Dear fishermen comrades, leaders of NFF & KSMTF and other people’s movements present here. 

Today is an occasion, first, for expressing deep sorrow at the devastating flood which had affected 12 districts of Kerala. But it is also an occasion to express our wholehearted appreciation for the brave actions by each of you, all of you, in saving the lives of tens of thousands of fellow humans  from death at the time of flood. You did not bothered about risk to your life. Instead you have shown exemplary courage and love towards humanity. The actions by you is comparable to the services rendered by our defence services and personnel who have both technology and wherewithall  to face such situations.You have faced similar or more severe hazards during both the Tsunami and Okhi when we people were not able to render such support to you. Even the governments failed to a large extent, then.
 
I was traveling through the flood affected areas like Kottayam, Chengannur, Kuttanad etc where I could see the pathetic situation in which lakhs of people are living. But even among that miseries they is praise for you all for saving their lives.

We will now have to do much to bring back them to a normal and decent life. Their rescue and relief in camps were better compared to many other states with the support of many governmental and other organisations. But once they start returning to their homes the situation will be different. Their homes are in total disarray with mud filled houses and destroyed furniture and household utensils and nothing left to start their life afresh. They have no facilities like drinking water or sanitation. I had seen men and women waiting on the streets for hours to get drinking water and food.
 
We must demand that those families who are returning to their homes must  be given cash support of at least RS.10000 for setting up their houses. Kerala is a small but bountiful state which has contributed to the development of India in many ways. Even if we cannot call it as a national disaster as per the law, defacto it is nation disaster. Hence such a large nation as ours should have a large heart to support Kerala in the maximum way possible. 

Until now, the approach of the Central government has not been satisfactory at all. While the same government is busy spending Rs. 3000 crores on constructing a statue of our first home minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel, they are offering a meagre Rs 600 crores to Kerala as relief fund. Even the UAE had offered an amount of RS.700 crores, more than our own national government. This should be rectified. Kerala is part of Federal India.India being a globalised nation in terms of capital investment and market there is nothing wrong in accepting relief funds.

When I was part of a fishworkers campaign through the ocean from Mangalore to Trivandrum with Mr. T.Peter I was frightened by the roaring waves. But you are crossing those waves almost everyday for your livelihood and feeding millions of us. But your concerns were never attended to seriously by governments. Now no government can ignore your voice. 

You should have a say in any developmental planning. They cannot go ahead with disastrous projects like Sagramala or Vizhinjam Port. The present central government is not interested in protecting nature and its resources. But the people of the country like peasants, tribals along with you are fighting these policies. NAPM being an alliance of such people’s movements are with you in all such struggle.
 
Once again I express my sincere thanks and appreciation for the brave soldiers of this country who had selflessly took the responsibility to save the lives of thousands of your brothers and sisters. I salute all of you once again in the name of all people’s movements in India.

The post Lets Salute the Fisherfolk of Kerala, Give Generously, Change the Pattern of Development: Medha Patkar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Sarma has been a stringent critique of some of the policies of the Modi regime, sharply criticising even the manner in which the FCRA was amended (without debate) to allow political parties access to funds. The Modi regime’s crackdown on human rights organisations etc over the issue of FCRA has been widely condemned, including by the United Nations. The letter has also been copied to union finance minister, Arun Jaitley.
 
The text of the Open letter may be read here:
 
To,
Hon Prime Minister,
Shri Narendra Modi,
 
I refer to my letter dated March 21, 2018 (copy included below) on the questionable manner in which your government had gone to the extreme extent of amending Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) retrospectively to pave the way for political parties such as BJP and INC to receive donations from foreign companies. In other words, your government had no hesitation whatsoever in going out of the way to clear legislative hurdles so as to enable you to open the floodgates to foreign donations to fund your electioneering activity.
 
What surprises me is that, in the same breath, your government should deny Kerala government to accept foreign donations, not for political purposes, but for providing relief to millions of those who are reeling under the recent flood deluge. I understand that UAE has offered around Rs 700 crores to Kerala by way of relief but, as reported, your government has raised objections to allowing Kerala government accepting that offer.
 
You yourself perhaps visited UAE in February this year and signed several MOUs including one on immigrant Indian workers in that country. I am sure you have seen how Kerala immigrants are employed in large numbers by various UAE agencies in different walks of life, contributing their might to that country’s development. That was the reason why UAE has offered aid to Kerala.
 
If political parties are empowered through legislative instruments to seek and receive donations from foreign agencies. would it be appropriate for your government to raise objections to Kerala receiving aid from UAE merely for providing relief to its flood victims?
 
There cannot be double standards in foreign donations being received, one for political parties and another for State governments facing the onslaught of natural calamities.
 
I hope you will ponder over what I have stated above and allow as much of relief as possible to reach Kerala on time, from whatever source it comes. This is a time when technicalities should be relegated to the background and humanity pushed to the front.
 
Regards,
 
Yours sincerely,
 
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to GOI
August 22, 2018
 
Text of March 2018 Letter to PM and FM may be read here:
 
To
Shri Narendra D Modi
Prime Minister
Shri Arun Jaitley
Union Fiance Minister
 
Dear Shri Modi and Shri Jaitley,
I write this letter in anguish, in continuation of my earlier letter dated 3-2-2018, on NDA government’s ill advised but persistent move to amend Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 1976 retrospectively, merely to escape the penal provisions of that Act with specific reference to the violations committed by BJP and the other political parties who accepted donations from foreign multi-national companies (MNCs) illegally.
 
What I feared has since become a harsh reality, when the Finance Bill, 2018, along with its egregious and highly objectionable provision to amend 1976 FCRA, was hurriedly got enacted in the Parliament a few days ago, without any semblance of a discussion and a debate. The most distressing aspect of it is that FCRA 1976 had already lapsed in 2010, when UPA introduced a successor legislation in the avatar of FCRA 2010. To revive a dead law only to amend it represents the height of innovative legal jugglery!
 
One can understand a law being amended retrospecively to safeguard the national interest, or to ensure national security, or to protect the disadvantaged sections of the society. A law being altered, to efface the statutory sins committed by the political parties in the past and allow them to fill their coffers with the bounty provided by the foreign MNCs in the future, is not only unethical but also having far reaching adverse implications for the integrity of India’s democracy and preservation of the security of the nation. Soon, I would not be surprised if the elections in India are orchestrated by foreign MNCs with their money power and the national policies are dictated by them to suit their interests. Perhaps, it has already started happening.
 
I had earlier pointed out how some mining companies, involved in under-invoicing of the indigenously extracted iron ore exported outside the country, are reported to be holding illicit foreign accounts and apparently round-tripping funds from those accounts to their subsidies in India and providing donations to political parties who in turn have been allowing those very same companies to violate the law of the land and commit serious human rights violations. The successive Finance Acts during the last three years have unabashedly “legalised” this dubious cycle of sleeze and corruption. You should read Justice Shah Committee’s report on illegal iron ore mining in Goa to appreciate wht I have said. I have filed a formal complaint before the Central investigation agencies to investigate this but I am not sure whether they will ever be allowed to act.
 
While India’s Finance Ministry is busy amending FCRA to enable the political parties to receive bounties from foreign MNCs so that those political parties may splurge funds on extravagent electioneering that makes a mockery of the ideals of Dr B R Ambedkar and the other elders who gave us a unique Constitution, Finance Minsitries in the other countries, who are accountable to the public in their respective countries, have been watching the conduct of those very same MNCs and avoiding any financial transactions with them, lest their voters should question their motives. I enclose here an extract from the website of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund managed by that country’s Finance Ministry which has made the following observation.
 
“On the 13th of September 2013, the Ministry of Finance received a recommendation from the Council of Ethics to exclude the company Sesa Sterlite from the GPFG. The recommendation builds on an earlier recommendation to exclude the company Vedanta Resources Ltd. (Vedanta ) and two of its subsidiaries, which operate in India. The Ministry followed the Council’s recommendation to exclude Vedanta and its two subsidiaries in 2007…………………..Sesa Sterlite is a newly established subsidiary of Vedanta. The Council’s assessment is that the relevant operations in India, which are currently run through the company Sesa Sterlite, present an unacceptable risk of environmental damage and serious violations of human rights. The Council has regularly updated its assessment of Vedanta and the basis for exclusion is still considered to be present. The Ministry of Finance, in accordance with the Council’s recommendation, has decided to exclude Sesa Sterlite from the Fund’s investment universe, as well as to maintain the exclusion of Vedanta.”
 
You may recall that the order dated 28-2-2014 pronounced by Hon’ble Delhi High Court in WP (C) No 131/2013, in which I was a petitioner, referred to this very same group of companies and the FCRA violations committed by them.
 
NDA government’s FCRA amendments have the effect of regularising the violations committed in the past and legalising foreign bounties in the future. I request you to ponder over what you have done vis-a-vis how the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund manager, namely, the Norwegian Finance Ministry has dealt with the very same MNC. The Norwegians must be wondering at the intricacies of our democracy!
 
Apart from the morality and the ethics underlying the damage you have wrought on FCRA, do you consider what you have done to be legally permissible? It may not be.
 
I have enclosed here a copy of a judgement pronounced by Hon’ble Supreme Court on 15-3-2018 in Civil Appeal No 5793/2008 (State Of Karnataka vs Karnataka Pawn Brokers Assn. . on) in which the apex court has made the following observation.
 
“On analysis of the aforesaid judgments it can be said that the Legislature has the power to enact validating laws including the power to amend laws with retrospective effect. However, this can be done to remove causes of invalidity. When such a law is passed the Legislature basically corrects the errors which have been pointed out in a judicial pronouncement. Resultantly, it amends the law, by removing the mistakes committed in the earlier legislation, the effect of which is to remove the basis and foundation of the judgment. If this is done, the same does not amount to statutory
overruling……However, the Legislature cannot set at naught the judgments which have been pronounced by amending the law not for the of making corrections or removing anomalies but to bring in new provisions which did not exist earlier. The Legislature may have the power to remove the basis or foundation of the judicial pronouncement but the Legislature cannot overturn or set aside the judgment,that too retrospectively by introducing a new provision. The legislature is bound by the mandamus issued by the Court. A judicial pronouncement is always binding unless the very fundamentals on which it is based are altered and the decision could not have been given in the altered circumstances. The Legislature cannot, by way of introducing an amendment, overturn a judicial pronouncement and declare it to be wrong or a nullity. What the Legislature can do is to amend the provisions of the statute to remove the basis of the judgment”
 
Apparently, the decisions to amend FCRAs of 1976 and 2010 ware not based on a sound legal premise. Perhaps, your government was in too much of a haste to wait, pause and look into the ethics and the legality of the decisions. Perhaps, the sole objective of these decisions was to somehow obliterate the past statutory violations and create scope for receiving foreign contributions through the subsudiaries of the MNCs.
 
Latest studies have shown that BJP has been the largest recepient of such donations, which corroborates what I have said. Political donations are not given by private companies out of their love for democracy. They know where they can seek policy tweaks to furher their own interests.
 
I request you to consider carefully what I have stated in the previous paragraphs and the earlier correspondence and, for the sake of electoral ethics and morality, immediately revoke all amendments to FCRA and the corresponding amendments to the Companies Act, failing which I will no other alternative than to seek judicial intervention.
 
I am sure that both of you, being fully committed to maintaining the integrity of the electoral system and safeguarding the national interest, will revisit these amendments and revoke them to uphold the democratic processes.
 
I am circulating this letter widely among all political parties and the public at large in order to generate a comprehensive debate on the issues I have raised.
 
Regards,
 
Yours sincerely,
 
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to GOI
 
March 21, 2018
 
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The post Allow Foreign Donations for Kerala Flood Relief: Senior Retd Bureaucrat to Modi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Photo credit: Indian Express

By now everyone knows what the Sanghis, probably not just outside Kerala, but also inside, have been up to when others were battling the deluge, saving lives, working round the clock to organize relief: making Lord Ayappan look like a stupid brat (or, actually, painting him in their likeness), spreading idiotic claims that only the rich were affected, or that the Christians/Muslims/commies/everyone who isn’t a Hindutva bigot, are responsible for this catastrophe, and circulating fake photos, from relief work in Gujarat or somewhere else as RSS relief work for Kerala. Really, how we wish we could persuade them all to migrate to the Hindi heartland where ecological disasters are unheard of and will never ever be!

But now, there are other arguments being made which are not really virulent . I am however choosing to respond because these are being made by privileged young people, Malayali, or Malayali origin. They may easily be summarized by the phrase ‘blaming the victim’. Now, in this case it is indeed true that the victims do deserve a share of the blame because the total disregard of nature was characteristic of virtually every section of Malayali society except a few ecosystem peoples. But the blame heaped on Kerala by these young people rarely touch that. Instead, intentionally or not, they create diversions, and though fallacious, these arguments may appear sensible. I am going to list them here because as things improve, they are likely to become more common, especially among those who have not been directly affected by the tragedy — and it is perhaps no coincidence that the people making these are, more often than not, the lucky ones left totally unaffected.

1. Kerala is cribbing and begging for money and not seeing this as a challenge.
Honest truth, I find the ignorance of this claim outright offensive. It betrays an amazing ignorance of the scale of destruction wreaked by the floods. Even the districts that were spared the worst saw plenty of losses. Wonder if this person can imagine what a 20,000 crore loss is? I find it galling that an educated person can’t! And 20,000 crores is only a tentative estimate; it is bound to be higher, not lower. Secondly, as a state that has always contributed very highly to the nation in every way despite our tiny size (around just 3 per cent of Indian land mass) and our minor status in the nation (around 4 per cent of Indian population and South Indian) – in terms of labour, expertise, tax, foreign exchange — we have every right to ask for help. Yes, that is a RIGHT. Our government did not go around with a begging bowl, it asked for assistance to the central government — which gave us peanuts.

And even if it is begging, begging to restore lives is less offensive than gobbling people’s precious tax payment for Ardha Kumbh Mela as though that were the most important thing in the world! That is what the CM of UP did and the central government was only too happy to satisfy that urgent need, apparently. And finally, darling, I am not at all sure you have noticed what beggars in our parts of India say when they approach you for alms. They say, Dharmam tharu/kodu. Have you thought why alms are called dharmam? Well, they are saying, ‘do your dharmam!’, Which is to help the needy. And that’s what everyone here is doing (and if you contributed, you too, to whatever small extent). In other words, beggars are not begging, they are asking you to do your duty as a more-fortunate person. We too, are doing the same.

About Kerala not taking this as a challenge, oh, that I won’t answer because you are probably incapable of imagining the scale of cooperation down here. That’s why we are so confident – all of us, including the government – that we will overcome, irrespective of whether Modi relents or not.

2. Other states donated because they can and are much better in development. Kerala claims 100 per cent literacy but with no development and funds to take care of its needs.
Gosh, a little knowledge is dangerous, really. Other states have indeed been very kind but don’t imagine that these are some huge sums made available because they happen to be very rich. And really, you need to realize that high literacy is of very great value in times of disaster, so also high internet penetration. As someone who’s been active in the rescue and relief work, I can say that if we did not high such high literacy and access to the internet, the number of deaths would have been way higher. No rocket science needed to prove that. Secondly, the claim that ‘Kerala has no development’ is elite commonsense in Kerala that has no basis at all.  We can debate about the quality of growth in Kerala, its sustainability etc. but definitely our growth rates have been among the highest in India since the 1990s. Please look up at least Wikipedia before making such claims.  There are also complex reasons, connected with globalization, liberalization, and neoliberal policies of downsizing the state, for why society is rich while the government struggles for funds. That is not the same as having no funds to take care of its needs. Indeed, the last bit is even more untrue. Kerala has one of the best welfare delivery networks in India, and while it has many flaws and weaknesses, it is absurd to claim that the needs of the people are not taken care of at all! As for infrastructure, road density in Kerala was far higher than the national average, and the weather conditions have been such that roads were always hard to maintain. The biggest challenge that lies ahead lies in rebuilding our infrastructure — and to rebuild it in ways sensitive to the presence of nature is actually the challenge. Unemployment in Kerala is very high, but it has been falling recently. BTW, a large share of the educated unemployed are women, and hmm… maybe a secular version of the Ayyappa’s-angry argument can be constructed … that keeping women unemployed is what caused this disaster … alas, even that is not a valid argument.

But the crux is that the kind of development that you people want, that is perhaps totally unsustainable given the fragile ecology here. Forty-four interconnected rivers traverse this land.  This is a densely populated state, with very little land available.  Large polluting industries are ticking time-bombs; high rise buildings, swanky roads that smother nature, they too — and hell, we don’t want any more ticking time-bombs. We have seen worse things over the past few days.

3.  So many reports from geological teams had already informed state is gonna have issues as well as current quarrying and badly managed water bodies … the current govt did not take them seriously.
Well, I suppose you are referring to the Gadgil Committee report, which is not just a ‘geological team’.  You are right that it was not taken seriously, and in fact, was attacked quite ruthlessly. But then, who attacked it? People like you and me. You don’t even recall the name of the report! And worse, who demands the granite from the quarries? Who buys the ‘water-front villas’ sold by the real estate mafia who take over the swamps and marshes and paddies by hook or crook? Who builds homes that are outright ostentatious, that gobbles up building materials that are extracted from nature, including the quarries? The government is at fault — why? Because it allowed itself to be corrupted by people like us, because it pandered to our unsustainable ideas of social respectability. You and I are responsible too, not just the government, never forget that.

4. Our nearby state has suffered die to our state’s mismanagement (Coorg and areas of Mysore) but are they cribbing like Kerala?
As far as I know the only people cribbing are the privileged elite who refuse to leave their homes in the middle of raging floods because of the possibility of having to mingle with the poor! Others spend their times dealing with the situation sensibly. Interestingly, there are reports from there which caution against exaggerating the damage, and request the diversion of relief materials to Kerala! Secondly, in Kodagu it is landslide that has been the main danger. Poor land management practices are not somehow the curse of Kerala alone; wherever the steep fragile slopes of the Sahya mountains are tampered with this way, landslide can be expected sooner or later. Also, you are right that there was miscalculation by the managers of our dam — but then, it wasn’t just the dams that did us in, it was also the landslides, which were entirely our own making.

5. People were uncooperative, too busy hugging their own stuff, refusing to come out of homes, many mistreated the fishermen, misused helicopters etc. etc.
Yeah, yeah, and there will also be people who take supplies on the pretext of distributing them and instead, resell them etc. etc. So what? Is it any surprise that the upper class and middle class were often uncooperative or at least incredibly naive about their security, so foolishly convinced that they were beyond nature and would need no help from the government, their poorer neighbours? Is it surprising that they were attached to their things and grumpy about losing them? I am sure you and I would feel so too, but maybe those of us who are not entirely self-centred would control such emotions at a moment of the gravest danger? In any case, this is no reason at all to feel cynical about the rescue effort.
We have an enormous task ahead of us. We need more wisdom, not ignorant cynicism.

Courtesy: Kafila Online.
 

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