According to data released by India Meteorological Department Wayanad district received as much as 7% of its entire seasonal rainfall in 24 hours (from Monday morning to Tuesday morning). The Mundakkai region received 572 mm of rainfall in the past 48 hours prior to the landslide. This clearly points to an extreme climate change-induced disaster.

Experts like Madhav Gadgil are saying that it was due to the environmental degradation that the disaster occurred. The fact of the matter is that the landslide happened inside a deep forest which was not affected by human intervention.

The disaster area belongs to the Western Ghats, a UNESCO world heritage site, which is a very fragile ecologically sensitive area. This is also a region prone to frequent landslides. The Western Ghats starting from the Southern tip of the Indian subcontinent to the Konkan region is home to about 50 million people. In the parts belonging Kerala alone at least 5 million people live. Human habitation has caused a lot of ecological damage to the region. After the liberalisation of Indian economy, tourism has become a major industry in the region. Lots of tourist resorts have come up in the last 30 years, leading to stone quarrying in a major way. The stones from Western Ghats are used to build new roads, bridges, houses even in the lower land area and even the Adani port in Vizhinjam, Trivandrum.

If you look at the history of the Kerala part of Western Ghats, it was the Britishers who started huge tea, coffee and rubber plantations starting from late 19^th century. It has caused huge environmental degradation in the region. Tata, Harrison Malayalam are the big planters now in the region. They behave like feudal lords, giving paltry sums as leases to the government and even encroaching government lands and planting monocrops. The landslide affected Mundakkai also is a tea estate area owned by Harrison Malayalam company.

The farmers migrated to Wayanad and other parts of the Western Ghats of Kerala during the independence period due to the acute famine of that time. The government also promoted the migration of farmers. It is the descendants of these farmers who are killed by the landslide. They are the unsuspecting victims of unchecked development model and climate change caused by the Global North.

No place can withstand the kind of rain that was received in the landslide area. Yes, of course, wrong development model and environmental degradation has contributed to the disaster but it is not the root cause. It is the climate change caused by global warming for which the Global North is primarily responsible.

Present CO2 level in the atmosphere is 421 parts per million (ppm), which is similar to the CO2 level of Pliocene Epoch was a period in Earth’s history that lasted from 5.333 million to 2.58 million years ago. During the Pliocene epoch, CO2 levels in the Earth’s atmosphere were between 380 and 420 (ppm) during the warmest period.  The global mean sea level during the early Pliocene Epoch was around 17.5 ± 6.4 meters which means that we are locked in for a sea level rise of at least 6.5 meters, 17 meters being the upper limit. Also CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rising 2.9 ppm per annum.   This also means that we are moving into an unchartered territory in the climate crisis.

Most of our coastal cities will be under water very soon. Kerala which has one third of the landmass very close to the sea will be submerged under water.  As the ocean warms more and more drastic climate events like Mundakkai will be a regular phenomenon. As Himalayan glaciers melt, the rivers originating from the Himalayas will dry up. Most of North India will be a desert. As the permafrost melts in the Arctic, Methane which is 28 times more potent than CO2 will be released into the atmosphere and we will lead to a feedback loop, meaning more and more CO2 will be released into atmosphere without any human intervention. Another dangerous scenario is that as the permafrost melts, viruses and bacteria buried millions of years ago will be released into the atmosphere causing pandemics like COVID. Forest fires will be a regular occurrence in the dry season.

Do you think that climate change would be just weather events? No. Not at all. It will spread into social relations and human relations. We might see water wars, famines, and even civil wars in the name of nationality, ethnicity, language etc. Do you think that the present population of 8 billion people will survive the coming climate catastrophe? I think it will not. Many researchers are saying that we are in the middle of the Sixth Great Extinction.  The sixth great extinction, also known as the Holocene extinction, is an ongoing mass extinction event that is caused by human activity. It is thought to be the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history, following the Ordovician–Silurian, Late Devonian, Permian–Triassic, Triassic–Jurassic, and Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction events.

In the beginning of the 20^th Century, the human population was only 2 Billion. Now we are 8 Billion. The huge spike in population growth that we saw recently is an aberration in human history. Nature will correct itself. That means we are going to see millions or even billions of deaths, if not in our lifetime, definitely in the lifetime of our children and our grandchildren. That means thousands of Mundakkai events will play in a loop in front of our eyes! What is most devastating is that there would be some of our dear and near ones too.

What happened in Mundakkai, Wayanad is not an aberration. It’s the new normal. It’s the beginning!

Binu Mathew is the Editor of Countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org

Courtesy: Counter Currents

The post Landslide In Wayanad Is Only The Beginning! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Since the beginning of Countercurrents in 2002 I have covered many conflicts in different parts of the world, beginning with Iraq war. None as worse as this one in terms of communication crack down.

On August 5, 2019 the Indian government abrogated Articles 370 and 35A, that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian union and dissolved the state and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. It is 25 days since now. Jammu and Kashmir is incommunicado. According to media reports there are no internet, no telephone, no cable tv. People have to line up for hours in the government offices, where there are a few telephones opened, to talk to their loved ones. They have to disclose the purpose of the conversation first, to be allowed to use the phone.

People of Kashmir are completely cut off from rest of India and the rest of the world. Kashmiri students studying in different parts of India are running out of money. However a few landline connections have been restored in recent days in parts of Sri Nagar. It is very difficult to get through a call even where landline connections have been restored.

According to some media reports which are sneaking in, provisions are running out. Essential medicines are also running out.

A young doctor  who wanted to communicate to the world the plight of Kashmiris who are in urgent need of medicines was whisked away by police minutes after he spoke out about the health crisis facing Kashmir because of the three-week-old government clampdown.

The Telegraph reported:

Omar Salim, a urologist at the Government Medical College, had appeared at Srinagar’s press enclave to speak to the media, wearing a doctor’s apron. He held a placard that said he was making a “request and not a protest”.

He had barely spoken for 10 minutes when the police arrived and whisked him away to an unknown location, making it clear the authorities would not tolerate any questioning of their actions.

Efforts to find out where the doctor had been taken were thwarted by the information blockade. Government spokesperson Rohit Kansal, the only official interface between the government and journalists, skipped the evening media briefing the second day running.

Omar had said the information blockade and the travel curbs were endangering the lives of patients, particularly those who needed dialysis or chemotherapy.

He said he did not know whether the restrictions had caused any deaths but he did know patients who had had to postpone their treatment.

“I have a patient who required chemotherapy on August 6. He came to us on August 24 but could not obtain the chemotherapy medicine,” Omar said.

“Another patient whose chemotherapy drug has to be obtained from Delhi was unable to place an order for the drug. His chemotherapy has been postponed indefinitely.”

Omar added: “There are patients who require three dialysis sessions every week but are coming only once a week. There are patients registered under insurance schemes who have to pay out of their own pockets (for every dialysis) costing Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,800. It’s not a small sum for someone earning less than Rs 10,000.”

Omar said many patients are unable to make it to hospitals or to buy medicines because of the cash crunch at the banks.

“Most important, we have 15 lakh patients registered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. We are the number one state in India in terms of the scheme’s penetration. None of the beneficiaries are able to come and claim the benefits because there is no Internet and the card system is defunct,” he said.

“(People registered with) many other health insurance schemes, like those for textile industry labourers, cannot claim the benefit because of the lack of access.”

Omar urged the government to restore the landline connections at all the hospitals and clinical establishments to avoid “disadvantage to the patients”.

The government had suspended all mobile, Internet and landline connectivity, although many landline connections have been restored in recent days.

“If patients don’t receive dialysis, they will die. If cancer patients don’t receive chemotherapy, they will die. Those patients who can’t be operated on can die,” he said.

Due to the communication breakdown, all the news papers and websites in the Kashmir valley have suspended publication.

Irfan Malik, a correspondent with the Greater Kashmir newspaper  was apprehended by security forces on August 14 night but was released by officials s after signing a bond.

In a shocking act India’s Media watch dog, The Press Council of India (PCI) moved the Supreme Court supporting the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government’s decision to impose restrictions on communication in the state following the abrogation of Article 370. The council, a statutory body led by a former Supreme Court judge and meant to preserve freedom of the Press in the democracy, said the basic journalistic code of conduct framed by it required the media to indulge in self-regulation while reporting on subjects that may harm State interests.

The council, headed by Justice (retired) C.K. Prasad, has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in a writ petition filed by Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times. Ms. Bhasin had challenged the state of prolonged and intense media restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre blunted Article 370 and scrapped the special rights and privileges enjoyed by the people of Jammu and Kashmir since 1954.

In Jammu and Kashmir three former Chief Ministers, 40 former ministers are under house arrest. More than 4000 people are detained including leaders of Chamber of Commerce.

On 18^th August  Deccan Chronicle Headlined, Forces deploy 1 million to guard every inch of Kashmir valley

Close to 9.5 lakh personnel from the Army, paramilitary and special forces besides Indian Air Force are guarding every inch of Kashmir Valley amid heightened tensions bet-ween India and Pakistan post the scrapping of Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir.

While majority of forces were stationed in the Valley, the Centre, over the last month has deployed over 1.75 lakh additional personnel — which is unprecedented in the history of Jammu and Kashmir.

According to 2011 census, Jammu and Kashmir population is 12.5 million. Which means, a soldier for every 12 citizen of the troubled Kashmir.

On 24^th of this month opposition leaders under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi went to Srinagar to find out the situation in the valley. They were detained in the Srinagar airport and were sent back to Delhi.

Hong Kong protest is into its 19^th week. Millions are marching in the street. There is no communication crack down or unlawful force on the protesters. France’s Yellow Vest protest is into its 40^th week. There also there is no communication crack down. Even in Gaza even when the heaviest bombardment was going on there was no communication crack down. Why is it in Kashmir?

There are reports that the Israeli army is training Indian soldiers in counter terrorism. It seems that Israeli army has come to a stage that it has to learn lessons from Indian army. By the way, India is the largest democracy in the world!

Binu Mathew is the Editor of Countercurrents.org

Courtesy: Counter Current

The post Kashmir: The Worst Conflict Area In The World appeared first on SabrangIndia.

TRAI’s new tariff regime is purported to help the customers. Customers can choose which channels they want to watch and pay for only for them. But, there’s a catch. TRAI gave the cable companies just one month to implement the new tariff regime. Many small Cable TV operators didn’t have the time or infrastructure to implement the new system. They went to the court to stay the order. They didn’t get any relief. What they are doing now would be at their own peril.

I used to pay Rs 200 for a month for about 300 TV channels. After the TRAI regime was implemented I had to choose the channels. My local cable TV operator didn’t give me the option to choose individual channels I want to watch. Perhaps they didn’t have the time to implement the infrastructure. What they are offering online now is a bouquet of channels. If I want to watch a few of my favorite channels I have to pay double the amount now. It’s emptying my pocket as well a as a strict violation of TRAI regulations. Even after paying about Rs 400 I can’t now watch NDTV News, one of the most balanced news that I can get on TV!

There are four important points to remember.
 

1. The Cable TV operator is violating TRAI order and may get a stricture from TRAI
2. It’s emptying my pocket
3. It’s controlling information flow just before the national elections
4. It may affect the circulation of News Papers, as consumers may not be able to  afford to pay both Cable TV and News Papers, thereby controlling the flow of information.

This is the situation of most of the small Cable TV operators around the country. They may get a stricture from TRAI and their license may be cancelled as well as the possibility of losing consumers.

However, all is not lost! Mukesh Ambani’s there to save us, like he saved India’s telecom industry. Jio GigaFiber a Cable TV/Broad Band fiber network is slated to be launched as early as next month. Registration for which started on August 15, 2018. As build up to its launch Reliance industries acquired India’s two of the largest cable TV/Broad Band operators Hathway and Den! Even before its launch Ambani controls most of Cable TV in India. Now, when the small operators go bankrupt, GigaFiber will either acquire or allow them die and fill its space by offering the consumers a dirt cheap package. Soon,  the Cable TV and Broad Band industry in India will be under the control of Ambani!

Remember the 8 November 2016 Demonetisation announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just before Jio Money was launched? P.M Modi will go all the way to ensure that his boss Mukesh Ambani gets full benefit of his investment before his term comes to an end. Don’t be surprised if you see more abrupt announcements on Cable/Broadband industry in the coming months!

Modis may come and go. Ambani Raj is here to stay. Big Brother Ambani will decide what you watch, read and hear and monitor you too!

Binu Mathew is the Editor of Countercurrents.org

Courtesy: Counter Currents.org
 

The post TRAI’s Cable TV Regulation: Coming of Ambani Raj appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Why did the Chief Minister say that it’s an upper caste conspiracy? The Kerala renaissance was a fight against upper caste hegemony which did not even allow lower caste women even cover their breasts. They were not allowed temple entry. They were not allowed to come near upper castes. According to the caste hierarchy, they had to keep tens of feet away from from upper castes. The different castes were not allowed to dine together, not to speak of inter caste marriages. All of these changed, in the face of vehement agitations from the lower castes. Of course, it was brutally suppressed by the upper castes. In the end justice prevailed.

It would be interesting to enquire about the upper castes that the Chief Minister speaks about in his statement who oppose the temple entry for all women at Sabarimala. According to Hindu Varna System there are four castes, Brahmin, Kshatirya, Vysya and Shudra. In Kerala the Brahmins who once were the dominant community were always miniscule in numbers and lost most of the wealth they held by the  feudal system. They mostly live as priests in temples many of which are very poor in terms of income generation. Kshatriyas are even miniscule in numbers and were never a powerful community in Kerala. Vyasyas are a non existent community in Kerala. The Shudra Nairs were the most powerful community in Kerala in feudal times because of their proximity with Brahmin Namboothiris and their land holdings. Namboothiris had unique control of the Nair women which was termed as Sambandham by which they procreated children in Nair women but had no responsibility in their upkeep.

When the feudal system collapsed Nairs also suffered in terms of loss of land holdings. But they were one of the first in Kerala to get educated and get the lucrative government jobs. Nairs still hold majority of government jobs in Kerala. They also built a number of schools  and colleges which brought social and economic resurgence to the community.

However the Nair community failed to capitalize on the Gulf boom of the 80s. That put them economically on the back foot compared to Muslims, Christians and Ezhavas. Nairs are also declining in demographic numbers.

The Nair Service Society (NSS) founded by Mannath Padmanabhan is the back bone of the Nair community. They hold powerful sway over political parties in Kerala. Come every election, political parties will come flocking to the NSS headquarters for their blessings. In fact, the power of NSS is a legacy of a bygone era. NSS no longer hold any economic might (in fact they get most of their income from the government), demographic might (thanks to lack of caste census, their numbers still remain a mystery) and political might. In a word, they are an inflated balloon propped up by political parties for their own interests. What’s being seen now is the historic erosion of Nair hegemony and their efforts to hold on to it with the support of fascist RSS.

The political affiliations of NSS is more or less clear to every novice political observer of Kerala. Most of their followers follow the RSS/Sangh Parivar agenda. In fact, they constitute most of the Sangh Parivar voters. Case in point, the constituencies where BJP wins or get largest number of votes are Nair dominated constituencies.

When Pinarayi Vijayan speaks of upper caste conspiracy, he in fact speaks of NSS/RSS conspiracy. Unless the LDF government counters this conspiracy heads on and defeats it, the renaissance process in Kerala will not come to its logical conclusion. These regressive forces have to be countered and defeated to ensure the temple entry of all women in Sabarimala. These are the forces that oppose the Sabarimala temple entry and trying to drag Kerala into a Ayodhya like situation.

Here are ten points to counter these regressive forces and take Kerala back on to its progressive tracks.
 

1. Reform the Devaswam Board. The tradition of a Nair being the Devaswam board chief must be broken. A Dalit/Adivasi or an OBC must be appointed as Devaswam board president. Adequate representation should be given to all castes in the Devaswam board
2. Now almost 90 % jobs in Devaswam board are held by Nairs. This has to be remedied. Special recruitments should be held to bring parity to other castes
3. 50% reservation in all devaswam board recruitment must be implemented
4. 50 % reservation in all Shanthi (priest) recruitments
5. Make lower castes as Mel Shanthis (head priests) in major temples like Guruvayoor
6. Reform temple governing councils in all temples. Give representation to all castes
7. Implement reservation in all aided school and college appointments
8. Giveback Sabarimala to Mala Araya community. Until 1902 the temple was governed by the Malay Arayars, an Adivasi community. They were the pritests of this temple. British anthropologist Samuel Mateer has written about it in his book “Native life in Travancore” (1883).
9. Revenue generated from Sabarimala temple should be spent on Adivasi welfare
10. Take away the Tantri status from the Thazhamon family which is an open theft from the Mala Araya community and give the status back to Mala Araya community

Once all this measures are implemented Sabarimala temple entry issue will be a non issue and peace will prevail.

Binu Mathew is the editor of www.countercurrents.org

Courtesy: www.countercurrents.org

The post Sabarimala An Upper Caste Conspiracy? Here’re Ten Ways To Defuse It appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times

In Kerala lower caste women were not allowed to cover their breasts. When reformers encouraged women to cover their breasts, caste Hindus tore off their dress. Kerala, one of the most casteist societies in the 19the century went through much protest and turmoil to gain respect for lower caste Hindus and women including temple entry and education. Every reformation was met with vehement violence from upper caste Hindus. It is through pitched battle with upper caste Hindus that Kerala gained its progressive status that it is enjoying right now.

Sabarimala temple entry for women of menstruating age is the last chapter in the fight against these casteistic forces. On September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court of India struck down a rule that disallowed girls and women in the 10-50 age group from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. Chief Justice Dipak Misra-headed Constitution bench in a 4-1 verdict said the temple rule violated their right to equality and right to worship.

What followed was the coming together of casteistic forces against this historic and progressive verdict. Showing total disrespect to  the top court of India, casteistic forces led by RSS, Sangh Parivar organizations came forward to oppose the temple entry of young women. Pathetically, the congress party in Kerala too joined the casteistic forces in disallowing entry to young women.

Brahmin population in Kerala, the Kerala Namboothiris, are miniscule in population numbers. It is the shoodra Nairs who are significant in numbers in Kerala, but fast losing its influence in Kerala society, socially and economically and in numbers, that is at the forefront of this agitation with the support of fascist forces like RSS and Sangh Parivar organizations. All the lower caste organizations have dissociated from the agitation. It is only the shoodra Nairs now standing against a historic reformation in Kerala society.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has categorically stated that the government of Kerala will do everything in its capacity to enforce the supreme court verdict.

When the Sabarimala temple was opened for the monthly pooja yesterday, the protesters took to the street and unleashed violence. They prevented women devotees from entering the temple. They even attacked police who were protecting the devotees. Today, they prevented the New York Times reporter Suhasini Raj from entering the temple.

Today, the protesters have called for an all Kerala strike. As I type this they are unleashing violence across Kerala.  This is a last ditch battle by the casteistic forces supported by the fascist Sangh Parivar organizations to subvert the much celebrated Kerala renaissance.

Kerala government must not succumb to this archaic, revisionist, fascist forces. If the Kerala government has the courage it should appoint a lower caste priest at Sabarimala. That will break the back of casteistic forces forever.

Kerala is standing upon a turning point, if the government succumbs to the fascist forces, the casteistic forces will reassert itself in Kerala. If the government acts decisively, Kerala will take a step forward in annihilating caste, which Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar dreamt of so dearly.

Binu Mathew is the editor of www.countercurrents.org

Courtesy: www.countercurrents.org
 

The post Sabarimala: Brahmanism’s Last Ditch Battle In Kerala appeared first on SabrangIndia.

However the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan claimed that rescue operations are well underway. He said that 40,000 police personnel, 3200 fire force units, 46 navy, 13 air force, 16 coast guard, 24 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are deployed in rescue operations. 3,14,391 people are living in 2094 relief camps right now. The Chief Minister said that 164 people have lost their lives in the recent floods. He also said that 324 people died in flood calamities in this monsoon season.

However, locals say that very food packets were air dropped in the worst affected areas of Pathanamthitta. That means ten of thousands of people are starving in Pathanamthitta district for the past three days. In this context, Saji Cheriyan MLA’s warning should be taken very seriously. It also means that there is serious co-ordination problem between the state and the centre in managing the worst calamity that Kerala has ever faced. Locals say that it’s the fishermen, who have voluntarily come forward with their boats to the flood affected areas, are more effective than the forces in the Pathanamthitta district.

It’s incredulous that the third largest military force in the world can’t deploy enough helicopters and personnel to rescue the stranded people. The political difference between left ruling Kerala and the BJP ruled centre should not come in the way of saving the lives of people caught in a natural calamity.

Eminent ecologist and environmentalist S Faizi noted in a Facebook post,

Why are we talking about 13 or 25 helicopters. We need at least 500 of these when more than 3 lakh people are marooned. Our military has about 330 helicopters. THey should bring at least 100 of these to Kerala immediately, If our political leadership gives out a call several countries will lend their helicopters. Lets not digress the debate to the non-issue of asking military to fully take over the rescue. This is not an issue at all. They can plan and launch their own operations, the state leadership and the people are fully with them. What the military needs is green signal from the political in Delhi for all out rescue operation, which is not forthcoming. We are managing reasonably well the relief camps on our own. We can pause and think about the reconstruction and rehabilitation. At this moment lets have 500 helictopters and rescue those lakhs who are stranded. Love to the fishermen whose boats have rescued several hundreds yesterday and to the navy.

The central government so far has allotted only Rs 100 crore so far to the state. Meanwhile, the neighbouring Karnataka state has donated RS 200 crore to the state.

There is a growing demand that the Kerala floods should be declared as a ‘National Disaster’. Leading social activist Medha Patkar also demanded the same.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come to the state and will visit the flood affected areas tomorrow.

There is an urgent need for cetral government to step up and allot more forces, helicopters, air planes and supplies urgently to avoid a water death for tens of thousand people in the state.

Binu Mathew is the editor of www.countercurrents.org

Courtesy: www.countercurrents.org

The post Ten Thousand People Face Water Death Warns Kerala Law Maker appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Coming from a former RSS pracharak it is something not to be surprised. The RSS, the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was born in 1925 out of marriage with Hindu nationalist ideologies propounded by BS Moonje and VD Savarkar who adored Hitler and Mussolini. B.S.Moonje had a personal audience with Mussolini on March 19, 1931., in Palazzo Venzia, the headquarters of the Fascist government. He visited Italy’s Central Military School of Physical Education, the fascist academy of Physical Education and Balilla and Avanguardisti, organisations.

Moonje came back to India and helped K.S Hedgewar to found the semi fascist organization Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS). RSS is said to be a cultural organization which has a membership of about five million. If taken by numbers RSS is the largest fascist organization in the world. After its founding RSS started setting up physical training centers for youth called ‘Shakhas’, some of which even give training in fire arms. Their fascist designs came to the fore when a RSS member Nathuram Godse gunned down, father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. RSS was banned shortly afterwards.

BJP is the political arm of RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a former full time pracharak of the RSS. His core values are that of RSS. He has proven that he’s primarily a RSS pracharak then only a state functionary,  especially during the 2002 pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat, when he was the Chief Minister of the state. He never ever showed least bit of remorse for the genocide of Muslims led by organized mobs led by RSS activists.

A year after assuming office Narendra Modi’s shock therapy shook the nation to the core. On 8 November, 2016 Modi in a televised address told the nation that high valued notes of Rs 500, Rs 1000 will cease as legal tenders from midnight onwards. What followed was a mayhem. About 200 people lost lives directly due to demonetization. Millions of workers lost their jobs. The country has not recovered from that shock even now. Even for wrecking the nation, Modi has not shown any remorse or empathized with the common people.
Modi by his political ideology and his governance track record is a personification of a true-blue fascist.

Even hard core fascists can be shocked. For Modi, that day came on the afternoon of July 20. In a blistering speech Congress President Rahul Gandhi tore apart the Modi government. He laid bare Modi’s election promise to the youth of India to provide millions of jobs, the betraying of farmers, traders and the artisans. He then asked PM to explain to the country why a ₹45,000-crore contract was taken away from the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and handed over to a “corporate friend” who had “never, ever built an airplane and had a debt of ₹35,000 crore”.

He then said that BJP’s politics is driven by hate. He said that Modi and his friends mock him as Pappu (a byword for a good for nothing fellow) but he has no hatred toward Modi or BJP. Rahul Gandhi then walked nonchalantly up the isle of the parliament and hugged Modi. A bewildered Modi took some time to respond. When he understood what had happened,  he called Mr. Gandhi and gave him a patronizing tap on his shoulder. The job was done and the un-caged lion was cornered!

Rahul Gandhi’s hug has a magnanimous meaning for the world. Hate mongers should be countered by love. The physical touch has very significant importance in physical interaction. Only people who love or hate touch each other. A loving touch or a violent slap!  In a Counter World, the violent hate mongers should be physically hugged lovingly by peace mongers. From the lynching mobs  of India who kill people for their food habits to the violent thug at the White House who separate children from the parents should be hugged lovingly.  We should remember that fascists are a minority. If all the sane headed peace mongers hugged the violent fascists, as John Lennon sang, “And the world will live as one”. So go out and hug a fascist.

Binu Mathew is the editor of www.countercurrents.org. “In A Counter World” is his column. Feel free to republish and translate. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org.

First Published on https://countercurrents.org/

The post In A Counter World – Hug A Fascist appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It is alarming. India is sitting on a tinder box. Any day it can explode, inflaming the whole nation. It is time that saner people came out of their comfort zones and did something. Many people say I’m helpless. Many people blame it on the political parties. Many people say I’m not a political activist, what can I do? No, it’s not the time for forsaking India. It’s not the time for apathy. It’s time that everyone started doing whatever in their capacity to save India from a grave danger that’s lurking in the dark. When political parties, except for the right wing fascist Sangh Parivar and its political off shoot Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are in deep slumber it is time for people to step up.

During freedom struggle Gandhiji asked everyone to drop whatever they are doing and plunge into freedom struggle.  I would say it was not a smart move, but it had it’s political impact. But it left many people without good education and knowledge to earn a livelihood. Finally when freedom came it also made many people disenchanted.

Now we have come to such a stage that we have to launch a second freedom struggle. Now people don’t have to leave their jobs or their studies. They just have to donate an hour for the well being of the country . On top of whatever everyone is doing, donate just one hour for the communal harmony of India. One hour is a bench mark. You can donate more or even just five minutes of your time a day. This can be spent in any meaningful social work that anybody can do. From a five year old child to a 90 year old elder citizen should be able to take part in this endeavor. While spending this hour people will be reflecting why they are doing it, where the country is headed, is this the direction the country should go.

Some Activities that we can do in this one hour or five minutes.

1. Blood donation camps. Sharing our bloods will make us realize that we are all brothers and sisters.
2. Community kitchens or food packet distribution to the needy
3. Know your neighbor. Spend some time with your neighbours to know about them more deeply and intimately. This can create communal amity.
4. Film screening on communal harmony
5. Poetry reading on communal harmony and social integration
6. Cultural Programmes
7. Seminars, workshops on communal harmony and social integration
8. Protest gatherings, rallies
9. Petition campaigns
10. Literary/painting workshop for children and college students on communal harmony
11. Spend time with disabled people, elderly people
12. Planting of tree saplings for a better India
13. Reviving/protecting a water body to protect our lives
14. Inter caste/inter religious food festivals to create communal harmony

Well, this is small list I just scribbled down. There is no end to creative actions that can bring peace, justice and communal harmony to India. We can build a better India. Let’s start dreaming and working together.

Binu Mathew is the Editor of www.countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org
 

The post As India Descends Into Darkness Let’s Spend An Hour For Communal Harmony appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a democratic country there is nothing wrong with starting a legitimate business. A security firm is a perfectly legitimate business. Baba Ramdev is not just a Yoga guru with millions of followers including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the president of the ruling party, BJP’s Amit Shah but also a shrewd businessman.  He has been seen performing his yoga tricks on several government functions including the Yoga Day.

Baba Ramdev’s “Patanjali Ayurved Ltd” which started its operations in 2008-09 was a marginal player until Narendra Modi came to power. Since then his business has boomed. In 2016-17 it doubled its revenue from Rs 5000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore and has become the fastest growing FMCG company in India.  There are many who see the political patronage of the current political dispensation as the reason behind the phenomenal rise of the Patanjali empire.

So why should one be cynical about a well established businessman starting another lucrative business?

In April 2016, during a conference for harmony of the Rashtrya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Rohtak (Haryana). The media quoted Baba Ramdev as saying that he would have “beheaded” those who refuse to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” were it not for the law of the land. Baba Ramdev said, “We respect this country’s law and Constitution, otherwise if anybody disrespects Bharat Mata, we have the capability of beheading not one but thousands and lakhs.”. This statement was directed at the Muslim community. This should send a chill down the spine of every peace loving citizen of the world.

When a person who has publicly stated that he is ready to behead hundreds of thousands of Muslims just for not ‘chanting’ patriotic slogans starts a private security company with an aim to “develop military instinct in each and every citizen of the country so as to awaken the spirit and determination for individual and national security” we should be worried.

Private security is a fast growing business in India. It’s the sought after business for the unskilled laborers and the former farmers who migrate to the cities and towns. They are in their millions in India. They can be spotted every nook and corner of India. If Baba Ramdev is going to instill ‘military instinct’  in them we should be worried.  At a time when every ‘other’ in India is termed an ‘anti-national’ by the Sangh Parivar, Baba Ramdev instilling the spirit of ‘national security’ in his ‘private army’ is worrying.  What is the purpose of hiring “retired Army and police personnel to train young interested recruits’’ if not for raising a para-military private army?

Given the business acumen of Baba Ramdev and the patronage he gets from the ruling dispensation and the Sangh Parivar, it would not be surprising, if he puts most of the currently operating security agencies out of business.  Would you like to see nationalistic, ‘patriotic’, militarily trained Parakram Surakshak’s guarding your businesses and housing complexes? I would be worried.

To conclude, let me put a speculative question. How would these trained Parakram Surakshak’s behave in a communal riot, which is not infrequent in India?

Binu Mathew is the Editor of www.countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org

Courtesy: countercurrents.org
 

The post Baba Ramdev Launches ‘Security’ Business: Should We Be Worried? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This volume contains articles by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B R Ambedkar, along with contempory writers   Afroz Alam, Aftab Alam, B.F.Firos, Binu Mathew, Cynthia Stephen, Dr Akhileshwari Ramagoud,  Gaurav Jain, George Abraham, Imran Khan, K.P. Sasi, Kavita Srivastava, Manali Chakrabarti, Megha Bahl, Sharmila Purkayastha, Mohammad Ashraf, Neha Saigal, Oliver Dsouza, Parul Verma, Parvez Alam, Prof. Shah Alam Khan, Ram Puniyani, Sally Dugman, Samar, Satya Sagar, Shamsul Islam, Sheshu Babu, Subhash Gatade, Suhail Qasim Mir, Sukumaran C V, Susmit Isfaq, T Navin & Vidya Bhushan Rawat and others

Here is the preface of the book:

A pall of gloom has descended upon India. An all pervasive fear grips the nation. When the state puts its nose into your food plates you know that fascism is here. When vigilante squads roam the streets lynching people you know that fascism is here.

Robert O Paxton  in his classic book “The Anatomy of Fascism” writes “I propose to examine fascism in a cycle of five stages: (1) the creation of movements; (2) their rooting in the political system; (3) their seizure of power; (4) the exercise of power; (5) and, finally, the long duration, during which the fascist regime chooses either radicalization or entropy.” It seems to me that India is at the fifth stage  – the radicalization of Hindutva, which is the Indian version of fascism.

This radicalization of Hindutva is taking place at different levels. Through engineered riots or low level skirmishes that divide society vertically to massive social engineering programmes like the  ‘beef ban’. Beef ban gives blanket license to Gau Rakshaks to lynch people. It is also not just an incursion into our food rights but also will affect the livelihood of millions of already stressed farmers. This beef ban will wreck the cattle sector and also will break the backbone of the farmers, driving them to suicide.

This book contains articles that Countercurrents.org published on the topic of beef, the oldest of which is  Dr Ambedkar’s seminal essay “Did Hindus Never Eat Beef?” which we republished on 5^th May, 2003, to the lynching of 16 year old Junaid in a train on 22^nd June, 2017.

When fascism knocks on our door we have only two choices. 1. To succumb to our fate and surrender meekly. 2. To fight back with all our means. It’s time India took a decision. To surrender or fight back is the question. Surrender is not an option and it is also against human nature. Our reflexive action is to fight back. We’ve to go back to the basic nature of the Republic and fight to win back the Idea of India that the founders of this nation imagined.  Let’s stand up for the idea of India we learnt to love as children and we want to pass on to our children. Let’s do it by holding the constitution of India in one hand and the tricolour in the other hand. If we rise up as one, this emerging fascism will, as Robert O Paxton said, dissipate into entropy. I hope that this book will help in our fight for the idea of India we all stand for.

It’s time everyone came out of their comfort zones and did something to rescue India from the fascist pall of gloom that has permeated the body politic of India. Countercurrents has proposed a campaign “An Hour For Communal Harmony” in which everyone from a 5 year old child to 90 year old elder citizen can take part. This is a set of easy to do tasks everyone can do that can restore faith in our humanity and bring communal harmony to India. Come, join this campaign and let’s make sure that we collectively prevent the radicalization of Indian fascism. If we work together collectively Indian fascism will be engulfed by the collective humanity of Indian citizens.

This is not easy. This is a long drawn struggle. I sincerely hope that this book will equip everyone in their struggle to win back the India we all came to love as children. I hope this book will help restore India to its founding principles.

You can order this book form  http://peoplesbookshop.com/product/political-economy-beef-ban/
Those out side India should mail to mail@peoplesbookshop.com to order the book.

Binu Mathew is Editor of www.countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org
 

The post Indian Fascism: Radicalization or Entropy? The Choice Is Ours! appeared first on SabrangIndia.