On January 7, 2016, the Modi Regime –NDA II – promulgated an Ordinance. The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance. Within months, on March 10, 2016 the Home Minister, Rajnath Singh –who is increasingly been seen as the new hatchet man of this government –moved a Bill in the Lok Sabha. Typically, this Bill was steamrolled through, ignoring strongly voiced protests by the Opposition. The Bill to amend the Enemy Property Act and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, was passed by a voice vote even as the Opposition suggested that it would not stand the court’s scrutiny.

Source: Muslim Mirror; Cover Image: NDTV

In the Rajya Sabha, however, following the uproar across the board in the Opposition benches,  the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016 was referred to a Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha headed by Bhupender Yadav, M. P., Rajya Sabha. The Select Committee had originally solicited suggestions by April 12, 2016. Now this period has been extended.

Over the past few days, several persons have made detailed submissions before the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha. The Select Committee has 23 members. Journalist and apologist for the Modi regime, MJ Akbar made submissions on behalf of the regime. Among many others, senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Chander Uday Singh made strong submissions against the Bill questioning not just its Constitutionality but arguing how it actually, blatantly transgressed India’s treaty obligations.

What is contained this intended Law?
This new version of the law, that is predicted to affect thousands of Indian citizens –Muslim and non-Muslim—essentially gives the sole right of disposal of property to the custodian, not legal heirs. Hence it concentrates, in a democracy unholy powers in the State. 

The law, if stands the scrutiny of Courts at all, will also be applied retrospectively and debars courts from interfering in the decisions of the custodian of enemy properties, i.e., government, regarding the so-called “enemy” properties… In other words, it is a law that cannot be tested against the principles of natural justice, or violation of citizen’s rights in a Court. That makes it, in the words of critiques, “a jungle law.”

Unconstitutional
It has been argued that amendments will not in any way rectify the situation as the intent behind the proposed law, are patently male fide. If amendments were to be proposed then essentially they would be that the Enemy Property Act, 1968 should stand unchanged. The Ordinance, 2016 (now a Bill passed by the Lok Sabha) unlawfully and adversely affects the rights of lakhs of Indian citizens, both Muslims and non-Muslims, and contains provisions which are not only manifestly unconstitutional but are against the basic principles of natural justice.

The interpretation of the Enemy Property Act 1968 by the Supreme Court in 2005 (8 SCC 696) is consistent with earlier interpretations by various courts. Hence, the impression sought to be given, that something new was done by the Supreme Court in 2005, or that there has been some dramatic change in the judicial approach which necessitates a retrospective amendment, is completely misleading and incorrect. The amendments in the Ordinance cannot possibly stand the scrutiny of judicial review, particularly as they seeks to usurp rights vested prior to the 42nd/44th amendments to the Constitution and expropriate properties from Indian citizens from a time when there was a fundamental right to property.

Additionally, the Bill retrospectively nullifies all transfers and sales made between 1968 and 2015, irrespective of the fact that they were made in accordance with the laws at the relevant time. Furthermore, the Ordinance also amounts to a patently mala fide and colourable attempt to use the President’s legislative powers for the purposes of “declaring” that binding judgments of the High Courts and the Supreme Court shall retrospectively cease to apply and taking away the jurisdiction of any court to adjudicate on any matter.
Moreover, it is highly unclear what the urgency was to warrant the exercise of emergency legislative powers under Article 123 and indeed the pre-conditions for exercise of powers under this Article seem to be utterly lacking.
 
 In essence, the government has essentially rewritten the law with retrospective effect through the said Ordinance and has now created an alarming situation in which Indian citizens are implicitly included under the definition of an “enemy”.

A comparison between the Original Act, the 2010 Ordinance and the 2016 Ordinance makes it evident that nothing in the current Bill should be retained. It reveals the various sections of the Original Act that have been completely rewritten as a result of which the intention of the Original act has been radically transformed albeit in a sinister manner. The measures in the new Ordinance and indeed current events reflect a dangerous and sinister plan to systematically suppress the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution and to render some Indian citizens as being less Indian or second-class nationals. The only conclusion therefore is that this Ordinance must either be withdrawn or rejected.
A Quick Comparison Between the Enemy Property Act, 1968 and the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill No. 53 of 2016
 
 Salient features of the Enemy Property Act, 1968
I. Under the provisions of the Act, the vesting is temporary (Refer to Sections 5, 6, 8 and 18 of the Act, 1968), which has been the admitted stand of the Central Government thus far before all Courts;
II. The Act honoured the rights of Indian citizens, legal heirs as well as transferees; (Refer to Sections  2 (b), 2(c), 6, 8 and 18 of the Act, 1968);
III. The Act did not take away powers of Courts to deal with the issues relating to enemy property as there was no bar to jurisdiction of Courts;
IV. Under the provision of the Act, 1968, the Custodian had no power to sell the enemy property except under special circumstances namely there was no money with him to pay taxes and/or he had no money for preserving the properties and/or for the maintenance of that individual (enemy) or his family in India; (Refer Sections  8 (1)of the Act, 1968);
V. The role of the Custodian was to preserve, manage and control the properties on behalf of the enemy; (Refer to Sections 8, 10 and 15 of the Act, 1968);
VI. Section 18 of the Act, 1968, refers to “Divesting of Enemy Property vesting in the Custodian”, which only further confirms the temporary nature of vesting. (Refer to Section 18 of the Act, 1968)

The Enemy Property Act, 1968, is a very balanced piece of legislation as it recognises that:
i.          Enmity is not permanent;
ii.         The right to property was a fundamental right in 1968 (which continued until 1979);
iii. Indian citizens should not be deprived of their rights including inheritance;
iv. Succession, which is automatic, cannot be stopped by bringing in any legislation, which is settled law in India and across the Globe;
iii.        The principle of Natural Justice must be upheld;
iv.        The Courts have power to adjudicate on matters related to enemy property.

WHEREAS, the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016 has the following salient features:
I. The Bill includes Indian citizens under the definition of an “enemy” (refer to amended/inserted Sections 2 in the Bill, 2016);
II. The Bill bifurcated Indian Citizens into two categories – those who are the legal heirs of people who migrated stand to have no rights of succession and inheritance; (Refer to amended/inserted Sections 2, 2(b) (III) in the Bill, 2016);
III. The Bill stopped the succession of legal heirs in accordance with law; (Refer to amended/inserted Sections 5B, 22, 22A in the Bill, 2016);
IV. The Bill nullifies all judgments by any court; (Refer to amended/inserted Sections 8A, 10A, 18, 18B, 22A in the Bill, 2016);
V. The Bill also retrospectively nullifies every and any transfer made in accordance with law thereby depriving lakhs of bona fide transferees permanently and without any opportunity of hearing which is a breach of the principle of Natural Justice; (Refer to amended/inserted Sections 6, 8A, 10A, 22A in the Bill, 2016);
VI. The jurisdiction of the Civil Court is completely barred and without creating any forum competent to adjudicate the rights of the claimants; (Refer to amended/inserted Sections 18B, 22A in the Bill, 2016);
VII. The sole purpose of the Bill appears to be to grab the properties and sell them thereby aiming to deprive legal heirs/transferees permanently from exercising their rights;
(Refer to amended/inserted Sections 8A, 10A, 18, 22A in Bill, 2016);
VIII. The Bill retrospectively rewrites the original Act, for instance, the properties which were vested temporarily for the purposes of preservation, management and control are now sought to be vested permanently and with retrospectively effect in the Custodian with all rights, titles and interests. (Refer to amended/inserted Sections 2, 5, 18 in the Bill, 2016);
 
Bill Evokes Sharp Responses Against the Government
This move by the government has been widely and sharply criticised.

Kunal Prashan in India Today wrote:
“Is Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan of Mahmudabad, a former lawmaker who chose to remain an Indian citizen even when his father emigrated to Pakistan in 1957, an 'enemy' of the state? Should former Indian cricket captain, the late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, his wife Sharmila Tagore and their children Saif, Saba and Soha be considered 'enemies'? It may sound bizarre, but if a new Bill tabled by the NDA government becomes an Act, these are just some of the issues it will throw up at a time when the country is engaged in a furious debate over nationalism, sedition and the rights accorded to minorities in secular India.

For, nearly 70 years after Partition and more than 50 years after the 1965 war with Pakistan, the government is trying to rewrite a law that seeks to tackle two sticky subjects at the same time-'enemy' and 'property'. An Ordinance, promulgated on January 7, and converted into the Enemy Property (Amendment & Validation) Bill 2016, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 9 despite issues raised by some leaders from the Congress, BJD, TMC, TRS, AIMIM and RSP, aims to take over any property that was owned by a person who emigrated to Pakistan-even if their legal heirs are Indians.

The Bill, which amends the original Enemy Property Act, 1968, with retrospective effect, will seemingly nullify a 2005 Supreme Court judgement which had specified that the takeover of such properties must not violate the rights of Indian citizens. On March 15, the Rajya Sabha asked for the Bill to be examined by a select committee.”
Reports indicate that, in Bhopal alone, more than 10,000 families are or would be adversely affected by the Bill, if it becomes a law. In other parts of the country thousands more, if not more, are also adversely affected. This number continues to increase as more properties are arbitrarily declared or are in the process of being declared “enemy property”. The statistics reveal that in 2013 there were 2,111 enemy properties, in 2014 there were 12,090 enemy properties and in 2015, there were 14,759 enemy properties.

The Indian Express quoted the reactions of Members of Parliament to the attitude of the government in hastily passing the Bill in the Lok Sabha

BJD’s Pinaki Mishra
“We keep debating in this House that the courts are exceeding their jurisdiction. But if we bring these kinds of legislation to the House, can we blame the courts for intervening? I say this with the greatest respect that whoever has drafted this Bill has sent out a standing invitation to the courts to interfere… and to stay the operation of this Bill…You cannot take away the jurisdiction of civil courts entirely. In 50 years, hundreds of transactions have taken place. You want to nullify all these transactions and you give them no recourse in law. Can this Parliament ever enact this kind of a nonsensical law? This is an invitation for a writ petition to be filed immediately under Article 226 of the Constitution and it is going to be stayed on day one.” Mishra raised objection to Section 18B of the Bill that says that no civil court or other authority shall entertain any suit or other proceeding in respect of any enemy property.

INC’s Shashi Tharoor
“The Bill will, it seems to me, adversely affect the rights of lakhs of Indian citizens and principally — let us call a spade a spade — of the Muslim community. After all, there are not too many Chinese properties at stake. It is essentially properties of those who went to Pakistan, and that tends to be from only one community, and this is, to my mind, not only borderline and unconstitutional — the court should determine that — but also against the basic principles of natural justice….The UPA Bill permits India-born legal heirs to claim such properties on condition that they establish their status to the satisfaction of the government whereas the NDA’s Bill bars all laws and customs governing succession to property from being applicable to so-called enemy property. In the UPA version, the courts have the power to adjudicate on the question of whether a property is an enemy property or not… the NDA, version says, no, the Executive will decide if a property is enemy property. The judiciary will have no say in the matter. The government, in effect, is promoting arbitrariness and interfering with the function of the judiciary.”

AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi
“The Bill is ‘anti-minority’. You are creating two kinds of Indian citizens. This piece of legislation clearly says that anyone who belongs to the minority community will not have recourse to law. This is the message that you are sending if this august House passes this law, whereas the Constitution guarantees me right to equality before law. Your legislation is anti-minority.”

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The headquarters of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in New Delhi. BSNL accounted for more than a third of the losses incurred by public sector units (PSUs) in 2014-15–the year when PSU profits fell for the first time in five years.

The drop in profits–from Rs 1.28 lakh crore ($22 billion) to Rs 1.03 lakh crore ($17 billion)–over 2013-14 comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 Independence-day declaration that a “new culture” had helped Air India, an airline, and Bharat Sachar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a telecom company, improve performance.
 
As many as 235 PSUs–companies in which the central government or other government companies held at least 51% of shares–surveyed by the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises saw profits drop in a year that India’s economy grew 7.3% over 4.7% in 2013-14.

Source: Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
 
“In the past, government companies accounted for a large share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), today they don’t,” said P Rameshan, former director of the Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak.
 
India had 298 PSUs in 2015-16–of which 63 have not yet started operations–in sectors that include mining (Coal India Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation), manufacturing (Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum), services (BSNL, Air India), electricity (National Thermal Power Corporation) and agriculture (National Seeds Corporation).
 
Except electricity, PSUs in other sectors reported a fall in profits or a rise in losses during 2014-15 compared with the previous year.
 

 
PSU contribution to the exchequer dropped Rs 20,000 crore in 2014-15
 
The government’s companies contributed Rs 20,000 crore less to the public exchequer in 2014-15 than they did the previous year, when they generated Rs 2.2 lakh crore.
 
Even the top profit-making PSUs–companies such as ONGC, Coal India Ltd, Indian Oil and NTPC– saw a 13% dip in profits.
 

Source: Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises

A leading reason for the decline in profits was the global slowdown and weakening of international oil prices, leading to a 29% fall in export earnings and affecting manufacturing companies.
 
“The steel industry, one of the biggest in terms of turnover, suffered because of the fall in oil prices,” said Anand Kumar, former director of Indian Oil Corporation, India’s largest company by revenue in 2014. Nearly 10% of steel industry’s demand comes from the petroleum industry, which is facing a slump due to fall in crude oil prices.
 
As the world gradually recovered in 2014-15 from an economic slowdown, demand for major commodities from India, such as coal and metal, also fell.
 
Ten at the bottom account for 85% of losses
 
In 2014-15, 10 loss-making PSUs accounted for 85% of all PSU losses: Rs 27,000 crore, or Rs 4,000 crore more than the previous year. BSNL, Air India and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd were the biggest losers.
 

Source: Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
 
These companies could not cope with competition, said Rameshan. “BSNL is but a mere fringe player in the telecom industry today,” he said. “Air India, which lost its status as the market leader long ago, is no different.”
 
Modi said that Air India had made an operating profit of Rs 100 crore in the financial year 2015-16, but as FactChecker.in reported in August 2016, that is 0.0023 times the airline’s accumulated losses, now more than Rs 44,000 crore ($7.3 billion)–equal to India’s annual health budget–and borrowing has grown to more than Rs 38,000 crore ($6.3 billion),IndiaSpend reported in September 2015.
 
PSUs had also fallen behind on technology, said Hareendran Bhaskaran, dean of Bhavan’s Royal Institute of Management, Kochi.
 
PSU workforce dropped by 50,000, but employees were paid more
 
The PSU workforce was trimmed by nearly 50,000 over the last one year, but the per capita expense on employees rose 10% over the same period.
 

Source: Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises

Figures for salaries are total emoluments
 
After economic reforms in 1991, private-sector competition, it was hoped, would goad PSUs to reform and improve. But most old problems continue.
 
“There is a lot of backseat driving by the government,” said Alok Perti, former secretary, ministry of coal. “Public sector companies that have government directors are likely to see them dictating what course of action should be taken. In many cases, the ministry dictates.”
 
In 2011, the SK Roongta Committee, to suggest PSU reforms, said: “Over-governance promotes conservative, cautious and risk-averse organisational culture, with procedures being paramount and outcomes secondary.”
 
The committee recommended a fixed tenure of three years for PSU heads and suggested that 50 more companies be listed on the stock exchanges over the next five years. Not a single company was listed since the recommendation was made.
 
“That (Roongta report) must be now gathering dust in the corridors of bureaucracy,” said Kumar. “Nobody wants to antagonise the master, the politician.”
 
The divestment plan is revived, but 2015-16 target falls short by 66%
 
Earlier this year, India’s finance minister, Arun Jaitley, said the government should “leverage the assets”–meaning, sell stakes, land and manufacturing units–of PSUs to raise money for infrastructure.
 
However, a little more than a third of the Rs 69,500-crore target for 2015-16–to be achieved by selling stakes or closing loss-making PSUs–was achieved.
 
Perti said the government’s plan to sell stakes would make little difference to the companies. “These will remain government companies, and these companies have the drawback of being run as government departments, rather than companies,” he said.
 
(Sood is a Bangalore based independent journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)
 
This article was first publihsed on India Spend
 

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Narendra Modi always had big plans for India. Born into poverty, he won a landslide general election victory in 2014, projecting his message across remote villages using wall-to-wall social media. Often appearing as a hologram, he convinced the people of India that he could complete his country’s journey to becoming a global superpower. Fundamental to his plan were universal healthcare, financial inclusion, access to education, and a strengthened Indian armed forces.

On the security front he’s made great progress, negotiating unprecedented access to NATO’s resources without becoming a member of it. India has also participated in joint military training exercises and benefited from NATO’s current strategy of global health engagement, aimed at making friendly nations more prosperous and stable.

I myself took part in one such public health initiative, designed to develop supportive treatment interventions for kidney transplant patients. While I was there, I had moments to speak with Gujaratis to see how life was faring under Modi. It was a sobering experience indeed – and a very revealing glimpse of just how far India has to go on Modi’s plans to improve public health and alleviate poverty.

From the moment I touched down in Ahmedabad, the largest city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, it was obvious that India is a country with a plan. Edging into the city by car from the refurbished airport, we passed a military cantonment area with patriotic slogans painted on the walls. Children played cricket by the roadside. Early morning commuters congregated under the concave roofs of the newly installed rapid transit system stations, part of a system that feeds the new business district, Finance Tec-City.

Modi takes to the streets of Ahmedabad during the 2014 election. EPA

But you need fortitude to go about your business in Ahmedabad, gridlocked as it is with the shiny cars of the new affluent middle classes. And if you need a reminder that plenty of people are still struggling to keep up as the city and the country transform, just take the route I took on my daily commute to the hospital.

Street barbers operate from single wooden chairs with mirrors suspended from walls. Women dressed in saris work on building sites carrying hot loads of bricks, keeping a watchful eye on their very young children nearby; people who’ve made their home on the pavement take bucket showers in view of all and sundry. All the while, the city’s array of luxury Western hotels make for an unpalatable contrast.
 

Left behind

At the hospital where I worked, many patients sleep on the floor. As the day progresses, more and more show up after travelling miles from rural villages. (One patient had hitched a lift on an elephant carrying goods to market.) Many patients present with conditions that have become chronic purely because local primary health care isn’t available, and their conditions cost them days of paid employment.

The hospital operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, which demands that patients dig deep into their own and their families' pockets – as well as the hospital’s seemingly endless reservoir of goodwill. Modi’s promised universal healthcare system could scarcely be more urgently needed.

And yet, Modi has severely curtailed his healthcare rollout and slashed welfare spending to cut costs. His overriding assumption seems to be that if he creates opportunity, everybody will be ready to run faster, higher and stronger, propelling India towards becoming a global superpower.

But if Modi could only move a little slower and look beyond the Western hotels lining the streets of Gujarat to the pavements outside them, he would see that worrying numbers of his fellow Gujaratis are too worn down by poverty to compete in an unaccommodating market economy.

They also face structural obstacles. Despite the government’s best efforts to relax the rules demanding official identity documents, the poor still struggle to open bank accounts. Many lack the confidence needed to negotiate the banking system, to say nothing of the money for a deposit. Older children still work instead of going to school – meaning their families survive, but remain poor.

The confidence of many Indians is at a deep low, and they need a little more tender loving care along the road to global superstardom. But if Modi sticks to the course he’s charted, he will leave a big chunk of his people. That’s not just a threat to the people concerned; it’s a potential political disaster for Modi himself, and a potential crisis for India’s security.

If the poor are left behind in their hundreds of millions, they will be easy marks both for Modi’s political opponents and for the various extremist groups operating in India – radical leftists, violent Hindu nationalists andjihadists among them.

Yes, India’s government has big plans afoot. But they’re moving very slowly – and if they don’t speed up, the consequences could be dire.

Lyndsay Baines is Senior Lecturer, Course Leader for the MSc Global Military Veteran & Families Studies, Anglia Ruskin University

Courtesy: The Conversation

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The Modi Government is trying to scuttle reservation of OBC students in admissions at various centrally funded institutes. While trying to capitalise on the issue of the OBC identity electorally (2014 Lok Sabha Elections and 2016 state elections) it is, when it comes to representation of OBCs within universities, clearly indulging in doublespeak.

Besides the Modi government and the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), have also notified draconian unjustifiable office order of the University Grants Commission (UGC)- bearing F.No.59-6/2012 (CU)– dated June 3, 2016 — which stipulates central universities in India to implement OBC reservations in the recruitment of teachers only at the level of Assistant Professor. Interestingly, for the same faculty recruitment in IIT, OBC reservation is applicable for all the three levels: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor.

The Social Justice March scheduled to be held during the current session of Parliament has demanded a rollback of this unjustified office order issued by UGC.The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been subjected to multiple forms of marginalities, not least of being adequate representation in academic institutions. The United OBC Forum that has been constituted, is a socio-cultural platform of young students and aims to resolve the issue of non-representation/non-implementation of OBC reservation by various government educational institutions.

Parliament Debates on OBC Representation in Academia
On the crucial issue of vacancies in the OBC quota within educational institutions, Samajwadi Party(SP) member of Parliament, Dharmendra Yadav had squarely put the Modi government in the dock earlier this year.
 [First Published on Mar 14, 2016: Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav commenting on HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s reply over reservation to OBCs  in Central Universities]
 
 In reply to his question, the government of India had provided figures to him that related to the number of OBCs within academia in the Central Universities. These are:
 
In the Central Universities of the 2371 positions for the post of ‘Professors’ there is only one OBC
In the Central Universities, of the 4708 positions for associate professors only 6 belong to the OBCs
In the Central Universities, of the 9521 positions for assistant professors, only 1745 belong to the OBCs
 
The Mandal Recommendations are clearly not being followed. They said that 27 per cent reservations should be applied within the Central Universities as well.
 

It is within this backdrop that the United OBC Forum has organized Social Justice March to Parliament. Mobilization of people from different parts of India has taken place. This movement has got participation by the people from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

In the wake of preparation of the march, members of United OBC Forum have met leaders from different political parties and affiliations: Leaders like Mr. Sharad Yadav, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mr. Upendra Kushwaha, Mr. Tejasvi Yadav, Mr. V Hanumantha Rao have been lending support on this issue.
 

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A spate of tweets by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPI-M on spiralling and unprecedented high, food inflation in 2016 have created a social media storm while escaping completely the ‘attention’ of commercial media channels. Private television channels run by large corporations have shown little heed to how much vegetables, cooking oil, pulses, potatoes, and sugar cost now compared to what they did a few years ago.

A table attached (see image below) shows that vegetable inflation rate this year is at a staggering 14.74 per cent (rural and urban) with rural being at 12.72 per cent and urban at 18.40 per cent respectively. Pulses and potatoes are even more shocking at 26.86 per cent with the rural count be at 24.28 per cent and urban at 24.51 per cent respectively. Sugar and confectionary is up by 16.79 per cent: rural 12.98 per cent and urban at 24.72 per cent.
 

Yechury’s tweets said:
 
JumlanomicsEffect Food inflation in June at 7.79%. Pulses dearer by 26.86%, Vegetables rise 14.74%. #AchheDin
 
 
The curious case is that of media attention and priorities, however. Whereas under the earlier UPA I and II governments the smallest rise in prices figured and hogged hours of media time –as they should—now, under the Modi Regime, it seems that Toor Dal selling at Rs 175-180 per kilogram and vegetables over Rs 100 per kilo are of marginal interest to English television viewers.
 
Yechury also tweets figures of the declining and deadened industrial growth in past months:
 
Whither Industrial 'growth'? IIP from April-May 2016 has shrunk by -0.1%. #NailTheSpin #Jumlanomics

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Image: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Namo-Nazi/ 

Fascism is an ideology with typical characteristics and fanatic follower’s .Its chief characteristic is to make every organ of the State subservient to the Leader and to totally regulate the life of every citizen.

 
Hitler and Mussolini were its incarnations in the last century .Their inhuman acts and the end to which they brought their nations are well known facts of history.
 
Though the 21st century is very different from 1930s, and fascism in its 1930's form may not flourish, a fascist State in its modified form is still possible. India is under its serious threat.
 
For example, Narendra Modi is now the only leader of the BJP and its government .All other leaders of the party who devoted their whole life to the party have been reduced to non-entities. L.K.Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and the rest are nursing their humiliating wounds in silence. Rajnath Singh, a former president of the BJP has been reduced to nothingness as India's Home Minister. Nitin Gadkari, another ex-president of the BJP counts for nothing in the current dispensation. Sushma Swaraj, once an aspirant for the post of prime minister, is doing, at best, a house keeping job in the Ministry of External Affairs while it is Modi that performs as the de facto Minister of External Affairs for India.
 
Like a hyena feeding on the kill of bigger animals, Arun Jaitley is feeding off on Modi's kill. Like an archetypical fascist leader, Modi has surrounded himself by non-entities like Smriti Irani to project himself as a giant among the pigmies.
 
Like all fascists , he is systematically engaged in destroying the autonomy of all constitutional bodies and autonomous institutions .When two names were recommended by the Collegium for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court, he notified the name of one (Mr Nariman ) and withheld Mr Gopal Subramanian’s name. Such selective action was unprecedented. Mr Subramaniam withdrew his name out of disgust because –in typical fascist style — a campaign for his character assassination was launched.
 
Through this, one independent judge was prevented from reaching the apex court. Later, the Constitution was amended to give the power to appoint judges of higher courts to a National Judicial Appointment Commission with the Union Law Minister as one of its members .It was so formed as to make sure that nobody could be appointed as a High Court or Supreme Court judge who did not find favour with the government .
 
The sinister design is implicit; fill the higher judiciary with pliant and servile judges. Now that the National Judicial Appointment Commission was declared unconstitutional by the apex court, Modi is still trying to have the last word on appointments through unconstitutional provisions in the memorandum of procedure, which are being resisted by the judiciary leading to a confrontation with the Executive. Other political parties, too, are sympathetic to his move because they, too, have skeletons in their cupboards and want an amenable and manageable judiciary.
 
Universities and free students' organisations have been under a two pronged attack .The motive is to foist persons loyal to the Sangh's  ideology ready to toe their line on the educational institutions  and the other is to suppress freedom of thought of students and academia, on the campus.
 
A student organisation loyal to Ambedkar's ideology was banned in MIT, Madras, students at Hyderabad Central University were suppressed and victimised and almost a war was declared on JNU. A typically fascist tactic is employed to suppress students’s organisations and their activities. A conflict is engineered on the campus by employing the services of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (AVBP).
 
The technique is simple, the ABVP, a student’s wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), lodges a complaint with the authorities who then use their administrative power to suppress other students' organizations using police force, and their goons, if necessary. These fascist practices have been in evidence almost everywhere where there has been trouble on the campus (es).
 
Fascists perceive every independent person and institution as a thorn in their flesh. The RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was a thorn which hurt Jaitley's ego more than his flesh. He is intellectually far superior to Jaitley, the lawyer and Modi, the Pracharak, whose small egoes were bruised by his intellectual superiority.  
 
The government had the power to remove him and they would have been within their right to sack him or to let him complete his term and part gracefully, but they chose to set Subramaniam Swamy to heap insults on him through the media to satisfy their meanness. Rajan has now declared that he would be returning to the academics in the US after completing his term.
 
 Fascists create an enemy to attack, viscerally, to divert people's attention from their continued and daily exploitation, suppression and misery and to, insidiously, justify their inhuman acts. Hitler projected German citizens of Jewish origin as the enemies of the fatherland (motherland, Bharatmata, here) and targeted and destroyed them. Modi has chosen the minorities, especially the Muslims, for this purpose.
 
While he himself keeps mum, his Ministers and members of parliament (MPS) act as the shameful firing squads, brazenly public in their minority bashing. Muslims are potrayed as disloyal Indians without any basis. They are projected as a threat to Hindus, who constitute 80% of
India's population, which is ridiculous.
 
This anti-Muslim tirade in different forms continues to be pursued with venom, rancour and a sinister design .The unfounded fear of a rising Muslim population, ordering Muslims to go to Pakistan at the drop of a hat, exhorting Hindu women to produce at least four children each, declaration of dates by which India would not have a single Muslim or Christian and other anti-minority acts are being used to keep the enemy image of the Muslims alive to pursue their fascist agenda.
 
The tell tale evidence of fascism knocking at our door is there for all to see and can be ignored only at the cost of our democracy and a free society; at our collective peril.

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Two-thirds of central government ministries have not implemented more than 50% of “assurances” given to Parliament, even as the government completes two years in office today, according to data from the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament).
 
IndiaSpend had previously reported that 80% assurances given to the 16^th Lok Sabha were pending; that is now down to 58% in 2016.
 
Assurances–promises made by government to Parliament–do not expire
 
The government replies to 250 questions every day from Members of Parliament (MPs) during a Parliamentary session.
 
While replying to questions in the house or during discussions on bills, resolutions etc., ministers give assurances, undertakings or promises to consider an issue, take action or provide information later.
 
These assurances, compiled by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Lok Sabha Secretariat, are sent to the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances.
 
The committee must ensure assurances are implemented within three months. Secretaries of ministries are supposed to review assurances to Parliament every week or fortnight.
 
When the Lok Sabha is dissolved, assurances pass on to the next government.
 
PMO made one assurance in 2014 and has not yet kept it
 
Eight ministries have not acted on 80% of assurances to the Parliament; three ministries have implemented more than 75% of assurances given to the Parliament.
 

Source: Lok Sabha
 
The Prime Minister’s Office gave one assurance that it would release reports of performance and evaluation system of ministries for 2013-14 to the 16^th Lok Sabha, and has not fulfilled it since 2014.
 
Despite assurances from the PMO that the system has been approved and evaluation reports of ministries would be released, that has not happened for 2013-14.
 

 
Not far behind are the Ministries of Social Justice and Empowerment, Minority Affairs, and Road Transport and Highways with 83%, 82% and 75%, respectively, assurances pending.
 

 
As many as 58% of assurances made to Parliament by the home ministry–which requested two assurances dropped–are pending.
 
One of the dropped assurance concerns the establishment Coastal Police Stations, a fallout of the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai. In August 2014, the home ministry said it was implementing phase 2 of the coastal-security scheme. In November 2015, it requested deletion of the assurance.
 
A pending home ministry assurance since 2014 concerns the creation of criteria to select a language for “official” status in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution. As many as 38 languages are awaiting the home ministry’s clearance to join the list of 22 official languages.
 

 
Here are some other assurances pending/dropped by the ministries:
 
* India has emerged as a favourable destination for surrogacy, and Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) industry has evolved into a Rs 2,500-crore ($365 million) business annually. The health ministry acknowledged that there could be surrogate pregnancies, including in rural and tribal areas, that result from exploitation of women. The government’s assurance of a law to regulate surrogacy in India is pending since 2014.
 
* India’s tardy implementation of power projects has led to frequent cost escalations. When asked by a Member of Parliament if nuclear projects were getting enough money to be finished on time, the government said (on December 10, 2014) said that “all efforts are being made to complete and commission the projects within the approved time frame”. However, this assurance was dropped in February 2016, according to the Lok Sabha website.
 
Law ministry makes most assurances, fulfils 27%
 
The Ministry of Law and Justice tops the charts with 146 assurances during the 16^th Lok Sabha, fulfilling 27% by May 12, 2016.
 

Source: Lok Sabha
 
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology gave 129 assurances and implemented 40%; the Ministry of Finance 121, implementing 57.9%; the Ministry of Human Resource Development 113 assurances, implementing 35%; the Ministry of Railways 107, implementing 44%.
 

 
The committee on government assurances has reprimanded the government in its reports for several assurances being pending for years, some for almost a decade. “17 assurances from the Ministry of Human Resource Development are pending for implementation, in fact, first two assurances are pending for nearly a decade,” the report said.
 
(Agarwal and Sibal were fellows 2015-16 at PRS Legislative Research. They have worked with Members of Parliament on legislative and policy matters.)

Courtesy: IndiaSpend.com

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May 16, 2016

 
The Preamble of our Constitution resolves India into a Secular Democratic Republic and promises to secure to all its citizens JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, and to promote to all FRATERNITY thereby assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation. The Constitution has rightly been construed as a living and organic document of great significance. It must be construed and applied broadly and liberally.

In Part III thereof are set out the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. Article 12 broadly defines ‘the State’ to include the Government, Parliament of India and the Government and the legislature of each of the States and all local and other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.  The definition is therefore wide enough to include every executive organ as well as the legislative bodies, the Parliament and State Legislatures.

The ideals of “Socialism and Secularism were added to the Preamble by the 42^nd Amendment and attempts made to delete them from the Preamble have fortunately failed for the simple reason that even otherwise they were/are writ large in the text of the Constitution, vide the Directive Principles in Part IV, particularly, Article 39 of the Constitution.

The agonising endeavours made, by the party of Prime Minister Modi, to undo what the 42^nd Amendment did, remains a direct threat to the political scenario within the country. The concepts of Socialism and Secularism cannot be static and indeed have been construed as ever evolving.  Every country evolves that which is best suited to it and with the passage of time it undergoes a change best suited to its changed character/scenario.

During our Independence movement, we saw the meaning of the concepts of Socialism and Secularism nuanced and ever-changing. For example, between the Gandhian model and the Nehruvian model of Secularism, there were differences. In the Gandhian model religion played an important role, not so in the Nehruvian model.

I appeal to those in power to avoid making hate speeches against other Sister/Brother Indians and realise that she/he is in fact harming the self and weakening our cherished democracy.

Prime Minister Nehru believed that ‘Religion’ had divided India and ‘will kill it one day’. He, therefore, strongly advocated non-interference of religion in State affairs. He strongly believed that the State should discourage its role even in civil society as it will hinder the fostering of unity and integrity of the Nation. How right he was; we are today witnessing how religion has been responsible in dividing the Nation and how its ill-effects have played havoc with our endeavours in achieving the unity and integrity of our Nation.

During Nehruvian rule, religious passions were curbed but once he was gone religious passions erupted which often, even the police force refused to prevent; large-scale violence erupted and the police force became increasingly partisan and hostile towards the minorities.  On several occasions, it was adjudged to be aiding and participating in the trouble-mongering.

Other difficulties confronting our democratic system have arisen from increasing social pressures. Growing Hindutva militancy poses a grave threat to India’s internal stability today. Ever since the period of the Babri Masjid demolition, Hindutva forces with the support of the party in power and a almost brazen hostility fostered and legitimised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have initiated a hate-Muslim campaign through their cadres; men and women who boast and threaten violence at the slightest pretext, e.g. over the orchestrated and contrived Beef Issue. It is as if these boastful cadres have been Licensed to Kill, sanguine in the belief that the Governmental agencies will come to their rescue, if required. Instead of curbing religious militancy with a firm hand, the inaction and deafening silence on the part of those in positions of power –as also law enforcement authorities – conveys an implied concurrence with hate utterances and gives the offenders a sense of impunity.

Our Democracy has functioned reasonably well as far as elections are concerned if we ignore the blots caused by increasingly recurring bouts of communal and caste violence (riots). Now, with the Hindutva right wing firmly in power, the same cannot be said so far as India’s internal stability as a democracy is concerned. The fringe elements of the ruling party, have mounted increased social pressures through their Hindutva-inspired cadres on the minorities. These elements have shown no concern for the Dalits whose cause Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar cherished and passionately argued, pleading for their upliftment. This poses a serious threat to domestic peace and stability, thereby weakening all our democratic institutions.

Due to the aggressive interference by hard core religio-political Hindutva elements in every aspect of public life, an atmosphere of intolerance has been generated –and legitimised –towards the minorities.  Needless to say, that this level of public discourse has weakened our democratic values/principles and their functioning. Consequently even the enmeshed human rights engrafted in Part III of our Constitution have suffered. The expanse of democracy is not confined only to general elections every five years but is a larger guarantee embodied in Article 21 (the Protection of the Right to Life and Personal Liberty).

Professor Russell Bova, the erstwhile Associate Professor of political science at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, rightly observed: “A close association between democracy and liberty has long been taken for granted. At least a minimal package of human freedoms, including rights of association, opposition and free speech and expression, is in fact required if democratic institutions, such as elections are to be meaningful. Most definitions of the term “democracy” include reference to such freedoms”. (So also does the Indian Constitution). Both in theory and practice, the relationship between democracy and human rights have existed ever since the charter of Human Rights came to be drawn up/enforced from 1948 and have been ipso facto considered as a consequence of democracy.

Freedom of speech and expression, a right conferred by Article 19(1) (a) of our Constitution has been recognised as an essential element of a functioning democracy. Any effort to suppress the exercise of this right can only affect the strength of a functioning democracy. Unfortunately ever since the present NDA Government headed by Prime Minister Modi came to power, there has been a consistent effort to suppress freedom of speech and expression.

The present Government has shown intolerance towards any criticism of its functioning/policies by threatening prosecution under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (Sedition). Dialogue and criticism of Government’s actions and policies are essential elements of a functioning of Democracy.

Time and again the President of India has emphasised in and out of Parliament, within and outside the country, the importance of dissent: often fierce debates and discussions have preceded any particular threatened Governmental action and policy; it is only at the end of a fierce debate that there emerges a final outcome (or resolution, or decision) on the issue so debated. If fierce opposition cannot be tolerated whether in or outside Parliament, democratic functioning itself will become dysfunctional, sounding a death nail to Democracy. Strong dissent and heated dialogue are the essentials of a Republican Democracy.

I wish our Prime Minister was listening then, since he is one who claims to be close to the outgoing US President. Without being daunted by the RSS he should follow the path and policy of the outgoing US President and deal with the Muslim, Christian and the Dalits in the same way.

Fundamental Rights granted to the citizens of the country were considered by our Constitution makers to be sacrosanct and inviolable and that is why the Constitution appointed the Supreme Court as its guardian to protect the citizen’s fundamental rights. That is why Article 32 in Part III of our Constitution entrusts the Supreme Court of India with the responsibility/duty to protect the rights of citizens as the ‘custodian’ of their Rights enshrined in Part III of the Constitution.

India is a heterogeneous society within which peoples of all faiths live under the shade of a single umbrella, the Indian Constitution. We in India are proud of our composite culture. Indian civilization is plural, has always been so, has the benefit of richly blended cultures, the Hindu is one, the Muslim is next, we have many others Christian, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh and various tribal entities whose cultures have got intertwined with the passage of time to constitute India’s rich composite rainbow of cultures. Each one has contributed to the present day colourful Rainbow of cultures. Every Indian has imbibed a bit of every culture and is an admixture of various cultures providing different life styles and festivities.

This composite Indian culture is, therefore, not monolithic but comprises of grains of different cultures contributed by the people belonging to different faiths. Every Indian, therefore, is an amalgam of cultures. Any attempt to damage this secular fabric of cultures would end up in destroying a part of every Indian. So any attempt by those constituting the majority of the Indian culture, to harm any part of our composite culture would render every Indian a disabled person, thereby weakening composite Indian culture and also Democratic Institutions.

I appeal to those in power to avoid making hate speeches against other Sister/Brother Indians and realise that she/he is in fact harming the self and weakening our cherished democracy.

I am afraid we, in India, have failed to realise the benefits of Secularism and fraternity. For winning elections our political parties have used religion, hate speeches and muscle power, resulting in the loss of life of our citizens and destruction of property; largely, of the Muslim and Christian minorities who are generally thus targeted.  What bravery is this of the Majority! in an unevenly levelled/imbalanced playing field?  Barbaric, brute force, supported by the authorities and the uniformed forces, versus a crippled Minority? A Secular State must show concern for its citizenry and not for a particular religion or communities; only then can the State foster a spirit of unity and integrity.

The UPA Government set up the Sachar Committee to study the plight of the Muslims in India but dragged its feet when it came to implementing its recommendations, particularly the setting up of an Equal Opportunity Commission, the most important recommendation even though the commission came to the broad conclusion that the economic conditions of Indian Muslims was worse, applying many parameters, than even the Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

The present BJP regime is not expected to allow the Muslim group of citizens a better life in view of the inherently anti-Muslim/Christian utterances by its fringe elements in and outside Parliament. The RSS is virtually in command. The Prime Minister, gives sound bites that are legally and constitutionally correct  but does not follow them up through interventions by his administration on the ground. Since no effort is made by the ruling party to curb its fringe elements, the inaction and silence itself betrays a partisan behaviour on its part. The party in power will, rightly, be seen to be acting with malafide intent.

The State, within a democratic form of governance, cannot be partial to one religious group and run down others. The constitutional direction of equality and non-discrimination must be honoured. The fringe elements in saffron garb belonging to the RSS/VHPcannot be allowed to, in and outside Parliament, threaten and shout at Muslims to leave the country and migrate to the neighbouring country. To the RSS elements who did not fight for ‘azadi’, freedom may not be so dear to their hearts, but to those whose ancestors shed their blood, India and the freedom struggle is precious and valuable; it cannot be allowed to be frittered away.

At the time of the unfortunate partition of the country, those Indian Muslims who stayed back to live in this country made a conscious choice not to migrate to Pakistan and cannot now be pushed out like aliens. Such utterances must be nipped in the bud and not allowed currency. Those who make such demands must be silenced with a firm hand. The elements influenced by the RSS must not be allowed to spread poison in the minds of the younger generation, who are also the future Rulers of India.

In the past, whenever, any affirmative action was proposed by the Congress (UPA) Government, the BJP raised the antenna of ‘appeasement’ to shoot down such efforts by calling them pseudo-secular.I would prefer pseudo-secularists rather than hard-core Hindutvavadis.

Unfortunately, the Minority Ministry has also proved to be ‘a lame duck’. Funds allocated for minority causes to State Governments are diverted elsewhere. By not implementing any measures to actively bring India’s 17 crore Muslims into the main stream of Sub ka Saath Sub ka Vikas programmes, the Nation is denying unto itself the services of skilled Muslims, who are excellent craftsmen, as can be seen from the brass works from Muradabad, the weaves of Banarasi silks, and the delicate stitchces  of Lucknowi chicken embroidery.

Nehru’s model of secularism, and its special  flavour, lasted until about the 1980s and needs to be revived if democracy in India, has to survive. With the weakening of the Congress party, there came the Hindutva thrust, the Rath-Yatra of Mr. Advani, and VHP’s crusade for Ram- Jumna Bhoomi, which claimed the Hindutva forces had their origin in India whereas Secularism was denigrated as being of western origin, therefore, not within the ambit of the State’s duty to promote or nurture. They (the Hindutvavadis) contend that the minorities can feel free to profess and cherish their faith, but the Hindutva ideologues profess superior status for their faith and contend that the Islam and Christianity are religions whose roots are not of distinct Indian origin. Not only that, but the Hindutva brigade has threatened forcible conversion through ‘Ghar Vapsi’ programmes. This ideology has naturally given rise to a sense of insecurity in the minds of theIndian Minorities— both Muslims and Christians.

In my view this line of thinking is flawed because Indian civilisation is not monolithic but is an amalgam of many religious influences/cultures, of which Hinduism is only one; besides Hinduism itself is plural. The Indian Muslims have been deeply ingrained within Indian culture; in fact they have enriched the Indian culture by contributing to its art, literature, music and Urdu poetry (ghazals) recited by renowned singers who have been decorated by Presidential awards. The Sufi Qawalls’ contribution to the Indian culture also cannot be ignored.

The ideological conundrums created by  forces owing allegience to Hindutva, the RSS, the VHP and other fringe elements, pitting caste and religious groups against each other, particularly during elections, notwithstanding BJP’s efforts to project itself as a moderate party by its slogan ‘Sub ka Sath, Sub ka Vikas’ has failed to forge a national consensus and furnish a sense of Security/Stability in the minds of the minorities, particularly, Muslims/Christians.

The strategy of the sober elements in the BJP have not been effective due to the repeated hate speeches by the Hindu radical elements in Parliament and across the country, matched with no serious effort by those in power to chasten them against vitiating India’s cultural unity. This is not to speak of the deliberate and self-conscious effort by fringe elements to vitiate the communal atmosphere when elections are round the corner to garner votes on religious grounds. It is time that the Hindutva forces realise that the minorities have no grouse against the majority community (it is only construed the other way) and would like to have cordial relations provided they are not measured through the prism of hatred.

It is in this backdrop that we must endeavour to answer the pertinent question. Democracy substitutes (or uses) election(s) to replace the corrupt few by a fresh stock: democracy is a mechanism to get rid of the corrupt and the incompetent. Sir Winston Churchill once warned the British Parliament against giving India freedom claiming that Indian politicians were yet not ready to run a country so vast. Most of what he said has come true today. During the Congress Rule its adherence to secularism was branded by the BJP as Pseudo-secularism and appeasement of the Minority; yet Secularism it is, pseudo, if you may.

Western governments who faced similar problems, though not as grim as ours, have tried to work these out through measures in education, economic, security and through political strategies of affirmative action. Through these efforts, a more equitable and non-discriminatory polity, and a more empowered citizenry has emerged. We, in India are doing just the opposite, pushing the minorities into ghettos and denying them their basic human rights and decent living conditions.

Is it not depressing that the social media does not ever raise issues which torment the minorities? Turning the personal into the political, Democrats opened their convention with testimonials to Barak Obama as a husband, father, brother and above all, a leader able to transcend the Nation’s long divide across racial and gender lines. Mr. Edward Kennedy said “Barak Obama will close the book on the old politics of race and gender, of group against group, of straight against gay”…

I wish our Prime Minister was listening then, since he is one who claims to be close to the outgoing US President. Without being daunted by the RSS he should follow the path and policy of the outgoing US President and deal with the Muslim, Christian and the Dalits in the same way. Guided by a sense of Insaniyat and following the path of Raj Dharma as advised by Prime Minister Vajpayee, his predecessor as prime minister who was also a gentleman to the core.

It is time to rise above religious prejudices and hatred. Our Democracy has certainly developed deep fissures and cracks and unless remedial action is promptly taken we will cease to be called a genuine Democracy.

            “Ta ke sare zamane ko de sakun;
            Khuda se mai aman-o-sukun mangta hu.”

JAI HIND

(The writer is the former Chief Justice of India. He was India’s 26^th Chief Justice serving between 1994-1997)

Reference:

Senator Kennedy's Obama endorsement speech, 2008
 

The post Is our Democracy Cracking, asks India’s 26th Chief Justice, A.M. Ahmadi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

India’s education sector is under a persistent attack from the BJP-dominated NDA II government, which is also trying to convert the centers of learning to a saffron bastion. In addition, the present government has intensified the neo-liberal agenda of the UPA I and II governments and their policies within the education sector.

The government is also pushing very hard to corporatise India’s education sector and is also trying to bring in foreign direct investment in education. This will severely impinge tha access to learning for students and scholars from the more marginalised sections of society.

In content, to further more divisive and entrenched ideas within younger generations, the current regime is aggressively pushing the agenda of ‘saffronisation’ within education. The changes in the curriculum, first begun in Gujarat in 2014 (and even earlier since 1989), the brazen scrapping of important figures like Jawaharlal Nehru from Rajasthan textbooks topped by appointments to senior posts of persons withinin educational and research institutions owing allegiance and long association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is also a bid to kill intellectual calibre and rationality.

It is clear that the current regime doesn’t want people to think logically, and wants to push its agenda of homogenous society with a clear dominance of the upper-class and castes. The removal of the freedom struggle from the curriculum is motivated to shield generations from knowing the absence of the Hindutvawaadis role in the movement and struggle for independence.

Newsclick interviewed Nandita Narain, President DUTA and FEDCUTA –teachers organisations within Delhi University to discuss two years of the Modi-led NDA II regime and it's impact on education sector

Courtesy: NewsClick

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'In one stroke in 2002, 15 of these students who had been agitating this discrimination were, in one stroke declared as ‘goondas.’ All of them were not just suspended. The same Appa Rao (suspended Vice Chancellor, Hyderabad Central University (HCU) who was then Registrar in the same university actually incited them (the authorities) to rusticate them from the HCU.
 

‘That is when we Dalit rights organistions felt that this was a huge area in which to work on.
 
‘I am only saying this that after 2002 –again in 2015, the same forces have re-emerged politically. We have had 42 suicides. Despite this background (and the resistance) another Rohith Vemula phenomenon emerged and for the first time the caste issue is being raised as a national debate. And after that,  we see what has happened in JNU
 
‘It is time we gather our forces together and challenge these systems at every step.We are with the movement(s) to protect democracy in HCU and JNU. We are the ones who are protecting nationalism, we must remember that.
 
‘We must remember that every Adivasi, every Dalit stands against odds and we must stand with them (when they face discrimination) in their allotment of scholarships, guides, hostel seats, and ensure that, through abuses they are not driven away
 
‘We have seen what has happened in the IITs, the AIMS and in several other universities. We must stand in solidarity with Adivais, Dalits and the Minorities
 
‘Apart from political freedom we must protest the diversion of funds meant for these students and protest institutions like the UGC diverting monies, crores of rupees into other activities.
 
‘We must give a warning to this government. WE support the JNU. Leaders and those struggling in all progressive movements’
 
Paul Diwakar, General Secretary, is National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights. He was speaking at a Dharna organized in support of the striking students of JNU.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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