Honest is, as honest does

Integrity, in the job of the Prime Minister, demands putting national interest above partisan politics and personal loyalties. By that standard Dr.Manmohan Singh can't be called a "man of integirty".

Today, the Indian media - both print and television - is focusing on the recent corruption scandals involving the UPA Government with unusual zeal. However, I fail to understand why almost every commentator, every TV anchor, every editorial writer feels compelled to pay ritual obeisance to the "personal honesty and integrity" of Dr. Manmohan Singh while dealing with the scandals emanating from his Cabinet colleagues. They do so even when there is clear evidence that the Prime Minister was well aware of various shady deals, as in the case of telecom scam, and that he did nothing to stop the brazen economic crimes indulged in by his ministerial colleagues over the last six years. 

Corruption is not only about personally accepting monetary bribes and stacking them away in hidden bank accounts overseas, buying benami properties or accepting diamond sets for your wife. Corruption can come in insidious avatars, such as knowingly turning a blind eye to misuse the entire machinery of governance to serve private ends of a few individuals, even to the point of endangering national security. For example, not a single person has been punished thus far for supplying sub standard bullet proof jackets to the police handling the 9/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Not surprisingly, we are right now witnessing yet another scam involving sub standard bullet proof vests. 

In recent weeks, some of our most respected columnists have been warning us that we should look at institutional reform rather than target individuals because it can lead to loss of faith in democratic institutions. But how do you retain faith in democratic institutions if powerful individuals use their office to systematically subvert the autonomy and credibility of institutions meant as watchdogs of democracy? The best of institutions take no time in becoming slavish instruments of partisan agendas if you plant subservient and heavily compromised individuals at their helm. 

 People attribute his pliability to the fact that the prime minister was appointed and not elected.

Dr Manmohan Singh cannot escape responsibility for appointing people with dubious credentials to occupy key positions of power - starting with the appointment of Pratibha Devisingh Patil as the President of India. This despite the fact that that Congress leaders of her own district protested vehemently against her appointment because of her and her close kin's direct involvement in criminal cases. Thereafter, all key institutions, including the Election Commission, the Central Vigilance Commission have been filled with people whose credentials have been questioned not just by the opposition but also the media and respected public figures. 

He has also provided key portfolios to people with a proven track record of brazen corruption. For example, IAS officer, Mr Lalli the CEO of Prasar Bharati that manages Doordarshan has been guilty of countless corrupt deals and practices. Despite numerous agitations by the staff of Doordarshan to get him punished, he continues lording over the institution because he is supposed to have the PM's backing. 

This regime has also gone out of its way to protect those judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court who have such serious corruption charges against them as to merit impeachment and criminal trials. Justice Dinakaran of the Karnataka High Court was saved from the wrath of and boycott by the legal fraternity of Karnataka by being transferred to Sikkim High Court despite loud protests by people in Sikkim. Judges who are alleged to have shared in the loot of Provident Fund of class 1V employees in UP have not been subject to investigation, leave alone punishment. One of them retired after serving a full term in the Supreme Court. The kingpin of the scam who later provided evidence of the complicity of the judges died under mysterious circumstances in jail. 

Supreme Court Justice Sabharwal was likewise protected from prosecution even though the allegations against him during UPA's first term were no less serious than that of Kalmadi. He is alleged to have ordered demolition of numerous commercial centres and complexes in Delhi in order to benefit his son's investment in high end malls, causing havoc for lakhs of small and big commercial property owners of Delhi. 

The CWG scam is not just about misappropriation of funds through inflated bills and money being paid to bogus companies. It all started with the politician-contractor mafia being allowed to violate all environmental laws to convert the Yamuna floodplains into prime real estate by building luxury apartments in the name of Games Village. This happened despite the High Court ban on all construction activity on the floodplains. 

It needed the influence of people far more powerful than Kalmadi to persuade the Supreme Court into over ruling the considered view of the High Court and ensuring that Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh looked the other way when all environmental laws were being brazenly flouted right under his nose to build high rise apartments and other commercial structures on the floodplains. The game plan behind building luxury apartments on the forbidden land became obvious from the fact that the builders had to be whip lashed into completing at least half the apartments before the Commonwealth Games. They were obviously given to understand that the CWG was merely a fig leaf for converting floodplains into prime real estate in the heart of Delhi. 

The choice of the company that built the Games Village, the names of its real owners, its unknown and known partners, and the list of its known and unknown beneficiaries will reveal a scam more insidious than the Adarsh Housing Scam of Mumbai which involved Congress Party CM and other politicians, top ranking officials of the armed forces and bureaucrats cornering luxury apartments in a prime location in a housing society set up in the name of Kargil widows. In this case too, the only visible action taken by the Prime Minister is to replace the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. No sign of any heads rolling as yet. 

Or take the example of the most politically sensitive state of Kashmir. Dr. Manmohan Singh allowed an anti-Omar agitation to turn into an anti India agitation much against his own counsel, all because he dare not sack Omar Abdullah from the CM's post even when the entire Valley rose in revolt against his high handed, corrupt and callous regime. Senior Congress leaders admit in private that Omar cannot be touched since he is a buddy of Rahul Gandhi. Dr Singh knows well that Omar's continuation has given a new lease of life to the Pakistan-inspired separatist and terrorist movement in Kashmir. 

People attribute his pliability to the fact that the prime minister was appointed and not elected. He has never won a Lok Sabha election. But that cannot be used as an excuse to justify overlooking such gross mismanagement and loot as well as the political drift one witnesses even in areas involving national security.

In fact, his defeat in the one and only election he ever fought is related to his lack of personal integrity. He was defeated in the predominantly middle-class South Delhi constituency because people in general and Sikhs in particular were enraged when Manmohan Singh denied the role of the Congress in the 1984 Anti Sikh carnage and instead attributed the 1984 massacre to the RSS. The RSS may well be guilty of many other communal riots but the credit for the 1984 massacre goes entirely to Congress politicians, including Rajiv Gandhi who even justified the killings saying: "when a big tree falls, the earth is bound to shake." The Congress Party also ensured that those who masterminded and executed the 1984 pogram did not get punished. 

Similarly, in the case of Gujarat riots, the Prime Minister happily joined the chorus initiated by his boss pillorying Narendra Modi as "Maut ka Saudagar" even though it is well known that Congress party cadres merrily joined the riotous mobs unleashed by BJP--RSS combine in Ahmedabad and elsewhere. This failure to own responsibility for the conduct of his party men and passing the entire responsibility on to Modi is in large part responsible for the lack of credibility of Congress Party in Gujarat and the severe erosion of its political base in Gujarat. 

Likewise, getting a Rajya Sabha seat from Assam claiming he is a resident of the state when he has never had any such connection with Assam is a definite indicator of questionable political integrity. A PM who compromises national interest, as in Kashmir, just to indulge the personal fancy of the PM-in-waiting, a PM who looks the other way while his Cabinet colleagues brazenly loot public funds and get away with extorting thousands of crores by way of kickbacks, a PM who is widely perceived and lampooned as a "rubber stamp" does not merit being called "an honest man" or a "man of integrity"; in his job, integrity demands putting national interest above partisan politics and personal loyalties. Integrity also involves taking full responsibility for all his acts of commission and omission which have earned UPA II the dubious distinction of being publicly named as the most corrupt and rudderless government in post independence India. 

A very honest & unfaltering account of present day farce in governance. It's disheartening to be led by a puppet leader. Alas, where are such leaders who think about national interest over self-interest?  

Sun Tzu in his treatise "The art of War" stated that an over compassionate leader brings only destruction and Dr. Manmohan Singh is a rather shining example. Wish he would have showed this compassion to the people of India rather than the party high command. 

There is such an image built around Dr. Manmohan Singh which now seems like a mask. Integrity is of no use if it cannot command any affirmative action. Even his predecessor Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in the same boat.

During the last three weeks, when parliament was defunct, we never heard or saw him anywhere, neither the UPA president and the aspiring PM who talks a lot about good governance. PM's placing, PM's continuation in the position raises another concern who planted him at PM office. Because in the recent past he appeared public only when any foreign delegation comes and he has to sign commercial contracts rather diplomatic negotiations. The political discourse of the country seems to be dictated by somebody outside or some powerful incorporate inside. 

Our PM, whom the corporate media wants to keep aloof from the charges of corruption. I remember how Smt. Indira Gandhi was hounded by the media then for corruption charges against her/government when the charges were nothing compared to present day charges. It is a pity to note that the so called intellectuals are comparing NDA/Yedurappa's corruption to divert the real issue. A person who secured a vote of confidence with hundreds of crores of rupees being paid as bribes to MPs, how can he be described as an honest man? Being the head of the government Dr. Manmohan Singh cannot pretend to be honest when the biggest ever scam has occurred and he is fully aware of the murky deals indulged by his ministers. 

The Emperor of Integrity has no clothes now. This required critical analysis and integrity. Integrity in any field is not only to perform according to one's conviction but also to act on the basis of one's knowledge and not to be blinded by emotion. This is what Dr. Manmohan Singh has done so far in his supplicant role to the Congress party. 

   No one in India can claim to be entirely honest. Similarly, no one can be condemned as wholly dishonest. There is indeed cent percent collective dishonesty in India. But, as far as possible one can be honest singularly. But, collectively, it is not possible in India to be fully honest despite wanting to be so.

The PM is only a victim of such a situation where some of his junior colleagues are alleged to have committed the cardinal sin without his knowledge. Now, sadly, the collective responsibility has fallen on him.
He is more sinned against than sinning himself.

I was a firm supporter of the PM and his governance in UPA I. In fact, the way he stuck to his point in the nuclear deal, whether right or wrong being a different question altogether, removed any myth in the mind of the opposition whether he was a weak PM. I have personally felt that any links with US have to be dealt with caution due to their bloody present and past. In the last few years, the PM's closeness to US almost seems to raise suspicion.

In spite of the immense poverty and the destruction of agriculture sector in this country, the PM continues in his industry-oriented economic path. His three favourite letters in the English language are surely G-D-P. The Radia tapes have only shown how our industries operate. I hope at least now he wakes up to the reality and realizes that India is a socialist republic.

The PM is now weaker than ever before, not least because of Madame Sonia Gandhi, but due to inaction against corrupt practices.

PUSHBACK TIME IN BIHAR - They hit back, "and it felt good"

A public hearing on NREGA in a remote village in Bihar created a confrontation between a leader accused of corruption and the workers who exposed him.

A hot, open field in a remote countryside in Bihar. The location: Saurgaon village in the Kursakata Block of Araria district. Hundreds of workers were lined up in front, waiting patiently for their turn. The occasion was a public hearing, organized by Jan Jagaran Shakti Sanghatan(JJSS), a new local social movement, which had recently been formed to support the workers struggle for employment. 

File picture of a JJSS-organised public hearing at Bhangahi panchayat, Narpatganj block, Bihar on July 8th, 2010. Pic: JJSS. 

A tent had been set up for the occasion. It was already full with people from the local Panchayat, but more villagers continued to trickle in. The hearing began with the organizers singing some revolutionary workers’ songs. Immediately after, 34-year-old Ashish Ranjan, one of the organisers of the event, took to the podium and demanded, "Have you ever seen a muster roll?" A resounding "NO!" shook the tent. “Have you had one hundred days of employment?” Again, “NO!” Ranjan proceeded to explain that the purpose of the meeting was to inform people about their rights and to present the results from a recent audit. 

A week prior, he was working with some volunteers, who were preparing for a village survey. They were looking at the government records of a village that they are going to audit. One volunteer noticed, "The same road is listed on two different yojanas”. Another retorted, I see a similar case in my register as well. The following day, they visited some villages to track down the road, where they heard that the work was not even completed the first time around, leave alone having multiple projects. So, it seemed to be a clear case of one work having different names to trick the people. 

To one worker, Kanchi (name changed), 35, they said, "It looks like you’ve worked 40 days this past year, received Rs. 4000 for it in your account, and then subsequently withdrew it." Kanchi gave them a blank look, which quickly turned to rage. All of the other passbooks indicated similar activity, and the villagers became increasingly agitated. Another volunteer asked, "Are you saying that you haven't received this money?” They replied, "No, not at all." 

The meeting re-started and the atmosphere remained tense, the scuffle had ironically brought the agenda to sharp focus.  This was exactly the kind of illegitimate activity that JJSS was interested in unearthing, so they asked the villagers to come to the following week’s public hearing. Most hesitated, but then agreed to come. When they asked people to sign a written testimonial, a few refused, saying, "I can’t sign this paper. I need to live here." They feared retaliation from government officials. 

Later, the fear spread to the other villagers, and some even demanded that they return the written testimonial. Later in the evening, they encountered some of the villagers. They were having a drink and discussing the day’s events. Kanchi was among them, and they all began to discuss the hearing. Kanchi voiced everyone’s worries: "These b*t*ds will kill us. I’m not scared, but some people are." They assured them that JJSS would remain in the area and that they would provide support. 

One week later at the public hearing, Ranjan laid down the protocol of the event: “Lift your hands to speak, and come to the microphone in the front to speak." He noted that the proceedings would be video recorded. 

The gathering at the public hearing at Bhangahi. Pic: JJSS. 

Manoj Singh, 50, the panchayat president, got up first to speak. He said, "Everything is going well in this village. All the work has been done and everybody was paid." Then, results from the audit were read out, making clear gross disparities in claims between the government records and from the survey.

Kanchi raised his hand to speak: “My name is Kanchi and I am from Boratola (name changed).”

Ranjan asked, "The government records say that you worked on a project to move sand from Ram's house to Krishna's. Did you do so, and how much were you paid?” “Yes, sir, I did work on that project.” 

“The government records show,” Ranjan continued, “that you worked for 40 days and were paid Rs.4000. Is that correct?” “No, sir, I have not been paid that much money. I only got Rs.1000". Someone immediately shouted, "He is lying!" 

Kanchi was livid. He pointed towards Singh, the panchayat leader and said, "He’s a crook. He and his cronies must have taken the rest of my money, whole 3000 rupees!" Mukhya rose up, rushed over to grab the microphone, and then hit Kanchi on the head with the microphone stand. The entire proceedings occurred in front of 500 people and was caught on video. 

This caused a great uproar, very soon the workers got up and started running towards the Mukhya shouting "“hit him, hit him”. Suddenly sticks appeared and they were charging up to the Mukhya, who was immediately whisked away to safety. Everybody was running and shouting and there was a minor scuffle between Mukhya’s men and some of the workers. 

The activists were running clutching the documents they had tightly so that they weren’t taken away in the commotion. Soon, the activists brought the meeting to order. Singh returned, and everybody sat down. The meeting re-started and the atmosphere remained tense, the scuffle had ironically brought the agenda to sharp focus. The testimonials continued to pile up, but the workers were careful not to name-call and stuck to facts. People were clapping and cheering and backing up every testimonial from whoever had the courage to come and speak up. The clerks contested the evidence and gave counter testimonials. Some workers also stepped up to support this view and attested that they have been paid fully for their work and there are no problems in the village. These testimonies were often booed. 

Singh finally got up and said, “I have listened to the workers complaints, and I now know that there are problems but I wish that somebody had told me earlier.” He promised with a sly smile that he would take action and ensure that wages are returned to workers and will secure employment for everyone. The meeting ended and the testimonials were submitted to the Mukhya, the media and to the district collector’s office. 

The next morning on visiting the village, where Kanchi lived and on finding him, he said, “Mukhya (panchayat leader Manoj Singh) had come by in his car that night and had threatened the people in the village for speaking out”. But Kanchi added, looking away, “he can’t do anything to me”. On asking him, “what do you think will happen”, he said we have been discussing that in the village, it is unclear what will change. 

But, he added, “in the last 10 years that this Mukhya is in power, I have never seen him s**t in his pants like this”. He gleefully added, “and it felt good”.

Aamir ko gussa kyun aaya tha ??

 Aamir Khan sued Bennett Coleman, publishers of the Times of India and Filmfare magazine for running this ad using his photograph and a 'quote' without his consent. Aamir demanded Rs 21 crores and an apology.


A 'close associate' of the actor told Midday: "One can’t attribute quotes to someone or use his picture to promote or endorse something without permission... After all, they are cashing in on his reputation and image, and he has the right to choose what he endorses."


And Aamir would never endorse the Filmfare awards because he 'does not believe in awards'. Or any others, for that matter except the National Awards. And, I guess the Oscars.

This, I think, rankled the folks at Filmfare. Other stars were featured in the series of ads but note how staid the copy was. Woh to award lene aayenege, unhe naraaz thodi kar sakte they....

The one with Amitabh read: Amitabh Bachchan has been nominated for 'Black'. On Feb 25, the Lady in Black will decide.


And the copy in Junior B's ad was identical! Abhishek has been nominated for 'Bunty aur Babli'. On Feb 25, the Lady in Black will decide.


Had they similarly written 'Aamir is nominated for 'Mangal Pandey' I doubt the star would have bothered to sue them. But implying he 'incited a revolt to win over the Lady in Black' (the Filmfare statuette) is a bit over the top.

I think if an actor does not believe in awards you should respect that and not nominate him in the first place. Organisers, please keep this in mind next year - there were other fine actors in Rang de Basanti besides Aamir.

But of course if it isn't a major 'star' the nomination will only be for 'best supporting actor'.


Besides, that year saw both Karan Johar and Rakesh Roshan releasing films which meant the competition would be Shahrukh vs Hrithik.


And oh, KJo's film also featured Amitabhji and Abhishek.

I simply don't understand the logic here. Just because Big-B and Little-B didn't have a problem did it mean everyone else shouldn't? This is the chalta hai attitude we are notorious for. Bennett and Coleman was not the roadside paan-wala dukaan to slap an image of XYZ chewing paan. Aamir was being a thorough professional and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. That wasn't about money. This was about pissing off people who took others for granted.


I think that Benett & Coleman tried to take mileage of Aamir, the person whom the country knew. If he did not want to be in any ads without his permission, that needed to be respected by TOI.


In all fairness, this was a very silly thing. Why should we all waste our energies in either supporting or speaking against TOI. Both of them gained a huge lot of internet space anyway.


Sigh! Wish more stars would revolt against these 'I Love You-You Love me, We're One Big Happy Family' series of awards...

It's Sunday !

Well it's Sunday again! Hahah.. a time to relax after one whole week of early meetings, sick, MC and all... Wow, work is not easy man. Nevermind, Sunday is always the best for me!! Nevermind staying at home, no good movies to watch (watched iRobot last week, great show!). Oh, did I tell you that waking up so early in the morning, A SUNDAY MORNING for a meeting is such a dread??? Other days are still acceptable, but not Sunday.. What's new? Meetings and meetings and meetings all day long.


Well, the good thing is, Christian Fellowship at lunch break. Learned about the "childlike art" we need to have before God. Simple, pure, trust, faith. Well it's quite easy to say, but when you come to the real world, in a competative company, your faith is really challenged you know. But we have real experienced people inside the CF, passing down testimonies and experience, what a joy to know that you can still stay strong in your faith among the "difficult world" today.

Going home... Oh man... I have 4 alternative roads to go home.. and EVERY road is so jam. Dunno what is wrong with Pondy on Sundays, jammed for nothing. Anyway I took the longest way home, why??? Because I do not want to be a typical Pondy driver who cuts long traffic queue. Sometimes you wonder... everyone can wait.. why not this fella????


Indian Idol at night. Wildcard selection. Boy, they are all so good.. Wonder if those established singers right now compete with them... will these singers actually win???

okie better stop now. Received complains that I'm too indulged into this. Till next time, cya!

 Jesus loves you and He's real cool too!

A RIVER'S COURSE - Where does the Yamuna flow?

It was one thing to decide in a court of law that the floodplain of the Yamuna did not extend to the site of the Commonwealth Games Village. It was quite another thing to keep the river out.

New Delhi was gradually inching back to itself after a period of succumbing to national pride. The city had exhaled the razzmatazz around the organising of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG). Buses were back on the roads, people back to work and Shera, the Games mascot, now lied unmasked in godowns.

And so it was time to look at all the scandals whose investigations were put on hold in the interest of holding the Games themselves. The financial irregularities, the shoddy work until very late in the day, the security inadequacies were all kept at bay to make the event take place without the spotlight being on the taint of these failures. But the morning after the closing ceremony, an enquiry was initiated into the corruption scandals, many of them pointing to members of the Games Organising Committee. All of this was quite necessary, but even these investigations were not looking at one particular aspect - namely the long-term damage done to the river on whose bank the event was held. 

The location of the CWG Village

In September 2003, when the Commonwealth Games Federation selected Delhi as the venue for the XIX Commonwealth Games, the most important decision to be made was identifying the site of the Games Village, where the athletes would stay for the duration of the event. Picking a location just off National Highway 24 leading from Delhi to Ghaziabad and beyond, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) - through a public-private partnership - gave charge to Emaar MGF, one of India's premier real estate and infrastructure development companies for the construction of 1100-odd "purpose-built, self-contained premium residential community." On the completion of the games the profits were to be shared at 33:66 ratio between DDA and the builder who would put it up for sale as prime property available for purchase in the open market. 

Even as DDA and Emaar MGF discussed the modalities of the project (including a period where the private company went through a financial crunch and had to be bailed out by DDA), the location of the CWG Village itself came under question. The site, known as Yamuna Bank would include not only the housing units for the athletes, but also the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)'s depot, yard, station and residential complex.

In 2007, a group of concerned citizens and organisations including Vinod Kumar Jain, Magsaysay award winner Rajendra Singh, the heritage conservation group INTACH, and others approached the High Court of Delhi. In their writ petition (W.P. (C) 6729 and 7506 of 2007) challenging the construction activity going on the Yamuna riverbed, they alleged that this would damage the ecology and water-recharge ability of the river, and also impact the livelihoods of the agricultural communities who depended on its floodplain.

Almost all the government respondents refuted the apprehensions and allegations put forth in the public interest litigation. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, the Government of Delhi, DMRC and DDA filed separate counter affidavits which justified the site chosen for the CWG village and the DMRC complex, citing various studies and reports. 

Among the various reports brought to the court's attention, two were crucial - those by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur and the Central Water Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune. The NEERI had earlier prepared reports in 1999 and 2005 which had warned against urban sprawls and construction of residential and industrial facilities on the Yamuna riverbed. These had been commissioned by the DDA with the overall objective of rejuvenating the Yamuna river. As for the CWPRS report, Manoj Misra from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan says it was "a limited study that went into the question of flood impact on the planned CWG Village but which became the excuse for the MoEF to revise its earlier clearance given to DDA for only temporary structures, into permanent structures."  

In the wake of unprecedented rains this monsoon season, the Yamuna, oblivious to the Supreme Court verdict, continued to spread into the floodplain and right up to the CWG village and surrounded the DMRC complex as well. Basements in the CWG buildings were flooded with river waters seeping in from underneath the 'protective' bund. 

Consequently the entire construction came to be challenged before the High Court in 2007. In the course of this process of legal battle NEERI submitted another report in 2008. This report was subsequent to a site visit by the panel of judges to the CWG village and DMRC construction in January 2008. The 2008 report was critical and a clinchier for the DDA. The report stated that recent constructions on the Yamuna riverbed, such as the Akshardham Temple and an adjacent embankment have reshaped the riverbed and therefore the CWG village would not pose an environmental threat to the floodplain.

The High Court of Delhi, after hearings that continued over five months, took another eight months to come up with an interim order. This order sought to to establish an expert body headed by Dr R K Pachauri of The Energy Resources Institute to advise the High Court on the potential impact of all existing, ongoing and planned constructions in the river bed on the ecology of the river. The court's final decision would be based on this input. 

The interim verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court, which took a different view. The apex court first stayed the ruling and in July 2009 gave a potentially far-reaching judgement. In the verdict, the court questioned the 'environmentalism' of the petitioners and also the conclusions of the Delhi HC. The reports of CWPRS, the affidavits of all the government authorities, and the three NEERI reports read in conjunction were enough, said the court, to conclude in favour of the construction of the CWG village.

The judgment stated, "The High Court disregarded and ignored material scientific literature and the opinion of experts and scientific bodies which have categorically said that the CGV site is neither located on a "riverbed" nor on the "floodplain." To further stamp this opinion the apex court also referred to an earlier decision of the Supreme Court relating to the construction of the Akshardham temple, which had concluded that the distance between Yamuna river and the temple was nearly 1700 metres. The CWG village is located adjacent to the temple and for it too the same logic would be applicable, said the court.

The floods of 2010

The city of Delhi, the states surrounding it, and the Yamuna's catchment areas in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh received unprecedented monsoon rains in August-September 2010. For the first time since 1978, the floodplains of the river mushroomed new vegetation. Temporary shelters of farmers had to be removed, and a massive rehabilitation exercise for colonies situated on the floodplains became necessary.

What added to the river's glory and the city's woes was the release of additional water from the Hathnikund barrage in Haryana - reportedly the highest in the last 100 years. A report in Times of India indicated that, "for three hours at a stretch, the barrage saw 7,44,507 cusecs water passing through its gates, more than what was released in 1978 when Delhi witnessed its worst-ever floods." 

Yamuna floodwaters near the CWG village on 23 September 2010. 

None of this prompted any reference in media reports to the Supreme Court verdict, although the flooding was hitting everyone in the face. The Yamuna, oblivious to the verdict, continued to spread into the floodplain and right up to the CWG village and surrounded the DMRC complex as well. Only the motor road and the new constructions near it blocked the spread of the water into CWG village itself. Basements in the CWG buildings, however, were flooded with river waters seeping in from underneath the 'protective' bund, which could do nothing to undo the reality of the land being the riverbed or the floodplain of the river.

The rains calmed a few days before the CWG opening ceremony, and the waters receded. But while the Games escaped the wrath of the river's swelling, there is no evidence that any of this will lead us to question the political decision to locate the CWG village where it is.

The question then to ask is, will the Yamuna ever regain its lost course?  

The silence of the truth

Still Voices, Tamal Sen's diploma film from the Satyajit Ray Institute looks at freedom of expression in the world's largest democracy, showing how it is suppressed in the name of the larger good.

CBI internal investigator Jaidev Mishra is assigned the responsibility of investigating the sudden death of Nemo, a suspected Naxalite. As part of his investigation, Mishra comes to interview Arunima Sen, a reporter with a Kolkata daily and former girlfriend of Nemo. His investigation reveals that Nemo was shot down deliberately by two encounter specialists without being given a chance to defend himself. He did not have a criminal record. Nor was he carrying a gun. 

But Mishra's boss asks him to change the report. He tries to convince him that Nemo was shot at because he had fired the first shot at the police. The boss adds that releasing Mishra's report would hamper the prospective compromise between the Establishment and the Naxalites who had agreed to negotiate with the former. Mishra is shocked because he has already discovered the truth. Not only was Nemo unarmed, but he was also left-handed whereas the reports showed one gun having been fired with the right hand. He changes the report but later ensures through a different route that the truth will finally find its way. 

Still Voices is Tamal Sen's diploma film for direction from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. Through a very powerful sound track and imaginatively designed visuals, Sen points out how diabolically the citizen's fundamental right to freedom of expression is manipulated, censored and silenced by the Establishment in a country that prides itself on being the world's largest democracy. Subjects like the manufactured killing of a suspected terrorist by the police aren't usually the stuff of one's diploma film. Perhaps a choice like this reflects the pessimism of the younger generation of creative artists, asking "Where has love gone?" 

The 25-minute film has been nominated for Best Narrative Short at the Flint Film Festival, Michigan, USA. It also received five nominations ((Best Student Short, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Actor and Best Actress) and won the Honorable Mention 4th prize at the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival. It has received a Special Mention Critic's Prize at the 58th Columbus Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the North American continent. It has been chosen to be screened in the competitive Student Film Section at the Goa IFFI this year. 

Explaining what motivated him to deal with such a political statement in his diploma film, Sen says, "the political backdrop of the story provides context and grounds it firmly in this time and place. Take out the details, and you have the beginnings of a story that could be set within any time in history. The film's tagline 'The first casualty of war is truth', a quote from the Greek playwright Aeschylus, reflects the universality of the theme. At the time I was fleshing out the story, there was a tribal uprising in the village of Lalgarh, 96 miles from my hometown. The rapid industrialisation in other areas combined with long term neglect of tribals in Lalgarh had far reaching effects and fostered a sense of alienation. My film bears this out." 

Why did he make a straightforward feature film when most students of cinema try to experiment and explore anti-narrative forms of expression? "As a student of cinema, I could discern the clear divide between mainstream and art house cinema in India. Mainstream films rarely pick topics which reflect real life situations while art house films seldom manage to attract mainstream audiences. I saw even fewer student films that managed to bridge the gap between the two. Shoestring budgets play a very significant role in this, pushing most subjects out of our reach. The budget also affects decisions made on the aesthetics, influencing the film from the ground up," explains Sen. 

Still Voices is the story of three people, linked by a series of events, each driven by powers beyond their control, trying in their own way to wrest some control back into their lives against impossible odds. Nemo's traumatic past puts him on a path that rarely ends well, while all Arunima wants is closure after knowing the truth. As the only eye witness to the incident, she is absolutely certain about Nemo having been unarmed when the encounter specialists grabbed him. Jaidev wants to report the truth, but his upper echelons suppress him, emphasising the larger good at the cost of the truth.

The defining event of the narrative, using only sound on a black screen, begins the film - in a sense, a parallel to how the public remains mostly unaware of the truth. 

The film opens on a black screen with sound metaphors of chasing footsteps and heavy breathing filling the soundtrack, suggesting the presence of the killers and their victim. This is followed by the screeching tyres of a braking car punctuated by the sound of birds suddenly taking flight. The screen comes alive with granular Black-and-White shots at this point, and soon fills up with confused images of people running here and there, then walking towards the centre of a Kolkata street to stare at something lying on the ground. 

We hear the sound of three gunshots and the screen now changes to colour focussing on a pair of jean-clad legs lying prone on the street, a trickle of blood unfolding the tragedy of a death untold. As Jaidev Mishra sits down to interview Arunima Sen, the story flashes back and forth through swift cuts between Arunima's narration in the present and its picturisations in the past. Once the scene shifts to the interview, the film becomes more dialogue-centric than action centric till Arunima and Nemo go to the restaurant for lunch. 

"The challenge was in creating a narrative that encouraged understanding and prompted debate about the consequences of our actions. We were conscious not about choosing sides, but about our wish to explore the lives of the people directly involved," informs Sen. The editing and the soundtrack are the two powerful 'voices' in the film alongside the full-blooded presence of the two actors who portray Mishra (Gaurav Dwivedi) and Sen (Paru Gambhir.) 

Dishari Chakraborty's musical score uses the beat of rhythms more than melody and this adds to the air of suspense. Still Voices carries the professional finesse that comes from experience. Manas Bhattacharya's cinematography explores the graininess of Black-and-White and sets this against the soft pastel colours lit softly in Arunima's room juxtaposed against the dimly-lit shots within the restaurant. The editing by Sudipto Shankar Roy and the sound by Sudipto Mukhopadhay compliment the narrative and its unfolding. The film closes with the same Black-and-White grainy shots, elaborating the reality of what actually happened left hazy in the opening scenes. 

Still Voices throws up a microcosm of the reality that exists in the country today where voices are stilled, rebels are shot down without a trial, entire families are killed through terrible errors of confusion by the very people who are paid to protect lives. 

"I wanted to show that in the never ending battle for political power, truth is always the first casualty. The main purpose of this story was to portray the convoluted and dangerous world of politics, to highlight the lives of people who unwittingly become collateral damage in other people's aspirations, and finally to ask ourselves what difference a single man can make when the System itself is broken. Some of the audience members at previous screenings thought that the ending was too positive for the stark reality that the film was highlighting But this was a conscious decision. After all, we want our heroes to redeem us, to show us the paths that perhaps we are too afraid to take," Sen sums up. 
 

KANDHAMAL ATTACKS - Haunted by the riots

Christian dalits and adivasis in Kandhamal district of Orissa live fearfully among their Hindu neighbours more than two years after large-scale riots against members of their faith.

The Christian community of Kandhamal in Orissa, one of the poorest districts of India, was targeted with violent attacks between Christmas day of 2007 and August 2008. Two years on the administration maintains the situation is normal but, in effect, many of the victims still live in terror, a jury of the National People's Tribunal learned in August this year. 

Young Esthori, from Gunjiwadi, is one of those for whom the night of 25 August is a terrifying memory. She recalls how mobs attacked Christians like her family in the aftermath of Swami Laxmananda's assassination. Although the Maoists claimed responsibility for the crime, it was the Christians who were made the target. Says Esthori, "Many many people came to the village with sticks and stones, beating drums. We ran away and hid in the jungle for four days. I was very hungry. Today I still feel scared. Some children taunt me for being a Christian." 

For 13-year-old Dobin Nayak of Bududipada, Tiangia, the psychological trauma is far worse. A terrified Dobin witnessed a huge mob rushing into his home and setting it on fire. The attackers then turned on the adjoining house and dragged out his uncle Bikram Nayak, a prominent pastor. Bikram Nayak was savagely attacked with crowbars and an axe and then left for dead. The women, including Dobin, hid Bikram in a cowshed where he suffered a night in terrible agony. He later succumbed to his injuries in hospital. 

Two years after the horrific attack, Dobin's father Bipin, who deposed before a jury of the National People's Tribunal in Delhi asserts there is no real peace. Those who were part of the attack roam the village with impunity and threaten him with meeting the same fate as his brother. 

Deep in the forests in Bogadi hamlet, live Jacob Pradhan and his wife. They work as casual labourers or make platters from sal leaves. Pradhan was caught up in the maelstrom in a bizarre manner when he set forth from his home on 24 August to buy medicines for his father. Totally oblivious of the carnage, Pradhan reached the chemist's shop in Nuwagaon where some RSS workers questioned him. On learning he was a Christian they marched him to the police who took him and two others into custody. He was then charged with being part of the Maoist conspiracy that murdered Swami Laxmananda and three other VHP leaders. 

Taken to district headquarters of Phulbani they were stripped to their underwear, chained, locked up in a toilet and questioned repeatedly by the police in flagrant violation of all human rights. Then taken to Bhubaneswar, Pradhan was paraded as an accused and made to undergo a polygraph test before being suddenly released after 40 days of custody. No charges were eventually filed. 

Meanwhile, his home had been destroyed and his daughter narrowly escaped a sexual assault. After five months in a relief camp, Pradhan came back to his hamlet but in a complete travesty of justice he has not been successful in filing an FIR against those who destroyed his home. Nor have cases been lodged against those who held him and tortured him. 

No justice yet

Esthori, Nayak, Jacob ... like them there are thousands of other Christians, mostly Dalits (known locally as Panas) and adivasis (Kondhas) who are still awaiting justice and accountability for the attacks that took place in their district. According to official figures more than 600 villages were attacked, 295 churches destroyed, 54,000 people left homeless and 38 people were killed. More than 10,000 children had their education severely disrupted due to displacement and fear. 

Even these numbers, says Father Ajay Kumar Singh of Jan Vikas (a Christian organization working for social empowerment) would have been much higher had not the forests provided refuge for the thousands who fled there. 

Yet civil society's response to this sectarian violence has been hugely muted in comparison to Gujarat. Singh and other activists are perturbed by the hostile justice environment whereby victims, living cheek-by-jowl among their attackers, have not been given witness protection and are coerced into saying they cannot recognise those who carried out the attacks. 

Ethnic rivalry, or communal conflict?

Civil society's response to the sectarian violence in Orissa has been hugely muted in comparison to the attention paid to similar atrocities in Gujarat. Why did Kandhamal erupt? The reasons behind the violence - whether it was ethnically motivated, or part of a carefully designed communal strategy - is a subject of heated debate. The region has some of the poorest socio-economic indices in the country. Its population (2001 Census) comprises of 51.96 per cent Schedule Tribes (Kondhas) and 18.89 per cent Schedule Castes (Panas or Dalits). Until 1949 the Panas were also known as Hill Tribes but were then de-listed and classified as Dalits. Subsequently they began making demands for Schedule Tribe status on the grounds that they speak the Kui language. Consequently there were some simmering tensions between the two over land issues and allegations against Panas (many of whom converted to Christianity and lost SC benefits) of acquiring false certificates. 

It was against this background that Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra, appointed to inquire into the violence, declared the Kandhamal violence to be ethnic in nature, sparked by the issue of certification by the Panas. His remarks were widely picked up and endorsed by the Orissa media. 

However many of the victims and other organizations have protested vociferously saying the communal nature of the attacks and the specific role of saffron groups cannot be ignored. The Sampradayik Hinsa Prapidita Sangathana complained to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and accused Mohapatra of not unearthing true facts but making irrational conclusions and judgments. Several affidavits also categorically say that leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal led the mobs. In particular the name of BJP member, Manoj Pradhan, who has been convicted by the fast track court in two cases, figures prominently. Patnaik too has admitted that several VHP and Bajrang Dal members were arrested in connection with the attacks. 

A number of affidavits also affirm that the Christian and Hindu communities among the Dalits and Kondhas had for decades lived in harmony and celebrated festivals together but that the atmosphere was vitiated by inroads of the VHP who raised the bogey of proselytisation and forced conversions by Christians. Nimontee, whose son Dasharath was killed by locals in 2008 says she is shocked at the extent to which the amicability has been replaced with a communally charged mood. Slogans like "If you see a Pana cut him down instantly," still render the air. 

Observers say the communal cauldron was stirred up by Swami Laxmananda who became known for his inflammatory rhetoric. The VHP's base in Kandhamal also grew in strength with the influx of traders and small businessmen from the coastal strip. The National Solidarity Forum - a platform of concerned activists, media persons, film makers and others in its report - is emphatic that communal forces used religious conversions as an issue for political mobilisation and to incite horrific forms of violence and discrimination against the Christians of SC origin. 

People in Nandagiri live in tents and makeshift quarters as they cannot return to teir villages. They have been warned they must convert to Hinduism if they want to return. 

Kedar Mishra, Chairman of the Orissa Samskruti Academy disputes the notion that proselytisation and missionary activities were the key reasons for the build up of tensions. Orissa, he points out, is 95 per cent Hindu (if one includes tribals among the fold) while Christians account for just two per cent. He says early missionaries were well received and respected for compiling the first Oriya grammar texts and dictionary. The image of the Christian community as a peaceful one underwent a metamorphosis only after the coming of the RSS, who raised the issue of forced conversions. 

Mishra, who has presented a paper on the media's role in Kandhamal, points out that Orissa has a particular law against forcible conversions or those converted under allurement. Why have no cases been filed so far? he asks. 

Ironically it is the Pana Christians who have complained of being coerced to repudiate their faith. Many families from Betikola, Killakia, Rautingia and others now live in tents and makeshift shelters at the small settlement of Nandagiri because they were told in unequivocal terms they could not return home from the transit camps unless they renounced Christianity. In another instances, some women of Barakhama, which has a sizeable population of Christians, were forced to apply sindoor on their hair, an overt sign of being Hindu.

However there are heartening examples of people who refused to let the communal sword cleave the community. One such woman is Ramonti Malik of Pattama village, who defied threats of the RSS and her own Kondhas and sheltered several Pana Christian families for four days in August 2008. "They are my people," she says. "It makes no difference what faith they choose to practise." 

 

COMMONWEALTH GAMES - Wounded pride, or vanity?

If we lack the courage to be ashamed of the callousness with which our government treats its own people, we have no right to hope that a different India can be put on display when the world is watching.

It was hard to comprehend why our national media was displaying so much shock and outrage with banner headlines like Commonwealth Games, India's Shame as if something extraordinary had happened in India. Was it because they had earlier swallowed the pompous claims made by the Government that Delhi would host the most spectacular games ever, that the CWG preparations would transform it into a world class city and showcase India as an emerging global power, a top notch tourist destination? The media played along till such time as it became obvious that despite having spent thousands of crores, we had a disaster on our hands. 

Until a few months ago, many in the media made common cause with Sports Minister M S Gill and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, both of whom tirelessly sermonised us that all of us must put in their bit to make the Commonwealth games a success and celebrate it as a big festival, since making the event work well was a matter of "national honour and pride". The Art of Living guru was roped in to make a huge song and dance about mobilising citizens to pick up garbage in their respective neighborhoods and clean up the stinking filth choking banks of Yamuna - with the slogan Meri Dilli, Meri Shaan -(My Delhi, My Pride). 

History is replete with examples of how the most venal and corrupt among politicians tend to wrap themselves in the national flag in order to cover their misdeeds. If we were to do an honest cost-benefit analysis and audit, we would discover that for our politicians and bureaucrats every infrastructure project, every poverty alleviation program, every hydro electric project, every mining lease is mainly about loot of public resources. That is why no power project, no development or welfare program delivers more than a small fraction of what it promises. The Games were no different - their main purpose had been served. Money had reached safely in the accounts of those it was meant to. The rest was incidental. Those in charge of organising knew very well . Games ho gayein to thheek, nahin to na sahi! (If the Games take place fine, if not, so be it.). 

Ordinary citizens, however, were not surprised or shocked by collapsing bridges, roofs falling off, leaking stadia, filthy toilets, stagnant water pools for breeding mosquitoes around the Games Village because we knew that our Government would deliver its "best performance". What are the arts our politicians and bureaucrats 'best' at? Corruption, mismanagement, working at cross purposes to mess up whatever they undertake, shameless delays, callousness, and the ability to remain unruffled even when people are angry enough to want to publicly lynch them! 

 History is replete with examples of how the most venal and corrupt among politicians tend to wrap themselves in the national flag in order to cover their misdeeds. ( Workers get into a manhole to clean blocked sewage in Delhi, without even the most basic protective equipment.)









Why this phoney outrage at Lalit Bhanot brazenly admitting on TV that our sense of hygiene and sanitation is different from that of the First World or even Second World countries? It is evident anywhere you look. Even those of us who buy expensive properties in elite neighborhoods live surrounded by garbage piles, filthy and open sewage drains flowing in the middle of our colonies, broken down or non-existent footpaths and sewage water routinely getting mixed with drinking water supply because of rusty, leaky pipes. Our tolerance level for filth, squalor and disease is so magnanimous that far from matching First World standards, even in comparison to Third World countries, India qualifies as the dirtiest and filthiest in terms of its public hygiene.

Why were we ashamed at leaking roofs, shoddy construction and squalor around the Games village? All our ministerial buildings, government offices, government-built housing complexes are witness to the sarkari genius of creating slummy conditions even after spending crores. Think of the wretched flats we all queue up to buy from DDA. Why should DDA feel obliged to behave very differently for a two-week tamasha? 

National pride or bruised vanity?

The corruption and mismanagement of CWG had only recently and temporarily become a cause célèbre with the media and a section of the urban elite because they had developed delusions of grandeur and learned to mistake their own growing prosperity, wealth and clout with 'national progress.' They felt let down because their new found and fragile 'national pride' was being given a massive drubbing in front of foreigners, the only ones they wished to impress, but didn't really know how to. 

Their 'national pride' was not wounded when the jhuggis of lakhs of urban self-employed poor who provide us valuable services as masons, carpenters, rickshaw pullers, mechanics, road side barbers, cooks, maalis, cleaners, garbage pickers, tailors and a host of poorly paid craftsmen were demolished with vengeance in order to "beautify" Delhi for the Games. We dare not show the world the subhuman conditions in which the hard working poor of India are condemned to live. So better remove them from sight. This could happen only because the urban elite applaud every time slums are demolished and urban poor face clearance operations. 

Their 'national pride' was not wounded when lakhs of poor street vendors from whom we buy our vegetables, fruits and other daily necessities were hounded out of Delhi through brute police action just so that Delhi could look "world class". This despite the fact that the National Policy for Street Vendors adopted by the Central Cabinet way back in 2004 mandates that street vendors should not be evicted under the guise of beautification. Instead, hawking zones should be included in the city's rejuvenation plans. The modest gains made by Manushi in the last 15 years seeking policy reform for street vendors, including legalizing their status, went down the drain as we witnessed lakhs of vendors forced out of Delhi and their stalls razed to the ground, their goods confiscated through the most illegal means. The MCD and Delhi Police did not spare even those who had valid licenses. 

Their 'national pride' was not hurt to see the miserable conditions under which men, women and children who were brought in from impoverished villages to work for constructing the CWG infrastructure were forced to work and live. They too will be seen as unwanted nuisance and in all probability beaten out of Delhi once their purpose is served. 

Their 'national pride' was not hit when we saw the city government install view-cutter walls to hide from view large parts of Delhi, including middle and lower middle class neighborhoods, lest the delegates witness the dilapidated civic infrastructure and piles of garbage that characterize Indian cities, including the national capital. 

Their 'national pride' was not touched when large tracts of the Yamuna flood plains were illegally taken over by the powerful political mafia of Delhi to build the Games Village, in clear violation of environmental laws. The Delhi High Court had ruled that the construction of the Games Village on the flood plains of Yamuna was ecologically unsound and violated all possible environmental laws of the country. However, the kingpins behind the CWG bonanza bulldozed their way through and got a Supreme Court bench to give a go ahead.

The hoopla of 'national pride' and the jingoism surrounding the Games gave them a grand opportunity for a massive land grab operation by converting the flood plains of the Yamuna into prime real estate. They don.t care if the Games Village is ready in time for the sportspersons for whom it was ostensibly built. They are just waiting for end of October so that these flats can be sold for several crores each or gifted to their patrons. 

Nor was all this just about the CWG and Delhi. The 'national pride' of the urban elite is routinely unhurt when thousands of poor people and their children die every year from a host of easily preventable diseases like malaria, diarrhea and jaundice. All due to the appalling insanitary conditions prevailing in the country. We invoke national pride only when dengue threatens to mar the games because mosquitoes cannot tell the difference between Indians and foreigners. We squirm only when foreign governments issue advisories to their citizens warning them against health hazards in Delhi and recommend that they keep their mouths tightly sealed when taking a shower lest they swallow a couple of drops of polluted, disease ridden water supplied by our municipal agencies. 

Their 'national pride' remains intact despite our rivers, including those like the Ganga and the Yamuna believed to be sacred symbols of our ancient culture and civilization, are converted into filthy disgusting sewers with municipalities pouring all our domestic and industrial sewage into them. Our pride is hurt only when we realise belatedly that foreign participants will witness the filth-laden river, its banks overflowing with garbage providing a happy breeding ground for mosquitoes and other disease bugs. 

A few months ago, when the Sports Minister saw how much foul smell emanated from the Yamuna and how wretched it looked, he had suggested in all seriousness that the government should considering covering up the river in order to hide it from public view! 

 Glitzy signage touting the Games was actually a view cutter, shielding the eyes of tourists and athletes from the harsh reality of Delhi's jhuggis.

Safety and well-being

The Australian discus champion said it all when she said she has decided to withdraw her participation because the CWG represented a potential threat to her safety, health and well being. The bald truth is, our ruling establishment and governance machinery represent the most lethal threat to the collective well being, safety and health of all Indians. No wonder people are today seriously proposing that we outsource governance. It is time we asked ourselves:

• Can a country become tourism friendly if it is hostile to its own citizens?
• Can a country become a global power if its ruling elite and its governance machinery are at constant war with its own people?
• Can a country provide safety to foreign tourists if its own police have become the biggest threat to safety and well being of its own people?
• Can a country become world class if its government awakens to the need for basic civic amenities like usable motorable roads, footpaths and street lights only for impressing foreign visitors and that too only in those parts of the city which lead to select stadia?
• Can a country provide a safe and healthy environment for tourists if it does not do so for its own citizens?
• Can the municipal sweepers deliver world class cleanliness and hygiene at the Games Village if they have never been properly trained nor given the requisite equipment for routine cleaning of the City?
• Can a country be attractive to tourists if the Government needs to hide the living conditions of the vast majority of its people from international gaze?
• Can a country be tourism worthy, if its rivers are so foul that they deserve to be hidden from public view? 
  
  
  
   Instead of indulging in pious harangues against the publicly visible faces of this scam, the all important lesson to be learnt from the CWG disaster was that health, wellbeing and safety are indivisible. ( A child asleep at a squalid construction site, as office-goers walk by on the road.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  These Games were destined to be a disaster because its organisers invited upon themselves the curses of the lakhs of uprooted people who were hounded out of the city. The vengeance with which the rain god, Indra Dev, exposed the corruption and fraud in the CWG infrastructure indicated that the curses of the hapless victims of these Games had been heard by the powers above. 
  
  
  Instead of indulging in pious harangues against the publicly visible faces of this scam, the all important lesson to be learnt from the CWG disaster was that health, wellbeing and safety are indivisible. Those who think they can create islands of prosperity and safety for themselves or for videshi tourists better realise that mosquitoes and disease bugs cannot be kept out of our lives by building gated communities. Those who believe the 'image' of India can change without a marked improvement in the lived reality of its impoverished and brutalised citizens only end up making us a laughing stock of the world.
  
  
  Let us not confuse pride with vanity. Let us learn to be proud of the right things. That will happen only when we have the courage to be ashamed of the callousness with which our government treats its own people, and the imperial indifference of the social elites to the wretched plight of most Indians. 
  
  

The truth about Encounters

The unstated policy of murdering unwanted elements is wrong at every possible level, and it leads to a crisis of legitimacy of the state, while claiming to be a patriotic act.

30 July 2010 - People are as much attuned to fairness as they are to individual self-interest. Therefore, any institution regulating human behavior will have to ensure that the compromises between individual self-interest, collective interest and fairness are all within tolerable limits. These trade-offs are as important for larger institutions, including the largest of them all, i.e., the state, as they are for the smallest ones like the family. Just as parents should not repeatedly favour one child over another, the state cannot repeatedly favour one community or class over another. 

Behavioural economists often like to talk about the ultimatum game. Suppose two strangers are sitting at a table and a man comes up to them and says: "I have a hundred rupees here; I will give the money to one of you (let us call him A) and ask him to offer a portion of the total to the other (let us call him B). If B accepts the offer, both of you get to keep their portions. If B refuses, both of you get nothing." 

Suppose A offers B one rupee, keeping ninety nine for himself. A purely rational B might say to himself - I am richer by one rupee without doing any work, let me take whatever I can get. After all, if I found one rupee on the street and you found a hundred on the street, I wouldn't resent your luck. As it turns out, people will not accept such small amounts from another person, even when they didn't have to do any work for it. Anything less than a thirty percent cut is refused by most people. The judgment of fairness is ingrained in our psyches.

Since human beings often grab what they can, we need institutions to ensure fair outcomes. Of these institutions, the state is the most important, since it is designed to ensure that basic human needs are ensured with minimal standards of fairness. A state incapable of or uninterested in ensuring equity in security, education, food, health and shelter is a state whose legitimacy will be questioned. 

Further, the legitimacy of the state is dependent on its being as close to a neutral umpire as possible. When the state appears partisan, its legitimacy can be questioned. When the state sheds the umpire's clothes and becomes one of the players, the rules of fair play are so badly broken that we can only call such an event intolerable injustice. In this article, I would like to talk about an extreme form of intolerable injustice, which goes under the euphemistic title of 'encounter' killings. 

The home minister of Gujarat has been arrested and is being questioned by the CBI in connection with the encounter killing of two people, who were initially labelled as terrorists and are now known to be a small time gangster and his innocent wife. One cannot even begin to catalogue the ways in which things have gone wrong in this instance, starting with the fact that the man entrusted with ensuring law and order is accused of doing the exact opposite. While we should withhold judgment until the facts are made public and verified by independent sources - after all, this very same agency has cleared a prominent Congress leader of involvement in the 1984 riots, a fact that I find somewhat unbelievable - it will not surprise anyone if the current Gujarat government is proven to have murdered its citizens.

 Encounter killings are mostly lies, that they are staged events; a death sentence without a trial. 









Let us then call 'encounter' by its real name: murder. The central point of this article is that 'encounter' is grossly inappropriate to the actual event, which is nothing but the state sanctioned murder of people. After all, we do not accept the terrorists or Maoists version of events, we are not willing to admit or publish a report which says "76 class enemies were eliminated by revolutionary forces," for we rightly condemn these acts as acts of murder. Why are we so complacent when it comes to encounter killings? Is it that the killing of policemen by Maoists justifies the killing of Maoists by policemen? 

The unstated policy of encountering unwanted elements is wrong at every possible level - moral, political, strategic and informational - and it leads to a crisis of legitimacy of the state, while claiming to be a patriotic act. 

We all know that encounter killings are mostly lies, that they are staged events; a death sentence without a trial. Here, the media carries a large burden on its shoulders, for media outlets accept the official version of events despite knowing that the official version is false. After all, how can militants, mafia dons and Maoists all be encountered so frequently? It beggars belief to think that throughout India, insurgents and criminals are engaging in gun battles with the police or the army only to get killed. How come policemen rarely die in encounters, when these insurgents are typically shown to be much better armed than our police? 

Not too long ago, on 2nd July, our newspapers published photographs of the Maoist leader Azad's body splayed out on the ground with what looks like an AK-47 next to it. It seems he was killed after a three hour long encounter. How can a three hour encounter with men armed with AK-47's not even injure a single policeman? I find these photographs grotesque, they make a ritualised spectacle of an extremely serious affair; after all, here is the dead body of a man who was wanted in connection with several offences, but now we can no longer have a public account of his crimes. How come he wasn't arrested and brought to justice? Instead, the state has turned criminal and eliminated him. 

A typical defence of state violence given by otherwise liberal minded people is that one needs unorthodox ways to tackle terrorism, crime and insurgency, that Maoists will not listen to anything other than reciprocal violence. I disagree with these analyses. 

A culture of impunity only leads to more disaffection. If there is any doubt, just look across the border where US drones are murdering people in the hundreds; these are nothing but an advanced form of encounter killings. We know that the drone attacks are immensely unpopular and only emboldening the Taliban. The Americans might be able to kill of Al-Qaeda leadership in this manner, but as far as the Pakistani government is concerned, it only leads to more trouble. 

Banning encounter killings is not a high-minded moral act espoused by progressive intellectuals or critics of the government. One doesn't need to be an Arundhati Roy to condemn encounter killings. If we take the lessons of the ultimatum game seriously, we should realise that fairness is as much part of human nature as selfishness. Institutions that consistently reward selfishness over fairness are illegitimate institutions - Wall Street of the last few years being a case in point. 

In Kashmir, in Maoist controlled areas and in many other parts of India, the Indian state is being questioned because it appears to be a player in the game, rather than the umpire it is supposed to be. Ending the culture of impunity is not just the right thing, it is also the smart thing; it is the first step in creating trust in the institutions that are ostensibly designed to ensure fair outcomes. 

Police and army officers should be told that encounters will not bring them any rewards, that they are being paid to bring offenders to justice, not to kill them. It is no excuse to say that soldiers or policemen are likely to react violently against people who have killed their fellows; uniformed units should be trained to be patient. A policeman is not a mafia hit man; he is there as a representative of the state, not a private party out for revenge. Reciprocal violence is not the right behaviour for an entity that desires monopoly over violence - why would I give up arms, when I know that I can be encountered any day? 

Policemen and military personnel proven to be 'encounter' specialists should be treated as what they are, criminals, instead of being labelled as heroes. In addition, the media should simply stop accepting news stories that report encounters; publicity for these acts is part of the incentive structure for the police and the army. No democratic state should accept or allow murder as a legitimate response to violence by private parties. 

KASHMIR - The human rights challenge

For civil society, the task of addressing human rights concerns in a situation where security forces act with impunity is immensely challenging. Still, there are those who are trying.

21 November 2010 - On 28 July this year, Farrakh Bukhari, an 18-year-old student of mass communication was watching a televised cricket match in his home in Kreri, Baramulla district of North Kashmir, when his father mentioned there was some kind of protest going on in the market. Farrakh stepped out to investigate. That was the last his family saw of him. 

Fourteen days later, his body was found dumped outside the Chaura police station - no flesh on the face, one hand amputated. Hospital sources at the Kreri block hospital where the post-mortem was conducted told , they could not make an official statement because the report for viscera examination was awaited but the body did bear signs of torture. 

Two Kashmir-based journalists visited Palhalan and Bukhari's house immediately after the 35-day-long curfew in the area was lifted. On a day when winter seemed to be nudging closer with pastoral scenes of avenues of willows, people gathering apples and the occasional horse-drawn carts, all of which belied the turmoil and violence the region has witnessed. 

Bukhari's father, an Imam, chronicled the sequence of events. "We learnt that a protest rally of boys from some 22 villages went through Kreri unhindered but at Chaura the police opened fire. Some boys were injured and we were told 40 had been arrested. Later the figure was given out as 39." When his son's name did not figure on the list of those arrested, Basheer Ahmed Bukhari, approached the DSP of Pattan who asked him to check the hospitals. Rounds of all the hospitals did not yield any information even as the police kept insisting his son was among the injured. 

The family then learnt that a woman in Uri had discovered a body in the graveyard that appeared to have been hastily buried. The Bukhari family was denied permission to view it, and police claimed it was that of a foreign militant. However a boy, who saw the body, told Bukhari that the face was unrecognisable but the clothes matched those of young Farrakh. On 11 August, the same body was found dumped outside the Chaura police station, the family identified it and it was taken for post-mortem. The police have promised an inquiry, but the Bukhari family shrugs its shoulders in helplessness when asked what the next step is. 

"What can we do?" asked an uncle. "He was our hope, the one we saw as the breadwinner," he added as he pulled out a recently purchased book on mass communications that the aspiring teenager had bought, and opened a cupboard to display his clothes. 

One family's grief in a small village in Kashmir. One more number in the interminable list of custodial deaths, disappearances and torture. But this microcosm of tragedy exemplifies the rights abuse in a state where the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act have enabled the police and security forces to act with impunity and total lack of accountability. Their "licence" to operate extends from picking up youth to beatings to rape and killings. 

The most recent turmoil in the valley has raised these transgressions of human rights to a new crescendo. At least 110 people have been killed since 11th June. There are at least 1500 cases of firearm/teargas shell and pellet injuries and at least 500 cases of assault and beatings. Pellet injuries are sustained when a gun is operated through a hydraulic mechanism and is ejected in scores. It poses a particular challenge to the medical fraternity because it affects large parts of the body necessitating the presence of several doctors in attendance for a single patient. Another difficulty is that the entry wounds are not clearly visible. 

  A protestor is taken away by security forces 

Significantly many of the injuries sustained by patients admitted to the hospital were in the head, abdomen and chest. Another matter of serious concern was the number of injured people who suffered serious eye injuries and blindness because the CRPF reportedly used slingshots and marbles. Most victims were in their 20's and 30's. According to a hospital source there was one case of assault involving a boy who was only 12 years old. There is also the bizarre case of 10-year-old Danish Nabi, nicknamed Brett Lee for his passion for cricket, who has been listed as a most wanted stone-pelter and who, according to his parents, has been forced to go underground because he fears being arrested. 

The intimidatory tactics by security forces have spared no one. Not even doctors and hospital staff who found their curfew passes being dishonoured as they tried to go to work. Ambulances were stopped and drivers beaten up by security personnel. A senior resident at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences revealed that his curfew pass was on two occasions not honoured by CRPF personnel and that he narrowly escaped being beaten by CRPF personnel near Saura as he attempted to come to work in his own car.

He says he has heard of an incident in which a senior police officer denied doctors the right to board a special vehicle bound for the hospital with the remark, "Bas meri marzee" (Because that's how I wish it). He also corroborates the incident in which security personnel barged into the emergency room of a hospital. 

Yunus (name changed), a youth from Palhalan says he was forced to hide when security personnel stormed into a North Kashmir hospital and severely beat up his other friends who had brought in two injured persons. Rameez and Fayaz (names changed) say they are routinely harassed and risk beatings whenever they venture out on the roads. "We show them our identity cards. We are forced to address them as 'Sir', but even that is not enough." 

In the rural areas, there is far greater repression - the CRPF has reportedly gone on a rampage breaking and vandalising homes. A doctor from SKIMS said that two of his sisters living in different villages had experiences of CRPF personnel storming into homes using crowbars to break the doors and windows. There was no question of filing any FIR, he added. The fear of retaliation is very strong. Moreover, the AFSPA provides that the state government cannot prosecute law enforcement agencies without sanction from the Federal Home Ministry. 

For civil society, the task of addressing human rights concerns is immensely challenging, but one young man who has begun taking steps in the direction is civil engineer Umar Qadri. He grew up in what he describes as an environment of "crackdowns, disappearances and arrests," and believes there cannot be any kind of development as long as one has not resolved concerns of the Kashmiri people and their history of suffering. Qadri has begun documenting human rights violations at the Centre for Law and Development. 

One particularly brutal episode he has documented concerns three men who were picked up in Islamabad (Anantnag) district after an incident in which the army had been fired upon by militants. All three were innocent but were put through rigorous interrogation. The service personnel burned one of the men alive. A second man was then told to pick up the dead body and throw it into a raging mountain stream, but as he attempted to do so he was gunned down. The third man, who was also told to get rid of the bodies similarly, managed to escape by jumping into the stream and swimming away. He then sought refuge in a village cowshed and then went back home. 

Thereafter, says Qadri, the third victim tried unsuccessfully to register an FIR against the concerned army officials. Chillingly, the man added that such incidents were not exceptional in his district, but in fact happened regularly. 

Another case yielded some small recompense. A woman who was raped by a constable in Nowshera in 2008 was given Rs.1 lakh as compensation by the State Human Rights Commission. However, although the National Human Rights Commission asked for dismissal of the constable, no action was taken against him. 

For Qadri, perseverance in the face of such odds is necessary. He feels a huge sense of responsibility in his endeavours, and quotes what the late human rights activist Ram Narayan Kumar once said. "It is shocking that Kashmir could produce one lakh militants but could not produce 100 human rights activists to record the abuses." He hopes civil society will take the initiative to change this, and that one can be "hopeful amid a state of desperation."