This IPS Association affirms Constitutional Values not Partisanship

February 3, 2018

At 8.03 p.m. last evening, even as one crude set of Uttar Pradesh based IPS officers made news for calling themselves Ram Bhakts and ‘pledging that a Ram Mandir will bne built’, the IPS Officers Association went public in a tweet stating clearly and firmly, “We disassociate ourselves clearly from the act of a senior IPS officer as shown in the Video and re-iterate that this is against the ethos of neutrality, fairness and uprightness that the Indian Police Service stands for.” This tweet has been re-tweeted over 2,000 times. The reported video of the police officer has been viewed 56,000 times.

It was a senior IPS officer in Uttar Pradesh on Friday stoked a controversy after a video clip of him taking pledge for the early construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya went viral on social media. In the 21-second clip, Surya Kumar Shukla, along with half a dozen other people, is seen taking a vow to build the temple. “We Ram bhakts, as part of this programme, take the pledge that a grand Ram Mandir be constructed at the earliest… Jai Sri Ram,” the video showed them saying with one arm raised.

Mr. Shukla is currently Director-General, Home Guards, an 1982-batch IPS officer and the second senior-most IPS in the State, states the U.P. Police website. The controversial incident took place during a private function organised in a room of the Public Administration department of Lucknow University on January 28 by the Akhil Bharatiya Samagra Vichar Manch, which claims to be a social organisation. Though it was a closed-door affair, the title of the seminar indicated that it was held to chalk out a solution to the Ayodhya dispute: Ram Mandir Nirman Samasya Evam Samadhan.

Apart from Mr. Shukla, some Hindutva activists and members of the Muslim wing of the RSS were also present on stage. So was Advocate Hari Shankar Jain, who was in 2014 felicitated by Amit Shah, then U.P. in-charge of BJP, for taking on the Samajwadi Party government for its move to withdraw terror cases. Mr. Jain, a counsel for the Hindu Mahasabha in the Ayodhya dispute, also helps Hindus fight legal cases through his organisation, Hindu Front for Justice.

While the government has sought an explanation from Mr. Shukla, he clarified that his presence at the event was being misinterpreted and the short clip was selectively made to go viral without considering what he said prior to it.

“As a responsible officer, we cannot say or do anything like this. It is being shown as though we are going for a forcible construction of a mandir. This is misinterpretation,” Mr. Shukla told reporters. Talking about the pledge, Mr. Shukla said the vow was being taken to create an atmosphere of communal harmony and not for the construction of the Ram Mandir.He said he attended the seminar as it was being held for an intellectual discussion on how to resolve the “Ram Mandir issue peacefully”.“I had said [at the event] that this issue is sub judice in the Supreme Court, so it would not be proper for me to give a speech on it or present detailed views. So I did not give any speech,” Mr. Shukla said.

Retired IPS officer S.R. Darapuri told The Hindu that Mr. Shukla’s act was a “direct violation of the IPS code of conduct” and also punishable as he had participated in a political event and made his communal biases known. Other officers like Bhola Nath, a retired IG welcomed this affirmation of neutrality.

Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh said both officials and criminals were being influenced by the BJP under the rule of Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. “An alliance has been formed between the three. And these BJP people, along with the criminals and officials, think themselves above the law,” Mr. Singh said.

The IPS Association has condemned the incident saying that it is “against the ethos of neutrality, fairness and uprightness that Indian Police Service stands for”.
Other twitter responses:

Why are Muslims being arrested when a Hindu killed a Hindu in Kasganj? SP Leader in Rajya Sabha

February 3, 2018

The leader of the Samajwadi Party (SP) MP in the Rajya Sabha, professor Ram Gopal created quite a stir in the Upper House of parliament on Friday, raising the issue of violence in Kasganj and accusing the BJP government in UP of stoking the communal flame. The shouting match that followed resulted in the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha.

Addressing the media after stepping out of the parliament hall, the SP leader asserted: “In Kasganj a Hindu has killed a Hindu but Muslims are being targeted. The police are forcibly entering Muslim homes beating them up and slapping false cases against them”. He also alleged that Muslim homes and business premises were being torched in the presence of the police who stood as mute witness.

Gopal slammed the police for accusing Muslims of private firing when it is plain from the video clips accessed by the media as to who was responsible for the private firing in which a Hindu, Chandan Gupta, was killed on Republic Day. He demanded the immediate release of the Muslims, including three brothers from a business family, and action against the actual culprits. Gopal said this was the same demand which he had raised inside the House and exposed the BJP’s game-plan which is why the latter raised a din to hide their shame.

When Gopal raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha, the deputy chairperson, PJ Kurian, asked him to issue a notice and seek a reply instead of directly demanding a statement from the government. Given the heated exchanges that followed, the chair decided to adjourn the House.

According to a report in the Times of India on January 31, “UP police are studying a video that has surfaced, which purportedly shows a group of young men marching towards a Muslim-dominated area in Kasganj on the morning of January 26, with guns. Some of them then fire several rounds. The video, shot from the roof of the local tehsil office, also shows many in the group holding clubs and sticks… In the violence that followed, one man was shot dead and two seriously injured.” The newspaper claimed to have accessed a copy of the video.

Whatever the merit of the allegations made by Gopal against the perpetrators of communal violence in Kasganj and the role of the police and the ruling party, the fact is that are of a very serious nature. While the allegations have made it to lead news report on the front page of Urdu papers, the rest of the national media appears to have totally ignored it.

The Third National Convention of Dakshinayan Abhiyan

February 3, 2018

The third national convention of Dakshinayan Abhiyan was recently held in Wardha and Nagpur on 29 and 30 January 2018. The Dakshinayan Abhiyan is a movement launched by Padma Shri Ganesh Devy, a scholar, linguist, and an activist. According to Devy, it is larger than a literary festival; it is also a social movement and a forum for dialogue.

The forum protests the increasing number of attacks on the freedom of speech and expression, and killings of rationalists and cultural activists. As Devy explains, the movement is an attempt to bridge the divide that exists between the self-proclaimed “brilliant” writers and writers who are not part of this coterie. Bridging this divide is necessary to be able to fight unitedly against the regressive forces that are constantly attacking the fundamental rights and freedoms that the Constitution of India guarantees.

The third national convention of Dakshinayan Abhiyan, SAMAS-2018, kicked off on 29 January 2018 in Sewagram, Wardha, and culminated in Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur, the next day. Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, and Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, addressed the gathering.

Writers, activists, and artists associated with Dakshinayan Abhiyan, who had gathered together from various places across the country, also chose to remember Gauri Lankesh’s fearless journalism, and the struggles that she fought, by dedicating a session to Gauri Lankesh on 29 January, her birth anniversary. The event took place in Gandhi’s Sevagram Ashram. They recited poetry in various regional languages, like Kannada, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, and English.

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Naturam Godse, a proponent of Hindu-nationalism. Right wing organisations, like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), celebrated his death. The right wing also celebrated Gauri Lankesh’s death, who was assassinated on 5 September 2017. Chairing the session, Vidya Bal, a noted Marathi writer and editor, said, “Words are powerful than bullets.” The session was also meant to protest against the politics of hatred and violence being perpetuated by the Sangh Parivar in this country.

Kumar Ketkar, a well-known journalist from Maharashtra, remembered Gauri as a “…different kind of journalist”. He said, “She was doing a different kind of journalism. Gauri was not very well known nationally. [But] she was fearless. She had always received death threats but they did not stop her from speaking the truth. The current communal atmosphere in the country, and Gauri’s work, which actively protested against it, are why her death caught the nation’s attention.” Pointing out that such use of violence is typical of the fascist, right wing regimes, he said, “The rulers of the fascist regime are against those who speak for the people in their language and bring the issues of the people, their struggles, to the forefront.” Speaking about the strong resistance in reaction to the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh, Ketkar said, “These murders are a threat to all of us and Gauri’s death has given all of us the courage to fight against the fascist forces that are distorting our constitutional rights.”

Megha Pansare, pointed out that it is not uncommon for people, who speak for those who lack a voice, to be killed. This systematic attack, according to her, is not just an attack on an individual but also on the voiceless and marginalised communities of this country. Hence, she said, “Remembering Gauri, along with those who were killed before her, is incomplete without forming a strong resistance against the growth of fascist force.”

Ulka Mahajan, a Right To Food activist; Alwar Rajan, an activist; Pradnya Pawar, a Marathi writer; and Dr. Vinaya and Dr. M D Okkund from Dharwad, saw Gauri’s struggle as people’s struggle.

The convention culminated, on 30 January, with moving and historical speeches by Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar and Rajmohan Gandhi. Ambedkar addressed the audience gathered in Sevagram Ashram; and Rajmohan Gandhi addressed the audience in Deekshabhoomi. Ganesh Devy called it a coming together of Gandhian and Ambedkarite ideologies to fight the attacks on our fundamental rights and freedoms together.

Both the speakers acknowledged that Gandhi and Ambedkar were not in congruence. They had differing opinions on questions of caste, religion in general, and reservation in particular. But, the speakers pointed out, their difference had never come in the way of their dialogue. There was constant conversation between them, with each respecting the other’s ideas. The way the differences between them are being played up, and fabricated stories of the hostilities between them are being given out, is alarming. It is just one of the ways in which dialogues and mutual respect, which was an important part of our country’s history, is being side lined. It is an attempt to create a state of disharmony, and is a threat to democracy.

The convention concluded with a public meeting, which was chaired by Damodar Mauzo from Gao, Raosaheb Kasbe, Pradnya Pawar, Medha Patkar, Ganesh Devy, Rajmohan Gandhi and Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar.

Yogesh S is part of the editorial collective of the Indian Writers’ Forum.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

The Basis of Islam is Tolerance Not Terrorism

February 2, 2018

Since 9/11 attacks, the West has believed that terrorism emanates from Islam and Muslims fight the West, its lifestyle and thought. The editor of the French newspaper Le Monde French newspaper “Jean Marie Colombani” has expressed it in his writing, “The Muslims’ hatred of the West is caused by their jealousy of the success and wealth that the West enjoys and represents”.

Many of them, including the American-British historian Bernard Lewis, have justified the existence of violence among Muslims—the violence that leads to their backwardness. There are many such views that confer the status of “terrorist” on Muslims only. Some of them describe Muslims as savages aiming at purifying mankind from the world of disbelief. Some of them have covered Islam with what it has nothing to do, by defaming its form and considering it a religion based on supremacy and oppression. They consider that Islam has no relation with respect to ensuring freedom and tolerance, protecting any covenant or maintaining any treaty. They think Islam is “exploiter” in regard to negotiating and breaking the treaties, that is, if it finds any profit in negotiating treaty it does, and when that profit is achieved, it breaks the treaty.

Undoubtedly Islam strongly emphasizes on supporting the weak and protecting the life and dignity. So the fight is not waged but only for the same reason, as Allah Almighty said, “And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?” (4:75). Islam also urges to prevent the sedition [Fitnah] and ensure freedom, as mentioned in the divine speech “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrong-doers” (2:193). And “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah. But if they cease, then lo! Allah is Seer of what they do.” (8:39)

Islam also urges to restore the usurped freedoms. It is therefore not an instrument of oppression or force and hence fighting is hateful, as Allah Almighty says, “Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you” (2:216). There are some reasons which make fighting obligatory, however it is governed by laws, as the Quranic verses read, “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.” 92:190) and “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also]” (8:61)

In light of the aforementioned discussion, can we ask? Where is terrorism in Islam? When was it that Muslims were aggressors or attackers since the advent of Islam till our modern era? Were they so in the Battle of Badr, for example? They had been treated brutally by the enemies, driven out of their homeland and deprived of their wealth and homes? Or in the battle of Uhad? The Army of the Enemy had marched to Medina. Or in the Battle of the Trench [Khandaq]? The enemies had colluded together and become an army that wanted to invade the Madina. If the Muslims defend their homeland, wealth and dignity, does it mean they are terrorists?

The Muslims in the era of the Prophet [peace be upon him] and after him in the era of the companions [Sahaba] were threatened with the sudden violent attack by the forces who used to see Islam with contempt and hostility. So the “defensive war” was immensely necessary at that time. The fight of Islam was defensive and not offensive. It is necessary to understand that sometimes defence wears the dress of offence merely for reasons such as, preventing the obstacles in the preaching of Islam, applying and propagating the principles of humanity, brotherhood, equality among the servants of Allah and social security and deterring the strong from oppressing the weak. So in order to prevent oppression, the Muslims used to lie in ambush. This was the time when the king of Persia was planning to kill the prophet (peace be upon him), when Hercules [Harqul in Arabic] killed everyone who converted to Islam in Syria, Islam was badly treated and when the expectants were looking for an opportunity to wage sudden violent attack on Muslims. At that time, it was not wise waiting for the enemy to invade the homes of Muslims, and hence the defence wore the dress of offence. This kind of war in the modern term is called the “preventive war”.

As for the wars fought by Muslims or their negotiated covenants, they were always governed by the Islamic laws which oblige Muslims to establish peace at the first signs, “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing.” (8:61). So Peace is a permanent slogan and a distinguishing feature of the followers of Islam, unlike war which becomes necessary only when all roads of peace are blocked, “Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you” (2:216). War is a temporary commitment which stops with the end of sedition [Fitnah] and its necessity, Allah Almighty says, “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah. But if they cease, then lo! Allah is Seer of what they do.” (8:39)

In the state of fighting and war, the right to life is protected for non-combatants such as old men, children and women, with special care of the injured, and this happens without breaking the covenant if the other party respects its provisions, as mentioned in the divine speech “Excepted are those with whom you made a treaty among the polytheists and then they have not been deficient toward you in anything or supported anyone against you; so complete for them their treaty until their term [has ended]. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous [who fear Him].” (9:6). Islam categorically prohibits sudden violent attack prior to announcing the notice and explicit information.

Islam made this prohibition 1400 years ago, that is, much before than the contemporary laws, which included this prohibition during the Hague Convention of 1907, stipulating the condition that “The contracting Powers recognize that hostilities between themselves must not commence without previous and explicit warning, in the form either of a declaration of war, giving reasons, or of an ultimatum with conditional declaration of war”. The Muslims committed themselves to this prohibition and did not fight but to defend their rights and lives when they were attacked by the enemy or when it appeared that the enemies are preparing for attack. The history is the best witness to that.

The intention of Islam behind ordering Muslims to prepare for confronting the enemies and those who prey on the physical and moral strength was only for preserving peace by intimidating and terrorizing the enemies until their hopes and fantasies, which envisage victory and domination are vanquished. So they will not dare to attack and oppress, as mentioned in the divine speech “And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them whom you do not know [but] whom Allah knows. And whatever you spend in the cause of Allah will be fully repaid to you, and you will not be wronged” (8:60). It should be known here that Islam is not only against the aggressive war but also against terrorism, vandalism and corruption, “whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs” (5:32). It should also be borne in mind that it is necessary to confront the usurper who perpetrates the acts of looting, killing and vandalism.

Islam urges peaceful co-existence among Muslims and all non-Muslims. It calls for establishing goodness and benevolence as long as these non-Muslims are in peace. “Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes – from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” (60:8)

No matter whether the people of other religions i.e. non-Muslims are expatriates or part of the Islamic community, Islam guarantees for them all rights and privileges as equally as for Muslims, such as freedom, justice, care and protection with regard to opinion, religion, practice of economic and commercial activities, and establishment of religious rituals, even if they are from a country hostile to the people of Islam as long as they have been allowed to enter their homes.

Also as per the majority of jurists, the money of the expatriates acquired in the lands of Islam remain as their property, that is, even if they return to their homes and fight Muslims, they will not lose their ownership of the money. No interference will be made into their personal affairs. They will be allowed to follow as per the requirements of their religions, even if they are contrary to Islam. So it is allowed for the Christians, for example, to eat pork and drink wine. Similarly the Majus (Magi; Zoroastrians) are allowed to marry their daughters; despite the fact that there is a flagrant violation of the fundamentals of Islam and its rules in this regard.

The Ameer al-Mumineen Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz wrote to Imam Hasan al-Basari, seeking the religious decree [fatwa] “Why the rightly guided caliphs left the people of Dhimmah who marry the Maharim, drink alcohol and eat pigs?” Al-Hasan al-Basri replied: “You are follower and not the innovator [Mubtad’i]” (Translated from Arabic by Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi)

(Translated from Arabic New Age Islam Edit Bureau)

Courtesy: New Age Islam

UN human rights expert laments cycle of violence against Myanmar minorities

February 2, 2018

‘What the Myanmar government claims to be the conduct of military or security operations was actually an established pattern of domination, aggression and violations against ethnic groups’

UN human rights expert laments cycle of violence against Myanmar minorities

UN Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, speaks during a news conference in Yangon, Myanmar, July 1, 2016 REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Yanghee Lee, a UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, has lamented the decades long cycle of violence perpetuated by the authorities against ethnic minorities in Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims, and said talk of repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas anytime soon was premature.

In an end of mission statement following visits to Thailand and Bangladesh last month, Lee said what the Myanmar government claims to be the conduct of military or security operations was actually an established pattern of domination, aggression and violations against ethnic groups.

“Recent reports of attacks against civilians; against homes and places of worship; forcible displacement and relocation; the burning of villages; land grabbing; sexual violence; arbitrary arrests and detention; torture and enforced disappearances; are acts that have been alleged against the military and security forces for generations,” she said.

“While reports from Rakhine State have rightly provoked international outrage; for many in Myanmar, they have elicited a tragic sense of déjà vu.”

She said the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in the aftermath of the 9 October 2016 and the 25 August 2017 attacks have been repeatedly witnessed before, albeit not on the same scale of the recent attacks against the Rohingya, according to a statement from Seoul on Thursday.

“I was told repeatedly by the other ethnic groups I spoke to – be they Kachin, Karen, Karenni, or Shan – that they have suffered the same horrific violations at the hands of the Tatmadaw over several decades and – in the case of some groups – continuing today,” Lee said.

“In Thailand, representatives from different ethnic groups that I met expressed their concern that as the world’s attention is focused on the atrocities in Rakhine State, potential war crimes are being committed in Shan and Kachin State without so much as a murmur of disapproval from the international community.”

Lee said that set against this background of violence in the ethnic areas of Myanmar, was a continuing erosion of democratic space. “The civilian government has failed to usher in a new era of openness and transparency and is instead persisting with repressive practices of the past.”

Lee, who was informed by the Myanmar authorities last year she would no longer be allowed to visit the country on the grounds her reporting was unfair and biased, called on the democratic government to break with the repressive practices of the past, and to allow people who have fled their country to return home – to where they belong.

But she added: “For returns to be ever realized in a way that is voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable they must be treated as equals – citizens of Myanmar with all the rights that that status affords.”

She said that while the government of Bangladesh had made it clear that no refugees would be forced back to Myanmar, the international community must pressure Myanmar to create conditions for their return before it is too late.

“This must be done in a principled way that prioritizes the need for these people to be recognized as Rohingya and as citizens of Myanmar,” she said.

Lee said that during her visit to a camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, she saw great anxiety and fear when speaking to refugees about the prospect of returning to Myanmar. “One mother said to me, ‘Our beautiful children were slaughtered, how can we go back?’ Refugees have been entirely excluded from conversations about their fate, and going forward they must be involved in a meaningful way.

“Without equality, Myanmar will never be free from violence and the country’s tragic déjà vu will reverberate through the future as it has through the past. The cycle of violence must end, and Myanmar must be supported in implementing the profound and meaningful reforms that are so urgently needed.”

Lee said she hoped to regain access to Myanmar. “I remain ready to work with the Government and other stakeholders to promote and protect the human rights of all people in Myanmar,” she said.

This article was first published on Dhaka Tribune

The Bengal lynchings that made no news

February 2, 2018

In a way, middle-aged Afrazul Khan of Maldah’s Syedpur, a migrant laborer from West Bengal was lucky to be killed by a Hindutva- induced fanatic in Rajasthan on 6 December last year than his three co-religionists in their early twenties who were battered to death by some Hindu villagers at Chopra in neighboring North Dinajpur six months earlier.

Md. Ashin, father of deceased Md Nasiruddin

Khan and his family, though at the cost of his life, earned attention of the governments run by rival parties, BJP and Trinamul Congress as well as media at both states. But the families of other victims whose horrible murders closer home had foreshadowed Khan’s killing in the desert state were not so fortunate, despite chilling parallels in the two hate crimes.

There was huge political and media outrage over the premeditated killing of Khan on the day of 25^th anniversary of Babri mosque demolition in Rajsamund district of BJP-ruled Rajasthan. The rants of the killer Shambhulal against ‘Love Jihad’ and other purported crimes of Muslims in the murder video, filmed with the help of his nephew and posted to social media revealed the impact of Sangh Parivar’s hate campaigns against Muslims on the monster’s mind. This prompted Vasundhara Raje government to arrest the assassin and announce payment of Rs five lakhs to the victim’s family. Her party and state police portrayed the killer as a lone wolf even after his family divulged his addiction to saffron propaganda videos.

Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of Bengal, the self-declared savior of secularism and Muslims in particular, also sprang up to action. The BJP’s buddy turned bête noire denounced the hate crime as another example of Hindutva terror, sent a high level team comprising ministers and MPs to Khan’s home. She announced payment of Rs three lakhs to his bereaved family, promised educational support to his youngest daughter and job to one of latter’s two elder siblings.

Mamata’s double standard
But Bengal’s prima donna kept mum over the gruesome lynching of Mohammed Nasiruddin, Nasirul Haque and Mohammed Samiruddin on 22 June 2017 at her own backyard. Before Shambhulal and Jharkhand’s cow-protector gangs exhibited the method in their madness, the killers in Mamataland, apparently Hindutva-induced, had filmed their gory act and posted the video clips online. The clipping we accessed showed the Blood-drenched victims praying for their lives only to be pounded with bamboo logs again and again till they breathed their last.

Khan’s killing was a death foretold scene by scene as he too would pray for his life before being bludgeoned to death and charred. The Dinajpur video revealed it was no mob fury but systematic murders at daylight. Local onlookers around watched the public pummeling of the three and their bloody ends but none cared to stop the madness.

Khan’s killing was initially attributed to his ‘affair with a local Hindu woman’ but that did not hold ground following denial by his family and subsequent media and civil society investigations. But the Dinajpur victims were branded as ‘cattle thieves’ by their killers and police alike and it stuck to them despite vehement protests from their families and neighbors.

The Bengal chief minister, who was quick in calling Khan’s murder a hate crime and blaming BJP-RSS for it, did not order any inquiry into that aspect despite increasing communalization of crimes including cattle-lifting in bordering districts like north Dinajpur. The Sangh Parivar’s moves to pit Hindus, mostly Dalits and other scheduled caste refugees from Bangladesh against Muslims.

The Dinajpur killers are still roaming free as Bengal police and ruling party has virtually condoned the triple murders since a case (case no. 505/17 dated 23/6/2017) has been registered under section 304 of the Indian Penal code instead section 302 making the murders unintentional. Consequently, three Hindu youth who had been arrested obtained bail from the court.

Officially, the case is still ‘under investigation’ but police is in no mood to wind up it fast and file the charge-sheet. Instead, the cops have allegedly abused and threatened the victims’ families to arrest them if they persist in their inquiries about fate of the case and seek justice for their dear ones. The law enforcers reportedly have been putting pressure on the families and fellow villagers to delete clippings of the murder video, ostensibly to defang a digital trigger to communal clash. But locals construed it as a move to suppress the crucial proof of the crimes. The families are yet to get the copy of the FIR.

In a letter to the district magistrate, SP and SDO, three bereaved families called it ‘cold blooded and pre-planned murders’, mentioned police abuses and demanded ‘CID or CBI probe.’ But the administration and political leadership has stonewalled their demands. Bengal’s big sis also became selective in her show of compassion. She neither bothered to send a district-level team to visit the bereaved nor offered any monetary help to the visibly impoverished families.

Harsh Mander speaking to families of victims of Chopra Lynching

Caravan of Love
This shocking contrast in Mamata government’s dealing with the victims of two hate crimes has come to fore during a recent visit to Khan and other three victims’ villages by a civil society team led by Harsh Mander and John Dayal who have launched a Karwan-e-Mohabwat (Caravan of Love) campaign. They have been meeting families of victims of group and individual hate crimes across the country to express solidarity with them and spread public awareness about hate crimes.

The team members also met family of Kartik Ghosh, the elderly victim of Basirhat communal riot in July last year, at their Basirhat home. This correspondent was part of the team that visited Khan’s family at Syedpur in Maldah’s Kaliachak and another migrant youth Sakir Khan of Swarupganj in Chanchol block who died mysteriously in Rajasthan’s capital, Jaipur . The caravan reached the homes of three lynched men under Islampur and Chopra police station at the last leg of its Bengal tour on 25-26 January this year.

Wife and mother of lynched Nasirul Haque

The slain boys
Like many jobless and low-paid villagers of Bengal, these youths belonged to families of migrant labors and themselves worked as construction workers in other states including Delhi. Being residents of three villages closer by, these school drop-outs were close friends and did sundry menial jobs together around the area to eke out a living. All three were married and young fathers. They stayed back home after being egged on by their families, mainly to look after their toddlers and newborns.

Samiruddin of Kandarpar village, eldest among the three deceased was little better placed among the friends. He occasionally employed others as he started manufacturing concrete rings for sanitary pits in the villages. His cousin Abdul Gafur, a junior Imam at Chopra mosque, said deceased Samiruddin was planning to buy a ToTo, a battery-driven auto rickshaw and had taken loan of Rs 40000 for it.

The trap
According to the victims’ families, all three were at their home enjoying special Iftar in the evening of auspicious 27^th day of Ramzan that heralded the forthcoming Id festival. The wives of all three recalled that their husbands received repeated calls on their cell-phones asking them to come to a nearby place to discuss an urgent job contract. All left home on their motorcycles assuring to come back early but never returned. Next morning their families learnt either from locals or police that all three had gone to Durgapur, a Hindu-dominated village, few kilometers away under Chopra police station.

“We were told that our boys had been caught while trying to steal cattle from a local household and beaten to death by an enraged mob which had been looking for culprits for rampant cattle lifting. Police brought back the bodies and sent for post mortem. We don’t know whether the rules for autopsy were properly maintained as we were under for pressure for immediate burial.

We told police that the murders were planned as our boys had been called out and trapped. Have you ever heard that cattle thieves visit their target’s home riding motor cycles,” Md. Ashin, the elderly father of slain Md. Nasiruddin at village Dhologachh, asked.

“But police misbehaved with us and refused to listen to our part. They came to conclusion about our children’s crime before investigation. They called us father or wives of Goru Chors heaping ignominy on our families,” the tearful old man added. Deceased Nasirul’s mother Masida Begum at Kutipara village concurred: “Police threatened to lock up us when we visited police station asking for the justice for our children.’’

Both complained that police received bribes from the accused to water down the case. While local Trinamul MLA Hamidul Islam asked locals not to raise a hue and cry to avoid communal clash, the ruling party’s panchayat apparatchiks did not bother to visit them or offer any succor to the landless wage-labor families.

Chopra witnessed communal clash in 2016 like many others areas across Bengal. But none of the affected families or their neighbors vented any ire against Hindus per se while mentioning that the killers from Durgapur were ‘refugees’ from Bangladesh. “They are fearsome and aggressive even to other Hindus and we hardly ventured into their area. What they have done to our boys was unforgivable. But we do not blame all the Hindus here,” Md. Ashin said.

Local boys and men like Jafar Ali, Jishan Rajjak, Saheb Khan and Kashim Ali—mostly seasonal migrant laborers, said that the murder video had gone viral on the day of the lynching itself and they received clippings from various Facebook and Whatsapp groups. “Police claimed it was not related to our case and wanted us to delete it immediately. But we have identified the victims as our own in the murder video. Why they are trying to hush up,” Ali asked.

Hindu women’s honor violated?
Villagers here do not remember circulation of such lynching video earlier. If the filming of the lynching bore the signature of Hindutva campaign, a ‘rumor’ of a Hindu women’s honor being violated by the slain youths pointed to the now familiar pattern of using social media to demonize Muslims and incite hate crimes against them. Md Ashin pointed that his son’s genital was smashed. However, no media reports had mentioned those tales-tell signs of hate crime.

Gafur, Samiruddin’s cousin said he heard it from one Hasrat, a resident of nearby Jhabartala and ‘an accomplice of the three in stealing cycles’. “Hasrat told me that the three had lured away a Hindu girl from Durgapur to Islampur( sub-divisional town) and raped her. Her family and other villagers came to know about it and wanted to avenge it. They asked the girl to set a trap by inviting the boys to her home while pretending to be alone. My brother and his friends landed in the snare only to be killed mercilessly. Some Durgapur people also linked the killings to a Hindu girl’s dishonor. ” He also said Samir was arrested recently in connection to cycle-stealing case.

Samir’s wife Husnara protested to what Gafur said. “I refused to believe it. My husband was not that type. This Hasrat is a shady character and it was he who had called my husband on that fateful evening. My husband had Rs 40000 with him which was looted. ” she said. Local TMC panchayat member Md. Sarifuddin too denied any knowledge of Hindu women’s dishonor as the motive for the lynching. “It was a planned murder and police sitting tight on the case even after eight months,” he said. Gafur later buckled saying he too ‘did not believe Hasrat’.

It is the police’s job to ascertain the true motive behind the murders and unearth the truth if others are only speaking half truths as veteran scribe Dayal felt. Nonetheless, the law of land does not condone lynching or planned murder even if it is motivated by revenge for alleged cattle-lifting or sex crime or the both, he pointed out.

But the team’s visit to Chopra police station along with the three bereaved families revealed that police had virtually outsourced it responsibility to village vigilantes and excused their wild justice as a welcome deterrent. A young lady officer on duty spoke informally: “This area is not good. Villagers here don’t leave cattle thieves if public manage to catch them. One of the three boys had been arrested earlier in connection of cycle-lifting earlier. A case has been started under Section 304 as the murders were apparently unintentional.”

However, the officer In-charge, Gautam Roy was taciturn and refused reply to queries that Mander made – why a murder case under section 302 was not instituted even after three persons were killed in a single incident and why police is not responding to the victims’ families. “I can’t answer. You need to meet our SP,” was his standard reply after he apparently spoke to the district top cop. When the team wanted security to visit Durgapur, he declined leaving it to the team whether they would face any trouble there.

Mander told him that he was familiar with official stonewalling tactics and hostility as former district collector (before he resigned from IAS after Gujarat 2002) which he had encountered more since then.

“Nevertheless, I find it unacceptable that Bengal police under a secular government is no different from states under BJP in their treatment of families of victims of hate crimes, disguised or open. The betrayal of governments of political parties that claim to be secular in failing to defend their minorities rankles painfully and erodes the secular promises of India’s constitution,” he commented later.

The politics behind the silence
The Chopra lynching was not an isolated incident. In the early hours of 27 August, 2017, another two youth, Hafizul Sheikh of Dhubri district in Assam and Anwar Hussain of Patlakhawa village of Cooch Behar district were beaten to death by locals near Barohalia village in Jalpaiguri’s Dhupguri area . They were transporting cattle from local cattle market to Tufanganj in Cooch Behar when they were apprehended by a mob and lynched as cattle thieves. Dhupguri is another area which has recently witnessed BJP’s growth electorally. But Mamata government dealt the incident in Chopra way.

As of 31 August, 2017, West Bengal accounted for 55 percent — or five of nine — deaths recorded in bovine-related attacks reported across India, data-analyzing portal IndiaSpend’s database shows. With six deaths recorded since 2010, West Bengal is now on a par with Uttar Pradesh, which recorded as many deaths in 12 incidents of such violence over eight years. In this same period, West Bengal has reported three incidents – all of which reported fatalities.

In their famous treatise on manufacturing public consent by American big media and the military-industrial behemoths, Noam Chomosky and Edward Hermann had coined the categories of ‘worthy and unworthy’ victims of Cold War era. Those fell for cause of the US-led ‘free world’ were considered worthy of public appreciation while those on the other were unworthy of it. It seems Mamata Banerjee and secular politicians of her hue have adopted that binary in dealing with the victims of communal crimes in BJP-ruled states and their own fiefdoms.

The police response only reflected the state government’s politics. Mamata has repeated denied the gravity of increasing communal clashes and violence by cow-protectors in Bengal, which so far has taken toll of approx. 40 deaths since she has assumed office in 2011. Further, religious identity of those murdered in Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri has apparently impelled her government to keep the killings under the wrap. They are handy when happens outside her realm but an embarrassment when occurs inside.

For, lynching of Muslim youths in Bengal under her nose compromises her image as the protector of Muslims who comprise 27 per cent of Bengal population. It provides her a crucial vote-bank against mounting BJP campaign to bag Bengal in 2019 through communal polarization.

It may be pointed out that cattle-lifting and smuggling is common in bordering districts of Bengal and an elaborate chain of organized crime involving Hindu and Muslim police-politicians-criminals operates across the Indo-Bangla border. But recent communalization of the crime and profiling of the murdered youth in that mode is part of the Sangh Parivar campaign that aims at dovetailing north India’s Gau-Rakshak vigilantism with Bengal farmers’ rage against local cattle thieves.

Further, recent riots in Basirhat, Nakasipara and elsewhere in south Bengal has underlined the Sangh Parivar strategy to pit dalit Namashudras and other low-rung Hindus, mostly ‘refugees’ from Bangladesh with bitter memories of religious persecution at the other side of the border against Muslims in a bid to break Mamata’s Matua(a populous Namashudra sect) and Muslim combine.

Hindus and Muslims are almost evenly matched in numbers in North Dinajpur which suffered communal convulsions in Chopra and Raria recently. The lack of justice to victims of the lynching would only make room for hotheads and fundamentalists on the other side of the religious divide. But Mamata seems to be happy to sit tight on the tinder box.

Biswajit Roy is a Calcutta-based retired journalist who had worked with The Telegraph, Times of India, The Statesman as well as Anandabazar Patrika. He served stints in the north-east and north India as well as in his home state, West Bengal. Keen on independent reporting from below, he focuses on human rights issues and grassroots movements of marginal communities as well as struggles against communalism and fundamentalisms of all hues. Roy recently edited a compilation of reports on increasing communal violence in Bengal and politics behind it, published at Kolkata Book fair 2018.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org

Reduction in scholarship allocation for Dalit students a major concern, shows that Dalits, Adivasis continue to be ignored: NCDHR

February 2, 2018

The Union Budget presented today by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley received sharp criticism from the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) which pointed out that once again, the Budget had failed to live up to the expectations of the marginalised communities of India.

Image Courtesy: Indian Express

In the Union Budget 2017-18, there was a fundamental shift made towards a ‘welfare model of SC/ST’, revamping Scheduled Caste Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan to Scheduled Caste Component and Scheduled Tribe Component (henceforth, SCC-STC). This was an unwarranted retrogressive move as it made SCs and STs mere beneficiaries of welfare programmes. In the light of the new developments, the quantum of allocation towards, SCC-STC is from the entire Budget as opposed to 30% of the total Union Budget. However, despite a shift in the approach no steps have been taken in the year to introduce any guidelines by the government making it difficult to hold the government accountable.

What is even worse, as NCDHR pointed out, the allocation for Post Matric Scholarship for Dalits have also fallen over Rs 300 crore. In the last Budget, an amount of Rs 3,334 crore was allocated for students from the Dalit community but this year the amount has fallen to Rs 3,000 crore.

“Our analysis of Union Budget 2017-18 reveals the continuation of old patterns. Finance Minister presented Expenditure Budget of Rs.24,42,213.3 crore. The allocations under SCC-STC continue to be much below the mandated amount. In the Current year only Rs 56, 619Cr i.e. 6.55% of the total Budget Expenditure is allocated for the SCs and Rs. 39, 135Cr i.e. 4.53 % of the Budget expenditure for the STs. The allocations under both SCC and STC continued to severely fall short of the mandated amount by 10.5% and 4.07% for SC and ST respectively,” said a press release issued by the organisation.

N Paul Divakar, General Secretary of the NCDHR, while commenting on the Union Budget 2018-19 said, “while we welcome the move for the allocation towards scholarships for students with disabilities of Rs 12.56 crore, the denial of allocations towards other higher education schemes like Post-Matric Scholarship is determinantal. The more worrying trend is the lack of guidelines for designing SCC and STC by NITI Ayog and the concerned ministries has downgraded special component plan which is meant to bridge the gap.”

Listing five demands, NCDHR asked the government to legislate Scheduled Caste Component and Scheduled Tribe Component with clear guidelines and necessary mechanisms for effective implementation. It also pointed out that the newly-developed MIS systems for SCC and STC shows that there is a huge unspent balances of Rs 20478.62 Cr under SCC and Rs 7131.28Cr under STC. Therefore it asks for a centralised non-lapsable pool of SCC & STC funds to be created. This unspent money must be deposited and a plan must be designed to implement new schemes, which will be directly beneficial for SC & ST population. NCDHR also asked the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which are the nodal Ministries for implementation of SCC & STC respectively, to ensure that all the required Ministries, allocate and implement stipulated percentage of funds in the component schemes. Strict measures must be taken against the defaulting Ministries and Departments. It must be pointed out that in 2017-18, there was a shortfall of Rs. 104490.45 crore under SCC and Rs 49357.49 crore under STC, which was denied for the SC & ST communities as per the guidelines. “It is recommended that the nodal Ministries must take all necessary steps to ensure that Budget allocations are made as per the population percentage,” the statement added.

Courtesy: Two Circles

Budget 2018: 522 Mn Indians Still Defecate In The Open, Putting Them At Risk Of Disease & Poverty

February 2, 2018

More Indians than ever before now have access to a toilet, but little attention to education and changing attitudes means that at least 522 million Indians still defecate in the open–leaving many millions susceptible to disease and poverty.

Access to sanitation reduces the incidence of diarrhoea–caused by bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, mostly spread by faeces-contaminated water–studies show. Diarrhoea is the leading cause of malnutrition, and is the second leading cause of death in children under five years, as IndiaSpend reported in July 2017.

As of January 2018–with a year and a half left to the Swachh Bharat Mission’s target of eradicating open defecation–60 million (76%) rural households and 4.2 million urban households have a toilet, and 11 states, 1,846 cities and 314,824 villages have declared themselves open-defecation-free (ODF), according to data available on the Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission) website.

“The challenge, however, will be in ensuring that ODF villages and cities are firstly, truly ODF, but more crucially that they remain so,” as Avani Kapur, fellow at Accountability Initiative, pointed out in this January 2018 article for Mint.

The Centre’s expenditure on information and education–which experts say is the key to solving India’s sanitation problem–continue to remain low.

It is in this backdrop that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is set to present his government’s last full budget ahead of the general elections in 2019.

Access to sanitation improves child health, leads to more productive adults

Sanitation is crucial for India’s plans to reduce infant mortality. The National Health Policy, released in March 2017, aims to reduce the country’s infant mortality–deaths of children under the age of one–from 41 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015-16 to 28 in 2019.

“If you live next to neighbours who defecate in the open, there are germs on the ground, lot of the people don’t wear shoes, they get their fingers on it [germs], their moms get their fingers on it and then there are flies on it and they get on the food and the entire environment is where is lot of faeces and there is lot of opportunity to get on germs,” Dean Spears, co-founder of the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics, told IndiaSpend in this August 2017 interview.

This cascading effect of health hazards is corroborated by data: Diarrhoea, as we said, remains the second leading cause of death in children under five years, killing an estimated 321 children every day in 2015, as we reported in July 2017.

Access to sanitation reduces cases of diarrhoea, one of the major causes of malnutrition among children, according to this World Bank study.

As many as 50.2% boys and 44.6% of girls with no access to toilets are stunted, compared to 26% boys and 24% girls who live in homes with toilets, according to this September 2017 study released by the National Institute of Nutrition.

Source: National Institute of Nutrition

Unsafe water, poor hygiene practices and inadequate sanitation are not only the causes of the continued high incidence of diarrhoeal diseases but a significant contributing factor in under-five mortality caused by pneumonia, neonatal disorders and undernutrition, according to this 2016 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Besides, there is also an economic cost to the problem.

“If children are healthy when they are babies then they grow up stronger and taller, they are able to concentrate at school and learn more and they have higher achievement,” Spears told us in the above mentioned interview. “We find that adults are paid more and are more productive if they are born in a better disease environment. Their families get to consume more and they pay more taxes and government gets more revenue.”

“If you can cause a household to stop defecating in the open, just one household, there would be money in the future but it will be an equivalent of increasing the revenue of India by Rs 20,000 per household. That’s just looking at government’s revenue, but then the family gets to eat more, there is more productivity and they will be healthier and they will be more likely to survive,” Spears added.

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Poorer: Adult Wages And Early-Life Mortality In India

Source: R.I.C.E

Inadequate sanitation–management of human excreta, solid waste, and drainage–costs India Rs 2.4 trillion ($53.8 billion) every year in losses due health, damage to drinking water and tourism costs, according to a January 2011 World Bank study.

Allocation to rural sanitation up 33%, but sub-par spending on education hinders toilet use

In 2017-18, the Centre allocated Rs 13,948 crore for SBM-G–administered by the ministry of drinking water and sanitation. This was a 33% increase over 2016-17 when Rs 10,500 crore was allocated to the programme.

However, expenditure on information, education and communication (IEC)–vital for changing personal attitudes and perspectives–has been below par.

The programme guidelines recommend that 8% of SBM-G and 12% of SBM-U expenditure be earmarked for IEC. In no year has this target been met.

For instance, in 2017-18, only 4% of the allocations to SBM were earmarked for IEC.

Consequently, 22.6% Indians who had a toilet at home but did not use one said it was because of “personal preference”, according to the Swachhta Status report 2016.

“Lot of families with latrines think that if they use them, it will pollute their home and they will never be able to empty them,” Spears told us in the above mentioned interview. “To avoid all this, it is easier is to defecate in the open. It is going to be a hard problem to solve because it is rooted in these old and strongly held issues of social inequality.”

As of January 2018, 11 states and union territories have declared themselves as ODF. However, only six of them have been verified by ministry of drinking water and sanitation.

In rural India, 51% of 604,084 villages have been declared ODF. However, only 64% of these had been verified as of January 15, 2018.

Since October 2014, 60 million households toilets have been built under SBM-G.

Of Rs 13,948 crore ($2.1 billion) allocated to SBM-G in 2017-18, Rs 79 crore ($12.3 million) was for solid- and liquid-waste management. As many as 3.8% rural Indians who chose not to use toilets said broken toilets were the reason they defecated in the open, according to the Swachhta Status report 2016.

The urban challenge: 58% cities still report open defecation, only 23% garbage is treated

As of December 2017, 1,846 (42%) Indian cities declared themselves ODF, of which 1,337 were verified by the ministry of urban development.

As of November 2017, 4.2 million individual household toilets–64% of the 6.6 million targeted–were constructed across Indian cities. Similarly, 92% of the 17,193 targeted community toilets were constructed, data show.

Besides eradicating open defecation and constructing household and community toilets, SBM-U also aims to achieve 100% garbage collection and disposal. As of January 10, 2018, 68% of India’s 82,607 wards–urban administrative zones–had achieved this target.

Solid waste management, however, remains a challenge. As of November 2017, India generates 145,626 tonnes of solid waste every day; only 23% of this is processed.

For SBM-U–administered by the ministry of urban development–the Centre allocated Rs 2,300 crore in 2017-18, the same as 2016-17.

Since 2014-15, the Centre earmarked Rs 7,366 crore for improving solid-waste management systems under SBM-U, of which only 29% has been released to states as of January 10, 2018, according to a report by Accountability Initiative.

This is the concluding part in our series of eight state-of-the-nation reports ahead of Budget 2018. You can read our report on renewable energy here, on agriculture here, on urban development here, on rural jobs here, on healthcare here, on education here and on defence here.

(Salve is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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Budget 2018: 522 Mn Indians Still Defecate In The Open, Putting Them At Risk Of Disease & Poverty

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