I saw a video from a public speech delivered by you in your home state of Gujarat on Tuesday, May 27. To say the least, I, as a person from Northeast India, am still numb at your references to “small eyes” and with “eyes that don’t even open”.

Before I come to why, let me take this opportunity to convey to you that far from Gujarat, in my family home in Assam, ever since my school days, I have seen a sizeable photo of a certain Gujarati hanging on a wall of the drawing room. Every godhuli (dusk), an incense stick is stuck on to the photo frame by my father, just after he finishes the same ritual on all the frames containing various gods and goddesses hung across the house, while reciting his evening mantras. I am proud to say here, that the Gujarati prayed in my family is none other than the Mahatma – Mahatma Gandhi.

My father, now 93, still continues the daily ritual. He also never forgets to tell any first-time visitor with a tinge of pride that the Mahatma, during his maiden trip to Assam in 1921, had also paid a short visit to his now over-a-century-old family house. My grandfather was one of the first in that Upper Assam town to have signed up for a Congress membership at the call of the Mahatma then to fight the foreign powers, and yes, to refuse foreign goods too.

Prime Minister, I am sure you are aware of the great Naga freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu. When there was no advocate to fight the case mounted against her by the British, my grandfather had traveled a challenging path all the way to the Rangoon high court with a set of fellow Nagas to fight for her release from jail. In a country under foreign powers then, it was no surprise that the advocate was also jailed along with Gaidinliu, a young accused then who had the gumption to stand up to the colonial powers for converting fellow Nagas to Christianity from their religion, Heraka. That fight, by the way, had made our first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru bestow on Gaidinliu the prefix to her name, Rani (queen), as we know her today, and call her a freedom fighter.

These references, particularly to the Father of the Nation, are only to underline that the connections that we form with powerful leaders and change-makers who may belong to another region or community, just keeps alive the unity and solidarity of the people of this huge country that we are all part of, and so proud of. Tiny, daily rituals carried out in houses like mine also acknowledge that we may know little about a region that the leader or change-maker comes from or their people, but, as the constitution says, we are the same people – no matter how large or small the size of our eyes are (irrespective of race and creed, remember?).

Prime Minister, like several from the Northeast, I too have lived on those lines. I happened to choose a partner from outside the region. I never looked at the size of his eyes, and I am sure, he didn’t either. Let me tell you, what we saw in each other’s eyes was the same – love and respect.

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In your May 27 speech, even if you had made an indirect reference to the Chinese when you had referred to Ganesha with “small eyes” and “eyes that don’t even open”, the remark cannot be overlooked. It cannot be not seen to apply to “small-eyed” Indians like me, those who come from the region I call home.

Prime Minister, even in the national capital, many from the Northeast (that includes me too) face racism and discrimination on the streets almost every day. Often in central Delhi, I am stopped by random strangers while walking, to ask in English which country I belong to – whether I am looking for a currency exchange booth, a cheaper hotel room, or a taxi for sightseeing.

For those who may ask, ‘What clothes were you wearing then’ – well, no ‘Indian’ dress has been able to help me ward off such casual street racism in Delhi yet. I am sure this must be the case in various other cities.

Also, I speak for many northeastern women living in mainland cities when I say that I almost never step out of my house without using kajal on my eyes, just because we don’t want to be on the streets with “small eyes”; eyes that are seen by others as “barely open”.

Sir, I am not sure if you are aware, it is also well documented in the report of the Bezbaruah Committee, set up by the Union government after the tragic death of an Arunachali youth, Nido Tania, in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, that the racist terms used on people from the Northeast in big cities includes words like ‘chinky’ and ‘Chinese’.

“Small eyes” too is a term used for us. At times, no words are needed but finger tips are used to press the corners of the attacker’s eyes to send us the message that we have “small eyes” and “eyes that barely open” – the same gesture you used in your speech. And exactly like that China-made Ganesha idol you had referred to in your speech.

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Prime Minister, it is also well documented that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many from my region were thrown out of stores and rented accommodations, some even attacked physically and spat at, just because they looked ‘Chinese’ and the epidemic had stemmed from China.

In such a dark reality, if you, as the prime minister, lampoon “small eyes” publicly, in our eyes, you are seen backing those nameless people in many mainland cities who call us “Chinky” and “Chinese”.

Anyway, it doesn’t behove the stature of an Indian prime minister to deploy such racist language about any community or set of people, whether Indian or not. What I understood also from your speech is that India’s contest is economic and versus China, and rightly so. In such a fight, there should be no space for the size of the eyes. Like it didn’t matter in diplomacy, when you set your big eyes on the “small-eyed” Chinese premier Xi Jinping while sitting on a swing and chuckling together by the Sabarmati some years ago.

Prime Minister, let me remind you here, that even in your own cabinet, there are ministers with ‘small eyes’. I am referring to Sarbananda Sonowal and Kiren Rijiju. In 2018, when your government, reportedly due to Chinese insistence, kept Rijiju out of an official function in New Delhi, many in my region were upset and sad that New Delhi didn’t stand up to the Chinese pressure. Arunachal Pradesh, Rijiju’s home state, is an Indian state, and shall remain so.

Also, doesn’t at least one of your important cabinet ministers, who is in the CCS, have a partner whose eyes are “small” due to her race? Personal preferences aside, racist outbursts by the country’s top leader should have no space in a public speech in today’s day and time; they are bad for both domestic and international optics. Remember how US president Donald Trump was chided by the world for having questioned the attire of Ukrainian president Zelenskyy.

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Prime Minister, here is something about Lord Ganesha having “small eyes”.

If you take into account the fact that Ganesha is also a Buddhist deity, revered across South Asia where people have “small eyes”. Even in several Indian monasteries, say, Alchi, said to be the oldest monastery in Ladakh, Ganesha exists in miniature paintings on its walls – and yes, with small eyes! The Vinayaka or the Ganapati cult within various sects of Buddhism exists beyond India, across the South and South-East Asia’s  geography. Finding a Ganesha sculpture in a museum, therefore, in these countries where Buddhism has been a strong religious influence, is not a rarity. By the way, Ganesha is the only Hindu god regarded as Bodhisatva. 

Even in China, there have been Ganapati rituals. French Buddhism expert Robert Duquenne in his note, ‘Ganapathi Rituals in Chinese’, had pointed out that “Not less than twelve texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon are dedicated to Vinayaka or Ganapati.” The author had noted, “The alternative and more usual name Ganesa never occurs here.”

Here, let me also inform you that some of our goddesses may in all likelihood have “small eyes”. Assam’s revered goddess Kesaikhati is a tribal goddess. We don’t often draw Ma Kamakhya, but as per new research, she too might have a tribal (Khasi) origin.

In Assam, we also celebrate the annual arrival of the monsoons, no less than that of a goddess. We call her Bordoisila. Every monsoon, we keep out a small mirror, a bottle of hair oil and a comb, for her to look at; the belief is, the rains are strong because she is rushing home to see her mother. Since the name Bordoisila has been drawn from the Bodo community, of Tibeto Burman origin, that goddess also, racially speaking, should have “small eyes”.

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Prime Minister, I fully agree with you that a country which is aspiring to become a developed nation by 2047, must start its self-sufficiency journey on a war footing. You had implied China in your speech and I agree that we must stay away from using not just cheaper Chinese goods like Diwali lights and Holi colours and Lakshmi and Ganesha idols, but also all foreign goods that have a decent equivalent which is Made in India.

This country had seen a time when people had booked their HMT watches and waited for months for them to be delivered; same with India-made cars and scooters. But should that journey not start with you? Like it did with Gandhi when he gave a call to quit using foreign goods?

Therefore, if you still wear that Movado watch, that pair of Maybach sunglasses, that Mont Blanc pen, etc., which several media reports speak of regularly, please replace them with Made in India equivalents. Show the path.

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And that western hat you wore while visiting a wildlife park?

I have a suggestion for its replacement too. In the Northeast, each community has its own hat; you can truly promote indigenous traditions and Made in India products if you choose to replace that cowboy-like hat with one from my region. The choices are too many, I promise.

Before I end, I must also say why I took the liberty to write an open letter to you. This is in keeping with my understanding of what you often say, India is not just the world’s largest democracy but the mother of all democracies. In such a democracy, a common citizen must then have the right to question her elected Prime Minister. So have I here, just as a common citizen who comes from the Northeast. I have questioned you about a sensitivity that you clearly overlooked in your May 27 public speech, and as a “small eyed” Indian, I am offended.

I hope you ponder over it and course correct, because India’s prime minister must not be seen just talking about the need for fellow Indians to treat people from the Northeast without discrimination; but must be seen doing so too, both in his words and deeds so that he becomes an example for others to emulate.

With best regards,

Yours sincerely,
Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty,
A humble citizen of India who is never allowed to forget that she has “small eyes”, but who manages to keep them open and look clearly ahead.

(Post script: Sir, looking at the times that we are in, I hope I don’t get arrested for writing an open letter to you. Getting trolled on social media would anyway follow, and who knows, fellow north-easterners belonging to your party may also be sent after me for taking umbrage at your comment, and I may eventually end up being called a ‘China sympathiser’.) 

Courtesy: The Wire

The post An Open Letter: ‘I Have Small Eyes, Mr Prime Minister’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Her family once owned 50 bighas of land (over 31 acres; 1 bigha = 0.6 acre), but today, those fields lie across the river.

In the past 60 years, the Ganga’s constant erosion and shifting course have forced her to move several times. Once a landowner, she now survives as a daily wage labourer, living in a roadside hut at the edge of the village with her husband and four children.

Devi’s story echoes across Bhojpur, where thousands of farmers have been repeatedly displaced by the river’s unpredictable flow. “One by one, our lands are being swallowed by the Ganga while many areas teeter on the brink,” she said.

For families across the affected villages, losing their land has meant a life of instability. They are forced into makeshift huts along the Buxar–Koilwar embankment while they survive day to day with little to no help from the state, says Sohan Gond, a farmer.

The River Redraws Lives

To understand the story of Bhojpur, one has to look at the geography of the region. Bhojpur shares a border with Uttar Pradesh, and the altered course of the Ganga along the two states has deepened long-standing tensions between farmers on both sides.

According to Dayashankar Singh, a resident of Sohra Tribhuani who has spent years petitioning both the courts and governments of Bihar and UP, much of the land once owned by Bhojpur farmers now not only lies across the river but also across the state line.

This situation has sparked confusion and disputes over who legally owns the land, Singh says. “When a farmer from Bihar steps onto his old land, strongmen from UP threaten and drive him away,” he added.

In 1970, the Ganga dramatically altered its course, shifting from Ballia in UP towards the Bhojpur border in Bihar, causing widespread erosion. Over the past 46 years, the river has moved nearly 10 kilometres south into Bhojpur, turning thousands of acres of once-fertile farmland into barren stretches of sand and silt.

“And the remaining fertile land is now embroiled in a border dispute between Ballia and Bhojpur,” added Singh.

A Conflict Older Than Independence

Historical records show that the shifting Ganga has changed the geography of at least 192 villages across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Singh explained that the border dispute began under British rule and remains unresolved to this day.

From the colonial era through the late 20th century, contested ownership in the Diara region has often turned violent, with communities clashing over land rights. The Diara refers to tracts of land formed in the middle of the Ganga over decades due to the gradual deposition of sand.

In Sohra Tribhuani alone, nearly 5,600 bighas (3,500 acres) of land from the village and its surrounding areas were gradually submerged by the river and now lie across in UP. Despite repeated efforts to resolve the issue, including a demarcation attempt by the Trivedi Commission appointed by the government in 1960, no lasting solution has been achieved, said Singh.

Legal Red-Tape

Singh, who is also fighting for the restoration of his old land rights, explained that after the formation of the Trivedi Commission a significant portion of land in two maujas (a traditional revenue or administrative unit used in rural India) of the Barhara region—Mandrauli Kans (also known as Tribhuani) and Mohanpur—was transferred from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, among other recommendations. These recommendations were accepted by the late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and conveyed to the two state governments.

Later, the farmers of Bihar tried to apply for ryoti rights—legal tenancy rights that allow a person (called a rayat) to cultivate government-allocated land and claim ownership over it.

Although these rights are applicable across India, the farmers now had to approach Uttar Pradesh authorities since their land had shifted across the border.

However, they were denied the land rights

Singh said, “When we didn’t get ryoti rights from the Uttar Pradesh government, we were forced to approach the court. So, we filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court.” (Petition number 11720/86)

In 1997, the Allahabad High Court ruled in favour of the farmers, directing the Revenue Secretaries of both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, along with the Surveyor General of India and district magistrates of Ballia and Bhojpur, to ensure that ryoti rights were granted to farmers of Mandrauli Kans and Mohanpur maujas within six months.

When no action was taken, the farmers filed a contempt petition (72610/98) against the officials. Following this, the Revenue Department of Uttar Pradesh issued a notification on March 25, 2000, officially including the two maujas in Uttar Pradesh.

Then, in 2007, the Ballia District Magistrate’s office published a notice in newspapers asking for verification of land records. “Farmers from Bihar promptly submitted their documents, but no action was taken. Later, in 2014, Rameshwar Singh from Sohra village filed a fresh petition in the Allahabad High Court, which resulted in a verdict in 2017—still, the Ballia administration remained inactive,” Singh said.

Frustrated by the ongoing delays, another Pawan Kumar Singh (60) filed another petition (10111/2017) in the same court. On October 4, 2017, the Ballia District Magistrate was ordered to collect documents from Uttar Pradesh farmers, but they failed to submit any. Seizing the opportunity, the Bihar farmers again submitted their land records, which the Ballia DM forwarded to the Bhojpur DM for verification.

However, the Bhojpur DM claimed that all land documents had been transferred to Ballia back in 1972, and no verification was possible. Since then, the Bihar farmers have been stuck between two district offices, still denied their raiyat (tenancy) rights.

“This is exactly why tensions keep flaring between farmers of Sohra and Padminiyabecause of errors made long ago by the survey officials…this is why we are still waiting for justice,” said Singh.

Landless Landowners

Due to ongoing conflicts, rightful landowners from Bihar are unable to farm their land, which remains under illegal occupation by strongmen from Uttar Pradesh, covering around 6,041 bighas.

Sohan Gond, a daily wage labourer from Sohra, said, “I’m landless today.” Forced to migrate for work, he struggles to find employment as he’s asked for caste and residence certificates—documents that the Bhojpur administration won’t issue since he has no legal claim to land. “My family of my wife, four children and I often survive without proper food, relying solely on daily wages of 300 to 350 rupees,” Gond says.

According to Singh, the situation remains unchanged due to the indifference of the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh governments. “This despite the fact that there are court orders over the issue. Farmers are still unable to reclaim their land. And across the Ganga, the strongmen from Uttar Pradesh have been farming on their land for years,” Singh added.

Singh explains that, according to the Trivedi Commission, the boundary between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was established in 1882 based on the course of the Ganga and Saryu rivers, with the stream between them serving as the official border.

“Under that understanding, the farmers’ ryoti rights were meant to be protected and should remain intact,” he said.

Fight Forward

Singh saif that for years, farmers have pooled donations to fight for their land rights in court, but no one has received justice so far. The government’s efforts so far have also been insufficient, he adds.

The social worker is now trying to take the issue to the Prime Minister through the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. He said, “The government must choose one of two options: either pass a proposal in the Lok Sabha to transfer the disputed land to Bihar, or grant the farmers ryoti rights based on their submitted documents.”

On this matter, the current District Magistrate of Bhojpur district, Tanai Sultania, expressed ignorance and said that further action would be taken after receiving the necessary information.

Himanshu Praveen is a freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Living on Edge: Farmers in This Bihar District Battle River and Red Tape appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Most children from poor and marginalised families study in these government-aided schools. In fact, a large number of school-going children from families living in the worsening socio-economic situation are not entering the field of education.

The point is that education for the poor has reached rock bottom. What will be the consequences of this state of affairs?

The state government’s apathetic attitude toward education has created an atmosphere of fear. Not only the general public and guardians, but also officials in state and Union ministries discussed the education scenario in West Bengal at the end of April 2025. Both sides reportedly expressed “deep” concern over the dwindling number of students at the primary and upper primary levels.

The Basis for ‘Deep’ Concern

The number of mid-day meals that students partake is being considered a criterion at the government level. The decline in the number of students receiving mid-day-meals is a picture of decline among students in government-sponsored primary and upper primary schools. Students of both these levels receive mid-day meals.

In addition, parents seem reluctant to admit their children to government schools. Although there are exceptions, but this is broadly a state phenomenon, several school teachers this writer spoke to, said. Why?

During the last Left Front regime in Bengal from 2006-2011, about 50,000 teachers and non-teaching staff were recruited through specific examination (District Primary School Councils took the exam for primary teachers, and four regional School Service Commissions arranged for high and higher secondary teachers and non-teaching staff). A large portion of these recruitments were of primary school teachers.

“ The district primary school councils used to recruit teachers through examinations within a specific period of time”, Jyansankar Mitra, former Chairman of Bankura District Primary School Council, told this writer.

“The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) was constituted in November 1997 under the West Bengal School Service Commission Act. The Act was enacted on April 1, 1997, and came into effect on the same day. The Commission is responsible for recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff in government- aided schools in West Bengal.  Since then, teachers have been recruited to high and higher secondary schools through examination almost every year” said Professor Biswanath Koyal, first Chairman of Western Zone of WBSSC, whose jurisdiction was Bankura, Purulia, undivided Pashchim Medinipur, and Purbo Medinipur.

According to the Right to Education Act 2009, the Ideal student-teacher ratio should be 30: 1. In 2008, this ratio was 35: 1

Biman Patra, district secretary of All Bengal Primary Teacher Association, Bankura district committee, the largest primary teachers’ organisation of Bengal and Panab Mahato, his counterpart in Purulia, said due to the severe shortage of teachers, the current ratio had risen to 70:1.

After the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, the government recruited primary teachers in 2014 and 2016.  There are allegations of widespread corruption in recruitment of those who were appointed in 2017 after the 2016 exams. The matter is sub judice in the Calcutta High Court.

As of now, the jobs of over 32,000 primary teachers are hanging in uncertainty. Significantly, On April 3, the Supreme Court, having reached the conclusion that there was multiple corruption in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in high and higher secondary schools through WBSSC in 2016, cancelled the entire panel. As a result, 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff lost their jobs.

There are similar allegations in the primary recruitment sector. In fact, many schools do not have enough teachers against the requirement. On the other side, a large portion of those who are in teaching positions are uncertain about the continuity of their jobs.

“Overall, it can be said that there has been an institutional crisis in the education sector in the state. This is having a devastating impact on students, teachers and parents in the area”, Panab Hazra, a librarian at Sidhu-Kanhu University of Purulia and Subikash Choudhury, former head of the department of economics, Bankura Christian College, told this writer.

“Despite financial difficulty, I have admitted my son to a private school, because I do not know when the government schools will close. The teachers are not adequate. I do not know if those who are  there, will continue”, said Mainuddin Mandal, a bread hawker in Vhikurdihi village of Bankura district. He hawks bread brough from Chandigarh in Punjab.

His wife, Rehena Bibi, said “We are struggling to run our family only for our children’s future. We have to somehow survive. We spend Rs 3,000 a month (in a private school) for my child in Class 4.” She said many parents were opting for this instead of government schools for the future of their children.

In Bagmundi area of Purulia district, this writer met a migrant worker, Ramesh Sardar. When asked, he said, “What will happen if my son completes his schooling? Will he get a job? Is there any job here? Several educated youths are sitting idle, counting their days. They are highly frustrated.”

He said he had admitted his son, Bachhu, in a high school. He studied up to Class 7. “There is only one teacher, how can this teacher manage four classes? What will students learn? Nothing. It is better to learn some manual labour skill from an adolescent age and find work in other states. At least, he will be able to eat and survive, and look after the family in the near future”.

A few days ago, some male and female agricultural labourers, along with their school- going children from Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram districts, were seen waiting at the Bankura bus stand under the scorching sun for buses to return home after harvesting boro paddy from various villages in Hooghly and East and West Bardhaman districts.

“There is no work in the area, matikatar kaj (MGNREGA work) has been closed for four years, and panchayats do not respond regarding our work. We have to survive somehow, so we go wherever we find work. Who do we leave our sons and daughters with? So, we take them along,” Urmila Lohar from Tilaboni village in Purulia, said.

When asked, all of them said that “education of our children are no longer on our minds. We have to survive first, then study.”

“This painful picture is common among jobless poor and marginalised families across West Bengal”, said Amiya Patra, leader of the Khetmajur Union and Sagar Badyakar, assistant secretary of the union’s Bengal unit.

Teachers Trying Hard to Bring Children to School

During the Left Front regime, there was a Village Education Committee (VEC) in every area. That committee consisted of an elected representative from the local panchayat/municipality, a member of the Opposition party, ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) workers, an education expert of the area and teachers. The committee would discuss the ongoing situation of education in the area and take necessary measures.

“After the Trinamool Congress came to power, that VEC was dissolved. There is no discussion on education issues of the area even in the education standing committee at the block level. Only one meeting is held a year, that too related to school annual sports,” said Patra.

Rupak Mondal, district secretary of ABPTA, Jhargram district, along with several male and female teachers from Bankura, Purulia and Jhargram, confirmed that the two years of school closure during the Covid pandemic was still having a major impact. In families, where children did not attend school after it re-opened in 2022, the younger brothers and sisters have been following suit.  Many of them have left government schools and have enrolled in private ones. That trend is continuing.

It is a fact there is severe shortage of teachers as well as of officials in the education department, who are responsible to monitor the condition of schools. In this situation, several teachers have been visiting the homes of villagers and are trying to bring their children back to school.

“We go to different houses in the village and look for expectant mothers. We tell them in advance that when the child is born, he/she should be admitted to our government school. We observed that if a child takes admission in a private school his/her brother and sister will follow that path. But the fact is that in many families, the youth are not getting married because they don’t have jobs. As a result, the number of child births is decreasing” said Amit Goswami, headmaster of Kenjakura Primary school. Bankura.

“There is reluctance among parents to admit their children to government schools. The shortage of teachers is a big reason. Child birth is also decreasing in remote areas. We have asked the government to think deeply about this issue and take proper needful measures”, said Tuhin Banerjee, a primary teacher in Dubraji village of Bankura and district leader of Trinamool’s Shikhsha cell.

The District Information System of Education (DISE), which records all information regarding a school, according to the RTE Act, regarding meeting of specific criteria or if an educational institute is not given the DISE code number. During the Left Front regime, private schools did not get that code. Now it is being given to private schools in large numbers. As a result, the number of private schools is increasing.

Despite struggling to support their families, many low-income people are sending their kids to private schools, which has turned into a status symbol, said several teachers and guardians. Many parents also complained that the syllabus of government schools was not “good” and “up to date”. Also, there are fewer teachers in government schools.

On the other hand, private schools offer opportunities to study many subjects, including computers. Several parents feel this is one the key reasons for low enrolment in government schools.

Significantly, many government school teachers also are admitting their children to private schools. This is also having an impact on the people’s mind. As a result, students from financially backward families study in private schools till the primary level, but when they enter high school, they face problems in adapting to the environment. Not all families are able to afford the high cost of private education. Hence, many are forced to drop out midway.

Situation in Upper Primary Schools

Upper primary schools were built during the Left Front regime considering the geographical location of the area so that children do not have to go to high schools located far away to study from Class 5. They could study in the local area up to Class 8. After reaching Class 9, the boys and girls could travel to a distant high school.

“The Madhyamik Shiksha Kendra (MSK) that are built for grades five to eight are provided with adequate teachers”, said Fatik Goswami, former headmaster of Radhamadhab Madhyamik Shiksha Kendra of Kumidya village in Bankura. After TMC came to power, new teachers were not appointed in upper primary schools. As a result, the number of students kept decreasing.

Six MSKs have already been closed in Ranibandh of Bankura district. On January 7 this year, the Bankura district administration issued an order for shutdown of seven more MSKs. This includes Kumidya Radhamadhab MSK School.

“Had the government appointed adequate teachers in this school, students would have continued their education”, lamented Mrityunjoy Banerjee, headmaster of the school. He and a  teacher, Ramsankar Patra, appealed for saving the school at any cost.

“There have been no adequate teachers for years. How can we send our children to a school that lacks educators? Many have already dropped out,” said Bulu Dasmohonto of Kumidya village.

The newly established upper primary schools, which are called new set-ups, do not have the necessary number of teachers. Therefore, the number of student admissions is low, said a teacher in-charge of a newly set up a girls school in Indpur block.

Several guardians said after studying there were no job opportunities here. Several boys who studied in upper primary are already realising this and have dropped out of school to try other jobs. Several are already registered as migrant labourers.

Number of Students Taking Mid-Day-Meals

To meet the nutritional needs of students, the Left Front government in West Bengal was among the first to introduce mid-day meals in the country in primary and upper primary levels. Later, it was introduced across the country.  In this context, the number of students receiving mid-day meals has become a definitive indicator of enrolment.  During Left Front rule, in the 2010-11 academic year, 72,40,341 students received mid-day meals. After 14 years under the TMC regime, only 46,83,053 students are receiving mid-day meals.  This indicates a decline of 26,57,288 students in primary education — a 35% decrease compared with 2010-11.

The number of students has dramatically decreased at Shibarampur Primary School in Bankura .

The situation is even worse at the upper primary level. In the last academic year, 40,41,666 students were admitted to upper primary in the state. As per state government figures, 23,66,232 students are receiving mid-day meals in upper primary schools. This means enrolment at the upper primary level has decreased by 42%.

When asked, Jagabandhu Banerjee, the District Inspector of School, admitted that the number of students admitted to primary schools had decreased. A section of people was moving to urban areas, he said, adding that therefore, the number of students in villages was decreasing. Efforts are being made to solve this crisis, he added.

The writer covers the Jangalmahal region for ‘Ganashakti’ newspaper in West Bengal.

(All pictures by Madhu Sudan Chatterjee)

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Bengal: Is Govt-Aided School Education Heading For Privatisation? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While Modi took credit for the same and the Army spokesperson elaborated that there was a request from Pakistan authorities for cessation of hostilities and India responded in the affirmative to bring a halt to the potential bloodbath of more Army personnel and civilians on both sides.

The government decided to tell the Indian side of the story by sending various all-party delegations abroad. Many MPs from Opposition parties were included. One such was the delegation to the US headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. What type of brief these delegations were given becomes clear from the statement of Tharoor in the US.

Tharoor, a former diplomat, stated in the US that, “while the intent behind the Pahalgam terror attack was to divide people, it brought people together in India, irrespective of their religion or any other divide…There was an extraordinary amount of togetherness cutting across religious and other divides that people have tried to provoke. The message is very clear that there was a malignant intent… “.

Have all the delegations been given a brief like this? This narrative clearly has lots of truth in it, as all Indians, including Hindus and Muslims, came together to condemn the dastardly act in Pahalgam. Kashmir.

However, still lurking under all this is the continued hate being spread against Muslims. Even before the Pahalgam tragedy, the hate directed against Muslims was rising. After this tragedy, this hate manufactured against Muslims is peaking further. In an article last week, I did give a partial list of hate actions against this hapless community. These events have been chronicled by the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai.

Another article comments that “Even as India mourned lives lost in the terrorist attack, a coordinated campaign unfolded, offline and online, with one message: that Muslims were a threat to Hindus, that a similar fate awaited all Hindus, and that Muslims needed to be punished through violence and boycotts.

The most disturbing of these was the arrest of Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, who heads the political science department there. In a very pertinent post he stated,” “I am very happy to see so many right wing commentators applauding Colonel Sofiya Qureshi,” adding that “they should also demand that the victims of mob lynching, arbitrary demolitions [of houses], others who are victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens”. Several rights groups have pointed out that there has been a rise in violence and hate speech against Muslims in India in the past decade.”

Following this there were complaints against the Professor by the Haryana State Women’s Commission “that Mr Mahmudabad’s social media posts had “disparaged” the two women defence officers and “undermined their role” in the armed forces.”  It is beyond one’s comprehension as to how this post disparaged the women defence officers or undermined their role in the Indian Army?

The other complaint was filed by a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth activist. Ali Khan was arrested based on these complaints and approached the Supreme Court, granting him provisional bail. The apex also gave a judgment that asked him not to write on this matter and to deposit his passport.

The SC judgment stated that Ali Khan’s post is “dog whistling” and that it may transmit contentious messages subtly. We know “dog-whistling” is the most used label for coded speech that carries contentious meaning indirectly. The judge doubted the time and motivation behind the posts though granting interim bail was very gratifying.

Even Vijay Shah, a BJP leader and minister in the Madhya Pradesh government, who commented that Sofiya Qureshi is the “sister of terrorists” was heavily reprimanded by the court. This remark by a BJP leader was the most hateful comment possible against the outstanding Army officer. As such, this was clear ‘dog whistling’ by Shah. While the court rejected his apology, his arrest has been put on hold.

What is a dog whistle? Prof Ali Khan’s post is not a dog whistle to be sure. It is an expression of the anguish of the minority community. On the contrary, it is Shah whose dog whistle borders on open articulation of hate. Prof Ali Khan, in a sensitive manner, has shown us the mirror as to how the nation is treating its minorities. Shah has shown openly as to how every occasion is used to sow hatred against the minorities.

A Professor from a minority community should not be taken to task for talking about bulldozers and lynching which has become part of India’s ‘new normal’ and, despite the court’s disapproval of bulldozers, state governments many a times have resorted to its use.

Also, two satirists, Neha Singh Rathore and Madri Kakoti, the former a singer and the latter known as Dr Medusa online, were booked for their social media posts critical of the Modi government in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

In a way, what Vijay Shah has done is largely condoned by his party, no suspension, no expulsion and no arrest. The open hate against minorities from the top BJP leadership to down below is not only quietly accepted, it also acts as a stepping stone for their political career.

Just to recall in the prelude to the 2019 Delhi communal violence, those calling for peace and harmony, such as Umar Khalid, Sharjil Imam and others are rotting in jail for over five years, their cases not even coming up for hearing, while a Union minister of state, Anurag Thakur, got promoted to full Cabinet rank after he made the people shout ‘Goli Maro…’ slogans’.

The norms of our civility and the Constitution are being slowly eroded by politics that wears the clothes of religion. What democracy needs is the likes of Ali Khan, Umar Khalid, Neha Singh Rathore and Himanshi Narwal, who, in a truthful manner, are calling for peace and also showing a mirror to our society.

The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.

The post Pahalgam Tragedy: Indian delegations abroad appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Say’s argument was as follows. Whatever is produced generates an equal amount of income among those associated with its production. This income is either consumed or ‘saved’ (i.e., not consumed). Whatever is consumed generates an equal amount of demand for the produced consumption goods, and whatever is ‘saved’ is either directly used for purchasing capital goods, or offered as a loan to those who wish to purchase capital goods, namely, undertake investment, by borrowing. Whatever is ‘saved’ and whatever is invested are ultimately equalised through adjustments in the interest rate, so that through such adjustments whatever is produced gets ultimately demanded in the aggregate, and the capitalist economy has no reasons for not being at a state of maximum production, that is, at full employment. There may be demand-supply mismatches in particular markets, but never in the aggregate.

The problem with Say’s Law is that all demand out of incomes earned in the current period is seen to be for goods produced in the current period, whether for consumption or for adding to one’s wealth (i.e., investment). But if persons wish to add to their wealth in the form of money (and that would be the case if they hold their wealth partly also in the form of money), which is not a good produced in the current period (for instance if they wish to hold paper money out of their current incomes), then there is no reason why the supply of produced goods in the current period should create a demand equal to itself.

In the C-M-C circuit, if persons do not wish to convert M into C, then there will be an overproduction of C, i.e., of produced goods. And any reduction in the money-price of produced goods in such a situation of insufficient demand, would only strengthen the demand for money as a form of wealth and hence not eliminate the over-production tendency.

Mainstream bourgeois economics which assumed Say’s Law, held that persons never wished to hold money as a form of wealth, that money was only a medium of circulation but never a form of wealth-holding. This, however, was an absurd assumption. It was not only empirically untrue, but also logically untenable, which is why Say’s Law was an absurd assumption to make for a capitalist economy.

Karl Marx had been quite scathing about Say’s Law and about J B Say as an economist (whom he had called the “trite” Monsieur Say) and had expounded the possibility of an over-production crises under capitalism.

Why, it may be wondered, are we talking about such arcane debates in economics, which were settled not only by Marx but resettled in the 1930s by the Keynesian Revolution in bourgeois economics at the time of the Great Depression, when to argue that a capitalist economy can never experience a deficiency of aggregate demand for produced goods was ludicrous in the extreme.

Keynes wanted to save Western capitalism from a Bolshevik-style revolution, and to do so, he recognised, one had to first admit its failures and repair the system to overcome them so that a revolution could be forestalled.

The reason we are talking about Say’s Law is because it has made a silent return to economic discourse, a return whose very silence makes it as influential as it is insidious. In fact, the rationale for the entire neo-liberal economic order is based on assuming the validity of Say’s Law.

The intellectual groundwork for neoliberalism, and for jettisoning the dirigiste strategy that had been prevalent until then (in India the dirigiste strategy is often referred to as the Nehru-Mahalanobis strategy), was laid down in the early 1970s. The argument was advanced that four east Asian ‘tigers’ — South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore — had shown remarkably high economic growth rates, much higher than countries like India pursuing dirigiste strategies; and that if other countries too abandoned dirigisme, or what the World Bank called their ‘inward-looking’ development strategy, and pursued ‘export-led growth’ instead, then they too could emerge as successful as these ‘Asian tigers’.

This was an absurd argument. If the level of world aggregate demand is expanding at a certain rate, then the output of all countries taken together cannot possibly expand at a higher rate. If the output of some countries is expanding at a higher rate than world aggregate demand, it is because the output of others is expanding at a lower rate.

If the output growth of the hitherto slow-growers accelerates then that can only be at the expense of those who were hitherto growing rapidly.

Hence, to dangle the hope that all countries could grow as rapidly as the ‘Asian tigers’ if only they pursued an ‘export-led growth’ strategy was absurd. It amounted to ignoring the constraint of aggregate demand, namely, to assuming Say’s Law. Behind the call to abandon the Nehruvian strategy, therefore, was an invoking of the absurd Say’s Law.

This invoking, however, was camouflaged, which is why it succeeded. The camouflage took the form of a ‘small country assumption’. A small country, precisely because it is small, can push out larger exports at the expense of larger countries without causing them damage on a scale that they would notice. For small countries, therefore, the assumption that they can export more if they wish, namely, that they face no noticeable demand constraint, makes some sense, and is often made.

But the neoliberal strategy of ‘export-led growth’ was sold to all countries by pretending that each of them could act as if it was a ‘small country’. This was utterly absurd, a flagrant case of the converse fallacy of aggregation, and a back-door entry for Say’s Law.

Of course, the success of the four Asian ‘countries’ was followed by more spectacular growth successes in China and South-East Asia; true, they were not necessarily examples of neoliberal strategy, nor of ‘export-led growth’ pure and simple. And to the extent that they had export successes, this was to a large extent because Western metropolitan capital chose to locate plants on their soil for producing for the Western metropolitan market.

The counterpart of their success, in other words, was the slower growth of metropolitan capitalist economies, though not of metropolitan capitals, not to mention the fact that other Third World countries were left out in the race. It was a race nonetheless among countries.

By falsely assuming Say’s Law, the ‘export-led growth’ strategy actually pitted countries, especially countries of the Third World, against one another. For example, India could export more garments only at the expense of Bangladesh, and so on. This, in turn, meant that the more a country could squeeze its working population by giving them lower wages, extracting from them longer hours of work, and withholding legitimate payments from them through fraud, the more successful it would be in its export drive. Inequalising growth, or even poverty-generating growth, was thus built into the very logic of ‘export-led growth’.

Inequalising growth, however, ultimately meant a slowing down of the rate of growth of demand in the world economy and hence the onset of a crisis for the export-led growth strategy. Even before the pandemic, the decadal growth rate of GDP (gross domestic product) for the world economy as a whole had been the lowest among all the decades since the Second World War; and this growth rate has slowed down even further after the pandemic.

This strategy, apart from being ethically repugnant, since it apotheosizes cut-throat competition among the oppressed people, has brought the world economy to a cul-de-sac. The only way that an economy of the Third World can get out of this dead end is by activating the State to undertake larger expenditures to enlarge the home market. 

Enlarging the home market requires increasing the rate of agricultural growth (which puts more income in the hands of the peasants and agricultural labourers), raising the level of minimum wages (which puts more income in the hands of the workers), and increasing welfare state measures (which improves the real living standards of the entire working population); and it requires financing such spending through wealth and inheritance taxation.

All this, however, would require imposing capital controls, especially on financial outflows, which in turn would necessitate trade controls. It would require, in short, abandoning the strategy of ‘export-led growth’ and hence overcoming the stranglehold of Say’s Law that has already done so much damage.

The writer is Professor Emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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These indigenous Adivasi communities have been known for long for their more self-reliant life patterns integrated closely with forests and their protection. However they suffered heavily during colonial rule in terms of introduction of new exploitative practices, assault on their life and livelihood patterns and the resource base which sustained it. Subsequently there were several revolts against colonial rule and its collaborators. Apart from some of the better-known struggles such as those led by the valiant BirsaMunda, there were several less known but also no less important struggles such as those led by Govind Guru among the Bhils and related tribal communities in Central India. The extent of repression by colonial forces and their close collaborators here was also very extreme, perhaps even more than some of the widely known events of extreme repression such as the Jalianwala Bagh massacre.

In the post-independence period it was a well-recognised aspect of government policy that Adivasi communities constitute a particularly vulnerable group and special efforts for ensuring a fair deal to them should be made. This led to several development initiatives aimed particularly at benefiting these communities, while of course there are other schemes and programs open to all sections which benefit these communities as well.

There are reservations for scheduled tribes in jobs as well as in other aspects. Above all, there is recognition of their more autonomous path of development in keeping with their traditions and life-patterns, and a special law PESA (Panchayati Raj Extension to Scheduled Areas) has been enacted in recognition of this, also protecting the rights of tribal communities over resource bases in several ways.

However at the implementation level, the admirable aims of protecting Adivasi communities and their rights and interests could not be achieved to any desirable extent. In several areas these indigenous communities have been displaced on a very large scale or their life has been significantly disrupted by ecologically destructive projects. It is clear by now that several such distortions and mistakes need to be corrected.

This is all the more important in view of several fast emerging new factors that are re-emphasising the importance of strengthening these tribal communities and preserving and promoting sustainable livelihoods of such communities by integrating this task more closely with protection of environment. In this emergent thinking based on relatively new understanding, the progress of tribal communities is seen not in terms of individual beneficiaries, but in terms of a more holistic strengthening of tribal communities and their sustainable livelihoods in ways that are at the same time very helpful in reducing very serious environmental problems.

In recent years there has been increasing evidence-based recognition that a number of environmental problems led by but not confined to climate change are becoming serious enough to emerge as a survival crisis. In fact in the context of several vulnerable communities this survival crisis can already be seen. Along with climate change, related local problems of deforestation, changing land-use and resource use patterns including emergence of highly destructive ones, increasing water scarcity and threatened water sources are seen as parts of this survival crisis.

As a part of the sincere efforts for mobilising an adequate, credible, hope-giving and sustainable response to this emerging crisis, among more enlightened sections there is a refreshing trend to question the dominant development paradigm which has resulted in this deeply worrying crisis. This enlightened viewpoint argues that there is increasing need to give more importance to the alternative patterns of thinking and living (on that basis) which can give much greater hope for protection of environment. In this context the commitment and capability of several tribal communities to have a life-pattern integrated closely with forests and protection of forests has attracted much attention. On a deeper inquiry, several of these communities are found to be making much more careful and sustainable use of resources to meet their needs in ways which minimise waste and are more self-reliant in terms of satisfying needs on the basis of well-informed utilisation of local resources, including sustainable , protection-based, careful use of forests and other bio-diversity.

Hence it is increasingly realised that these communities, their life-pattern, world-view and thinking can contribute a lot to protection of environment. Despite there being increasing evidence of this, the bigger conservation projects even in the areas inhabited by such communities are often based on the displacement of these communities or on disrupting their life-pattern based on close integration with forests.This comes on top of other kinds of displacements and disruptions caused by various ‘development’, mining and other projects supported by powerful interests.

There is thus a clear need to bring suitable changes in the existing policy framework togive the highest importance to strengthening tribal communities and their sustainable livelihoods and integrating this task with a wider vision of protecting environment. This would be a great way forward for taking forward the welfare of tribal communities and at the same time achieving significant success in environment protection on a firm base with community involvement, the kind of success that would be welcomed and admired all over the world.

(The author is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril and A Day in 2071)  

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In a press statement, the farmers’ organisation said “large-scale deaths due to thunderstorms and heavy rainfall have been reported from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states. At least 54 and 24 people died in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, with some deaths reported from Hisar in Haryana and Delhi-NCR as well.”

It said the deaths have been due to lightning strikes, accidental flooding, and collapse of trees, streetlights and even buildings.

“Around 55 animals, many of them livestock, were reported to have been killed by lightning in different districts of Maharashtra. Mango orchards in the Lucknow-Unnao belt are also reported to be severely damaged. Maharashtra has been rocked by completely unseasonal rains since the second week of May, and horticultural and late Rabi crops have suffered extensive damage across ten districts.”

Appealing to the Centre and state government to take stock of the damages and compensated the farmers and the affected families, the AIKS flagged of more possible damages as weather forecasts were predicting continued heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over the weekend across the country.

Read the full statement below:

Press Statement

More than 80 People Killed in Unseasonal Heavy Rainfall

Massive Damage to Crops and Orchards

AIKS Demands Adequate Ex-Gratia and Compensation to Victims

AIKS views the extreme weather situation developing around the country with grave concern. Large-scale deaths due to thunderstorms and heavy rainfall have been reported from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and other states. At least 54 and 24 people died in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, with some deaths reported from Hisar in Haryana and Delhi-NCR as well.

Deaths have been reported from lightning strikes, accidental flooding, and collapse of trees, streetlights and even buildings. Around 55 animals, many of them livestock, were reported to have been killed by lightning in different districts of Maharashtra. Mango orchards in the Lucknow-Unnao belt are also reported to be severely damaged. Maharashtra has been rocked by completely unseasonal rains since the second week of May, and horticultural and late Rabi crops have suffered extensive damage across ten districts.

Weather forecasts were predicting continued heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over the weekend across the country.

Extreme-weather events have become more common in India over the last few years. A 2023 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had warned that the frequency of such short-duration disturbances, like thunderstorms, will increase in South Asia, leading to heavier rainfall. In urban areas, given that over the last century most of the natural water bodies like ponds and lakes have been lost, and replaced by unplanned construction, flooding has become a recurrent theme in the run up to the monsoon season. Despite these freak-incidents every year, governments are not acting sufficiently to develop flood-resistant infrastructure that protects the urban poor.

AIKS demands an adequate ex-gratia to the families of the deceased be released by the governments in the affected states. Adequate compensation must also be given to the farmers who have lost their standing crops, fruit orchards and livestock. These weather disturbances are a forewarning of further loss of life and property in the coming days if the governments, both at the level of state and Centre, do not act.

Sd/-

Ashok Dhawale, President

Vijoo Krishnan, General Secretary

Courtesy: Newsclick

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This post was captioned “LOL Salam, Comrade” – a take on communists’ use of ‘lal selam’ or ‘red salute’. It was posted as a response to a press statement by the CPI(ML) condemning ‘Operation Kagar’ – a joint operation by the paramilitary, state police, and various security forces in the dense and hilly forests of Telangana and Chhattisgarh, in which officials said 27 ‘Maoists’ were killed.

The CPI (ML) had condemned the “cold-blooded extra-judicial killing of Maoist activists and Adivasis in Narayanpur-Bijapur.”

The party statement also said that Shah’s celebratory post reflected that the “state is spearheading Operation Kagar as an extra-judicial extermination campaign and taking credit for killing citizens and suppressing Adivasi protests against corporate plunder and militarisation in the name of combating Maoism.”

The connotations of a cauliflower 

While the Union government’s response has indeed been celebratory, it was, in fact, the presence of a cauliflower in BJP Karnataka’s X post that stunned online commentators.

The use of the cauliflower has become a de-facto stand-in for a call to Muslim genocide.

Capable of circumventing hate speech laws online, it was most recently widely shared by pro-BJP political commentators following the communal clashes in Nagpur.

The imagery is understood to refer to the 1989 Bhagalpur anti-Muslim riots in which over 900 people were killed. In the village of Logain, 110 Muslims were killed and buried in a farm. It is well known that cauliflower saplings were planted over their dead bodies.

In recent years, this reference has been revived by alt-right groups, particularly the trads. Some of its less disguised versions in the past have portrayed hijabi women as cauliflowers.

In their social media bios, many Hindutva ‘trads’ refer to themselves as “cauliflower farmers.”

Trads constitute the extreme end of the Hindutva universe, and comprise youth who want to serve as self-styled civilisational warriors online. Trads view other right-wingers as too liberal and call them ‘raitas’. They also consider PM Narendra Modi too weak to further the real Hindutva agenda due to his alleged appeasement of Dalits and inability to deal with the Muslims with an iron hand.

In 2022, The Wire had reported on these trads following the ‘Sulli Deals’ case in which a hundred Muslim women were ‘auctioned’ on an app.

The Wire had reported how trad iconography is usually designed to ‘trigger’ minority communities with shockingly violent ‘humour’. They include memes depicting the beheading of Muslims, caricatures of Muslims being mowed under their cars, Dalits depicted as “cockroaches” being gassed, or rape victims (who are either Muslims or Dalits) being urinated upon by a saffronised ‘Pepe the Frog.’

The report had said how this dependence on iconography draws directly from Western neo-Nazi creators and in some cases imitates the content of alt-right 4chan activists. References like the cauliflower meme or the invocation of the Ranveer Sena, a banned anti-Dalit militia accused of massacres in Bihar, are local additions.

While the BJP had so far steered away from this extreme discourse and gory trad imagery, the recent caricature is testament to its growing tolerance.

In the past year, trad iconography has become more acceptable in mainstream Hindutva lexicon, especially while addressing Muslims. In the many caricatures the BJP have posted since January 2024, especially during their 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, they adopted some of this imagery and symbols – like Pepe the Frog, a depiction of PM Modi dressed in saffron and taking on the Muslims in green, and an animation of Muslims taking away property and the belongings of the Dalits.

In 2022, in a post on X captioned Satyamev Jayate (truth alone prevails) a caricature was shared by the official handle of the Gujarat BJP featuring a dozen skull-capped and bearded men in white kurtas being hanged. Social media users and commentators drew comparison with Nazi caricatures and the tweet was taken down by Twitter. But the party said that they were not targeting any particular religion and that the cartoon was based on real incidents – a Gujarat court convicting terrorists for the 2006 Ahmedabad blasts.

Courtesy: The Wire

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The lawsuit was a SLAPP suit – a legal tactic used to silence critical reports and public debate. This case and several other such cases highlight the growing use of lawfare to threaten and silence media, especially independent media. Akshay Luhadia and Istela Jameel in their report, Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation in India –An Analysis in the Context of Indian Defamation Laws, published in the NLIU Law Review discuss the threats to free speech and expressions in democracies through Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). They highlight examples of SLAPP cases in India and the negative impact on democracy, particularly targeting minorities and women. Read their report here.

Statement on Vantara’s failed legal case against Himal Southasian

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It has been more than 75 years since the founding fathers (and mothers) of the Constitution took this bold stand when they were shaping the guidelines around which the newly independent country would move forward. A cursory glance at the constitutional debates makes it abundantly clear that a majority of the members – despite their own religious inclination – were clearly of the opinion that schools, whose basic purpose was to open minds of children and not make them a dumping ground of useless information, should never be opened up for any type of religious instruction.

What was important was that they were seeing the perils of poisoning of minds by religious frenzy in this part of the sub-continent, and were keen that the future of independent India should be secured on secular grounds only.

Perhaps it needs emphasising that Article 28 of the Constitution makes it more explicit and does not leave any ambiguity as far its implementation is concerned.

“No person attending any educational institution recognised by the state or receiving aid out of state funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution or in any premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto cultural and educational rights.”

What Does One Mean by Religious Instruction?

The expression religious instruction here has a restricted meaning. It conveys that teaching of customs, ways of worships, practices or rituals cannot be allowed in educational institutions wholly maintained out of State funds.

Much water has flown down the Ganges, the Jamuna and all rivers of the country and it appears that slowly, but not so silently, attempts are on to water down the provisions of this Article and facilitating religious instruction in government schools through the back door.

The manner in which Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has suddenly decided to hold summer workshops on the Ramayana and the Vedas in government schools across the state, without any broader consultation with the stakeholders involved in this endeavour, is symptomatic of the brazen attitude of the government. We are told that these workshops will be organised under the aegis of the International Ramayana and Vedic Research Institute, Ayodhya, and will include activities, like Ramlila, Ramcharitmanas recitation, Vedic chanting, painting, and mask-making.

As expected, this retrograde move by the Yogi government has generated anger among the broad masses as well as concerned citizens, who have demanded that this move be immediately rescinded.

Broadly they have three big objections:

– One, it clearly goes against the provisions of Article 28 of the Constitution and thus is a violation of constitutional principles and values.

– Two, in a state where people of different faiths have been living together for centuries together – giving primacy to the religion of the majority – will be an act of overt discrimination against all religious minorities, including those handful of students who are atheists.

– Three, such workshops will reinforce the deep-rooted gender and caste discrimination in these scriptures.

The resistance to this move has taken two forms. On the one hand, concerned citizens or political leaders have condemned these attempts as a violation of the Constitution. Leaders like Chandrashekhar ‘Ravan’ of the Bhim Army, also a Lok Sabha MP, has even suggested that if at all the government wants to organise workshops, they should be focused on the Constitution.

Secondly, courts have been approached at various levels with pleas that they condemn such moves and help strengthen the struggle for constitutional values and principles.

One such petition is not only aimed at “[s]afeguarding constitutional values but also at ensuring that our education system remains inclusive, secular, and scientific”. It demands quashing of the orders dated May 5 and May 8, 2025, and seeks following relief.

• Directing authorities to refrain from promoting specific religious texts in schools.

• Ensuring that education remains inclusive, secular, and scientific.

• Stop this act of overt discrimination which sanctifies and legitimises gender and caste discrimination.

The petition also explains why this order of the Yogi government is unconstitutional and harmful to society for the following reasons:

One, such an order violates secularism. Everybody knows that the Constitution recognises secularism as a fundamental feature (S.R. Bommai vs. Union of India, 1994). Mandating Ramcharitmanas and Vedas, which are Hindu religious texts, in public schools promotes a specific religion. This violates Article 28(1) of the Constitution, which prohibits religious instruction in State-run schools.

In Aruna Roy vs.Union of India (2002), the Supreme Court clarified that while comparative study of religions in a secular context is permissible, promoting a single religion’s text is unconstitutional.

Two, such orders promote caste and gender discrimination:

Certain verses in Ramcharitmanas, such as “Dhol, gawar, shudra, pashu, nari, ye sab tadan ke adhikari” (Sunderkand, 58.3) and “Nari swatantra na bhave, pati bina dukh pave” (Ayodhyakand,

60), demean Shudras and women. These verses contradict Article 14 (equality before the law), Article 15 (prohibition of discrimination), and Article 17 (abolition of untouchability) of the Constitution. Promoting such texts in schools not only violates the rights of Scheduled Castes and women but also undermines social equality.

Three, it facilitates attacks on scientific temper: Article 51A(h) of the Constitution imposes a duty on every citizen to promote scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Prioritising religious and mythological texts, such as the Ramayana and the Vedas weakens rational thinking and scientific inquiry.

In Santosh Kumar vs. Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development (1994), the Supreme Court stated that education must promote a scientific and rational outlook, not religious superstition.

Four, promote violation of minority rights: Articles 29 and 30 grant minorities the right to preserve their culture and educational autonomy. Mandating Ramcharitmanas imposes a Hindu-centric culture on students from Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and other minority communities, violating their cultural and religious rights (St. Xavier’s College v. State of Gujarat, 1974).

Five, administrative impropriety. This impropriety can be understood in the way an institute under the culture department issued orders directly to officials of the education department, which is a violation of administrative protocols.

The way the Supreme Court emphasised in the U.P Gangadharan vs. State of Kerala (2006)case that administrative actions must follow established protocols. Since the said order has been issued without consultation with the education department, it is illegal and arbitrary.

It is also no small matter that the move facilitates misuse of public funds. Article 27 prohibits the use of taxpayer money to promote any particular religion. The use of public funds for these workshops, such as for teacher training and materials, promotes Hindu religious values, which is against the ruling in Prafull Goradia vs. Union of India (2011) and also displays lack of constitutional morality. We should not forget that in the case of Indian Young Lawyers Association vs. State of Kerala (2018), the Supreme Court defined constitutional morality as adherence to principles of equality, liberty, and justice. Promoting caste and gender hierarchies of Ramcharitmanas contradicts these values.

There is nothing surprising about this move by the Yogi government which, as the petition well explains, is a clear “violation of Constitution”. Remember, with the ascent of BJP at the Centre (in 2014), many states opened up various ways and means in which a particular religion — namely Hindu religion — is overtly or covertly promoted.

Take this news item where neighbouring Madhya Pradesh has already introduced Hindu religious texts as part of the curriculum of State government schools. A few years ago, the then BJP government in Rajasthan had come under the scanner of civil liberty activists and educationists for its controversial move to bring Saints-Mahatmas in government schools. It is now history how the Haryana government had decided to include the Bhagwad Gita in the school curriculum, merely a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought his party, the BJP, to power at the Centre.

Such moves, which seem to violate constitutional principles and values, are, in fact, a reinforcement of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS-BJP’s tremendous discomfort with the Constitution itself. It is now history when the Constituent Assembly adopted the draft of the Constitution in November 1949, within three days after its adoption, an editorial in the Organiser (RSS mouthpiece) criticised it in no uncertain terms and praised Manusmriti: [Excerpts from an Editorial on Constitution, Organiser, November 30, 1949). The Hindutva Supremacist movement was praising Manusmriti and counterposing it with the newly adopted Constitution. Another stalwart of the Hindutva movement, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, similarly lambasted the draft of the Constitution and emphasised that Manusmriti should have been made the basis of Indian laws.

What is worth emphasising here is that there are various judgements/interventions of the courts at the highest level itself which have been categorical in cautioning the executive about bringing in religious instructions in schools.

Take the case of a petition filed by a lawyer Vinayak Shah from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in the Supreme Court. It has challenged the recitation of Sanskrit prayers in Kendriya Vidyalayas. According to him, doing so effectively amounts to “religious instructions for schools funded by the government”. This, Shah has argued, violates Article 28(3) of the Constitution, which says that nobody attending educational institutions recognised by the State or those which receive aid out of State funds, shall be required to take part in any religious instruction or religious worship in institutions or premises attached to them—unless they are minors and their guardian has consented to it.

This petition revolves around three issues:

One, it is not right to compel children of all religions, including those from families that are atheist and agnostic, to sing Hindu prayers.

Two, considering the constitutional prohibition on students being made to take religious instruction in government-funded schools, the 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalayas must not insist on holding such prayer meetings every day.

Three, prayer songs obstruct the development of a scientific temper in students, which in turn Violates Article 51A(h) of the Constitution that says that it shall be the duty of every citizen to develop a scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.

Considering the seminal importance of this issue, a bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman and Justice Vineet Saran have referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India to be examined by a Constitutional Bench comprising at least five judges.

One can also look at a case from Maharashtra where Sanjay Salve, a teacher at a Nashik school had waged a lonely struggle against the management of a school that had refused to give him a raise for he had refused to fold hands during school prayers. Salve approached the courts asking that his right to freedom of expression be protected. He said that he cannot be forced to stand with folded hands during prayers and that singing of prayers amounts to imparting religious education, not permissible under Article 28(1) of the Constitution.

A two-member bench of the Bombay High Court had ruled in his favour, saying that “forcing a teacher to do so [fold hands during prayers] will be a violation of the fundamental rights.

One can also refer to how the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), tasked to assist and advise Central and state governments over school education, shared a manual on sensitising schools to the needs of minority students.

A point worth contemplation in view of the Yogi government’s order is that whether educational institutions can compel students to have religious instruction under the name of moral education, as many such orders are couched in the language of teaching “value” to the students.

Perhaps the draft committee of the Constitution, chaired by B R Ambedkar, was aware of this possibility and had made it explicit that any such act would be a violation of Article 19, which gives the right to freedom of expression to every citizen and its violation would be, in fact, a violation of Article 25(1). It says:

“Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.”

Looking back, one can see the progressive nature of these various articles in the Constitution, instituted by a draft committee — majority of whom were believers and hardly a few who were declared atheists — who were keen that no matter what it takes, schools administered by State funds should never be allowed to give religious instruction in any form. May be after witnessing the Partition of the country, where religion was used as a basis of nationhood by a significant section of the population and which witnessed tremendous bloodletting, they could foresee the importance of keeping religion restricted to one’s private domain.

Whether Yogi government will be allowed to have its way and thus further facilitate dilution of Constitutional principles – with its controversial order of organising Ramayana and Vedic workshops in government schools of UP — is the key question before us today!

Either way, the battle to save the Constitution will continue unabated.

The writer is a senior independent journalist. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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