government to promote the in-

terests oi'Reliance-owned power distribution companies (discoms) in the

city. Shakuntala Gamlin was in the

midst of a controversy when Delhis

Power Minister Satyendra Jain alleged that she insisted that the power
discoms be given letters of comfort",

if not a loan guarantee, which may

have given the discoms loan guaran-

tees of Rs.11,000 crore. Kejriwal,

who has consistently spoken about
the high-handedness of the discoms
and refused any form of loan guarantee to them, saw Shankuntala Gan1lins appointment as astrategic move

by Jung and the Central government

to protect the discoms. He alleged
FRUNTLINF.

.lUNI~'.3h, 2015

HF

L T G ov ER N 0 R N AJ E EB JU N G greets Chief Minister Anrind Kejriwal after

administering the oath of office to him, in New Delhi on February 14.
38

that his requests for substitutes had

always been turned down by the LG
and hinted at foul play in the ap-

ing Delhi Police personnel. However,

a few days later, the Supreme Court,
hearing the Central government's

pointment ofShakuntala Gamlin by-

petition, issued a notice to the Delhi

Democratic Alliance (NDA) govemment at the Centre is rooted in one

passing many senior bureaucrats.

govemment and asked it to le its

clause of the National Capital Terri-

Soon after this face-off, the

Union Home Ministry issued a gazette notication to the Delhi government on May 21 restraining its
Anti-Corruption Branch from acting

response within three weeks. The Supreme Court bench refused to stay
the High Court order but added that
the High Court ruling on the May 21

tory (NCT) Act, included as the 69th

amendment to the Constitution in
1991. The NCT Act created the provision for an elected Delhi government

and promoted Delhis status from a

Union Territory to a half-state. Both

the Central government as a direct

notication was tentative and would

not be binding. This observation by
the apex court has complicated the
legal conflict further.

attack on the Delhi government,

The unique status of Delhi as a

differently to defend their stand-

which was elected on the agenda of

curbing corruption and crony cap-

half-state and the multiplicity of authorities have always been a cause of

italism.

trouble in administrative affairs. It is

The bitter battle took a dramatic

twist when Kejriwal got Principal

because of this that both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party

points. The Article states: There

shall be a Council of Ministers consisting of not more than 10 per cent
of the total number of members in

Secretary (Services) Anindo Majumdars ofce locked to prevent him

(BJP) had demanded full statehood" for Delhi. Kejriwal renewed

from carrying out the orders of the

the demand in his campaign with

LG and ordered all bureaucrats not

added vigour. In his rst stint as

to act on any order from the LG without consulting him. Following this,
Jung, in a strongly worded letter to
Kejriwal, asserted his constitutional

Chief Minister, for 49 days in 201314-, Kejriwal dramatically sat on a

dharna outside Rail Bhavan to demand control over Delhi police.

right to appoint and transfer ofcialsright from stenographer to

The unique status of Delhi gives

the Central government .ill control

Chief Secretaryin the city govern-

over public order, land, and the po-

ment's administration and nullied

lice, while the Delhi government is in

all orders of the Delhi government in

charge ofgeneral administration and

the previous week. The ego tussle

worsened when an Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) legislator, in an emergency
session of the Assembly, sought the
amendment of the Constitution to

welfare. It is for this reason that

allow impeachment of the LG.

In an effort to resolve the crisis,
Kejriwal met President Pranab
Mukheijee and said he was ready to

in Delhi.
Prem Shankar J ha, a senior journalist, wrote in one of his articles:
Today Arvi nd Kejriwal heads a gov-

accept Shakuntala Gamlin's appointment, but sought the Presi-

ernment in a territory that is larger

than ll Indian States that enjoy full

dents intervention to ensure that the

autonomy under the Indian Consti-

LG did not intervene in the Delhi

administration's functioning on a
day-to-day basis. He alleged that
Jung had been commanding senior-

tution. He heads a party that has

level bureaucrats directly without

consulting him or his Council of
Ministers.

dia's 67 years of freedomand 96

per cent of the seats in the State Assembly. But he is being prevented

the Legislative Assembly, with the

Chief Minister at the head to aid and

Amidst this asco, Kejriwal re-

from taking decisions that he and his

advise the Lieutenant Governor in

ceived a boost when the Delhi High

Ministers feel are necessary to enable

the exercise of his functions in rela-

Court, while hearing the Delhi gov-

them to deal with matters ofconcern

tion to matters with respect to which

ernments

the

to the common man by an unelected

the Legislative Assembly has power

Home Ministrys notication suspect and ruled that the Delhi gov-

appointee of a Central government

to make laws, except insofar as he is,

that was wiped out in the very same

by or under any law, required to act

election that brought the AAP to

in his discretion.... Provided that in

power."

the case of difference of opinion be-

against Central government officials

in the city. Kejriwal saw this move by

petition,

termed

ernment had the authority to probe

Central government officials, includ-

Jung's recent actions have been

viewed by some political observers as
the Central governments attempt to
engineer an administrative paralysis

secured an unprecedented 54 per

cent of the votethe highest won by
any party in any election during In-

39

The political tussle between the

AAP government and the National

Kejriwal and the LG have interpret-

ed Article 293AA (4) of the NCT Act

-1

I.

'2'

ll

ARVIND KEJRIWAL addressing

the special session of the Delhi

Assembly, called to discuss the issue
of power-sharing with the

Lt Governor, on May 27.

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE 2:. 2015

tween the Lieutenant Governor and

his Ministers on any matter, the
Lieutenant Governor shall refer it to

the Lieutenant Governor. The

phrase aid and advise may seem
izzy, but exactly the same phrase is

pointed to serve directly under the

Chief Minister, as well as the department ministers, bypass them and re-

the President for decision and act

used to describe the relationship be-

port to an extraneous authoritythe

according to the decision given

tween elected governments and the

LGto whom no such power is con-

thereon by the President and pending such decision it shall be competent for the Lieutenant Governor in
any case where the matter, in his

President of India and Governors of

States (Article 74 (1), 163 (1)). The
CoM was responsible in all cases to
their respective Parliaments and As-

ferred either by the Constitution or

the NCT Act, 1991, Subramanium
said. Prem Shankar Jha noted that
the conict had arisen out of Jung's

opinion, is so urgent that it is necessary for him to take immediate ac-

semblies, including the CoM of Delhi

refusal to allow the Chief Minister

and his Cabinet the freedom to

(Article 75(3), 164(2), 239AA (6)). If

aid and advise was interpreted liter-

tion, to take such action or to give

such direction in the matter as he
deems necessary.
The Article is unclear about who
the head of Delhi is. While some senior bureaucrats and constitutional
experts have read the Article as one
which gives full powers to the LG to

licitor General Indira Jaising is ofthe

view that Jung overstepped his juris-

LG decisions and the subsequent

Home Ministry notication were
dangerous precedents set by the
NDA government at the Centre as
such political sabotage of an elected

take executive decisions, some other

legal experts are at variance with the

diction.
She said, There is no provision

government not only undermined

the core federal principles of govem-

view. The constitutional expert Sub-

in the Constitution or in the NCT of

ance but also subverted the whole

ash C. Kashyap said: The Union

Delhi Act, 1991, or any ofthe laws,

idea of parliamentary democracy.

Territory is administered by the LG.

The Council ofMinisters is to aid and
advise him. In case of service matters, it is the LGs call. In such a

granting to the Lieutenant Governor

the power to act at his own discretion
in the matter of appointment of the
Chief Secretary." She lrther said
that there was no provision in the

As the AAP government completes 100 days in power in Delhi, it

has already seen many minor skirmishes with the Union government,

matter, the Chief Minister should go

to the LG and sort things out."

ally, the CoMs would become adviso-

ry and parliamentary democracy

would be worthless, he wrote in one
news website.
Similarly, former Additional So-

Transaction of Business Rules which

empowers the LG to issue direct or-

The present
melee could do
more harm than
good to the Union
government.

ders to bureaucrats bypassing the

elected government. She said that

the issue needed no irther interpretation as the power ofthe Governors

had clearly been stated by the Supreme Court in Shamsher Singh vs

choose the officials they would work

with. Political observers and parties
in the opposition, too, felt that the

this being the most recent and the

biggest. Fearing further such interventions by the Central govemment,
the Delhi government, after the High
Court order vindicating Kejriwal,
has renewed its efforts to strengthen

State qfPunjab (I974), where it ruled

its Anti-Corruption Branch. In a deft

political move, it sought police personnel from various non-BJP States
for its Anti-Corruption Branch.

that the Governor had to act only in

Politically, Kej riwal has succeed-

accordance with the aid and advise of

ed in turning the tussle in his favour

the Council of Ministers headed by

the Chief Minister. She added that

on the ground. The AAP's campaign

during this turf war has not only ce-

the appointment of officials was an

executive matter and must be taken

mented Kejriwals position as a crusader against corruption but also

However, many prominent legal

up by the Council ofMinisters as had

experts said that such an under-

been delineated in the Rules of Busi-

succeeded in pushing the BJP into a

corner.

standing would be a silly literal

ness and the Cadre Rules.

translation of the Article. They view

this Article as one that gives the

Both former Solicitor General

Gopal Subramanium and the promi-

halla sabhas for participatory gov-

elected government clear powers to

make laws and expects the DG to

nent lawyer K.K. Venugopal stood in

support of Kejriwal and were of the

number of welfare measures such as

reduced water and electricity tariffs,

exercise his functions through the

view that the LGs decisions violated

elected government.

the stated norms of governance and

With the AAP launching 11 moernance and initiating a signicant

yer, said the LG was playing tricks

were against the constitutional

scheme. Insofar as the control over

with the Constitution. The a.rrange-

such oicers is concerned, the only

ment between the elected CoM

[Council of Ministers] and the nom-

authority which ought to exercise

control would be the Chief Minister

the report card of the Delhi govemment also seems to be a positive one.
The growing popularity of the AAP
in the national capital has come at
the cost ofthe NDAs dwindling reputation as a pro-people government.
In such asituation, the present melee

inated LG was that the CoM with the

and the Cabinet... It is not possible

that any of the officers who are ap-

could do more harm than good to the

Union government.
El

Rajeev Dhawan, prominent law-

CM as its head would aid and advise

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l()l5

60

THE STATES

Cl l)

The TRS government in Telangana has seen ups and downs during its
rst year in office, but the ]1t()]1lL sccin to he in :1 mood to give the
Cl1iL'i'l\"li11istt|' lll()l'L time. BY KUNAL SHANKAR
any
one of us strays om the
path Qfachietiing a separate
Telangana, stone us.

K. Chandrashckhar Rao, quoted in

Frontline, June 22, 2001.

ON May 17, 2001, when Chandrashekhar Rao threw this challenge

at the Simha Garjana (roar of the

lion) rally at Karimnagar, it marked
the revival ofthe Telangana agitation

after three decades. The Telangana

Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that he formed
after leaving the Telugu Desam Party
(TDP) ibllowing differences with N.
Chandrababu Naidu was to be the

spearhead ofthe movement. The Na-

K. C HANDRASHEKHAR RAO taking the oath of office as Chief Minister of

tional Democratic Alliance (NDA)

government's decision to carve out
Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand), Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as three new
States from Himachal Pradesh, Bi-

the new State of Telangana in Hyderabad on June 2, 2014.

in November 2009 when Chan-

ekhar Rao in December 2010.

drashekhar Rao went on an indenite fast demanding the introduction

With the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha passing the Telangana Bill

har and Madhya Pradesh respective-

of the Telangana Bill in the Lok Sab-

in early 2014-, the decks were cleared

ly gave Chandrashekhar Rao the

impetus to move decisively for the
bifurcation ofAndhra Pradesh.

ha. He ended his fast on the Ilth day

for the birth of the 29th State of In-

amid growing violence and tension

dia, which subsequently came into

when the then Union Home Minis-

being on June 2, 2014-, with Chan-

gion by the Andhra Pradesh govern-

ter, P. Chidambaram, announced

that the government would start the

drashekhar Rao taking the oath of

office as ChiefM inister following im-

ment, irrespective of the party in

process of fomiing a separate State.

prcssivc victories for his pa1'ty in the

power, over the decades was Chandrashekhar Raos recurring theme as

The TRS kept up the pressure on

the Centre through college students

elections from the Telangana region

he took his party out of the United

Progressive Alliance (UPA) I govem-

(described as "wheels of the movement by Chandrashekhar Rao), gov-

the Assembly (63 of I19 seats).

The going has been anything but

ment at the Centre and walked out of

ernment employees, teachers and

smooth from the beginning. The

the alliance government in Andhra

Pradesh alter quitting the post of

others, despite counterpressure from

the Samyukta Andhra movement for

TDP took him on on his promise that

he would make a Dalit the Chief

Deputy Speaker. Drought-stricken

keeping Andhra Pradesh united.

Minister. Said State TDP president

The neglect of the Telangana re-

to the Lok Sabha (12 of 17 seats) and

farmers, out-of-work weavers and

The efforts eventually paid off af-

L. Ramana: First, he [KCR] said

tribal and other poor people were the

ones he walked with to create a new
Telangana.
The turning point arguably came

ter several twists and turns involving,

among other things, the setting up of

during the election campaign that he

would make a Dalit the Chief Minister. I-Ie said he will cut his throat ifhe
did not. Now he has made all his

the Srikrishna Commission and the

rejection of its report by Chandrash41

FRDNTl.lNl~'.

JUNE 2h, Zlili

family members Ministers." Raos

son, K.T. Rama Rao, is a Cabinet
Minister in charge of Information

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).

The higher education sector is al-

over 600 since the formation of the

State, officially the number is about a
hundred. Chandrashekhar Rao re-

Technology and his nephew T. Hari-

so caught up in allegations ofcorrup-

futes the charge of distress and says

sh Rao heads the Irrigation Ministry.

tion in the appointment of teaching

the numbers are exaggerated (see in-

Soon after taking charge, Chandrashekhar Rao appointed a Dalit

Madiga leader, T. Rajaiah, as Deputy
Chief Minister with the charge ofthe
Health Ministry. The appointment

staf, and so on. Chandrashekhar

Rao says a stringent new mechanism for appointment ofVice-Chancellors will be in place soon and adds

terview). He acknowledges a decline

in the sector but blames the govemments of undivided Andhra Pradesh
for doing great injustice to Telan-

that the reason for not appointing

them right now is intentional.
The strategy for pulling farmers

gana by not allocating enough funds

for agriculture. There may be some
truth in this considering that 68 per

out of their misery rides on Mission

cent of the catchment area of the

Krishna river is in Telangana, but the
region got only 32 per cent of the
water. Also, 69 per cent ofthe catch-

was welcomed, but an epidemic of

swine flu, the worst the region has

experienced so far, led to the sacking

of Rajaiah in January this year.
Chandrashekhar Rao initially defended his deputy, saying the swine
u deaths were not Rajaialfs responsibility alone. But following a rise in
the number of deaths, 60 by mid-

and agricultural revival plan with an

outlay of Rs.20,000 crore over ve
years. Tenders have been oated online and contractors selected to dig
over 46,000 tanks in the hope that

February, and a slew of bad reports

in the media, heads rolled.

when the rain does come, they will

get lled and help improve the

with the Chief Minister's one year in

ofce is lawyers. The legal fraternity

ground water level.

played a vital role in legitimising the

In the education sector, his sup-

Kakatiya, an ambitious irrigation

ment of the Godavari is in Telanga-

na.
A section that is rather pleased

port base ofteachers and college stu-

Speaking to Frontline, the new

separate Statehood demand. The

dents is disappointed with the

budgetary allocation for the sector.
The government initially announced
an allocation of Rs.I6O crore for this

Telangana Congress Committee

president, Uttam Kumar Reddy, al-

Rs.10O crore fund for their development" and the Chief Minister's
proactive approach to nd a solution
to the division of the judiciary be-

year, but increased it by another

Rs.100 crore following protests by
the sta of Osmania University

lower-level cadres of the TRS. This

criticism is echoed by leaders from
the Lelt and the TDP. Communist
Party of India State secretary Chada
Venkat Reddy said, Big tanks are

tween the two States have found

widespread appreciation.

being occupied by MLAs and MPs.

His counterpart in the Communist
Party ofIndia (Marxist), Thl.l'nminni Veerabhadran, said, We wel-

Reddys term, says it is widely acknowledged that only about a third

comed the programme. In fact, we

(O.U.).
A long-standing grouse of aca-

demics has been the low budgetary

allocations, even as low as Rs.4-9 lakh
for an entire year, in the undivided

Andhra Pradesh. Salaries in O.U.

alone require an allocation of Rs.330

leged that Mission Kakatiya had become a programme to enrich

Mohan Reddy, who was Advo-

cate General ofAndhra Pradesh during Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar

of the lawyers practising at the High

Court in Hyderabad are from the Te-

crore, according to Mallesh Sankasa-

even asked the Chief Minister to call

langana region. Telanganas judiciary was paralysed this February and

la, vice-chairman of the newly cre-

an all-party meeting to chalk out the

March alter the All India Judicial

ated Telangana State Council for

Higher Education and former prin-

modalities in order to make it a truly

inclusive exercise. But he went ahead

Services Examination announcement to ll about 85 vacancies for the

cipal for arts and science courses at

with a unilateral decision on its exe-

positions of Junior Civil Judges in

O.U.

the lower courts for both Andhra

Said Professor Satyanarayana,

cution. Now we are hearing stories of

favouritism in awarding contracts

president of the Osmania University

and of not employing locals in the

across the State led to the virtual shut

Teachers Association: We expected

ongoing works.

down of all district courts for well

an increase in the budget to State

universities, better administration

The Rythu Swarajya Vedika and

the All India Kisan Sabha, which

over a month. A petition by Telangana lawyers in the High Court eventu-

and better support from the State

government, but contradictory to

work to mitigate agrarian distress,

say cases of suicide by farmers are

ally allowed the conduct of the

examinations but the declaration of

this, all posts of Vice-Chancellors of

under-reported as their families fear

results was stalled.

the 12 universities have been vacant

bureaucratic delays in the award of

In the nal analysis, the general

since July last year. The Principal

Secretary of Education is the In-

compensation and because there is a

general trepidation to le police

perception is that deciencies are

many and expectations from the gov-

Charge V.C. of O.U. After taking

complaints. They, however, say it

ernment are high. The yardstick to

charge, he has not visited the uni-

versity even for an hour. Having a

does not take away from the fact that

farm suicides are at a record high

judge Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao must be how he will reshape

Vice-Chancellor is a requirement for

the coveted certication from the

because of the severe crisis in agriculture. VVhile they cite gures well

Telangana in the long term into a

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l()l5

62

Pradesh and Telangana. Protests

prosperous State.

El

THE STATES

Committed to What
We fought for
Interview with l\'. Cliandraslrcklrar Rao, the rst Chief Minister
ofTelangana. ev xumu. smurnn
slashed about Rs.26,000 crore that
was expected to come to Telangana.
Our government's priority is the

AT 5 p.m. on May 28, Kalvakun-

tla Chandrashekhar Rao began a series of interviews to the media,

starting with Frrmtline. At his Camp

poor. We have segmented the econo-

Ofiice in downtown Hyderabad, the

my into four/ve parts. Number one:

Chief Minister of Indias youngest

State said that he was committed to

the poor and their welfare; two: agriculture and the farming community;

the demands ofthe Telangana move-

three: industry and IT [information

ment: funds, water and employment.

technology] and its allied activities.

Brimming with ideas for his States

The fourth sector is education and

overall development, the Chief Minister dismissed fears of a crisis in

health, and the filth is creating infrastructure. By the grace of the Al-

agriculture, claimed farmer suicides

mighty, we have been successful in

were wildly exaggerated, and laid out

targeting all these areas. I am fully

his ambitious plans for the future,

from ensuring potable water connec-

CHIEF MINISTER

tions for every home in Telangana to

in Secunderabad on June 2 to mark

one year of the State's formation.

replacing Telugu with English as the

medium of education across State-

run schools.
Chandrashekhar Rao also refuted nepotism charges in his agship
irrigation project, Mission Kakatiya,

K. Chandrashekhar Rao at a function

riding on you. How do you rate your

own performance as Chief Minister
and that of your government?

satised with our performance in the

past one year.
Telangana used to get about
Rs.-I-,O00 crore [for welfare measures as part of the united Andhra

Pradesh]. We have got this increased

Thank you so much. This was a

this to Rs.26,000 crore. [The benet

of this increase] can be seen in the
pensions. Previously, peoplethe

and promised that there would be

uninterrupted power supply in the

totally new State formed with a lot of

disturbances and divisions; redis-

destitute, orphans, elders, handloom

weavers, toddy-tappers, the hand-

entire State within ve years. He also

tribution of assets and liabilities, of

icappcdgot Rs.20O a month. Now,

said that a stringent selection proc-

staff, etc. The all-India service officers were allotted to Telangana only

they get Rs.1,000 a month. The enhancement is vefold. In northern

ess would be formulated to appoint

Vice-Chancellors to all State-run
universities, posts that are vacant at
present. Five days ahead of Telangana turning one, Chandrashekhar
Rao, who has been avoiding the

in the seventh month of the rst year.

Right until then, most of the posi-

Telangana, about four lakh bidi

workers are being given Rs.l,0O0 as

tions were held by in-charges. Each

additional support. This unorga-

Secretary used to have five, six Ministries and departments. It was all con-

nised sector alone gets about

Rs.4-,000 crore per annum. With all

media, took questions head-on in a

fusion in the beginning. With great

these schemes, I can say that Telan-

90-minute interview. Excerpts from

difficulty, we could compile gures

gana is number one in the country in

the conversation:

and submit them to the 14~th Finance

Commission. There were some cuts
because ofthe Government of India's
plan expenditure. They reviewed and

welfare measures.

Congratulations on completing one

year in office. There was much hope

43

While these measures are laudable,

by several accounts, the agricultural
FRUN'I'I.INF.

JUNE lo, Zlili

sector in the State is in crisis.

(Inteijects) No.

right now, minimum water usage

will be there [by spreading the use of
drip irrigation].

Officially, more than 100 farmer

suicides have been recorded. Oivil

MISSION KAKATIYA

society puts the figure at well over

600 in the past year.

Mission Kakatiya, one of your

Under the Andhra Pradesh Farmers

Management of Irrigation Systems
Act, 1997, were not water users
associations created for the upkeep
of irrigation projects?
There was a lot of scam in that.
There were no water users associations. It was idiocy. They were tum-

sonally knew the person who was

projected as a farmer. I called the
reporter and asked him why he reported like this. He was never a farmer. I knew him right from my

flagship programmes, has been

welcomed, but people have pointed
out that nepotism seems to be in
play in the awarding of contracts.
When the new Congress president
of the State spoke to Frontline, he
called it "Commission Kakatiya".
It is rubbish on his part. It is a
meaningless, mindless allegation,
totally baseless. I will tell you the
magnitude ofthe programme. I hope
to send the right message to the na-

childhood. Neither he nor his father

ever had a piece of land. He [the

tion. I know your magazine's spread.

That's the reason I am so particular

[Pradesh Congress Committee]

president ready to say that their

journalist] said some poor family

about telling you the truth. Telanga-

[Congress] fellows are corrupt? Ac-

will get Rs.1.5 lakh! [The Telangana

na taught the world watershed culti-

tually, they are envious of the pro-

government gives Rs.1.5 lakh as compensation to the family of a farmer

who commits suicide.]

vation. We had a great dynasty called

Kakatiya in the 11th century, which
began constructing chain tanks in
Telangana. When one gets lled, the
surplus goes to the next.

gramme. They had no idea that we

would take up such a good pro-

Thats not correct. We have our

own records. That's a falsely propa-

gated story. Maybe there are suicides. Of course, we help them [the
farmers], but once at a village known
to me, a journalist reported that a
farmer had committed suicide. I per-

But is there a comprehensive policy

to address the crisis in farming?

There are now more than 20 lakh

agriculture

pumpset

connections

and another two lakh are under im-

They exist even today.

Yes. There were about 70,000
lakes, waterbodies, spread across Te-

plementation. The Madhya Pradesh

Chief Minister told me that the population in his State is about 7.5 crore;
here it is below four crore. Madhya
Pradesh has only 10 lakh-plus pu mp-

langana. And the Bachawat Tribu-

set connections, whereas here it is 22

the Krishna basin, 175 tmcft in the

lakh!

Godavari basin. He [Justice Bache-

ed into petty contractors. There was

a lot of commission in the system. In
fact, they [members of water users
associations] have a grouse now because it is an open tender system.

Anyone can participate. So, many

contractors executing works now belong to the Congress party, the TDP

[Telugu Desam Party] or the BJP

[Bharatiya Janata Party]. Is the PCC

gramme.
The main issues for the Telangana agitation were three points: NMhulu, neellu and 121:1/amakalu.
Niclhulu means lnds, neellu means

water, and niya-ma/ralu means employment.

nal, which passed its award in 1974-,

And you are determined to address

allocated 265 tmcft [thousand million cubic feet] of water for minor

all three...
One hundred per cent. Otherwise, there's no meaning in getting

irrigation in Telangana: 90 tmc in

wat] thought that the waterbodies

already existed. They have 265 tmcft

statehood. Borewells have to be

made functional, at least, till the surface water comes, till Mission Kakatiya is able to help. If I have to lift

of storage capacity, therefore he

water, I need power, of which there

awarded it. In fact, 'Ielanganas sur-

was great shortage in the combined

face irrigation had an acreage of 20

State. This year was the rst year

That being the case, however well-

lakh around the time when it was

when the issue of power [was not

intentioned, how does it help to

provide pumpset connections?

merged with Andhra Pradesh: ve

raised] in the State legislature.

Agriculture was completely ne-

lakh was under major and medium,

and 15 lalth was irrigated exclusively

The criticism is that since

glected [in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh).

We
have
enormously
improved
micro-irrigationdrip,

by these tanks! This was , in fact, the

major [source of] irrigation for Telangana. All through the existence of

sprinkler, that kind of irrigation. We

Andhra Pradesh [after the merger],

are providing 100 per cent free [microirrigation facilities] to S.C./S.T.

the major irrigation of Telangana

That's again rubbish. The answer

was called minor irrigation. Because

to that is more power was consumed

[Scheduled Castef Scheduled Tribe]

of gross neglect, the total system

by agriculture this year than in previ-

communities, 90 per cent to B.C.

died. If we have normal rainfall and

[Backward Caste] communities, and

the tanks get lled, there is 265 tmcft

ous years. This is on record. Is anybody prepared for a discussion on

80 per cent to other communities.

Since we depend on groundwater

of storage across the State. That will

keep the groundwater level up.

that with me? Power is supplied unit

by unit because we buy power. We

Groundwater is at its lowest level in

the State now.
And depleting.

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2\\.llH5

M.

agriculture is in crisis no pumpsets

are being used, and so there is
enough power available for
Hyderabad.

professors
and
vice-cha.ncellorsand also students. All stakeholders shall sit together and work
out how to implement this scheme

and how it should [replace] the present system.

*1
.

..

o. P R A s H A KA RA R A 0 [left] CMD of TSGENCO, and B. Prasad Rao, CMD of

BHEL, on October 4, 2014, after signing a deal for a thermal power plant

project in Telangana. The Chief Minister is at the centre.

But you are committed to

implementing the scheme?
Definitely. We will make abegin-

ning this year itself. We now have

roughly 36 lakli students in government schools, of whom only about
2.5 lakh are taught in English medi-

um, that too with great difculty, and

the rest all in Telugu medium. Ifl
have to change the whole system, I

don't have power in the State. I was

ing unit in our State. [The thermal

buying about 2,000 MW. Sometimes, Kayamkulam NTPC [National Tbennal Power Corporation]

power plant is expected to produce

7,600 MW. The Telangana govemment has acquired 7,500 acres (one

came forward to supply power at a

acre is 0.4- hectare) of forestland for

cost of Rs.9.50 a unit! I said I would

the purpose but says very little" of

take it if needed. The consumption

by the agricultural sector has been
more than that in the past two or
three years. I cannot lie about this.
This record is not just with me, but
also with the Southern Load Dispatch Centre in Bangalore.

this will be used for the physical

plant per se.]

2-HOUR POWER FOR ALL BY

2020

Then, how did you achieve

uninterrupted power supply in both

rural and urban areas?
I have put technocrats in charge.
No other officers [civil servants] are
there in the power department. With
three more [plants] to be commis-

And who will undertake this

project?
The whole project has been given
to BHEL [Bharat Heavy Electricals
Limited]. There has been no corruption. There was a lot of pressure on

the public sector. Not just power station construction but the BOWs, that

global talent.

is, the balance of works, have also

been given to BHEL. From next

March, we will supply power to farm-

How do you intend to achieve this?

As you said, it will not be easy.
Recruitment of the teaching staff

ers from 6 a.m. for nine hours. There-

will need a different orientation.

fore, by the end of 2019. 24--hour

What will you do with your current

staff?

Thermal Power Station will produce

600 [MW]; Singareni [collieries] in
Jaipur and Adilabad will be about

FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL

a half months for an ultra mega power plant to be constructed by

TSGENCO [Telangana State Power

[employment] situation. Ifyou have

globalyou have to compete with

in Telangana.

clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests within two and

because we already face a global

sector]. I said no, I will only engage

forget about power cuts. Kakatiya

diture of Rs.91,000 crore. We got a

One hundred per cent. I want

that, but Telugu will be made a compulsory subject. For those who want
to opt for Urdu, that will be given as
an option as well. The regional,/local
language will be honoured. It will be
protected. I want to implement this

to make a good living, you have to be

power supply will be achieved for all

will be power production in the State

to the tune of 25,000 MW. Finances
have been chalked out for an expen-

By that do you mean you want to

shift completely to English as the
main medium of education? Will this
not undermine Telugu?

me [to give the project to the private

sioned next year, Telangana can now

1,200 [MW]. And by 2018-19, there

have to reorient the teaching.

One of the key slogans during your

election campaign and the agitation
before that was "KG to PG free
education for all". There was no
mention of this in your maiden
budget, nor was there any clarity on
how you would implement this.
We will definitely implement the

This will be a completely residential model of education. Every

mandal will have three or four residcntial schools, each with 600 to
1,000 students. There will be separate hostels for girls and boys. The
area for the school shall not be less
than 10 acres, ideally 15 acres. There

will be good sports facilities, library,

lawns; it should be as good as a uni-

vcrsity campus. If we impart that

quality of education, several social

scheme. We did not mention this in

ills, like the caste system, will go,

untouchability will go. Let me tell

Generation Corporation Ltd] at

the budget because it cannot be implemented sitting right across the ta-

you how this will eclipse the present

Damaracherla in Nalgonda district;

ble. This has to be settled by

education system. Existing primary

it will be the largest power-produc-

academicsteachers,

schoolteachers can also teach basic

45

university

FRUNTl.lNF.

JUNE Eh, 2015

now. They say do not dewater it but

do not pollute it either. The lake will
rejuvenate itself.

English for now. This will continue

till about the fourth class. Thereaer,

cient. We don't have a single hall. All

oicial events took place at Jubilee

kids will be brought to the residential

schools. I will then attempt to shift

Hall in Hyderabad, which was constructed by the Nizain. Since both

some of the teachers from the pri-

States are functioning from Hydera-

CJ I [Chief.Iustice of India] to con-

mary and secondary schools to these

residential schools. Some would
wish to remain where they are, others would retire. As retirement happens, I will only recruit teachers with

bad, the Governor has given the existing council building to Andhra
Pradesh and the Telangana Council
is located in Jubilee Hall. Now

stitute a committee to look into the

issues regarding the Hussain Sagar. I
have now sanctioned Rs.6 crore to
divert effluent downstream [into the

Musi, the tributary of the Krishna

that runs through Hyderabad], and
not to allow it into the Hussain Sa-

complete English medium educa-

there's no hall in Hyderabad even to

conduct a Collector's conference. I
was forced to conduct it at a five-star
hotel. Thats why our officials and

tion.

bureaucrats are so scattered across

manner. I have already called a team

Hyderabad.

from Austria They are experts in

lake clean-ups the world over. They

increase in budgetary allocation for

But do you have to raze heritage

have done it in their own nation very

higher education? Right now, in your

alma mater, Osmania University,
teachers are complaining that the
premier institution lacks funds. You
have not appointed Wce-Chancellors
to any State-run university either.

buildings to construct new ones?

One of the locations you had initially
wanted to shift the Secretariat to
was the Chest Hospital at

successfully. They have been given

the responsibility by many countries.
One-third of the Hussain Sagar has
already been pumped out. Nobody

Erragadda.

died. Heavens have not fallen.

It's not me. It [Osmania University] was killed by [incumbent Andhra

Pradesh
Chief Minister]
Chandrababu Naidu long, long back.
It is he who introduced self-nancof all the universities. I have inten-

chest hospital. It should not be in this

concrete jungle. Theres another one
already constructed by the Nizam,
the TB Sanatorium in Vikarabad.
Theres an old saying: Vikarabad /ca
harea, Ialcho-n marizon Ira dawaa
[the breeze ofVikarabad cures lakhs

tionally not appointed VioeChan-

who are sick].

English-teaching competency. So in
seven to eight years, there will be

Are you contemplating a substantial

ing courses. I am yet to make a review

inquiry. I want to reform the entire

system and appoint very good VCs.

Some of them could even be retired
judges or IAS [Indian Administrative Service] oicers. And iftheres a
need to improve grants, we will certainly allocate funds.

gar. I want to clean it in a phased

It's not a heritage building. It's a

DEMOCRATICALLY
FUNCTIONIIIG CABINET

There has been criticism against

your style of functioning as Chief

your Hussain Sagar Lake

Minister. People say your

government is a one-man show and
that you take decisions without
consulting your Cabinet colleagues.
Comparisons are often made with
the Prime Minister's style of
functioning.
VVho says this? Let them give one

rejuvenation programme.

example. How can anyone air their

Environmental groups say that

dewatering the lake will poison the
Musi river downstream and affect
farmers who live there.

views like that without any responsibility? I am not prepared to answer

that.

cellors because the previous VCs of

Kakatiya [University] and Osmania

indulged in corruption. There were
great scams: all jobs [at the universities] were sold just before they retired! Now we have instituted an

I will dewater it. I will request the

HUSSAIN SAGAR LAKE

There has been much criticism of

Today, I saw a beautiful lake in

Bhopal. They take a lot of pride in it.

But the Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad
is much bigger than the lake in Bho-

You have announced several

schemes for almost all

communities. But in your own
Cabinet, there is no representation

NEW SECRETARIAT NEEDED

pal. Not only sewage but also chem-

for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and

women.

You have proposed shifting the

ical eluent from the Jeedimetla

area enters the Hussain Sagar. Who
declared these so-called environ-

The Scheduled Castes and the

Secretariat from its current

location.
It is a dungeon where we are now.

mental groups as experts? They are

all selfdeclared environmentalists

Today, I was in the Madhya Pradesh

with minimum knowledge. The Hus-

Secretariat. It is well constructed;

sain Sagar has a good catchment ar-

constituencies. I have women in my

govemment; 50 per cent of the Col-

the conference room where we had

ea. Every year, rain pumps out the

lectors are women. One ofthe whips

the meeting was really nioe.

chemical-filled water.

is a woman. One of the parliamen-

So what is your reason to shift the

Secretariat?
It is not scientic and not suffiFRON'l'l.|NF.

JUNE Zn, l0l5

Environmentalists say that their

biggest fear has been realised: the
catchment area itself is polluted
6

Schedule Tribes representative is already there. I only have a 17-member

Cabinet. I have to take care of several

tary secretaries is a woman. I have

ve women MLAs. One Deputy
Speaker is a woman. Its not that

women are not there at all.

El

THE JUDLCIAEY

D ' t rt d
The Supreme Couits judgment banning the publication of photographs
of leaders in government advertisements, with a few exceptions, draws
criticism. BY v. VENKATESAII
ON May 13, with a slew of bind-

to oversee the release of government

ing guidelines, the Supreme Court

disposed of two long-pending pet-

advertisements, the carrying out of

itions challenging large-scale wastefiil government spending on

independent audits of the money

spent on advertisements, and the
embargo on advertisements during

advertisements of a political nature.

elections.

advertisements. The petitioners alleged that in many instances under

the guise of communicating with the

people, undue political advantage

was sought to be gained by naming

individuals or political leaders (who

One guideline states that govem-

While the oourt agreed with the

were either from a political party or

ment advertisements, whether by the

Centre or by the States, should not

Central government on independent

were government lnctionaries) and

audits and the embargo on advertise-

crediting them for being responsible

carry the photographs of leaders except those of the President, the

ments during elections, it advised the

for various government achievements and progressive plans. Al-

Prime Minister and the ChiefJustice

government to constitute a threemember body consisting of persons,

though the PIL petitions were led

of India. Delivered by the bench of

Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Pinaki

of unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality, who have excelled in their

when the rst National Democratic

Alliance government was at the Cen-

Chandra Ghose, the judgment nei-

respective elds to function as the

tre, the petitioners gave examples

ther justied these exceptions nor

ombudsman. It also held that one

cutting across party lines.

provided a rationale for excluding

others from this privilege. It, there-

single advertisement issued by a

Central agency should be enough to

The court justified its intervention on the grounds that Articles 38

fore, disappointed govemments of

commemorate the anniversaries of

and 39 of the Constitution enjoined

States such as Tamil Nadu and Uttar

Pradesh, which complained that it

the few acknowledged public gures

whose contribution to the national

the state to consistently endeavour to

achieve social and economic justice

was against the spirit offederalism as

it barred the publication of photographs of Governors and Chief Min-

cause could not be disputed.

for the teeming millions of the coun-

Another guideline states that ad-

try who lived below an articially

vertisements issued on certain other

drawn poverty line. VVhat can be a

isters and thus sought a review ofthe

occasions, for instance, to mark the

surer way in the march forward than

judgment. Only Bihar had intervened during the courts proceedings

centenary year of the Patna High

Court, do not serve any purpose and

to ensure that unproductive expenditure of public funds was avoided?

to oppose the bar on the use of pho-

must be avoided; the court held that

the court reasoned.

tographs of Governors and the Chief

Ministers.

institutions need not be gloried and

should earn glory through their con-

The case gives rise to two concerns. One is whether the dividing

During the hearings, the Central

government made an impassioned
plea for the removal of the guidelines, which, it claimed, encroached
on the legislative domain and placed

tribution and their work.

line between legitimate public expenditure on seeking publicity for

TWO PIL PETITIONS

the government performance and

Two non-governmental organisations, namely, Common Cause and

policies and its incidental or direct

effect on promoting the political pro-

undue restrictions on the use of the

the Centre for Public Interest Litiga-

spects of ruling parties and their

grants voted for by the legislature. It

tion, which have successfully litiga-

leaders is blurred; if so, whether the

opposed the proposed bar on the

publication of photographs of lead-

ted mmy PIL cases in the recent

past, led the two petitions in the

courts intervention could make the

distinction clear and bar the use of

ers in government advertisements,

Supreme Court, in 2003 and 2004-

government advertisements for po-

the appointment of an ombudsman

respectively, relating to government

litical

47

purposes.

The

FRUNTLINF.

second

is

JUNE 20. 2015

whether the restrictions proposed to

be imposed on the release of government advertisements to the media

Party on this issue illustrates this

point.
But Baxi is also concemed about

tions. The committee was headed by

N.R. Madhava Menon, a former Director of the National Judicial Acad-

would be tantamount to restrictions

the effect of this ruling on the free-

emy, Bhopal, and its members were

on the freedom of the press, as it is

dom ofthe press. The Supreme Court

T.K. Viswanathan, a former Secre-

likely to cripple the advertisement

revenue of the newspapers, and
therefore, would fail the constitutional test of reasonableness. A care-

has, in the past, held that not only are

advertisements the principal source
of revenue for newspapers but they
are also one of the factors that con-

tary General of the Lok Sabha, and

Ranjit Kumar, the present Solicitor
General of India. It claimed to have
held wide consultations with all

ful reading of the judgment shows

that the court only partly succeeded

tribute to newspaper circulation. If

the area for advertisements is curtailed, the price ofnewspapers will be

stakeholders and sought and received suggestions from a cross sec-

in addressing the rst concern and

almost ignored the second.

tion of society and from Ministries

and departments at the Central and

Upendra Baxi suggested in a newspaper article, the court assumed that

photographs in advertisements have
the potential to create a personality
cult, which, it said, was an antithesis

forced up. Then, circulation will inevitably drop and earnings will decline and that will directly interfere
with the freedom of the press. In an
earlier case (Bennett Coleman E9 Co.
vs Union of India (AIR 1973 SC
106)), the Supreme Court ruled that

tails of these consultations or of the

suggestions it received from civil society and others. The guidelines the
committee formulated are called the
Government Advertisement (Con-

of democratic functioning. But the

evidence does not support such an

loss of advertisement revenue seriously affected the circulation of a

tent Regulation) Guidelines 2014-.

The committee recommended

assumption. Even if government ad-

newspaper and a restraint on adver-

that government advertisement ma-

vertisements can be restricted, it is

tisements would affect the .rnda-

terial should avoid photographs of

not possible to restrict the news coverage ofpolitical leaders by television

channels and newspapers, which
could assist in the formation of the

mental right of the freedom of the

press under Article 19(1)(a) of the
Constitution. As Baxi observes, removal or reduction in pictorial con-

political leaders and that if it was felt

essential for effective government
messaging, only the photographs of
the President] Prime Minster or Gov-

personality cult that the Supreme

tent may have a long-term adverse

impact on the media's revenues.

ernor/Chief Minister should be

used; the committee also recommended that the names and pictures
of political parties and their officebearers such as presidents should
not be mentioned in government ad-

As the eminent legal academic

Court despises. Evidence shows that

large-scale political advertisements

do not really help to improve the political fortunes of parties on the eve of

elections. Such huge displays of

money power alienate many voters

from parties and their leaders, as was

evident from the recently held Delhi
Assembly election.

INTERIM JUDGMENT

The May 13 judgment followed an

interim judgment in the same case,

which the Supreme Court delivered
on April 23, 2014-. In this judgment,

the then Chief Justice of India, Justice P. Sathasivam, found that the
existing guidelines of the Directorate

State levels; yet its report had no de-

vertisements.
Justice Gogois judgment inexplicably rejected the committee's
recommendation to exempt Governors and Chief Ministers from the
proposed ban.
It appears from the record that
the two petitioners differed in their

PERSONALITY CULT

of Advertising and Visual Publicity

It is possible to argue that a personality cult per se is against democratic

did not govern the issues raised in

the petitions, namely, which govern-

norms. Vi/'hat the Supreme Court

ment advertisements qualied for

wants to discourage through this

judgment is the extreme form ofpro-

public purpose and which only

responses to these recommendations. While Common Cause broadly

served partisan ends and were aimed

accepted them as balanced and

jection of an individual leader at the

at gaining political mileage. The Su-

states expense that distu rbs the level

preme Court felt there was a need for

playing eld. But a personality cult

can result from a successful political

it to issue substantive guidelines until the legislature enacted a law in

sought the court's imprimatur,

Prashant Bhushan, counsel for the
Centre for Public Interest Litigation,
reportedly questioned the need to ex-

campaign, and this has nothing to do

with the release of advertisements.

Obviously, the courts ruling cannot

this regard.
The court was of the opinion that
the subject matter for which guide-

apply to campaigns.

lines were to be framed was sensa-

While some people can make

ethical arguments against cam-

tional and signicant and hence

paigns centred on personalities, oth-

committee of three members to un-

ers may argue that that is how

leaders are born, and the role ofsuch

dertake the task ofsuggesting guidelines to the court after a detailed

the State governments, observers

leaders is intrinsic to any democracy.

The recent split in the Aam Aadmi

study of the best practices in public

advertisements in different jurisdic-

raised in the aftermath of the judgment.

El

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l()l5

deemed it proper to constitute a

68

clude the Prime Minister from the

ban as, in his view, the latter is a

political leader who may have a vested interest in deriving political mileage from advertisements.
As the Supreme Court gets ready
to hear the review petitions led by
hope that it will address the concerns

COLUMN
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

C.P. CHAN DRASEKHAR

Great dream of
prosperity
The emphasis on the latest GDP growth figures when the numbers
from other indicators point to the opposite may be the government's
only option to show that all is well if the stock markets fall with the
exit of foreign investors from emerging markets over fears of an
interest rate hike in the U.S.
VER much of the last decade correction of excessive exuberance.
Oand more, the stock ma.rket

So the Sensex was the preferred indicator for those talking up the

from 1.1 per cent) and services (10.1

per cent as opposed to 10.6 per cent),

provided advocates of reform

a convenient indicator of economic economy.
health. This was because there were
However, all ofa sudden now, the

manufacturing has done better than

long periods during that decade when

real economic growth tallied with
stock market performance. The high
growth era, 2004-08, and the postcrisis recovery years, 2010-11, were
also the ones in which the stock market was buoyant or boomed. From
more recently, this comfortable syn-

era of synchronous movements in

the two indices has come to an end.
Moreover, the tables have ttuned.
With the release of the new GDP
series (with 2011-12 as base), the
numbers now considered official
suggest that GDP growth has not only been robust in recent times but is

computed to have risen from (a revised) 5.1 per cent in 2012-13 to 6.9
per cent in 2013-14 and 7.3 per cent
in 2014--15. What is more, the fourth
quarter numbers for 2014-15 are being quoted as evidence that India has
overtaken China in the GDP growth
race.

chrony appears to be breaking down.

From crisis year 2008-09, gross do-

on the rise.
The most recent cause for cele-

As expected, despite early scepticism, those wanting to make the case

mestic product (GDP) numbers turn-

bration was the provisional GDP

that India is the next potential

ed volatile and the official national growth gure for 2014-15, which at

growth miracle are regularly citing

accounts with 200+-05 as base sug-

7.3 per cent is almost equal to the 7.4-

the new GDP numbers. But in this

gested that growth was stalling. But, per cent growth projected in the ad-

new growth scenario", the GDP

the stock market experienced an almost continuous bull run despite oc-

vance estimates available thus far.

Moreover, despite the fact that GDP

numbers seem to be an exception.

Industry, even according to many in-

casional bearishness attributed to growth has been revised downwards

market correction, or the internal in both agriculture (to 0.2 per cent

siders, is not performing well. The

month-on-month industrial growth

49

expected (4-.8 per cent against 4.5 per

cent). As a result, GDP growth is now

FRONTLINE

JUNE 2h.2tll5

rate as measured by the index of in-

er, is that (to the surprise of most)

before the new GDP gures were released it was the GDP growth rate

sion in bank credit nanced a huge

increase in debt-nanced private expenditure, which more than com-

that had been volatile and playing

pensated for the contraction in

truant. On the other hand, the stock

demand that the reform-led decline

cent in November (helped by a low

base in the corresponding month of
the previous year), more recent signs
are of continued deceleration with

market, as noted, experienced a

long-term rise with two booms ofdifferent intensities spliced together.
One ran from 2011 to 2013, in which

in debt nanced public expenditure

induced.
This explained the spurt in GDP
growth between 2003-04 and 2009-

the rate placed at 2.2 per cent according to the provisional gure for

the Sensex rose from around 16,000

in May 2012 to slightly more than

March 2015.

21,000 by the end of 2013. That was

a 30 per cent rise over a year and a

10. In hindsight it is now clear that

the form that the boom took was not
all too positive. The credit boom

dustrial production collapsed from a

positive 5.9 per cent to a negative 5.6
per cent between May and October
2014-. Though it recovered to 4.7 per

FOODGRAIII OUTPUT DOWN

half. But this boom was marred by

The performance of agriculture is

even worse. According to the official
third advance estimate for foodgrain
production for crop year (July to
June) 2014-15, output is likely to fall

considerable volatility, including the

downturn induced by the taper tanThe second boom stretched from
the beginning of2014- until about the

brought in sub-prime clients into the

universe of borrowers, resulting in a
rise in the proportion of defaulting
loans.
The result has been a growing
reluctance ofbanks to lend to certain
sectors and to restrict lending even to

by 5.3 per cent. With foodgrain production having been indifferent in

beginning of 2015, when the Sensex

rose, with far less fluctuation, from

the best customers. The contraction

in credit reduced the stimulus to

the previous two years, this outcome

just above 20,000 to touch 30,000

growth that debt-nanced private

is close to disastrous. Thus, altema-

about a year later. That was a re-

spending provided. This explains in

tive indicators of growth in the commodity-producing sectors seem to

offer a completely different picture of
real economic performance.
Vlfhat is more, the comforting

markable rise of close to 50 per cent

with a much lower degree of vola-

large part the slowdown in growth

the Indian economy has been
experiencing.
However, the downturn in

GDP numbers have been released at

a time when uncertainty about global interest rates and a desire to exit
emerging markets has gripped for-

occurred in a period when growth as

growth did not result in any significant decline in foreign capital in-

measured by the then official GDP

ows.

trum.

tility.
However, the investor exuberance that delivered this second boom

numbers was slowing. In sum, the

recent stock market uncertainty

In fact, there had been a resurgenoe in foreign investor interest in

eign investors. As a result, a mood of

bearishness has overcome Indian equity and debt markets, which seems
to be reversing what has been along
bull run in India's stock markets over

when GDP growth numbers seemed

robust was a signicant turnaround
The point to note is that the correspondence between GDP growth

India, after the brief period of the

taper tantrum starting May 2013,
when investors pulled out of emerging markets in response to the fear
that the Fed would sharply unwind

the last three years or more.

and market buoyancy during the

its quantitative easing or bond buy-

In early May, the Bombay Stock

2004--08 period seemed credible be-

ing programme and send interest

Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed at

26,500. Though high relative to

cause of a third fact0rthe surge in

capital flows into India. There is little

rates soaring. But since there has

been no revival in debt-nanced pri-

where the Sensex stood even at the

beginning of January 2014- (for ex-

disagreement that the bull run,

which began in late 2012 when the

vate spending, there has been little

impact on growth. In essence, the

ample), the fall received much atten-

Sensex was hovering just above

link between growth (if actual) and

tion because the climb in the Sensex

the relatively high early May level
reected a more than 10 per cent

16,000, was driven by the appetite of

foreign institutional investors for
emerging market paper induced by
access to cheap liquidity.

stock market performance had been

broken.
This explains the emphasis now
on the GDP growth numbers. If the

decline from a peak of close to

30,000 realised just three months

The liquidity increase that followed the conversion of hard cur-

fear that the Fed would be forced to

raise the currently near-zero interest

earlier.

rency funds to rupees by foreign

rates does end the stock market

It is in this period that the earlier

investors triggered a credit splurge.

boom, then the government would

relationship between stock market

performance and GDP growth broke

Banks, flush with funds, enhanced

lending so that the ratio ofscheduled

only have its new GDP numbers to

declare that all is well.

down. Not only did the synchronous

bank credit to GDP, which averaged

But given the divergence of those

movements in the two end, but the

stock market performed remarkably

between 20 and 22 per cent during

the 1990s, rose sharply during the

numbers from other indicators, few

would give them any credibility.

even as GDP growth slowed.

VVhat needs to be noted, howev-

rst decade of this century to touch

56 per cent in 2011-12. This explo-

GDP as of now just seems a great

dream of prosperity.
El

had been so rapid earlier that even

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.l()l5

in the relationship between the two.

50

WORLD AFFAIRS

OVVHERE
PEOPLE
___

__.g-l5"""' '

vi

QICI

A FISHING BOAT carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants being pulled to shore by fishermen off the
coast of Julok, in Aceh province, Indonesia, on May 20.
51

!ku\|11\l-'

_rl\i-13:

-01

.g-i-ail!

The humanitarian crisis involving Rohingya refugees

grabs global attention as hundreds of them are found

abandoned in rickety boats in the waters off the coasts
of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. BY JOHN CHERIAN
IT I-IAS BEEN ONE OF THE BIGGEST CRISES TO
hit the region since the exodus ofVietnamese boat people

crack down in April on the network of human traffickers

who have been engaged for some years in smuggling

in the 1970s. The sight of helpless Rohingya refugees

people from Bangladesh and Myanmar to Malaysia

packed in rickety boats oating on the high seas with

nowhere to go has nally grabbed the attention of the

through the porous border with Thailand. Illegal camps

to house the refugees were set up along the Thailand-

international community.

Malaysian border. In Thailand, many of the Rohingyas

In the rst fortnight ofMay, hundreds of Rohingya

were forced into servitude, especially in the shing indus-

refugees were found abandoned in the waters off the

coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Thousands

try.

more remain unaccounted for. They were abandoned in

migrants was Malaysia, a Muslimmajority country with

the boats after the Thai authorities belatedly decided to

the fastest-growing economy in the region. In the last

FRUN'll.l.\ll-I

.lll.\I~.3n,10l5

The preferred destination ofthe Rohingyas and other

52

Squth-East_ iisias
migrant cnsis
An estimated 25,000 Rohingyas,
fleeing persecution in Myanmar,

and Bangladeshis looking for

a better life abroad boarded

smugglers boats in the first

three months oi this year.

twice as many as in the
same period of 2014
BANGLADESH Around 200,000
Rohingyas live in refugee camps

Migrants are mostly

Ron!ngya M us ii in

in squalid conditions

ethnic group from Rakhine State

Bangladeshis fleeing poverty

Buddhist-majority Myanmar denies
have also turned to
citizenship to Rohingyas, who are
subiected to forced labour, land
trafficking networks
used by Rohingya
confiscation and limited access to
i public services
THAILAND Recent discovery of mass
Dhaka
graves at suspected smuggling camps
in the south has prompted clampdown on
.1
_
human trafcking by the miiitaryjunta

kg)?

"""'" s''

(Q

Cox's

( _

Crackdown has sent traffickers

Nay PyiTaw Lb? into hiding, making it impossible

I5

J _'_
(

Ban

( 14. iSittwe
Q

for migrants to disembark

Wealthy
country short of
unskilled labourers,
attracts migrants

Bay of
Bengal

Andaman
_ - sea

ROHINGYA MIGRANTS

queue up for food at a

shelter in Bayeun, Aceh

province, on May 25. The

Indonesian and Malaysian

govemrnents agreed to take
in the refugees alter a hightevel meeting in Bangkok in
the third week oi May.

Migrants held

to ransom in
Thailand.

gangiwk
r

"
- \
4 "'

I/|,,

Ii

' V it -

taken overland

to Malaysia
I I Q Boats landing

in Malaysia and

\
-K
Y

ind ones iaf0 iiowin g

'
\
_ -- .
\
-

~_

' it

crackdown on Peple

Myanmar

I Around2,500mlgrants

' _, landed in Malaysia and

-' Indonesia in the last weeko'fMa'y-s'ome$,ti00others
arestilistrandedatsea
I Ilaiaysia, Indonesia
anci'I'haiiu'|d have all
turned or towed mlgrit
\

boats-avraytroln their
) shores in recentdays

Kuala Lumpur

trafcking in Thailand
Sources iOM, Wire agencies

migrants from

i Traditional
trafficking route:

Government says
it has already taken
in 120.000 illegai

I
\/_/\

ii; -v 125 miles

Pi<ti_ire_ Gerry images

-I GRAPHIC NEWS

week ol'May. more than at hundred graves were found in at

Malaysia have heen involved in the clandestine traiiick-

remote area in Malaysia near the border with Tliailand.

ingya, Myanmarcse and liangladeslii migrants liave also
heen tiiSL(i\'(IlL(i in Myanmar and 'lh-ailanil. Aeenriling to

ing oi' desperate migrants for many years now. international monitoring agencies say 25,i)()i) Rohingya
|'cl'i1gi:i:s liave lied Myanmar since the beginning of the
year. Malaysian aiithorities have made many arrests lifter

reports in the Malaysian media, lit) large f.{i'kl\"('S containing hiiniiri-ils iil'i:i'ii'psi-s wi-re r'lisr-o\'i-.i'i:il iiear the towns

the discovery ofmziss graves on their territory. Malaysian

llome :\iTairs Minister Zahid llzimiil has admitti-d that

ol'izidzing iii-sar and Wang Keli-an in the third week iii

li'itL'HiiiiiS liotisiiip, the iiiigniiiis iii lliejiiiigli: lizid existed

May.

iiil'l'l1lllL' than live years. .-\rouiid i,t)(),i)()t) Riiliiiigyas are

Diil.CllS ol' mass graves containing the bodies oi' Ruh-

(.-rirrupt police and security oliieials in 'lhztiland and

said to he alrezidy in Malaysia.

53

l-'RUl\Illl\i-

|lll\i'2(\

(it'-

The Indonesian and Malaysian governments, alter

initially adopting a tough stand, nally agreed to take in

thousands of hungry and stranded reiiigees alter a highlevel meeting in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in the third
week of May. The three governments had come in for
increasing international criticism for the inhumane policies they were adopting towards the migrants. The other

countries in the region, such as Singapore and Australia,

have reised point-blank to accommodate any boat people despite many ofthem dying of starvation after being

stranded on the high seas. Indonesian President Joko

Widodo said that the decision of his government to ac-

cept the migrants was a good solution, but he said he

expected nancial aid from the international community

as Indonesia could not afford the cost of hosting the

refugees.
Indonesia and Malaysia said that they would re-

patriate the limited number of refugees that they had

accepted within a year. The Indonesian government also
said that it would be repatriating 720 Bangladeshi rel-

gees as they were economic migrants". Bangladeshi

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has publicly criticised
migrants from her country for tainting our image in the
international arena.
IIUIIILNITARILN ASSISTANCE

AN INDONESIAN

MUSLIM holds a
poster of the

Buddhist monk
Ashin Wirathu.

Dubbed by the
regional media as
the "Buddhist bin
Laden", he heads a
radical Buddhist
group which has
been responsible
for much of the
communal violence

in Myanmar in
recent years.

Pope Francis compared the plight of the Rohingyas to

that of the Yezidi and Christian minorities under Islamic

State rule in Iraq and Syria. It was the disruption of the

traditional smuggling routes of migrants by the Thai
Navy that made the human trafiickers abandon their
cargo on the high seas. After the agreement, the navies of

minority in the country. Successive governments in the

country have been making strenuous attempts to make
life unlivable for this minority.

the three countries are no longer engaged in driving away

the boats carrying the Rohingyas from their waters. In-

WHO ARE THE ROHINGYAS?

donesia and Malaysia also announced that they would

most persecuted minority" in the world. They have been

provide humanitarian assistance to those 7,000 irregular

denied citizenship in a country in which their ancestors

lived for many centuries. Historical records show that
they have been in the Burmese kingdom oi'Arakan since
the eighth century. Colonial records also testiiy that the

migrants that are at sea. The agreement came after

shermen in the Sumatra region of Indonesia rescued
more than 300 refugees from a sinking boat in the last

The Rohingyas, according to the United Nations, are the

week of May.
The government of Myanmar, which is responsible
for triggering the refugee crisis in the rst place, has been
unresponsive to international appeals and refused to
attend the regional conference in Bangkok that was convened to discuss the refugee crisis.
Myanmar's Foreign Office conned itself to issuing a
statement that it was deeply concerned" about the problem and was making serious efforts to combat trafficking and illegal migration. The government is not doing
anything to curtail the Buddhist e.\'tremist groups which
are openly targeting the Muslim minority. One such

community, which had embraced Islam, has been part

and parcel of Burmese society since then. In the medieval
kingdom ot'Arakan, the Buddhist majority and the Rehingya minority had a harmonious relationship.
The suffering of the Rohingyas started in earnest
after Burma gained independence in 194-8. The Rohingyas, who number around a million and a half, were given

individual is a monk by the name of Ashin Wirathu. He

hingyas. Citizensliip rights were once again summarily

has been dubbed by the regional media as the Buddhist

revoked, and the Rohingyas have since been margin-

bin Laden" forhis activities. He is allowed to spew venom

freely, and the radical group he heads was responsible for

alised and suppressed by the authoritarian regimes that

have been ruling the country.

much of the communal violence in recent years. Wirathu

It was in 1978 that the community was rst violently

claims that Muslims in the country are on the verge of

targeted by the military. Hundreds of Rohingyas were

waging a jehad against Buddhists. Nine out often people

massacred, and the rst wave of forced migrations started. As many as 2,50,000 Rohingyas ed to neighbouring

in the country are Buddhists. Muslims are a very small

FRUNTLINF.

.lli.\'I~'.3h, 3015

.\
a.

full citizenship rights and recognised as a separate race

only in 1959 when the country experienced a brief democratic lull under Prime Minister U Nu. But a military

coup by the ultranationalist Gen. Ne Win in 1962

brought things back to square one for the hapless Ro-

National League for Democracy, led by the Nobel Peace

laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Rohingya-bashing has seemingly become a national pastime in the country. The
government continues to label them as illegal Bengali

migrants in the ongoing efforts to ethnically cleanse the

country.
All that the Rohingyas are demanding is the restoration of their citizenship that was revoked under the authoritarian military regime of Gen. Ne Win. Many

expected Suu Kyi to speak out in support of the Rohingyas, but her silence has been deafening. She has been
completely focussed on cultivating the Buddhist major-

ity, whose support is essential if her party has to win the

elections scheduled for 2016. In a rare interview in 2013

in which she agreed to talk on the issue, she blamed both

sides for the violence.
In 2012, riots in Rakhine led to deaths on both sides

ofthe ethnic divide, but it was the Rohingyas who bore

._|

the brunt ofthe violence. Some 1,50,000 Rohingyas were

forced to ee from their homes after the riots. In Myanmar, it is the Rohingyas who are conned to camps and
subjected to ethnic cleansing. The U.N. and human

._i
:3

rights organisations have said that the situation in the

country is grim. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human
Rights in Myanmar has said that actions against the
Rohingyas orchestrated by the Myanmarese government
could amount to crimes against humanity".

Bangladesh where they have been languishing in squalid

refugee camps. In overcrowded Bangladesh, the Rollin-

The United States and its allies in the region have all been

gyas, despite cultural and linguistic similarities, are not

publicly sympathetic to the plight of the Rohingya refu-

better off. They remain a stateless community whose

hopes of returning to its homeland are diminishing by

gees but have not done anything meaningful to pressure

the day. They have not been assimilated into Bangladeshi

Obama administration has forged very strong links with

society. In 2011, a repatriation agreement was signed

between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Myanma-

the military-dominated government and is not interest-

rese President Thein Sein. The Rohingyas were excluded

international forums.

from the repatriation pact as the Myanmarese authorities refused to grant citizenship status to the community.
STATELESS COHHUNITY

Malaysia and Indonesia want the ASEAN grouping

(Association of Southeast Asian Nations), of which
Myanmar is a member, to discuss the issue. Myanmar on
its part has refused to attend any meeting to discuss the

The marginalisation of the Rohingyas in Burma was

issue ifthe word Rohingya is mentioned. If we recog-

formalised when the military government promulgated a

nise the name, then they will think that they are citizens

new and arbitrary citizenship law in 1978 that deemed

them a stateless community. In 1991, the army launched

of Myanmar, the spokesman for the country's President

said. ASEAN has a policy of non-interference in the

another anti-Rohingya drive, code-named Operation

internal affairs of member countries.

Clean turd Prosperous Nation".

Some 2,00,000 Rohingyas were forced to ee the
country. Most of them ended up in Bangladesh. Since
then, the Rohingyas have been subjected to even more

By the end of May, the government had decreed that

all Rohingyas will have to surrender their temporary
white cards" which are their only identication papers
now. This will further curtail their freedom ofmovement.

abuses, including the arbitrary seizure ofproperty, forced

Meanwhile, people like the Buddhist monk Wirathu

labour, torture and rape at the hands of the authorities

and a fanatical fringe of Buddhist zealots. In their home

are being given a free hand to propagate their message oi

hatred. A U.S.-based human rights group said in a report

state of Rakhine, the authorities have imposed a two

released in March that almost every major outbreak ol

child limit for Rohingya families. In 2014, the govern-

violence since October 2012 had been preceded by activ-

ment banned the use ofthe word Rohingya and decreed

ities of Wirathu and his group.

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE

the government in Myanmar to take action. The Barack

ed in raising the issue of human rights in the country in

that they be called "Bengal is. Things have gone from bad

And Aung San Suu Kyi has not spoken out yet despite

to worse after the powerful military decided on political

pleas from her fellow Nobel Peace laureates such as

cohabitation with the mainstream opposition party, the

Desmond Tutu.

El
FRONTLINF.

JUNE Eh, 2015

WORLD AFFAIRS
IRAQ

Witli Ramadi succuinhing to the Islamic State, a large part of Iraq is now
under the sway of the extremist outt. BY mun cnenun

THE FALL OF RAMADI, THE CAPITAL OF ANBAR

province, on May 17 is the biggest military and political
setback the Iraqi government has suered since the fall of

IRAQI SECURITY FORCES defending their headquarters

against |.S. lighters during a sandstorm in the eastem part
of Ramadi on May 14.

Mosul last year. Now the Islamic State (I.S.) is in full

control of two major cities in Iraq. The fall of Ramadi

tial reports said that the I.S. staged a predawn attack that

coincided with the I.S. capture of Palmyra in neigh-

involved a wave of 24- car bomb suicide attacks followed

bouring Syria. Approximately half of Syria's territory is

by a wave of30 suicide bombers attacking the front lines.

now in the hands ofthe I.S. With the capture of Ramadi, a

Other reports suggest that Iraqi special forces aban-

Sunni-dominated city, a large part of Iraq is also under

doned their positions in the city without much ofa ght,

the sway of the extremist outt, which styles itself as an

leaving their sophisticated equipment, including Amer-

Islamic caliphate. The capture of Ramadi comes soon

after a joint force of the Iraqi army and Shia militias
ejected the I.S. from the city of Tikrit, another Sunni-

icansupplied tanks and armoured vehicles, behind. The

United States claimed that the I.S. launched its attack

dominated lI0\'V' and the birthplace of Saddam Hussein.

when a sandstorrn was buffeting Ramadi and that poor

visibility prevented the deployment of U.S. air power

The Iraqi army had even started talking about liberating

against the advancing enemy. The Iraqi army had de-

Mosul, Iraq's second-biggest city, which is home to over a

million people, when the military debacle in Ramadi

ployed 15 divisions and its best weaponry in Anbar province. Yet, it could not defend the city or retake territory in

happened. Its liberation will now be delayed even fur-

this Sunni-dominated province in central Iraq. The gov-

ther.

ernment in Baghdad now holds less than 10 per cent of

There are conflicting reports about the events surrounding the army's humiliating defeat in Ramadi. Ini-

the territory there. The faith of the average Iraqi in his

country's armed forces has suffered another serious dent.

FRONTLINE

.lUNF.2.l()l5

Much of the large Anbar province is desert terrain and

strikes against I.S. targets in Iraq and Syria average

lightly populated.
Ramadi is only 110 kilometres from Baghdad and its
fall has led to another refugee inux into the Iraqi capital.

around 15 a day. In Libya, during the North Atlantic

Treaty Organisation-led attack in 2012, there were about
50 strikes a day in the rst two months. In the initial

Braving the searing summer heat, thousand of Ramadis

stages ofthe U.S. invasion ofAfghanistan in 2001, there

residents ed, many of them on foot. More than 40,000

refugees were allowed into Baghdad. Others went to
smaller cities. The central government fears that I.S.
suicide bombers may use the refugee influx as a cover to

were about 80 air strikes every day. Since its major

battleeld successes in Syria and Iraq in the beginning of
the year, the I.S. has become better armed and highly
motivated. As recent battles have shown, the I.S. is able to

stage attacks in Baghdad as the I.S. has been loudly

claiming that the capital is next on its radar.

deploy hundreds of suicide bombers at short notice.

Prime Minister al-Abadi has pledged to liberate Ra-

U.S. Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter blamed the

fall of Ramadi on the lack ofa will to ght among Iraqi
troops, though they greatly outnumbered the I.S. forces
laying siege to the city. Earlier, the Chairman ofthe U.S.
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said that the
Iraqi forces were not driven out. They drove out of
Ramadi, he sarcastically commented. The Defence Secretarys remarks came in for harsh criticism from Iraqi

madi within days. This time, he is relying more on the

Iranian-trained militias. Thousands ofghters from Shia

officials. A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar

al-Abadi said that the Defence Secretary had incorrect

information about the situation that was prevailing at

the time in Ramadi. An Iraqi army officer ghting on the

'ont line in Anbar province said that his forces had
conducted atactical withdrawal and that the Iraqi army

would prove very soon that the American charges of

cowardice under re were unfounded. U.S. Vice-Presi-

dent Joe Biden tried to make amends for the Defence

Secretarys statement by assuring Abadi that his country
would continue to be an ally in the ght against the I.S.
He also praised the enormous sacrice and bravery of
the Iraqi forces".

Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head ofIran's Revolutionary

Guards, blamed the U.S. for not doing anything to stop
the I.S. advance on Ramadi. Observers ofthe region have
said that the U.S. could have used its air power more
effectively to stop the I.S. advance. The U.S. and Iran are
tacitly cooperating in Iraq in the ght against the I.S.

This cooperation was evident in the successful bid to

retake Tikrit, where the U.S. used its air power to help
Iranian-trained militias to defeat the I.S. The U.S. has
trained and equipped the Iraqi army at a cost of $22

FhAR
m
IUPH
H?

FP'C

All AERIAL VIEW, taken in 2009, of part of the ancient

city of Palmyra in Syria, which the 1.5. seized on May 18,
2015. About half of Syria's territory is in l.S. hands.

TURKEY

billion to its exchequer. The Iraqi army no doubt has to

shoulder most of the responsibility for the failure to

_.. .-. ____,.-

defend Iraqs major cities. Soleimani said that only Iran

and its close allies were really serious about ghting the

SYRIA

I.S. [President Barack] Obama has not done a damn

if
~,/""-'~/"ix

y - l"\_a
/

Tikrit

for the I.S.]. Doesn't that show that there is no will in

America to confront it?" he said.

unnecessary collateral damage. Iraqi oicials said that

the limited air strikes allowed the I.S. free movement on

the battleeld. An Iraqi ofcer told The New York Times:
We lost large territories in Anbar because of the inefficiencies of the U.S.-led coalition air strikes. U.S. air

Ramadi

__...,/

U.S. military ofcials have now admitted that they

cities under their control. The reason they gave was that
the U.S. wanted to safeguard civilian lives and prevent

Kmiuk

thing so far to confront the Daesh [the Arabic acronym

have not been attacking important I.S. targets in the

Mosul

Fallujah

"JORDAN
'

IRAN

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Karbala
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FRONTIIWF

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JUNF1h

2015

iii;

LHA

IRAQI SECURITY FORCES stand guard as residents

fleeing Ramadi wait to cross the Bzeibez bridge, on the
south-western frontier of Baghdad, on May 20.

the auspices of the Turkish and Jordanian governments.

A 2012 U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency assessment

mittees along with more than a thousand policemen

stated that the U.S. and the Gulf monarchies were in

favour ofa Salast state covering the eastern part ofSyria
and the western part of Iraq.
After the invasion of Iraq, some inuential policy-

started their counteroffensive in the last week of May

makers in the U.S. were openly talking ofcarving up Iraq

from the city of Habbaniyah, one of the last government-

into three parts: a Shia-dominated South, a Sunni-pop-

controlled cities in Anbar province. The militias are

ulated central part and a Kurd-dominated north. North-

backed by units of the Iraqi armys Golden Division".

ern Iraq is for all practical purposes already functioning

Retaking Ramadi is the al-Ahadi government's topmost

as an independent entity. The Obama administration

priority.
The deployment of Shia militias on the Ramadi front

now plans to arm the Kurd and Sunni militias directly

without even bothering to consult the government in

has come in for criticism from some leading Sunni poli-

Baghdad. The U.S. also thought that it would be able to

ticians in Iraq. In fact, it was their vociferous objections,

replicate the Sunni awakening that it manipulated in

which had the support of the U.S., that made the Iraqi

2007 in Anbar province by once again getting tribal

Prime Minster decide against their participation in the

chiefs on board. The uprising led by jehadi groups in the

ght against the I.S. in many parts of Anbar pronce.

Initially, the U.S. had even threatened to not provide air

last decade was defeated by a combination of military

force and money power. At the time, there were thou-

cover ifShia militias were deployed in the ght to liberate

sands of U.S. military boots on the ground. The Sunni

Tikrit. The argument put forward was that the deployment of Shia forces would further widen the sectarian
divide in the country. In the rst place, the U.S played a
big role in fostering the sectarian divide as it spearheaded

Awakening Force that fought alongside them was handsomely compensated. All the same, it took the U.S. a long
time to recapture the city of Fallujah, which had fallen
into the hands of Al Qaedaaligned ghters.

the overthrow of secular regimes in Iraq and Libya. In

Hawkish politicians in the U.S., such as the old war-

Syria, too, the U.S. has played the sectarian card to the
hilt. The I.S. itself is in a way a creation ofthe U.S. Before

monger John McCain, are once again calling for the

deployment of U.S. troops in Iraq to ght the I.S. At the

I.S. ghters started openly flaunting the black banner of

same time, the Obama administration has announced a

global jehad, the West and its regional allies supported

joint plan with Turkey to arm and train anti-Assad mil-

them in their bid to overthrow the government of Bashar

al-Assad in Syria. Millions ofdollars worth ofequipment,

itants to ght in Syria. The Syrian government, which is

facing a major threat from the I.S., is being forced to ght

funded by lavish donors in countries such as Saudi Ara-

on various fronts because ofthe machinations of the U.S.

bia, Qatar and Kuwait were funnelled into Syria under

and its allies. The I.S. is having the last laugh.

militias under the banner of Popular Mobilisation Com-

FRUN'l'I.l.\lI-.

JUNF. Zn, ll

El

WORLD AFFAIRS
umreo KINGDOM

it

THIS IMAGE GRAB from a video reportedly released by the LS. on the Internet purportedly shows I5. militants at an

undisclosed location in Libya just before they executed men described as Ethiopian Christians. There is a view that the ISIS
shock-and-awe tactics are what realty makes it attractive to bored young men looking for thrills.

Alarm call
lhitailils most senior l\lllSllIII

poliee ofiieer \\;u'ns oltlie need

for parents to be extra vigilant as
more and more of the Muslim
eommunit_\"s _\nu|i_<.;' people.
including selioolgoiiig ehiltlren,
are heing |';uliez1lisetl.

av nasan sunoon

by groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or

ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, or I.S.), if it did not
exercise greater vigilance, and those most at risk of rad-

icalisation were children.

Children as young as six, including those from mod-

erate and stable families with no history of extremism,

were being inuenced by the ISIS powerful propaganda. The threat was so serious that he worried about his
own children, he said. I am not immunised. lt'I feel the
need to be extra vigilant, then I think you need to feel the

need to be extra vigilant, he warned fellow Muslims.

Chishty's warning, in an interview to The Guardian,
came as the police said they were investigating the case of

a 16-year-old London girl who had run away to become a

jehadi bride. Radicalisation of British Muslims is not
new. What is new, if Chishty is right, is that it is now
spreading to schoolgoing children. More troubling is the
scale on which it is claimed to be happening. Often, it
happens at home via older siblings who have already
been rad iealised. It is not a coincidence that among those
who have gone to join the ISIS several are brothers or

otherwise related. Indeed, it has become every British

enough is used to hearing apocalyptic warnings about the

Muslim parent's nightmare that their child may be secretly plotting something.

threat from Muslim extremism, but given their provenanceanonymous intelligence sources, right-wing
think tanks and scaremongering tabloidsthey are often

Every time I hear that another youth has fled to Syria

or is arrested, I start worrying about my own kids, said
an East London Muslim bus driver. Chishty believes that

met with a yawn. However, it is less easy to be so dismis-

the threat can be contained if parents intervene at an

sive when the country's most senior Muslim police officer

decides to speak outand on record as a Scotland Yard

early stage by watching out for subtle, unexplained

changes in their childrensuch as sudden negative

commander and the head of its community engagement

attitudes towards alcohol, social occasions and Western

programme in Londonas Mak Chishty did last week.

clothing. Parents must not only keep a closer eye on their

The Muslim community, he suggested, was in danger of

sleepwalking into a new phase ofextrelnisni propounded

children but also robustly challenge their behaviour if

they nd it suspicious, he said prompting criticism that

ANYONE WHO HAS LIVED IN BRITAIN LONG

FR(]N"l"I.lNE

.Il"F2('\-

2131*

this will lead to parents spying on their own children.

Such Stasi-style" surveillance, critics argue, could damage family relations besides proving counterproductive

designed to brainwash women into believing that it is

their religious duty to help and support those fighting
for Islam. A Frenchwoman gave an interesting account

as children would become more secretive.

about how she was sought to be seduced by an online

Chishty has also been accused of exaggerating the

jehadi. She pretended to play along to nd out how far he

threat. Maybe he is. Police oicers, even well-meaning

ones, tend to overstate the ease for the prosecution, but
that should not become a reason to throw the baby out
with the bathwater. The important fact is that radical-

would go; when he suggested that she join him, she

decided that enough was enough and dumped him.
Much has been written about why educated young
men from stable families turn to violent extremism.
Alienation from the wider society in which they live, a

isation is happening, and if someone better informed

than the general public and ostensibly a friend of Muslims issues a warning, even ifwith a slight exaggeration to

sense of adventure, their longing for a purpose in life, and

backlash against Islamophobia are some of the reasons

drive home the point, one should take it seriously.

oen cited. But there is no serious study on what makes

academically bright girls want to become jehadi brides

though some have suggested that it gives them a sense of

empowerment and equality with men. A lot of the
discussion on the ISIS' appeal has centred round its
extremely effective communications and recruitment operation: its glossy online magazine, slick videos and use of
evocative language. But does this really fully explain its
global pull? There is a view that its shock-and-awe tactics

u.

packaged as an online video game, as T712 Times put

t_

itare what really makes it attractive to bored young

-I

men looking for thrills. But this so-called adventure

theory, boys high on testosterone rushing to the deserts
of Arabia for adventure, completely ignores the role of
religious extremism, which, in this correspondents view,
remains the dominant pull factor. Broadly, there are

tr
u.

xi

-1

THE SCHOOLGIRLS who ran away from their homes in

East London to join the l.S. in Syria. This CCTV footage
shows them at London's Gatwick airport on February 19.

three categories of people attracted to the ISIS. First are

In recent months, there have been several cases of

teenage girls secretly travelling to Syria to join the ISIS,
the most famous one being that of three East London
schoolgirlsShamima Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, dubbed the runaway tn'owho disappeared

and comprises people from across the globe. Then, there

are those with specic agendas/grievances: anti-Assad,
anti-Shia Iraqi regime, anti-Iran and anti-Saudis. They
are drawn mostly from among SyrianlIraqi exiles or their
descendants settled in the West. The adventure seekers

from their homes earlier this year and ended up in Syria.

group and is now on the run in fear of her life, has
revealed that there is a systematic campaign to lure

make up the last and perhaps the smallest category. Some

also go for what is sold to them as purely humanitarian
reasons such as helping with relief work, but once there
they are drawn into extremist activities. One signicant

young women. The woman, who calls herselfUm Asmah,

said the ISIS had a well-structured grooming system

common element in all these cases, whether involving

men or women, is that just before taking the plunge they

that can psychologically target vulnerable youngsters like

suddenly become religious and start to drift away from

the three British girls. They have educated people who

their old friends. Whatever be the other reasons, religion

remains the main motivating factor.
Finally, no discussion ofMuslim extremism would be
complete without a mention of anti-Muslim prejudice

those inspired by its extreme interpretation of Islam and

the idea of restoring Islam to its original glory by establishing an Islamic caliphate. This is the largest category

A former female ISIS commander, who deserted the

know how to deal with [the] psychology of others. They

have ways to attract people, especially foreigners. [The]
I.S. has the ability to manipulate the minds of young

people." She said the London trio was probably groomed

by highly coordinated social media experts" whose job is
to identify and brainwash vulnerable women. The I.S.

young non-Muslim Britons think that Muslims are tak-

propaganda and grooming machine consists of foreign

ing over" the country while another study reveals that as

ghters working in Raqqa (Syria) Internet cafes in shifts

many as 52 per cent believe Islam is incompatible with

which are coordinated to world time zones," she said.

British values. Yet, despite such sectarian misconcep-

because it does shape Muslim attitudes. According to a

study by an anti-racist campaign group, onethird of

In the good old pre-ISIS days, Islamism was largely

tions and biases, community relations in Britain in 2015

an all-male affair. Most often, women did not even know

are markedly better than they were only a few years ago.
And as someone who has lived through the worst phase of

what their menfolk (husbands, sons, boyfriends, broth-

Muslim extremism and Islamophobia in the past 15 years

or so, I should know.
El

ers) were up to until after the event. But the ISIS has

changed all that. It runs a slick online operation specially

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.lt)l5

50

ESSAY

SQUANDERED
HERITAGE
For 65 years, media and
academia have failed to do
justice to the towering intellect
that Ambedkar was. Successive
governments have undermined
the Constitution he so admirably
piloted and his role in its framing
has been either exaggerated or
underestimated. And now, in a
cruel irony, the Sangh Parivar
is seeking to usurp his legacy,
distorting everything he
stood for.

The Parivar attacked Ambedkar for his Hindu Code

Bill and was up in arms when his work, Riddles in

H-incl-11119111, was published. (Dr. Babasaheb A-mbedkar:
Writings and Speeches, Education Department, Govern-

ment of Maharashtra, Vol. 4-. This entire series is ably

compiled from his published and unpublished writings;
cited volume wise herein.)
Ambedkar, on his part, was unsparing in his critiques
in that and in other works. Hindu society is a myth. The

name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the

Moharnmedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves. It doesnt occur in any Sanskrit

work prior to the Mohammedan invasion.... Hindu society as such does not exist. It is only a collection of
castes.... Castes don't even form a federation. A caste has

BY A.G. NOORANI

Seven. wcu[th._y towns contend for Home-r z[ead/

Through which the living Homer begged his breazl
A Few Selected Fables in Verse By N0 Person of
Quality, 1698.

T is not amusing but highly reprehensible to see the

ISzmgh Parivar lay claim to B.R. Ambedkar and his

rich intellectual and political legacy. Twenty-ve
years ago it tried the same trick with Gandhi, whom its
mentor, M.S. Golwalkar, and L.K. Advani had scorned.
Now the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Szu'ka-

ryawah, Bhaiyaji Joshi, proclaims that Ambedkar was a

Mahamanav who needs to be studied and understood
in totality" (sub-ten: discard elements in the whole

which the RSS cannot accept). This one takes the cake:
We should collectively create a harmonious society for

which he fought throughout his life. He went so far as to

compare RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar with Ambedkar

and assert that the objectives of both were same (Orga-

niser; April 26, 2015).

DR B.R. AMBEDKAR.
61

|"R0\TlIH~

Il'\F30 22:1-i

no feeling that it is afliated to other castes except when

there is a Hindu-Muslim riot (Ann.-ihilation. of Caste,
Chapter VI, Vol. 1). Volume 12 contains this dissertation

law was rooted in these inteilectual disciplines and raised

him above the mere constitutional lawyer, however famous. In this, he was peerless. Leaming was harnessed to

for the M.A. Examination in Columbia University

a razor-sharp mind, skilled in logic and dialectics.

Neither academia nor the media have acquitted

(1913-15).

The Sangh Parivar is unlikely to be pleased by his

understanding of Indias history as these extracts suggest: It is a mistake to suppose that the Mussalman
sovereigns of India were barbarous and despots. On the

themselves creditably. Even halfa century after his death,

a denitive biography has not been written. The media
revels in trivia, ofwhich the most ridiculous is the persistent statement, even in leading dailies, that he wrote the

other hand, majority of them were men of extraordinary

character. Mohammed of Ghazni showed so much munificence to individuals of eminence that his capital ex-

Constitution at Wayside Inn, a restaurant in the Kala

Ghoda neighbourhood of Mumbai. He did go there when
he practised at the High Court. But from 194-2 he lived

hibited a greater assemblage of literary genius than any

mostly in New Delhimoreover, one cannot write a

other monarch in Asia has ever been able to produce. If

Constitution on the dining table of a restaurant.

rapacious in acquiring wealth, he was unrivalled in the

judgment and grandeur with which he knew how to
expend it....
Babar, the founder of the Moghul dynasty in India,
found the country in a prosperous condition and was

On the other hand, his notable efforts on 1ndias behalf

are ignored; for example, his searching cross-examination of Winston Churchill at the Round Table Confer-

surprised at the immense population and the innumerable artisans everywhere. He was a benevolent ruler and

ence (RTC) in London. Indeed, his role at the RTC itself

is underplayed, with attention focussed almost exclusive-

public works marked his statesmanship. Sher Shah, who

ly on his differences with Gandhi and his advocacy ofthe

temporarily wrested the throne from the Moghul, was,

cause ofthe untouchables, as they were then known. This

excepting Akbar, the greatest of Mohammedan rulers

and, like Babar, executed many public works....
With the advent of the English, things began to
change. Prosperity bade fair to India and perched itself
on the Union Jack. The evil forces were set forth both on

is of a piece with neglect of the RTCs proceedings themselves. They were a preparation for the drafting of the
Government of India Act, 1935, which served as India's
Constitution from April 1, 1937, to August 14, 194-7 (minus the federation part), and, with adaptations, 'orn

the side of the Parliament and the East India Company.

August 15, 1947, to January 25, 1950. The Constitution of

The Rule of the Company was anything but wise, it was

India came into force the next day and it is based largely

rigorous, it gave security but destroyed property.... India

contributed or rather was made (to) contribute to the

on the Act of 1935. Debates in the RTC's committees were

better informed than those in the Constituent Assembly

prosperity of England in many ways. Had he lived,

Ambedkar would have denounced the Parivar for the
demolition ofthe Babri Masjid.
But neither can the Congress claim him as one of its
own. Volume 9 in that series published his excellently

since the former had the best of Indias legal talent. On

some of the provisions of our Constitution, notably the
moribund Inter-State Council, it is from the deliberations in London, rather than those in New Delhi, that
one acquires an understanding of their ra-ison c1etre.

documented works, What Congress and Gandhi Have

Emancipation tyfthe Untouchables.
It is trite to say that praise ofAmbedkar has tended to

Uniquely, Ambedkar was an active participant in both.

However, well before that he had enriched his mind
with a deep study of constitutionalism. Unlike other
constitutional lawyers, his study of history, political sci-

obscure his contributions as a constitutionalist. Howev-

ence

er, even this recognition does less than full justice to that

considerably.

ENRICHED MIND

Done To The Untouchables and Mr. Gandhi and the

and

economies

had

shaped

his

outlook

tower of intellect. I-Ie was head and shoulders above

Even as far back as January 27, 1919, he revealed the

constitutional lawyers like Tej Bahadur Sapru. For, he

depth of his knowledge in his written statement and

was steeped in historyIndian, English European and

evidence before the Southborough Committee on Fran-

Americanin Hinduism, in the Vedas and the Upan-

chise. He differed from the British as well as the simplistic Indian approach. He reckoned with India's social

ishads, and in Economics. His erudition in constitutional

Ambedkar's three warnings in the Constituent Assembly are

often quotedthe perils of hero worship; satyagraha or civil
disobedience; and neglect of social and economic uplift. All
three have gone unheeded.
FRONTIIYF

.lUVF2h.ll)l'-

52

PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi at the foundation stone

diversities, which the Congress steadfastly refused to do.

He said, "Except the Hindus, the rest ofthe divisions are
marked by such complete freedom of communication
troni within that we may expect their members to he

laying ceremony of the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in

New Delhi,

])ei'tet'tly like-minded with respect to one another. Re-

isetl the untouchables and their interests at stake are

garding the Hindus, however. the analysis must be carried on a little tiirther. The signicant tact about the
Hindus is that before they are Hindus they are members
of some caste. The castes are so exclusive and isolated
that the consciousness of being a Hindu would be the
chief guide of a Hindu's activity towards nonHindus.

therelore the interests oi humanity. The interests oi

property are nothing before such primary interests....
The Congress is largely composed of me.n who are by
design political Radicals and social Tories. Their chant is
that the social and the political are two distinct things
having no bearing on each other. To them the social and
the political are two suits and can be worn one at a time as
the season demands" (Vol. 1. pages 255 and 263). He

But as against a Hindu oi a diiterent caste, his caste-

consciousness would be the chief guide otacti\-ity. 1-rem

this. it is plain that as between two Hindus. caste like-

proposed his own scheme in a supplementary written

mindedness is more po\\'erf1il than the like-mindedness

due to their both being Hindus." (Vol. 1. page 245).)
The problem was to devise an electoral system that

statement.
Ambedkar was in no condition to boycott the Simon
Commission. His counsel was not sought by the Motilal

would enable the minoritiesreligious and caste-to be

properly represented in the legislature. The Untouchables are usually regarded as objects of pity but they are
ignored in any political scheme on the score that they

have no interests to protect. And yet. their interests are

Nehru Committee. which was appointed by the All Parties Confcrence to prepare a draft Constitution of India
(1928). He prepared a detailed report for the Simon
Commission. One is struck by his nationalist fervour in
advocating a powertitl Centre with power "to coerce a

the greatest. Not that they have large property to protect

recalcitrant or rebellious Province acting in a manner

from conscation. But they have their very persona con-

prejudicial to the interests of the country". This was two

decades before the provision for Presidents rule in the

fiscated. The socioreligions disabilities have dehuman$3

I-'R(I\|'l.l\l-1

Jl \i-ll:-,.!(!l5

Neither academia nor the media in India have acquitted

themselves creditabty. Even half a century after his death, a
definitive biography has not been written.
States was adopted by the Constituent Assembly.
At the RTC in London, he attacked the princes claims
and spoke up for the rights of Indians. In the real sense of

minorities. On another occasion, he wrote: In India, the

majority is not a political majority. In India the majority
is born; it is not made. That is the difference between a

those hackneyed words, Ambedkar was a freedom ghter. The Sccretary of State for India, Sir Samuel Hoare,
was put in a corner when he deposed before the Joint
Committee on Indian Constitutional Reform.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar: I think there is a general agreement that the ultimate goal of India's Constitution is to
be Dominion status?

communal majority and a political majority. A political

majority is not a xed or a permanent majority. It is a
majority which is always made, unmade and remade. A
communal majority is a permanent majority fixed in its
attitude. One can destroy it, but one cannot transform it.
If there is so much objection to a political majority, how
very fatal must be the objection to a communal major-

Sir Samuel Hoare: It has constantly been so stated.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar: So that on the question of the

ity?... My proposals do not ask the Hindus to accept the

principle of unanimity. My proposals do not ask the

ultimate goal, there is really no dispute?

Hindus to abandon the principle of majority rule. All I

Sir Samuel Hoare: That would be so, yes.

am asking them is to be satised with a relative majority.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar: Now what I want to ask you is

this: in view of that, would you be prepared to put this in

Is it too much for them to concede this?... Without

making any such sacrice, the Hindu majority is not
justied in representing to the outside world that the
minorities are holding up India's freedom. This false

the Preamble to the Government of Indias Constitution

that India would be Dominion status, leaving the ques-

tion ofthe time and the pace to be determined by circum-

propaganda will not pay. For, the minorities are doing

nothing ofthe kind. They are prepared to accept freedom

stances as they arise?

Sir Samuel Hoare: I do not think here and now I

and the dangers in which they are likely to be involved;

would like to give a pledge as to what is or is not put in the

Preamble of an Act of Parliament. I, myself, am preju-

provided they are granted satisfactory safeguards.

In a memorandum on States and Minorities, he

diced against Preamble ofActs ofParliament, for reasons

good or bad, and I would rather say neither yes nor no to
Dr Ambcdkars question.
At one point, Hoare acknowledged that Dr Ambed-

wrote: Unfortunately for the minorities in India, Indian

nationalism has developed a new doctrine which may be
called the Divine Right ofthe Majority to rule the minorities according to the wishes of the majority. Any claim
for the sharing ofpower by the minority is called commu-

kar's very acute mind has discovered a gap in the Vifhite

Paper.... It is an omission that we propose to set right in

nalism, while the monopolising ofthe whole power by the

majority is called nationalism.
In the plenary session of the RTC, he declared: We
hold that the problem of the depressed classes will never

any nal draft.

THE MAJORITY AND THE MINORITIES

Ambedkar was rightly oppressed by the reality that Indi-

be solved unless they get power in their own hands." That

alone, rather than mere safeguards, can assure protec-

an society had a permanent communal majority and

permanent communal minorities. Sample these com-

tion to the minoritiesa share in power.

ments: People who rely upon majority rule forget the

It was formidable intellectual equipment that Am-

fact that majorities are of two sorts: (1) Communal ma-

bedkar brought to bear on his tasks in the Constituent

jority and (2) Political majority. A political majority is

changeable in its class composition. A political majority

Assembly trom 1946. He understood better than most

what was demanded of its members and, later, of those

grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to a

political majority is open. The door to a communal ma-

who worked it. In 1943 he approvingly quoted these wise

words of Balfour: If we would nd the true basis of the

jority is closed. The politics ofa political majority arc free

I-Iow can a communal majority run away with the

long-dravim process which has gradually converted medieval monarchy into a modern democracy, the process
by which so much has been changed and so little destroyed, we must study temperament and character rath-

title deeds given to a political majority to rule? To give

er than intellect and theory. This is a truth which those

such title deeds to a communal majority is to establish a

hereditary government and make the way open to the

who recommend the wholesale adoption of British institutions in strange lands might remember with ad-

tyranny of that majority. This tyranny of the communal

vantage. Such an experiment can hardly be without its

dangers. Constitutions are easily copied; temperaments

to all to make and unmake. The politics of a communal

majority are made by its own members born in it.

majority is not an idle dream. It is an experience of many

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h.lt)l5

51'.

sible. It may imlced be [cost pn.s.s'ib1 relzere the l'I![.\' of

pr.'rli'onier2ru/jg 11c!-sutl-w'rm and the 0'c.rtcrr'h'cs o,f'/1or'ty

mu.'1ugement are brought to tlicir lzighes-I per]/iect1'on." The
stratagems available in the parliamentary system are
used without respect for its true spirit.
CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY

Ambedkafs three warnings in the Constituent Assembly

as it completed its labours in November 1949 are often
quotedthe perils of hero worship; .s-utyugrrr/in or civil
disobedience; and neglect of social and economic upli.
All three have gone unheeded, though. But even more

tragic is the utter indifference to the far more insightful

remarks he made in the Constituent Assembly on November ~t- while introducing the Draft Constitution:
I agree that administrative details should have no
place in the Constitution. I wish very much that the
Drafting Committee could see its way to avoid their
inclusion in the Constitution. But this is to be said on the

necessity which justifies their inclusion. G rote. the historian of Greece. has said: The dilfusion of constitutional
moralit_v, not merely among the inajority of any community but throughout the whole, is the indispensable condition of government at once tree and peaceable: since
even any powerful and obstinate minority may render the
working ofa free institution impracticable, without being
strong enough to conquer ascendancy for themsel\'es.'
By constitutional morality Grotc meant a paramount reverence for the forms of the Constitution. enforcing obedience to authority acting under and within
these forms yet combined with the habit ofopen speech,
of action subject only to denite legal control, and unrestrained censure of those very authorities as to all their

public acts combined too with a perfect confidence in the

bosom of every citizen amidst the bitterness of party
contest that the forms ofthe Constitution will not he less
sacred in the eyes ofhis opponents than in his o\vn.'
"VVhile everybody recognises the necessity of the diffusion ofconstitutional morality for the peaceful working
of a democratic Constitution, there are two things in-

LONDON, DECEMBER 1, 1931: During the

terconnected with it. which are not, unfortunately, generally recognised. One is that the form of administration

proceedings of the second Round Table Conference on

India at St. James Palace.

has a close connection with the form ofthe Constitution.

(1 re not and [fit sizoultl happen that the bor'rmcc(1' Constifilfioii and the ncztivr fempcrumen t_fit 1'! to l0.II'(.\'])(Hl(/, the
nu'.$)it Inay licwc.s-crz'm1-s- res-izlt-s. It matters little what
other gifts a people may possess if tl1c_v :u'c wanting in

The form ofthe administration must be appropriate to

and in the same sense as the form ofthe Constitution. The
other is that it is perfectly possible to pervert the Constitution, \\ithout changing its form by merely changing the
form of the administration and to make it inconsistent

these which, from this point of view. are of most importance. If_ for example. they have no capacity for grading
their loyalties as well as for being moved by them; ifthey

and opposed to the spirit of the Constitution. It follows

that it is only where people are saturated with constitutional morality such as the one described by Grote that

have no natural inclination to liberty and no natural

respect for law; if they lack good humour and tolerate
foul play; iftliey know not how to compromise or when; if
they have not that distrust ofextreme conclusions which
is sometimes misdescribed as want of logic; if corruption

one can take the risk of omitting from the Constitution

details ofad ministration and leaving it for the legislature
to prescribe them. The question is, can we presume such
a diiision of constitutional morality? Con.-ariturional
l]!()f(Il_t/ is no! u lmturml sclzrilriclit. II /ms to be rut!!-

does not repel them; and if their divisions tend to be

twfctl. Vl/1' m us! I'co1isr i/1 of on rpcopfr /love _1/ci to /corn if.

either too numerous or too profound. the successful

DtIIIU{'l'tlt'_lj in Imliu is only u top-tires-sing on (H? !noiun

soif a"/sir/i is c-sas'c11ti(1l/_i/ unt1rmocrt1t1'r" (Crmsfifzlrnt/ls-

working of British institutions maybe ditiicult or impos$5

l-R(I\'|'l.lNl-I

_|l \l-12h,3t!l5

sembly Debates; Vol. 7, page 38). Now, 67 years later,

constitutional morality is far weaker than it was then. It
barely exists.

erudite work, The English Judges: Their Role in the

Changing Constitution by Robert Stevens. He is a practising barrister, a Bencher of Gray's Inn, to which Am-

The authors of the Constitution opted for the British

bedkar belonged, and an academic as well. Two quotes

parliamentary system as a matter of course. At the very

from it sufce to drive the point home. The Times (Lon-

outset oftheir deliberations, at ajoint meeting, on June 5,

1947, of the Union Constitution Committee a.nd the Initial Constitution Committee. Vallabhbhai Patel announced the decision in the Constituent Assembly on

don) criticised in these terms on March 10, 2004, one of

the nest Lords, Chief Justice Lord Woolf. It said he
cannot quite make up his mind whether he is a liberal
reformer or the shop steward for the only trade union in

July 15, 1947: Both these committees met and they came
to the conclusion that it would suit the conditions of this
country better to adopt the parliamentary system of Con-

the country whose members wear wigs and not hard hats
or cloth caps".

stitution, the British type of Constitution with which we

Sometime back this writer said in these pages that the

Army is the countrys most powerful trade union. I

are familiar" (CAD, Vol. IV, page 578).

should add that judges of the Supreme Court have been

However, as Gladstone said, the British Constitution

presumes more boldly than any other, the good faith of
those who work it. As a parliamentary committee said,
the understandings and habits of mind by which the
Constitution functions are bound up with the growth of

as ardently trade unionist. Stevens sharply remarks,

Judges choosing judges is the antithesis of democracy
(page 144-). We have had this obscenity for nearly a
quarter of a century thanks to the ipse clzlrit of the Supreme Court in blatant violation of the Constitution. It

mutual condence between the great parties ofthe State,

transcending the political differences of the hour. The

passed muster because we have had weak governments

since 1991. As Lord Bingham said in 2001: The courts

Constitution is rooted in a national consensus. It works

tend to be most assertive...when political organs of the

on the understanding that the system is more important

state are least effective.

than the immediate political gain. Public opinion acts as

a referee.

On November 1, I94-8, Ambedkar said: I feel that it

[the Constitution] is workable, it is exible and it is

strong enough to hold the country together both in peace

cry over the imposition of President's Rule in Punjab in

time and in war time. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go

wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be
that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say
is that Man was Vile (CAD, Vol. 7, pages 4-3-44).

June 1951. The office of the President, and later the

judiciary, suered. The civil service was suborned. Gov-

He resigned from the Union Council of Ministers on

September 27, 1951, fought the rst general election in

ernors became dalals ofthe political party in power at the

1952 in opposition to the Congress, and lost. Differences

with the ruling party widened to the extent that he delivered an embittered and unattering disavowal in the
Rajya Sabha on September 2, 1953. People always keep
on saying to me, Oh you are the maker of the Constitu-

FLOUTED FROM THE OUTSET

Indias leaders began flouting the Constitution from the

very outset. President Rajendra Prasad raised a hue and

Centre.

His vision, the spirit behind

the entire enterprise, and
the fundamentals he
propounded, compel
admiration.

tion. My answer is I was a hack. What I was asked to do, I

did much against my will. He added: I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the rst person to burn it out. I
do not want it. It does not suit anybody....
Ambedkar's role in the framing of the Constitution
has been either exaggerated or underestimated. The style

and content of his performance in the Constituent Assembly as the prime mover ofthe Draft Constitution have
been neglected completely.
He was capable of a shocking factual error on a
dening moment in Canadas constitutional history, the

It had all begun fairly early; as far back as 1937, when

the Congress had its rst taste of power in the provinces.

Governor-Generals reisal of a dissolution to Prime

Minister Mackenzie King in 1926. He tended to be per-

The issue was whether the Speaker ofthe Uttar Pradesh

metory, even testy and short, in his replies (CAD; Vol. 7,

Assembly, P.D. Tandon, should resign from the Con-

page 270). His health was failing.

gress. Both Gandhi and Nehru strongly asserted that he

should not. That was the beginning ofthe departure from

the Constitution in the Constituent Assembly as his vi-

British conventions. They have been abandoned now,

sion, the spirit behind the entire enterprise, and the

reducing the Constitution to a skeleton denuded of life

and blood. The judiciary was no less eager to ignore

indamentals he propounded, which alone make the text

meaningful, which compel admiration.

British judicial culture. One gets a avour of the gap

between the Indian and British judicial cultures from an

The vision was abandoned and the mdamentals

were flouted. Lesser men came after him.
El

FRONTLINF.

.ll|NF.2h.l()l5

It is, however, not so much his admirable piloting of

66

Af1"icas ark

l
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49
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The Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania, the largest in the

world, provides ideal conditions for wildlife to thrive.
It is Africa in microcosm as almost every species of
the continent can be found here.
Te.\1 & photographs by SUD}-IA MAI-IALINGAM

A M OM E HY of serendipitous proximity to an African tusker.

NGORONGORO seems like another version of

course, where there is prey, there are also predators, but

Noahs ark. It teems with all kinds of creatures although

both have learnt to live with each other, guided by the

there is no sea for a few hundred miles in any direction

delicate balancing act of Mother Nature.

and the ark itself is nothing but a collapsed crater. This

This spectacular depression spread over 20 square

crater is the planet's largest inactive, intact, unlled caldera, formed by a volcanic explosion millions of years

kilometres is home to almost all species of African animals and birds, making it a natural laboratory for study-

ago. The Ngorongoro volcano is believed to have been

taller than Mt Kilimanjaro. Today, the crater is a hospita-

ing African wildlife. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area

includes not only the crater but also the famous Olduvai

ble habitat for the thousands of wild animals and birds

Gorge.

that have made it their permanent home. Nutrient rich

We arrive at the crater in the evening, having spent a

soil, abundant grass, and waterbodies drained by adequate streams, all situated deep inside a 2,000foot cra-

few days in Serengeti. Our campsite is on the crater rim,

with a spectacular view of the caldera Paul Roberts

ter which forms a natural shelter, make up the ideal

Shayo, our tour guide, has already pitched our tent along-

environment for wildlife to go forth and multiply. Of

side a dozen others on a grassy knoll while Suvale, our

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A M A R S H E A 6 L E sporting haute couture feathers.

AN AFRICAN BUSTARD.

cook, gets busy in the cookhouse to rustle up those magical meals, apparently out of nowhere. The Ngorongoro
Conservation Area is on the highlands of the savannah
and the climate is saluhrious, reminding me ofOoty. As l
begin my exploration around the campsite. there is allround cscilctncnt. An elephant has made its way Lo the
camp to drink water from the plastic tank. ltyanks the lid
oil and drinks in deep draughts.
For those of us from India used to seeing domesticated elephants, the excitement is a little diicult to
comprehend. It is only when

serendipitous proximity to a wild creature, the magic

heightened by a blazing western sky dripping ochrc all
over the horizon.
The next morning, Shayo drives us to the floor of the
caldera. reached easily hy a winding road. From this
height, Lhcre is hardly any hinlofthc prol'usion oI'wildliI'c
that roams the crater. However, all along the way down,

every tree seems to host a nest or two and most of the

nests have iledglings cared for lovingly by parenw. A
marsh eagle sits with her back to the sun, the patterns on
her wings so captivating that

Shayo tells me that this is a

they would put a couturier to

wild clcphani.in fact. in

Africa, elephants have never
been domesticatcdthat l
realise the piquancy of the sit-

uation. This lusker has

strayed out of the crater in
search of succulent leaves
and water and is in no hurry
Lo gel back. He wanders
around Lasting a shrub here
or checking out the ropes ofa
tent there. lle seems to have
quite a following; most of us
are stalking him with our
cameras. Perhaps he is en_ioying all the attention. IL is in-

deed a magical moment of

Lake

Wzinrh

Nairobi KENYA

snipe

- IPIIR

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TANZAN|A

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At the bottom of the erater, we drive along a pond full

A '

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ofwhat seem like black rocks.

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Conservation Area

uh, ,,,,,,,,,.,

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MOZAMBIQUE "_

shame. A couple of bald eagles are busy feeding a rodent

to their ravenous young. A
kite is returning_ to its nest
with a small fish in its beak.

These arc the backs ol'hippopotamuscs which cluster

around in large groups.
Egrels and lapwings perch on
their backs, feeding on the
ticks and fleas that torment
them. Perhaps these arc the
only creatures that approach
a hippopotainuswitlioul fear.
FR0l'\'Tl..lNE

JUNE 30,1015

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For, hippos are known to be the most unpredictable and

even more dangerous than the. hippo is the inscrutable

dangerous animals which can charge in an instant. But

the hippo is not at its strongest on land. Its spindly legs
are made For swiniming.
Just then, my hat ilies o'in a gust of wind. We have a
whole day in the relentless African sun before we return

water butl'alo. It may, much like our domesticated version, look so placid that it is easy to drop your guard, but
beware. it can charge without provocation. The Masais
fear the bu'alo the most. Lions take out their cattle but
buffaloes stomp into their hamlets and gore humans for

to our camp in the evening. In 'l'anzania's national parks.

no one is allowed to alight from the vehicle under any
circumstances. Ingenious Suvale, however, has a solu-

no rhyme or reason. We drive past herds ofwater billialoes grazing contentedly. Every now and then. we cross
buiialo skulls that have been picked clean by vultures.

tion. He fetches an umbrella, stretches and almost hangs

out of the vehicle in an attempt to retrieve the hat with
the crook of the brolly. A worried mother hippo ambles
out of the water with her junior sprinting behind her,
their pink underbellies gleaming in the morning sun. Her

Nothing goes waste in the crater.

The grass on the crater iloor is tall enough to hide a

body language makes her intentions abundantly clear.

until you are out of sight. The) have impressive curved

We abandon the hat and drive off hastilv.

horns on their snouts. Spotted hyenas soak in the muddy

whole lot ofereatu res until you are actually upon them. A
startled pair ofjackals darts across your path. Wartliogs
scatter at the sight of the \-'ehiele and watch you \varil_\'

puddles and reluctantly rise and hohble out of sight.

Shayo tells us that the only animal in the savannah

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Hyenas are often opportunistic hunters. A pack can eas-

Grant's gaxelles, which migrate in search of water in

ily scare away even a cheetah from a prey it has just

hunted. Zebras and wildebeest are skittish as ever, kickNgorongoro used to be farmed by two German brothers, Adolph and Friedrich Siedentopf, in the early 20th
century. Their cottage in the crater used to be a star
attraction for hunting parties when East Africa was ad-

Serengeti, stay put in the crater. There are around 25,000

large ungulates and over 60 lions in the crater, but they
are inbred.
Inbreeding is inetable in a crater like Ngorongoro,
which is inaccessible to the savannah animals. Even
when an occasional lion strays into the crater, the resident males chase it out. No wonder the crater lions are

ministered by Germany. In 1921, just before the adminis-

not as healthyas those in Serengeti. Shayo tells us that the

tration of Tanganyika passed into British hands once

again, an ordinance was issued to preserve the crater as a

crater lions have been struck by deadly diseases. During

droughts, the lions here have to deal with bloodsueking

game park. Masai settlements inside the crater were

stable flies, which cause painful sores and decimate their

moved elsewhere, and the crater itself was converted into

a National Park in 194-8. In 1979, it was nominated as a

population. Canine distemper (a viral disease) is also

ing up dust and bounding offat the approach ofhumans.

World Natural Heritage Site by Unesco. The walls ofthe

another cause for the drop in the lion population within

the crater.

East African Ri prevent animals from moving out ofthe

The crater is surrounded by hills and its perimeter is

crater. Thus, wildebeests, zebras, and Thomson's and

thickly wooded. As we zigzag through the floor of the

FR(]N"l"l.lNE

_Il.'NE 2h, 2015

.i_

AN IMPALA with iiS fawn.

crater, we spot a couple of lions under a shrub. Their prey

being captive, they seem to have all the time in the world

watch from a distance as a fox makes an unsuccessful

attempt to catch one ofthe birds. Guinea fowl saunter in

to sprawl and snooze. A cheetah climbs down from its

groups and scatter at the sight ofthe vehicle.

perch on a knoll and goes in search of its lunch. We are

told there are leopards too but do not spot any. The

We spot some Masai herdsmen, who, in recent times,

have been allowed to bring their cattle into the crater for

midday heat is beating down on us mercilessly, but Shayo

is relentless, determined to show us the best ofthe crater
wildlife. We crest a hill in search ofthe black rhino, but all
we see are herds of elephants and waterbucks which
resemble rodents.

grazing, but they have to exit before nightfall. But the

Masai rarely venture into the crater oor, content to
graze their cattle on the slopes. After all, the tall grass can
hide wild dogs and spotted hyenas, which hunt in packs
and can decimate an entire herd in a matter of minutes.

The Lerai forest on one side ofthe crater is a favourite

The Ngorongoro crater is indeed a microcosm of

haunt ofall herbivores. There are many tall g trees in the

African wildlife where almost every species of this vast

forest which make it attractive to birds as well. This part

of the crater is also home to the hartebeest, the tohe and
several variations of the species which resemble Neelgai,

continent can be found within its conned area. Only a

few animals, like the African gorilla and the chimpanzee
which prefer rainforest habitats, are absent here. Yet, the

but have distinctive colouration on their limbs. Giraffes

prefer the open savannah where acacia abound, but ze-

very fecundity can turn into a nemesis since, over the

decades, inbreeding has stunted the gene pool of the

bras and wildebeests seem content to breed in the crater.

creatures that live here.

Some of the avian population in the crater is also

The Olduvai gorge adjacent to Ngorongoro is a re-

captive since these are large terrestrial birds, among

them the ostrich and the giant secretary bird. Endemic to

markable paleoarchaeological site where fossilised human footprints have been found, implying that humans

Africa, the secretary bird is a large terrestrial creature

which takes its name from the quill-like feathers in its

became bipeds several million years ago. The artefacts

found in the gorge date back to about 2.1 million years to

crest, which are likened to the pens tucked behind the

15,000 years. The fossils found here provide a continuous

ears of secretaries in times past. We stand mesmerised as

record of human evolution during the past two million

an ostrich couple shepherd their nine chicks to safety

across our path. The crater is also teeming with majestic

years. They range from remnants ofAustralopithecus to

Home habilis, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. The

Aican bustards. But the dandy of the crater is the

Ngorongoro crater itself has yielded artefacts which

crested crane, which struts its stuffand lends a festive air

to the atmosphere. Yonder, there is a neat line of flam-

point to humans making the transition to iron tools from

stone tools. This part of East Africa seems to have been a

ingos on the shoreline ofthe Magadi lake, a salt lake into

which the Munge stream drains its alkaline waters. We

laboratory for life on our planet from time immemorial

FRONTLINE

.lUNF.2.2()l5

and continues to be one even today.

El

BOOKS 1111-mt-\\i

The capital question

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']iI~IE subtitle ofthe book

under review provides
a descriptive account of
what the book is aboutan
attempt to make the analysis of economic evolution
more robust by bringing in
explanatory factors tl1at
had been left out until recently and whose signi-

the extent ofclaiming that

development is freedom or
capabilities expansion.

UXIURII

lIlP|lltS [if lillliilim

The Role of Human,

Social and
Institutional Capital
in Economic
Evolution

cance is still not adequately

recognised.

The l'oreword to the

volume notes: "Since the
19501-1. thinking about de-

velopment" has been dominated

by

the

The
Canitals vi
Naons

dismal

HUMANCANTAL

Be that as it may, let us see

how the author deals with

human capital, social capital and institutional capital and their interaction as

the determinants ol'devel-

By Lalita Som

opment. The human ele-

Oxford University
Press, New Delhi,
2014

ment in production and

growth was not neglected

Pages: 2'73
Price: Rs.995

approach; it was there as

by the limited economic

homogeneous

labour

science ofeconomics, aid-

along with capital as one of

ed and abetted by the two

Bretton VVoods institutions, the World Bank
(VVB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Unsurprisingly, it has been

intangible forms of capital

human capital, social
capital and institutional
capital-to identify the dynamic between them as the

ment, their own calculations had shown that over

time there was a substantial residual of economic
growth that could not be

the two factors of production". But human beings

differ in their intrinsic as
well as acquired capabilities.
The concept of human

crucial determinant ofec0nomic growth and devel-

attributed entirely to capital and its productivity.

capital. therefore, recognises the diversity of l1u-

opment and to understand

the process of economic

Many explanations had

been put forward, but one

man beings cnhanced by

the differences in educa-

concepts from other disci-

evolution." Any attempt to

of the leading scholars was

tion, training and interac-

plines that might have fos-

honest enough to admit

tered better understanding

provide a better understanding ofa complex phe-

tions they come to have

during
their
lifespan.

sooner."

nomenon

blinkered by a rigid aca-

demic-cum-bureaucratic
approach to inquiry. ...It
excluded [for] too long

like

that the residual was an incl ication ol'our ignorance".

Viewed

of

The search continued, with

concept of human capital

the economic approach as-

late, has moved from the

some attributing the resid-

puts the emphasis on the

sumed capital scarcity to

jargon ofeconomists to the

ual

technological

knowledge that individuals

be the critical issue in de-

manifestos of politicians)

change, thereby also bring-

gain through life, which

velopment. The attempt,

tlierefore, is to bring in the
neglected factors in the understanding of development. The author's preface
takes the theme further:
"[T]he book analyses three

must
certainly
be
welcomed.
Let us place on record,
though, that although initially economists had oversimplied
the
factors
responsible for develop-

ing in the human factor

(until then seen simply as
an input called labour) as
an explanatory factor in development. Indced, econo-

brings about a major difference to the contribution

they can make to the production process. Or, human capital results from
the transformation that an
individual
experiences

It is claimed, too, that

development

(which,

to

mist-philosophers
like
Amartya Sen would go to
B3

differently,

the

l klIN'l'l.lNl-1-.|l'Nl{2n.3l!15

-iW"'

through the acquisition of

knowledge.
That transformation is
not an isolated phenom-

_..il

enon. It takes place in the

social context through interactions and through different
kinds
of
networking that natural-

ly develops to some extent,

but is also deliberately cul-

tivated, and so, social capital is necessary for a

proper appreciation of hu-

man capital. Social capital

is a broad term encompassing reciprocity, sanctions, trust and networks

.1

facilitating collective action for mutual benet,"

says the author. She also

1'

-r

endorses a broader deni-

tion of social capital as the

aggregate of the actual potential resources which are
linked to possession of a
durable network of mo1'e

0 UT 5 1 D E T H E A M R Tech Park ll in Bangalore. The contribution of the services sector

to India's GDP is currently close to 60 per cent.

or less institutionalised re-

are taken in an institution-

lationships of mutual acquaintance

and
recognitionor in other
words, to membership of a

al context; the values that

an individual possesses directly or indirectly originate in and are preserved

groupwhich

by institutions.

provides

contexts. This thesis has

some intuitive appeal. The
problem is that the permu-

tion is well known. A major

reason for it, according to
the author, is the shift from

tations and combinations

asking the question which

of the three broad capi-

technique worked to why

tals, each with its ovm

technique worked, indi-

each of its members with

While analytically, hu-

many and heterogeneous

cating a qualitative shift in

the backing of the collectively owned capital, a cre-

man capital, social capital

and institutional capital

strands, can be used to rationalise any past and pre-

the approach to knowledge

that mentally imbued en-

dential

entitles

can be viewed separately,

sent

development

gineers and inventors with

them to credit, in the various sense ofthe word.

In turn, the understanding of social capital

they are invariably intertwined. Thus, human cap-

experience. The second

part ofthe book consists of
ve case studies, the Industrial Revolution in Bri-

a faith in the orderliness,

ena.

leads to the specication of

vidual

institutional capital be-

pends on the knowledge

tain, the early industrial

revolution in the United

This scientic culture

placed applied science at

cause social norms soon

and effort of co-workers;

multiple institutions nur-

States, Japan's post-Sec-

the service of commercial

ond World War growth,

the manufacturing sector
in China and Indias service sector growth since

and manufacturing interests. The institution of apprenticeship played an

important role, too, as
many of the innovations
were largely produced by

which

ital formation is facilitated

by social processes; indiproductivity

de-

get institutionalised. After

all, society consists of not
isolated individuals but
those who, from the very
beginning, interact with
others through a variety of

that give rise to social capital; institutions and their

institutions, the family, the

The thesis that the author

village community, and a

variety of production orga-

presents is that different

ture the habits and values

legacies structure prefercnccs, interests and values.

the 19805. The conclusion

that is arrived at from the
case studies is that in spite
of the variety in experi-

rationality and predictability ofnatural phenom-

workers who had little formal education, but who

ence, all these cases can be

nisations, all ofwhich pro-

societal and economic outcomes depend on different

vide the individual with a

possible combinations of

human, social and institu-

had beneted from the apprenticeship. The church,

trade unions and temper-

sense of belonging. The in-

these three factorshu-

tional capital.

ate associations set up li-

dividual acquires knowl-

man capital, social capital

That technical change

edge
through
these
institutions; all decisions

and institutional capital

was a major factor in Bri-

in different interlinked

tains Industrial Revolu-

FRl)N'l'l.|.\lF.

.ll'NI~'. Zn, ll 5

shown to be interactions of

braries,

which

enabled

members, many of them

workers, to educate them-

selves. What helped the

British economy grow and
sustain its growth was having... the kind of agility

radically different pattern

of development, that of
China ofthe 1980s and lat-

sional economists are

guilty of over-quantication, the approach pre-

demand for services have

been the key factors driving the high growth in In-

er.

sented by the author is not

dia's services sector. To

that allowed institutions to

The author argues that

tainted by any quantitative

this the author adds others

change when the environment changed." A wide

range of social norms also
evolved during the period,

the interaction among human, social and institutional capital is key to the
understanding of Chinas

assessment at all. Some of

the factors that economists
consider crucial, such as
the availability of vast ex-

such as India's large pool

of qualied professionals,
its widespread use of English, its rapidly increasing

which included what was

commonly described as
gentlemanly behaviour

record-breaking growth
and entry into economic
interactions with other

panses of land and of labour via slavery in the U.S.,

and gentlemanly capital-

countries. After the Cul-

There is not even an at-

stable of world-class companies, and cost advantage

over other locations.
As a matter offact, that

ism, making opportunis-

tural Revolution, China

tempt to show why some

tic behaviour sufficiently

taboo so that only in a few
cases was it necessary to
use the formal institutions
to punish deviants.

moved to a policy to provide universal education

up to Grade IX. Higher
education, too, received attention. Both these, espe-

countries succeeded by adhering to the formula and

why some others failed because they did not do so.
Surely, there are cases of

The early industrial

revolution in the U.S. was

cially the latter with an

emphasis on learning 'om

also the result of the inter-

the West, were indicative

action among human cap-

of the role of knowledge in

countries that in the past

and even in the present did
not pay enough attention
to the new capital trinity.

ital, social capital and

institutional capital, but of
a different kind. The early
migrants went to partially
settled areas where surviv-

economic
development
and social progress.
The traditional guanxiliterally passing the

are totally ignored as well.

assessment can also be accepted. As for social capital, the authors view is
that the multiple identities
of Indians, among them
religion and caste specially
noted, have become impediments to forging solidarity between dierent

groups, though they have

been countered by the gov-

|NDlA'S SERVICES

ernment, non-governmen-

S ECTO R

The case study of India

tal organisations and the

private sector through

presented in the book raises another issue. The ser-

their attempts to create

and sustain inter-group re-

vices sector of the Indian

lationships. The

economy is included in the

book to show how even the

had established a kind of

institutional capital which

performance of a sector of
an economy can be explained in terms of the
three capitals and their in-

was based on private

property rights and an English style judicial system.
The crucial question

through the Township and

teractions.
The author draws at-

that the author does not

raise is whether the soar-

Village Enterprises and

tention to the phenomenal

ing growth of the services

Household Responsibility
System
prepared
the
ground for market rela-

growth of the services sector from the 19805 but

more so since the last dec-

sector is a healthy sign

while the goods-producing
sectors lag far behind. In

population. Institutions of
higher learning and pro-

tionships that rural Chi-

ade ofthe past century. It is

nese were not used to and

pointed out that in 1970-

particular, the agricultural

sector, on which some 60

fessional societies were al-

to generate the spirit of en-

71, the sectors contribu-

per cent of the population

so

trepreneurship that was

tion to the gross domestic

depends for sustenance, is

for sustained

tance of knowledge in pub-

necessary
growth.

product was just 39 per

cent, which by 1990-91

in a sorry state. If that is

the case, what does growth

lic
life.
Continual
migration produced a

These brief summaries

of old and new experiences

indicate and what does development mean? It is dis-

large group of consumers

of economic development

had moved up to 48 per

cent. Currently, it is close
to 60 per cent. The author

and encouraged occupa-

and evolution show how

quotes with approval from

inquiries, too, would ap-

tional mobility.

easy it is to use the interaction of human, social

a study that claimed that

deregulation,

liberalisa-

pear to be not part of the

comprehensive explana-

and institutional capital

tion of foreign investment,

tion that is being oered

Shift now from the West to formula to provide postthe East and from early de- zcto rationalisations of

greater private participation since 1991 increased

through the three capitals

approach for an under-

veloping

industry outsourcing, and

high-income elasticity of

standing of economic evolution.

El

al depended on learning
diferent ways of doing

things, which produced a

new pool of knowledge.

Because of the differences

in the background of the
migrants, new norms of

community living had to

be evolved.
Churches and other
voluntary organisations
helped shape the moral
standards and social capital of a heterogeneous

instrumental

in

emphasising the irnpor-

CHINA AND BEYOND

economies

to

more recent times and to a

gate and getting connectedwas put to use to encourage the formation of

different kinds of networks. These informal arrangements were put to

use to provide a sense of

stability in the context of
the breakdown of past
norms.
Experiments

any experience of the past

or the present. If profes-

appointing

FRONTLINF.

that

British

such

JUNE 20. 2015

BOO

i11 rc\'ic\\'

A bowlers story
liccullcctiulis ofa 1i|'stt'l;1ss c1'iclt'tc1' on gro\\'i1ig up

with the game and lcawning from llitlizfs lcgc|itla11'_\"

Mumtaz Hussain and two

other really talented lettarm nger spinners, Padmakar Shivalkar and Ra-

4:"
Jun.

written books on cricket

jinder Goel. He was none

other than Bishan Singh
Bedi, arguably the nest
bowler of his type in the
history of cricket.

and cricketers are few and

far between. V. Ramnarayan's ThirdMan consists

of his recollections as a
rst-class cricketer in the

19705.

It begins with his growing passion for the game as

a schoolboy in Madras
(now Chennai) and chron-

icles his journey through

Third Man
Recollections
From a Life in

university and club cricket,

his debut for Hyderabad in
Ranji Trophy and his rep-

'- .1
b
A.

"In.1.1.,

the English cricket admin-

istration in the late 19505

By V. Ramnarayan

curbed his highly promising career.

Price: Rs.395

This book is not all

about
disappointment.

Ramnarayan, apart from

max of his cricketing ca-

mean

For the record, there

was one other bowler like
Mumtaz Hussain. He was
Johnny Wardle of England, whose ghts with

Cricket
Westland, 2014

resenting South Zone in

Duleep Trophy, probably

reerno

he bowled to considerable
advantage when the mood
one man just a bit ahead of

well-

very late, indeed at the cli-

who died of cancer at the

age of 52. In his playing
days, Mumtaz Hussain
was a canny exponent of
left-arm nger spin and
wrist-spin as well, which

seized him. But there was

S])lllllLl'S. BY PARTHA CNATTERJEE

INFORMATIVE,

league Mumtaz Hussain,

being a shrewd player and

Noshir

in a lovely arc, being too tall

observer ofcricket, is also a

Mehta, made way for him

to exploit the advantages of

the classical flight available

ne raconteur. I-Ie has a

nice sense of humour. He

Ranji debut at the age of

In those days, it was at
28. Why a Tamil Nadu- the Ranji Trophy and Du-

to a shorter man, and bowl

a deceptive ball that le: the

bom man made his debut

right-hander perplexed as

says about C.R. Rangachari, a fairly good fastish

bowler for India (1947-48)

achievement this, considering that he made his

ed

oh"-spinner

in the Ranji Trophy team.

leep Trophy levels that talent for the Indian Test

team was discovered. The
Indian Premier League
(IPL) and other professional leagues, which offer
huge sums of money to

E.A.S. Prasanna, one ofthe

who was the manager of

the South Zone team for
the Duleep Trophy and
[the 60-over] Deodhar

finest ever o'spinners in

Trophy matches in the

international cricket, and

1978-79 season: I asked

cricketers to play the 20over version of the game,

Venkataraghavan, who was

already a successful Test

him if he was quicker than

Kapil Dev. Have you seen

bowler, were just that cru-

ed by the State Bank of In-

were nowhere on the horinon. Even the 50-over

cial step ahead of the Hyd-

Wes Hml? Same speed!

was
Rangacharis
re-

dia

games

erabadi Test aspirant.

sponse. Only it sounded

for Hyderabad (now in Telangana) in neighbouring

Andhra Pradesh is another

story. It was S. Venkata-

raghavan, the Madras and

India off-spinner, who
kept him out of the side at
home.
So, after being recruitas

probationary

played

it moved away from the bat

and a cunningly concealed

straighter one as well.

between

oicer, Ramnarayan head-

cricketing nations had not

ed for Hyderabad where he

come

Ramnarayans

the only rst-class cricketer

played highly competitive

club cricket for his employ-

abilities as a genuine offspinner were kept on hold.

of substance who was denied the honour of repre-

like shame shpeed', thanks

to the tobacco he was
chewing. The resultant
giggles and tittering were

ers for some years, until his

iend and rival, the talent-

He could turn his off-

senting India. I-Ie speaks

glowingly of his gifted col-

understandable as the
young listeners had never

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2,2t)l'-

in.

Ramnarayan was not

breaks sharply, bowl them

35

seen him in action or even

read about his sterling

deeds in rst-class cricket.
Those who actually did, remembered him as a speed
merchant, tireless and persistent, even on dead wickets. He was a brave soldier
of Madras cricket (pages
190-91).

In the Duleep Trophy

match

Zone,

against

Central

Ramnarayan

was

carted for 100 runs \vithout a wicket in the rst innings but came back well

with three for 34- in the second. Central Zone, however, won the match. In the

limitedovers

Deodhar

Trophy. he performed |'eally well. He took three

wickets for 4-2 runs in 12
overs against the Central
Zone. Against the [tough]
West Zone, he did even
better by taking four for 35
in 12 overs. He was dropped for the nest match, the
nal, against North Zone.

v. R A M N A R A Y A N. He played for Hyderabad in Ranji Trophy and South Zone

in Duleep Trophy.
often traded jokes or gossip, with the umpires
sometimes joining in."
Describing the amenities available at such
matches, he observes, with

toured
Bombay
(now
Mumbai) in the 1963-64-

77 in 2-L overs in the Deodhar Trophy must be some

kind of record, if it was any
consolation to me" (pages

than 100 Test wickets,

Hans. later a national selector, never made it."
Ramnarayan
cherishes
Hans' act of kindness to
him during the Central

1.90-91).

Zone vs South Zone match

clroll humour: On most

Test star Vinoo Mankad,

in Nagpur. he ran on to
the lield when his side was

grounds, the shade of a

My career gures of 7 for

The author docs not

season. He was all of17. He

remembers
playing
against the Cricket Club of
India (CCI) led by former

batting with a supply of

large tree served as the

dressing room and facili-

other high-calibre bowlers

spare studs for my cricket

ties were generally prim-

along with some Ranji

Trophy players and Arvind
Apte, a prolic scorer in
rstclass cricket who

not considered for the In-

shoes. when I desperately

itive. Lunch involved a

played in aTest in England

dian team.

needed them" (page 190).

hurried

Ratna

in 1959. Winningthe toss,

lose perspective, but also

sees the sadness behind

He recalls:

dash

to

Central Zone bad two tine

Ramnarayan's wit and

Cafe, Udipi Sukha Nivas,

CCI batted rst. I came on

spinners in Suresh Shastri

and Rajinder Singh Hans.
Both were quality bowlers,
and Hans was distinctly
unlucky to miss out on India seleetion, as he was in

humour possibly helped

him tide over the disappointments fate meted out
to him during his cricketing days and later. He rc-

Shanti Vihar, Udipi Home

or Dasaprakash and back,
depending on the venue of
the match. The effects of
the blazing sun were coun-

to bowl when the new ball

was barely ten overs old, as
was the practice in those
days. With the ball still shiny, I was getting quite a bit

calls how lesser versions of

cricket were played in his

tered by glasses of unboiled,

unltered
and

ors plumbed for the more

experienced Dilip Doshi

boyhood. The local league

was then relatively informal. No registration of

often multi-hucd water

sto1'ed in mud pots or
brought in buckets that re-

of bounce and frequent

away movement while
bowling my off-spin at a

while picking the team to

players by the clubs was re-

sembled relics dug out by

With my brisk run-up,

face Kim Hughes's Australian team that toured India

quired, and you could walk

in a few minutes before the

archaeological

high arm action and attempt to impart sharp firi-

in 1979-80. With Doshi

succeeding

the middle of some great

howling form when select-

expedi-

slightly quicker pace than I

would with an older ball.

toss and join the eleven.

tions" (page 75).

Selected for the Ma-

ger spin, l was proving

straightaway

There was much banter

dras Cricket Association

quite a handful to the bat-

and going on to take more

and fielders and batsmen

Colts team, Ramnarayan

smen. Arvind Apte was

B7

l ItlIN'l'l.lNl-1-.|l'NI'I2h,JlIl5

detached, with a nice sense

of irony and wit. He has

bowled with distinction
against really ne bat-

-\
5&3 .7

1::-"'

.._
'::
.

smen, among them, the

great Test stars G.R. Vishwanath and Sunil Gavaskar. He describes his
feelings for these two batsmen with elegant economy. G.R. Vishwanath was

'0.
Iran

$Q

.'_"'e.:--

,0 ' .0

0,/,'-3')
I

-~*

II

2%.

1'

vaskar was the master bat-

sman without cqual, for

his superb technique, im-

eters he had played with.

There are lovely vignettes

mense powers of concentration,

unflappable
temperament, and astute
cricketing brain. I would
go so far as to say that
purely as a Test batsman,
he was superior to Sachin

about M.A.K. Tiger Pa-

Tendulkar

sent at the venue, thanks to

taudi, the most charismat-

250-51).

his fathers bank posting

him to Delhi; and so was

This is a rare book. It

has a sense of history and
of the passage of time.
Ramnarayan tells the lay
reader what it was like

RAMNARAYAN AT a practice session in 1977.

one ofthem, and he was all
at sea, not knowing which
of my deliveries would

turn and which would go

my favourite batsman, but

I had to concede that Ga-

um in New Delhi, Kumar

esting and warmhearted

took ve wickets for 64

runs in the rst innings

observations about crick-

and two for 68 in the second. Ramnarayan was pre-

the other way. I was nding the edge and hitting

him on the pads 'equently, and feeling quite on top
of the world. It was so exciting to know that a Test
batsman was struggling
against my yet unproven
spin bowling. I was thrilled

this writer, who saw Ku-

that I seemed to belong at

gling in the second in-

that level" (page 69).

nings.

ic Indian Test captain ever

and, when in the mood, a
scintillating batsman; his
nephew Saad bin Jung,
hugely talented but distracted by the trappings of
early success; the masterly
spin trio in Indian Test
cricket, Prasanna, Bedi,

and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar; M.L. Jaisimha, his

even club matches in the

It TEST PROSPECT

The Madras leg-spinner played in one more

It was too good to last. His

Test, against England, led

giving mentor in Hydera-

sions were enthused over,

captain S.V. Narayanan, a

man with set notions about

by the mercurial Ted Dexter. On a dull Brabourne

bad cricket and a Test batsman who played well

as
were
inter-college
matches, and of course,

orthodox

bowling,

stadium pitch in Bombay,

below his potential, as did

rstclass

asked him to bowl slower

with little support in the

Hanumant Singh and Ab-

crowds for Test matches

and flight the ball. Predict-

eld, he gave away 70 runs

bas Ali Baig, both ofwhom

were well informed and ec-

ably, he was walloped. He

in 27 overs without taking

feature in the book along

static about the nuances of

was promptly taken off

and practically never bow-

a wicket.

with Salim Durrani, another unfullled genius.

led again during the tour.

ute to Kumar: He did not

believe in exaggerated
flight, but tossed it up in a

the game. In a sense, Ramnarayan gives glimpses of

the cultural history of Madras and how cricket i1npinged upon it, and later in
the story, when he mi-

spin

It was some time before

Ramnarayan learnt from
experience and became his
own man. He learnt his
craft
assiduously and
proved to be so good as to
have V.V. Kumar call him a

mar dismiss Javed Burki, a

fine batsman, with a low
catch off his own bowling
when Pakistan was strug-

Ramnarayan pays trib-

Other

colleagues

and

(pages

growing up in the Madras

of the 19505 and 19605,

with its adoration of cricketers and cricket, where

rst, second and third divi-

matches.

The

pace, bowled two different

friends om rst-class
cricket who nd mention
in the book include Abdul
Jabbar, Hari Gidvvani,

grates to Hyderabad, re-

types of googlies and bow-

Venkat Sundaram, V. Siv-

veals certain aspects of the

led an effective ipper,

though it was not known

aramakrishnan, Michael
Dalvi, Sanjay Desai and P.

Hyderabadi

through its attitude to

Kumar

by that name. He was ac-

Krishnamurti.

cricket. In conclusion, one

knew the era of spin

bowling as well as anyone

curacy personied as was

his younger spin partner in

WITHOUT BITTERNE55

small caveat: a book ofthis

quality should benet

in the country. At the Test

the State team, S. Venkat-

Ramnarayans book is re-

from an index. It is hoped

match against Pakistan at

araghavan" (page 272).

freshingly without bitter-

that it will be included in

ness. His style is cool and

the next edition.

Test

prospect.

the Firozshah Kotla stadiFRUN'lI.lNF.

.lli.\'I~'. Zn, 301 5

tantalising arc, varied his

There are many inter-

culture

El

BOOI\'S ll1i'L\iL\\'

Ideas in good faith

.\ iii-i<iii;iii iii i'i.in;ii'l\'zilili' cnnl|'i>nt.1linn.1l
(lis|iosiiii1ii.'liiii'\.liiiliwilllivliiiigit-iiii-iiilii~i"i'il
..

Iii! lii- liiiliiiiii-;il \\ |iiiil_[\. BYSI-IELLEY WALIA

"When fhc _/Ezct ch (mgcs. I

change my mi na'. IWI(lf do
you do. sf 1'?"
.Iohn Maynard Keynes

Tony Jud!
When the Facts
Change: Essays,
1995-2010
Edited and
introduced by
Jennifer Humans

PARAl.\'SED from the

neck down with amyotrophic lateral

sclerosis,

better known as motor-

neuron disease, Tony Judt.

commentator on international politics and histori-

William Heinernann,

an of exceptional subtlety,

London

died in 2010 at the age of

Zionism and its extreme

position that viill move the

Israeli nation to the road
to nowhere", a title of one
of his essays on the West
Asian conundrum.

Over the years, J udt

gradually moved away
from the two-state solution
and argued in Israel: The
Alternative that there
were now too many [Israeli] settlements, and too
many Palestinians. According to him, the solution lay in the only
altc1'nativc of binational

states in which you cannot

possibly deny the existence
of Israel nor cxpungc Pal-

estine. Palestinians, Judt

predicts, will have their
state eventually; the "occu-

pied tcrritories will come

under Palestine rule"; and

Pages: 386

62. Having been a protes-

most disillusionment with

most of his life, he moved

to the United States in the
later part of his life when
he began to engage meaningfullv with international issues and politics. The
remarkably controversial
body of work of one of the

Thin-"r'i1zg the '1:-;'ci1tict/1

(_cntury, takes us to the
heart ofsome ofthe central
events in contemporary
history. Recently, his wife
Jcnnifcr Homans put together some of his most in-

post-War
European
history.
I had the opportunity to
meet him and discuss the
situation in the Balkans
and West Asia. He was as
vehement about the irra-

"the Israeli settlements in

the occupied territories
[would be] forcdoomed, . .
. most of them . . . dismantled. as mzmy Israelis privately acknowledge". Ifthis
were to happen, Jerusalem
will become a common
capital necessitating stability and shared security
concerns of both the pro-

nest historians of our

time is a testament of his

tellcctually vibrant essays

and re\iews on the Palesti-

tional stance taken by Israel as hc had been in his

tagonists. It is wishful
thinking to look forward to

passionate

nian conflict, the U.S. foreign policy and the state of

controversial essay Israel:

times of cooperation and

peace. It is sheer optimism

social democracy in the

which he accuses Israel of to imagine Hamas turning

21st century, which ap-

being a belligerently intolerant, faith-drivcn ethno-

from a terrorist organisation into a political party,

state". A nation-wide up-

ready to negotiate.

enjoyed his moving mem-

Rcviczc ofBoo/r.s~, The New

Repubilic and The Financial Tilrics over the past
two decades.

oir. Ill F(II'c.~.' the Lam] and

Reap1Ji'ru'scils. which focus
on 20th-century Europe in
recorded history and re-

Price: 25

sor of French History at

Cambridge and Oxford for

engagement

and intellectual intensity

marked
by
ethical

openness.
Since Judt's death,
three significant books authored by him have ap-

peared.

particularly

membrance. His conversations

with

Timothy

Snyder, the historian, pub-

lished in a book entitled

The Alternative" (_>.0().'3). in

pearcd in The New Yorfr

roar. accusing him ofbeing

Citing the example oi

anti-Semitic, did not make

Algerian

him

position

Judt argues that if the

A historian of remarka-

though it leit him disturbed

French could hand over

ble confrontational disposition, he will be long

remembered for his polemical writings, especially
his book, Postrccir:A Hism-

as he had once been a

staunch Zionist and loved
Hebrew. The book under
review contains eight ofhis
essays on Israel, the Holocaust and the Jews, in

power to a black majority

in Algeria. why should it
not be possible in West
Asia? The hardliners in Israel take shelter under an-

ry oflzropc Sincc 194-5, a

wide and indepth study of

alter

his

which he recounts his utB9

independence,

cient
history,
which
establishes the "primordial
I- RlIN'l'l.l\l-1:.ll'\l~I2h,JlIl5

presence of an ancient
Jewish state on the territory of modern Israel.

ifnot a renewed attempt to

achieve the ideal, efficient,
universal administration,

Others take the pretext

shorn of particularism and

of the Holocaust mas-

driven by reason and the

sacres that legitimise such

a claim on Palestinian territories. The pleading of its
geographical location is

rule of law, which the reforming

monarchs...
strove to install in their
ramshackle lands?
As Homans writes in

yet another reason for Israels adamant stance: We

are vulnerable, they say, so
surrounded by enemies,

the introduction, what

matters most to the reader

is a reaction to Judts ideas

that we cannot take any

risks or afford asingle mistake. The French could
withdraw across the Mediterranean; South Africa is
a very large country.

bris-inducing victory of
June 1967. In that time Is-

fallouts, especially the

strengthening of the Eu-

were, as puts it, free ofcalculation and manoeuvre,

And nally, the support of the U.S. for its ally

raelis have built illegal

compounds in the occu-

ropean state system, which

had been threatened by the

intellectual or otherwise. A
clean, clear, honest ac-

is sufcient enough to give

pied territory and grown a

rise of Prussia. The Cold

count.

Israel the stamina and

carapace of cynicism: to-

War, for Judt, was there-

His work is indeed un-

courage to stand up
against any political solution that might jeopardise
its national security or sov-

ward the Palestinians

whom they regard with
contempt, and toward a
U.S. whose erstwhile be-

fore not a problem but a

solution.
On the Balkans, he argues against the European

ereignty.

nevolent disengagement
have manipulated shame-

construction where everything is imagined, repre-

CRITICLL OF U.S.

lessly.

sented,

constructed,

derpinned by the individual moral responsibility",

by the principles Judt
found in Albert Camus and
his reective writings. It is
hard to disagree with the
compelling logic of his ar-

ll E G E H O N Y

It is rightly argued that

in an age of cross-border

Orientalised.
In another essay, he

guments that underscore

the bad faith of the U.S.,

cultural exchange and

open pluralist democracies, Israels intolerance is
an anachronism, a state
that takes refuge behind

takes up Norman Davies

book Europe: A History
and tears it apart for its
embarrassing and egregious errors". He writes

restrict atmospheric pollution. It consumes inordinate quantities of scarce

the controversial electronic fence that like the Berlin Wall, conrms the
moral and institutional

that Davies book is not

just hill of error, disproportion, prejudice, resentment, and boastfulness, it

resources to furnish its

bankruptcy ofthe regime it

is also strikingly conven-

leaving behind a world

privileged inhabitants...
[and] exposes outsiders to

is intended to protect. Is-

tional.

without good faith, a world

rael indeed is a mono-reli-

where

deadly risk in order to pro-

gious/ethnic state within

In Europe: The Grand

Illusion (1996), Judt looks

vide for the illusory securi-

a global culture of plural-

into the future of the Eu-

ambiguous armed occupa-

ty of its occupants.
Israel, indeed, possess-

ism and multiculturalism.

Judt is more a histori-

ropean Union (E.U.) arguing against the tight

tion, and where the United

Nations, in the words of

es the military and political initiative to bring about

a solution but that can

an than a reviewer. His re-

David Rieff, has become a

view of Eric Hobsbawm's

toothless old scold

T71eAge QfE.t'tremes damns

integration of nations in
Europe that would reduce
poor nations to a margin-

happen only when it rids

the Marxist historian of

alised,

power

itself of the complex of be-

status. This has indeed

been realised considering

of fancy Kleenex to clean

ing a small victim-corn-

misconceptions of the history of the century, espe-

munity". Judt maintains:

cially

of

the rise of opposition to the

terventions accompanied

Their astonishingly in-

E.U. and its oppositional

competent political lead-

Stalinism and the Cold

War which, as he points

camps comprising win-

with widespread collateral

damage. The choice we are

ership has squandered

thirty years sinoe the hu-

out in another essay on the

Cold War, had its positive

ners and the losers: For

what is Brussels, after all,

Understandably, Judt is

critical ofthe U.S. hegemony, comparing it humorously, but aptly, with an

SUV: Oversized and overweight, the SUV disdains
negotiated agreements to

FRONTLINF.

>

JUNE 2h. ll 5

T 0 N Y J U D T. His writings on Israel were "free of

calculation and manoeuvre, intellectual or othen/vise".

expressed in good faith",

rather than simply a response to Judt the man.

His

the

brutality

disenfranchised

writings

on

Israel

which has lost all its global

trust through its uncalledfor interventions in Iraq or

Afghanistan,

aborted

wars, regimes of persecution and surveillance and

the handling of the peace

process in West Asia.
Judt died a sad man,

humanitarians

provide cover for legally

a de

facto colonial office to U.S.

used like a piece

up after the American in-

left with is either imperial-

ism or barbarism."

El

TRIBUTE

He was the blues

For nearly scvcn decades the great blucsman B.B. King (1925-2015)
strode the music world like a colossus, attaining the unquestioned
adulation of fans and musicians alike, and sc1w'ing' as an inuence to
those who would subsequently shape the course of popular music.
BY SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

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AT muaisou saunas GARDE

in New York, in August 2007.

prc-Second World War Mississipi,

\\a.*~ notjust the "King ofthc Blues" as
hc was uni\crsall_\' hailcd; hc was the

blocs.
Born Riley King on September
16. 1925. in Illa Bcna. Mississippi.
the man who would be acknowl-

edged as one of the greatest musicians of his cra worked in zi cotton

plantation from the age of eight.
picking cotton at 35 ccnts pcr 100

pounds. Wlicn he grew oldcr. he

worked on a tractor. Right from
childhood. hc was hooked to the

blues. listening to the great delta

blocsmcn in records. \Vhcn he was
1+. hc bought his rst guitar with his
wages. and when work was over hc
would go into town to lind a placc to
play. Soinctiun-s. in a single day hc
would makc as much as $50 in tips,
wlicrcas in the plantation he would
carn S122 a wcck. "Now you scc why I
started pla_\ing the blocs." he later

iokcd.
In late 194-8, hc lcll the plantation amd hitchhikcd to Memphis.

Hanging around in the lcgcndary

Beale Strccl. and watching the famous blucsmcn strut their stull,
young Riley dccidcd that hc would

play the blocs for the rest of his life.

The rst job he got was as a disc
jockey in the WDIA Memphis radio
stationthc rst radio station in the
United States for Alricaii Americans.
It was thcrc that hc got thc name
l3.B. short for Blucs Boy. But he did
not conlinc himself to the radio for

long and turned his attention full

time to playing music.
In 1951.110 got his first hit record.
.3 O'rlo('/1' B/tics. In the next few years.

more hits followed. including Ez~i-:j1,ir/y I Hum I/:1 B/z1r.'s. Tc/I Long

Ycurs. Sit"c'cf lift/c.-l.'1gc/. and so on.

AT AVERY FISHER HALL in NewYork,June1992.

"l"IRS'l' I sing and then Luc.illc
sings." said the great B.B. King. rc-

ulation of fans and musicians alike,

and sc1'\~ing as an inilucncc to those

fcrring to his guitar, easily thc most

recognisable guitar in the music industr_\'a gorgeous custom-made
Gibson which B.B. christcncd Lucille
after the girl who caused the biggest
bar light hc had cvcr sccn. For nearly
scvcn dccadcs. B.B. and Lucillc
strodc the music world like a colossus. attaining the unquestioned ad-

who would subsequently shape the

course of popular music. When on
May 1+ this year Lucille fell forever
silent with the death ofthe man who
could make hcr sing. a major ch aptcr
in the world of music was closed. For
B.B. King. thc last ofthe g1'catblucsmcn to emerge from what is now

l>'ll\1\ll.l{l-l

.ll \l-'.lr_l|lI:-

almost thc n1_\'tl1ical landscape ol

92

and B.B. hccamc i|nmcnscl_\' popular

in the Chitlins Circuit (the vcnucs in
which African-American artistes
could pcrform during thc days ol'scg'

rcgation). As he toured and recordcd,

unbcknownsl

to

him

his

reputation became at legend and

spread beyond the Chitlins circuit.
'l'hough whitc hlucs musicians. in-

cluding John l\la_vall, Mike Bloomfield. Eric Clapton and Keith

Richards. were hanging on to every
note hc was playilig. it was not until

WIT H I F R 0 M |. E F TI T R 0 Y "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Jeff Beck, Derek

he stood on stage in front ofa packed

house in the Fillmore Auditorium in

Trucks and Gary Clark Jr on February 21, 2012, during the "In Performance at the

San Francisco in 1968 that B.B real-

White House" series, hosted by President Barack Obama, to celebrate blues

ised that his music had crossed over

to the mainstream. As the famed im-

music and in recognition of Black History Month.

presario Bill Graham introduced

awestruck with his perforinanec. In

play and sing at the same tin1e"lirst

him on stage as the King of the

gave him a prolonged standing ovation before he had even played a sin-

fact, people would go to hear him talk

as much as to hear him play. Always a
big man, he cut a largerthan-|il'e ligure on the stage with his glittering

I sing and then Lucille sings" but he

could tell in just four splendid notes
what another guitarist would take
five minutes to communicate. He

gle note.. The great grandson of a

suits and his llaniboyant. outlandish

was, in short, one of the greatest and

slave in Mississippi had the world at

style. No one hut B.B. could have

most influential guitar players that

his feet. B.B. stood humbly on stage,

pulled it oll'in those clothes: but then

ever lived. a pioneer of techniques

with tears in his eyes. The next year

he recorded what remains his most
enduring hit, '1'/ae '17::-if/is Gone.
In the tradition ofthe Mississippi
bluesmen of the bygone days, B.B.

no one but B.B. made obesity look

appealing. In his later years, with the
lilrther expansion of his girth, he
would mostly remain seated, with

that would give shape to rock music

in the l'uture and guide the blues to
its ne.\"t higher plane. He could bend
a note, sustain it, make it shimmy

Lucille perched lovingly on his lap.

Some of his greatest works were aetually those he recorded live. like

and shake before gently putting it to

Blues", the largely white audience

toured constantly throughout. his

life, averaging more than 200 nights

a year. ln fact, in 1956 alone he performed on 3&2 nights. Alter turning

80, he decided to cut down on his
tours. But even then he was on the
road playing 100 nights a year. The
stage was practically his living room.
He would banter endlessly with the
audience, regalc them with jokes and

anecdotes. and otcotirse. keep them

Lice of the Regal (1965). which connoisseurs believe to be one of the

greatest blues albums ever recorded,
and Lice in Coolr ('oumy Jail (19?'1).
MOST INFLUENTIAL GUITAR
P LAY E R

He admitted that he hardly ever

played chords, and he could never
93

restit was as though each note he

played had a life of its o\\11, and B.B.

was just setting it free. There are gadgets for all these tricks and effects
pcdals and tremolos and other
equipmentbut B.B never used
them. He never needed to when he
had his magical handshis "clumsy
fingers". as he put it with his customary self-deprecation. He would sim-

ply strike a note and shake his hand

l-'R(I\'l'l.l\l-l~.||\l~12h._!lIl5

THE |comc LUCILLE is taken

down Beale Street in Memphis,
Tennessee, in a farewell procession

in honour of B.B. King on May 27.

dignity. Once, Jolm Lennon had told

sing for you. Lucille would inevi-

him that he wished he could play like

tably come up in his long conversa-

B.B. Years later, recalling the inci-

tions with the audience during live

dent B.B. chuckled and said, I didn't

believe him."

shows, and he even wrote a song

about Lucille, asongin which Lucille

In the blues, where the mytl1i-

did most of the singing, while B.B.

cation of the artiste was an integral

just talked about her"lm crazy

part ofthe art form itself, B.B.'s persona was grounded in reality. He was
no haunted, shatlowjv gure like
Robert Johnson in ight from hellhounds on his t1'ail; nor did he have
the spooky quality of Skip James
with his blcak, mysterious lyrics and
ghost-like voice. Rather, in B.B. one
saw the ultimate amalgamation and

about Lucille] Lucille took me from

the plantation/ Or you might say
brought me fame." Lucille was an
extension of B.B. It was his other

culmination of all the styles that

satilc was his musicianship and

made up the blues. He had it all-the

singing, so dynamic and exploratory,

power and intensity of Howlin' Wolf,

that he was equally masterful in per-

the nesse and style of Muddy Waters, the hollerin' anger of the plantation worker, and the sweet
melancholy of one who has tran-

forming jazz standards and collaborating with artistes of a diverse

range of genres, from gospel to rock
to soul to funk. His supreme crafts-

scended the pain of persecution. He

manship allowed him to blend and

carried in that magnicent, powerful

complement any kind of music and

voice the entire legacy of the blues,

from the time the rst black man got
off a slave ship with scars on his back
to the weary plantation worker sitting outside his shack watching the
sun go down.
VVhen I rst got the blues

yet retain his unique sound and blue-

voice, an essential and inseparable

aspect of his personalitythe consort qucen ofthe King of the Blues".
Yet it would be a mistake to conne him simply to the blues. So ver-

sy roots. Cause Lucille don't wanna

play nothin' but the blues."
For B.B.'s own influences were

not only the great Mississippi blues-

They brought me over on a ship

Men were standing over me

men he heard in his childhood, like

Blind Lemon Jefferson, Sonny Boy
Willianison, Lonnie Johnson, his
own cousin the legendary Bukka

And a lot more with a whip

Whitc and others. He was also keenly

And everybody wanna know

affected by the jazz music of that period-pa1'ticularly Duke Ellington's

VVhy I sing the blues

like a bird flapping a wing to get

Well Ive been around a longtime

Ive really paid my dues.

those long quivering sounds, which

(Why I sing the Blues)

who died too soon, and the two-ngercd gypsy wizard of swing, Django

was one ofhis trademarks.

Every generation of dedicated
guitar players in the past 60 years has

He was the greatest bluesman

Reinhardt. In his music one heard

alive, and with his death the curtains

the perfect synthesis of the raw in-

came down on a key tradition that

tensity of the blues and the nesse of

looked to B.B. for inspiration, guid-

formed the root ofrock n' roll music.

jazz.

big band, the great Charlie Christian

No bluesman has ever received

ance and understanding. Icons and

legends ofthe instrument from Clapton to J imi Hendrix and Stevie Ray

He did not just sing the songs, he felt

the kind ofhonours and awards that

B.B. got in his lifetime15 Grain-

Vaughan have revered him as a mas-

the songs from the core of his being,

mys, medals from heads of states,

ter.

and he could make the listeners feel

Every successive generation of

rock stars has attempted to validate
its credentials by playing with the
KingEric Clapton in his Riding
with the King and U2 in Rattle and
Hum. He was a beacon for all of us,"

it, too. Close on the heels ofhis vocals

honorary doctorates from prestigious institutes, even a museum on

him. But that is not where his legacy
lies; nor does it nd reflection in the
generous ow of tributes from the
biggest stars of music after his death.
Somewhere, in an obscure corner of

LUCILLE

for all the adulation and respect, B.B.

miraculously remained a humble

would be Lucille, singing, screaming,

moaning, snarling, whooping with
delight and taking ight and soaring
higher than a kite at the bidding of
her master's ngers. Wherever B.B.
went, Lucille went with him. To him
she was more than just a guitar. Often after singing a verse or line, he

man of enormous self-respect and

would say and now Lucille's gonna

said Clapton after B.B.s death. Yet

FRUN'lLl.\lE

.lliT\'I~'. Zn, 1015

96

the world, akid afterlistening to Live

at the Regal makes up his mind to
learn to play the guitarand that is

where B.B. King lives on forever. [:1

ART
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F R 0 H TH E s E RI E5 of lithograph block inscriptions about traumatic incidents in the

history of post-Independence India.

Experiments with truth

Riyas Komus work On International Workers Day, Gandhi from
Kochi, which layers a Gandhi image against a background reminiscent
of the red ag, and his litho blocks depicting incidents that scarred the
history of p0StInClependenCe India mark the artist's attclnpts to rcdccm

the meanings of \\'ords and iinagcs. BY c.s. VENKITESWARAN

95

FRUNTLINF.

.IlNF2h

2015

..J
|_,J

TH E G R A P H I C I M AG E 5 of a toothless Gandhi, the reproduction of a photograph taken in 1931 when he was 62, against a
background reminiscent of the red flag, with a white star at the top right-hand comer. On the top of each image are twin
words, one, the liberating ideas and programmes of Gandhi, and the other its counter-forces.
IN a world that usurps words of

other a series of litho blocks placed

tematically emptied of history and

meaning, evacuates concepts of ethics, and robs images of their resonance, transforming them all into
their opposites, art turns into an ad-

under the glass atop tables. The

hijacked to serve divisive ends.

venture of excavation, renovation

and reassertion. Today, iconic i1nages like that of Gandhi and Marx and

their ideas have been nullied of

their subversive energy and turned

into vacuous gures and mere recep-

graphic images are that ofa toothless

Radical politics today is also

Gandhi, the reproduction of a photograph taken in 1931 when he was

62; bony, bare-chested with his ribs
jutting out, he is smiling disarmingly
at us; this black-and-white image of
his stands out against a background
reminiscent of the red ag, with a

about liberating words and images

'om certain hegemonic and oppres-

sive registers, and thus creating fresh

political synergies with new connections. As the philosopher Alain Badiou
reminds
us,
...the
contemporary world is doubly hos-

tile to truth procedures. This hostil-

tacles to serve the forces of power

and oppression. In this splinter,

white star at the top right-hand corner.

On the top of each graphic are

pick and choose process, Gandhi is

twin words, the rst, Gandhi's

Truth procedure should obtain, an-

reduced to amenable fragments and

panchsheel principles, and the see-

other, which represses it, holds sway.

tame symbols; Marx becomes just

another icon of the past or a hollow,
In the context of such selective

ond, \vords/ realities that counter the

former: Satyaf Perception, Ahimsa/
Violence, Antyodaya/Victim, Sarvo
daya/ Fear and Swaraj /Control.

The name culture comes to obliterate that ot"art'. The word technology
obliterates the word sciencel The
word management obliterates the

amnesia and active memorialising of

These two series of words, one, the

word politics. The word sexuality'

untruths, how do we redeem and re-

liberating ideas and programmes of

obliterates love. The culture-teclv

deploy Gandhi or Marx? In the con-

Gandhi, and the other its counterforces, separated by a slash, add an

ironic tinge to the open smile below.
According to Amrith Lal, the second
set ofwords is pitted against the rst:
VVhen words are cleansed of their

nology-management-sexuality system, which has the immense merit of

being homogenous to the market,
and all of whose terms designate a

cliched slogan.

temporary context, what has Gandhi

got to do with Marx? Have they become spent forces or jaded idea/ls of
yore in the profoundly consumerist
and deeply globalised world we live
in? Riyas Komu, in his new show in

ity betrays itself through nominal

occlusions: where the name of a

category of commercial presentation, constitutes the modem nomi-

moral essence, they acquire a new

meaning. The newspeak hinted at by

art-science-politics-love

which was inaugurated on May 1,

the artist suggests the possibility of

making a deracinated Gandhi, who

which identies truth procedures

typologically" (Saint Paul: The

poses, probes, prods and ponders on

could be commandeered at will for

Foumhtion ofUn ivcrsa/isnl ).

these questions.

propaganda."

Fort Kochi titled "On International

Workers Day, Gandhi from Kochi",

nal

occlusion

of

the

system,

This act of excavation and reno-

What we see in the show are two

This act of excavation, redemp-

sets of images arrayed against each

tion and reassertion of words are es-

vation of images, symbols, words and

signs are all the more signicant to-

other: the rst one is a set of graphic

pecially relevant in the present-day

day when Gandhi and Marxtheir

poster images on the wall and the

Indian context where words are sys-

images, words, ideas and program-

FRUNTLINF.

.|UNI~'.3n, 2015

96

mania;
5:

T4-

(.395
,...-

'

vs

='
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_, ..

t.--*_.-.,u~"", -

..-an

--

-1
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J,"

L I T H 0 6 R A P H B L oc K inscriptions [clockwise from top left] Poverty/Pokhran, The Emergency, 1969, Rath Yatra!Babri
Masjid, Bombay Blasts, and The Anti-Sikh Riots. These images represent Riyas Komu's "attempt at understanding

independent India's psyche through important events that scarred its history and, in the process, shaped my identity".
mesare appropriated by fragmenprocess, systematically evacuated of

hran; and Godhra/Modi, along with

a brief description of each event. According to the artist, these images

symbol. Facing them are the stony,

bare surface of the litho block hewn
with historical events in reverse

their subversive political content. Ri-

represent his attempt at under-

print, as if waiting or ready for an

_vas' works act in the opposite direc-

standing independent Indias psyche

imprint.

tion; they ght fragmentation by

bringing together otherwise dispara-

through important events that

scarred its history and, in the proc-

Gandhi from Kochi" thus brings

to the fore certain all-too-familiar

te images and words to make us

ess, shaped my identity.

words, images, signs and events, by

pause and reconsider.

This counterposing ofthe poster

image and the litho blocks triggers
several trajectories ofthought in the
viewer; they spawn an unsettling but

excavating them from the moral morass they are currently buried in and
hold them up against our times and
eyes. By layering the Gandhi image

radical interface between lofty po-

against the loaded background of red

es". They carry inscriptions about

litical ideals/ideas that sometimes go

awry sans vigil, and the heavy facts

and the evocative sign ofthe star, he

prods our vision and thought to po-

traumatic incidents that scarred the

and painful experiences of/in histo-

tential trajectories of political action

history of post-Independence India:

ry. VVhat you confront is the multi-

and urgent vigil. Here is an instance

Partition

1969; The Emergency; The Anti-

layered and contradictory surface of

the image, which is a palimpsest of

where the artist Oksana Pasaikos

words ring true: Ask not what con-

Sikh Riots; Rath Yatra/Babri Mas-

ideals and nightmares, social memo-

temporary art is, but what contem-

jid; Bombay Blasts; Poverty/Pole

ries and political history, image and

porary art should be."

tation and trivialisation, and in the

L I T H O B LO C KS

The parallel set of lithograph blocks

which is a homage to Raja Ravi
Varmais titled "Stoned Goddess-

Riots;

Gandhi/Godse;

9'7

FRUN"l"l.lNl*'.

El
JUNE Eh, 2t!l:'v

Alatsl

It is m attempt to
reclaim fearlessness
In conversation vdth li.l_\'1l.~i knmu. av c.s. VEIIKITESWARAN
BORN in 1971 in Kerala, Riyas

Komu took his master's degree in

tine arts from the JJ School ofA1'ts,
Mumbai. In the last deeade, he has
created a striking body ofwork spanning var_\'ing media and genres. His

works are noted for their strong political stances involving intense crit-

ical and creative engagements with

the public domain.
His work has been part of many
prestigious and museum shows
across the world, including ParisDelhi-Bombay, Centre Pompidou,

Paris; Prague Biennale; 52nd Venice Biennale 2007; Concurrent Indizi", Helsinki Art 1\i1useum; "Indian
Higl1wa}"',Museuin of Contemporar_\'A1't, Lyon; Herning, Denmark;

,_

-1..-*_

,p.-JK

.._. 4. 1
_
_ __<-~_
.._, ii-1
.
Q Q

'

1-:
s.o -_.
-Itget
*"_-."f-__'1'-

.-

__i
'_~;,-

-1U-

'

'- i.'_'~_. -

.._ 251,- --. -

;-S.r.l_i.'-*-"'
Q .
_

__.-

-2-eh

._"

'_'

__..

tc r '.->'-

_ \-___'
-1-_.

"India Awakens: Under the Banyan

__>--

Tree, Essl Museum, Austria; Finding India: Art for the New Century",

Iiiiili

Museum of Coiiteniporary Art, Taipei. Taiwan; Milan Museunr "India

Contemporaq', GEM. Museum of
Contemporary Art, Hague; India

Now: Contemporary Indian Art Between Continuity and 'l'rzinsi'ormation", Milan, Italy; and "India
Xianzai: Contemporary Indian Art,

Museum of Contempor21r_\f Art,

Shanghai. He is also the director of
prognuiiiiies. Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Excerpts from an interview he
gave 1"ro1ith'rir:

Both Gandhi and Marx are iconic

figures though they follow different
semiotic and political trajectories.

R IYAS K0 M U. He says his work "On International Workers Day. Gandhi

What prompted you to bring these

two together? Was it a figurativel

From Kochi" was conceptualised in 2015 to trigger a discourse by placing the

history of violence against a man who stood for n0nvi0lence.

I-'RIl.\"ll.l\<'l'l

.Il Nlilryltili

14?-_. jit
..|= _

98

aesthetic or political/interventionist
impulse? There were protests from
some quarters about the "abuse" of

Round Table Conference, which he

attended as the sole official Congress

icon of resistance and fearlessness,

which is the most important political

representative.
Gandhi didn't die of fever, he was

weapon we should carry. It's my attempt to reclaim fearlessness.

Gandhi.
When I exhibited this series as

murdered. At a time when history is

part of Missing Pavilion, a show

that was curated by Gayatri Sinlia
along with ve student curators from
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New

being reinterpreted for political mobilisations and power gains and

when the perception of politics is
manipulated through well-designed

Delhi, I had stated about Gandhi

commercial campaigns, its very important to ght back with icons like
Gandhi for counterargument by jux-

that, This work is very explicit

against secrets. The words are

known. The man is part of our blood.

taposing our time with his principles

New pavilions will be built on his

and the ideologies that he stood for.

chest. Salute him for being around.

Initially the background of these

Here Gandhi is painted, but a Marxian presence is celebrated. It complements the relevance of these icons
but amplies Gandhi.
I'd like to paraphrase Anita

works was left as white. I changed it

for the new show On International

This show has an interesting

interface between two sets of

figures and texts. One is a set of

poster figures of the smiling,
toothless Gandhi, bony and harechestecl with key words from his
panchsheel that are "slashed" with
their dark, current predicaments.
On the other are the litho stones
engraved with bare historical facts:
tomb stones, as it were, of traumatic
events that mar/k postlndependence Indian history. What
kind of a dialoguelinterfacefconflict
did you want to project or trigger?

Workers Day, Gandhi from Kochi".

This is my experiments with Gandhi
to learn Gandhi by repositioning him

Thampi, one of the leading poets of

Kerala, that the Gandhi gure is a

from a contest I observed during my

marvellously simple one that sub-

in 2012, I used one of the most his-

last four years in Kochi.

mits itself easily both to the doodling

torically

My direct interactions with the

people of Kochi have been crucial.
Especially, the working class labourers have been a revelation as to how
this workforce is being used for polit-

child and to the master artist; so

minimal that a dot or a line cannot
simplify it furtheran inner and
outer simplicity and a stark directness of this gure can readily lure

which Raja Ravi Varma ioonised

mythical gures. Lithostone as a material carries [on it] the images
which it has produced to date.
In the Indian context lithostonc

ical manipulations. This workforce is

anyone to make it their logo. This

is mainly attributed to Raja Ravi

a residual past of the old glory of

figure can easily mislead anyone into

Varma who used it to portray gods

Kochi complemented by its rich

trade history and a celebrated history

thinking that it can be used any

and goddesses, which became a de-

which way.

cor or an image of worship through-

ofworking class blues. But now you

see this workforce as the most frustrated, and most of the families are
poverty-stricken and alienated. I
cannot see or have never felt there is

But the historical gravity and political vitality the symbol wields are

out the country. I used the same

surface to project and document the
violent massacres in p0st-Indcpendence India triggered by religious fascism. On International Workers

a hope for their future unless the

their misery.
Marx has been part of our blood.

something that refuses to succumb

by appropriating it is not going to
work. Because, Gandhi is a rhizomatic image that is too sharp for such

series of paintings to trigger a discourse by placing the history of vio-

But I have not made any deliberate

attempt to jl1.\IZ3.pOS Gandhi with

manipulations.
And Gandhi appears in our lives

lence against a man who stood for

non-violence.

Marx. But in response to my works I

as a constant reminder of non-vio-

Gandhi is not just the face of

was very happy to see the article contributed by K.P. Shankaran for
BRICK, the tabloid I published along
with the show. The criticism doing

lence and tolerance. So it is in this

site that Gandhi is positioned as an

printed currency that jumps out of

vending machines, Gandhi doesn't

system stops taking advantage of

not that simple; nor is its intellectual

and spiritual depth so light. In Gandhis case, the tactic of blacking out

In Stoned Goddesses, produced

important

material

on

Day, Gandhi From Kochi was con-

ceptualised in 2015 with this new

the rounds against the work for using

this photograph of Gandhi is aston-

ishing. Here the representation of

"Gandhi appears in our

lives as a constant
reminder of non-violence
and tolerance."

Gandhi is the argument in the pro-

ject to amplify his CKpl'6SSlVC look,

body and loud smile. Most importantly, this pajnting is based on a

photograph taken in 1931, when

Gandhi was 62 years old. He was

travelling from India to England on a

ship to take part in the Second

99

FRUNTIJNF.

JUNE 2:. 2015

underprivileged villages. I have attempted to show such concerns in

"Gandhi could be a
disgraced farmer, a
displaced villager, an
untouchable social discard,
a lost rnigrant...".

projects such as belt Legs", with the

Iraqi national football team; Mark

Him, with the Indian national football team; Designated March By a

Petro Angel, a work that was exhibited at the Indian Pavilion at the
Venice Biennale in 2007; Safe to
Light, a solo show in Tehran which

represent the amount of bad loans

bedkar as an icon. But at the same

looked at internal conicts; Related

List, a solo show responding to the
atrocities ofwar and occupation; and
many more.

taken by the corporates, but Gandhi

represents the values that our nation
Gandhi, and his ideals which made
him the Father of the Nation, from

time it is important to observe that

Ambedkar was celebrated and respected as a man who shaped our
Constitution. That is how dierent
societies acknowledge crucial contri-

In On International Workers
Day, Gandhi from Kochi, Gandhi
could be a disgraced farmer, a displaced villager, an untouchable social discard, a lost migrant, or a

the connes of the fractals of a system that can't stop spinning but con-

butions of legends.
Gandhi and Marx have an over-

strange pedestrian who was thrown

out of his home.

tinuously sideline Gandhi to the

arching presence in the psyche ofthe

When I encountered this photo-

margins of our aspirational society

people of Kerala, but I would like to

graph I realised that what made

and the resulting greed.

Gandhi as a metaphor should be
respected as a value given back to an
individual for shedding his blood
and sweat for this nation. Gandhi
should be remembered and celebrated as an individual who experiment-

say in a social space that it's also

Gandhi an icon was his simplicity to

the core and his great understanding
of Indias social space.

was built on. My attempt is to break

Gandhi and Sree Narayana Guru,

Gandhi and Lenin, Gandhi and Stalin, Gandhi and Che Guevara, and

Gandhi and Mao. This is not a ro-

Your show has triggered a lot of

mantic claim but a reality reflected as

discussions and also interesting

"coalitions" between Gandhians,
Marxists and Ambedkarites. How do
you plan to take this interface
forward?

you travel the breadth of Kerala.

ed consistently with the changing

times and 11ot as an icon that can be

Your show, in its use of images and

used for vested interests. I created

text, has something very "prosaic

and pedestrian" about it. This can
also be seen as an attempt to
reclaim and reimagine the prosaic
and the pedestrian. What is your
take on this?
India, after Independence, has

these works not because I feel sorry

for Gandhi but [because] I feel sorry

for the ones who manipulate him.

In the discussions that followed the

opening of the show, there were
some references about another
crucial missing link: Ambedkar.
How do you "figure out" his nonpresence here? Or, has it something
to do with the specific political
history and discourses of Kerala,
where Gandhi and Marx were the
two overarching presences?

Art should touch realities that we

live with. In the new emerging political landscape, what we lack is a collective resistance against fascism. If

you feel this show has triggered a

coalition, I feel the reading as very

marched ahead with Gandhis idea of

non-violence. This explains why we

promising.

always try to redene and reimagine

see art as the last bastion of free

India through Gandhi and his principles and adapt it to changing times,

speech and expression. The conver-

perhaps also as a reminder to our-

analysts, Gandhians, philosophers

selves of how we got here.

and poets did open up many opin-

But what we are seeing now is

reducing Gandhi to a gimmick or us-

ions and new perspectives, which is

the need ofthe time. Like the famous

has seen are the likes of Sree Narayana Guru and many others of his time
who played a pivotal role in empo-

ing Gandhi as Fevicol" to cover

crimes.

Gandhian thinker K. Aravindakshan

said, Normally a discourse around

My art practice has always been

wering the downtrodden. Land re-

an attempt to create an archive ofour

Gandhi is attended by very few and

most of them would be senior citi-

forms, civil rights, universal

education and health, attempts to

times. I have always tried to document the stories ofthe marginalised,

promising to see youngsters partici-

annihilate caste and social inequal-

the underprivileged and the dis-

pating in a Gandhi discourse.

ities, empowering women and, more

placed. You could see this in my se-

As an artist my humble attempt

than anything else, the history of so-

ries of paintings called Systematic

will be to remind myself and others,

cial action and political engagement

Citizens", which depicts the youth

who migrate to urban spaces from

through my work, of the times in

The social reformers that Kerala

has made Kerala less reliant on AmFRON'l'l.|NF-

JUNE Zn, AUI5

100

In our contemporary context I

sations that happened among social

zens. But here it is encouraging and

which we live.

El

1; U L IQ It l I\j
P R ll OC C U lA'll ON S

JAYATI GHOSH

Orchestra in Search of
a conductor
The Berlin Philharmonic's inability to choose a successor to Simon
Rattle
>
' , A .
4 s
7 7

while
ensuring material survival and commercial success.

HE Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is known to be one of

the nest orchestras in the
world. combining technical perfec-

and a sound that has been described

as 1nagieal". It is also one ofthe most
watched and talked about orchestras, otten in the limelight for both

tion with acknowledged musicality

musical and non-musical reasons.

101

during the celebrations

of 50 years of the start of diplomatic
relations between Germany and Israel
in Berlin on May 12.
I-'RlI\'l'l.l\l

|l\l~Zrv

Jill

TIP

His announcement of his departure as Chief Conductor of the Berlin

Philharmonic in 2018 set in motion the search for a successor, which is likely to take more than a year.

But recent eventsin particular the

stillcontinuing search for a new

chestra's international reputation,

and since then most of the major

tury was dominated by the towering

and charismatic figure oi Herbert

principal conductor to replace the il-

luminaries ot the world ot' Western

von Karajan. He spent nearly Your

lustrious Simon Rattle. who has announced that he would leave in

2()18are likely to he of \\1'der in-

classical music have served as principal conductor. musical director or at

least guest conductor For the orches-

decades with the orchestra. from

1955 to just a few months before his

tcrest even to those who are not so

tra. In the 2()th century, Artlnir Ni-

death in 1989. He transforinetl the

orchestra musicallv (producing a

interested in classical music. The on-

kisch,

and

t'onsistentl_\' lush sound that became

going processes illuminate the di-

Sergiu Celibidaehe led the orchestra.

distinctive and instantly recognisa-

lemmas involved in cultural and

Under Ftirtwangler the orcliestra

ble); eoinniercially (embarking on a

creative pursuits in our times. not

just in the developed world but evQI'_\\\ll('IL.

\vas ellectively close to the Nazi reginie, pei'toi'niii1g not only in general
public concerts but at clearly propa-

massive project oi recording the entire repertoire of the orchestra and

actively assisting in inarketing); in

This particular orcliestra is fasci-

ganda-driven events. to the point

that subsequent scholars have even
described it as "Tlie Reich's Orchestra" (the title of a book b_v Misha
Aster published in '_!O0T).
The second halt'ot'the 20th cen-

terms of its physical home (encouraging the building of what \vas then
a liituristic concert hall \\ith wonderful acoustics and with the stage for

nating aiiyxvay. lt originated in a re-

bellion in 1882. when +2 members oi

an orchestra led by the conductor
Benjainin Bilse broke away to form

their own group, in protest against

his imposition otilow wages and travel by i'ourth-class in trains for concerts. The group was originally
known as "Former Bil:-;e's Band" and

Vv'ill1elni

Fiii't\vai1glei

got its more respectable present

[From left] Gustavo Dudamel of

Venezuela, now based in Los Angeles,
is one of the most exciting conductors

name later that year. They were obviously musicians olisuch quality that

to have erupted onto the global scene;

Christian Thielemann, the local boy

\vithin a few years they could attract

Hans von Bnlow, one o|' the most

who is steeped in the Classical-

celebrated conductors of his time in

tradition of Karajan; and Latvian Andris

Nelsons, who has just taken over the

Europe, to serve as their conductor.

Ibis helped to cement the orl"lll1\ll.l\l'l

.ll

\l-'.1r_l||l:~

Romantic repertoire and in the direct

Boston Symphony Orchestra.

102

with the Berlin Philharmonic labove and right]. In nearly four decades as its conductor, from
1955 to a few months before his death in 1989, he transformed it musically, commercially and in terms of its global reach.

music-making situated in the midst

of the audience); in its global reach

disputes. For example, when Karaj an sought to bring in the 13-year-old

conductor (Antonia Brico) as early as

1930 and several others tliereaftei'.

(taking the orchestra on tours as tar

violin prodigy AnneSophie Ivlutter

in 1982. the Swiss violinist Made-

aeld as Japan and China, as well as

the Americas); and in terms of personnel (eventually lariiigiiig in some

to perform a Mozart violin concerto

with the orchestra, there were liercc

leine Carruxzo joined the orchestra

(and still plays in it). but this was
overshadowed by the eontro\'ersy

women players despite protests from

the largely unreeonstructed" alpha

protests. Yet. that remarkably gilted

violinist went on to create some outstanding pertoi"iiiaiices and record-

males who then tornied the orches-

ings

tra).

relationship that now spans more

This last point was much more

diflicult than expected. I{ara_ian's re-

than tour decades.

The charge of miso3.,'yny is one

lationship with the orchestra was

that has been levelled at this partieular orchestra even more than others. It was one ofthe last important
orchestras to hire women players.
even though it had a woman guest

said to be. intense and fullling, but

also turbulent. and the last years
were marked by l'requent t'riction_.
which sometimes erupted into open

with

the

orchestra

in

surrounding the contested appointlnent oi clarinettist Sabine Meyer.

who apparently tai:'ed so much harassment that she lelt alter a lbw
months. and this became another
source oi friction between Karajan

and the players.

Now the composition of the. orchestra is quite diei'ei1t. It is more
international: iilty ofthe 128 incinbers are foreign (non-German). from
20 ditl'ercnt countries. It is slightly
less male: 17 women play in it. still
less than most other major orchestras but certainly more than before.
lt is younger: the average age ofthe
players is only around 38 years. But

the culture of being independentminded and pla_ver-driven continues. The nature oifits t'ori11ation as a

tierccly independent and selt'-contident group ol' accomplished musicians

has

permeated

both

the

organisation ofthe orchestra and its

siibsequent trajector_v.
103

|-'ltll\|'l.l\l-'

_ll\[-ll:-,Il!l:v

New members of the orchestra

are voted in by all the players (not
just those in the relevant section),

recently he was quoted as admitting

that nobody comes here thinking
they are going to have an easy time".

just a few years. The 34--year-old Ve-

with the conductor also having a

Indeed, the great musician Carlos

most exciting conductors to have

vote. The vote is conducted after a

Kleiber actually refused this oppor-

erupted onto the global

musical audition on stage in lll view

of all the members, unlike the practice that is now common in many
American orchestras, where the can-

tunity when he was offered the post

before Abbado took over. That is why
this May, all eyes in the classical music world were on the closed doors

achieving international recognition

through the stunning Simon Bolivar
Youth Orchestra he created in Caracas, part of the Venezuelan govem-

didates play behind a screen so that

attributes such as age, gender, race

beyond which the members of the

orchestra gathered to choose their

ments project to bring music to the

and so on are not known to the listeners. And so prejudices of different

next conductor. The aura of secrecy

surrounding the exercise (the discus-

Munich, could be another conten-

kinds can get reected in votes, along

sion is completely behind closed

der, though his reputation for doing

with purely musical judgment. Only

very powerful personalities (and Karajan was undoubtedly one such) can
manage to exert some inuence in
such conditions.

doors; even the actual contenders are

only guessed at by outsiders; mobile
phones are not allowed in the room)
added to the mystery and allure. After hours and hours ofdiscussion and

only a few thoroughly prepared concerts every year may work against
him because ofthe demands ofcommercial protability. Women are apparently not in the running,

The musicians of the orchestra

also choose their conductor, in a
closed and secretive process that has
been described as the equivalent ofa

several rounds of voting, they

emerged to announce that they had

although several highly regarded

women (such as Susanna Malkki and

been unable to come to a decision,

Emmannuelle Haim) have guest-

and would seek to meet again and

conducted the orchestra in recent

papal election oonclave. Since this is

possibly the most coveted job in the
classical music world, they have always had an impressive list of candi-

decide within the coming year.

years.

THE CONTENDERS

The rumour mills suggest that one of

dates to choose from. They have

generally chosen men who are recognised stars already, who also happen
to be at the top of their own game,
and who they were quite familiar

the strong contenders was Christian

Thielemann, local Berlin boy be-

nezuelan Gustavo Dudamel, now

based in Los Angeles, is one of the
scene,

masses.
Kirill

Petrenko,

currently in

All this is speculation, of course.

More candidates may emerge in the
coming year. And there are those
who argue that the Berlin Philhar-

monic is now such a thoroughly pro-

loved of the conservative faction,

fessional and well-oiled machine

who is steeped in the Classical-Romantic repertoire and in the direct

that they do not really need a principal conductor, and can manage with

with because of frequent appearances as guest conductor.

Thus, Karajan was succeeded by
the Italian Claudio Abbado, who expanded the repertoire away from the

tradition of Karajan. But he may

have shot himselfin the foot because
ofnotjust musical reasons (the more
limited focus of his repertoire) but
also because of the uncomfortably

guest conductors without much diminution of musical quality.

Increasingly, the role of the conductor is not just to bring together the

core Classical-Romantic pieces so

right-wing views he has expressed

performers to create great music, but

beloved of Karajan, to more 20th

century composers and contempo-

publicly, including in a newspaper

to attract commercial contracts and

rary works. In 2002, Abbado was

article in which he sympathised with

the anti-immigrant group Pegida.

sponsorships. Given the limits of the

orchestras repertory, this is becom-

succeeded by the dynamic and excit-

This apparently generated strong re-

ing British oonductor Simon Rattle,

action from others in the orchestra,

ing more difficult, as Simon Rattle

also found. It can only be achieved by

who has also proved to be extraordi-

who felt that this would sit uneasily

someone who brings his/her own

narily successful in drawing consis-

with the requirements of 21st centu-

tently

powerful

ry music-making and the kind ofcos-

performances from the players. Under him, the orchestra also devel-

mopolitan and multicultural city

that Berlin has become.

star power, is commercially savvy

and can recognise what will be popular without sacricing musical creativity and innovation.

oped an education project that seeks

to remove the elitist label from the

Other names have been mentioned. The grey eminence Daniel

These are difficult conditions to

meet. So what is a temporary inabil-

music and connect with those who

Barcnboim, who conducts the Staat-

have little experience of Western

soperin the same city, has ruled him-

classical music.
Clearly, hard acts to follow for

self out. Two prominent names are

much younger. The 37-year-old Lat-

anyone who must come after these

vian Andris Nelsons would certainly

giants. The orchestra itself is not so

easy to deal with: the ebullient Si-

t the bill but he has just taken over

the Boston Symphony Orchestra,

ity to choose a conductor may well

reflect a more existential dilemma
that is increasingly faced by many
great orchestras and indeed by many
performing artists in general: the
difficulties of pursuing artistic perfection within the constraints posed

mon Rattle's hair turned grey very

which makes it less likely that he

quickly in his years in Berlin, and

would abandon his current home in

excellent

FRONTLINF.

and

.lUNF.2h.l()l5

10!

But that raises another problem.

by the requirements of material survival and commercial success.

El

EUTHANASIA

Between life
and death
The death of Aruna Shanbaug after 42 years in a comatose state brings

into focus once again the issues of passive eutlianasia. living wills. orgmi
donation. and punishment for sexual assault.
BY ANUPAIIIA KATAKAH IN MUMBAI

FOR 4~2 years, Aruna Shanhaug

said she was not bra.indead and

existed in a small room on the

ground floor of Ward Four in the

therefore the ruling did not apply in

her case. Tragically, the system

sprawling KEM Hospital in Mum-

failed her," said a doctor at KEM at

bai. Cared for entirely by the nursing

the time ofher death. We don't want

staff, Aruna had been in a comatose

state since November 27, 1973, the
night on which she was strangled
with a dog chain and sodomised by a

-its

it to fail more people. This can really

help people, particularly the poor.
ARUl|A'S STORY

ward boy at KEM where she worked

In 1973, Aruna, a bright young wom-

as a nurse. The strangulation cut the

an training to become a nurse, was

oxygen supply to her brain, and when

she was eventually found in the
morning, she had stltlered intensive
brain damage, cervical cord injury
and cortical blindness.
Although every medical effort
was made to revive her, Aruna never
regained consciousness after the assault. She remained in a vegetative

placed with the animal experimentation unit at the hospital where she
had to keep a close eye on several
helpers who worked with animals.
Sohanlal Walmiki was one of the

state for four decades, passing away

ARUNA SHANBAUG. S|1ECliEd

sweepers at the hospital whom she

on May 18 in KEM Hospital in

would apparently criticise for not doing his work; reportedly once she
shouted at him in full view of the

Mumbai, where she was strangled

with a chain and sexually assaulted
while at work 42 years ago.

public. On the night of November 27,

eventually on May 18 followinga ear-

1973, Walmiki found her alone in

diopulmonary arrest. Her death has

one of the rooms just before she was

brought into focus once again the

issues of passive euthanasia (P.E.),

nally ill people seeking help to die

to change out of her uniform. He

used a dog chain to attack and rape

living wills, organ donation, and

with dignity.
Journalist, author and activist

her. Aruna was found the ne.\'t morn-

punishment for sexual assault.

Pinki Virani, who led the crusade to

ing with blood splattered allover and

Aruna's case was a tuming point

let Aruna die with dignity, fought a

on the verge ofdeath. When Walmiki

in India's view on P.E.. Her situation

ignited the P.E. debate in India,

hard battle for Aruna's euthanasia.

was caught, he said he did this to her

which saw the court pass a landmark

She lost the Aruna Shanbaug case,

but it was her relentless ght that

because she kept denying him leave.

He was not tried for rape as the doc-

judgment that agreed to legalise P.E.

made the Supreme Court pass the

tors wanted to protect the reputation

and admit cases where ling was

more painil than death. Thejudgment also had other important spinoffs, which hugely beneted termi-

historic judgment on P.E.

Unfortunately, Aruna did not
benet from the judgment as the
doctors and nurses who cared for her

of Aruna, who was engaged to be

married that year. Waliiiild served
two seven-year jail sentences for the
heinous crime but was never charged

105

FRUN"l"l.lNE

JUNE 3h, 2I!l:'v

for sexual assault. He disappeared

ance moved on and her family dc-

became a regular visitor of Aruna's

alter his jail sentences. Several re-

scrted her. lt was now left to the

generosity and kindness of I{IM's
nursing staffto care for her. In spite
of attempts by the municipalit_v,
which runs the hospital, to send her

and did not just write her story but

ports even claimed that he was dead.

Following Aruna's death, a Marathi
daily tracked him down to his village
in Uttar Pradesh, and on Mav 30,
Walmiki came up with his version of
the story to several newspapers. Essentially, he accused Aruna oftreating him badly and said that he had

tients, they erccly held on to her and

did not allow any intcrfcrencc. Besides, she had no home to go to.

took the case irther as she believed

that Aruna was suffering unnecessarily. She made a case for Aruna,
and a path-breaking piece of nonction on the right to dic with dignity, Ar"uizc1s- Story. was published in
1998. The writer says this is the book
with which the author catalysed the

not raped her. He said he meant to

take revenge by friglitcning hcr but

She became a symbol of courage

and professionalism for a team of

law on passive cutl1anasia...."

Attempts by Pinki Viraiii to have

in the scufllc she was badly injured.

\Valmiki cannot be charged no\v as
that would amount to double jeopardy, say the police.
Aruna was initially looked after

nurses. They were proud ofhow they

cared for her: .Lruna never developed
hcdsores. The nurses said they always celebrated her birthday, and on
occasions gave her hcr favourite sh

Aruna examined at private hospitals

for the condition of her brain death
failed. Eventually, in 2009, when
Aruna turned 60, Pinki Virani approached thc Supreme Court as Aru-

by her family. hcr fiance and the

nursing staffat KEM Hospital where

curry via the feeding tube.

Pinki Virani, who heard about

na's "next friend" to stop the tube

feeding and allow the victim to pass

she was treated. As years went by and

A1-una's tragic situation, visited her

she showed no signs of recovery, her

in 1985 to write an article on her. She

away peacefully under medical supervision. Thc court rejected the plea
alter doctors of KEM claimed that
Aruna's medical reports indicated
that she was not entirely brain-dead.
However, in the wake of the debate the Aruna Shanbaug case triggered and Pinki Viranfs plea, the

home to create space for other pa-

Supreme Court passed a historic

judgment in 2011, which permitted
P.E. in India.
This involves the withdrawing ol
treatment or food that would allow
the patient to live as opposed to ac-

tive euthanasia, which could include

the administration of a lethal sub-

stance to a brain-dead patient.

Unfortunately, Aruna never henefited from the judgment. Reportedly, her brain stem had been severely
damaged, which meant she was tech-

nically brain-dead. However. caregivers said Aruna would show signs

of recognition from time to time.
Nurses believed there was a icker in
her eyes through which they read her
moods. She was also prone to tits oi
anger and screaming, which they believed would not have happened it
she was completely brain-dead.
The nurses and doctors who
cared for hcr repeatedly said it was

li\

not part of Indian culture to allow

her to die and that she was still alive
and showed signs of life in small
ways. They had coiimiittcd to caring
and looking after hcr zuid would do

a landmark judgment that agreed to legalise it.

irreversible conditions to permit P.F..

A R u N A s H A N B A u o A T K E M Hospital, a 1980 photograph. Her situation

ignited the debate on passive euthanasia, which saw the Supreme Court pass

I-'RIl\'l'l.l\'l'l

.ll \I-llryllili

106

so until her natural death.

The Supreme Court specified two

CAR EGIVERS 0 F AR u N A at her funeral in Mumbai. She became a symbol of courage and professionalism for a team of

nurses.
law in 2011: (1) The brain-dead, for

delines to determine whether a pa-

vents invasive lifepr0longing proce-

whom the ventilator can be switched

tient is brain-dead or not. They

dures. Quite often, patients have

off; and (2) Those in a Persistent

Vegetative State (PVS), for whom the
feed can he tapered out and painmanaging palliatives be added, ae-

should have got more experts in and

sorted out her case instead of pro-

expressed the desire to go, particularly seeing how much strain it is on

longing it, he said.

their families, therefore we are ad-

In a setback to the pro-euthana-

vocating the legality of living wills,"

cording to laid-down international

sia crusaders, last year the Supreme

Court decided to review its 2011 P.E.
judgment. Acting in response to a
public interest litigation (PIL) petition led by the non-governmental
organisation Common Cause seeking legal recognition for living
wills", the court invited a ve-judge

she said.
The matter has been pending for
the past two years. The court needs to
decide whether to issue notice to all
the States or refer the matter to the
Law Commission of India. However,
the lawyer expects Aruna Shanbaug's
death to activate the case again.
In July 2014-, Attorney General

specications. We do not know how

many people beneted from this law
as that's a condential agreement between the family and the doctor,"
said Dr Prakash Naik, an internal
medicine specialist from a leading
hospital in Mumbai. The good thing
is at least the family has an option.
Sometimes, there are really hopeless
situations. It's adrain nancially and
emotionally. P.E. is a humane way to

Bench to look into all aspects of P.E.

Aliving \\-'lll is a directive given by

a patient about his or her medical
treatment when the patient is termi-

Mukul Rohatgi said the issue had

legal, social and moral aspects eon-

pass on. He said the real tragedy was

nally ill. The patient gives instruc-

to die merely because of pain and

that it was not applied in Aruna

tions when he or she is in complete

control of their faculties, said a law-

suffering would not be in the interest

eerning humanity. He said the right

Shanbaugs case. Dr Naik does not

think KEM did a service to her. To

yer from Common Cause. The in-

of society as it was against public

policy. Any change in the law could

live like that for 42 years is inhuman,

tention is to allow a person to die

be brought about only by Parliament,

he said. There are clear medical gui-

with dignity. Furthermore, it pre-

he said, adding that the ruling in

I07

FR(]NTl.lNE

_Il.'NE Bo, llili

Aruna Shanbaug's case, which upheld the validity of P.E., was wrong.

sisting in death is not for the medical

professional, said the physician.
When contacted, Pinki Virani

she said, adding that some of the

good that has come from the judgment should be appreciated.

EUTHANASII DEBATE

told Fran tlinez What the bringing of

To begin with, the judgment pro-

Arguments against euthanasia, pas-

this law has done is to bring the sub-

vides medico-legal clarity on brain

sive or otherwise, are many. Those

who argue against it are essentially
concerned about the procedure being misused or abused by people with

ject out from darkness to light by

reducing the shame which the Bharatiya doublestandard' thrives onwhere you are expected to say some-

death. An amendment proposed in

Parliament, a few months after the
judgment, allows the doctor of the
brain-dead patient to inform the rel-

a vested agenda, said T.R Andhyarujina, Senior Advocate ofthe Supreme

atives about the option of organ donation. Post-judgment, there have

of India and Advocate General of

thing in public for the sake of society

and do quite diametrically the opposite at home. More importantly, it
has made the grief of the near-dear

Maharashtra. Additionally, there are

ones more bearable and less trau-

for the terminally ill to case their

religious beliefs. For instance, Catholics do not believe in taking a life.

Some see it in the context of abetting
suicide and so there is resistance
from such areas, he said.

matic, and equally importantly, has

placed the power of choice in the
hands of individuals, in which I include doctors, over corp0rate-hospitalisation and religion."

pain. The Government of India re-

Andhyarujina has been closely

connected with the Shanbaug case

Pinki Virani said the Supreme

Courts decision to review the judg-

and the P.E. petition in the Supreme

ment did not mean its revocation.

Court. In his view, the 2011 judg-

The Constitutional Bench has been

like. Third, the P.E. law asks that

attempt to commit suicide" be decriminalised; policymakers are considering this in a new mental health

ment had many merits, but the opposition also needed to be considered.
Aruna Shanbaugs was a strong case
for P.E. However, we had the entire

invited to lay down exhaustive gui-

law. Pinki Virani says the govem-

delines. I welcome all legal clarity,

ment has also nally accepted, in its

Court and former Solicitor General

also been discussions about how

rules must be relaxed on morphine

cently allowed for increased avail-

ability of morphine for patients in

severe pain, like those in a PVS, and

suffering from cancer, AIDS and the

strengthened anti-rape law in March

2012, her recommendations that the

KEM panel of doctors and nurses

saying they would look after her until

law include a vegetative clause and

she died. They did in fact very loving-

victim in a vegetative state before,

during or after the sexual assault be

that the perpetrator who puts the

ly take care of her, so it was difficult

to resist that. He says that although

categorised as rarest of the rare" and

therefore be treated on a par with

the denitions are quite clear, there

is a thin line between active and passive euthanasia and the law has to be
very stringent on this issue.

being a murderer.

Indias health care or the lack ofit

is another subject that is related to

Another physician Fro-ntline met

this debate, said a liver transplant

said: It goes against my beliefs to be

pro-P.E. Ideally, we should improve
our palliative care and provide better
health care for the terminally ill." To

surgeon. "The wealthy are able to

keep their relatives alive and provide
the best medical ca.re. The middle
class manages somehow, but many

buttress his point he quotes the Hip-

are driven to despair with mounting

pocratic Oath, which states: I will

hospital bills. The poor are the worst

prescribe regimen for the good of my

affected. They just take their rela-

patients according to my ability and

tives home and keep them as com-

my judgment and never do harm to

fortable as possible till they die.

anyone. To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug, nor give advice

that may cause his death.

It is an extremely difficult situa-

tion for doctors who know the patient has no chance of survival a.nd is

in extreme pain. It is worse when the

patients are poor. The fear, however, is that if it becomes legal, family

members will be coerced or con-

vinced into letting their family go.

Agreeably, the nancial and emotional burdens will increase, but asFRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2\\.l(H5

Pinki Virani said

the Supreme
Courts decision
to review the
judgment did
not mean its
revocation.
108

VVhat we need is to provide better

palliative care a.nd ease the pain of

the suffering, P.E. or not. We have to

be able to provide better and much
more comprehensive health care to
our poor who have so few options.

India is a. country with different

religions and thousands of beliefs.

P.E., living wills and organ donation

are not easy topics.

Yet they need to be addressed because it will serve a much larger
good, said the surgeon.
El

COLUMN
THROUGH MY WINDOW

K. SATCHIDANAN DAN

Of Dalit life
and resistance
Two novels that in their own ways go beyond the established canons,
not only of Dalit narratives, but of the Indian novel in general, and
point to the future course of the genre, where it frees itself from
Western modelsboth realist and modernand creates its own

narrative modes and critical norms.

ALIT writing in India has
D come along way since its beginnings in the late 19th cen-

al communities and subsects that the

dimension provided especially by the

term had subsumed and in a way

concealed. Writers now began to

mysterious Koogai, the owl-god.

Both the novels ultimately deal with

tury and its owering in the closing

decades of the 20th. VVhile in the beginning it was struggling to nd a way
to articulate the agony and anger of

look at the diversity and even internal conicts within the larger Dalit

Dalit reality, but in such innovative

ways as to help redene the idea of

community and the specicity of

the novel itself. Both the writers are

each caste or group in terms of expe-

blessed with a deep sense ofhumour,

the outcastes, later it began to be rience as well as imagination.

more conscious of its artistic mission
This new stage of social and aeseven while keeping the original con- thetic awareness seems best reprecerns intact. It also began to take a sented in two novels published
positive look at Dalit history, myth recently in English translation: De-

astonishing powers ofobservation, a

markedly poetic imagination and a
profound awareness of the forces of
oppression and resistance that shape
Dalit lives as lived in various ways by

and folklore and afrm the unique vanoora Mahadevas Kannada novel
power and beauty of Dalit values and Kusumabale translated by Susan
Dalit imagination. This at times Daniel and Cho. Dharmans Tamil

different communities. Both the

works pose a great challenge to the

novel Koogaiz The Owl translated by

translators as they use community

slang and dialectlike the Nanjan-

mould through a retrieval of the Vasantha Surya (both published in

gud dialect in K-usumabale or the

mythical and folk imagination one

2015 by Oxford University Press, the

Tirunelveli-Kovilpatti

nds in Dalit fables, songs and my-

former edited by Mini Krishnan and

Koogaiand have huge chunks of

thologies specic to communities.

Another impact of this new turn was
the breaking of the monolith called
the Dalit and the discovery of sever-

Chetan Ahimsa and the latter by

Mini Krishnan). While the rst novel

poetic passages and even poetry itself. Judging by the result, the trans-

is lyrical and is deeply informed by

folklore, the second has a mythical

lators and editors have not done

badly at all and deserve our gratitude

meant a liberation from the realist

109

FRONTLINF.

dialect

in

JUNE 20, 2015

for bringing these rare works to the

tales where objects from statues to

notice of a larger audience outside

pillows tell stories. But it does not

their original languages.

stand out as a technique here; in-

Kusumabale has fascinated and

stead, it becomes a natural, living

scared translators alike for some decades now since its publication in
1988, and the translators who aspired to do English versions, and in
one case almost did one, include Polanki Ramamoorty, Rowena Hill, Judith Kroll and A.K. Ramanujan, all

experience that embodies the vision

ofwhom knew that this novel did not

just offer Dalit experience but repre-

yond the sociological, unlike a lot of

Dalit writing. lt marks an aesthetic

sented Dalit sensibility. But it was for

turn in Kannada narrative tradition

Susan Daniel to finally come up with

a complete translation that strove to
capture the nuances of the original

of an organic cosmos where everything is interrelated.

Mahadeva also nds an original
idiom to articulate this vision that
mixes prose and lyric. Thus the signicance of this novel goes fan" be-

i kicimsT1M1i'iabale

creating a new style. design and

structure for novel. Though Mahade
va's oeuvre is not big in terms of vol-

that has already been recognised as a

umea long story, a collection of

masterpiece in Kannada for a quar-

short stories, a volume of essays be-

ter century, whose admirers includ-

sides the novel Kusu mr1buZrh is im-

ed U.R. Ananthamurthy, Sheldon

Pollock and Ramanujan.
The narrative device used in the
novel is based on an old faith that the
guardian-lamp spirits inhabiting
various homes meet. at the midnight
hour and exchange talcsa device
that Chandrasekhara Kambar has alThe novel begins where a spirit who

pact on the younger generation has

been quite remarkable as he transcended the Westem narrative models
of
earlier
Kannada
novclistsgrcat no doubtlike
Shivarama Karanth and Ananthamurthy in his works through folklore
and fable, thus retrieving to Dalit
imagination its innate strength and
native beauty. This retrieval is closer

has come back after a 12-year gap

to what the Latin American writers

so used cleverly in one of his plays.

joins them and all of them begin to

talk about what they have been wit-

Devanoora Mahadeva.

ness to in the homes they inhabit.

The world of these spirits is almost
an altemative to the real world of

injustice and oppression as they are

guided by a strong sense ofjustice, as

of the great boom did to ction than

to what the European modernists

had done as it enlivens ction by infusing myth and mystery into it.

who transforms from a poor village

lad into a rich man; Kuriyaiah,
through whom the truth of Dalit lite

The young Kannada ction writ-

er Vivek Shanbhag in his informed

introduction to this translation com-

is evident from the perspectives from

which they narrate the domestic episodes.
This opening is denitive in
many ways: it denes the ethics underlying the narration; it also helps
the narrator present the reality ofthe
world from many points of view, always vdth detachment and the humour it allows. The characters are

speaks as the Dalits get organised for

justice, for example. VVhat is imporworld view where everything in the
world is part of a larger system that
also includes nature. He creates a
world where spirits can speak, even a
cot has a living spirit within it, grief
has a visible form, and Fate has a
dcscribable appearance.

pares Devanoora to Juan Rulfo both

for writing less and writing new. He
could do this as he knows Dalit life
and world from within unlike those
who wrote about it from outside the
community. That frees him from the
simple conventional binaries. Almost all the communities are involved in the murder of Channa, for
example, and the narrative unfolds

fascinating, too: the old lady Thu-

The novel reaffirms the Indian

through the tales ofYaada, Somappa

ramma, who waits throughout the

night to battle her fate about whose

narrative tradition of fables like the

Panchatantra or riddlesomc narra-

and Kusuma. The death casts its

form she has no clear idea; Yaada,

tive chains like the Vikramaditya

tant to note is the novelists own

shadow on every episode in the novel, and yet it is not a dark and morose
world: there is plenty to laugh at and

laugh about, like when by a weird

logic Garesidda the Dalit not only

i Kusurnabale reaffirms the Indian

narrative tradition of fables.
FRUN'll.|Nl-'1-.llNE1n,llH5

|1[|

legitimises his stealing of tender coconuts as dharma demands that the

thirsty be offered water, but even

eams one rupee by grabbing the one

hundred and one rupees oF['ered by

them to ght the ;/.amindar/_jameen-

the teacher as a compensation for

daar, thus transcending the conven-

tying up and ogging Garcsidda and

tional binar_v of Dalit vs Bralunin.

oering one hundred from the same

Dalits are also not perceived he re as a

money as the price of the tender co-

monolith; the novelist is conscious of

conuts claiming they may think he

the contradictions within the various

has just borrowed it and will repay

that one clay. Even the Dalit leader

Dalit communities like Paraiyars,

Pallars, Chakkiliyars who ght

watching this is astonished by the

among themselves and have argu-

subversive act and the cunning calculations ofGaresidda. The narrative

has no single centre and the language
is a mixture of prose and poetiy.

ments about superiority and infecomplex by the conversion ofsome of

them to Christianity. Dharman

The direction of the narrative is

ghts the collapsing of community

evident in the very opening chapter,

"...and so it was": Akkamade\1' who
le her parental home the very day
aer her husbands last rites, returns
six years later with the sprout ofhcr

identities that entails the use of the

umbrella term Dalit, which standardises them and erases their cultural distinctions. The author
himsclf has made a statement of his

womb, Y-aadaborn to a bond ser-

position, quoted in the highly in-

vant, t was said twelve months after

formed introduction by the Tamil

her husband's deathto claim a

scholar, A.R. Venkataclialapathy,

share of the property. Furious. her

brothers-in-law, Basappa Somi and

that gives a wholesome idea oi'Tamil

Dalit life and the sociology and histo-

Sidtlura, ing her on to the grazing

ry ofthe Dalit movement and writing

grounds. On that same spot a hut

in Tamil: "Some term my writings

rose around Akkamatlevi. And as

Dalit writings. By birth alone am I a

Yaacla, coupled with his clever ways,

grew in strength, this hut also grew,
and the houses of Basappa Somi and

Dalit, not by what I write. I am not

drawn to any of the so-called Dalit
writing. This is perhaps due to the

Siddura in turn became its cattle

fact that I'm a Dalit, and that I have

sheds. This Yaade Gowda's son Somappa is the big man of the village.
Kusumabale is the daughter of this
big man. Following the birth of Kusuma's child, Kusuma and Channa's
secret aair is out in the open, and
Channa is done to death, and no one
is in the know. Then, while the \vholc
village is getting ready for the re-

feet as in That illiterate Kusuma in

French, she said, / Je veux etrc dans
ma maison/ I want to be in my home,
be in my homc', she said." Herc is a
Dalit novel that is free from sloga-

an acute understanding of Dalit society and culture. A great writer who

can artistically portray Dalit narratives, Dalit distinctiveness, and Dalit
social reality is yet to be born. I can
only give it a try. The Dalit portraits
cd; they portray Dalits as recking of
lth' and smelly', their women as

leaping festival, Turamma, Channa's

neering, magically capturing the Da-

prone to immorality, as drawn to vio-

relative, is battling with Mother Fate

lit spirit in its imaginative vitality

lence, as unlettered, as footloose

to keep alive daughter Kempi's in-

and linguistic creativity.

workers with no landholding, as

riority, an argument rendered more

Cho. Dharrnan.

fant child. Also I(empis step-sister,

presented to us thus far are one-sid-

slavish, and as people who only

the forlorn Eery, is at pains to save

TAMIL DALIT LIFE

struggle for food and wages. Much of

her own wasting child. So, too, with

no wind of Channas murder, Chan-

Cho. Dharman's Koogui: The Owl is

denitely more politically conscious,
a novel of resistance which, however,
like Mahadeva's work puts mythical

it is the result ofa warped leltist perspective. Ironically, some Dalit writ-

na's relatives anxiously await his

return."
The chapters that follow unfold
this narrative in full through the tales
exchanged by the Jothammas, the
House Lamp Spirits. Some of the

chapters are almost entirel_v in verse

(cg: it also came to where Kusuma

la_v...') and all the chapter titles read

like lines of verse. At times the novelist mixes languagesEnglish or even

French with Kannadato good ef-

imagination to good use and is free

from rancour. The writer looks at the
village community as a rhizome rather than a vertical hierarchy and is
acutely conscious of the interdependcncc and the entanglement of
various communities. The novel even
has a progressive Brahmin character,
Nataraja I yer, who distributes his
land among the poor and encourages
111

ers too are mouthing them."

And he really ghts this stereotype in Koogoi b_v presenting a \'ariety of characters who are condent,
intelligent, radical, honest, morally
conscious, willing to sacrice, and

ghting for human dignity more

than for any material benets. This

does not in any sense mean Dharman

idealises all his Dalit characters;
there are also people portrayed in

their weaknesses such as an urge for

I-'RlIN'l'l.l\l-1

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.|l'\l~I Zn, 3015

1.:
1.

S!

DU
ARL

A_MUMA

(I

L.J
KMU

u . R . A N A N T H A M u R T H Y and AK. Ramanujan. Both admired Mahadevas "Kusumabale".

inghting, the fear of the cruel and
cunning landlord, and the consequent collaboration with him on cru-

bles were in fact more akin to Indias

own native modes of narrative imagination. lt was also a moment when

cial occasions. His characters are

the Dalit question, so far subsumed

against the one-dimensional, mostly

autobiographical, Dalit writing that
most of us are familiar with. Fourthly
it raises koogai, the owl, to the level of

complex as human beings really are

within the larger non-Brahmin polit-

a symbol and an icon: the old man

and not mere symbols arrayed in an

ical movement, began to be raised by

Seeni considers it a god with rare

allegory.
Venkatachalapathys inputs in

new autonomous Dalit parties like

the Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi

powers to appear anywhere and turn

from a stone bird to a real bird and

the introduction help the reader lo-

and Puthiya Tamilagam which in

back and guide its followers in crises.

cate the novel in the Tamil literary

turn produced a lot of interesting

It is a metaphor for all the oppressed

tradition and nds Dharman to be an

innovator of the indigenous ctional
idiom like Ki Rajanarayanan and
younger writers who were inspired

communities, especially Dalits, as it

is mostly unstmg and underrated,
considered dark and ugly, hardly a
bird at all. In classical Tamil writing

by him like Poomani (who happens

Dalit writing, both creative and critical. Caste politics was no more just
an appendix to a larger class politics,
it was materially and culturally foundational. Dharman rst emerged as a

to be Dharma.n's uncle), Konangi, S.

short story writer in the tradition of

the bird of death, an ominous, hate-

Ramakrishnan and several others.

the karisal writers, distinguished of

Born into the caste of PallarsDe-

course by the caste identity of his

ful bird whose very hooting is inauspicious. It is teased and attacked

vendrakula Vellalar as they would

now like to be knownCho. Dhra-

characters, publishing mostly in the

man grew up working even when in

1996 he published his rst novel,

school. His father was an oyil kummi

dancer and Dharman grew up in a
world animated by mythical charac-

Thoorvai, capturing the transformation of the karisal countryside that

little magazines of the period. In

found warm reception even from

critics usually hostile to Dalit writing. Koogafs popularity however has
surpassed that of everything that he
wrote before it.

as well as in popular belief, the owl is

during the day even by sparrows as it

cannot see in the overpowering sunlight and hence prefers invisibility.
But it is actually strong, as it realises
at night when it is left to itself. The

just a worker struggling to make

OWL A5 AN ICON

neglect ofthe Koogai temple leads to

the communitys decline, though its
devotees like Seeni always nd the
god's help and support, and there
comes a day when even Gengiya
Naicker, an upper caste man, begins
to respect the bird. Fourthly, it is as

ends meet. He began to write at a

time when writers were beginning to
turn away from the stranglehold of

K00gais recognition has several reasons. First, it is in tune with the Dalit
oral lore and is entirely different

much about resistance as about suffering and is genuinely radical in its

attitude to the status quo. Fizhly, it

social realism", prompted by the fall

from the mainstream modernist

has all the qualities of a serious work

of the Soviet Union which was no

writing. Secondly, it foregrounds the

of ction: innovative structure, fresh

more being seen as a model either for

a democratic socialist society or for

positive Dalit values like reverence

for nature and reveals the hidden

idiom, memorable characters and

episodes, deep sociological and psy-

imaginative literature, and turning

power of the comrmmity instead of

chological understanding, a pro-

more and more to the Aican and

portraying them as just miserable

found awareness of the kinship

Latin American writers whose magical and mythical modes close to fa-

beings t only for sympathy and

charity. Thirdly, it is multi-layered as

between man and nature demonstrated several times through diverse

ters like Rama, Lakshmana and Sita,

who were almost like the members of
his family. He knew even as a child
that he was the inheritor of a great
tradition of art and culture and not

FRONTLINE

.lUNF.2.2()l5

112

episodes and captivating narration.

Here, too, Dharman's chosen region for depiction is the lcarisal
whose lower-caste reality he under-

Brahmin lawyer and land owner,

however, comes to their rescue by
leasing them his family land for culti-

blers, crows (a crow even helps the

brave woman Peichi by attacking the
police), deer, cows, oxenas well as

vation and later, as he leaves the

trees are an important presence in

stands in all its complexity. Dalits

place, giving them each the owner-

the novel. Even hills like the Guru

here are regularly beaten up for

ship of the land that they had been

Malai and Kazhugu Malai come alive

dressing or behaving like the upper-

cultivating. This is not an innocent

and gain the stature of characters.

caste people; even eating at a proper

hotel is considered an act of arro-

act of charity; he wants to empower

the Dalits to ght the intermediate

Seeni is aware not only of the

kinship between man and nature,

gance. The novel begins with such an

castes who were now rising up

but also ofthe different communities

incident where Muthukaruppan and

in the village: However many castes

Mookkan are beaten up by Muthaiya

against the old landlords. There are

also other contradictions that come

there may be, there's a very thin net

Pandian, the Thevar village watch-

into play in the novel like that be-

that is binding all of them together.

man, as the two Dalits had dressed in

clean dhotis and shirts and gone to

tween the Paraiyars, for whom con-

We mustnt tear it. We have to take

version to Christianity was an act of

protest, and the Chakkiliars, for

out the tangles in that net, thats all.

whom it becomes another form of

informs the whole narrative: a community is ruined when it loses that

the new eatery the club-s hop run by

Nachiyararnma where they ate a

meal of the white raceclub-

enslavement.

There is a sense of the sacred that

food~sitting on a bench rather than

squatting on the oor as they should
have done. Dalits are supposed to

Some ofthe most exciting episodes in

link with the larger universe and

with other communities as well as
trees, creepers, birds and beasts. The

take only inferior grains. If at all

the novel are scenes of resistance,

owl also represents that bond as the

they wanted to eat that food, the

like the Pallars reising to dig the

many legends about it scattered

watchman feels, they should have

grave for and announce the death of

across the novel demonstrate. Seeni

bought the food in a rice-pot and

the upper-caste man Pandi Mama or

represents this spirit.

eaten it sitting under a tree. Only

Seenis intervention and put-on hu-

Seeni standing up to the zamindar

(Jameen, as he is called) and saying

He also instils self-respect

among his people, as when he leads

mility nally save the sinners. But

his people can no more work for him

the ceremonial cavalcade of Pallars

the same Muthaiya Pandian has no

hesitation in sleeping with Karuppi,

as they have work on their own land.

Each act of resistance brings puni-

and Paraiyars to pay tributes to the

the Chakkiliyar woman, wife of

shment, and these acts slowly streng-

Headman Gurusaami Thevar led by

the drummers and offers him gar-

Shanmugarn Pagadai who is sent out

then

The

lands and many measures of paddy.

by the watchman with a rupee to

have a bottle of arrack. Karuppi

vengeful landlord even tries to poi-

The novelist comments: In Seenis

son the only source of water the vil-

gait was the glee of a Yayati who has

meckly submits to this daily rape out

lagers had. It is in fact a ruthless

of fear: she lies huddled on a mat

like a chick hiding 'om a hawk.

class-caste struggle where the subaltem classes move forward and

regained his youth, the exultation of

an Ekalavyan who has recovered his

Seenis devotion to the Koogai

backward in an attempt to emanci-

god even aer the fall of the temple,

pate themselves. This struggle, how-

which he wants to restore, and the

Pallars growing resistance to op-

ever, is interspersed with poetic

passages that reveal the beauty and

pression are central to the narrative.

The Pallars of Chithiraikkudi rebel

harmony in nature: birds and beastsowls, parrots, falcons, drongos,

mynahs, cranes, yellow-billed bab-

PALLAR RESISTANCE

the

Pallars

resolve.

lost thumb.
Another memorable character is
Peichi, the proud wife of the late
Kaali Thevar, a strong and intelligent
woman who saves Appusubban from

been denying them every human

right and regularly violating their

the police and nds legal help for

him. Her story runs in almost a parallel narrative. The lyrical passages
on the divine owl that frequents the
text and the life of Seeni together

women. This drives them to the

create another parallel narrative,

slums of the neighbouring Kovilpat-

along with the siddhuns and the al-

against their tormenters who have

ti, an industrial town, where to their

dismay they discover that the owners
of the factories and the mills too are
from the same upper caste that had

been exploiting them in the village.

The novelist does not use terms like
feudalism and capitalism, but it is

evident that the landlords have now

invested in factories in the cities, as

happened throughout the country in

the last century. Nataraia Iyer, a

Koogaiz The Owl

foregrounds
positive Dalit
values like
reverence for
nature.
113

chemists and a whole world of myth

and magic. Kusumabale and Koogai
in their different ways go beyond the
established canons, not only of Dalit

narratives, but ofthe Indian novel in

general and point to the future
course of the genre where it frees

itself from Western models both

realist and modernand creates its

own narrative modes and critical

norms.
El
FRONTLINF.

JUNE 20. 2015

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It is common knowledge in the

region that the penultimate king of
Mudhol, Malojirao Ghorpade (d.
1939), brought the Mudhol hound

into prominence. Arjunsinh Jadeja,

a resident of Mudhol with close family links to the royal family, said the
king saw these dogs, which bore
great resemblance to hounds, being

used as hunting dogs by shepherds in

his little kingdom.

Recognising the distinctness of

the dogs, he selectively bred the best
specimens. I-Ie even presented a pair

of these hounds to King George V,

when he visited England, who christened them Mudhol hounds," Jade-

T H E M U D H O L B R E E D is marked by a distinct long, slender body and

ja said.
While Mudhol hounds are com-

graceful features.

monly referred to as Indian dogs,

their provenance is tentatively traced

trapati Shivaji entombed along with

him in Raigad bear a close resem-

a nearby village, is located on 4-0

acres (one acre is 0.4- hectare) of

to the interbreeding of dogs that ac-

blance to the Mudhol hound. Sec-

rocky scrub land surrounded by sug-

companied the Greek and Persian

ondly, Shahuji Maharaj, a 20th

ar plantations. As one enters, to the

armies that invaded India. According to a brief paper published by Dr.

B.C. Ramakrishna, president of the
Karuna Animal Welfare Association
of Karnataka, and Dr. P.V. Yatl1inder, president of the Mysore Kennel
Club, the hounds found in Mudhol

century ruler of Kolhapur, also owned some of these hounds and their
erce reputation as hunting dogs was
vindicated when they defended the
king against a tiger attack. Wliile
such tales are difficult to verify, what
is indisputable is that the Mudhol

right is a large expanse of fenced

open land where some Mudhol
hounds can be seen running around.
These dogs need large open spaces to
exercise and to play-act briefhunting
scenarios.
The kennel at the CRIC has 28

are the product of three distinct

hound has been around in north

Mudhol hounds and they are regu-

breeds: the Sloughi, the Saluki and

KaIrnatal<a., particularly in the mod-

larly taken to dog shows. They have

the Greyhound, all ofwhich are cate-

ern-day districts of Bagalkot and Bi-

gorised as sighthouncls (hounds that

primarily hunt by sight and speed) in

japur, fora few centuries now.

The Canine Research and Infor-

elongated necks and a narrow skull;

the eyes are large and oblong and the
body is hairless. The Mudhol hound

contemporary canine classication.

mation Centre (CRIC) in Timmapur,

is a very thin dog, seemingly emaciat-

The Sloughi is found mainly in

ed, with its rib cage sticking out. It is

North Africa now, while the Saluki, a

hairier version of the Sloughi and

tall, with the head reaching the waist

ofan average-sized man. White is the

one of the oldest breeds of domes-

predominant colour, but specimens

ticated dogs which was once found in

of various coloursblack, brown,

a large swathe from the Mediterranean to East Asia, is a popular breed

grey, spotted-are also seen. With a

deep chest and narrow waist, it

shares fundamental physical traits

reared in almost all dog-loving countries. The Greyhound, which has

been popular in
Europe
and
America for a
long time, was likely one of
breeds that Malojirao Ghorpade saw

(KVAFSU) located in Bidar. Its es-

on a visit to England, which led him

tablishment was approved in 2003

to recognise the native Indian dogs

found in his kingdom as hounds.

under the aegis of the State government's Department. of Animal Hus-

With the Mudhol hound gaining

bandry and Veterinary Sciences but

in popularity, historical stories are

becoming more commonplace. Two

it began operating only in 2010. The

stories in particular are told and re-

to conserve and develop the

with other members of the hound

family.
The CRIC is a constituent unit ot
Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and
Fisheries
Sciences
University

primary mandate of the centre is

told by its fans. First, the loyal dogs of

Mudhol hound breed.

the 17th century Maratha king Chha-

Researchers
I15

FRUNTl.lNF.

at

.IlF2h

the
2015

were sought from the Ministry of Social Welfare to provide a pair ofpurebred puppies each to S.C./S.T. families that had experience in rearing

these dogs. A scheme was implemented in 2012 wherein 134- individuals in Bagalkot district were
identied as beneciaries and the results are already visible in such a

short span. The puppies have grown

up and the bitches have whelped.
With an average litter size between 8

and 12 and the prevailing price for

one Mudhol pup ranging between

Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 8,000, the initial

beneciaries have gained up to Rs.
50,000 each on selling the litter.
With the CRIC taking care of all
input costs, including food supple-

' ~" .-I-.__.

_ _'

__.- - e--u--' _
,_..-Y. "
~'
I
_ _ -- .._.--o.

-*-=" "=-

ments and vaccinations, the beneciaries only have to raise the dogs.

".._:-',-=

- ,_ ,_,,..
_.
. "
4. ;1"..> ..
" -"'

.._..I_,__:_,
.a- -

The price of adult dogs is impressive

and Dr. Dodamani cited an instance

Id; _ _ ,

___
_' .- - '----_._..'._; '.__"

of an especially well-built stud being

sold for Rs. 1.35 lakh.
Shankar Suresh Aralikatti, a Bedar (S.T.) resident of Timmapur, is

H0 U N D5 REAR E D at the CRIC line up during a dog show at the centre.

one of the beneciaries. I was provided a pair of Mudhol pups in 2012

exist, and the centre plays a signif-

hunting and protecting their elds.

Of these, we ftlflilll identied
around 100 dogs that best represent-

icant role in resuscitating an important breed. The other extant breeds

ed the features of the Mudhol hound

and selectively bred them, Dr. Do-

Rs. 54-,000. This supplements my

agricultural income," he said. Lokesh

are the Pashmi (northern Karnata

ka), Rajapalayam (Tamil Nadu),
Caravan Hound (Maharashtra), Jananangi (Andhra Pradesh), Chippiparai (Tamil Nadu) and the Rampur

damani said.
This exercise in canine eugenics
has two purposes: the rst is to revive
the pure-bred Mudhol hound, while
the second is to encourage altema-

Y. Madar, who belongs to the Madar

(S.C.) community and works at the
CRIC, is another beneciary who is
looking forward to selling the pups
when his bitch whelps. Our input

hound (Uttar Pradesh). Many of

played at national and international
dog shows over the past decade and a

tive animal husbandry practices with

a built-in social welfare agenda. Veterinarians at KVAFSU had hit upon
the novel idea of encouraging fami-

costs are almost nil as we feed the dog

what we eat and since it is a hardy,
low-maintenance dog, we don't need
to be very worried, he said.

specic dog show only for native

ers to rear Mudhol hounds so that

CRIC have identied 23 breeds na-

tive to India, of which only seven

these dogs have been regularly dis-

and I sold the rst litter last year for

breeds was held in Ba-

their puppies could

Mudhol hounds have a reputation of being ercely loyal to their

galkot last year.

be sold to dog lovers,

owners and are excellent hunting

Dr. Maliesh S. Do-

providing them with

damani, who has head-

income with minimal

ed the CRIC since its

inception, is a valuable

investment, just as
how oows, sheep and

dogs. They are still used by local

farmers to hunt wild fowl and rabbit
in the scrubby grasslands that dominate the landscape between lush

source of information
on all aspects of the
Mudhol hound. An

goats were traditionally reared by them to

prot from the sale of

jective of reviving the pure-bred

initial survey was done

their young.

Mudhol hound while providing a

in Bagalkot district in
2010 and we identied

Since 90 per cent

ofthe Mudhol hound-

sugar plantations all over Bagalkot.

The CRIC has achieved its twin ob-

source of additional income for

members of the S.C. and S.T. communities in the region.

500 families that own-

THE PENULTIMATE

owning families

ed around 750 dogs between them. The

king of MudhoL Malojirao

the villages belong to

Scheduled Caste or

CRIC becomes widely known, simi-

shepherding community used these dogs for

Mudhol hound into

Scheduled
communities,

lar ventures will be started in other

parts of the country.
El

FRONTLINF.

.lUNF.2h

Ghorpade, who brought the

prominence.
2 (H5

116

in

Tribe
funds

Hopefully, as the success of the

ISSIJES IN FOC Ci S

L ft h ' h

dd

The dependents of the victims of the Hashimpura massacre have been

further tliszul\'zl1itz1gccl by an u11('z1ring State government, which has

done little to alleviate their everyday struggles other than offering them
measly sums of money as compensation. BY smum nurn |N MEERUT
ALMOST two decades after Zaibunissas husband, Mohammed Iq-

present Chief Minister, announced a

workers from other parts of Uttar

Pradesh and from Bihar. Hence, it

bal, the only breadwinner of the

family, fell prey to the bullets of the

compensation package of Rs.5 lakh

each for the families ofthose killed in
the Hashimpura massacre. The an-

Provincial

Constabulary

nouncement came after some of the

compensation was given out in 2007.

(PAC), she heard that substantial re-

survivors of the massacre met S.P.

Zulkar Nasir, one of the survi-

lief, a sum of Rs.4.6 lakh, would be

coming from the Uttar Pradesh gov-

chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The

modalities of the compensation

vors, who has been at the forefront of

the legal battle for justice, said:

ernment. This, however, was too little, too late. For the horric custodial

scheme are not clear yet.

Some of the family members of

killings ofl-lashimpura in Meerut on

PROBLEMS OF COMPENSATION

these persons had made it to Meerut

then but could not be awarded com-

May 22, 1987, are a saga not only of

state brutality but of apathy: an un-

Also, on May 21, Harsh Bora, an advocate, led an appeal in the Delhi

pensation as their address could not

be veried by the State government."

caring State government has done

High Court on behalfofthe families

Now, the government has initi-

little for the families who were al-

of the victims demanding that the

most left destitute after they lost

their breadwinners. The PAC, a re-

Delhi Legal Services Authority

award the survivors and the families

ated a process of verification of the

surviving family members of these

served police force of the State gov-

of the dead enhanced compensation

ernment official in charge of this

ernment, abducted and killed 42

persons, all of them Muslims.

in a time-bound manner. Highlighting the problems with the trial

process, said: Earlier, in 2007, the

compensation was distributed to the

In January 2007, the Mulayam

Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party
(S.P.) government announced a

courts compensation scheme, he

said: The Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme, 2011, followed by the

families of 86 people. The families of

compensation package, but this did

Delhi Legal Services Authority at

collect information about the surviv-

little to compensate for the loss of

livelihood or ensure a life of dignity
for those affected families. Also, the
money was awarded to the extended
families of the people murdered, ac-

present to award compensation does

not have a separate category for com-

ing family members of ve deceased

persons, which will then be sent to

munal violence. Under this scheme,

Officers at the district level for ver-

an award to the survivors of the violence can only be made for rehabil-

ication. The compensation amount

cording to the principles of the Muslim personal law ofinheritance. This

ensured that the share ofwidows and
their children was reduced considerably. Following the incident, the

itation, which is a measly sum of

Rs.20,000. Thus, the scheme needs
to be amended to create a separate
category for victims of communal violence. In the petition, we have also

that these are indeed the family

members of the deceased. On being
asked about the anomalies in the distribution of compensation in 2007,
Sharma said he had no idea about

Uttar Pradesh government had given

the victims families twice in 1987 the

raised the demand for an enhanced

how the compensation would be divided this time around.

measly sum of Rs.20,000 each.

These struggling families got no

The distribution of compensation the State government an-

grant workers whose families were

help after that. It is only recently, on

nounced is also problematic. Five of

outside Meerut were Munna Ladiya

May 21, that Akhilesh Yadav, the

the persons killed were migrant

and Shakir of Bijnor, Hanifof Rewa-

Armed

compensation amount.

117

was difficult to trace their families

when the rst substantial amount of

persons. Sanjeev Sharma, the gov-

three of the deceased could not be

traced. At present, I am trying to

can only be awarded once we are sure

Zulfikar said that the ve mi-

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE 2o. 2015

#-

ri in Bihar and Mohammad Azeem

and Kauser Ali of Dhamsain village

-3 .59

in Bihar. Zulkar said that the other

demands made at the meeting with

the S.P. chief included getting the

.1.

Gyan Prakash Committee report on

the Hashimpura carnage, which was
submitted in 1994, tabled in the Assembly and probing the lapses of the
officers of the Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department who

.1;

were involved in the preliminary investigation of the incident. Zulkar

said that no other political party had
.._~.

reached out to the victims of Hashimpura so far. The residents said that
the local Bharatiya J anata Party
(BJ P) MLA, Laxmi Kant Bajpai, who
is also the party's State president,
had not visited Hashimpura alter the

verdict.
Households headed by women

who were left destitute by this tragedy continue to face severe nancial

"Q

SU Rvlvo RS of the Hashimpura massacre meeting Samajwadi Party chief

Muiayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow on May 19.

woes. That night of police ring has

had a cascading effect on generations
ofpeople: children had to drop out of
school to take up odd jobs to sustain
themselves and have grown up to be
adults who do not have access to a

not family property but money given

by the state. I protested against this
division, but none of them were
ready to give up their share. This is

decent livelihood. Some women have

unfair and there's nothing Islamic

fought on in the face ofadversity with

help from local charitable organisa-

about it. I even approached the qazi

educate my children beyond school

and had to marry them off."
According to the basic principle
of Sunni law of intestate succession,
there are I2 heirs among whom the
property is divided, including the

tions. But help from the State gov-

at Deoband to issue a_mr'a [legal

opinion] against this division but

ernment has not been forthcoming.

nothing came of it. She spent her

wife, brother, sister and daughter,

and the wife is entitled to only oneeighth of the net estate. The State

The plight of58-year-old Zaibu-

meagre share in paying off debts.

government seems to have followed

nissa is a case in point. Her daugh-

Zaibunissa said: We never got a BPL

this formula when it gave the com-

ters were still in school at the time of

the ring. Her youngest daughter,

[below poverty level] card, ration

card or old age pension. l could not

pensation even though this principle

in classical Sunni doctrine has un-

Uzma, was born on the day of the

incident. After her husband's death,

she started sewing and making gar-

ments on a daily-wage basis. The ini-

An extract from the government order granting compensation showing

how the Rs.4.6 lakh awarded to a victim's family was distributed
Name of recipients of
compensation

Amount

Serial
Number

Name of the
deceased

2007 was awarded to the extended

20

Mohammad Iqbal

Zaibunissa [wile]

57,500

family, the combined share ofZaibunissa and her three daughters only
came to about Rs.3 lakh. The rest of
the money was divided between her

21
22
23
24
25

- do-do-do-do-do-

Yasmin ldaughterl

26

-do-

Shamshad [nephew]

27
28

-do-do-

Shahzad lnephewl
Azad lnephewl

29

-do-

Sarfaraz [nephew]

89,444
89,4
89,544
33,5l+2
5,590
5,590
5,590
5,590
5,590

30
31
32

-do-do-do-

Shoab lnephewl

tial award of Rs.20,000 was oflittle

help. Because the money given in

brothers-in-law and their sons and

daughters, that is, the sum ofRs.4-.6
lakh was divided among 13 persons.

Zaibunissa protested against this

government move. She said: My
brothers-in-law never came to my

help when I was bringing up three

children alone. Why should they get

a share of the compensation? This is

FRU\i'll l\ll'1

.ll.i.\'I~'.3n

101%

118

Nazmeen ldaughierl

Uzma ldaughterl
Anwar lbrotherl

Nashaad lnephewl

ishtiyaq lbrotherl
Shahabuddin lbrotherl

lin Rs.|

5,590
33,543
33, 543

two years. After that, I learnt woodwork and furniture making." In fact,
all his siblings had to stop their edu-

"1

Jameel were both killed in the massacre. Her husband, Mohammad Sa-

cation midway. The 2007 compensa-

leem, who had been doing the rounds

of the courts in the hope of getting

tion money merely helped them pay

justice, killed himself out of a sense

off the pending water tax and house

tax and loans. Also, the brothers got a
larger share than the sisters. Each
brother got a sum of Rs.85,l84-,
whereas each sisters share was

of despair in 2013. The 2007 com-

pensation money was spent in buying power loom machines to set up a

factory. But these had to be sold off

Rs.25,556. Naeem's 80-year-old

mother, Noorjehan, only got a sum of
Rs.76,667, a lower share than that

alter his death. Anjum runs a family

hardware shop in the face of opposition from other members of the joint
family. She said that the shop did not

awarded to the brothers. Shakeel felt

have an electricity connection, but

that the compensation was inadequate and had come too late in the
son in every family of the victims

she still manages to run it in the sweltering summer heat. She is bringing
up her ve daughters and two sons
with the meagre income generated

would have been a much more useil

approach," he said.
For Hanifa, 65 now, the sudden

from the shop and with help from

some local charity organisations.
The local school where one of her

death of her husband, Mohammed

daughters studies has waived the tui-

Usman, jolted her from a life of rela-

tion fee. Her eldest daughter goes to

dergone several reforms in successive years. According to the

government notication that detailed the distribution of compensation on January 15, 2007, a total
alnount ofRs.l.97 crore was given to
the families of those killed. Frontli ne

tive affluence into one of enormous

struggle. Usman owned four power
loom machines and made a decent
living making garments. After his
death, Hanifa had to sell o the machines to fend for her three sons and
three daughters. The Rs.90,000 the

college now. But there was no help

from the State government. She lives
with her children and her mother-inlaw, Naseeban, in a one-room house
with a small courtyard, a part of a
twostorey ancestral house shared by
four families.

has accessed a copy of this order. The

machines fetched her ran out soon.

Her fatherinlaw used to work at

distribution ofthe amount following

All the children had to be pulled out

the municipal corporation in Mee-

archaic principles of Islamic law

worked to the disadvantage of the
real victims (see table). (According to
Muslim Fmnily Law by David Pearl

of school. They started working as

daily-wage labourers in garment-

rut. But her mother-in-law never got

a pension after his death.
The death of Zaheer Ahmed and
his son Javed plunged his wife, Zareena, 65, into a state ofdespondency

1"

)
I

-.

day. A government _iob for one per-

and Werner Menski (1998), in some

making units.

Hanifa used the 2007 compensation money to marry off two of her

Muslim countries laws of inheritance award the wife a larger share.

In Somalia, men and women are now
on an equal footing in matters of

sons. But there is no end in sight to

a decrepit 60-year-old house with a
tin roof and paint coming off from

derer.

inheritance.)

the walls. About 11 people live in this

house comprising two tiny rooms

bring up her nine children all by herself. She found work from time to

and a small courtyard. The house

time in garment-making units. The

hasn't been repaired in years," Hanifa said.

Her eldest son, 32-year-old Mohammed Nazim, continues to work
as a daily-wage labourer in garmentmaking units. Work is erratic and I

compensation money which she reeeived in 2007' was spent in marrying

off her four daughters. l/Vhile the arduous ght for justice was being

The far-reaching effects of the

tragedy on the lives of the victims
families can be gauged from the im-

mense hardships some of them have

faced. Mohammad Shakeel was only
eight years old when he lost his eldest

brother, Naeem. Naeem used to run

a small bookbinding factory and was
the sole breadwinner of the family of

her nancial woes. The famiiy lives in

from which she has not recovered.

Ahmed used to work as an embroiAlter his death, Zareena had to

10 brothers and sisters as their father

had passed away. Alter Naeems

Rs.5,000 a month. I don't have

played out in the courts, the dependents of the Hashimpura massacre

victims were irther disadvantaged
by an uncaring State government,

enough money to start my own busi-

which did little to alleviate their cv-

death, the factory shut down. Shak-

ness. The lack of a formal education

eel recounted how he had to give up

limits job opportunities," he said.

eryday struggles other than offering

them measly sums of money as com-

can

barely

make

Rs.4~,O00

to

school and take up all sorts of odd

Anjum, 4-3, has felt the impact of

pensation. One night of police bru-

jobs to make a living: I used to earn

this massacre on several levels. Her

tality has impacted generations of

Rs.2 a day at a sugarcane stall. I then

started training as a tailor for about

father-in-law, Mohammed Naseem,

people who still struggle to make a

decent living.
El

and her brother-in-law Mohammed

I19

FRUNTl.lNF.

JUNE lo, 2:115

science note 00
Foetal signals
DOCTORS are being urged to help pregnant women ready themselves for bad
news about their health which can
emerge accidentally from tests on their

babies.
Modern prenatal tests can spot ge-

netic problems in babies from fragments

of their deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] that

problems. But more conditions may

come to light. "Clinicians have yet to discover all that non-invasive prenatal lesting can reveal about mothers," Bianchi
writes.

While the tests are available in the

United Kingdom, they are used in a targeted fashion that reduces the chances
of doctors finding out much about the
mother's health, said Sadaf Ghaem-

Chaotic moons
of Pluto
PLUTO'5 moons have been
tracked closely for the first time,

showing that they tumble unpredictably rather than rotate

smoothly.
Astronomers also observed

leak into the mother's bloodstream. But

the same tests can reveal unknown

Maghami. chair of the Royal College of

that Pluto, whose status was

Obstetricians and Gynaecology's science

downgraded to a dwarf planet in

health problems in mothers themselves,

advisory committee. For example, the

2006, might be better regarded

from early-stage cancer to genetic

test might check specifically for chromo-

as a binary dwarf as it is locked in

disorders.

somal defects that cause Down's syn-

Doctors have used the tests since

2011, but the unexpected consequences
have only come to light as more women
have had the procedure. Since late 2014,

drome, rather than screen for all genetic

abnormalities.

orbit with its largest moon, called

Charon.
The twin system creates an

imbalanced and shifting gravitational field, which sends the tiny

at least 26 pregnant women with abnor-

outer moons spinning chaotical-

mal test results have later found out that

ly, the measurements from the

they have cancer. In 10 cases, the prenalal test results raised doctors suspi-

Hubble
showed.

cions and ultimately led to the diagnosis.

Writing in the journal Nature, Diana
Bianchi, director of the Mother Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Centre
in Boston, calls on doctors who provide

the tests to make sure women are better

"Like

I).

"Parents, obstetricians and physi-

I-=1

cians have been taken by surprise," Bi-

[X

If

bility offindings concerning the mother's

good children, our

moons are more like teenagers

who refuse to follow the rules."

anchi writes. "Consent forms used by

test providers rarely mention the possi-

Telescope

moon and most others keep one

face focussed attentively on their
parent planet," said Douglas Hamilton, professor of astronomy
at the University of Maryland and
a co-author of the study. "What
we've learned is that Pluto's

E:
tc

informed, and have counselling, before

undergoing testing.

Space

PRE IIIATAL tests can reveal health

problems in mothers themselves.

health."

Charon, which has a mass

about 11 percent of that of Pluto,
and the planet orbit a common

centre of mass every 6.1 days.

ln the United States, doctors take

Bianchi argues that pregnantwomen

The tiny outer moons Styx,

DNA from the mother and the placenta

should be required to sign consent forms

Nix and Hydra, which all have

and compare it with a healthy reference

genome. The procedureallowsclinicians
to check whether cells have the wrong
number of, or fragmented, chromosomes, the strands of genetic material

that state explicitly that unexpected results could emerge. Women could have
the chance to opt out of being told certain
information: for example, that they have
chaotic DNA patterns suggestive of a tu-

masses less than 0.001 per cent

of Pluto's, take between 20 and
40 days to orbit the inner pair.
Unlike almost any other
moon that has been observed,

that hold a person's genes. Abnormal

test results often mean that the baby has
a medical problem, but sometimes it is

mour. Al the same time, doctors need to

learn more about the medical problems
that such tests can reveal.

they do not keep a fixed face on

their parent planet, but spin and
wobble about their own axes.

the mother's DNA that bears the fault.

In cases made public so far, some

"Handled properly, the incidental

findings emerging from prenatal tests

"They speed up and slow

down, rock their north pole lo-

pregnant women have learned they have

could accelerate treatments and save

wards the planet and back again

a sex chromosome abnormality that af-

livesrather than just increase the anx-

and maybe even reverse direc-

fects their fertility. Others have been di-

iety of thousands of pregnant women,"

tion," said Hamilton. "It would be

agnosed with DiGeorge syndrome, a

Bianchi writes.

a pretty confusing system to be

genetic disorder that causes learning

difficulties, heart defects and immune

FRONTLINF.

.ll|NF.2h.ll)l5

Ian Sample
Guardian News Service
120

in." The erratic motion is likely to

be enhanced by the moons being

Warming and pledges

PLEDGE5 made by countries to cut their
carbon emissions ahead of a crunch climate summit in Paris later this year will

delay the world passing the threshold for

dangerous global warming by just two
years, according to a new analysis.

The research. ted by a former lead

author on the United Nations climate science panel, found that the submissions so
far by 38 Countries would likely delay the
world passing the threshold until 2038,

rather than 2036 without the carbon cuts.

However, more than 150 countries
have yet to submit their carbon pledges

despite a deadline of the end of March.

While most are relatively small emitters,
commitments by big polluters such as India could significantly change the picture.
The analysis by the non-profit Climate
Analytics comes as climate negotiators
IN THIS ILLUSTRATION Pluto and its five moons are seen from

the perspective of Hydra, the outermost of the five. Measurements

from the Hubble Space Telescope show that Pluto's moons tumble
unpredictably rather than rotate smoothly. They do not keep a fixed

from nearly 200 countries meet in Bonn

and academics warned the agreement

hoped for in Paris would not keep temperatures to U.N.'s target of holding temper-

roughly rugby ball-shaped rath-

observed in 2005, Kerberos and

ature rises below 2C above pre-industrial

levels. None of the pledges, known in U.N.
jargon as Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions llNDCs], were found by Cli-

er than spherical, he added.

Styx in 2011 and 2012, respec-

mate Analytics to be in line with the 2C

Despite their chaotic rota-

tively].The data also suggestthat

limit, when a fair global distribution of

ltOI'1S, the moons appeared to be

Kerberos is as dark as charcoal,

locked into stable traiectories.

which the researchers said was

while the other moons are as

bright as white sand. "This is a

emissions cuts was factored into countries offers. Pledges made by Russia and

likelyto be due to them moving in

very

resonantorbitswhichtine up ex-

lead author Mark Showalter, of

actly at regular time intervals.

the SETl Institute in California.

The time taken for a complete

orbitforStyx,Nix and Hydra were

Astronomers had predicted

that dust created by meteorite

in ratios of roughly 3:li;i5 times

that of Charon, respectively. "We

impacts should coat all the

moons evenly and that debris
should be transferred between

Canada would be consistent with potentially catastrophic warming of between

3-4C, according to the research, which
The Guardian has seen.
"The action and ambition we have seen
to date is farfrom sufficienland unless it is
rapidly accelerated, the difficulties of limiting warn-iing below 2C will be extreme,"
said Dr Bill Hare, the founder of Climate

them,givingtheir surfacesa uni-

Analytics and a former Intergovernmental

form look.
The scientists are hoping to
moons in more detail when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft

Panel on Climate Change lead author. But

he added: "What we see in the economic
and technological potential for emissions
reductions gives us hope that if governments are willing to move fast enough in

flies by Pluto in July and beams

the next 5-IO years, we might still make it.

All that is lacking is political will."

analysed after the relatively re-

back the first-ever images of the

planet at close quarters.

cent discovery of the four small

Hannah Devlin

moons lNix and Hydra were first

Guardian News Service

face on their parent planet, but spin and wobble about their own axes.

think this is why the system is

stable and what stops them from
crashing into one another," said
Hamilton.
Thetindingspublished inthe
jOL.|l'll8l Nature, were based on ll]
years of observations of Pluto

from the Hubble space telescope,whichthe researchers re-

provocative

result,"

said

investigatethe appearance ofthe

121

Arthur Neslen and Karl Mathiesen

Guardian News Service

I-ltiI'\|'ll\i-'

.il\l-'._ii,_I

The extrerne Step

All-India figures
Year

Suicide rates continue to remain high

in India and the latest set of numbers
throws up several disturbing facts.
By Ramesh Chakrapani
The figures are depressing, the causes alarming,
and the statistics
unacceptable in a country
striving for progress in all

Total no
of suicides

fifth year in a row, the

number of suicides in India
stayed above one lakh and
than the previous year,

according to data from the

National Crime Records
Bureau lNCRB] under the
Ministry of Home Affairs.

population]

116.91

10.9

1,134,599

118.57

11.4

2011
2012
2013

1.35.585

121.01

11.2

'l,35,lili5

121.33

11.2

1,3li,799

122.87

11.0

how civil society functions

and what drives people to
take the extreme step. The
most shocking statistic
that comes out of the data

for 2013 is the fact that one

in six victims is a housewife.

In close contention are

the facts that 11,772 were
farmers and 8,423 were

students.

T0

The prosperous and

industrially advanced
States of Maharashtra and

SUICIDE

A total of 'l,3i,799
peoplemen, women and
childrentook their own
lives, for various reasons
and using various means.

lin crore]
1,27,151

EN D

was only slightly lower

Suicide rate
[per lakh

2009
2010

LET5
Vur AN

spheres. In 2013, for the

Mid-year
population

Tamil Nadu accounted for

nearly a quarter of all
suicidal deaths during the
year, continuing a trend
seen in 2012 and 2011.

The numbers throw up

several disturbing and

Andhra Pradesh, West

Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya

intriguing snapshots of
information and offer
tremendous insights into

Pradesh and Kerala

recorded a high incidence
of people snuffing out their

A student holds a placard to create awareness on suicide

prevention during a campaign in Coimbatore.

Victims by gender and age group

Up to 14 years

15-29 years

30-Iii years

65-59 years

60 years and above

1,546

26,716

32,099

21,825

8,357

ii

Male

ii

'r

Female Q

[-

#1

Up to ll years

15-29 years

30-Mi years

is-59 years

1.365

19.652

13.507

6.660

How the States rank

61]

W951 Bengal

yeazggz 3 we

Madhya Pradesh

Kerata

Other States/UTs

11.266

8,646

4,556

Maharashtra

Tamil Nadu

Andhra Pradesh

L055

Karnataka

16,622

16,601

14,607

99646

33%
FRlI.\l'll.l\<'l-I

.lt'.\'I~1ln, Z1115

122

lnfographics by V. Srinivasan

Distribution by causes

11,229
11.1190 _
2,202 I
423 I
501 |
so: |
1,019 I

Famiivpwhlems =1-"

D 1"-53

Illness

- 4,419

Drug abusei'Addiction
Change in
economic status I 2'3

. 1.802

Unemployment

Poverty I 1,1.zo
Failure in examination
Social disrepute
Love affairs

Professional!
Career problems

|1.:192
| 1.011
I 2.565
I1,1aa

own lives, and together,

these seven States

424 I

1,930 I
ass |

HANGING

reason.

per cent of all suicides.

The majority of the
suicides were by men I67

Among cities and towns,

Asansol in West Bengal
registered the highest
jumpfrom 24 in 2012 to

per cent] and more than

80 per cent of all those
who died were educated
up to some level.
While 4,380 graduates

819 in 2013. No reason

was attributed to this.

ended their own lives. 716

of those who killed

Bangalore with 2.033

recorded the largest

themselves had higher

qualifications. Among the

number of cases,
followed by Delhi l1,753]

causes, family problems

and illness ranked high,
accounting for more than

and Mumbai [L322].

Some 270 suicides were
due to physical/sexual

38,000 cases.
Distressingly enough.
failure in examination
caused 2,471 people to

abuse, while underage

pregnancy was the reason
for 153 cases.
A total of 2,202 women

take their lives, with 53.2

per cent of all suicides in
Kota city in Rajasthan

killed themselves
because of dowry-related
disputes.

ltlness
Dowry dispute
Inability to have children
Suspected/Illicit relation

Cancellation of marriage
Failure in examination
Death of dear person
Love affairs

Social disrepute

Distribution by means used

famous for its cram

schoolsbeing for that

accounted for about 67

Family problems

EXCESSIVE
DRINKING

1137.969

g M 1,553

JUMPING
FROM
BUILDINGS

POISON

CONSUMPHON
M25,U59

Among mega cities,

Chennai with 2,450 and

I-/I 984

F 12,566

F 335
SELF-

ELECTRDCUTION

SELF-IMMOLATION

M 3,672

M 770

III,
@ F 182

F 6,292

..........

FIREARMS

w M 350

*5

r 2,705

F 160

COMING UNDER
RUNNING
VEHICLES!

JUMPING OFF
VEHiCLE5/
TRAINS

TRAINS

M 501
*j_;":-._:
3 F139

M 3,862
F B76
OVERDOSE
OF SLEEPING

SELFINFLICTIDN
OF INJURY

PILLS

$ M310

Educational profile of victims

25,004

29.324

3' '77

19.502

21,679

15,579
9,425

10.095

27,596
IIBII Alllndia

12,849

8 180

Primary

Middle

[Secondary [_'Higher
|
5e"da"Y
I23

1- Male

1 656

9,54
4 305

|Noeducation'

F177

r 216

19,416

10,322

g M378

1,204
452

Diploma

-III Female

4.280
3,110

715

1,270

509

20?
Graduate

postgraduate
and above

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE 215.2015

t 11s 0rtn1 1t

IN a major decision
whose ripples will be
felt across the
country, particularly in

or order for the time being

in force in the disturbed
area prohibiting the
assembly of five or more
persons or the carrying of
weapons or of things
capable of being used as

the northeastern

weapons or of fire-arms,

States, the Communist

ammunition or explosive

Party of India

substances; lbl if he is of
opinion that it is necessary

wrongfully restrained or

so to do, destroy any arms

confined or any property

dump, prepared or

reasonably suspected to

fortified position or shelter

from which armed attacks

be stolen property or any

arms, ammunition or

are made or are likely to

explosive substances
believed to be unlawfully
kept in such premises and

AFSPA goes after 18 years

lMarxistI~led Left
Front government of

Tripura has revoked the

controversial Armed
Forces Special Powers Act
IAFSPAI which was in
force in the State for the

past I8 years. Announcing

the decision after a
Cabinet meeting on May
27, Chief Minister Manik

Sarkar said: "In view of the

fact that insurgency in the

State has been practically

reduced to nil, the Cabinet
has taken the decision to
withdraw the AFSPA from
the entire State. This is a
happy occasion. We want
to send out a message of
peace to the whole
country."
Sarkar said that
though there had been

demands from various

sections within the State

A
G

II

CHIEF MINISTER

Manik Sarkar.
agreed to our proposal of
lifting the AFSPA here,"

be made or are attempted

Sarkar said.
The AFSPA has been
severely criticised by all
liberal circles and human
rights activists because of
its draconian provisions,
which give sweeping

structure used as a

to be made, or any

powers to the armed

forces in "disturbed"
areas. The "special
powers" as provided by
the Act are:

"Any commissioned
officer, warrant officer,
non-commissioned officer

or any other person of

the State government's

equivalent rank in the

armed forces may, in a
disturbed area la] if he
is of opinion that it is

hands were tied on

necessary so to do for the

account of the security

maintenance of public

forces' refusal to give

clearance to the

order, after giving such

to withd raw the AFSPA,

revocation. "Recently,
when it was time to decide
whether the AFSPA should
be extended for another
six months, we sought the
report on the latest law

due warning as he may

consider necessary, fire
upon or otherwise use

force, even to the causing

of death, against any
person who is acting in
contravention of any law

and order situation

specifically in regard to

the presence and

activities of extremists.
We made our decision

after the security forces

FRONTLINF.

.ll|NF.2h,ll)I5

A SOLDIER keeps watch

on the highway to Assam in
the Atharamura Hills, 65
km east of Agartala. A file
picture.
12!.

committed or is about to

commit a cognisable
offence and may use such
force as may be necessary

to effect the arrest; Id]

enter and search without

warrant any premises to

make any such arrest as
aforesaid or to recover any

person believed to be

training camp for armed

volunteers or utilised as a

may for that purpose use

such force as may be
necessary."

hide-out by armed gangs

There is also legal

or absconders wanted for

immunity "in respect of

any offence; [cl arrest,

person who has
committed a cognisable

anything done or
purported to be done in
exercise of the powers
conferred by this Act".

offence or against whom a

reasonable suspicion
exists that he has

With Tripura doing away

with the Act, the AFSPA is
still in force in Assam,

without warrant, any

A U9
"$~"

Manipur, Nagaland,

withdraw it. This draconian

Mizoram, parts of

law instead of suppressing

Meghalaya and Arunachal

terrorism worked contrary

Pradesh, and Jammu &

Kashmir.
The Tripura
govemments decision has
been lauded in all quarters.

to the principles of
democracy and was used
against the liberty of the
people. Whatever be a law,
its application is most

Liberation Front of Tripura

INLFTI. the two main
extremist groups,
perpetrated a reign of
terror, particularly in the
tribal areas that came

Former Union Home

important. In the case of

under the elected Tripura

administratively and

Minister in the Congress

the AFSPA, its application

was wrong," senior

Tribal Areas Autonomous

District Council ITTAADC].

ideologically.... We never
believed that the use of

Communist Party of India

More than 1,000 people

arms alone can defeat the

ICPII leader Gurudas

Dasgupta told Frontline.

were killed in the violence.

Development was severely

insurgents."
Using development and

At the time when the

AFSPA was imposed in
Tripura [February 1997],

hampered, particularly in
the tribal areas as the

administration as its main

tools alongside counter-

insurgency operations by
the Tripura State Rifles and

insurgency. Though the

seeds of insurgency were

funds were mostly

appropriated by the
extremists. Initially, the
AFSPA was irnposed in
two-thirds of the 40 police

was defeated. Once the

militants lost the support

debate as to whether the

sown in the early 19805

stations in the State in

of the local people, and

controversial Act should be

with the armed separatist

movement of the Tripura

1997; today, there are 71

police stations, and 26 of

their escape route to

Bangladesh through the

them were under the

the way by withdrawing the

National Volunteers ITNVI

led by Bl]0y Kumar

856-kilometre-long porous
border was also blocked,

AFSPA. It should be
revoked in Manipur as well,

Hrangkhwal, it was
between 1996 and 2004

where there has for tong

been a demand to

that it intensified and grew

to alarming proportions.

led United Progressive

Alliance IUPAI government,

P. Chidambaram called it
"a victory for sanity and

humanity". Union Minister

of State for Home Affairs

Kiren Riiiju called it a

"significant" decision taken
by the Tripura government.
The decision has once
again thrown open the

scrapped altogether by the

Centre. "Tripura has shown

the State was severely

affected by growing

The All Tripura Tiger Force

IATTFI and the National

AFSPA when the State

government decided to
revoke the Act.

However, a unique

the insurgency as a
"political" problem. In an
earlier interview [Frontline,

August 22, 20141 . Manik

Sarkar had said that his
government dealt with the

insurgency menace
"politically,

the armed forces, militancy

the backbone of the

extremist movement was

broken. The State

aspect of Tripura is that not

government has

one case of excess or

atrocity of any kind by the

acknowledged the help it

received from the

armed forces was reported

during the I8 years that the
AFSPA was in force in the
State.
"This is because the
armed forces were used in

Bangladeshi government in
fighting the terrorists.
However, there are
many who feel
apprehensive about the

withdrawal of the AFSPA,

the State more to ensure

as insurgency is still

the spread of democracy

present in the State,

and development
programmes, than tojust

howsoever negligible it
may be.

subjugate insurgents. Our

"We are not

government believes that

complacent. We are aware

the insurgency problem in

the State was a product of

that there are still some

a prolonged period of

insurgents active in
Tripura, and if we are

socio-economical
backwardness in the

negligent, then this

extremist tendency may

region," said Jitendra

ChOUCII1Ul'Y, CPIIMI MP and
former Cabinet Minister in

grow again. We are not

going to let that happen,"
said Jilendra Choudhury.

Suhrld Sankar
Chattopadhyay

the State. The State

government always viewed

125

l"R(iN'll.lNE

JUNE .36. 2015

t 1s 0rtn1 t
GJM leaders in murder case charge sheet

hengal
west

THE Gorkha
Janamukti Morcha
[GJM], the singlemost powerful
political force in the
Darjeeling hills of
West Bengal, is

lCPRM], the Communist

Party of India lMarxisti and

the Gorkha National

Liberation Front lGNLF|
met and set up a forum

called the Democratic

Front. "This is an attempt

facing a major crisis

to re-establish democracy

with the Central

in the hills." Khati told

Bureau of Investigation

Frontline.

[CBI] naming the entire

:
1
:

:
3

Bharatiya Gorkha
League IABGLI in 2010.

In the charge sheet

filed by the CBI on May

5
;
:
1

29 before a court in
Kolkata, 23 persons,
including alltheleaders
of the GJM were

:
:
I
:
5

charged with criminal

conspiracy for murder,
rioting armed with
deadly weapons, and
committing murder.
Some of the big names
indicted by the CBI
include Bimal Gurung,

GJM supremo and chief

5

executive of the Gorkha

Territorial

Administration lGTA].

the elected autonomous

I
5

administrative bodythat
governs the Darjeeling
hills; Roshan Giri,
general secretary of the
GJM; Binoy Tamang,
Assistantgeneral
secretaryoftheGJM;

:
5

Pradeep Prad han, vice

president of GJM and

IT

-1
lI
1
T

top leadership of the

party in its final charge
sheet in the case of the
murder of Madan

: Tamang, the then

I president of the All

I'."
J

chairman of GTA; Harka

5 Bahadur Chhetri, GJM

g MLA from Katimpong;
:

Ramesh Alley, Deputy

chief executive of GTA,

FRONTLINF.

JUNE Zn, EOI5

em PRESIDENT Bimal Gurung lright] with his wife

Asha Gurung and Roshan Giri, general secretarty.
and Asha Gurung, wife of
Bimal Gurung and head of
GJM Narimorcha, the
women's wing of the party.
On the morning of May

21, 2010, Madan Tamang, a

arrest of Bimal Gurung and

the GJM leadership. We
want their passports to be
seized, as they may now try
to leave the country, said
Pratap Khati, ABGL leader.

It is feared that this

However, many in the

hills also feel that the CBl's
charge sheet may be a
political game, particularly
in view of the fact that the
premier investigating body
named the entire top
leadership, including those
who had nothing to do with

the killing.
Harka Bahadur Chhetri

called it a "conspiracy" to
weaken the GJM. "I have

always maintained that

those who are guilty should

veteran campaigner for a

separate state of
Gorkhaland and a vocal

new development may

plunge the Darjeeling hills

critic of the GJM. was

into a period of uncertainty

brutally hacked to death by

again, after the violent

GJM activists white he was

agitation by the GJM was

finally quelled by the

the GJM leaders in the

murder. Everybody knows
that when the incident
occurred in Darjeeling, I
was in Kalimpong. In fact, I

establishment of the GTA

was so unhappy about the

in which Bimal Gurung's

murder thati had even

resigned from the party;

organising a rally in
Darjeeling. One of the main
accused in the case, Nicole
Tamang, who is also
mentioned in the CBI
charge sheet, was arrested
by the West Bengal police
in August 2010, but he

party won all 45 seats

practically unopposed.
There is also an
apprehension among the
people of the hills that this

nabbed. When the CID

may be a telling blow to the

movement for a separate

[Crime Investigation

state of Gorkhaland.

escaped soon after he was

Department] of the state

The opposition parties

police presented its charge

in the Darjeeling hills,

sheet the same year. not a

sensing that the GJM is on

single top GJM leader's

name was in it.
Subsequently, the CBI took
over the case in 2011.
"This is a huge victory
forjustice. We now
demand the immediate

the back foot, have been

trying to organise
themselves. On June 2, a
number of the hill parties,
including ABGL, the
Communist Party of
Revolutionary Marxist

126

be punished, but it is

preposterous to name all

but the political situation

was so volatile that I had to

return after two days. We

will let the legal process
take its course, but if this is

the way the CBI acts, then

unfortunately we will lose
all confidence in it,"
Chhetri told Frontline. The
CBI charge sheet has also

been a cause of discomfort

for the West Bengal unit of
the BJP, as it had won the

Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat

with the GJM'S support.
Suhrid Sankar

Chattopadhyay

4\if

an-~s

the last two decades. I must also say that I have suffered

Transgender at the top

a lot in my whole career, particularly at the hands of

FDR the first time iri India, a transgender academic

those who resented the fact that I was actiially very good

has been made the head of an advanced educational

institute. Manabi Bandyopadhyay created history

at myjob," Manabi told Frontline

principal of Krishnanagar Women's College in Nadia

When she applied for the post online and had to state
her gender, there were only two categories to choose
from"Male" and "Female", and she applied under the

district. An associate professor of Bengali at the

Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalay in Pashchim

"Female" category. "At the interview, the form I had to

fill up had "Others" as a category against gender. There I

Medinipur district, Manabi took charge of her new

office on June 9.

wrote "Transgender," she said. As news of her

Born Somnath Bandopadhyay in 1966, Manabi grew

phone calls and messages and media attention.

when she recently became the first transgender

hengal
west

appointment broke, she admitted she was flooded with

up in Naihati in North 21 Parganas district. She has a

Ph.D in Bengali and has been in academics tor more

"Frankly, the situation is driving me crazy," she said.

Witty, and often scathing with her words, one can

than 20 years. She is an author and has penned a

feel an underlying resentment at being categorised.

bestseller novel, "Endless Bondage" lEnglish

translation]. which was published in 2002, and an

"Why should people consider my being made a principal

of a college such a big achievement? I believe my

academic book, "Third gender in Bengali Society and

achievement of being a professor and teacher is as big

an accomplishment." She maintained that whatever

prejudice she faced, it was never from her students.
Not one to mince her words, Manabi told Frontline

that she does not have any "motto" regarding her newly
assumed position. "This is a profession for me; and I will
perform my duties to the best of my abilities, as I have
always done. I have suffered for my coniniilnieiil, but

that has not made me shy away from my duties," she

said.

In a society where prejudices are hard to overcome

and anything that is perceived as "not normal" is treated

with ridicule and mistrust, transgenders have been

among the most marginalised and misunderstood.
Manabrs appointment has been hailed as a progressive
and socially important step. Rattan Lal Hangloo, eminent
historian and Vice-Chancellor of Kalyani University Ito
which Krishnanagar Women's College is affiliated], said,

"Kalyani University welcomes this decision. She lManabil

is a fine human being, a good academic, and an able

administrator. The government step deserves

oun o ouqaon qoa

o ouon onl

MANABI BANDYOPLDHYAY.

appreciation. We are hopeful it will empower other

Literature" l20I2I. She is also the editor and publisher of

members of the transgender community."

Even those who have been often critical of the State

Sub-human, the only magazine in the country that deals

with transgender issues. "I have been bringing out this

government have voiced their appreciation for this move.

Sampa Sen, associate professor of Bengali in Hooghly

magazine for the last 20 years entirely from my own

Mohsin College told Frontline, "I do not support many

funds. I have received absolutely no financial help from

things that the State government has done, but I fully

endorse this appointineiit. Manabi Bandopadhyay has
had to struggle very hard and she has achieved a lot. But
there will be more challenges ahead for her," said Sen

anybody," said Manabi. In 2003, she underwent a well-

piiblicised sex-change operation, and has been a symbol

for the cause of the rights of the transgender
community. Manabi has an adopted son. Debashish
Manabiputra.
"I never wanted the job of a principal. I wanted to

government has been sympathetic to her situation. "It

was only after this government came to power that I got

continue teaching; but I also needed to be closer to my

92~year-old-father, and Krishnanagar is closer to

proper recognition, and I was officially and legally

allowed to be Manabi and not Somnath," she said.

Naihati than Jhargram where I have been teaching for

Manabi herself feels that the Trinamool Congress

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

I27

FR(IN'lI.l|\irZ

Jl|I\f".2(\.llH?-

t IS ortni t

grace
i

"4

1. i
$5-

The IMF has to wait

IMF managing director,

uphill struggle selling any

Christine Lagarde, said

deal to his party, and

YOU could almost hear

the gritted teeth
through wtiicli the

"country members can

ask to bundle together
multiple principal

she fully expected it to

arrive, smacked of both
desperation and detiaiice.

Varoufakis_ who has been

sidelined from the talks
but reiiiaiiis Finani.-e

international Monetaiy

payments falling due in a

Greei:e's stance is
likely to inftiriate the IMF

Minister, have cioiifiniied

to make pungent public

Fund HMF] issued its

terse statement
acknowledging that
Athens planned to
miss the June 5
deadline for making a

calendar month". But it

was clear that the IMF had
received little warning of
Greece's plans.
Yanis Varoufakis, the

which does not want to

shoulder the blame for
pushing Greece into
default, but reportedly

t:oiiiitrys piignaciniis

believes that ('.Ul'f'F!Ill plans

statements about the

sacrifices of the Greek
people.
A deal still remains
Just about possible; but as

300iiiillioii lF2'i9iiii debt

Finance Miiiistei, has long

for tackling its debt

the IMF ponders the

repayment.

argued that the end of

burden remain unrealistic.

ramifications of letting the

the Washingtonbased
lender, which was always
wary about being dragged

June is the real deadline

for reaching an
agreement. That is when

Even with the rest oi

the month now apparently
available to secure a deal,

June 5 deadline pass

without receiving its
cheque, and Tsipras

into Europe's debt crisis,

did not condemn Greece's
actions, let alone suggest
that deferring the payment

the four month extension

to the counth/s bailout
programme that the Syriza
government won in

the distance between

remains C0l\Sldl'Eli)li?, as
leaked negotiating texts

prepares to do battle with

his own party over the
creditors latest set of
demands, it feels like an

was tantamount to default.

February expires.

from both sides suggested

increasingly slim hope.

But the last-minute

It simply restated that

in a little~known loophole

decision to delay the

adopted in the late 1970s,

payment, just hours after

Greece and its i;red|tui's

on June 4. Meanwhile,
both Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras, who faces an

Heather Stewart

Guardian News
Service

.._-

PRIME MINISTER Alexis Tsipras [right] with Finance Minister Yanis Varouiakis at the Finance Ministry in Athens.
:{lIhll.]i\'r1

JlFNl'l_'-'v,_lil:'-

i.i<.'i"ii-ii-ts
Modi's first year

disregard for parliamenlan; procedures

through bypassing standing committees on many occasions and taking the ordinance route for many important laws. It
seems all the decisions are vested with

he launched social security schemes, reduced corruption and tried to put India on
the global map. Although there are some
issues that are yet to be addressed such
as farmers concerns. especially those

PMO while the initiatives of individual

Ministers are kept on the back burner.

relating to the land acquisition Bill, one

Despite the hype about enhanced diplo-

should not be overcritical of the government at this juncture.

matic relations with many countries, th-

BAL GOVIND

ere is no significant improvement in

NDIDA, UTTAR PRADESH

India's

relations

and

ALTHOUGH Modi's one year in office

N.C. SREEDHARAN

started off with big promises and only

came up with modest accomplishments,

with

China

Pakistan.
KANNUR, KERALA
THE Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh has

it is heartening that there is no policy

been systematically working for many

the previous regime. One year is too

years to bring a pracharak to the helm of

affairs at the Centre. Modi's anointment

short a period to judge the performance

of a government.

WHILE criss-crossingthe countryduring

the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha
election, Narendra Modi spread the
message that Ram Rajya would be ushered in if his party, the BJP, got the mandate [Cover Story. June 12]. It was a

as Chief Minister of Gujarat was the first

step. The Congress 10-year term was a
real blessing for the RSS as it was able to
bring Modi into the fray by sidelining oldtime BJP leaders. The one-year appraisat in your magazine proved that pointvery

There have been ups and downs in the

first year, yet Modi has been working
hard to ensure that only proven performers with integrity are appointed to key
posts. One cannot brush under the car-

nicely packaged dream that was sold to a

well.

paralysis or scams that characterised

pet the Modi government's major

achievements in foreign policy matters,

population yearning for a change after 10

years of the United Progressive Alliance

N. NAGARAJAN
HYDERABAD

in defence modernisation and preparedness, in opening up various sectors for

government. Every promise Modi made

AT the international level, Modi has

foreign direct investment and in getting a

was lapped up by adoring crowds.

But one year of Modis rule has
brought disillusionment to the people.
There is a wide gap between his promise
and performance. Unfortunately, Modi

achieved some success, but what about

the problems of the common man in India? After one year in power, nothing has
come of all the promises he made to the
common man. The Modi government

plethora of important Bills passed.

and his colleagues still appear to be in

claims that inflation has been tamed, but

election mode. The image one gets of the

National Democratic Alliance INDA} government is that it is pro-rich and pro-

the prices of all essential items are beyond the reach of the common man.

K.R. SRINNASAN
SECUNDERABAD, TELANGANA

M. KUMAR
NEW DELHI

industry and anti-farmer and anti-la-

IT is time to analyse where India stands

bour.
O.B.N. MURTHY
BANGALORE

on the global stage. To be honest, it has

MODI came to power because of the tall

the country has huge potential in terms

promises he made during his high-pro-

of natural resources. The big question is,

file election campaign and he must have

felt the weight of people's expectations

what is preventing india from achieving

milestones on all the major fronts? It is

during his one year in office. Many of

the government's responsibility to deal

his promises are unfulfilled, and the euphoria has faded away. The chances of
these promises coming to fruition in the
next four years appear remote. Social
security schemes launched under the

with corruption,which hasfora longtime

been halting progress in the country. Besides. what needs the immediate attenlion of the government isjob creation and
infusion of more resources into the agri-

AS brought out in the Cover Story article

"Look West, Act East", the NDA government has continued lndias pro-West tilt

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Food
Security Act are either being diluted or

cultural and information technology sec-

in foreign policy. Any statesman is in part

tors.

a prisoner of necessity. He is faced with

P. SENTI-IIL SARAVANA DURAI

an environment he did not create. The

scuttled. Modi has not atlayed the apprehensions of the minority communities

VAZHAVALLAN, TAMIL NADU

MODI does not have a magic wand to

U.S. superpower status has been rudely

shaken by China and Russia. The balance

too.
Modi has addressed foreign parlia-

wave and change the fortunes of the

country in one go. He did literally prom-

of power is precarious. Viewed from this

angle, the article evaluated Prime Minis-

ments and only made fleeting appear-

ise voters the moon last year and that is

ter Modis trip abroad correctly and un-

ances in

why the expectation levels were high. but

derlined the fact that India's immediate

India's. He

has shown a

milesto go.Simultaneously,ilistrue that

129

FRUNTLINF.

JUNE 2h, 2iIl5

I . l*.'.l."l li RS
land swap deal with Bangladesh is the

Great Patriotic War held in Moscow on

May 9. One wonders why these Western

delved into the technicalities of the issue

Modi governments great achievement.

nations continue to remain with NATO as

rather than consid-

Modi's ambitious neoliberal dreams"

this alliance lost its importance after the

ering the overatlcor-

will become reality. thanks to his support

for the Asian Infrastructure Investment

break-up of the USSR. There were two

superpowers during the Cold War. but

rosive impact on
society of corruption

Bank.

now there is only one superpower, the

involving those in
public life l"The ver-

neighbourhood will be his priority. The

THOMAS EDMUNDS
CHENNAI

Second World War

"_*_|"

U.S., which is also slowly losing its importance both militarily and economically. It is high time that NATO was
disbanded and a combined military alliance of the E.U. is formed.
DEENDAYAL M. LULLA

dict in question" and

"Faith at fever pitch". June 12l.
For a party supposedly rooted in rational thinking and stridently opposed
to religiousfsuperstitious practices, the

MUMBAI

sight of party leaders and cadres trying

to outdo one another by organising religious rituals to thank the gods tor the
exoneralion of their supremo was ridiculous and hypocritical and shows the nauseating depths to which sycophancy can

Movie stars
THE article "Acting
the age" [June 12]
was thought-provok-

ing. The time is ripe

go.

now for Rajinikanth

B. SURESH KUMAR

totryhishand atpolitics in Tamil Nadu.

COIMBATORE, TAMIL NADU

He can put to good

use the superstar

THE two World Wars resulted in the

widespread destruction of lives and
property l"Remembering a great war".
June 12]. The complex economic condi-

image and charisma that he built up so

assiduously and his band of admirers,
which constitutes youths ready to do his
bidding.

tions prevailing in the world today have

made nations dependent on one another
for their survival. and this is a deterrent

G. AZEEHODDIN
ANANTAPUR ANDHRA PRADESH

to a third world war. Western leaders

boycotted the 7Uth anniversary of the

RESP0N5E

Jayalalithaa

CORRECTION
In the interview with Hannah Mullah [Cover

Story. June 12], the former Lok Sabha member

waswronglymentionedasaformermemberof
the Rajya Sabha.
ANNO UN CEMENT

IT is regrettable that in acquitting Jayalalithaa, the Karnataka High Court judge

Letters. whether by surface mail or e-mail,

must carry the full postal address and the lull
name. or the name with initials.

st-;t~;.\1.-\ .\IILiJ.-\
U.K.-

of Indian industry, have time

based magazine, the only In-

and again turned to Ms Ma-

dia-based CEO on that list.

zumdarShaw for guidance.

Because of her leadership qualities, the 2014

Othmer Gold Medal and the

And government bodies such

as the Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission and Karnata-

international forums.

2014 Global Economy Prize

ka's Vision Group on Bio-

appointed business leader",

which is completely uncalled
for and has no relevance to

It is in recognition of her
unique contributions that the
government of India confer-

technology consult her on a

the story which is a report

red on her two of India's top

card onthe BJPgovernment.

As a highly responsible
member of the Indian business community, Ms Ma-

civilian awards. the Padma

Bhushan and the Padma
Shri. almost a decade ago.

for Business have been conferred on her by the U.S.based Chemical Heritage
Foundation and the Germany-based Kiel Institute for
the World Economy, respectively. The U.S.' leading "For-

This year, she has yet

eign Policy" magazine has

appalling to see her being re-

zumdarShaw has time and

again been ranked among

listed her among the "100

ferred to in such a deroga-

again made her views public

the

Leading Global Thinkers of

lory manner.

without fear or favour. Her

Women" globally by Forbes

2014".

views are objective and reflect concerns of both Indian

magazine, moving up to No.

85. She has been recently

In fact, a lot of industry

bodies. from the Association

industry in particular and the

ranked No. 2 in the "Global

of Biotech Led Enterprises

Head,
Corporate Communications,

country as a whole.

Power List by "The Medicine

[ABLE] to the Confederation

Biocon, Bangalore.

THIS is with reference to the

Let us not forget that Ms

article "Little to cheerabout"

The author of the article,
C. P. Chandrasekhar, refers
to Biocon chairperson Kiran

Mazumdar-Shaw's untiring
efforts have helped put the
Indian biotechnology industry on the global map and
made India proud at various

Mazumdar-Shaw as a self-

[June 12].

FRONTLINF.

.ll|NF.2,2l)l5

"I00

Most

Powerful

13D

Maker",

leading

lot of important issues that

concern the Indian pharma

and biotechnology industry.

Today. Ms MazumdarShaw is well recognised as a

global influencer. It is most

Seema Ahuja

its
9

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Published on alternate

No.AP.lSD417.IINPP.20t4-15 8t MHIMFl/South-I80/2012-14.PostaI Regn. N0.l-l/SD/'479i14-I6. FlN| No.42591I84

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