Why I am an Indian

November 17, 2018

Bertrand Russell wrote “Why I am not a Christian.”

Kancha Ilaiah wrote “Why I am not a Hindu.”

Shashi Tharoor wrote “Why I am a Hindu.”

Shashi Tharoor thinks his book will appease Hindus. Kancha ilaiah has had his book banned in universities but that will not stop its truths from spreading

I would like to explain why I am an Indian, in the light of these developments, via negativa, and rarely, in a positive vein, under the present cicumstances of a crumbling economy and our present political and sociological situation. My aim is to show that India is a bigger concept that what either the Hindutva brigade or people like Tharoor know of or understand and unless one redefines it now we cannot go forward. My essay shows the cracks in the common perception of what it means to be Indian and deconstructs the binaries to show those who fall between the cracks as a result. My methodology will be confusing to those who have never seen Lacan or Derrida actually appiled or post modernism or post structuralism or deconstruction, but to those others who know of this method my essay will be clear as an atttempt to fracture the idea that there is a monolithic entity called India which is instead only a post-truth shifting morass or mass that is fluid and constantly shape shifting and the fixity I have in it or anone else is only ideologically provisional in these days of fast changing technology and science and can at any moment be replaced with a better combination or mess and so it behooves those who think the concept matters to understand that the concept itself is now under threat and can melt away if they are not wise to realise it has to be all inclusive and dynamic and not static, as those displeased with it can go and live elsewhere with no difficulty in these days and the loss will be for the country.

I am an Indian because I am not a Hindu or a Muslim.
I am an Indian because I don’t know Hindi or Urdu.
I am an Indian because I am not upper caste or lower caste.
I am an Indian because I am not upper class or lower class.
I am an Indian because I am from South India with no memories of partition or Mughal supremacy.
I am Indian because I do not write in Malayalam but in English.
I am an Indian because I am not a communist or Marxist or Leninist or Stalinist or Maoist.
I am an Indian because I am not a tribal or adivasi or Dalit or feminist or poor or underserved or underprivileged or marginalized or belonging to LGBTQI but refuse to be silenced in speaking for them.
I am an Indian because I am not privileged or served or rich.
I am Indian economically because I have very little assets and wealth, but also debts, being typically petit-bourgeois.
I am an Indian because presently I am not in India
I am an Indian because I am not in the army.
I am an Indian because I am not a farmer but a brain worker.
I am an Indian because I was born in India and live most of my life in it.
I am an Indian because while India is my country but I do not consider most Indians either my brother or sisters.
I am an Indian because I am proud of all of India’s rich and varied heritage and not just some parts of it or things in it others want me to be proud of.
I am an Indian because I do not mistake India for Bharath.
I am Indian because I do not worship cows. I eat beef.
I am an Indian because satyameva jayate seems better as a motto to me than either vande mataram or mera bharath mahaan.
I am an Indian because I do not believe in the so called greatness of Indian culture.
I am an Indian because I am happy with the present National Anthem. I am an Indian happy with our present flag and constitution.
I am an Indian because I do not belong to the political parties of BJP, Congress or AAP or any other party.
I am an Indian because I am a brown skinned man from the race of Dravidians and asuras and not from the race of those who came from the North with tales of a new conqueror and avatar of an imaginary god.
I am an Indian because I am from Kerala. I am an Indian because I am a Malayali. I am an Indian because I love my family, extended family and my relatives.
I am an Indian because I fight for women, the disadvataged, the disabled and the children, as much as for workers and labourers.
Presidential rule would suit India best now, in the absence of coalition rule which is the only way forward and coalition rule is not exactly democratic and has to be replaced by another way of governance.
I am an Indian because I believe in the values, ethics and morals of Jesus Christ, and Buddha, as greater than that of other torch bearers of mores for civilization.
I am an Indian because I am a citizen with rights and duties in a sovereign socialist democratic republic which is suppposedly humanist, secular, and standing for liberty and equality and fraternity but isn’t nowadays and has never heard of a word like equity.
I am an India as its land, air and water and flora and fauna belong to me and my family as much as to anyone else and I belong to the same land and can own it and its water and air and flora and fauna which is my actual metaphoric mother.
I am an Indian because I speak from its fringe and voices like mine show others there is an India beyond your knowledge that exists that does not care at all or only or rarely for majoritarian issues or concerns.
I have explained both why and in what all I am an Indian and what I am not and if this makes me not Indian or less of an Indian in the eyes of anyone else in India or the world, whereas to me all this uniqueness makes me more of an Indian than anyone else, it is because they do not understand the diversity that is actually India and the possibility for unity that it actually offers.

Dr A.V. Koshy is an established author and writer who is a poet, critic and artist. He has a doctorate in Samuel Beckett’s Poems in English from the University of Kerala, now published. He has co-authored and published a monograph of essays called Wrighteings: In Media Res and has several, published research papers to his credit. His greatest desire is to build a village for people having autism where all their needs are met. He runs an NGO called “Autism for Help Village Project” with his wife for this dream to come true. He has fourteen other books out now as fiction writer, literary critic, poet, academician, literary theoretician, essayist, editor, anthologist, co -editor, co-author and co-contributor. His latest and perhaps best book is a collection of short stories Scream and Other Urbane Legends.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org

Homes Disappear, Walls Crumble As India’s Coasts–Battered By Human Activity–Are Now Ravaged By Climate Change

November 17, 2018

Honnavar, Karnataka: First, in 2011, the sea took away some of their land. Three years later, the waves demolished a section of their home. That is when Budhwant Karvi, 40, knew it was time to move but his elderly parents refused.

Budhwant Karvi, 40, visits the remains of his old home in Pavinarkurve village in Honnavar, Karnataka, on festivals and special occasions. To stop the erosion, the government constructed a stone wall, but it wasn’t enough to hold back the waves.

“They said we have lived here for generations and will continue to do so,” said Karvi, a worker on a fishing trawler that sails the Arabian sea.

Karvi’s home is in Pavinakurve, a village along the scenic Honnavar coast with blue waters reflecting the sky in Western Karnataka. The view from the home was once a narrow strip of sandy beach and the vast Arabian sea. On the right is the island of Basavaraj Durga, a popular tourist destination.

The view from Pavinakurve and the island of Basavaraj Durga in northwestern Karnataka. The sandy beaches of Pavinarkurve are being steadily eroded.

Seven years ago, the waves began to crash against the walls of Karvi’s home made of red, large bricks. “At times the waves would completely wash over our home and leave behind plastic bottles that were discarded in the sea by people,” Karvi said, pointing to the waste bottles on the land. Soon the sandy strip of the beach went under water. Then one by one the sea swallowed six guntas (1/7th of an acre) of the land the family owned, roughly six times the size of an average two-bedroom flat.

Millions living on India’s coasts are threatened as India has lost 33% of its coastline to erosion in 26 years between 1990 and 2006, according to a report released in July 2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) in Chennai, which is mapping changes to India’s shoreline, and is affiliated to the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

This is the second story in our series on how climate change is disrupting people’s lives (you can read the first part here). The series combines ground reporting from India’s climate change hotspots with the latest scientific research.

India has a coastline of 7,500 km–nearly three-and-a-half times the distance between Ahmedabad and Kolkata–divided almost equally on the east and the west of the country. Along it are nine states, two union territories (UT) and two island territories. Of the country’s 1.28 billion people, 560 million, or 43%, live within these coastal territories.

Of the coastline that is eroding, 40% is in four states/UTs alone. West Bengal has lost 99 sq km of land in the past 26 years, making up 63% of the state’s coastline and equivalent to the area occupied by 18,500 football fields. Puducherry has lost 57% of its coastline, Kerala 45%, and Tamil Nadu 41%, to heavy erosion.

India’s coasts are under attack both from man-made activities–such as growing construction, damming of rivers, sand mining and destruction of mangroves–as well as natural causes linked to climate change such as rising sea levels, according to the report.

Growing construction, rising temperature, threatens coastline
India has 5,264 large dams and another 437 dams are currently under construction, according to the Central Water Commission (CWC). Of these, the highest–2,354–are in Maharashtra, followed by Madhya Pradesh (906) and Gujarat (632). These dams starve the coasts of sediments that the rivers would otherwise carry, disturbing the natural equilibrium.

Then, there are 13 major ports, 46 fishing harbour and 187 minor ports on the coast for the building and maintenance of which sediments are regularly removed. This sediment is rarely ever returned to the coast.

All this has left India’s coasts vulnerable to the full impact of climate change. “Climate change is making weather systems in the Bay of Bengal erratic,” said M.V. Ramana Murthy, director of NCCR. “We have some evidence for sea level rise. The Lakshadweep lagoons, which are enclosed water bodies, are also getting eroded because of sea level rise.”

Global warming will cause the sea levels to rise well beyond the year 2100. This rise could be as much as the height of a 500 ml bottle of coke to the height of four such bottles put together if global warming raises temperatures by 1.5 degree Celsius. If the Earth warms beyond this, the rise in sea level could be even more, according to the latest report by United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in October this year.

Rising sea levels are predicted to disproportionately affect fishermen like Karvi and farmers owning fields along the coast.

In the past two years, Karvi’s entire home was ravaged by the sea. Even as his parents refused to move, Karvi and his siblings moved away with their families in tow. They now live in rented homes.

With the little money they had, they constructed a two-room mud home with no windows and a roof so low that one has to bend to enter, where their parents lived till their death in 2017.

Soon after, the waves began to cross the stone wall built by the government and gnaw at the remains of their old home, now reduced to rubble. The Karvis return to the old house, now reduced to debris, on special occasions. There is a tulsi plant outside that Karvi returned to on the day of Dussehra to offer prayers. In Honnavar, the only asset those like Karvi have, are their homes and their land. With the sea swallowing up both, Karvi and his siblings have nothing left.

In Pavinakurve village, many high yielding paddy fields along the coast are no longer suitable for agriculture as crops don’t grow in soil contaminated with the salty sea water.

The waves are only expected to rise higher as climate change causes changes in wind speeds. In the next three decades, coastal erosion will occur 1.5 times faster than the past three decades, according to a 2016 joint study by researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai and the National Centre for Earth Sciences Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Walls to fight waves
Many countries, including India, have responded to this challenge by building hard engineering structures such as walls or bunds along the coastline. These are just a short-term solution, said Prasanna Patgar, regional director for environment for Karwar district, that also oversees Honnavar. They also might redirect the waves and cause another area along the coast to erode. Worse, as the sand below them shifts, the walls sink.

At the moment, state governments are spending hundreds of crores of taxpayers’ money to construct walls which get eroded in a few years. But, why?

“People want immediate solution and building a wall is one,” Patgar explained. As waves erode wealth accumulated over a lifetime, people panic and administrators are pressured to offer a quick fix.

Other alternatives that work, such as mangroves, are either too expensive or time consuming.

Natural barriers are most effective against coastal erosion. They take years to establish themselves and become effective.

Mangroves go a long way to reduce wind speeds and the swell of waves during storm surges. They bind the sand together and arrest erosion. “There is also the thermodynamic shelterbelt model in which four levels of vegetation are planted,” Patgar explained. “Grass is planted closer towards the sea, followed by shrubs, herbs and finally the trees. But these plants take 5-10 years to establish and become effective.”

Another option that has worked on a 40 km stretch off the Puducherry coast is a structure based on the erosion patterns and requirements of the particular stretch. “We brought back the sediment naturally by building a submerged structure that mimics how coral reefs protect an island,” Murthy explained. Carrying out a scientific study for the 40 km stretch and coming up with the best design for the structure cost Rs 50 lakh.

To do that along India’s 7,500 km coastline would be too expensive. Even if the money was found, there aren’t as many experts as would be needed to study the entire coastline.

A coastline in distress
Coastal erosion hotspots are spread all along India’s coastline. There are several hotspots along the Kerala coastline, recently left devastated by floods, according to a 2015 study. Areas nearly 2 km inland were found to be eroded. The Tamil Nadu coast is also impacted by erosion, but the eastern coast, around the Bay of Bengal, is the worst affected.

Low and moderate erosion spots along India’s coastline.

Source: National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian Coast; July 2018.

Apart from increasing sea levels, climate change is also going to change weather patterns along the coast. “The intensity and the number of tropical storms, called cyclones, in India are likely to increase in coastal areas,” said Gerd Masselink, professor of Coastal Geomorphology at the University of Plymouth, in the United Kingdom. “The effect will depend on where you are on the globe. Some areas might become less stormy and other areas might become more stormy.”

“There can be changes in the wave direction as the climate changes. This might change the longshore sediment transport, which is movement of sand along the beach,” Masselink added.

Some coastal areas are likely to flood more and global warming will cause the water temperatures to rise. All these changes will have a direct impact on the production of fish and consequently those, like Karvi, who depend on it for a living.

TH Nayak’s extended family owned land on the Pavinakurve island (in background), which has now been eroded by the Arabian sea in northwestern Karnataka.

Standing at the edge of Karki village in Honnavar, TH Nayak, 74, points to the expanse of the Arabian sea. “We had relatives living on the stretch of land there. Now it is all under water,” said the former Karnataka bureaucrat. His home was nearly 5 km away from the sea. Between the sea and his home shielded by Pavinakurve was an estuary. “It was so shallow that we could walk across it,” he said. In the last few decades, the entire topography of the area has changed.

Image on the left is from Google Earth and on the right is a 1932 map from the Survey of India.

Left: The mouth of the Sharavathi river has moved over 4 km from Kasarkod (south) to opposite Karki village (north). Right: A 1932 map of the same region that shows the position of the mouth of the Sharavati river. The island of Pavinkurve is a longer stretch of land and Karki village merely had a stream in front of it, instead of the Arabian sea.

Karki village now overlooks the mouth of the Sharavathi river which merges into the Arabian sea. When Nayak was growing up, the mouth of the river was several kilometres away near the neighbouring Kasarkod village.

“Coastal erosion is a natural process but the rate at which the erosion is happening here has accelerated over the past few decades,” explained marine biologist Prakash Mesta, of the Centre for Ecological Sciences in Kumta, who is currently working on a project on coastal ecology and global warming.

While land from one side of the river mouth is going under water, new land is emerging on the other side. This process is called accretion.

Nearly 29% of India’s overall coastline is accreting, according to the NCCR report. Odisha (51%) and Andhra Pradesh (42%) have seen a maximum increase in their coastline.

While the island of Pavinakurve (on the left) is losing land to erosion, new land is being formed on the island of Kasarkod (right) due to deposition of sediments called accretion. The new land goes to the government and not the ones who lost their land to erosion.

While Karvi and Nayak are losing their land due to erosion and not being compensated for it, the new land the sea throws up goes to the government.

“Climate change along the coast has affected the livelihoods of the fishermen community. The new land can go to them to make up for the land they have lost,” said Ramachandra Bhatta, former professor of Fisheries Economics at the College of Fisheries in Mangalore. “If the government does a risk assessment study and offers them an insurance cover, the fishermen will not need to go begging to the authorities after every disaster, the frequency of which will only increase going forward,” said Bhatta, explaining that the government has yet to conduct such a risk assessment.

Human activities worsen natural erosion
For over two decades, Aurofilio Schiavina, co-founder of Pondicherry Citizen’s Action Network (PondyCAN), has been watching the beaches of Pondicherry disappear due to erosion. While he agrees climate change is a factor, he highlights the need to check man-made structures like building coastal walls, dams, as well as illegal activities like sand mining.

At Honnavar, for instance, locals revealed a kilogram of sand sells for Rs 5 and the sand mafia routinely take away truckloads of sand from the beach.

Schiavina also agreed with the decision recalling the proposal to build a wall from Chennai to Kanyakumari right after the tsunami struck in 2004. “The damage that would have done in ten years would be more than what climate change would have done in decades,” Schiavina said. “We need policies rooted in science,” he added.

New rules on coastal regulation unscientific
Avoiding construction close to the coast is one of the easiest steps to take, according to scientists. The technical knowledge to identify areas that are at risk of erosion is available.

“People think erosion is always bad thing, but erosion at one location causes sedimentation somewhere else,” Masselink said. “A heavily managed coastline, for example a beach with a seawall, cannot adapt very well to climate change impacts and requires constant attention, whereas a natural coastline, or one that is managed using more sustainable methods on management such as nourishment, can naturally adapt to climate change impacts.”

Any sand taken away from the coast needs to be replaced, added Murthy. “We need at least 100 metres of space along the coast.”

The government, though, has other plans. In April this year, a new coastal regulatory zone draft was released in which the No Development Zone (NDZ) around coastal areas was reduced from 100 mt to 50 mt allowing for more construction along the coast in rural areas–the opposite of what scientists advise. Coasts in urban areas don’t have NDZ at all. The move is being hailed as one meant to benefit builders.

And what’s our defence against climate change? “There is no way other than being vigilant,” said Murthy.

(Disha Shetty is a Columbia Journalism School-IndiaSpend reporting fellow covering climate change.)

Madhya Pradesh Polls: 38 lakh Muslim Voters, Only 4 Candidates

November 17, 2018

According to experts, Muslims which constitute 6.57 % voters should have 15 to 20 representatives, however, there has been only one since 2003.

Image for representational use only. Image Courtesy: india.com

Bhopal: The number of Muslim political representatives in the Madhya Pradesh state assembly has declined in the last two decades according to the poll data. The political parties are giving a wide berth to Muslim leaders, irrespective of their population. There are between 37 to 38 lakh Muslim voters, out of 5.03 crore in the state, but there has been only one Muslim representative in the state assembly in the last 15 years, according to the data compiled by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s minority cell after the release of the final electoral list.

The new house to be formed after the election gives no good news to them.

While the Congress has given tickets to three Muslim candidates – Arif Aqueel from Bhopal North, Arif Masood from Bhopal Madhya and Masharat Shaheed from Sironj, the BJP has given ticket to only one candidate, Fatima Rasool Siddiqui from Bhopal North. BJP has pitted her against Aqueel so that as a minority community candidate, she may cut into his vote share.

Besides Bhopal North and Bhopal Cenral, Muslim voters influence the results of more than 25 seats. These constituencies are Narela, Burhanpur, Shahjapur, Dewas, Ratlam city, Ujjain-North, Jabalpur-North, Jabalpur-East, Mandsaur, Rewa, Satna, Sagar, Gwalior South, Khandwa, Khargone, Indore 1, Depalpur, according to the data.

Yet, no party has made any attempt to increase the number of their representatives in the assembly.

Commenting on the declining Muslim representation issue, senior journalist and political expert, L S Herdenia said that Muslims formed 6.57 per cent of the state’s 7.27 crore population, according to the 2011 census. So, their representation in the assembly should have from 15 to 20.

“We must try to increase Muslim representation into the Parliament and state assembly. For this, political parties must encourage Muslims to participate in political activities and give tickets to them,” Herdenia said.

He further said, “But unfortunately, this is not being done. Let us have a look at the office-bearers of Congress in MP. Not a single Muslim has been given important position in the organisation headed by state Congress chief Kamal Nath,” adding that if prompt action has not been taken in this respect, it will result in frustration in the rank and file of Muslim political workers.

Reason behind Declining Muslim Representatives
There are two reasons for the sharp decline in Muslim representation in the state: first is the polarisation of votes after the demolition of Babri Mosque (December 6, 1992), and the second, the division of Muslim population after delimitation of constituencies during the Congress rule.

Delimitation is a process in which Boundary Committee redraws the boundaries of various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies and convert seats based on the recent census. The present delimitation of constituencies had been done on the basis of the 2001 census in 2002.

Soon after the demolition of Babri mosque, assembly elections were held in MP in 1993, and Digvijay Singh led-Congress stormed to power. But, this was for the first time when no Muslim leader made it to the assembly. In 1998, during Singh’s second term, three Muslims were elected to the assembly including Arif Aqueel from Bhopal North. Aqueel was first elected as an Independent. Later, he joined Congress and was elected to the assembly again.

When asked the reason for this decline, state Congress spokesperson, Sajid Qureshi said because political parties don’t see Muslim leaders as potential candidates. “After the Babri Mosque demolition, the gap between the two communities have widened and members of both the communities starting seeing their leaders on religious lines irrespective of their work,” said Qureshi adding, as a result Muslim representation dipped across the country, not only in MP.

Former Union Minister and ex-MP from Betul constituency Aslam Sher Khan said, “Division of Muslim population in different constituencies and polarisation of majority votes after the Babri Mosque demolition were the major reason. With the support of fundamentalist forces, the Digvijay Singh-led state government hatched a conspiracy against Muslims and divided the Muslim population. Or converted Muslim-dominated seats to reserved ones. Just like Betul in 2002.”

While constituencies such as Bhopal, Satna, Rewa, Narela, and Jabalpur were divided into different constituencies in 2002 by the Boundary Commission with the help of Congress’ Digvijaya Singh government.

Till the third decade of Independence, Muslims occupied several public offices in the state. Such as Gulsher Ahmed, who held the position of speaker of Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and a minister. He was also the governor of Himachal Pradesh. The other prominent name is Aziz Qureshi of Bhopal, who served as minister and Governor of Uttarakhand.

Other Muslims who were elected to the Parliament included Maimuna Sultan, Ghufran-e-Azam and Aslam Sher Khan in 1991. Both Ghufran and Aslam were also well-known hockey players, Aslam Sher Khan was a part of the national team which won the gold medal in hockey World Cup in 1975.

Before the Babri Mosque demolition and delimitation of constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, Muslims had a healthy representation in the assembly and Muslim candidates had also contested General elections. Their presence was clearly registered till 1990 in areas like Betul, Jaora, Burhanpur, Jablapur and so on.

“Nobody can expect the BJP to help Muslims get what they are entitled to. BJP leaders have publicly stated that they do not want votes of Muslims. In pursuance of this policy, they did not give tickets to any Muslim in Uttar Pradesh, despite the fact the state has a large Muslim population and it worked,” said political expert Herdenia. But, Congress which was the shelter for Muslim politicians post-independence too has given a wide berth to Muslim candidates soon after the demolition of Babri Mosque. As a result, representation of Muslims leaders left in Congress are also just for.

The BJP, which has also bluntly overlooked Muslim representation, seemed to be in a defensive mode when the issue of less Muslim representation was raised before them. Commenting over the issue, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “Our party distributes tickets on winning ability of a candidate and majoritarian views. And Muslim candidates hardly get in with the majoritarian view.”

Loss due to Lack of Leadership
As a result of this lack of leadership, the members of Muslim community have been leading a miserable life in the state. A lot of their colonies are still lacking basic amenities like clean water, roads, schools, street lights, etc. The best example is old Bhopal where these basic amenities are still missing from Muslim colonies, claimed Abdul Jabbar a resident of old Bhopal, who is also a victim of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

The above issues can be found in the Congress Manifesto released on November 10, because the BJP led government has failed to provide those amenities to the Muslim colonies during the past 15 years. However, the main issue of lack of representation does not find any mention.

Arif Aqueel, the only Muslim MLA in the state has recalled a unique case of Muslim discrimination in the assembly. “During the previous assembly session, when I asked, why the Narmada water was not being supplied to my constituency (Old Bhopal)? I was told by a BJP MLA that if I uttered Narmada Mata ki Jai and Bharat Mata ki Jai, then my constituency would get that. And, I had to utter those words in the assembly because providing water to my constituency is my true religion.”

Muslim Representatives in MP assembly
muslim%20candidates%20MP%20elections.png

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

“The more the right-wing attack us, the more we will resist”: Sunil P. Elayidom

November 17, 2018

On Wednesday night, noted writer and orator Sunil P. Elayidom’s office was vandalised by an unidentified group. The next morning, Elayidom, a faculty member of the Department of Malayalam at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, found out that his door was marked with a crossed-out sign in saffron paint. His name board was also removed from the Department’s office. The incident was noticed in the morning by other faculty members of the department. The university has also registered a complaint in the Kalady police station.

Elayidom has been a part of the Malayalam department for over 20 years. He is also a noted thinker and activist who strongly oppose the right-wing agenda of communalism. Speaking to the Indian Cultural Forum about the incident, the academic said, “I have been giving lectures in different parts of Kerala for over 30 years now and I strongly oppose the right-wing politics of hatred. Presently, the right-wing groups are trying to threaten the people who raise their voice against these fringe groups. The attack against me has the same intention. They want to silence me through such threats. But I cannot be threatened or silenced because right now our country is witnessing a different scenario altogether. The more they attack us, the more we will resist”.

Over the past decade, Sunil P. Elayidom’s lecture series, like the ones on Sree Narayana Guru, Kerala renaissance and the Mahabharata series have been widely accepted and appreciated on social media. His new wave of thoughts has also influenced the young generation. Rafiq Ibrahim, academic and former student of Prof.Elyadiom told the Indian Cultural Forum, “Earlier Sunil sir’s lectures were limited to a certain circle but now his lectures are widely circulated. He always opposed the politics on brahminism and communalism. However, for the past one and half years he has been receiving threats in various forms. The right-wing groups are threatened by his stream of thought because he attacks the Hindutva groups from its core i.e. by questioning their vedic texts. On the context of Sabarimala, he defended the SC judgement by putting forth the tantric beliefs of Sabarimala. The attack on his office cannot be seen in isolation with the previous attacks and was carried out by an organised force. Whoever has attacked the Professor’s office might have had external support from the university.”

Ever since the Supreme Court judgement on Sabarimala came in favour of women in the country, the state has been witnessing a series of protests and violence led by the right-wing groups under the banner of Sabarimala Samrakshna Smiti. Earlier this week, Bindu Thankam Kalyani, who attempted to enter Sabarimala in October, was also attacked by the Sabarimala Karma Samiti. The government higher secondary school teacher was transferred from Kozhikode to Palakkad last month after a series of protests were staged by the right-wing groups in front of her work place. Last month, the Sangh Parivar attacked the ashram of Swami Sandeep Giri and burned his vehicles for speaking in favour of the judgment.

Responding to the series of attacks unleashed by the right-wing groups, Meera Velayudhan, Policy Analyst and member of the Samam Progressive Forum said to the Indian Cultural Forum, “There is no scope for status quo on Sabarimala; that masculinities are at its peak, not only in political culture but in the Malayali society in general, is obvious. The continuous attack on Sabarimala is a violent, casteist movement against the SC verdict and is intrinsically patriarchal. The participants and supporters of such attacks represent nothing but a pre-constitutional feudal sectional interest, trying to regain old hold on sections they ruthlessly subjected to caste slavery. The increasing attacks on Dalit activists, intellectuals and others who present strong Dalit counter-narratives as opposed to the RSS led narrative of a “unified Hindu community” and a “Malayali society”, is an attempt to cater to that sectional interest. The attacks on Prof. Elayidom and the continuing attacks on Dalit activist Bindhu who tried to worship at the shrine, is in fact, part of the larger on-going attacks on those who stand up for the rights of the marginalised.”

Elayidom has also been facing threats on social media ever since he advocated the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on Sabarimala. According to Elayidom, one of the reasons behind the immediate provocation of the Sangh Parivar was his recent lectures on Sabarimala. His lectures on nationalism are also popular in Kerala. “My lectures on Sabarimala and nationalism might have provoked The Hindutva groups. It’s a planned attack. I have not faced any physical attack yet but, I am being threatened and abused by the right-wing groups over social media. I have always spoken about gender justice in various occasions. I have said what I have seen and experienced in my life. Gender issues always existed in my lecture but in different forms and it was in a different form for the Sabarimala question as well,” he said.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

AAP takes up T M Krishna’s concert, to be held in Delhi on Saturday

November 16, 2018

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, making the announcement Friday, said no artist should ever be denied an opportunity to perform.

New Delhi: Carnatic musician T M Krishna will perform in New Delhi on Saturday evening. In a tweet, the vocalist announced that he will be performing with RK Shriramkumar, Praveen Sparsh and Anirudh Athreya at Garden of Five Senses, Near Saket, New Delhi at 6.30 pm on Nov 17.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, making the announcement Friday, said no artist should ever be denied an opportunity to perform.

The AAP government had offered to host Krishna in the national capital after an event in which he was to perform was called off by Airports Authority of India (AAI- SPIC MACAY.)

The Airports Authority of India’s decision to postpone the event came after Internet trolls attacked the organiser for supporting an “anti-India” musician.

“Give me a stage anywhere in Delhi on November 17, I will come and sing. We just can’t let ourselves be cowed down by this kind of threats,” TM Krishna had said.

Krishna’s views on constitutional values like secularism and his attempts widening the reach of Carnatic music concert repertoire by including hymns in praise of Christ and Allah, and poems by writers including Perumal Murugan, have made him a target of right-wing attacks.

“The troll army has the underlying patronage of people in power,” he said. “I have been trolled for a long time for my social position, my perspectives on politics in India and my disagreements with the BJP regime… I believe in every art form… Allah, Jesus and Ram make no difference… It is a multi-lingual and multi-religious country,” Mr Krishna said, a report said.

The Magsaysay Award winner first came to the attention of right-wing groups in August when an audio clip reportedly of his Carnatic songs on Allah and Jesus Christ was circulated on WhatsApp. A fringe group in Tamil Nadu had threatened him for singing the songs.

Born in Chennai, TM Krishna started learning music at the age of six and trained under several top musicians like Chingleput Ranganathan, Vidvan Seetharama Sarma and Semmangudi Srinivasier. An economics graduate from Madras University, he has authored three books — Voices Within: Carnatic Music – Passing on an Inheritance, A Southern Music – The Karnatik Story, and Reshaping Art.

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Airport Authority cancels T M Krishna’s concert after twitter trolls call him anti-Indian.

SC orders CVC to handover probe report to CBI Director Alok Verma

November 16, 2018

The court gave Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Alok Verma time till November 19 to respond to the report filed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which is probing infighting within the central agency.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court ordered authorities to hand over the CVC report to CBI director Alok Verma on Friday.

The court gave Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Alok Verma time till November 19 to respond to the report filed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which is probing infighting within the central agency. The apex court directed the authorities to hand over the report to Verma in a sealed cover and ordered that confidentiality of the document be maintained. The SC fixed November 20 as the next date of hearing.

During the hearing Friday, the Supreme Court pointed out that the CVC report on Verma was “complimentary” on some charges, “not so complimentary” on some charges and “very uncomplimentary” on some charges. The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, added that further inquiry was required into some charges.

The SC has also ordered that a copy of the report be given to Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. It turned down Special CBI Director Rakesh Asthana’s request that the CVC report be provided to him as well.

The SC was hearing petitions filed by Verma and NGO Common Cause challenging the government’s order to divest the CBI Director of his duties. The SC on October 26 had given the CVC two weeks to complete its probe against Verma, which is being monitored by its retired judge, Justice A K Patnaik. On Monday, the CVC had submitted its preliminary report to the court.

Patnaik has also filed a note in SC.

Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana, who have been engaged in a tussle, were divested of their duties by the Department of Personnel and Training on October 23.

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Why covering the environment is one of the most dangerous beats in journalism

November 16, 2018

From the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi by Saudi agents to President Trump’s clashes with the White House press corps, attacks on reporters are in the news. This problem extends far beyond the politics beat, and world leaders aren’t the only threats.

Enviroment
Journalists who cover illegal operations like logging at this site in northern Sagaing division, Myanmar, can face threats and violence. AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

At Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, we train students and professional journalists to report on what we view as the world’s most important beat. One hard fact is that those who cover it are at heightened risk of murder, arrest, assault, threats, self-exile, lawsuits and harassment.

In a recent study, I explored this problem through in-depth interviews with journalists on five continents, including impacts on their mental health and careers. I found that some of them were driven away from journalism by these experiences, while others became even more committed to their missions.

Journalist Saul Elbein describes how in developing countries, covering the environment can be tantamount to investigating organized crime.

In the cross-hairs

Covering the environment is one of the most hazardous beats in journalism. According to one estimate, 40 reporters around the world died between 2005 and September 2016 because of their environmental reporting – more than were killed covering the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Environmental controversies often involve influential business and economic interests, political battles, criminal activities, anti-government insurgents or corruption. Other factors include ambiguous distinctions between “journalist” and “activist” in many countries, as well as struggles over indigenous rights to land and natural resources.

In both wealthy and developing countries, journalists covering these issues find themselves in the cross-hairs. Most survive, but many undergo severe trauma, with profound effects on their careers.

As one example, in 2013 Rodney Sieh, an independent journalist in Liberia, disclosed a former agriculture minister’s involvement in a corrupt scheme that misused funds earmarked to fight the parasitic, infectious Guinea worm disease. Sieh was sentenced to 5,000 years in prison and fined US$1.6 million for defamation. He served three months in Liberia’s most notorious prison before an international outcry pressured the government into releasing him.

In the same year, Canadian reporter Miles Howe was assigned to cover protests by the Elsipotog First Nation in New Brunswick against hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Howe worked for an independent online news organization that sought to spotlight unreported and underreported stories.

“Many times I was the only accredited journalist witnessing rather violent arrests, third-trimester pregnant women being locked up, guys tackled to the ground,” he recalls. Howe was arrested multiple times, and during one protest a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pointed him out and shouted, “He’s with them!” His equipment was seized, and police searched his home. They also offered to pay him for providing information about upcoming “events” – in other words, spying on the protesters.

Psychological impacts

The relatively few studies that have examined attacks on reporters show that such treatment can have lingering impacts, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive and substance use disorders. While some journalists are able to cope and recover, others live in a state of fear of future incidents, or suffer survivor guilt if they escape and leave relatives and colleagues behind.

“Overall, journalists are a pretty resilient tribe,” Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University, told me. “Their rates of PTSD and depression are about 13 to 15 percent, which is comparable to rates among first responders. Environmental or social justice reporters often have a higher-than-average sense of mission and purpose and a higher level of skill,” beyond that of some of their peers on other beats.

But this attitude can translate into reluctance to seek help. Most journalists I interviewed didn’t seek therapy, usually because no services were available or because of the profession’s machismo factor. Gowri Ananthan, a lecturer at the Institute of Mental Health in Sri Lanka, calls journalism “a profession in denial,” even as some victims acknowledge the price they’ve paid.

For example, Miles Howe suffered serious psychological problems following his arrests. “What did it do to me? It made me upset, angry,” he says. Howe didn’t seek therapy until he left journalism more than two years later, but in hindsight regrets not acting sooner.
Others told me their experiences recommitted them to their missions as journalists. Rodney Sieh says his stint in prison “really elevated our work to an international level that we would never have had if I weren’t arrested. It made us stronger, bigger, better.”

Global press freedom declined to its lowest point in 13 years in 2016 amid unprecedented threats to journalists and media outlets in major democracies and new moves by authoritarian states to control the media. CC BY-ND

Indigenous rights versus professional ethics

Environmental controversies often involve indigenous rights. In South America, for example, indigenous journalists and “ethno-communicators” are playing an increasingly vital role in uncovering vast exploitation of natural resources, forests and land.

Despite professional codes calling for balanced, impartial coverage, some reporters can feel compelled to take sides on these stories. “We saw that clearly at Standing Rock,” says Tristan Ahtone, a board member of the Native American Journalists Association, referring to protests on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“NAJA had to put out ethical guidelines for journalists. We saw it mostly with young Native reporters who were happy to blow the ethical line,” Ahtone says. “A lot of it is having a different world view.”

One such reporter, freelance journalist Jenni Monet – a tribal member of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico – was arrested while covering the protests but acquitted of trespassing at trial. She also has covered deforestation and logging in a tribal area in Brazil’s Amazon region. “Most times I’m with indigenous people (on such stories), and I see things through their eyes,” she told me.

Protesters march at Oceti Sakowin camp, where people have gathered to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, Dec. 4, 2016. AP Photo/David Goldman, File

Better training and legal protection

Many of these issues need further research. From a craft perspective, how do these experiences affect journalists’ approach to reporting? How do they deal with sources afterwards, especially if those people are also at risk? How do editors and news directors subsequently treat reporters in terms of assignments, story placement and salaries?

These findings also raise questions about how press rights groups can successfully protect and advocate for environmental reporters. In my view, more environmental journalists need the type of safety training that many war and foreign correspondents now receive.

Pollution and natural resource damage affect everyone, especially the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. The fact that journalists who report on these issues are so vulnerable is deeply disturbing. And their abusers often operate with impunity.

For example, there have been no convictions in the 2017 murder of Colombian radio journalist Efigenia Vásquez Astudillo, who was shot while covering an indigenous movement to take back ancestral land that had been converted to farms, resorts and sugar plantations. As the Committee to Protect Journalists observes, “Murder is the ultimate form of censorship.”

Eric Freedman, Professor of Journalism and Chair, Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

EXCLUSIVE: 33rd Suicide Victim of D Voter in Assam: NRC

November 16, 2018

Being Dubbed as ‘D Voters’ compelled Abdul Jalil & Samsul Hoque to take their own lives

From Bagariguri (Barpeta), November,15: In a short span of less than 72 hours, two persons made the ultimate, supreme decision to sacrifice their lives, harassed and depressed due to the ongoing NRC and ‘D’voter processes causing despair in every corner of Assam.

The suicide of Abdul Jalil (35) and Samsul Hoque (46) are the 32nd and 33rd suicide cases in Assam. Both took their lives after the names of their wives did not appear in the final draft NRC, which was published on 30th July this year.

The latest incident took place in the Bagariguri under Sorbhog police station in Barpeta District of Assam. Samsul Hoque, was a daily wage labourer in the unorganised, agricultural sector and the only earning member of the family who committed suicide on November 14, 2018 at about 8.30 pm nearby his house at Bagariguri Village under Sorbhog police station of Barpeta District. The family members of the victim and local residents of Bagariguri Village allege that Samsul Hoque was frustrated , over the past months, following the publication of the final draft NRC, when he found that the name of his wife Maleka Khatun had not appeared in the final draft NRC.

Samsul Hoque, was earlier content eking out a meagre living along with his four minor sons and two daughters. His wife was already engaged in a thankless battle to prove her own citizenship since 2005. Maleka Khatun, daughter of Ahmed Paramanik, of Village Barbala under Betbari Tehsil of Barpeta (earlier Kamrup) District was dubbed a ‘doubtful foreigner’ in 2005 by the Border Police Department of Assam Police without any investigation. Since then, Maleka Khatun have been levelled as ‘D’ Voter in the Voters list and have been deprived of all rights of as a citizen of India. The ‘doubtful citizenship’ case of Maleka Khatun was referred to a Foreigners Tribunal and she was declared as a Foreigner without any proper justification or adjudication, it is alleged.

Samsul Hoque, living off minimum wage earnings, had to both feed an eight member family and also spend a huge sum of money on the legal process to ‘prove’ Maleka Khatun an Indian! Battling it out up to the High Court, the family got some relief. The Gauhati High Court finally found some discrepancies in the findings of the Tribunal and sent back the case to foreigners tribunal for reconsideration. Samsul Hoque, deputed an advocate in the Foreigners Tribunal, 8th Barpeta where the case appeared once again. After a long battle for justice, though Samsul Hoque was submerged in a huge debt caused by the legal fees he had to pay, some relief came when on, March 9, 2017 Maleka Khatun was declared Indian by the Foreigners Tribunal. Samsul Hoque celebrated this victory by distributing sinni (sweets for the pious) during the Friday prayer at a local mosque. But his joyous moment was very short lived.

Though the Foreigners Tribunal declared Maleka Khatun a Indian Citizen on March 9, 2017, her name didn’t appear in the first draft of the updated NRC which was published on December 31, 2017 or in the final draft of the updated NRC which was published on July30, 2018. At the same time, ignoring his repeated application and appeals to the authorities, the ‘D’ or doubtful mark against the name of Maleka Khatun was not deleted from the draft voters list of 2018. The situation was tragic and unbearable for Samsul Hoque.

A grief striken Maleka Khatun told Sabrangindia,” He was afraid to hear that the name of all ‘D’ Voters and their descendents will be deleted from the NRC, even though their names have appeared in the final draft NRC, He repeatedly contacted the NRC office and other qualified persons on the issue He was tense about the implications and depressed as he saw that though I was declared as Indian, the ‘D’ mark in my name was not deleted from the Voters list. He was terrified that the name of my husband, four sons and one daughter, which appeared in the final draft NRC was deleted from the draft and another daughter who was married earlier and who’s name didn’t appear in the final draft will not appear ever in the updated NRC due to ‘D’ Mark in the voters list against my name.”

Days before he took his life, Samsul Hoque was obsessing about the issue, the case of Maleka Khatun and the NRC. “When I tried to pacify him, he would say that my head has stopped functioning, it’s like my brain is boiling in hot water. He would hurt himself often, beating his head against the bamboo pillers of our home,” added Maleka Khatun.

Shajahan Ali Ahmed, general secretary of the Association for Protection of Indian Citizenship Rights, who is also Volunteer Motivator for the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) in Assam observed, “due to rude behaviour of the officials involved in the NRC process and the absence of proper counselling, Samsul Hoque was pushed or compelled to commit Suicide.”

Shaizuddin Khandakar, the general secretary of the All BTC Minority Student’s Union, Salbari District Committee demanded a proper inquiry into the matter. The BTAD Citizen Rights Forum has called the suicide a “systematic murder in the name of D Voter and demands legal steps against the Border Police officials who gives false reference against an Indian Citizen as a doubtful foreigner without any Investigation.”

Meanwhile, on the early morning of November 12 in yet another incident, a man committed suicide allegedly after his wife and son’s names were not enlisted in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Balargudam, under Abhyapuri police station of Bongaigaon District. The deceased has been identified as Abdul Jalil (35).

As per reports collected by Sarangindia, the names of Abdul Jalil’s wife Halima Khatoon (25) and son Hamidul (10) did not figure in the final draft NRC.

“Abdul Jalil was depressed after knowing that names of Halima and Hamidul were not enlisted in the draft NRC. He hit himself with a machete and died,”a local resident said.

The NRC authorities released the final draft of NRC on July 30. 2018. According to the press release of the State Co-ordinator, NRC 2,89, 83,677 persons were found eligible out of 3,29,91,384 applicants in the final draft of the NRC. The names of 4,007,707 people were not included in the final draft NRC. Out of these huge number of people, 37,59,630 names have been rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 are on hold assuming them as ‘D’ Voters, declared foreigners or their descendents. This state of affairs has created great insecurity among the Indian citizens as they have been excluded from the final draft of the NRC without any proper investigation or basis.

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AAP takes up T M Krishna’s concert, to be held in Delhi on Saturday

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SC orders CVC to handover probe report to CBI Director Alok Verma

The court gave Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Alok Verma time till November 19 to respond to the report filed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which is probing infighting within the central agency.

Why covering the environment is one of the most dangerous beats in journalism

In the cross-hairs

Psychological impacts

Indigenous rights versus professional ethics

Better training and legal protection

EXCLUSIVE: 33rd Suicide Victim of D Voter in Assam: NRC

Being Dubbed as ‘D Voters’ compelled Abdul Jalil & Samsul Hoque to take their own lives

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