There has been no response from the Centre over the EC’s proposal to insert a new section, 58B, to enable it to take similar action if voters of a constituency are bribed by political parties
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi has written to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, asking him to revisit the government’s rejection of the Election Commission’s proposal seeking permanent legal powers to cancel polls in case there is credible evidence of voters being bribed.
On June 6 last year, the commission had sent a proposal, seeking an amendment to Section 58A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which empowers the EC to adjourn or cancel elections in case of booth capturing.
The EC had sought insertion of a new section, 58B, to enable it to take similar action if voters of a constituency are bribed by political parties.
As first reported by The Indian Express on November 21, 2016, the government’s rejection of this proposal was communicated to the EC in a letter dated September 26, 2016, saying that booth-capturing and bribery are not comparable “as the latter would be a matter of investigation and proof”.
This was reiterated on November 18, 2016, in Prasad’s letter to Zaidi on proposed electoral reforms. The Law Minister’s missive had come 10 days after the PM’s announcement of demonetisation. While announcing the move, PM had referred to the role of black money in elections.
Pressing the government to reconsider its stand, Zaidi wrote on November 23, 2016, “…I would point out that even in case of booth capturing, the Commission takes up follow up legal action only after verification of facts and on satisfaction as laid down under relevant law. Same would be the case on the issue of bribery.”
Although the poll panel had cancelled elections to two Tamil Nadu Assembly seats on grounds of bribery, Zaidi argued that it is not desirable for the commission to resort to its emergency powers frequently to deal with a problem as widespread as bribery.
According to sources, the commission hasn’t heard from the Law Ministry on the proposal.
As per the file notings obtained by The Indian Express, FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola has directed the heads of departments (HODs) and Deans to route all files pertaining to scholarships and foreign exchanges through the office of the Proctor, who is in charge of maintaining discipline. Documents obtained by The Indian Express, under the Right to Information Act, from various FTII departments showed that the nomination of eight students, who have “disciplinary matters” pending against them, came under the scanner.
Of these, four students were involved in gheraoing then FTII Director Prashant Pathrabhe in August 2015, at the height of the agitation against Chauhan’s appointment.
The four ‘disqualified’ students are also among the 35 students, including some who have since completed their course in FTII, undergoing trial at a Pune court on charges related to the agitation and gheraoing. Files pertaining to four other students eligible for scholarships showed that FTII had denied release of funds, as three of them were accused of “consuming alcohol and creating disturbance”, while another student was accused of ‘talking disrespectfully to and shouting at the Proctor’. Incidentally, the scholarship of the fourth student was cleared after he submitted a written apology.
However, not everyone fully supported the stance taken by Kainthola. Amit Tyagi, Dean (Films), said on September 22, 2016: “Issues of discipline are minor infringements… and should not prejudice our assessment of students who are basically talented. Hence, scholarships should be awarded to students. However, the final decision is with the director.”
Kainthola told The Indian Express, “It’s true that scholarships have been held back, but only in cases of serious indiscipline or when the inquiry is incomplete. It is equally true that scholarships have been released for students who have apologised in writing and promised good behaviour.”
Yesterday I received a disturbing message from a young man in Yemen who fears for his life – not because of the tragic war there but because of something that he wrote.
Twenty-year-old Mohammed Atboush (seen in the video above) is a medical student in Aden and the son of a judge. He also takes an interest in philosophy, which led him to write a book about the conflict between science and religion in Islam.
His book, "Critique of Scientific Inimitability", was published last February by Masarat Publishing & Distribution in Kuwait and has been featured at book fairs in several Arabic countries, including Yemen. It looks critically at claims that the Qur'an is a "scientific miracle" – claims which are also included in the Yemeni school curriculum.
The book that Mohammed Atboush wrote
The "scientific miracle" claim is a fairly recent invention and not part of Islamic tradition. It originated in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s and is based on the idea that the Qur'an contains scientific information which could not have been known in the time of the Prophet – thus reinforcing belief that the holy book must have come from God.
Publication of Atboush's book was reported in a factual way by a local news website in September but it is also said to have been denounced in some of the mosques. Then, last month, Atboush narrowly escaped assassination.
The attack happened on the evening of December 29 when Atboush arrived at his family home in Khormaksar, a normally quiet district of Aden. The street was unlit because of a power cut.
Atboush says he was knocking on the door of his home for someone to let him in when a masked man got out of a white Toyota Corolla. The man fired at him from a distance of two metres with a silenced handgun but the bullet hit a wall. Since no one had answered his knocking, Atboush then ran to a hotel nearby to seek help. The masked man fired again before getting back into the car which then drove off.
The attack was widely reported in local Arabic media (here, here, here, here, and here). Police believe it was the work of al-Qaida militants.
Last April another young man in Aden was murdered after religious fanatics accused him of atheism because of comments he had posted on Facebook. Seventeen-year-old Omar Mohammed Batawil was abducted in front of his home in the Crater district and his body was found later in another part of the city. He had been shot.
Omar Mohammed Batawil: abducted and killed in Aden
Atboush seems to have caused offence by questioning whether the Qur'an really contains foreknowledge of modern scientific discoveries. The idea that it does can be traced back to a French doctor, Maurice Bucaille, who served as family physician to King Faisal of Saudi Arabia in the early 1970s. Bucaille wrote a book, "The Bible, The Qur’an and Science", which was published in 1976. In it, he argued that while the Bible contains many scientific errors, the Qur'an was remarkably prescient: references to the Big Bang, black holes and space travel can all allegedly be found in its verses.
Since then, the idea that the Qur'an is miraculously scientific has given many Muslims a renewed sense of pride in their religion and has become a major tool for Islamic proselytising – with considerable success. In the eyes of others, though, it has done much to discredit Islam.
One popular claim (among many) is that the Qur'an reveals the existence of the ozone layer surrounding the earth.
An article on the True Islam website talks about the ozone layer and begins by explaining its importance in shielding the Earth from harmful rays. “The discovery of the ozone layer,” it continues, “took place many centuries after the Qur’an was revealed, nevertheless, there is mention in the Qur’an about this protective layer that shields us against the sun’s harmful rays.” Then comes the all-important verse:
Until he reached the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no shield against it [i.e. the sun].
For those who don’t immediately see that this refers to a hole in the ozone layer, True Islam's writer explains:
Five implications are drawn from this verse: 1. The word “shield” implies that there is something harmful from the sun, because if there was no harm to come from the sun, there would be no need for a shield. 2. In earlier interpretations of the Quarn [sic] the word “shield” was taken to mean mountains or hills, but mountains and hills do not shield us from the sun’s rays ultra violet rays unless we live all our lives inside one! 3. The phrasing of the verse indicates that the people mentioned as having no shield are in fact the exception and that for the rest of mankind there exists a shield. 4. The words “We had provided no shield” indicate that the shield is a natural one (of God’s making) and not a man-made one. This automatically eliminates the suggestion of houses and other man-made shelters. 5. The verse indicates the presence of a people, and thus areas, that are not shielded. This is in line with the current knowledge concerning the existence of holes in the ozone layer. It is generally thought that these holes have always existed. The matter has suddenly acquired an alarming nature because the size of these holes are greatly being enlarged as a result of man’s pollution of the planet. The only phenomenon that is able to accommodate all these five implications is the ozone layer.
On a more unscientific note, the same verse seems to imply there is a spot, somewhere on earth, where the sun rises. There's also another verse stating that the sun sets into a muddy spring.
This type of Qur'anic "science" relies heavily on linguistic ambiguities. Describing Bucaille's methodology, Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist, writes: "He asks his readers to ponder on some Qur'anic verse and then, from a variety of meanings that could be assigned to the verse, he pulls out one which is consistent with some scientific fact."
Hoodboy also notes that the same phenomenon can be found in other religions. Hindus used to claim their scripture was full of evidence supporting the Steady State theory of cosmology – until scientists abandoned the Steady State theory in favour of the Big Bank theory. Needless to say, Hindus soon found other scriptural passages “which were in perfect accord with the newer theory and again proudly acclaimed as a triumph of ancient wisdom”.
Abdul Majeed al-Zindani
A key figure promoting Qur'anic "science" in the 1980s was a Yemeni sheikh, Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, who worked at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia and began seeking out western scientists who were visiting the kingdom, with the aim of getting them to say positive things about scientific "knowledge" in the Qur’an. Zindani’s technique was described by Daniel Golden in an article for the Wall Street Journal:
His breakthrough came when one of his assistants, Mustafa Abdul Basit Ahmed, presented a leech to Keith Moore, a University of Toronto professor and author of a widely used embryology textbook.
Mr Ahmed wanted to show that a verse from the Qur’an, which states that God made man as a leech, was an apt simile to describe early human gestation as seen under a microscope. Mr Ahmed says Prof Moore was bowled over by the resemblance between the leech and the early embryo. Since the Qur’an predated microscopes, Prof Moore, son of a Protestant clergyman, concluded that God had revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad.
Moore was so impressed that in 1983 he produced an "Islamic edition" of his embryology textbook, "The Developing Human", which he described as containing the same material as the original version but with the addition of "numerous references to statements in the Qur’an and Sunnah about human embryology". The book is currently available on the internet, free of charge.
Zindani left King Abdulaziz University but in 1984 secured Saudi funding to establish the “Commission on Scientific Signs in the Qur’an and Sunnah”. Mustafa Abdul Basit Ahmed – the man who had presented the leech to Professor Moore – was then employed by the commission at $3,000 a month to travel around North America cultivating scientists, according to Golden.
The commission drew the scientists to its conferences with first-class plane tickets for them and their wives, rooms at the best hotels, $1,000 honoraria, and banquets with Muslim leaders – such as a palace dinner in Islamabad with Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq …
During the course of their trips, scientists were presented with verses from the Qur’an to consider in the light of their expertise. Zindani then interviewed them about the verses in front of a video camera, pushing them to acknowledge signs of divine inspiration. Golden spoke to several who felt they had been tricked or manipulated. Here is one account:
Marine scientist William Hay, then at the University of Colorado, was assigned a passage likening the minds of unbelievers to ‘the darkness in a deep sea … covered by waves, above which are waves.’ As the videotape rolled, Mr Zindani pressed Prof Hay to admit that Muhammad couldn’t have known about internal waves caused by varying densities in ocean depths. When Prof Hay suggested Muhammad could have learned about the phenomenon from sailors, Mr Zindani insisted that the prophet never visited a seaport. Prof Hay, a Methodist, says he then raised other hypotheses that Mr Zindani also dismissed. Finally, Prof Hay conceded that the inspiration for the reference to internal waves ‘must be the divine being’, a statement now trumpeted on Islamic websites. “I fell into that trap and then warned other people to watch out for it,” says Prof Hay, now at a German marine institute.Years later, many of the comments from scientists targeted by Zindani are still circulated on the internet.
Zindani, who had long-standing ties to Osama bin Laden, eventually returned to Yemen where he became a prominent figure in the conservative/Islamist Islah party and founded the notorious Iman University, a Yemeni religious institution with about 6,000 students.
Thanks to the university’s research efforts, Zindani claims to have developed a herbal cure for HIV/AIDS. Since 2004, he has been listed by the US as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, mainly because of his connections with Bin Laden and al-Qaida.
IANS Report: New Delhi, Condemning police action against students seeking justice for Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, the Delhi assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding "immediate action" against officers responsible for the "inhuman attack" on protesters.
The House also "strongly condemned" alleged manhandling of girl students by male police personnel.
"The Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi… strongly condemns the brutal assault by Delhi Police personnel and para-military personnel on the students and youth who took out peaceful protest march in New Delhi on January 17, 2017 seeking justice for Rohith Vemula," the resolution moved by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti read. "(The assembly) Demands that the Union Home Minister initiate immediate action against the officers responsible for such inhuman attack on innocent protesters from Jawaharlal Nehru University and other institutions," it added.
Hundreds of students were detained on Tuesday while protesting to mark the first death anniversary of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.
Referring to certain pictures published in the media, AAP MLAs alleged brutality against students, including female students, by the Delhi Police and paramilitary forces.
Supporting the resolution, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government won't tolerate an assault on students in the national capital.
"If students come to the capital of the nation and want to express their voice, do they deserve such treatment? This is an attempt to suppress the voice of the students and it won't be tolerated," he said.
Targeting Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, Sisodia said it was "hell bent on destroying the lives of the students who are the future of the nation, and the universities that shape that future".
"But we won't sit silent. We will speak up here (in the assembly) and will even take to the streets if needed," he added.
Earlier, major drama was witnessed during the discussion on the issue with AAP MLAs storming into the well and raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta.
Gupta, while speaking on the issue of Dalit oppression, called AAP MLAs concerns as pretence and said the Delhi government had done nothing for Dalits since coming to power.
Calling the BJP and the Prime Minister anti-Dalit, the protesting MLAs demanded an apology from Vijender Gupta for his remarks.
भारत का संविधान अपने हर नागरिक को प्राण व जीवन की रक्षा का अधिकार देता है. इसके अलावा भारत का नागरिक होने के नाते देश के हर छोटे बड़े और हर अमीर गरीब देशवासी को समान भाव से कुछ मौलिक अधिकार भी प्राप्त हैं. इस स्थिति में कोई भी बदलाव बिना विशेष परिस्थितियों और बिना आपातकाल की घोषणा किये करने की इजाज़त संविधान नही देता. लेकिन बेहद अफसोसनाक स्थिति है कि पिछले दिनों केंद्र सरकार द्वारा लिए गए नोटबंदी के अदूरदर्शी फैसले के बाद से देश की अर्थव्यवस्था की बुनियाद हिल जाने के कारण पूरे देश में अफरातफरी की स्थिति बन गयी है.देश के आम जन जीवन में यह कोहराम इसलिए मचा हुआ है कि अर्थव्यवस्था की साख मानी जाने वाली मुद्रा पर ही भारत में संकट आ पड़ा है. सरकार की मानें तो हमारी राष्ट्रीय अर्थव्यवस्था में लगभग 86% स्थान घेरने वाले 500 और 1000 के बड़े नोटों को वापस लेने से देश के छोटे बड़े सभी कालाबाजारियों की कमर टूट जायेगी और सारा काला धन सरकार के कब्जे में होगा. लेकिन जनता की तरफ से सोचें तो एक बड़ा सरल सा सवाल पैदा होता है कि वे नोट जो कुल कल करेंसी में 86% हिस्से में व्याप्त थे, उनको अचानक आधी रात को इस रहस्यमय ढंग से वापस ले लेने के बाद जो रिक्तता पैदा होगी, देश का आम गरीब, मजदूर, किसान और मेहनतकश, नौकरीपेशा आदमी, उसका कैसे मुकाबला करेगा. जो लोग रोज न कमाए तो उनके घरों में चूल्हा नही जलता, वे लोग अपना रोजमर्रा का खर्च कैसे चलायेंगे. फिर भी अपने जीवन की बेहतरी की उम्मीद में लोगों ने इन तमाम दिक्कतों को सहना स्वीकार किया और सोचा कि अर्थव्यवस्था में घुन की तरह लगे काले धन की बरामदगी से देश और जनता के हालात बदलेंगे. लोगों के पास अपनी कमाई के जो पैसे थे, उन्हें जमा करने के लिए और जरूरत के पैसे निकालने के लिए वे बैंकों के बाहर लाइनों में लग गए. बिना कोई वैकल्पिक व्यवस्था किये, सरकार की इस बिना सोची समझी और अविवेकपूर्ण कार्यवाही से अचानक पूरे बैंकिंग सिस्टम और आम जन जीवन में अराजकता फ़ैल गयी, सरकारी ढांचा चरमरा उठा, लोग बेहाल हो उठे, यहाँ तक की इस अराजक हुई व्यवस्था के बोझ तले दबकर 70-80 लोगों की अकाल मृत्यु भी हो गयी. बेहद अफ़सोस की बात ये कि इतनी बड़ी कीमत चुकाकर भी जो परिणाम हासिल करने की घोषणा की गयी थी, उसका एक अंश भी हासिल नही किया जा सका.
आइये इस असफलता और अराजकता के पीछे के कारणों की पड़ताल करें. असल में यह सारी कार्यवाही और इसके घोषित उद्देश्यों के सन्दर्भ में सरकार की सवैधानिक प्रतिबद्धता पर ही बहुत गहरे प्रश्न खड़े हैं. सबसे महत्वपूर्ण बात तो यह है कि एक आंकड़े के मुताबिक़ देश में मौजूद कुल काला धन का मात्र 6% हिस्सा ही करेंसी की शक्ल में है. बाकी सारा काला धन रियल स्टेट, सोना, माकन, कालोनियों और प्रतिभूतियों की शक्ल में है. एक बात तो साफ़ है कि देश को अराजकता की आग में झोंक देने वाली यह सारी कार्यवाही मात्र 6% काले धन को जब्त करने की कार्यवाही थी. वह भी असफल हो गयी. यह सवाल सरकार की मंशा पर खड़ा होता है कि शेष 94% कालाधन पर आपका क्या इरादा है. मात्र 6% कालेधन की जब्ती के नाम पर आपने गरीब मजदूर को जीने लायक नही छोड़ा और खेल ये खेला कि एक तरफ आप देश को आश्वस्त करते रहे कि यह बेहद गोपनीय कार्यवाही है, दूसरी तरफ बीजेपी के लोग तमाम प्रदेशों और जिलों में महंगी जमीने खरीदते रहे, अपने पैसे ठिकाने लगाते रहे और महंगे भड़कीले आयोजन करते रहे. कहने को आप देश से लगातार झूठ कहते रहे कि कांग्रेस ने 70 साल देश को लूटा और दूसरी तरफ नोटबंदी की इस पूरी कवायद के दौरान देखा गया कि सैकड़ों करोड़ रूपये पुराने भी और नए भी बीजेपी वालों के घर पकडे गए. यहाँ तक कि काला धन ठिकाने लगाने के काम में खुद भाजपाध्यक्ष अमित शाह तक को देखा गया. अमित शाह पर यह गंभीर आरोप किसी और ने नही, गुजरात बीजेपी के वरिष्ठ विधायक और अमित शाह के राजनीतिक गुरु रहे श्री यतीन ओझा ने प्रधानमंत्री को लिखे अपने पत्र में लगाए हैं. उन्होंने अपने पत्र में लिखा है कि गुजरात में जिला सहकारी बैंकों की ओर से पुराने नोट बदल कर नए नोट बदलने की इजाजत इसलिए मिली कि इन सभी बैंकों का नियंत्रण गुजरात भाजपा के लोगों के पास ही है। 8 नवंबर को सुबह रात नौ बजे से लेकर सुबह 5 बजे तक इन बैंकों ने 500 और 1000 के पुराने नोटों को छोटे नोटों में बदलने का काम किया। आपने 8 तारीख को आरबीआई के जरिये सभी बैकों के कैश की जानकारी ली थी। आप इस तथ्य को जांच लें कि बैंकों में ज्यादा कैश आया कि नहीं। गलत साबित होने पर मैं सार्वजनिक तौर पर माफी मांगने के लिए तैयार हूं।लोगों के दिमाग में यह शक है कि नोटबंदी के इस पूरे प्रकरण में शार्क और व्हेलों (बड़े पूंजीपतियों और काला धन कारोबारियों) को छोड़ दिया गया और आपके नजदीकियों को पहले ही जानकारी दे दी गई थी। आपको इस शक को मिटाने के लिए रिजर्व बैंक की वेबसाइट के जरिये एक करोड़ रुपये से ज्यादा रकम रखने वालों के लिए डिस्कलोजर की घोषणा करनी चाहिए। मेरा पक्का दावा है कि फॉर्च्यून 300 कंपनियों का कोई भी चेयरमैन, एमडी या डायरेक्टर यह डिस्कलोजर नहीं देगा। अगर वे डिस्कलोजर नहीं देते हैं तो मेरे आरोप सही साबित होते हैं। मैंने लोगों को चार हजार रुपये के लिए लोगों को भूखे-प्यासे लाइन में खड़े होते देखा है लेकिन इस लाइन में किसी मर्सिडीज, बीएमडब्ल्यू, ऑडी,वोल्वो पोर्श या रैंज रोवर वाले को नहीं देखा। न तो उन्हें पैसे निकालने और न ही जमा करने के लिए लाइन में लगते देखा। हो सकता है कि आपकी राय में ब्लैक मनी सिर्फ उनके पास है जो एटीएम या बैंकों की लाइन में लगे हैं। उनके पास कोई ब्लैक मनी नहीं है जिनके पास बीएमडब्ल्यू और ऑडी जैसी बड़ी-बड़ी कारें हैं।
नोटबंदी की योजना को असफल होते देखकर सरकार कैशलेस ट्रांजैकशन का नया जुमला लेकर आई. सरकार के लोगों ने कहना शुरू किया कि सारा झमेला ही कैश का है इसलिए पूरा लेनदेन ही कैशलेस करने के उद्देश्य से नोट वापस लेने का फैसला किया गया. इस बारे में विशेषज्ञों की राय सरकार से अलग है. कैट के राष्ट्रीय महामंत्री प्रवीण खंडेलवाल ने कहा कि भारत मूलत: एक नकदी आधारित अर्थव्यवस्थाहै.उन्होंने कार्ड से भुगतान सेवा मुहैया कराने वाली कंपनी मास्टरकार्ड के साथ कैट के एक अध्ययन का हवाला देते हुए कहा कि भारत में अभी केवल 10 प्रतिशत जनसंख्या ही नकदी रहित भुगतान करती है। जबकि स्वीडन में यह आंकड़ा 97 प्रतिशत, बेल्जियम में 93 प्रतिशत, फ्रांस में 92 प्रतिशत, कनाडा में 90 प्रतिशत और इंग्लैंड में 89 प्रतिशत है।कैट की एक विज्ञप्ति के अुनसार ने व्यापारियों को डिजिटल भुगतान के बारे में प्रशिक्षित करने के लिए दो साल से एक बड़ा अभियान चलाया हुआ है और इसके लिए उन्होंने मास्टरकार्ड और एचडीएफसी बैंक से साझेदारी की है।कैशलेस इकोनोमी सभी घोटालों में बड़ा घोटाला कैसे है, इसे समझने के लिए एक छोटा सा उदाहरण पर्याप्त है. मान लीजिये 100 रूपये के एक नोट के 100000 सर्कुलेशन होते हैं. हर हाल में इसका मूल्य 100 रूपया ही रहेगा. जिसको भी मिलेगा 100 रूपया ही मिलेगा, न एक पैसा कम, न ज्यादा. लेकिन जब 100 रूपये का सर्कुलेशन कैशलेस कंडीशन में होता है तो प्रत्येक ट्रांजैकशन पर 2.5% कमीशन देना पड़ता है. अर्थात 2.5% 100000 बार यानि 2500% यानि 2,50,000 रूपये का ऑनलाइन पेमेंट देना पड़ता है. इस प्रकार यह व्यवस्था सोने का अंडा देने वाली मुर्गी हुई. और इसीलिए यह सभी घोटालों की जननी भी हुई.
यह बात कोई काले धन वाला अमीर समझे न समझे, आमजन को समझना ही पड़ेगा. लोग लाइनों मे लगे लगे दम तोड़ गए। शादियों के लिए ढाई ढाई लाख देने को कहा था। किनको मिले ? पूछिए उनके जी से कैसे इज्जत बचाई होगी, कैसे बेटियों को विदा किया होगा। दूध मंडी मे चलिये, धंधा ठप है। लोहा मंडी मे आइये, सियापा छाया हुआ है। बिसाता बाजार मे आइए, निर्जन पड़ा है। गल्ला मंडी तक चलिये, शटर गिरे हुए हैं। रिक्शे, ऑटो और ठेले वालों पर एक नजर डालिए, लोगों की आँखों मे सूखा है। मजदूर मंडी चलिये, घुटनों मे सिर गोंते पसली की हड्डियाँ गिनते मजदूर खून रो रहे हैं। गांवों के चट्टी चौराहों पर चलिये, ग्रामीण और सहकारी बैंक बुरी तरह कैशलेस हैं, लोग हाथ पर हाथ धरे बैठे हैं। कह दीजिये कि ये सारा कुछ देश की इकोनोमी से बाहर की बातें हैं। कह दीजिये कि ये लोग देश मे नही रहते। कह दीजिये ये लोग भाइयों बहनों मे नही आते। इन लोगों ने वोट नही दिये आपको, अपनी बेहतरी की उम्मीद नही पाली थी आपसे…..। 15 नवंबर से 15 दिसंबर तक का समय गेहूं की बुआई का निर्धारित समय होता है। उसमे भी 30 नवंबर तक हो गयी तो अगैती वरना पिछैती हो जाती है फसल। 15 दिसंबर बीत गया और खाद बीज सहकारी समितियों से नदारद है, बाज़ार रो ही रहा है। हजारों हजार एकड़ खेत आसमान ताक रहे हैं। इन हालात में सरकार की जुम्लेबाजियों की अस्स्लियत समझने की जरूरत है. दरअसल यह सबकुछ देश के आम आदमी के हित के लिए नही, कुछ बड़े अमीर घरानों के हित के लिए खेला गया बड़ा खेल है. इसलिए सावधान रहें. हर हाल में अपनी जमापूंजी पर अपना नियंत्रण बनाए रखने के लिए हर जरूरी संघर्ष में उतरें. कैशलेस ट्रांजैकशन मात्र एक प्रलाप है, अमेरिका, फ़्रांस और ब्रिटेन जैसे अमीर और विकसित देशों में भी पूरी तरह लागू नही किया जा सका है. भारत के सन्दर्भ में तो यह पूरी तरह एक धोखा है. इस स्थिति को समझने और इससे सावधान रहने की जरूरत है. सरकारी जुम्लेबाजियों के कुप्रभाव से आप अनजान नही हैं. इसलिए अपना धन अपने प्रयासों से सुरक्षित रखें, क्योंकि गण की जमापूंजी पर तंत्र की कुदृष्टि पड़ रही है.
Should we criticise the organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival for inviting two functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to this year’s edition of the annual festival? Murmurs in the literary circles seem to suggest that the organisers of JLF succumbed to pressure from the right wing. A mere look at the list of speakers and programmes makes it clear that there are a fair number of liberal and left-leaning individuals among the speakers. Why, even the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sita Ram Yechuri, is in that list. So a balance appears to have been struck.
Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta was right when he lambasted those opposing space for the right wingers. When you do so, he argued, it is the liberal space that gets shrunk. It was none other than the much-hated, anti-right-wing Prime Minister Nehru who rejected a suggestion by the editor of the weekly Blitz, RK Karanjia, to proscribe the RSS as it was opposed to the constitutional values of India. Banning ideological groups would only drove them underground where they could assume a dangerously subversive power, Nehru felt. Even a majoritarian ideology like that of the RSS needs to be fought out in the open.
Moreover, now it is not the prerogative of the liberal or the left to have a dialogue with the right. It is in fact the right-wing, which now has the authority to decide whether the obsolete beings known as liberals or leftists would be allowed in public spaces or not. Even those who earlier championed liberal democratic values seem to have started to examine what they say, keeping in view the sensitivity of the right-wing masters of the day.
We see it being done in the universities where your position should depend upon the recognition of your work by your peers in academia. But increasingly we find heads of academic institutions performing a balancing act by constantly creating occasions to give platform to the so-called “intellectuals” of the RSS. So, one should not be surprised or upset that the JLF is inviting such intellectuals belonging to the RSS.
Of course, the right wing voices should not be shunned. They need to be made part of a civil dialogue or conversation. One is only struck by the timing of this realisation by the organisers of the JLF. The RSS was always there but for the last 10 years of its existence, it didn’t qualify as a potential participant of the JLF. But a little reflection should show that the real problem is not the presence of the RSS ideologues at the event but the main sponsor of the JLF, whose name is prefixed to that of the festival. Perhaps some of the finest minds from India and abroad who are attending the event should be reminded that they would be hosted by those very people who were instrumental in vehemently mobilising and instigating lynch mobs against some of their peers.
Murderous campaigns Let us not forget the murderous campaign last January against young student activists of Jawaharlal Nehru University. So effective was the vilification that the then president of the university students union, Kanahaiya Kumar, was almost killed in an attack on him by a group of lawyers in Delhi. In fact, so pervasive were the hate-campaigns, led by the very television news channel whose name is prefixed to the JLF, that they have made Kanhaiya Kumar and other student leaders permanently vulnerable to attack by people who have been persuaded by the propaganda that these young students are “anti-national”.
It didn’t stop there. Nivedita Menon, a respected professor and feminist writer, was targeted by the same news channel, inciting violence against her. Gauhar Raza, an Urdu poet and scientist at the government-funded Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, was declared a member of “Afzal-lover gang”, a reference to Afzal Guru, the convict hanged for his role in the 2001 Parliament attacks. These were not isolated attacks, as the tirade against these writers and scholars continued on the channel for many days .
People who have not thus been targeted would perhaps say that such attacks need not be taken seriously. They fail to realise that for those whose faces have been displayed on television prominently for days, and described as friends of terrorists or anti-nationals, it is matter of life and death. They are under mortal threat.
That we should leave our peers and young out in the cold and enjoy the company of hate-mongers is heartbreaking. It is nobody’s argument that merely by attending the event, those doing so become advocates of hate-ideology. But they do turn into their legitimisers.
Besides, it is not only about the insecurity of our own, those we meet in seminars and book readings. There is another section of our society, made friendless in India by the RSS. The channel, which would be hosting our writers and intellectuals in Jaipur, has been at the forefront of a propaganda war against Muslims. Its blatantly false reporting about Kairana in Western Utter Pradesh is only one such example. It has portrayed Muslims as a threatening presence for Hindus in Kairana and in Dhulagargh in West Bengal.
Or consider how this channel handled the 2015 case in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, when 50-year-old Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched by a mob because it was rumoured that his family had been eating beef. Writers, artists and scientists protested the killing and the rise of intolerance, which embarrassed the government and the party in power. But these very writers were attacked as being anti-national by the channel which is the patron of the celebration of creativity in Jaipur.
Unfreedom and fear The organisers of the JLF were urged to come out of the patronage of the Muslim haters and propagandists of hate. It has been reported that they did try to look for alternative sponsors but failed to find them. It is being argued that the JLF, having evolved into a unique institution, could not have afforded discontinuity. It is important to continue and sustain it and therefore one should understand the compulsion of the organisers who, it is claimed, want to build a literary culture in this country where literature is not celebrated publicly.
We are asked to be considerate to the organisers who have dedicated to the task of building a literary culture in India and abroad. If you want to do things on this scale, you need to make some compromises.But do we need such a massive celebration? It is the gigantic scale that necessitates the participation of corporations, the head of one of India’s top management institutions told this writer. The ethical universe of these corporations, he said, is defined by a very old and simple word: profit. They cannot be expected to be proponents of freedom and democracy. The Indian corporate lords have not an exemplary record in this regard.
The last two and half years have been torturous for the minorities for whom this country has turned into an open prison. We, in universities and elsewhere, too have lived with a feeling of unfreedom and fear. This feeling has brought us closer to understanding what the minorities face. Our normal existence has been interrupted. It is a zombie-culture we are made part of. Therefore, it is not surprising to see – in fact, it is difficult to miss – the strategic mind behind the theme of the JLF, which is Bhakti.
The selection of the theme brings to mind something Bertolt Brecht wrote: “Times of extreme oppression are usually times when there is much talk about high and lofty matters. At such times it takes courage to write of low and ignoble matters.” In India 2017, we need this courage as badly as oxygen.
नई दिल्ली। नोटबंदी के चलते रिजर्व बैंक ऑफ इंडिया के गवर्नर उर्जित पटेल 'स्टैंडिंग कमिटी ऑफ फाइनैंस' के सामने पेश हुए। स्टैंडिंग कमिटी यह जानना चाहती है कि नोटबंदी के काफी समय बाद हालात सामन्य क्यों नहीं है? सूत्रों के मुताबिक आरबीआई गवर्नर उर्जित पटेल ने बताया कि "नोटबंदी के बाद 9.2 लाख करोड़ रुपये की नई करेंसी आ चुकी है।"
स्टैंडिंग कमिटी ने जब आरबीआई गर्वनर से जानना चाहा कि बैंकों मे अब तक कितनी नई करेंसी जमा हो चुकी है, "स्टैंडिंग कमिटी ऑफ फाइनैंस के इस सवाल पर आरबीआई गवर्नर ने चुप्पी साध ली।"
वित्त मामले की स्थाई समिति के सदस्य टीएमसी के सुगत रॉय ने बताया कि आरबीआई गवर्नर हमें यह बताने में असफल रहे कि नोटबंदी के बाद बैंकों के पास कितने पैसे आए। रॉय के मुताबिक "उर्जित पटेल ने यह भी नहीं बताया कि हालात कब तक सामान्य होंगे?" उनके मुताबिक "भारतीय रिजर्व बैंक के अधिकारी बचाव की मुद्रा में थे।"
जाहिर है 8 नवंबर 2016 को प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने 1000 और 500 के नोट बंद करने का अचानक ऐलान कर दिया था। जिसके चलते देश की 86 फीसदी करेंसी बेकार हो गई थी। नोटबंदी के बाद काफी समय तक लोगों को परेशानियां झेलनी पड़ीं।
Crisis of Democracy, Bezwada Wilson of the Safai Karmachari Andolan gives an electrifying 38 minute speech at JNU’s Freedom Square that came back to life with its renewed series of lectures in protest against the oppression of the campus. Ten students from among the most deprived, first generation learners—Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and minorities—were suspended while protesting against discriminatory admission practices recently introduced by the administration.
“The State has become Cruel and we have Destroyed a Dalit Mother’s Dreams. Radhika Vemula who is an icon of resistance to this oppression is today scared of her second son (she lost her son Rohith who was killed by the Hyderabad Central University one year back on January 17, 2016) of joining any Indian University even though he has a first class in Geology (MSC). It is a shame that a Dalit scholar with a first class is today driving an autorickshaw in Guntur because our Universites do not offer a life of dignity or safety to Dalit scholars.
“Forty years back, my mother –who never saw the shadows of the walls of any school as she lived the life of a manual scavenger –saw education, and higher education as a way out of Bondage and slavery. Now 40 years later, a Dalit mother finds the University unsafe for Indian Dalit research scholars. What is happening? What is the government doing? What is the Prime Minister doing?
“Yesterday Radhika Vemula was not allowed to enter the University where her son lost his life. She was picked up by Telangana police, abused in unmentionable words and then released. Why is Radhika a threat to the Hyderabad Central University? Why am I not allowed to enter JNU freely? JNU is an icon of Freedom of Expression and Thought.”
This was the first among three lectures given today.
The JNU’s Third Wave of Public Lectures at Freedom Square Lectures were today re-inaugurated with lectures by Bezwada Wilson, Archana Prasad and Ashwini Deshpande.
Before the lectures began, JNU’s Freedom Square cames back into Light with a brilliant cultural performance by the Students that depicted the state of the country with a proto-fascist government controlling free thought and movement and unleashing repression.
