Today marks the 117th birth anniversary of Ashfaqullah Khan, one among the many forgotten heroes of India’s freedom fighters. Born to Shafiqur Rahman and Mazharunissa in the year 1900, in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Ashfaqullah showed a keenness to join the freedom movement of India right from his school days. He was in school when Gandhi made a public call for people to join the Non-Co-operation Movement and many youths with a fire for independence in their bellies wanted to join this movement to free India.

During this time, the unexpected firings and death of civilians at the Chauri Chaura incident, resulted in Gandhi calling off the Non-Cooperation action disappointing many among whom was Ashfaqullah. His dismay at events transpiring around him, and his dwindling faith in non-violent strategies, led to his affiliation with the revolutionary group, Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), led by Ram Prasad Bismil.

Such revolutionaries all over India who were banded together in small groups united after the Non-Cooperation movement was called off. They believed that Independence from British Imperialism especially from a large and powerful worldwide empire, could not just be won through non-violence and that it had to incorporate more radical methods, that included armed struggles. For these efforts, they needed money and decided to mobilize money by looting the train bound to Kakori carrying state treasury currency.

The robbery was carried out on 9th August 1925 by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and 9 other members of HRA. This Kakori train robbery was a real blow to the British Empire who immediately labelled Ashfaqullah and others as ‘Terrorists’  and began a hunt to capture them.

Soon, all except Ashfaqullah Khan were caught.  Ashfaqullah went into hiding and was finding ways to move out of the country to further the cause of Independence struggle. But he was betrayed by one of his friends who wanted the bounty money announced by the British on Ashfaqullah’s head.

Ashfaqullah was imprisoned. The prison superintendent, a Muslim, tried to intervene by asking Ashfaqullah to testify against Bismil warning that Bismil, a staunch Hindu, wanted nothing but to establish Hindu rule in the country. The superintendent assured Ashfaqullah Khan, that he would help secure his release if he testified against Bismil. But at the time, Ashfaqullah Khan considered Ram Prasad Bismil to be more than a brother and he explicitly refused to testify against Bismil.

The British sentenced 4 of those involved in the Kakori Train robbery to death by hanging and others to life imprisonment. Thus on 19th December 1927, Ashfaqullah Khan, at only 27 years, was hanged to death at a jail in Faizabad.

Ashfaqullah’s participation in the freedom struggle has been depicted in a Hindi movie titled Rang de Basanti (Paint me with the colours of the spring).

Today, Ashfaqullah is remembered as an Indian Muslim patriot and freedom fighter whose contributions and radicalism was part of the larger efforts to oust white colonials.

In his time, Ashfaqullah Khan was also an Urdu poet – a shayar who wrote under the pen name Hasrat.

Some of his writings and poetry are recalled even today.  Phoot daalkar shaasan karne ki chaal ka ham par koi asar nahi hoga aur Hindustan azad hokar rahega. (Your conspiracy to divide and rule India will not work; We will make Hindustan ours)

Courtesy: Two Cirles
 

The post Remembering Ashfaqullah Khan – Muslim Assertion Against British Imperialism appeared first on SabrangIndia.

More than a decade later, locals continue to count the ecological costs of these plants.

Tragadi, one of the villages, is home to fishermen who realised that their catch has decreased dramatically after the plants were set up, while the village of Navinal, which was rich in horticulture and agricultural produce, saw damaged date palms and other fruits and reduction in farming.

Adani Power started the region’s first coal-fired power plant. The village of Navinal is about 8 km from the Adani Mundra plant. The Tata Mundra “ultra mega power project,” built by the Tata Group is also nearby.

The heated wastewater released from the plants containing saline, from the outflow channel of the plant, released in the sea waters at the rate of 600 million litres per hour, was badly affecting marine resources.

Apart from this, huge amounts of sand were deposited near wells used for drinking water, turning them saline and non-potable.

The coal dust and fly ash and the groundwater now contaminated with saline water have made farming difficult and many people have given up growing crops.

And this is when Budha Ismail Jam, a fisherman from Tragadi, and the people of Navinal came together to form MASS (Machimar Adhikhar Sangharsh Sanghathan) in 2010 and act collectively to make accountable the powers behind their woes.

In a conversation with TwoCircles.net, Jam explained how their lives had been impacted after the power plants were set up. “Earlier, I and my sons used to catch plenty of fish within a short distance of just 2 kilometres with just one fishing boat. But gradually our catch decreased and we had to sail at least 12 kilometres to catch fish. And since one boat was not enough, I had to avail a loan and buy 3 more fishing boats.”

“Today, our catch from the 4 boats equals the catch of one boat before the power plant was set up,” he explained.

They first complained to the companies about the damage to marine life and demanded that the companies switch to a closed-cycle cooling system instead of the open cooling system that required 3 times more water. But the company refused to comply.

Then, the people had a series of meetings with the whole community and the leaders approached a Delhi-based NGO called Centre for Financial Accountability’. The executive director of this NGO, Joe Athialy, helped the fishermen and farmers moved the complaint advisor ombudsman of IFC (International Finance Corporation). The ombudsman conducted an internal audit and submitted its report in 2012 and the CRP submitted its report in 2015 but nothing changed.

The Role of the International Finance Corporation
The IFC, which has its headquarters in the United States, has partially funded the TATA power project. The entire project costs $4.14 billion and the IFC has funded $450 million, while the remaining was funded by Asian Development Bank and other agencies.

IFC, which is a member of the World Bank Group, focuses on financing private sector developmental projects in poor and developing countries. The mission of IFC is to “carry out investment and advisory activities with the intent to not harm people and the environment.”

However while investing in the TATA Mundra Plant; they went against their mission causing damage to the environment, livelihood and health of the people.

Jam, also the leader of the fishermen community which is mostly Muslim, told TwoCircles.net, “due to the water contamination, many people here keep falling sick frequently”.

The Suit in the US court
Jam, Bharat Patel from the Fishing Union and Joe Athialy sent a petition signed by 30,000 signatories to the World Bank President asking them to withdraw the funds to the TATA project due to the environmental violations caused by the plant. They even wrote to Indian tribunals that worked on environmental issues.

They tasted brief victory when the nearby plants were halted. But operations resumed when the plant got environmental clearance a year later.

But after their petition reached the World Bank, their story became known in other parts of the world and soon activist lawyers from EarthRights International came to their village and met the aggrieved fishermen.

And thus in 2015 began the Jam et al v. International Finance Corporation trial. EarthRights International (ERI), an NGO which works extensively in defense of human rights and the environment, supported Jam and the others in suing the IFC in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia claiming damages and injunctive relief for the harm caused due to air, water and land pollution by the power plant financed by IFC.

IFC claimed immunity because groups like the World Bank were exempt from prosecution under the US International Organisation Immunities Act (IOIA), 1945. And in 2016 the court agreed that IFC enjoys ‘absolute immunity’ and dismissed the case.

But Jam and his team did not give up. They appealed again in the court of Appeals (which is like High Court) for the District of Columbia Circuit where again IFC won because the order of the district was upheld.

Just when things were becoming bleak, Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, a law school which offers hands-on legal experience in Supreme Court litigations, offered to help the litigants Jam, Patel, Earthrights International to move the Supreme Court of US in 2018.

Mundra thermal power station ( Photo from Wikipedia)

TwoCircles.net also spoke to Joe Athialy, who had attended the proceedings at Washington on behalf of the litigants back home and he explained, “We understood the importance of our case being heard in the Supreme Court when we learnt that out of 7,000 cases, the Supreme Court agrees to hear only 150 cases. And we were lucky our case was one among these. Here, all the 9 judges sit for all the cases unlike in India.”

“But in our case one judge, who was in the Appeals court, excused himself and the other 8 judges heard the case.”

He also explained that there were a lot of people present in the courtroom and that the entire proceedings were completed very fast.

And then came the verdict this year in February 2019, wherein the Supreme Court, ruled in favour of Jam and others and ruled that even International organisations can be sued and that they do not enjoy absolute immunity.

This was a landmark judgment and a huge victory, not just for the plaintiffs from India but to all the people who think that international organisations are not above the law.

On winning the suit Joe Athialy told TwoCircles.net, “This is a big deal not just for the people of Mundra but for multiple reasons because this is the first time in the world, a case against the World Bank has come to this level, this is the first time the immunity of the world bank is challenged. And this allows people anywhere in the world to sue the World Bank if there has been damage to the environment and lives of the people.”

“We believe this is another step towards holding these institutions accountable,” he added. “Now the case has been sent to the district court for further litigation.”

Apart from this case against the IFC, Jam, Patel and Joe have also written to the other financial institutions that have funded this project like ADB. They have also written to the pollution control board in India.

“We also wrote to the Indian Banks through whom the project is operating. But none of the banks has even responded”, Athilay said. “At least international banks respond. They don’t even have such policies”.

Jam says, “I am happy that our efforts have paid off and we have won the case. But I have asked for compensation for the losses we have incurred in our livelihood and I hope we will be given compensation.”

“I was offered money for not fighting the case but I stood my ground because I was not thinking of just myself but all the fishermen community,” he said proudly. But in a sad tone he added, “Earlier when our fish business was good, I had many dreams for my grandchildren. But today we are not earning half of what we did before and I don’t give much thought to my dreams.”

However, he hopes for better days if the courts order the power plant to stop the open cooling system then the wastewater outflow will be reduced and things might improve slightly better.

First published in Two Circles

The post How Budha Ismail Jam, a Gujarati fisherman, challenged multinationals in a US Court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This 15th century temple located in a forested area has been dedicated to Sant Guru Ravidas, a spiritual saint and a poet highly revered by many people and especially Dalit communities in North India.

The legal case of the land was pending for 27 long years and the Supreme Court order tried to end the old dispute by declaring the land as belonging to DDA. This has now erupted in rage amongst the Dalit congregation who, along with the larger Ravidassia community in North India, have been on protests ever since that temple was demolished.

Dalits followers of Sant Guru Ravidas who claim ownership of the land where the temple stood are being asked to rebuild this temple on another plot. Dalits who are organised into ‘Ravidas Jayanti Samaroh Samiti’ (Ravidas Jayanthi Celebration committee) say that it is like suggesting the Hindus to build the Ram temple at a site other than Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya, where some believe that Lord Ram has been born.

On 21st August, thousands of Dalits from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states staged protests against the demolition and the police resorted to lathi charge and tear gas shells. Nearly 90 leaders, including Bhim Army leader Chandrashekhar Azad, were detained by the police.
TwoCircles.net spoke to Pardeep Attri, a follower of the Sant Ravidas himself, to know more about the saint and why Dalits are agitated over this order of the SC and the subsequent demolition of the temple by the DDA.

Pardeep Attri, is also the founder editor of Velivada, a web publication and owner of the twitter handle Ambedkar Caravan.

Can you tell us a little about who is Sant Guru Ravidas?
Pardeep: Guru Ravidas was born in 1433 at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in a Chamar family and travelled around preaching the value of humanity across India. He openly denounced all the Brahmanical scriptures like Vedas, Puranas, Smritis, Upanishads as these promoted the hegemony of Brahmins and justified the social inequality and exploitation of the masses.

As he says – “Charon ved kiya khandoti, Jan Ravidas kare dandoti” (I, Ravidas, proclaim all Vedas are worthless)

He threw a challenge to Brahmins of his time by worshipping God despite being from the untouchable community, which wasn’t allowed to read/write, forget worshipping God. He saw a dream of “Begumpura” (city without sorrow) almost 500 years before Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’!

Image source from velivada

Who are his followers, how many people belong to this sect (India and abroad)?
Pardeep: Followers of Guru Ravidas follow the newly established religion, Ravidassia, which came into existence when one of the religious teachers from Dera Sach Khand Ballan, Jalandhar, was murdered in Vienna, Austria, while he was on tour to Europe for preaching. Most of the followers are from the Dalit community from Northern Indian states such as Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra in the center. So, if you want to put numbers on followers I would say 34% population of Punjab consisting of Dalits is mostly follower of Guru Ravidas. There is a large followership of Guru Ravidas in Italy, Spain, Austria, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Guru Ravidas temples have been built by followers around the world.  There is even a road named after Ravidas in UK.

Babasaheb Ambedkar had dedicated the book, “Who were the untouchables” to Sant Ravidas, Chokhamela, and Nandanar.

Guru Ravi Dass Lane, Bedford

What according to you are the present day contributions of ravidassias ?
Pardeep: If Dalits from Punjab are conscious about their rights and gathered in thousands to protest against any atrocity that happens to Dalits in Punjab, credit one way or another goes to the fight launched by Guru Ravidas almost 600 years ago and his followers who kept the torch of struggle lit despite numerous challenges.

Is it fair to say that a lot of Ravidassias come from the Dalit Community?
Pardeep: No, in fact, all of the Ravidassia come from Dalit community!

How connected is the Ravidassia faith to the anti-caste movement. 
Pardeep: I think I answered it in the above questions. But here is a bit more –
Founders and followers of Ad Dharm movement in Punjab subscribed to the philosophy of equality preached by Guru Ravidas. Later, it was Ad Dharm – a sect formed by the Dalits of Punjab, inspired by Guru Ravidas’s ideology, that started many schools for Dalit community in Punjab. They supported Dr Ambedkar throughout and when Gandhi was claiming to be a representative of the untouchable community during Round Table Conferences at the beginning of the 1930s, Ad Dharm leaders sent 100s of telegrams to the UK, letting the British authorities know that Dr Ambedkar is the real representative of the untouchable community. Babu Mangu Ram, the founder of Ad Dharm movement in Punjab, sat on a hunger strike against the hunger strike of Gandhi when Gandhi was opposing separate electorate awarded to untouchables.

Kanshi Ram belonged to the same Ravidassia community and everyone knows his fights for anti-caste movement!

Present-day Sach Khand Ballan Dera publishes a weekly magazine, operates various schools and hospitals for Dalits in Punjab. In a nutshell, you can say that the anti-caste movement in Punjab is led by the Ravidassia community.

Can you comment on the on-going saffronization of Guru Ravidass and the faith itself? 
Pardeep: It would take me hours to answer this question. But putting it very briefly, the so-called upper castes have been trying for decades to include Guru Ravidas in the list of their own numerous Gods. Many attempts – such as depicting Guru Ravidas on the foot of a cow, dressing Guru Ravidas in saffron garments, putting brahma-Vishnu

Image source from velivada

tilak on Guru Ravidas’s forehead, showing him as being blessed by some Hindu Gods etc. have been made. But Guru Ravidas was against all such customs.

A few years back, in the Punjab School Education Board’s books, the names of Guru Ravidas’ parents, his date of birth and even his name were wrongly published. Such mischief is being done by so-called upper castes to show Guru Ravidas was one of their Gods. Dalit academics from Punjab, especially, have been actively condemning the process of Brahminization of Guru Ravidas.

What do you wish to say about the hurt sentiments surrounding the destruction of the Tuglakhabad Shri Guru Ravidass Temple? 
Pardeep: More than sentiments hurt, I would say it is a matter of oppression and suppression of the Dalit community and denying them equality and justice. Sure, Guru Ravidas has millions of followers and they all have religious sentiments attached to religious places associated with their Guru. But the demolition of Ravidas temple is an attack on Dalit history and Dalit pride. It is believed Guru Ravidas had visited that place so sure there is a strong attachment to the place from Dalit community. I see it more as an inline to Brahminical forces’ whole agenda of destroying Dalit history. A few years ago, Siddhartha Bhavan in Mumbai, place where Dalit Panthers was founded, was demolished by BJP government; Dr Ambedkar’s belongings are in a miserable condition in Nagpur. All that the BJP/RSS Government wants is publicity in the name Dalit icons and Dalit votes while destroying the Dalit history.

How do you think this parallels to the destruction of Babri Masjid for example. 
Pardeep: I believe there is a strong relationship here, while millions of Hindu temples are built on illegal lands, obstructing normal traffic many times, no one has dared to touch those temples, temples which are built in the name of 33 crore fictitious gods. On the other hand, our historical places have been destroyed.
Destruction of Babri Masjid and Guru Ravidas temple are attempts to suppress Muslim and Dalit communities, both communities already have been side-lined and kept at the margin.

With Ravidassia using the same slogan ‘Mandir Wahin Banayenge’ as  the BJP?RSS about Ram temple, do you see this a reclamation of the slogan in some way ?
Pardeep: Yes, it is the same rhetoric that RSS/BJP has been saying that why don’t Muslims build Masjid somewhere else and Dalits believe why can’t Ram Mandir be built somewhere? King Ram doesn’t have any historical proof but there is a long history of Guru Ravidas and the places he visited, Delhi’s temple is one such place. There has been a continuous attack on Dalits and minority communities and their religious places in India, take, for example, the Golden temple, Amritsar, was demolished, Babri Masjid was demolished, Sidharatha Bhavan in Mumbai (historical place for Dalits as Dalit Panthers was formed and operated from there) was demolished by BJP government and now Guru Ravidas temple has been demolished.

For other analogies, you can look into whenever there have been incidents of caste discrimination that some Dalit has been denied of cremation in common cremation places, many times what has been the solution of governments that build some separate cremation place, somewhere else so that so-called upper castes don’t get angry at the common cremation place. Why should there be separate cremation places for different caste groups?
 
I can’t recall at the moment exact incident but there has been a lot of cases that government/admin trying to pacify the situation by offering some other place to build a temple or toilet or cremation places. This is no equality and no justice. Further, Guru Ravidas temple is a historical place and it is an absurd argument to move historical place to somewhere else. What would be historical about that new place?

“Mandir Wahin Banayenge” slogan one could say is a clever appropriation of what so-called upper castes have been doing in their demand to build Ram Mandir. And more so uttered to bring attention to the issue of historical places can’t be moved from one place to another. It is also shouted because in one place when Hindus consider Dalits as part of Hinduism then deny their rights, what sense does that make? If Hindus are adamant on building Ram Mandir at the same place then Dalits are adamant that our Guru’s temple be built at the same place which is historical.

Protest in Delhi against the demolition of Guru Ravidas temple ( from Facebook)

How do you foresee this issue being politicised in the coming days. 
Pardeep: I would not use the word politicised. What is there to politicise actually? The land was awarded to the temple and there are papers available. Or even if there are some papers missing, how many temples in India have proper papers? How many temples are built on public land? The answer would be in millions!

It is RSS/BJP controlled courts and the administration that is saying ‘don’t politicise the issue’. After killing 1000s and politicising the Babri Masjid issue for more than 3 decades, they are telling the Dalits don’t politicise the issue, which is simply absurd.
On the other hand, if Guru Ravidas temple is not rebuilt on the same location Dalits are firm to continue to fight against that ruling.

What role has the international Ravidassia diaspora played in protesting the destruction of the temple? 
Pardeep: There were protests in front of Indian embassies around the world on 21st August, from Austria to the UK to USA and Australia Ravidassia followers came out to support the cause.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post Who is Sant Ravidas and why are his devotees agitating? Pardeep Attri provides background appeared first on SabrangIndia.

TwoCircles.net has identified 2 women journalists who have braved all odds of caste based discrimination to contribute to the field of journalism through their brave work.
One of them is Kavin Malar whose story is featured here:

Coming to grips with caste
For a very long time Kavin did not know the meaning of caste or to what caste she belonged. Her father was a Muslim and mother a half Hindu, half Christian. Kavin’s grandmother was a Christian and grandfather a Hindu.

Her parents’ marriage was an inter-religious one and her father associated with Periyar’s ideologies and did not believe in caste. Kavin’s parents’ marriage was solemnized by Periyar which was the third and last Hindu-Muslim marriage to be solemnized by him.
So when people asked Kavin her caste in school, she did not know what to tell them. When she went to her paternal grandparents’ house she saw people practicing Islam; her mother took her to temples; while her father took her to the meetings, rallies and protests of the DK Movement (Dravidar Kazhagam found by Periyar E.V. Ramasamy). They lived in Orathanad which was like the fort of DK and the people of this movement could be recognized by the black shirts they wore. Many people in Orathanad wore black shirts unlike any other place of Tamil Nadu.  Her father was one among those black shirts.

All her confusions were cleared when she read ‘Arthamatra Hindu madham’ (Meaningless Hinduism) by Manjai Vasanthan, a DK leader. And she became an atheist at an early age.

Much earlier her family had gone to attend the funeral of her grandfather who had moved back to their village after retirement. At the village when her brother tried to drink water from a tap other villagers did not allow him. And their father picked up a fight with them for this. This was Kavin’s first brush with caste discrimination though at that time she did not understand it.

This incident raised questions in her mind and she wanted to know the caste of her mother. And Kavin not getting the right answer from her went about finding her mother’s caste by tracing the region she came from and the kind of work her relatives were engaged in. She discovered her mother was a Dalit and had been denying it.

She confronted her mother and found out that her father had shifted to Trichy to hide their Dalit identity to escape caste based discrimination. But after coming back to the village they were once more Dalits. When her mother finally accepted that she was a Dalit, Kavin felt relieved because she could identify herself as a Dalit. The casteless feeling she had earlier was somewhat similar to the feeling of being a Dalit. And she felt a Dalit is a casteless person. And Periyar, Ambedkar all spoke about casteless society.

Kavin says different people think of her in different ways, like some people think she is a Dalit, while some think she is a Non-Dalit , maybe a Muslim, or maybe a Hindu or a Christian.

Education and profession
During her school days when they shifted to Nagapattinam from Orathanad, her family became closely associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and young Kavin joined the cultural wing of CPI (M) called TNPWA (Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association). She actively took part in its campaigns and events, used to sing the movement songs in the party and TNPWA stages.

She did her BSc and MCA in this place although she was more interested in law. After her MCA ( Masters in Computer Applications) she was employed in the IT sector where she worked for 8 years.

She used to write for a Tamil magazine ‘Theekkathir’ now and then. And on weekends she worked for All India Radio – Karaikkal FM as an announcer. Writing and journalism were somewhere at the back of her mind always as right from childhood she was an avid reader of newspapers and magazine and had her own opinions even then.

So when she lost her IT job at the end of 2008, due to recession, she entered full-fledged into the world of journalism in 2009, starting with ‘Thina pulari’ a daily newspaper ( it no longer exists now). Then she moved on to ‘PuthiyaThalaimurai’ and ‘Ananda Vikatan’ (magazines). She also worked as Associate Copy Editor of India Today (Tamil), Magazine Editor for Kaatchippizhai (Film critic little magazine) and then Kungumam Thozhi, a women’s magazine.

Challenges in journalism
Everything seemed ok as a journalist till Kavin covered the news of three Dalit villages in Dharmpuri torched by PMK Party (Paattali Makkal Katchi) to avenge the inter-caste marriage between a Dalit boy and a girl of Vanniyar community in 2012. She became a target of systematic online attacks that prolonged for one year. She was receiving not just online abuses but also threats for her life, rape and acid attack threats. There was character assassination, indirect ways to remove her from her job, and she was also stalked. And when the Dalit boy was killed by the caste fanatics the attacks had become more intense.

She had to seek support from the Madras High Court when the police did not file her FIR. Not all journalists supported her but those who did stood by her including her organization – India Today – gave her strength.

Kavin realized that publishing stories of caste based violence and discrimination wherein the perpetrators are people of the dominant caste earned you the wrath of the upper caste people and at the same time you get tagged with the label of being a biased journalist and an activist.

But Kavin was clear that a journalist is also an activist and reporting about the oppressed castes is not biased journalism but the truth that needed to be told, to be exposed.

India Today Tamil closed down suddenly and Kavin was out of job and she found herself without any work for one and a half years. The character assassination had damaged her career.

When she finally got a job as a magazine Editor for Kungumam Thozhi, a women’s magazine.  she wrote a story titled ‘Portrayal of women in Pa.Ranjit’s films’. And for this story she was branded as casteist and communal. “Why Brahmin journos writing ‘Portrayal of women in K. Balachandar’s films’ are not seen as casteist and communal, and why me alone?  When I write an interview or ask my team to write about any Dalit Issue or about a Dalit writer or any Dalit, I am branded as biased. But in this same industry how many Brahmins have written about fellow Brahmins and how many OBCs have written about personalities of their own caste! When they are not branded, why me alone?” she asks.

And she was asked to resign because the women’s magazine was becoming political with this kind of stories. The publishing houses and even the casteist society did not want anything different in a woman’s magazine apart from the usual Kolam (Rangoli), food recipes, astrology, spirituality or religious concerns.

Her works and recognitions
Kavin’s report on elephant corridors in the Western Ghats that brought out the truth on how some religious organizations and educational institutes had occupied the place. For this story, Kavin had disguised herself to investigate and when it came out in print it was a hit and translated into regional languages of Southern India. But before it could come out in English, once more the rich dominant caste people used their clout to suppress the truth.

Kavin has several awards under her belt such as:
Best book award for ‘Saambalaagavum Minjaadhavargal’ (Not even they remained as ashes) – articles about caste and religion and ‘Appodhu Neengal Enna Seidhu Kondirundheergal? (What were you doing at that time?) interviews of various personalities.

Laadli media award for Southern Region for the year 2012-13 in ‘Best Article’ category for an article on gender sensitivity; selected as ‘one of the Best Media persons’ by ‘Andhimazhai’ magazine and by ‘Kalagam’ movement in 2013;

‘Rainbow Ambassador’ award for writing about LGBT community in mainstream media in the year 2013.

‘Nirangal’ award in 2012 given by LGBT Community for portraying them with dignity.

Got Best Journalist Award Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) for the year 2018.

And now her translation of Kancha Illaiyah Shepard’s ‘Buffalo Nationalism’ in Tamil is going to be released soon(‘Erumai Dhesiyam’).

Kavin also writes short stories and poems that talk about caste oppression and the pain. Most of them are from her experiences and her surroundings.

One of her poems “Song of screams” written in Tamil about rape once more irked the Hindutva fanatics.

A few lines of the poem:
Rape.
Cut off her breasts.
Ram a crowbar into her vagina.
The redness of the blood
paints the walls of your temple.
Rape.
Strip her in the cashew grove.
Her clothes
adorn your gods.

Motivating factors
Apart from  Babasaheb Ambedkar and Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, Kavin is greatly influenced by ideologies of Karl Marx and Alexandra Kollontai a Marxist revolutionary.

Need more Dalit journalists
“We need more Dalit journalists and writers to write the truth and fight for the community. You will be discriminated, discouraged and you will find all sorts of problems in the media. But for the community, one should fight back and climb up. Elite people, who speak about purity, will reject your writings.  We have to differentiate between the genuine opinions and the ones coming out of venom. One should not bother about those comments coming only out of aversion”, she opines.
“Some people call me 50% Dalit because of my mixed parentage. I have no problem with that. But if they were to call me non-Dalit, technically they are right but if they see me as someone from a dominant caste then it is painful. I see myself as a Dalit and identify myself as one”, Kavin says.

“Caste discrimination will not go so easily, but at least through our writings we can sensitize the people and to some extent influence them on the evils of casteism,”she feels.
If there are more Dalits and Muslims reporting about the atrocities and the issues in many languages in many places then there might be some reduction in the discrimination as there will be some accountability.

Conclusion
Kavin, based in Chennai, is a freelance journalist now and dreams of starting her own web magazine and a website with more political (not mainstream) stories, columns, insights and analysis, especially in the area of Dalits, LGBTQ, religious minorities and all marginalized.
During her free time she loves reading, singing and listening to music. She also performs at the theatre whenever she can.

Her attitude towards life is now: Live your life. Don’t change yourself for others or don’t bother about others’ opinion about your character”.

 
Courtesy: Two Circles

The post Being Dalit means being casteless – Kavin Malar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Jain Thali received at Iftar

M Reyaz, a journalist and also assistant professor at Aliah University, Kolkata tweeted about this gesture with pictures of the Thali given by their neighbour and the Iftar spread of their house. And his tweet instantly got thousands of likes and re-tweets.

Many tweeters shared their own experience of having lived in mixed neighbourhood with much nostalgia. It even got appreciation from many tweeters living in Pakistan who had heard stories of Hindu-Muslim love from their parents and grandparents who had lived in India before the partition.

M Reyaz told TwoCircles.net, “ The response on social media was overwhelming and I was touched by how people connected with it and appreciated the beauty of what they termed as ‘true essence of India’.”

“In these bleak times, when communal venom has spread so much, gestures like these give us hope. That is what clicked and struck a chord with people.”

M Reyaz has posted his tweet with the hashtag #knowyourneighbour which was a drive initiated 3 years back in 2016, Kolkata to get to know each other’s neighbours and promote communal harmony. A series of events have been done under this campaign and are still being conducted to encourage inter faith dialogue.

 
Courtesy: Two Circle

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But despite claiming the 751st position, he has become a role model for students studying in madrasas (seminary) across India. By clearing the UPSC exam, Shahid Raza has also dispelled the stereotype surrounding madrasas.

But the journey was far from easy. Shahid, who belongs to Gaya district in Bihar, comes from a lower-middle class family and his success came after two failed attempts, mainly because he was encouraged by his mother, who did not allow him to give up or be disappointed.
 

 

Shahid’s father, an auto electrician, retired in 2009 while his mother is a homemaker. Shahid is the seventh among nine siblings. His eldest brother moved to Saudi Arabia after Class 12 and worked there as a crane operator. He has been the pillar of the family and his hard work helped his siblings back home in pursuing their education.

Initially, Shahid went to a Hindi-medium school in his village but had to stop because the school was closed down when he was in class 2. Then his father enrolled him in a Madarsa where he was taught in Urdu. And then again he was back in another school, thus schooling was not really regular. He appeared for his 10th as a private candidate.

After that, he enrolled in Azamgarh Madrasa Ashrafia, an Islamic seminary in Mubarakpur, Uttar Pradesh for a 3-year course in Alim. At the madrasa, he learnt to read and understand the Holy Quran and also memorise the Quran.

He is not the only Alim in his house, two of his sisters have also done the Alim course.

When Shahid was 17 years old and enrolled at the madrasa, he used to often ponder about his future course. He did not know what he wanted to do in life. It was only after his elder brothers suggestion about writing the UPSC exams that he realised that he had made up his mind to be the District Magistrate, also known as a collector in their village.

He told TwoCircles.net, recalling his earlier days in their village in Bihar, “Those days we were worried about robberies after dark and no one went out of their homes after dark out of fear. There was not much law and order, the transportation was not good either. And everyone used to say the DM should fix this up, fix that. So I was like ‘The DM takes care of all these things, he has the power to set right all the irregularities and solve people’s problems. So why can’t I become a DM when I grow up?’”

“ It was only when my brothers suggested UPSC exams and that passing these exams makes one a DM, I realised that this is what I had really wanted but did not know how. So my next goal was to find out more about UPSC exams. How to prepare, what options to study etc,” he added.

So, after he became an Alim, Shahid enrolled in the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi where he did his B.A in Arabic. It was here that he learnt all the details about UPSC exams and how to go about the same.

Talking about his days in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Shahid told TwoCircles.net, “ Getting admission in JNU has been a life-changing moment for me. I and my family both were very happy when I got a seat in JNU. There, I learnt a lot of things which I could not have learned anywhere else. I can say JNU has changed me in a very positive manner. My horizons have broadened. Perspectives have widened, I have become inclusive, gained in-depth knowledge of ground realities, felt empowered, gained openness and learnt about dealing with people. It has moulded me completely. I made more friends here.”
 

with Kanhiya kumar and others at JNU
 

Among his many friends, one was Najeeb Ahmed, who has been missing from 2016. Shahid Raza is one among the many supporters of Fatima Nafees, Najeeb’s mother in her search for her missing son. He says he will always stand by the truth and striving for justice will be one of his missions.

After his graduation, Shahid Raza pursued his post-graduation in the same subject -Arabic. And at present, he is doing his M Phil in West Asian Studies.
 

with Najeeb’s mother
 

Shahid has also found time to help students from marginalised communities. He and a couple of his friends began an NGO called ‘ Rahmat -e-Alam’ through which they provide coaching to help students who want to appear for entrance exams to pursue their graduation. The coaching here is free of cost.

“We started Rahmat -e-Alam in 2011. We don’t charge anything from the students. My friends and I pool in money for the study materials and teaching materials. And I am proud to say that we have always had 100% success for every batch.” Shahid shared with happiness to TwoCircles.net.

Once he receives his posting, he says his main focus would be on infrastructure development and education. “I will ensure that people whose rights have been violated, will get their rights and will get justice. Education is a tool for development so I would emphasis on education.” Said Shahid Raza.

About minorities, he says, “ The constitution of India is very good and has given strong rights to the Minorities. I will try that the rights guaranteed by the constitution of India to Muslims will be accessible to Muslims.”

“If given a choice I would prefer to be posted in my state Bihar as I know the strengths and weaknesses of my place,” he shared.
 

 

To other students of madrasas, his message is, “Have faith in yourself, be confident, stay motivated and don’t lose track of your goal. Be consistent and work hard. Nothing is impossible if you desire something and work hard to achieve that. Nothing is beyond our capacity.”

He said he spent many hours studying at the library, spending nearly 12 hours in preparation for the UPSC exams.

But before joining the coaching academy he had to brush up his skills in other subjects like English, Mathematics and other subjects to be at par with other students. Initially, it was tough but he managed.

While studying for long hours, he also balanced his personal life pursuing his hobbies which is writing Ghazals and swimming. He also enjoys travelling as he likes being close to nature.  He is thankful to his friends and family for their support and encouragement. And is looking forward to joining the Indian Administrative Services and serve the nation.
 

Courtesy: Two Circles

The post From studying in a madrasa to clearing the UPSC exams: The inspiring story of Shahid Raza Khan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The 200-point roster system ensured that teaching positions were reserved by treating the university as one unit. So, a deficit of reserved seats in one department could be compensated by more people from the reserved communities in other departments. However,  the 13-point roster considers each department as one unit. So, for at least one appointment from each reserved category to be applicable, there must be a minimum of 14 appointments made (hence the term 13-point roster). This can have an adverse impact on the reservation and hence resulted in anger among marginalised communities.

The 13-point roster was first passed by the Allahabad High court and then upheld by the Supreme Court.

Following the SC order, several teachers’ associations wrote to the Ministry of Human Resources and Development and the Union Cabinet approved the ordinance on March 7 to restore the 200-point roster system. Thousands came out in protest against the 13 point roster demanding to  #BringBack200pointroster

A nation wide Bharat bandh was also organised on 5th March on the issue of the 13 point roster and Forest rights.

The same day the ordinance was passed, the UGC ordered all central, state and deemed universities to resume the recruitment of teachers which had been put on hold from July 2018.

The SC order had seen a lot of backlash in various universities in the country including JNU, Delhi. Speaking to TwoCircles.net, Deeksha Rahul, an MA Sociology student from JNU and a member of Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA) said, “The protest against 13-point roster is a concrete example of agitation advocating the collective dissent by people over the denial of a constitutional right by the Supreme Court. The fight against 13-point roster is against the Brahmanical idea for keeping away the marginalised from their constitutional right to representation.

“The 200-point system ordinance over the 13-point system is the success story of the Bahujans. Dr B.R. Ambedkar asked us to Educate, Agitate and Organise. When educated Bahujans start understanding the Brahmanical face of the system, they come together to agitate for their rights and organise themselves for the assertion of unity and strength.”

Akash Poyam, Founding Editor of Adivasi Resurgence told TwoCircles.net, “The ordinance is a victory of people’s movement and of all the students who vehemently protested against the 13-point roster. It was a clear threat to the majority of marginalised communities from the SC, ST, OBC communities. For example, ST representation did not even come under the 13-point system and was placed at the 14th number.”

Courtesy: Two Circle
 

The post ‘Bahujan Victory’: Ordinance restores 200-point roster system for Universities appeared first on SabrangIndia.

With such an atmosphere prevailing in every household, how can children not be affected? Incidents of Muslim children in schools being bullied, singled out and taunted began surfacing creating apprehension among the Muslim parents.

The first incident was highlighted when the employer of a domestic help whose children were humiliated for being Muslims posted it on her social media account; whereupon several parents shared the experiences of their children.

In one of the schools, the Muslim children were asked to go to Pakistan while in another they were told that they are responsible for the Pulwama attack. And in another school, the Muslim children are made to shout anti-Pakistan slogans.

Noida-based writer, author of “Mothering a Muslim” Nazia Erum shared on the social media the concerns of other parents and also in an interview said that she is preparing her daughter to face such situations where Muslims are singled out and forced to display their Indian-ness.
These growing incidents of religious slurring have become a cause of worry amongst many Muslim mothers and they are not sure how to deal with it.

Some parents blame the television channels for this who indirectly promote hate through their nationalistic attitudes and the way they read out the news showing Muslims in a bad light.

Experts are of the opinion that such incidents of humiliation can have a lasting impact on the victimised children.

“One way of trying to solve these occurrences and help children change their perceptions is to have regular conversations with them about the current affairs that involve India and Pakistan. And show them the difference that although Muslims live in both Pakistan and India, they are different. Muslims of India are not pro- Pakistan simply because they follow the same religion” explained a college professor Aziz Khan to TwoCircles.net.

Shaikh Mohsin Ali, a journalist for a TV channel in Hyderabad shared that this happened to his son who is studying in class II. His friends told him “tum Musalman log bahut kharab ho, Hinduon ko maar daalte” (You Muslims are very bad, you all will kill Hindus). Mohsin says he was shocked when his son told this to him.

“If it is happening in my son’s school, I think it could be happening with other children too,” he added.

Sharifa Siddiqui, a counsellor running her own counselling centre told TwoCircles.net, “Bullying based on race, colour, religion etc. is a terrible symptom of a hate-filled society schooled and inculcated by media and significant adults. It can leave long-lasting scars and if the bullied child is not counselled with empathy, they can have lasting psychological effects. I would say that both bullied children, as well as the bullying, are victims of prejudice.”

Speaking to Twocircles.net, Tejaswini Madhubashi, a feminist and social activist said, “It’s terrible that children are facing such discrimination and hatred. I think the whole situation today is thanks to jingoistic Indian media. They should take responsibility and behave in a civilised way. For long, Indian media has demonized even the children of Kashmir calling them stone pelters and terrorists. It’s high time they look at Kashmiri issues and aspirations with respect.”

Another activist who works extensively on human rights, Sajaya Kakarla shared, “ The biased media is mainly responsible. It is a terrible situation. The Hindutva-isation of the media and the mindless notion of nationalism is creating irrational attitudes.

“Peace initiatives and dialogues between two countries will change the situation. And at the same time within the country also these should be initiated by civil society groups,” she added.

Apart from counselling and peace initiatives, it is equally important to sensitise both the adults and children on building the right perspectives about nationalism and learn to not get carried away by what the media presents.

Courtesy: Two Circle
 

The post How Children are being divided along communal lines after Pulwama incident appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Their demands are simple – they want full rights to the land, water and other resources of the forests from which they are being systematically alienated.

Earlier it was the British who exploited the forest dwellers and after Independence, the Indian Forest Act ignored their rights depriving them the usage of the forest and its resources which they had always access to and which belonged to them since time immemorial.

However, later the Government of India recognised the injustice done to the forest dwellers and brought the “Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dweller Forest Rights Act, 2006”. This act provides for the strengthening of the local government/Gram Sabha for the management and governance of forests within the traditional boundaries of a village and for the protection of forests, forest life, and biodiversity.

Similarly, schedule V of the Indian constitution recognized the need for protection and special administration of areas predominantly inhabited by tribal/ Adivasi people due to their cultural uniqueness, vulnerability to external exploitation. The most important right provided under this schedule is the prevention of land alienation through land transfer regulation where no land or immovable property in these areas can be transferred by way of sale or lease to persons other than the tribals.

But no serious efforts were made to empower the forest dwellers instead they were displaced and exploited. By selling major chunks of the land to corporates the state government violated the provisions of the constitution.

In Jharkhand, over the years thousands of people have been displaced and denied their right to the forest. The government has sold forest lands to the rich corporates who razed agricultural fields to start projects like coal mining, stone quarry, dams, factories and other projects in the name of development. The Government’s initiatives like Tiger Project, Wildlife corridor have also displaced many people and the others who have not been displaced are living in constant fear.

Various tactics are used time and again to drive the tribals from their land and displace them.

In Jharkhand, there are demands for both granting of both IFR (Individual Forest Rights) and CFR( Community Forest Rights).

One of the tribal women from Hazaribagh says, ” Our forefathers have struggled to preserve the land and the forest resources. But now the government refuses to give us that very land instead they have added that land to the land bank. Our demand is that we are given rights to the land.”

In Jharkhand, there are 16452 villages with 1994387 hectares of their land covered by forests. So the villagers can be granted the forest rights as a community and 14 lakh individuals are eligible for the individual forest rights.

The National Alliance for peace and justice (NAPJ) organised the 8 days March to help Adivasis in Jharkhand state reclaim the forests, the rivers, the creeks, the trees, the sand, and the farms.

A day after the March began the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of the forest dwellers so in their charter of demands the organisers were prompt to add demand the state to file a petition against the order.

The other demands are:
• withdrawal of minor civil and criminal cases against the forest dwellers,
• a dedicated scheduled tribe department to be formed to focus on welfare and rights of the tribal population;
• Land acquisition act 2013 should be enforced and Land Acquisition Act 217 should be repealed;
• A state-level Joint committee should be formed for execution of Forest Right Act. 2006.
• The Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, and Santal Pargana Tenancy (SPT)Act should be strictly implemented.
• The common land, the grazing land, the forests, the rivers, rivulets, streams, the trees, farming land everything that has been added in the Land Bank should be freed and not given to capitalists.

Another participant ( audio recorded during the March) says, ” We want back our rights to the forest and the forest produce such as the fruits, medicines, wood and other produce”

Another tribal person, Birendra Kumar says ” It is 12 years since the Forest rights act has been passed but still not being implemented properly. There are more than 32000 villages in Jharkhand and everyone has their land and their names recorded. But still what happens is the bullying of the police and the Government. In one of our villages, the NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) has forcefully taken over 25000 acres of land. And in another village in Santhal Pragana, where the people were agitating, the police has put them behind bars under false allegations. It appears like the state and the law are in favour of the rich and our voices are not heard. The Government is not concerned about the forests and the forest dwellers. ”

” And now the Supreme Court has said that those whose claims have been rejected should be evicted from the forests. Where will they go? There must be lakhs of people in the entire country whose claims have been rejected.”

Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the order of eviction of forest dwellers, the tribals can heave a sigh of relief. “But”, says Shafiq ur Rehman Khan, one of the organisers from NAPJ  to Twocircles.net, ” the Supreme Court order for eviction came in the wake of some corporate NGOs and other NGOs funded by corporates, filing a petition. The corporate sector is anti-ecology and anti-forest dwellers”.

Ex and also the 1st chief Minister of Jharkhand Babulal Marandi expressing his solidarity to the March on the last day

He also adds that the state wants to institutionalise the forests – construct parks and reserves. But we want the forests to be left as it is – wild and free.

“The Government does not even have any record of the people who have been displaced from the last 20 years. And this is one of our concerns. Ideally, each state government should prepare a status report on tribals once a year and submit to the central government but this is not in practice. There is no data with any of the states.”

Ex MLA Gautam Sagar Rana and other leaders in front of the Raj Bhavan

On 28th February a group of 5 Adivasis accompanied by Ex-MLA Gautam Sagar Rana met the Governor Draupadi Murmu and submitted their memorandum of demands. The governor who is a tribal herself assured that she will take up the matter with the Central Government and at the state level also she said she will talk to the Forest Minister.

The people are hopeful that the Governor will support their demands. If not, the National alliance for Peace and Justice say they will continue with their protests in their own blocks.

Courtesy: Two Circle

The post Children and the elderly in Jharkhand March for Forest and Land Rights appeared first on SabrangIndia.

And still there were some whose names were in the electoral rolls and also had voter ID cards but could not vote because when they went to the polling booth they did find their names in the list but against it was written the word ‘deleted’.

Dr. Lubna Sarwath, former MP contestant in 2014 had also found her name deleted in the voting list and in 2018 she contested again for the assembly seat after re-applying for her voter’s Id from Socialist Party (India).  Her name was found in the electoral list in Bhopal.

She has been on a warpath ever since seeking an explanation from the Chief Election Officer (CEO) for deleting her voter Id without any valid reason.

Of late, she has brought to the notice of the CEO and all citizens of Telangana whose names were deleted and who are re-applying for fresh voter identities instead of demanding for restoration, that the Form 6 which is the application for new voters has a self-declaration in it that says: “I have not been issued any EPIC (Electoral Photo Id Card) at any time in the past in any constituency”

Now, this is untruthful because these are people who had been issued EPIC earlier. Further the same form says that “Making false declaration related to electoral rolls is an offence punishable under the Representation of People’s Act and also Indian Penal Code.”

Thus the people are unwittingly giving false declarations and committing offences or rather being forced to commit an offence.

Dr. Lubna told TwoCircles.net, “The deleted names have not been restored despite several demands from us. And now instead of issuing a separate form for those whose names have been erroneously deleted, we are being asked to fill in a form meant for fresh voters.”

She has had a series of meeting with the CEO demanding for segregation of deleted re-registration of voters and fresh voters, but both fresh as well as old voters are being made to fill in the same form, Form No 6.

Petitions in this regard have gone to the CEO from Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey, Lubna Sarwath, Chakri S, and Guru Moorthy all from the Socialist Party (India) but not heeded.

On December 31st Sarwath met the Chief Election Officer Rajat Kumar once more at his office, she sought an explanation on this blunder wherein lakhs of voters whose names have been illegally deleted not just in Telangana but all over India are invoking upon themselves criminal proceedings.

In the press release of the Socialist Party released on January 1st 2019, the General Secretary of the party mentions that Rajat Kumar, CEO  had no answer to this question and apologised for the same. He also said that the CEO cannot be held responsible for everything.  And asked them to approach the court of law against the Election Commission of India for these irregularities.

The Socialist Party members have contacted a supreme Court lawyer to file a case against the ECI. They have also contacted Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) who work to improve governance and strengthen democracy by continuous work in the area of Electoral and Political Reforms. And Prof Jagdeep Chokkar has assured support from ADR saying that this is a very serious point.

Courtesy: Two Circles

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