editor: rekha saraswat

THE RADICAL HUMANISTOCTOBER 2013Vol. 77 No 7 Rs. 20/month

(Since April 1949)Formerly : Independent India

(April 1937- March 1949)

523

M. N. Roy

Founder Editor

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THE RADICAL HUMANIST OCTOBER 2013

KULDIP NAYAR

From New Delhi, India

(Page 9)

REKHA S.

Editor

(page 2)

This Month's Contributors

SANDEEP PANDEY

From Lucknow, U.P., India

(Page 3)

K.S. CHALAM

From Hyderabad, A.P., India

(Page 15)

UDAY DANDAVATE

From San Francisco, U.S.A.

(Page 5)

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The Radical Humanist

Monthly journal of the

Indian Renaissance Institute

Devoted to the development of the Renaissance

Movement; and for promotion of human rights,

scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist

view of life.

Founder Editor:

M.N. Roy

Editor:

Dr. Rekha Saraswat

Contributory Editors:

Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Dr. R.M. Pal,

Professor Rama Kundu

Publisher:

Mr. N.D. Pancholi

Printer:

Mr. N.D. Pancholi

Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence

Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph.

91-121-2620690, 09719333011

E-mail articles at: [email protected]

Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of

The Radical Humanist to:

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111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New

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Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600

Please Note: Authors will bear soleaccountability for corroborating the facts thatthey give in their write-ups. Neither IRI / thePublisher nor the Editor of this journal will beresponsible for testing the validity andauthenticity of statements & information cited bythe authors. Also, sometimes some articlespublished in this journal may carry opinions notsimilar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; butthey would be entertained here if the need is felt to

Vol. 77 Number 7 October 2013

www.theradicalhumanist.com

1. From the Editor’s Desk:

The Citizen's Expectations from the State

—Rekha Saraswat 2

2. Guests’ Section:

What Are U.S. Compulsions To Attack Syria?

—Sandeep Pandey 3

3. Current Affairs’ Section:

A Provocation For The Youth;

Why Secularism?

Delhi Elections can change the course of nationalpolitics;

Voice of Conscience

—Uday Dandavate 5

The Problem of Kashmir;

Is India’s story over?

Idea of India at peril;

Aberrations in the Army

—Kuldip Nayar 9

Spiritual Unity among Telugu People— K.S. Chalam 15

4. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section:

Have We Failed?

—Jawahar Lal Jasthi 17

5. Professors' & Research Scholars' Section:

Freedom from Violence: A Basic Human Right

—Vijay Pdt. Jashwal 19

The Worth and Weight of a Vote

—Ritvik Mangesh Kulkarni 23

6. Film & Book Review Section:

Free Tilly!

—Donald R. Prothero 31

From Lal Salaam to Red Blooms

— Dipavali Sen 33

7. Humanist News: 36

Contents

From the Editor's Desk:

The Citizen’s Expectations from the State

When the American Constitution was being

formed the fifty five delegates of its

Constitutional Convention decided upon five nascent values

which were to become the core principles of future

governments. They called them the First Principles or the

Founding Principles of the U.S. Constitution. The first one was

about every citizen’s equal and inherent right to Life, Liberty

and pursuit of Happiness. It categorically declared that these

rights were neither bestowed upon the citizens by the state nor

did the Government have the power to snatch them away

because they were endowed to the citizens directly by the

Creator. No human power would take them away. It read

“Rights come from God, not government.” By saying this they

were probably, not going back to the ‘Dark (Middle) Ages’ but

were trying to make it amply clear that there was to be no

contradiction on this one fact that an individual’s right to Life,

Liberty and pursuit of Happiness was above all forms of

man-made laws. The second aspect on which the founders of

the American Constitution were unequivocally sure was that

the American people would have the final say in deciding

about who would own political power and how he would use

and apply it upon the people to administer their affairs because

the principle read that “All political power emanates from the

people.” This naturally meant that any Government or State

that was not able to ensure the citizens’ happiness and safety

had to be removed from power immediately. And that the

Central and state assemblies should be re-constructed because

they held the authority to form laws only as long as the people

were benefitted from them. This principle again restricted the

State and the Government from misusing power against the

interests of the citizens. This also meant that the people and not

the Legislatures were the ultimate authority to endorse the

Constitution if any changes to its basic tenets were to be

proposed. Delegate William Paterson, author of the New

Jersey Plan had specified that ‘the mighty hands’ of the people

would delineate the Constitution. But the founders of the

constitution were very sure that ‘the people’ were to be

differentiated from ‘the mob’ and therefore, the two parts of

republic at the Centre would mutually check and balance each

other’s use of governing power. Also that the States would

keep an eye over the Centre lest it overpowers them for which

they were to have their own Constitutions to run their daily

affairs. The third principal read “Limited representative

republic” so that no ethnic, racial, religious or wealthy

majority would intimidate the minorities in the name of

Republic’s unlimited powers. James Madison was very vocal

about this fear of minorities being oppressed and marginalized

if power was concentrated at the top. To confirm this check

upon the powers that would be it was felt that a written contract

was a must. Although they had a parentage of the British

unwritten Constitution they realized that a written constitution

that sets the rules for governance between the people and their

elected representatives was very much needed now to check

the unlimited ruling rights of a vast and huge nation’s

government at the top in the Centre. Thomas Paine had already

asserted that an unwritten constitution would not be a

constitution at all under the new circumstances. And so, the

fourth principle a ‘Written Constitution’ was enlisted by the

delegates of the Constitutional Convention and that it could

only be altered by a pre-decided amendment process. The fifth

and the final principle upon which all the fifty five delegates

agreed, after arguing and discussing for four months, was the

‘right of the citizen’ to own his ‘private property’. Even if a

man had no property he did have the right to build, accumulate

and own it later on. The founders of the Constitution agreed

with Adam Smith that controls by the government on the

private property of an individual were equivalent to its control

on his liberty. How so ever much, some of us may criticize the

U.S. foreign policies but it has passed the test of truthfully

applying these principles in its internal behavioral politics in

the past 226 years ever since they were agreed upon in 1787

Constitutional Convention. Was it the honesty of the

subsequent U.S. Governments or the democratic maturity of its

citizens that kept their rights intact? This is a question which

needs further investigation.

We, in India, are in the making of a new Government in the

Centre, the next year and in some states in a few months. Our

immediate concern now should be to put the manifestos of all

the contesting parties’ to a litmus test of honesty on the basis of

these basic principles and values of democracy: viz. do they

support the rule of law (where no one is above law including its

creators), a limited government (which decentralizes its

authority to the last unit, the village panchayat), a federal

structure of the government (where Centre does not dictate and

monopolize the states), equality before law (where all citizens

are equal before law) and a majority rule (where the minority

does not lose its basic human rights in the name of majority

rule)? But have Indian citizens matured enough in the past 66

years of independence to see through their manifestos to make

a right choice? A very doubtful question it is!!—Rekha S.

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Guests' Section:

What Are U.S. CompulsionsTo Attack Syria?

— Sandeep Pandey

The US President Barack Obama wasawarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009

for his extraordinary efforts to strengtheninternational diplomacy, cooperation betweenpeople, for promotion of nuclear nonproliferationand a new climate in international relations,especially in reaching out to Muslim world and forhis support to using established internationalbodies such as UN to pursue foreign policy goals.

Four years is too short a time for a person describedabove to undergo complete transformation. Oneimportant reason why people of US elected him inthe first place was because they had become tired ofwar policy of George Bush. They wanted peace.Barack Obama won approval of US people becausehe announced withdrawal of US troops from Iraqand Afghanistan. He was seen as a man who wouldbring peace. And indeed he tried to reach out to theMuslim world.

But why is the same Obama now targeting aMuslim country and willing to ignore the UNdecision making process like his predecessor?Even his reason to attack is so similar to that ofBush. Bush misinformed the world about presenceof nuclear weapons in Iraq inspite of contraryreports from UN inspectors who went inside Iraqand IAEA. Now Obama wants the world to believethat Syrian government has used chemical weaponswithout waiting for confirmation from UNinspectors who have been sent to Syria. There arereports to the contrary that it is the rebels who haveused chemical weapons supplied by outsiders. AndUS is definitely supporting the fight of rebels. USwants to use the excuse of usage of chemicalweapons in Syria to launch a military offensive.But the real objective is to bring about a regime

change. However, the Syrian PresidentBashar-Al-Assad is holding on for longer than theUS had expected.

The impending US attack without a UN SecurityCouncil resolution would be illegal and morallyindefensible. It'll be a demonstration of USauthoritarianism and contempt for global opinion.The country which has yet to apologise for 1945mass killings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki hasapparently taken a position against weapons ofmass destruction. US continues to possess thelargest stockpile of nuclear weapons. The war inIraq and Afghanistan has shown that even ifweapons of mass destruction are not used there isheavy civilian casualty, which the US likes to call'collateral' damage. The 'Cost of War project' ofBrown University and Watson Institute estimatesthat out of 1,76,000-1,89,000 people killed in Iraq,1,34,000 were civilians. In contrast, the number ofUS soldiers killed was roughly only 4,500. So,even if US didn't use any weapons of massdestruction can there be any denying the fact thatthere was mass killing by US forces. The questionthat needs to be asked is what right US has got totake unilateral action against countries possessingweapons of mass destruction?

The Israeli testing of missiles in the midst oftension in West Asia is provocative, to say the least.Inspite of Obama paying a lip service to the causeof Palestine, the US policy continues to protect theinterests of Israeli state. US and western forceshave no right to meddle in the affairs of West Asia.The countries in this region should be given achance to resolve their outstanding issues throughdialogue. Or, it must be left to the people of thesecountries to decide what kind of rulers they wouldlike to have. The revolution in a number of Arabcountries has demonstrated that even people canbring about regime change if the governmentbecomes unpopular. When people will be behindthe regime change true democracy will prevail butif the regime change is artificially brought about bythe US there would be no guarantee of thesustainability of the government as these

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governments will be perceived by people aspuppets. In any case, Palestine must first beestablished as an independent country and Israelmust be restrained. Why does the biggest championof democracy not respect the wishes of people ofPalestine? It also recently allowed thedemocratically elected government in Egypt to fallto a military coup. Who would believe now that theUS doesn't have double standards?

However, one must realise the US compulsions forgoing to war. The economy not very long back wasin doldrums. The banks in a country which is thebiggest champion of free market had to be bailedout by the government, which is unheard of.

It is no secret that the health of military-industrialcomplex in the US is directly related to that of theeconomy. Hence, the best way to boost USeconomy would be to cater to themilitary-industrial complex. When war would befought weapons manufacturing will receive a fillip.Moreover, the Iraq war has shown that there arerebuilding contracts up for grab after devastation ofenemy country. The reconstruction economy isequally big.

The US economy will be thankful to any Presidentwho'll bring war. Barack Obama would not like togo down in history as a President who didn't doenough to help the economy. Where there is nowar, one will have to be created.

It is bad luck for Bashar-Al-Assad that it is now histurn to be targeted. It doesn't matter to the US thatthe rebels Al-Nusra may have links to Al-Qaeda,which till the last US war not very long back was itsenemy number one. Can the US be so shortsighted?

[Sandeep Pandey is an alumnus of Syracuse

University & University of California, Berkeley.

He has taught at IIT, Kanpur, founded a registered

organization named Asha Trust which has several

centres /chapters across India. His team has

launched a people’s group named Asha Parivar in

2008 that focuses on strengthening democracy at

the grassroots. He leads National Alliance of

People’s Movements (NAPM), the largest network

of grassroots people’s movements in India. He was

awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002 for

the emergent leadership category. He has served as

an adviser to CABE. His idea of education is based

on empowerment by imbibing the spirit of

cooperation instead of competition. Currently he is

working as a Visiting Professor in the Mechanical

Engineering Department at IIT, Gandhinagar. He

has been involved in numerous struggles from

workers’ rights, communal harmony to nuclear

non-proliferation in order to protest the injustices

to the underprivileged people.

[email protected]]

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Letter to the Editor: Some Reminiscences of a Veteran Radical Humanist—

Our past fathers, were trade unionists. They were from the dock-workers, mathadi workers, transportworkers. my father was the earliest founder of the dock, etc all workers. (History of strikes in india -

roy-ist group). fsuimumbai 1 is a union for seafarers. I have just now helped them solve a problem insetting up a free-hospital for seafarers and offshore workers, which in turn is run by "Orbit" and it issituated at Bhivandi. I have also provided a pathologist Dr. Rashmin Jain for our Bandra DiagnosticCenter. They need a link up sooner or later. So you are now in the know about the roy-ist movement byMadam Maniben Kara, Mr. V B Karnik, And Dr. M R Shetty of the royist group. Mr. Prabhu Desai wasone of the oldest Radical and until recently the trade union head for the dock workers that also includedMr. Rao, Mr. Murthy and others. If you see the front office display at the MUI SEAFARERS UNIONOFFICE AT BALARD ESTATE then you will alight into a new world of old Royists . Ands they makeus proud

.—Vijay Shetty, [email protected]

Current Affairs' Section:

A Provocation For The Youth

— Uday Dandavate

I am writing these heartfelt musings onlybecause you, the youth of India, do not let

the burden of history constrain your dreams for thefuture. Some people may call your mindset naivete,but I call it innocent dreaming. I would rather letinnocent dreams define the future of India thanmalicious wisdom that is dividing us, turning usinto cynics and making us choose from discreditedchoices. I would rather fall forward in pursuit ofinnocent dreams, than fall in the trap ofpreconceived notions that make us hate each other.

Here are my provocations for the youth of India:

1. Do we help India become a nation of expandingopportunities for everyone who dares to dream, orremain a pool of limited resources that we fightover?

2. Do we want our sense of identity to be defined byour religion, caste and language or by our ability tobe recognized worldwide as a community of peoplewho are recognized for our distinctive contributionto the world?

3. Do we buy into the idea of development that isbased on mindless encroachment on naturalresources for consumption and displacement ofindigenous people who claim to stay in harmonywith nature, or are we willing to experiment withnew models of development that are based onrespect for sustainable living?

4. Do we see cultural plurality of India as animpediment or a resource for progress?

5. Does modernity mean consumerism orresponsible living?

6. Do we seek solutions for our problems in a singleleader or are we prepared to take responsibility for

inspiring progressive thinking within our littleareas of influence?

If we can address some of these provocations, wemay prepare ourselves to find a direction for thefuture that is not swayed by the rhetoric ofopportunistic leaders.

Why Secularism?

The leadership of the RSS has consistentlyundermined the concept of secularism.

They have introduced into political discoursephrases such as “pseudo secularism”,“appeasement of minorities (Muslims)” and morerecently, “Love Jihad” to deliberately build a loyalconstituency amongst Hindu majority forachieving their ultimate objective of turning Indiainto a homogenous society. Unfortunately for theRSS, secularism is a part of the basic structure ofIndian constitution and it cannot ever be changedthrough an amendment, even if BJP assumes powerwith 2/3rd majority.

In 1973, thirteen judges of the Supreme Court,including then Chief Justice Sikri, who heardarguments in Kesavananda Bharati v. The State ofKerala the court held, by a margin of 7-6 thatalthough no part of the constitution, includingfundamental rights, was beyond the amendingpower of Parliament the “basic structure of theConstitution could not be abrogated even by aconstitutional amendment”. Chief Justice Sikri,writing for the majority, indicated that the basicstructure consists of the supremacy of theconstitution; a republican and democratic form ofgovernment; the secular character of theConstitution; maintenance of the separation ofpowers; the federal character of the Constitution.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parentorganization of the BJP, has championed theconcept of a Hindu Rashtra for the past sixty plusyears. It is important to realize that they canimplement their vision only through subversion ofIndia’s constitution. To appreciate why secularismis a part of the basic structure of Indian

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constitution, it is important to understand theconcept of secularism. Secularism is a principlethat involves two basic propositions. The first is thestrict separation of the state from religiousinstitutions. The second is that people of differentreligions and beliefs are equal before the law.

Contrary to common misperception, secularismdoes not deny individual citizens the right topractice their religion, rather it provides bothbelievers and non believers the freedom ofpursuing their thought and conscience, insofar as itdoes not impinge disproportionately on the rightsand freedoms of others. Opponents of secularismoften equate secular minded people with atheists.Atheism is a lack of belief in gods. Secularismsimply provides a framework for a democraticsociety, where government must ensure equitabledistribution of resources. The principle ofsecularism endows in the state the power and theresponsibility to protect human rights of itscitizens, regardless of their faith. As India goes toelect its new parliament in less than a year, it isimportant to understand that the principle ofsecularism is critical for maintaining stability ofour intercultural society and for providing securityto our intercultural communities.

Secular framework of the constitution will onlyensure empowering of India’s diverse populationwith education, employment, and justice so thatfull potential of our population could be cultivatedand harnessed. The blame for undermining ofsecularism does not fall entirely in the lap of theRSS or BJP. Vote bank politics has historically gotin the way of social reforms. Politicians of all hueshave taken advantage of the sense of insecurity andinjustice amongst the minorities.

Politicians lack courage to stand behind socialreformers in different communities who havefought against injustice and superstitions inherentwithin their own religion. Politicians have courtedorthodoxy rather than reformers. They have failedmiserably in protecting a Shah Bano or a RupKanwar; a Hamid Dalwai, a Asghar Ali Engineer or

a Narendra Dabholkar. After damning secularismfor years, Mr. L.K. Advani discovered the value inthe idea of secularism when he termed Mohmad AliJinah a secular leader during his visit to Karachi in2005. The RSS organization made Mr. Advani payfor his reconciliatory tone towards a sworn enemyof the proponents of Hindu Rashtra by forcing himto resign as a President of the BJP after hiscomment in Karachi. Mr. Narendra Modi, toodiscovered the value in the idea of secularism whenat his recent rally in Rewari he called Indian Armythe most secular entity. It would be amusing towatch Mr. Modi resolve the paradox between hisagenda for inciting Hindu nationalism and the needfor reaching out to the minorities.

During the election campaign we will be hearingnew interpretations of secularism from a man whois applauded by his supporters for having put fearof god in the minds of minority community. I hopethat the electorate of India will not be swayed bythe campaign rhetoric against secularism. I alsohope that the youth of India will appreciate thatIndia can become a modern and prosperous countryonly if we stand by those who are trying to bringabout social reforms within their communities.

In closing I quote Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the firstpresident of Turkey, a country known worldwideas a nation of Muslim majority committed tosecular and modern way of life. He championedpolitical, economic, and cultural reforms, seekingto transform the former Ottoman Empire into amodern, secular, and democratic nation-state.

He said, “My people are going to learn theprinciples of democracy the dictates of truth andthe teachings of science. Superstition must go. Letthem worship as they will, every man can followhis own conscience provided it does not interferewith sane reason or bid him act against the libertyof his fellow men.” There is much to be learnedfrom the history of this Muslim majority nation,which embarked on a path of modernization by

committing to the principle of secularism.

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Delhi Elections can change thecourse of national politics

Forthcoming Elections to Delhi Assemblybear as much importance as the elections

to the Gujarat Assembly after the Nav NirmanMovement in 1974, which ultimately resulted indefeat of Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s government andemergence of the Janata Party. Though the issues inthe Delhi election are local they bear consequencesfor the next General Elections in India.

In Delhi the Aam Adami Party is taking on both theCongress Party of India and the Bharatiya JanataParty. The importance of this election should beseen in the background of recent upsurge of masssupport to Anna Hazare’s movement againstcorruption, from which emerged the idea offorming the Aam Adami Party. Anna himself hasdissociated himself from the AAP’s chosen path offorming a political party for an immediate, directfight against the corrupt political parties, and hasinstead focused on fighting the current corruptsystem through mobilization of grass root levelleadership with a long-term vision. Anna’sdissociation from AAP does not take away theimportance of people’s frustration with existingpolitical parties and confusion about who to vote inthe next elections.

The BJP is trying to capitalize on people’s utterdisenchantment with the misrule and corruption ofthe Congress party government by providing theoption of “Hindu Nationalism” under theleadership of Mr. Narendra Modi. The Congressparty, on the other hand, is trying desperately topolarize the contest by posing itself as the onlysecular alternative to the communal BJP. As acounter to Corporate India’s open support to Mr.Narendra Modi, the Congress party is rushingthrough a series of legislations and ordinances thatare being touted as its commitment to the poor ofIndia.

Unfortunately for both the Congress party and theBJP, if recent electoral verdicts are an indication,Indian voters are beginning to apply their ownmind while voting as opposed to being swayed bycampaign rhetoric. Record of State levelgovernance has carried significant influence onvoting patterns during recent national elections. Ifthis pattern is a pointer to the evolution of India’sdemocracy, then the Delhi Elections provide anopportunity for India’s citizens to vote for acandidate of their choice, driven by theirconscience, as opposed to voting for paving theway for Mr. Modi or Mr. Rahul Gandhi.

In the current situation, the Aam Adami Partyprovides an opportunity for Delhi’s citizens to givenew direction to India’s politics. If you aresearching for an alternative beyond the Congressparty and the BJP, please vote for Aam AdamiParty. Your vote can galvanize a new hope forIndia to find a new grass root level leadership evenfor short term, while Anna Hazare and his teamcontinue their efforts with a long term focus.

Voice of Conscience

Let us face it. India has caught electionfever. No matter what our leaders say or

promise publicly, no matter which decisions aretaken by the central or state governments for thewelfare of different interest groups, no matterwhich event triggers communal frenzy and disturbssocial harmony, it would not be difficult to trace allthese random occurrences to just one truth- thatsomeone somewhere is manipulating publicperceptions for electoral benefit.

The Congress party and the BJP have alreadystarted house cleaning. Dr. Manmohan singh andShri Lal Krishna Advani have been marked"discontinued". Marketing strategies are beingcrafted to provide an exit for these two gentlemenwho have served their respective ideologies withutmost dedication for years. New mannequins arebeing installed in the show window and new

7


marketing campaigns being designed and pilottested to assess public response before launchingmassive advertising blitz. Large-scale governmentcontracts are being dished out to collect kickbacksthat will fund all the massive rallies, advertisingcampaigns and charter flights for candidates whowant to represent the poor Indians in theParliament. Indian voters are faced with amarketing blitzkrieg that will blind their eyes andbenumb their independent thinking.

Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi do not seem toimpress with their actions, rhetoric or election evedrama. I am more comforted by the tremendousresponse received by Anna Hazare’s movement orspontaneous protests that took in the streets todemand punishment to the perpetrators of rape arean indication of people’s disenchantment withcurrent state of affairs.

India needs to stay focused and not look for heroesor magicians who can solve our problems. Insteadwe need true public servants who will guard theinterest of ordinary people against the

manipulations of the vested interests. I am verysure that for this vision to materialize it is going totake much longer than the year 2014.

In a true democracy voters should elect theirrepresentative based on each candidate’s long-termrecord of public service, his/her ideas for the futureand a pattern of past behaviors that reveal his/hervalues and beliefs.

Let us hope that the voters of India will not let theirjudgment be swayed by the manipulations of theestablished politicians. I earnestly hope that peoplewill stay the course and listen only to the voice oftheir conscience.

[Uday Dandavate studies people, cultures and

trends worldwide and inspires people centered

innovation strategies. He heads a design research

consulting firm, SonicRim in U.S.A. He writes and

speaks on topics related to people centered design

and innovation in international journals and

conferences. [email protected]]

8


Important Announcement

For the Members of Indian Renaissance Institute, (IRI)

The biennial conference of Indian Renaissance Institute, (IRI), will be held on Saturday & Sunday –

30th November & Ist December 2013 at Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi.

The timings will be between 10 a.m to 5.00 p.m on both days.

Agenda of the conference will be sent by post and uploaded on the RH webportal shortly.

This notice is being sent in advance to enable the members to make arrangements for their travel to &fro Delhi. Those who require accommodation may inform the undersigned before 10th October 2013 to

reserve their beds in advance.

The charges of the accommodation will be around Rs. 250/- per bed per day.

You are requested to make it convenient to attend the conference.

—N.D. Pancholi,

Secretary, IRI

(M): 9811099532; Ph: 0120-2648691,

[email protected]

The Problem of Kashmir—Kuldip Nayar

Zubin Mehta, before leaving for Srinagarto conduct his orchestra, said: “There

will be no violence.” German Ambassador MichaelSteiner, who facilitated the concert, said at Srinagarthat the world was watching Kashmir. Bothobservations have a ring of truth. The success ofconcert has proved that. If New Delhi has been ableto put across a message, the Hurriyat leaders haveto blame themselves. They, also known as theseparatists, unnecessarily made the concert an issueby playing up their boycott. If they had ignored theevent, it would have passed without much notice.This was not the first concert. The late Jagajit Singhgave a gazal programme in the heart of Srinagar. Aband from Pakistan played at Srinagar the otherday. New Delhi was wise enough to treat it as aroutine matter and gave the musicians visas.Nobody took any notice of it. The media too paidno heed. The Hurriyat, still equivocal about itsdemand for azaadi, voiced no protest against thePakistan band. This only underlined the impressionthat the Hurriyat tended to tilt towards Pakistan.The Hurriyat is a divided house. Some, led by SyedShah Gillani, want the state to ‘join’ Pakistan. Andthe others, led by Yasin Malik, demand azaadi.Then there are those who are confused. Not longago, when most Kashmiris, alienated from India asthey are, favoured the integration with Pakistan, theKashmiris would have voted for Pakistan if therehad been a plebiscite. Today, a preponderantmajority of Kashmiris, want azaadi. Yasin Malikhas been able to veer them round from beingpro-Pakistan elements to making them accept thedemand for an independent, sovereign state. Yetwhat the Hurriyat does not realize is that azaadi isan ideal, not a feasible proposition. When theBritish left India in August 1947, they gave theprincely states an option to stay independently andthey did not want to join either India or Pakistan.Maharaja Hari Singh, the then Jammu and Kashmir

ruler, declared that he would stay independent. Theland-locked state had to have the support of bothIndia and Pakistan for access to the outside world.He did not want to depend on one. With theMuslims in a majority in J and K, Pakistan expectedits accession. When it did not take place, Pakistansent its irregulars, backed by the regular troops.The Maharaja sought the help of India whichinsisted on the accession before sending its troops.He had to sign the Instrument of Accession Act.The task of the Hurriyat is more difficult than thatof the Maharaja. The two parts of the states areagainst azaadi. Jammu, the Hindu majority part,would like to join India. The Buddhist majorityLadakh, the other part, wants to be a union territoryof India. Therefore the demand for azaadi isessentially that of the valley which has nearly 98percent of Muslims. When India is in the midst ofendeavour for polarization and when a politicalparty is playing a Hindu card, it is difficult toimagine that the ruling Congress or any otherpolitical party, including the Communists, wouldsupport the Hurriyat. Even otherwise, all politicalparties are opposed to the demand forindependence, although some may go to thefarthest in giving powers to the state. After 66 yearsof partition, the wounds inflicted because of thedivision have not healed yet. How does theHurriyat expect the people in India to reconcile toanother partition, however genuine and strong arethe sentiments of the Kashmiris? If partition isagain on the basis of religion, the secular state maynot survive as it is. True, the 15 crore Muslims inIndia are equal citizens and they cannot be treatedas hostages. But the valley’s secession may havesuch repercussions which are dreadful to imagine.The Constitution, guaranteeing equality to allIndian citizens, may be of no avail. India andPakistan have fought two regular wars on Kashmir,apart from a mini misadventure in Kargil. Thevalley continues to remains part of the Jammu andKashmir state. Several thousand Kashmiris havedied for the cause of azaadi. For India, they wereinsurgents. They were crushed by the security

9


forces which too lost thousands. Even now somemilitants from across the border attack some placesbut are rebuffed. For example, on the day of ZubinMehta’s concert, a post of Central Reserve PoliceForce in the southern Kashmir was targeted withrockets. There was a hartal at Srinagar. But thisexercise has been gone over by many a time before.Yet both countries signed an agreement in 1972 atShimla to end hostilities. They pledged to sort outtheir disputes, including Kashmir, through bilateraltalks. This has held the ground for the last 31 years.A few meetings between the two countries havebeen held since. By all means they should holdfurther talks on Kashmir. But they cannot fructifyunless one of them changes its stance. New Delhiconsiders Kashmir as its integral part and Pakistanwould like to have the valley to merge with it. TheHurriyat continues to expect a solution which doesnot seem possible. Six decades have gone by. Thereis yet nothing on the horizon. International opinionis mute and it has left the matter for the twocountries to settle. The Hurriyat has to introspectand change its tactics. It has to prove that it counts.It should capture the state assembly if theKashmiris are with it. It can have its own chiefminister who could forcefully articulate thedemand for azaadi. But does it have the following?It is easy to gather the crowd but difficult to convertit into votes. The Hurriyat, it seems, is riding toomany horses at the same time. It wants to meaneverything to everybody in the valley. And then itwants Jammu and Ladakh to stay with the valley. Ifit wants a sway over the entire state, it should winover Jammu and Ladakh which oppose theHurriyat tooth and nail. To represent Kashmir, ithas to have Jammu and Ladakh with it. Then theAzad Kashmir under Pakistan would also listen tothe Hurriyat. The valley by itself has a weak case.

Is India’s story over?

That India is an economic mess is knownall over the world. What is not yet public

is that the malaise was because of the now provedwrong decisions which President Pranab

Mukherejee took when he was Union FinanceMinister from January 2009 to mid-2012 and whenFinance Minister P. Chidambaram was heading theministry nearly till the end of 2008 and before. Theformer and current Ministers of Finance Mr.Pranab Mukherjee and Sri. Chidambaram shouldtell why they took the steps which disturbed therhythm of progress. Because of lack oftransparency in the affairs of government, only ahandful of people know about the blunderscommitted. One of the decisions taken by Mr.Mukherjee was to impose the Rs. 1200-crore taxwith retrospective effect on a foreign mobilecompany. After having lost the case in the SupremeCourt on September 8, 2010, the governmentpromulgated an ordinance before amending theFinance Act 2012. The retrospective clause in theact has scared away foreign investment which Indiabadly needs. A bagful of concessions has notbrought the Walmart yet to the Indian soil. Foreigninvestors have withdrawn a large sum of moneywhich they had invested. In a few weeks, as much $200 billion has reportedly gone out. The outflowhas not stopped yet. Prime Minister ManmohanSingh did not anticipate the repercussions. In fact,after seeing this mess having been created in 2008,the Prime Minister should have taken over thefinance ministry himself because of his expertise ineconomic matters. Although, his own record asCoal Minister does not hold promise but the PrimeMinister would have done better in finance.

India should have been exporting coal, as it did,instead of importing it. Manmohan Singh may notbe personally responsible for the corruption in theallotment of coal blocks. But the bungling runs intothousands of crores of rupees. The full story maynot yet come out because some files are missing.The government has admitted this before theSupreme Court. The government uses the word“so-called files”. According to CBI as many as 157files are missing. The missing files reportedly havesome letters and noting on the allotment of coalblocks. The Prime minister cannot absolve himselfof the responsibility that he was not the custodian

10


of the files. He was in charge of the coal portfolio.A top CBI official, who is probing into the scandal,has said that there may be a need to “examine”Prime Minister, who was in charge of the ministryfrom 2006 to 2009. Could the Prime Minister haveconnived at what the ministry had been doingbecause his personal integrity is beyond reproach?The Prime Minister could have done something tobring the culprits to book but he could not becausehe is politically weak. His other fault was that hedepended too much on Mr. Mukherejee and puthim as the chairman of several committees ofGroup of Ministers, entrusted with the task offinding solutions to intractable problems.Unfortunately,the latter had no time for his ownministry and the situation began deteriorating. Thecrisis has been aggravated by the gallopinginflation (10 per cent). An average person whoseincome has remained what it was even as hisexpense has gone up because of the ever-increasingprice of essential commodities his cost of livingwould have been still higher if the government wasnot subsiding petrol, diesel, cooking gas and thelike. According to IMF, the 20 per cent at the top inIndia enjoys more subsidies than the 20 per centbelow. The elite are too powerful to be touched.Top business houses finance many MPs who see toit that no harm comes to their houses. Lok Sabhaelections are due in 10 months’ time. On anaverage, a Lok Sabha seat requires an expenditureof Rs. 10 crore. The political parties are already intouch with the business houses for funds. How canthey challenge them for their malpractices? This isconfirmed by the unanimity of all parties in stavingoff the Chief Information Commissioner’s rulingthat the RTI (right to information) will beapplicable to the working of political parties. Yetthe immediate problem is how to get over thepresent financial crisis. The Prime Minister hashimself admitted in Parliament that “the country isfacing a difficult time”. It can justifiably be arguedthat the bungling is because of the government.There is no governance, no leadership and noguidance. I do not know what reforms the Prime

Minister has in mind. He has to reformulateeconomic policies so that there are employmentopportunities, essential goods are cheap and thegrowth rate, now back to the Hindu growth rate of 4per cent in the ’50s and ’60s, picks up.Manufacturing is stuck at a mere 3 per cent and a bitof increase is not even a flash in the pan. I wishthere had been fresh elections, as I had argued threemonths ago. The uncertainty which puts offinvestors would have been over by now and thepeople would also have settled down to a newelected government. But MPs of most politicalparties, particularly those of the Congress, want toenjoy the full tenure of five years. Many of themknow that they may not be reelected. The anxietyover political scene is casting a shadow on thefuture. Unless there is a sweep by one party, whichdoes not seem likely, the next government will alsobe a coalition. It may not be in a position to takehard decisions which India needs to overcome thedeepening crisis. That the political parties shouldhave the consensus on basics goes without saying.But this may not be possible before elections. Butthat is what the country needs whether it happensnow or later. May be, I am on the wrong track.Probably, the story of India looks like over, at leastfor years to come.

Idea of India at peril

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, theprime ministerial candidate of the

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has asked theJamaat-Ulma Hind, representing the Muslims, tolist four or five steps he should announce to wintheir confidence. The Jamaat has rightly pointedout that it was for Modi to think how to win the trustof Muslims. One thing Modi could do straightawayis to apologize for the 2002 riots in the state,reportedly blessed by him after the burning of someHindu pilgrims in a train compartment at Godhara,not far from Ahmedabad. There is enough evidenceto confirm that he convened a meeting of topofficials to plan and execute an exercise to kill theMuslims. Hiren Pandey, a minister in Modi’s

11


cabinet, had admitted after having participated inthe riots that they were preplanned and that thepolice were asked not to interfere. He wasmurdered and till today the murderer has not beenbrought to book. And only recently has a top policeofficer confessed in a letter to the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) that Modi used him to stage thefalse encounter. In his first speech after thenomination, Modi talked about a range ofissues—ties with neighbouring countries, terrorismand defence. But he did not utter a word aboutMuzzafarnagar’s communal riots. The city, onlytwo hours’ drive from Delhi, witnessed the killingof 50 persons and the exodus of nearly 40,000people—Hindus and Muslims, who have livedtogether for centuries. Indeed, this is the result ofModi-type of politics of polarization which haschallenged India’s credentials of secularism. Modiis a 'Hindutava poster-boy', as the media describeshim. After 66 years of independence, the twocommunities tend to jump at each other’s throat onthe call of religious leaders or politicians in thatgarb. The nation has to introspect why the peopleplay into their hands and why it has failed toestablish a secular polity. Modi does not care aboutIndia’s ethos of pluralism. He has played the Hinducard because he believes that secularism does notsit well in a Hindu-majority country. If he haslearned the lesson after the Gujarat riots, as heclaims, there is no indication of that. He comparedthe other day the victims in the Gujarat riots as thepuppies which get crushed under a speeding car.The RSS, which has nurtured Modi, believes that itwants the next election to be fought on the plank of“minority aggressiveness.” It is misinterpreting theminorities’ articulation for their identity. Even ifthere is aggressiveness, it can be tackled. But themajority’s aggressiveness can turn into fascism.This is what happened in Germany where the Nazistook over and Hitler emerged on the scene. It isunfortunate that the BJP has selected Modi,knowing too well that the party was defeated in2004 and 2009 elections because of its communalagenda. Even Atal Behari Vajpayee’s liberal image

could not wear off the stigma of parochialism theparty has. By and large, India is a tolerant society.The people do not mix religion with politics. TheBJP has neither understood them, nor theiraspirations. The idea of India is based on thecountry’s diversity. What has happened atMuzzafarnagar is a challenge to the very idea. Onceagain the BJP has poured oil on the fuel through afake video. Refugees from the villages ofMuzaffarnagar riots between the Hindu Jats andMuslims say that they were attacked by theoutsiders. I am reminded that after the partition wetoo were forced to quit our homes by the outsiders.Our Muslim friends gave us shelter and provided uswith rations for a month before we left Sialkot. Thevictims of Muzzafarnagar complain bitterly thatneighbours watched the mayhem but did not cometo their rescue to stop the killing and destruction.The kinship dries up when rioting takes place. TheMuzzafarnagar happenings are disconcertingbecause the communal virus has spread to the ruralareas. The administration always fails because ithas got politicized and awaits word from the rulingparty. Officials did not take action fearingrepercussions. The police are contaminated and tilttowards the Hindus. What happened inMuzaffarnagar, according to the reports in themedia, was an instigated riot, suggesting aconspiracy on the part of the BJP. A Muslim youthwas killed for eve-teasing. In retaliation, two HinduJat boys were lynched. And then all the hell broke.Leaders, both from the Hindu and Muslimcommunities, delivered inflammatory speeches.The BJP further fanned the fire by releasing a fakevideo, showing the use of violence somewhere elseto ‘prove’ the atrocities against the Hindus. AMuslim cleric led a mob after the prayers on Friday.And, as the state Governor has said in a report to theCentre, the administration has become more effetethan the ruling Mulayam Singh Yadav’sSamajwadi Party and it wanted to exploit thesituation. But it was confused. The BJP played amajor role in polluting the atmosphere throughyatras for building a Ram temple at the site where

12


the Babri Masjid stood before its destruction. TheRSS sees its chance in the next elections. It is doingeverything possible to destroy the ethos of nationalstruggle to establish a democratic, secular state.Modi’s projection, once the RSS pracharak and anauthoritarian by nature, fits into the agenda for aHindu Rashtra. I sympathize with L.K.Advani. Ihave seen how defeated he was towards end of1979 when the Janata Party ousted him for refusingto sever links with the RSS. Instead, he founded in1980 the BJP and made Atal Behari Vajpayee, whotoo had been thrown out, as president. Today onceagain, Advani is forlorn and lonely. Again, the RSSis responsible for his isolation. It has fielded Modifor the prime minister’s office. Advani has notliked the manner in which the RSS has imposedModi on the BJP. Apparently, the RSS feels that ifsomebody who meets the ideological stance of aHindu Rashtra, it will be Modi, not Advani whoover the years has shed bigotry and regardsQuaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder ofPakistan, as secular.

Aberrations in the Army

I have been getting calls from the Pakistanmedia to inquire whether the army stalled

the government from certain decisions or forced itto take some without its willingness. Their concernis understandable because the army is the boss inPakistan and even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,who said the elected government would besuperior, has to clear the agenda of closeIndia-Pakistan relations with his army chiefGeneral Parvez Kayani. I have assured the Pakistanmedia that the situation in India is like the oneprevailing in advanced countries in the West wherevoters are the arbiters. However, I can recall oneexample of the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Actwhich can kill anyone on suspicion without beingarraigned. The government was inclined to modifythe act after a commission’s recommendations. Butthe army had its way and the act stays without anyamendment. Except for this, I have found theIndian army obedient to the elected government. It

may be a cliché but the army is apolitical and takespride in eschewing politics. There may bediscussions in messes or canteens of the armedforces on the present conditions obtaining thecountry. But they are healthy and nothing beyondthe ventilation of disgust. This is not even a case ofBonapartism. I know of a few aberrations on thepart of certain army chiefs who have gone beyondthe ambit of authority. But there is no instance ofdefiance. When General K.S. Thimmaiah, apopular army chief, submitted his resignation to thedismay of public, it was against the functioning ofthe then Defence Minister Krishna Menon. PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru intervened and madeThimmaiah to take back his resignation. Menonstayed on at the Defence Ministry and Thimmaiahretired after completing his term. General K.Sundarji went beyond his authority during themilitary exercises (brass tacks). He went into thedisputed territory under China and into Pakistan.Islamabad was so disturbed that it sent its foreignsecretary Abdul Sattar to New Delhi. Sundarji waspulled up. However, he continued to be the armychief until his retirement. Field Marshal SamManekshaw was popular among the people,particularly after the victory in the Bangladesh war.Even the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, wassuspicious. He made it clear when he met her thathe was proud to head such armed force which didnot interfere in political affairs. “You do your joband allow me to do mine,” he was supposed to havetold Indira Gandhi. The latest example, somewhatdisturbing, is that of General V.K. Singh whoretired recently as the army chief. He shared daiswith the controversial Gujarat chief minister,Narendra Modi. I wish V.K. Singh had waited a bitlonger before jumping into politics. There is noharm in generals joining politics. The greatestdemocracy of America has examples of topmilitary chiefs like Douglas MacArthur andDwight D. Eisenhower running for presidentialelection and winning the coveted position. But bothof them did not rush to the election platform fromthe theatre of war. They contested only after decent

13


intervals. The main allegation against V.K. Singh isthat he set up a unit, Technical Support Division, tosnoop on the government at Srinagar and usedsecret funds to topple it. In an interview to atelevision network, he has gone further to say thatthe army has been financing since independenceministers in the Jammu and Kashmir government tomaintain “peace and stability” in the state. Theallegation of snooping against the electedgovernment at Srinagar is a serious one. The rulingNational Conference is justified in demanding aprobe by a sitting Supreme Court judge. The centreis in the dock as far as V.K. Singh’s admission thatthe military has financed all ministers at Srinagar.Let the Omar Abdullah government explainwhether the charge is correct. Farooq Abdullah,former chief minister, is so disturbed that he hasdemanded a CBI probe immediately. Theconstitution by V.K. Singh of a special cell forspecial purposes has also to be looked into. Thedefence ministry has issued a statement to assurethat the matter is being pursued for “further action.”V.K. Singh was said to have been upset by theleakage of report against him by top army officials.

The report is not yet in the public domain. But thecharges are too serious to be left at that. Therevelations make a mockery of the army’s functionin a democratic polity. Covert operations areconducted all over the world. They should neversee the light of the day and the officials engaged inthem should keep quiet till their death and not evenmention them in their memoires. The military alsoneeds to revise its rules of retirement so that theformer chiefs of the three services—army, air forceand navy—are not able to join a political party for adecade after their retirement. Being in commandthey are bound to have earned enough fame toinfluence the voters. All this darkens the image ofthe army.

However, V.K. Singh is not the entire army. He is amaverick. He has criticized even the SupremeCourt for having rejected his claim to continue oneyear more in service because of his birth certificatewas “incorrect.” When he had made no effort to

have the “mistake” rectified during his entirecareer, he had no right to do so after occupying theposition of the chief of army staff. V.K. Singh is allpolitics. Even his body language says so. What hehas said speaks volumes of affairs between thegovernment and the army. The self-righteousnessof V.K. Singh is not understandable. Why did henot stand up and stop the financing on Kashmir?Instead, he accelerated the process. He says thatOmar Abdullah has “an agenda.” What is it andwhat did V.K. Singh do to stop it? To topple anelected government is no solution. His owncredibility is in doubt. His association with AnnaHazare at present should be taken with a pinch ofsalt.

[Kuldip Nayar is a veteran Indian journalist,

syndicated columnist, human right activist and

author, noted for his long career as a left-wing

political commentator. He was in IFS, a diplomat

and also nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP in 1997.

He is also a human right activist and a peace

activist. He was a member of India's delegation to

the United Nations in 1996. He was appointed

High Commissioner to Great Britain in 1990 and

nominated to the upper house of Indian

Parliament, Rajya Sabha in August 1997. He

writes columns and op-eds for over 80 newspapers

in 14 languages including The Daily Star, The

Sunday Guardian, The News (Pakistan), Express

Tribune (Pakistan), Dawn (Pakistan). Every year

since 2000, Nayar has been leading peace activists

to light candles on the Independence days of

Pakistan and India (14/15 August) at the

Attari-Wagah India-Pakistan border near

Amritsar. He has been working to free Indian

prisoners in Pakistan and Pakistani prisoners in

India, who have completed their sentences, but

have not been set free. He has also authored 15

books, including “Beyond the Lines”, “Distant

Neighbours: A Tale of the Subcontinent”, “India

after Nehru”, “Wall at Wagah, India-Pakistan

Relationship”, “The Judgement”, “The Martyr”,

“Scoop” and “India House”

[email protected].]

14


Spiritual Unity among TeluguPeople

— K.S. Chalam

Spirituality as a transcendental dimensionof human experience is precursor of

organised religion. It was recorded or carried on asan oral tradition in different societies till veryrecently. However, there are still groups andindividuals who consider their understanding ofspirituality is superior over others. On the otherhand, the concept of spirit is used in ordinaryparlance to signify the essence of thought ormetaphysically refer to soul, occult experience etc.Keeping the spirit of the matter, I wanted tocultivate the concept of Telugu spirituality andmooted the idea with a friend. He immediatelyretorted saying that I am not qualified to do so as Iam a teetotaller and do not believe in spirits. Thereis no harm in hypothesising that Telugus are theoriginal people of India and in all probability due toits vastness (from Brahui Sindhu -Ganges andKaveri), the language might be the proto-Dravidianlanguage (linguists may differ). A hypotheticalstatement is precondition for any enquiry onscientific basis to falsify. The above is only aprotocol statement that can be revised once provedcontrary based on facts and evidence. But, it isunusual to find that every dominant caste in thestate claims (in their caste chronicles) that theyhave migrated from somewhere in the North orRajasthan or UP or extreme South and none fromthe Telugu soil. It seems the stigma is carried fromgeneration to generation and at the time ofoutmigration, this character unconsciously dent theyoungsters to be comfortable in the foreignlanguage rather than in Telugu. The recent upsurgeof so called Telugu cultural extravaganza can becontrasted with the Bengal or Tamil or Sindhiassemblages which are more secular andessentially distinct culture specific. For, the presentgeographical location of Telugu state is unique inthe entire country perhaps indicating the ubiquitousnature of a vast Telugu land unlike our brethren

who have limited territory. It is our narrow mind-set that limited our immensity by withdrawingfrom our claims over our expansive Telugu historyand culture beyond the borders of our country inthe past and also in the contemporary world.However, it is time that an effort must be made tobring the distinctive Telugu culture as a universalcategory and not to be bothered about narrowspecifics. This may be possible by attempting tobring out the spiritual unity among the Telugupeople. We have witnessed the spirit (religious)recently in the queues before temples in all parts ofthe state; seeking blessings (same gods) to keep thestate united or bifurcated. Different tongues closeto Telugu are spoken in the East from Gangeticplains, Tamralipti, Mahanadi, Khandamal and inother places that have not been studied so faraccording to Balasubrhamanyam (Odissa civilservant). It may be due to the prejudice of somescholars/pundits that Telugu does not exist beyondGodavari (restricting it to three districts). It issurmised that the aliens after reaching Ganga foundthat it was formidable to cross Dandaka where mostof the so called Dravidian languages were spoken(currently practise). They have approached theSouth through the East Coast crossingMahendragiri and built Arasavilli in Srikakulamdistrict (2nd century BCE and rebuilt byDevendraVarma), the first Sun temple to recordtheir entry in to dakshinapath . The lord Narasimhaof Simhachalam ( much senior to Tirupati) latercrossed Godavari and entered Dhramapuri inTelangana and helped the cult of Yadagiri(place) .Without entering in to the controversy of howVaishnavism became popular in the South throughTelugu country, one could see the contribution ofTelugu Alwars , pundits and poets influencing thereligious world view of common man. Thetransition from Buddhism to Vaishnavism(marginalising Shaivism) seemed to be total by thetime KrishnaDevaraya ushered in Telugu (Tulu)land. The elite of the Telugus with the support ofthe British India officers have establishedsystematic and uniform methods of worship (with

15


compromises between pancharatra andvaikhanasa) in all parts of the state. Bhadrachalambuilt by Kancharla Gopanna in 1630 AD wasregularised by the Muslim Tanisha later. Similarly,all the regions of Telugu country were broughtunder the sway of Sri Venkateswara or his modernavatars in different forms. In fact, Maharashtriansused to jeer the Telugu folk converting Saibu(Muslim) as Saibaba in Shiridi and his avatar asSatya SaiBaba is also a creative skill of our ownpeople. It is said that the astute Malayalee found thepopularity of our lord Venkateswara attractingmore devotees and Anantpadmanabha becomingobsolete initiated Ayyappa to get more Telugubiddas around. We have now branches in Delhi,Mumbai and places wherever our Telugus movedout. Thus, Telugu culture and pride are intimatelytwined with our spirituality or patronage of aparticular branch of dominant Hindu faith. TheMuslim and Christian minority communities areinternally differentiated, but externally appear to beidentical in the Telugu land. There are differentcategories of heretics from the time of Ajvikas,Tantriks, Lokayatas etc who seemed to have losttheir support- base. The materialist world viewpopularised by the left is uniformly spread in thestate. The rationalist movement in Andhra spreadduring the time of Tripuraneni, Gora, Royists andLohiates is now taken a backseat due to the youngergeneration evincing more interest in dollars than inTelugu identity. It is noted with dismay that none ofthe prominent leaders in the state condemned theheinous murder of the Rationalist movement leaderDr Dhabolkar in Maharastra. It shows that Andhraand Telugu people are not interested in mundaneissues but only in spiritual activities like chardhamyatra etc. The spirituality thus obtained appears tobe very constricted compared to the size of theTelugu speakers in the world. What is projectedand explained here is only of the elite and theliterate who have traditions of going to temple orplaces of worship at regular intervals. But, majorityof the non-traditional communities like theAdivasis who gather at Sammakka and

Saralamma(mostly Telugu speakers) once in two orthree years is equal to the total number of devoteesattended at (with all the comforts of travel,accommodation etc) our national deity in a year.Interestingly, there is a parallel system ofspirituality among the ordinary people called aslittle tradition (mischievously by the missionarieswith the support of local clerics) that is uniform anduniversal in all parts of Telugu country. They arethe local or village deities as Gangamma inRayalaseema, Mysamma, Yellamma, Pochammain Telangana, Pydithalli, Neelamani, Nookalu inNorth Andhra, Durga, Kanyakaparameswari incoastal Andhra. Remarkably, there seems to be nocompetition among the peoples’ Godesses and donot bother about huge and elaborate rituals and arehappy with the local low caste person officiating asa Priest till it gets sufficient income to attractothers. This is unique to Telugu people and seemsto be not found in our neighbouring states whereVeeraShivism, Muruga and Subrahamnyam cultsadopted to the dominant faith. We have been as aparticular language speakers with uniform cultureremained uninterrupted and enriched our commontraditions of spirituality. The exuberance of Teluguspirituality endured similar rituals and practices allover with marginal differences. Interestingly, thereare around 500 temples (mostly Vaishnava and novillage deities) in USA with Telugu speakingTamilians or Tamil speaking Telugus conductingrituals. Thus, we have our Telugu pride carried farand wide through the notion of spiritual unity. IsTelugu spirituality not adequate to fix all theTelugu speakers under one shade of unity withadministrative diversity?

[Prof K.S.Chalam, former Member, UPSC, New

Delhi, former VC, Dravidian University, Kuppam,

A.P., first founder director of the Academic Staff

College, Andhra University, is the pioneer of the

Academic Staff College Scheme. He has been

actively involved in teachers’ movements, secular

and rationalist activities and was the National

Secretary, Amnesty International during 1984-85.

[email protected]]

16


IRI / IRHA Members' Section:

Have We Failed?—Jawaharlal Jasthi

Yes, I think we failed. It may be difficultfor us to admit. But the failure is staring

in our face. M.N. Roy started the RadicalDemocratic Party and wound it up after six yearsrealizing the drawbacks of the party system anddamage it could do to the body politic. All thehazards of the party politics is now manifest in themost glaring way than predicted by Roy.

Parties have proved that they consist of gangs ofcareer politicians. When you plan a career inpolitics, naturally the party is the stepping stone toclimb the ladder. To catch power, either by hook orby crook, is the only purpose and the end justifiesthe means.

Perhaps there is no other country where there are somany political parties as in India. If any person inany party is disgruntled, he does not hesitate tocome out and declare a party of his own. Yes, it ishis own party and there are people waiting for anopportunity to join the new party as it gives anadvantage to be a founder member. The criteria forrecognition as a party are so poor and false that theycan demand recognition as a matter of right than ofcompliance with regulations. The ElectionCommission cannot say ‘no’.

After all, the criteria are developed by thepoliticians themselves. That leader might be arowdy history-sheeter or might be in jail for someoffence. It does not matter. Or perhaps it is better ifthe leader has such a history. It is only such toughpeople that could survive the heat of politics andhelp their supporters to survive as well. It is better ifthe leader is corrupt as the followers could expect ashare, however meager it may be. It is an openknowledge that every party has its criminals in thelegislature.

It is true that everybody is innocent until he isproved otherwise. It is a good principle ofjurisprudence. But to arrive at final judgment takesa few years. Even then, he will be disqualified totake place in a legislature only if he is convicted forimprisonment for a period of not less than twoyears. And the judgment shall not take effect if hegoes for appeal until it is finally disposed. Whatkind of legislations do we have?

There are many stages in the criminal law to provea crime. First Information Report (FIR) is filed withthe court when there is a prima facie case. It meansthe police are so confident that the evidence theyhave is enough to prove the crime. But it is notaccepted as a cause to disqualify the person fromholding public office. Because it is possible that thecourt may find the evidence not enough to punishthe culprit and he may be let free.

In the presence of such a possibility, it will beunfair to damage the (golden) political career of acolleague in the party. It does not matter if theinstitution is damaged with his presence, but hisname must be protected. What happens if he isproved innocent? He does not loose. Many careersare open to him. But if the institution is damaged, itis a loss for ever.

What is important – political career of an individualor survival of an institution? By asking the personto leave his membership in the legislature after theFIR is filed against him, he is not being branded asan offender. He is only told to keep aside until thecase is finalized to help the institution maintain itsimage with the public and command respect itdeserves. But none of the parties agreed to thatproposal as if there are no candidates available tofill the vacancy. When the Court suggested it, allparties joined hands to oppose it.

The parties do not want anybody to know how theyconduct themselves and keep their organisationsopaque. When the Chief InformationCommissioner told that the political parties aresubject to the Right To Information Act, anamendment is immediately brought to plug the hole

17


in the Act. No delay is allowed in it. The personselected act as representatives of the party and not ofthe people who voted them to the place. It isaccepted as a legitimate argument since theycontested as representatives of the parties and notas independent individuals. The height of thishypocrisy is reached when the legislators fromAndhra area were asked to express themselvesagainst division of the state. Every one of them,without exception declared that they will be boundby the decision of the High Command of the party.

When the High Command declared division of thestate, there was a burst of volcano against divisionand all those representatives turned hostile to theparty itself as they have realized that they will notbe able to win the next election as members of thatparty. They did not have the sensitivity to ascertainthe opinion of the people on a problem and if theyhave, they did not have the courage to convey thesame to the party honestly. They were under theimpression that the name of the party will helpthem win the election and acceptance by peoplewas taken for granted.

The party connection is considered so sacred thateven when the leader, like the Chief Minister, wasproved corrupt and many cases were filed naminghim in the FIR, the party felt it necessary to protecthim as it would damage the image of the party if hewas acknowledged as a culprit.

So, still they flatter him as a model leader. Money issquandered on vote catching schemes without anyregard to the economic effect. Such popularschemes are advertised widely at heavy cost withphotos of leaders of the party. Once in power, thereare many ways of taking and giving benefits tofollowers. Advertisement is one such way.

The Chief Minister of a state is to be named in theFIR on this account. One justification for theparties in politics is that they have different policiesand solutions for the problems of the people. Butnow, there is nothing to choose between the partiesexcept the freebees that they want to distribute ifthey come to power. They claim it their right and

there is no law which insists that the means offinancing the same shall be indicated whenever ascheme is proposed.

If such a condition is there, there would not havebeen any possibility to make such offers to thepublic to get votes at the expense of public money.

Thus, it can be seen that all the political partiesstand discredited and the time is ripe for suggestingparty-less politics. But nobody talks of it. The pityis even the agitations that started as movements aregetting themselves converted into political partiesrather than fighting based on their ideology. TheAam Aadmy Party is an example. It started as amovement and caught the imagination of the publicand was about to succeed. But the followers worethe garb of party against the will of the originalleader.

Anna Hazare, in spite of all his sincerity, could notprevent it. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, the Lok

Satta Party started as a movement to get cleangovernment. But it got converted into a politicalparty at some stage.

If you suggest party-less politics to anybody, thereis a derisive laughter and dismissed as an easy-chairphilosophy and not pragmatic. The expenditureinvolved in fighting elections is shown as thebiggest hurdle and we reached a stage wherenobody is convinced that election can be foughtwith less money.

We have reached a point of no return in that regard.There is no possibility of making any radicalchanges in the thinking of the people, leave alonethe making of any legislation. Is there a way out?

Is it our failure or that of the philosophy itself? It ishigh time that we have some introspection on thisand come out with an explanation or a confession.

[Mr. Jawahar Lal Jasthi has been associated with

the Radical Humanist and the Rationalist

Movement since his college days. Mr Jasthi has

contributed articles in Telugu and English. His

unpublished book Oh My God is based on the futile

search for God in the annals of science.

[email protected]]

18


Research Scholar's & Students'

Section:

Freedom from Violence:

A Basic Human Right

(Feminist Perspective)

—Vijay Jashwal

Abstract:

“Every 3rd minute a case of violence against womenis registered in India. Every day 50 cases of dowryrelated violence are reported. Every 29th minute awoman was raped in 2011 and it was 54 minutes in2002. The worst is this horrifying list in whichMadhya Pardesh has had 3406, West Bengal had2236 and Uttar Pradesh had 2042 cases of rapereported in 2011”. This is the reality of shiningIndia which is recognizedand as one of the bestdemocratic countries in the world. Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer has said that human rights are given inthe form of fundamental rights in the IndianConstitution and these have been recognised andintegrated in Indian culture since Vedic times. Itmeans that their sources are found in ancientcivilization where others' rights were respected andall were entitled to exercise their rights. Violence ispervasive in human nature and this has beenexperienced since civilization began. The point ofdifferences in violence is only the form and victimof it. It has been proven that laws in themselves arenot adequate enough to remove the evil of violence.Anyone, like anyone’s mother, sister, brother, orclose kin and kith can be badly victimized by theperpetrator unless children are humanized beforethey come out to face the world. It is necessary tosocialize our children in ways that they learn torespect the dignity of others. Today’s feminists arecomplaining about the visible form of violence likebeating, rape, kidnapping and against so manyother forms of violence but they fail to understand

the hidden fact that these symptoms are associatedwith the upbringing of the boys and men in theirown homes. Is there something not wrong with ourway of socializing or schooling our own belovedchildren? World communities are sincerely andcontinuously talking about making a violence-freeworld where the society, family, community,school and all the other groups may live in peaceand human dignity but the results are notsatisfactory. This is because our approach towardsthis problem is misguided. The psychologicalaspects of violence have been forgotten and theirimpact is seen through the entire life of the victimas well as the victimizer. It is serious threat toinstitutionalize the democracy in the country.Feminist should look for new approach todiagnosis the root cause of violence. Feminism isall about securing the rights of women, it doesn’tmean to deny the rights of men so we all togetherco-operate for making realization of free fromviolence as basic human rights for every citizens atany cost. The New York Times in its editorial said,“Rape in the World’s Largest Democracy, hasthreatened all the democratic countries and haschallenged their historical legacy of being bestamong worst systems of governance.” Nepal,where cultural differences and sympathy towardswomen are supportive for the prevalence ofviolence, has reshaped its own existence. Aninstance has proven that, many century agoviolence were occurring to create threat to theothers but today it has became fashion for theperpetrator. A recent news in the Gang Rape inDelhi had once again ashamed the democracy andcrossed the limitation of tolerance. A global pollhas been made by the Thomson ReutersFoundation in June came up with report in Indialike “the worst place to be a woman because of highrates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.”The situation of Nepal is not that much satisfactoryat all. Likewise, a UN report last year said Indiawas the world’s most dangerous country in whichto be born a girl as almost twice as many girls diebetween the ages of one and five as boys.

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Governments in South Asia need to addressgender-based violence seriously. South Asia mustwork to change a culture in which women areroutinely devalued. It is said that the police don’tinvestigate such cases carefully due to politicalpressure. Issues such as rape, dowry-related deathand female infanticide have rarely enteredmainstream political discourse in South Asia.Governments, civil society organizations and theworld community must promote respect forinternationally recognized principles, norms andstandards of human rights in the context of therights of women and children. Free from violence isbasic rights for every human beings by virtue oftheir status. It is natural rights where life ofeveryone must be secured. Writing of John Lockein the Western world had talked since long time agoabout the protection of life, liberty and property.Indian Constitution in its article 21 has secured theRight to life as fundamental rights andnon-derogable in nature even in times ofemergency declared. Violence no matter smaller inform or big form directly posed question over thedignity of human beings. Our pseudo cultural traitsare also determining factor for the prevalence ofviolence such as being subordinate to husband aswife and many others. This is the world where welive where women are taken as comfort means,commodities, inferior, and means of pleasure forothers. In WWII many girls from the Japan weretook for the sexual pleasure to the allied camps andsince those time the concept of comfort girl tookplace. Even in the developed nation, violence is

there. Finally, freedom from violence is the basichuman rights enshrined in the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights and manyothers international legislation and also in nationallegislation. It must be realized by the people andshould implement well.

Genderization of Sex and Leading Towards

Violence:

The practice of difference between man andwoman is ‘largely founded’ on “genderization of

sex. Gender refers to the social differences betweenmales and females that are learned, and thoughdeeply rooted in every culture, are changeable overtime, and have wide variations both within andbetween cultures. “Gender” determines the roles,responsibilities, opportunities, privileges,expectations, and limitations for males and forfemales in any culture. Gender-base Violence

(GBV) is an umbrella term for any harmful act thatis perpetrated against a person’s will, and that isbased on socially ascribed (gender) differencesbetween males and females. Gender based violence(GBV), often termed Violence against Women andGirls (VAWG), is violence targeted at individualsor groups on the basis of their gender. Whileresearch suggests that a significant proportion ofwomen worldwide will at some point in their livesexperience GBV, the extent to which men and boysare affected is unknown. GBV is often divided intotwo interlinked categories, interpersonal andstructural/institutional violence. The bitter realityof today’s 21 century or modern world is that largeportion/number of women and girls are the victimsof violence in their own home, by own familymembers which are morally considered to be theirclosest and reliable kin. In a country like Nepalwhere the level of awareness level is bit low thenthe estimated still number of people take the matterrelated with domestic or Gender Based Violence(GBV) is family affairs which leads to theunderreporting of the violence to the authorizepersons. The status of women in a society has acomplex interaction with violence. In places wherewomen have a low status, men are less violentbecause women do not challenge their authority. Insocieties where women already have high status,their status protects them from violence. It is insocieties where women’s status is in transition fromlow to high, that the risk of GBV is high. In Nepal,women have enough power to challenge theauthority of men but not enough status to stopviolence.

Stastictis Of Gender Based Violence in South

Asian Countries:

20


Gender based violence is a pervasive phenomenonacross South Asia, with huge human, economic andsocietal consequences. There has been a culture ofsilence at all levels from the policy makers to thewomen victims themselves and this must change.

Gender-based violence has been rising in this partof the world even though its governments aresignatories to various international legalinstruments to protect women’s rights andeliminate all kinds of discrimination. According toUN Women, five (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Pakistan and Sri Lanka) out of the nine South Asiancountries have legislation against sexualharassment. Only Bangladesh, India, Nepal and SriLanka have laws prohibiting domestic violence.However, women in this region still suffer differentforms of violence as the laws are not beingenforced. In India, rape cases have increasedroughly by 25 percent in six years. New Delhirecorded 572 rapes in 2011. The number ofreported rapes increased from 2,487 in 1971 to24,206 in 2011. According to the Telegraph,35,565 women and girls were kidnapped, 42,968were molested, 8,570 were sexually harassed and99,135 suffered cruelty at the hands of theirhusbands or relatives during that year. Moreover,there were 8,618 “dowry deaths” in which brideswere murdered by their husbands or in-laws.According to a report of the Pakistan NationalCommission on the Status of Women, 8,539women became victims of violence in Pakistan in2011, up by 6.74 percent from 2010. Some forms ofviolence have shown a notable increase, forexample, sexual assault jumped 48.65 per cent,acid throwing 37.5 percent, honor killing 26.57percent and domestic violence 25.51 percent. InBangladesh, an Ain-O-Salish Kendra (ASK) reportshows that at least 1,008 women were raped in2012, among which 98 were later killed. Quotingpolice data, ipnews.net has reported that cases ofdowry-related violence in Bangladesh increased to4,563 in the first nine months of 2012 from 2,981 in2004. Bangladesh witnessed 2,868 recorded rapecases as of August 2012 compared to 2,901 cases in

2004. The situation of women in Nepal is not muchdifferent. According to the data compiled by theWomen Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), 152women have been killed as of November 2012.There were 211 rapes and 12 suicides while 75women were accused of being a witch. Moreover,12 women were murdered in the 16 days of thecampaign against gender violence. WOREC statedthat at least 88 women suffered from differentforms of violence in December alone. The “OccupyBaluwatar” protest movement is going on againstthe robbery and rape of “Sita Rai” and the burning

alive of women by family members.

Relevant International And National Laws:

United Nations Declaration on the Elimination ofViolence Against Women (1993) defines violenceagainst women as “any act of gender-basedviolence that results in, or is likely to result in,physical, sexual, or psychological harm orsuffering to women, including threats of such acts,coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty,whether occurring in public or in private life”.Similarly, the CEDAW ensures equality betweenmen and women and that all forms ofdiscrimination against women should beeliminated and Nepal has shown its fullcommitment to obey it. As expressed in paragraph117 of the Beijing Platform of Action (UN Action,1996) , “the fear of violence, including harassmentis a permanent constraint on the mobility of womenand limits their access to resource and basicactivities. It results in high social, health andeconomic costs to the individual and society and isone of the crucial social mechanisms by whichwomen are forced into a subordinate positioncompared to men.” The World Bank estimates(2003) that rape and domestic violence incidentscompounds for five percent of the healthy life lostto women aged from 15-44 years in developingcountries. The Population Report (1999) revealsthat worldwide at least one woman in every threehas been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwiseabused in her lifetime. Nepal has enacted and

21


implemented the Domestic Violence Act 2009 and

Domestic Violence Regulation 2010. There are various

laws formulated to curb violence against women in

Nepal. To name some of them— there is Interim

Constitution of Nepal 2063; the country Code 2020;

Domestic Violence Crime and Punishment Act 2066 and

Regulation 2068. Despite having a long list of

legislation and regulation, the situation of free violence

is not satisfactory and they are not able to work well.

There are several international conventions andresolutions that stipulate the protection andpromotion of women’s political participation.Some of the relevant ones are: The preamble of theConvention on the Elimination of Discriminationagainst Women (CEDAW) states about thenecessity of women participation in thedevelopment activities. General recommendationNo 23 made by the CEDAW Committee explainsthat there shouldn’t be any such hurdle for theenjoyment of any benefit to the women. TheCEDAW Committee also states that there must beapplication of principle of equality in theparticipation. The United Nations Security CouncilResolution 1325 calls on the concerned authority totake proper measures related to the genderperspective. The Beijing Platform for Action 1995states the empowerment of women must be the keygoal of the government. It is critical thatinternational standards and human rights laws aretaken into consideration when developing and

implementing the Constituent Assembly.

Conclusion:

Through the initiation of youth in the GBV some ofthe problem related to it will definitely solve.Proper awareness campaigns and also training tothe victims must be promulgated as soon aspossible. Even the law is not strong enough toovercome the mentality of questioning women’sclaims. The mentality to see women only as sexsymbols and objects has been a hindrance toproviding justice to the victims. Courts need toestablish a fast track system to deliver justice tovictims without delay. Non-violent men have a role

to play in helping to prevent violence againstwomen, and shaping respectful, gender-equitableattitudes and behavior among their peers.Education and awareness programmes need to belaunched from the central to the local levels.Improvement and implementation of existinglegislation is strongly required. Political leadersand parties are often accused of disregarding therule of law.

Following are some of the ideas which can beimplemented well through the well participation of

youth to end the Gender Based Violence:

· Creating a sense of awareness among the family.

· Talking with the friends and others about the endof violence.

· Tackling various forms of violence prevelant inthe society.

· Complaining to the police personal to end it.

· Showing your activeness to end it.

· Making a 'defender group' for its elimination.

These ideas have been implemented by variouscountries to solve the problems of GBV. GBV isnot an individual problem but a social problemwhere all the members of society have equal levelof responsibility and obligation to speak up onthese issues. The youth activeness in the Delhi gangRape case has shaken the world community onceagain about the hidden force of youth to fight withthe social evil such as GBV.

[Vijay Jayshwal has recently been elected as

Secretary of SOCH Youth in Nepal and also

working as young human rights activist in

association with Amnesty International Nepal and

also student of LL.B final year at Kathmandu

School of Law. This paper was presented in the

International Seminar on Human Rights in R.G.

(P.G.) College, Meerut, U.P., India on 30.7.13

[email protected]]

22


The Worth and Weight of Vote:

An Indian Perspective

—Ritvik Mangesh Kulkarni

Introduction: The ancient Greeks have earned aunique place in human history on account of theirsterling contribution to political theory andpractice. Political participation was seen as thetelos of the Greek citizenry. This was particularlytrue of democratic Athens where the citizens usedto jointly formulate and implement public policy.But humanity has travelled far since then, and thedirect participation of an entire adult population inpolitical affairs is not feasible, especially in ahumongous country like India. Along the way,institutional mechanisms have been developed,which enable democratically electedrepresentatives to reflect and translate the will ofthe people into laws and policies. India is ademocratic republic governed by the people’srepresentatives and the right to vote is guaranteedby the Constitution. According to Article 326 of theConstitution, this right is available to all adultcitizens (barring a few exceptions) and is meant toencourage the citizenry to engage in maximumpolitical participation. Such a right along with astrong watchdog like the Election Commission ofIndia is the key to free and fair elections. Butdespite the best intentions of the Founding Fathersand the mechanisms they created, therepresentative character of electoral outcomes inIndia has almost always been open to criticism. Thefocus of this paper is on the normative aspects ofsuch criticism and on possible structural reforms tomake our democratic system truly andmeaningfully representative. In a reportcommissioned by the CommonwealthParliamentary Association, two Canadian electionofficers suggest that the key test of the fairness ofelections is whether ‘the will of a majority of thevoters is expressed freely, clearly, knowledgeably

and in secret’. The question remains as to whetherthe will of the people is represented adequately atall. There are two main systems of representation,the Majoritarian and the Proportional System.Since independence Indians have been electingtheir representatives using the First-Past-the-Postmethod of the plurality system, in which thecandidate who secures the maximum votes getselected to office. She may or (in most cases) maynot enjoy a clear popular majority. This means thatthe will of the electorate is not adequatelyrepresented in the legislature and the government.

The plurality system may not be the ideal formrepresentation for a country like India. Generally incountries which have adopted this system, there is atwo-party competition in elections, and one cantherefore argue that plurality trumps majority forthe purpose of representation. But this can onlyensure legitimacy for the winning party innumerical terms, not in the quality ofrepresentation. In India, a country having aplethora of political parties, this system would lacklegitimacy in most respects. A possibility thenarises for the need to shift to a more proportionalform of representation in the Lok Sabha. Theprobability of a vote cast to hold some weight insuch a system has been proven empirically to bemuch more than in those which have experiencedthe vagaries of the winner-takes-all system. Alongwith this there is an increased representation forminority groups and interests as well. Hence itwould be a worthwhile endeavor to consider thestructural change from the plurality system to aproportional one for the popular representation.

Democratic Elections: Representation and its

Role: Democracy is inherently a form of majorityrule by the people. But what constitutes a majorityhas been a controversial issue throughout thehistory of democracy. In ancient Athens only abouta quarter of the population was eligible toparticipate in politics. Similar was the situation inmedieval Europe where power was vested only inthe privileged groups like the nobility and theclergy. Thus, women and the working class lacked

23


representation. By the mid-twentieth century, mostdemocracies in the world guaranteed universaladult franchise and virtually all citizens acquiredthe right to vote. This has been possible due to thegrowing acceptance of values such as equality andhuman rights. Democracy and elections haveprovided institutional mechanisms to bring theseideals into practice. The former nurtures humanequality as a matter of principle. The latter is themeans to achieve democracy as it ensuresrepresentation of the popular will in thegovernment of a country. Periodic free and fairelections make it possible to hold therepresentatives accountable to their mandate,which strengthens the democratic foundation ofgovernment. In medieval Tamil Nadu, palm leaveswere used for village assembly elections. Theleaves, with the candidates’ names written on them,were put inside a mud pot for counting. This wasknown as the Kudavolai system. But barring a fewexceptions like this, democracy as a form of rulewas very rare in pre-modern India. While thewestern world was developing democratic ideals,India became a British colony. The leaders ofindependent India decided that it would be ademocratic republic, an ideal that was laterincorporated in the Constitution whichacknowledged the necessity and benefits ofensuring free and fair elections. So essential is thefree and fair nature of elections to Indiandemocracy that it has been held as one of the basicfeatures of the Constitution. The right to vote isguaranteed under article 326 of the Constitution.Because of the high importance given to theinstitution of elections, it can be held at par with afundamental right. This entails that all citizens havean equal right to vote, and that their vote is equallydecisive. It also implies that the voice of each votershould be represented equally in the Parliament.But this does not happen in practice as the currentelectoral system (First Past the Post) has manyshortcomings and does not serve the best interestsof the voters who are inadequately represented bythe elected candidates. Before we move on to the

practicalities of representation in different electoralsystems, it would be pertinent to take a look at sometheories of political representation. Representationin common parlance would mean to re-presentsomething, like a painting representing specificobjects or persons. But in Political Science,representation has a different meaning. It oftenimplies a principal-agent relationship between thevoter and her representative. Historically, literatureon this topic has focused on whetherrepresentatives perform the role of trustees ordelegates. Trustees are those representatives whoact on their own will, believing that it would be inthe interest of the represented. This has beenfamously argued by Edmund Burke, whereasJames Madison has argued in favor of the delegatedform of representation where the representativesmerely act on the preferences expressed by therepresented. These forms are conflicting in natureand entail different expectations from theirrepresentatives. Hannah Pitkin argues that onemust not disregard the paradoxical nature of thisarrangement, and safeguard the autonomy of bothstakeholders. She discusses four forms ofrepresentation; formalistic, descriptive, symbolicand substantive. A brief overview of two of these ispresented below-

Formalistic Representation: Formalisticrepresentation has two dimensions: authorizationand accountability. Authorization is the means bywhich the representative obtains her officialposition. Accountability stems from the power ofthe represented to punish the representative if thelatter’s decisions are in conflict with the popularwill. It is enforced through mechanisms such as‘recall’, which is a vote to remove a representativefrom office.

Substantive Representation: Substantiverepresentation essentially deals with the activity ofthe representatives. It focuses on the extent towhich their acts and decisions are in the bestinterests of the electorate. It defines theprincipal-agent relationship and tries to establishthe legitimacy of the representatives, by assessing

24


the outcome of the policy adopted andimplemented by them. If it is in the best interests ofthe people and if public opinion endorses it then theagent can be said to be adequately representing theprincipal In many democratic states, a huge gapdivides the privileged and the rest. The elites areenjoying economic, social and politicaladvantages. Thus in a country like India, the entireadult population has the right to vote, and hence inprinciple the right to have a say in the decisionmaking process. But it is quite obvious that thepolitical class does not represent the will of themasses, but instead acts in favor of the elites. Insuch a situation, it is to guarantee genuineautonomy and power to the ordinary voter. Ibelieve that the delegated form of representationcan facilitate this by compelling the representativesto rise above narrow self interest and cater to thepreferences of the public at large.

Electoral Systems: A Comparative Analysis:

Around 114 countries in the world have adoptedthe plurality system of parliamentary democracy.75 countries have adopted the proportional systemand another 22 use semi-proportional system.Among these, 7 countries including Germany andNew Zealand use the Multi-Member Proportionalmethod. When classified by population size, thedominance of plurality-majority systems becomeseven more pronounced as these collectivelyrepresent 2.44 billion people. The ProportionalRepresentation systems constitute three-quarters ofall electoral systems in Western Europe. A briefoverview of various electoral systems is offeredbelow and an attempt is made to identify theelectoral system that would be ideal for the IndianDemocracy. An electoral system is basically thatprocess which determines the translation of votesinto seats. The electoral formulas applied totranslate the votes into seats can be divided intothree main types, Majoritarian, Proportional andthe Mixed.

Majoritarian formulas consisting of the

plurality system and the alternative voting

systems: In these systems, a candidate is declared awinner if she either secures a plurality of votes(most votes), or a majority of votes (more thanhalf). These systems have been employed inseveral countries in the world including the UnitedStates of America, India and the United Kingdomfor elections to the lower house of the legislativebodies. Dating back to the 12th century, it is theoldest and the simplest type of electoral systems.The system which requires a mere plurality of votesfor a candidate to be declared the winner of a seatprioritizes the stability of governance over thequality of representation, especially that of theminority. This is achieved by creating a“manufactured majority” by exaggerating the shareof seats for the leading party. Each voter has onevote using which candidates are elected fromsingle-member constituencies. There is nominimum number or percentage of votes needed toget elected to office. The party which has the mostnumber of elected candidates is invited to form thegovernment.

Proportional Representation (PR): In thecommonly used List PR system, a political partypresents a list of its candidates to be voted intooffice. The emphasis is on the representation of theminorities instead of merely forming a governmentthrough a simple majority. Such systems requirethe electorate to be divided into multi-memberconstituencies. Most commonly adopted in Europe,it can be found in countries like Italy, theNetherlands, Spain and Portugal. The listspresented may be open, as in case of theNetherlands, where the voter gets a choice betweencandidates, or closed lists in which the candidateshave been ranked by the political party and thevoter casts the ballot for a party. Parties have tosecure a minimum number of seats to get elected.Various electoral formulae applied to determineproportionality of the votes to the seats.

Mixed Systems: The Additional Member Systemis a combination of the plurality and proportionalforms of representation. It tries to combine the bestof both worlds by taking the positive aspects of the

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FPTP and the PR systems. This is a fairly newsystem in the world and has been adopted bycountries like Germany, Bolivia, Mexico and NewZealand in the lower house of their legislature.Instead of the conventional one vote, the voter caststwo distinct votes; one for the representative fromthe constituency and another for the political partylists. If this were implemented in India for the LokSabha elections, the voter would have two votes inhand; one of which she would cast for the candidatestanding for elections from her constituency (theusual system in India) and another to vote for apolitical party at the national level. What thisessentially does is that after the election of thecandidates from their constituencies if at all there isan imbalance in the number of seats secured, thenthe following vote helps to bring in some amount ofproportionality to the legislature.

Proportional Representation/ First-Past-the-Post

System: There has been a long-standing debate asto the ideal electoral system for a democracy. Thetwo main contenders for that position are theProportional Representation and the Pluralitysystem of representation. A majority of democraticcountries have been using the plurality method forelections. It has a number of advantages as it isfairly simple and conducive to governmentalstability. Voters get a clear cut choice between twomajor parties and keeps away small third partieswhich hold extremist views. It also tries to avoidthe possibility of a more unstable coalitiongovernment. But in a country like India where thereare several political parties contesting the nationalelections, despite the plurality system there arecoalition governments and lack of stability at thecost of all those votes which turned out to beindecisive. There have been instances where eithernewly formed democracies (like South Africa)have adopted proportional representation orexisting democracies (like New Zealand) haveshifted to proportional (or in most cases) to mixedforms of representation. This has happened mainlybecause of the drawbacks of the winner-takes-allsystem. This system is based on a plurality of votes

and disregards the need for a majority. The winningparty even with less than half the votes securesmore than half of the seats in the lower house of theParliament. The parties which represent thecultural, religious and ethnic minorities of a nationare denied their fair share in the legislature. Thegovernment so formed by the winning party willalso have the least members voicing the interests ofminority groups. This will tilt the national policy infavor of the majority and will eventually disregardthe minority. In India where the plurality method isapplied, and where women make up for nearly halfthe electorate, they occupy a mere 11 percent of theseats in the current Lok Sabha. We can see fromthis fact the massive under-representation ofwomen as it falls considerably short of the globalstandard of 30 percent set in the UNDP(Commission on the Status of Women) at theBeijing Conference in 1995. In addition to thisdefect, a huge number of votes are wasted and thevoice of a large percentage of the population goesunheard. This happens because when governmentis formed by the winning party which secured aplurality number of votes in the elections, is devoidof the representation of all those people who votedfor the candidates who just narrowly lost andtogether all the losing candidates make aconsiderable amount of majority as against thewinning candidate. When people realize that theirvote has an extremely low or no decisive value,they will no longer have faith in the system ofelections. As the main objective of elections is tofairly represent the interests of the voter, such asystem will lose its democratic character.Proportional representation involves the election ofcandidates from multi-member constituenciesthrough the list system. The constituencies in sucha system are larger than those in the pluralitysystem and each constituency elects more than onecandidate. Each political party releases a list ofcandidates and voters have to choose among theparty lists. The direct effect of this system is that itintroduces a sense of competition among themembers of one party. Such an increase in healthy

26


competition will enhance the chances of betteraccountability to the people during and afterelections. In the current system where only onecandidate is elected from one constituency, theburden and responsibility of the entire campaign islaid upon her. Even though in most cases thepolitical party will also chip in and help her out, shestill has to shoulder most of the electoralresponsibilities. No matter how hard she works,there are limitations on the extent to which she canbe successful in these endeavors. But a number ofcandidates were running for elections on behalf ofeach party, these responsibilities would be dividedamongst them. Each candidate would get to choosewhich of the areas she has to deal with and woulddispose of the task with increased efficiency. Morecandidates would try their best to secure votes fromeach voter and her voice would reach out to all ofthem raising the probability that it would end upbeing heard by those in power. Voters will realizethat not only has the value of their vote increasedbut also that after the vote that their interests will bebetter served. Candidates who are members of thesame party have to contest within the ideologicallimitations placed upon them by their politicalparty without compromising on the fundamentalvalues of the party. Therefore at the end of the day,the people who will benefit the most are the votersand the political parties; it is a win-win scenario. Inthis system, the number of seats secured by a partyis directly proportional to the number of votes itsecures. In a legislature with 200 seats, if a partysecures 30 percent of the total votes, it will secure60 seats. This helps the minority parties to squeezetheir way into the legislature and exercise a greaterpower to bargain for those they represent. Thisworks in favor for ethnic minorities, religiousminorities, economically backward groups, andwomen. The parties so elected would try to advancethe interests of these minorities in the matters ofpublic policy, benefitting these previouslyneglected groups. When a person votes for a list,there are very high chances that the vote so castholds a decisive value. The voter can see that the

vote she has cast has had a meaningful contributionto make in choosing the leaders of her country andfeels a sense of empowerment.

The Current Indian Scenario: In India, amajority of the voters place their faith in theinstitution of democracy. They believe stronglythat democracy is the ideal form of government andelections are the right way to choose their leaders.Yet, they have always been dissatisfied with thefunctioning of democratic institutions in thecountry. To illustrate, in 1996, around 63 percent ofthe electorate believed that representatives did notpay attention to or care about what the votersthought or wanted; whereas only about 22 percentthought otherwise. In addition to this, only about 31percent of the people felt that their relations withthe government were cordial. It can be inferredtherefore that many a party and its leaders are beingtolerated by the people only because of their faith inthe democratic system. Until recently Indian votersused to seek affiliation with their representativesprimarily on the basis of factors such as caste orlanguage. To a certain extent ideological affinitywas also taken into account while voting for acandidate. But lately the concept of representationhas changed. The middle class voters, whosenumbers and political weight have graduallyincreased, now attach greater importance to thecaliber and performance of their representatives.They try to see whether the latter actually respecttheir preferences and safeguard their interests. Thisshift accords with Pitkin’s notion of substantiverepresentation mentioned earlier. More than howthe representatives resemble them, the emphasishas shifted to how far the policy implemented is infavor of the electorate. The voters demand moreaccountability from the politicians and moretransparency in the functioning of the government.

Even though the British granted independence toIndia in 1947, they left behind a colonial legacy.Many features of British government were retainedin independent India. An import one among thesewas the Westminster model of parliamentarydemocracy based on the first-past-the-post

27


electoral system. The Constituent Assemblycomprising a number of eminent jurists, lawyers,constitutional experts and political thinkersdeliberated for three years and debated the issue ofwhich electoral system would be ideal for thenewly born Indian democracy. But at that point oftime it was important to guarantee the formation ofa united and stable government as a developingnation could not afford fragmented legislatures.Hence the first-past-the-post system was dulyadopted. In India representation has a geographicaland demographic basis. The entire country isdivided in 543 single-member constituencies andeach of them is represented by one member in theLok Sabha. The General Elections happen everyfive years and the party or coalition securing amajority of seats in the Lok Sabha forms thegovernment. Till 1977, the Congress occupied adominant position in successive elections andformed a majority government at the federal leveland in most states, leading to political stability inthe country. But after 1977, Congress lost itsmonopoly and since 1996, all the federalgovernments have been coalition governments.They have been characterized by a good deal ofinfighting and two of them could not complete theirrespective terms. The first-past-the-post electoralsystem could never do justice to the diversity ofIndian society, and it can no longer ensure theformation of a stable and efficient government. Thetime has come to consider the desirability ofswitching over to a different electoral system.

The Case for Proportional Representation: Thequestion of electoral reform in India has beenfrequently debated in public forums sinceIndependence. Due to a large number of problems,both structural and procedural, there have beenmany suggestions for changing the electoral systemso as to plug all the loopholes in it. The need for adrastic change has been felt even more keenly inthe last two decades which have witnessed theadvent of unstable, cacophonous governments andan unprecedented rise in corruption. In 1974, onbehalf of the Citizens of Democracy, Jayaprakash

Narayan appointed a six-member committeeheaded by Justice V. M. Tarkunde, to study andreport on a scheme for electoral reforms. Thecommittee favoured the imparting ofproportionality to the way votes are translated intoseats. Some of its relevant recommendations arepresented below. When no candidate secures anabsolute majority of the votes polled, the seat forthat constituency will not be filled from this directelection. Before the day of polling, each recognizedparty will be asked to submit a list of its candidatesin order of preference state-wise for the Lok Sabha,which would be publicized in advance of polling.After polling, all seats not filled by direct electionwill be distributed State-wise (in case ofParliament) among the various parties in such amanner that the total number of seats they get in theLok Sabha are in proportion to the valid votes theysecured. This will be done by declaring elected asmany members from the top of each party list aswill result, in the total strength of each party(including directly elected members as well asthose elected from the lists) being roughlyproportionate to the votes polled by each party,including those polled by the successfulcandidates. This was essentially a proposal to adopta slightly modified German system of proportionalrepresentation. The only difference being theIndian voter would still have one vote each;whereas the Germans had two votes, one for thesingle member constituency and another for theparty list. It was also supported by S. L Shakdher,the then Chief Election Commissioner of India. Butdespite these recommendations, it was neverfinally adopted. The need of the hour is not a just astable and efficient government, but also anaccountable legislature and fair representation forall. It is my belief that all these objectives can beachieved by shifting to a proportional form ofrepresentation. The example of New Zealand ishighly relevant to Indian democracy from ahistorical as well structural standpoint. A lot can belearned from New Zealand’s eschewal of thefirst-past-the-post system in favor of

28


Multi-Member Proportionality (MMP) System.But it is not only the change in electoral system thatIndia can learn from; it can also learn from thosemechanisms which served as a platform to considerthe change in the first place. The referendums thatwere held over a period of time had a major role toplay in the transition. They established ameaningful rapport between the government andthe people and showed that the former actuallyvalued the opinion of the larger public. Such amechanism has almost never been employed inIndia and is needed to bring about a betterdemocracy. Due to the similarities between thedemocratic systems of New Zealand and India, theprocess to initiate the transition should also besimilar. I acknowledge the fact that there aresignificant dissimilarities between the twocountries in terms of the size and population ofeach, and this makes a huge difference when publicadministration and policy are concerned. It isextremely difficult to manage elections in a countrywhich is around 12 times larger than New Zealand.But despite the colossal size and population of thecountry, the fact remains that since Independence,the General Elections have been regularly held atperiodic intervals.15 It is quite possible for India tohold a referendum on the desirability of adopting aproportional form of representation. The proposalto hold a referendum must be deliberated in andendorsed by the Parliament if it is to gainlegitimacy. If the Members of Parliament agree onthe need for such a referendum, the governmentshould ask the Election Commission of India toreport on the question of a suitable change in thecountry’s electoral system. Meanwhile, a concertedcampaign should be launched to generate aninformed public opinion on the issue. This can bedone by educating the electorate about thecomparative merits and modalities of variouselectoral systems. For example, a citizen shouldknow that in case the MMP system is adopted,instead of the conventional one vote, the voter willhave an additional vote. The adoption of a pure PRsystem would require massive changes in the

current electoral infrastructure. Hence it would bemore convenient for India to shift to a mixed formof representation. There will be two votes for eachcitizen of the country and the legislature will bedivided into two parts. Half of the seats will besecured by those candidates who win in theirrespective constituencies and another half will beallotted on the basis of the votes that the party listsreceive. While retaining single-memberconstituencies, this change would introduceanother geographical mode of representation in theelectoral process. Each party would draw a list ofits candidates and compete at the State level. So incase the candidates of a minority party do not getthrough the first round of FPTP, there are increasedchances that the party will secure representationthrough the PR route. There are currently 543 seatsin the Lok Sabha, one for each constituency inIndia. If MMP were adopted, there would be a needto create a ratio between those seats which will befilled by candidates who get a majority insingle-member constituencies and those assignedto the top candidates from the party lists. TheTarkunde Committee had recommended thissystem. It gave two alternatives. The first of thesewas in keeping with the German method. Thenumber of seats in the Bundestag is divided intotwo halves: 328 seats are for the single memberconstituencies and 328 for the party lists. The otheralternative proposed by the Committee was tochange the ratio from 1/2:1/2 to 2/3:1/3. This waytwo thirds of the seats will be filled by the usualmethod and a third of the seats through the party listmethod. Such a method can be applied to the LokSabha. An argument raised against proportionalrepresentation is that it leads to unstable coalitiongovernments.16 However, most of the countrieswhich have adopted a proportional system havehad fairly stable coalition governments. In anycase, India is used to coalition politics by now.Further, considering the inevitability of a coalitionin a PR system, the majority parties would paymore attention to the preferences of the minorities.In the current system of FPTP this is not possible

29


because only one candidate gets elected to thelegislature from one constituency. But in PR theparty chooses to release a list of its candidates forelections. Making optimum use of this feature theywill try to accommodate multiple candidates insuch a way that maximum representation isprovided to all groups. For example in a list of fivecandidates, there can be two Hindus, one Muslim,one representing the backward classes and anotherfrom a linguistic minority, and at least two of themcould be women. Only the Parliament can initiate aprocess of structural transition in the electoraldomain. This will be possible only if there is astrong public opinion in its favor and/or there aresignificant parties which believe that they willbenefit from such a change. During all these years,both the people and the parties seem to have madetheir peace with the current system of elections. Butthe ongoing popular clamor for a morerepresentative, cleaner, accountable and efficientgovernment points to the possibility and necessityof putting electoral reform on the Republic’sagenda.

Conclusion: We have considered the strengths andpitfalls of the two most commonly used systems ofrepresentation. Upon comparison we have foundthat in India, a proportional form of representationwould fare better than the current system of FPTP.This is mainly because the former ensures that the

number of seats won by a political party isproportional to the number of votes it has secured.In MMP, the voters have a wider range of choice asthey get to choose and rank in order of preference.Each voter is given two different votes for acandidate from a single member constituency andfor a political party at the regional level. This inmany ways empowers the voter and puts her in abetter position to bargain with the political parties.Minority groups and women will gain from MMPas there are greater chances of their grievances to beheard and redressed at the national level. The factremains that there is no means to determine the‘best’ (read foolproof) electoral system. In adeveloping country like India the political scenariois far from consistent, and to make a radical changein the electoral system would be a bold step for theyoung democracy. The benefits of the PR system,especially its MMP variant, outweigh those of thecurrent system, but the performance of this systemcan be truly judged only after it has been put intopractice but given a fair chance, would require agreat deal of motivation on the part of our peopleand effort on the part of our leaders.

[Ritvik Mangesh Kulkarni is pursuing L.L.B at I.

L. S. Law College, Pune and a Diploma Course in

Intellectual Property Laws at the Symbiosis Law

School. [email protected]]

30


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Book & Film Review Section:

1) Film Review:

Free Tilly!—Donald R. Prothero

Every year, millions of people visit marinetheme parks, especially those run by the

giant SeaWorld Corporation, including three in theU.S. in San Diego, San Antonio, and Orlando.They spend hundreds of millions of dollars not onlyin admissions and rides, but also food,merchandise, parking and many other expenses.My own family used to have an annual pass toSeaWorld San Diego, because we visited sofrequently. The centerpiece of each visit was thekiller whale (or orca) show, where “Shamu” (a roleplayed by many different whales) goes through itstricks, splashes the audience, and astonishes uswith its apparent “tameness” despite their scarysize. But after watching Blackfish, I can no longerstand to go there. I cannot imagine watching thekiller whale show ever again.

Blackfish is a gripping documentary film thatfollows a series of recent events concerning theabuse of orcas in captivity, especially as they havelong been used in shows. First released at theSundance Film Festival in January 2013, since Julyit has gone into wider release in large cities withmovie houses that specialize in indie, foreign, anddocumentary films. It has received universal ravereviews, and rated a 98% “Fresh” ranking on theRottenTomatoes.com movie site. Unlike someexposés, this movie (“blackfish” is the name thatFirst Nations people gave to orcas) obtained anincredible amount of information and access, andinterviews nearly all the people close to the story(including a number of former SeaWorld trainerswho quit when they could no longer live withthemselves). Through the details provided by thesemany trainers and other witnesses, the film showsin gut-wrenching and painful detail how inhumaneit is to keep a huge marine predator that is adapted

to large complex social groups, and capable ofswimming in packs hundreds of miles each day,and confining them for decades among otherhostile whales in something that feels like abathtub.

The movie begins with a teaser about the tragicdeath of senior SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheauon February 24, 2010, when she was performingwith a 12,000-pound, 23-foot-long bull orca namedTilikum (“Tilly” to the trainers). It then jumps backin time to 1983, interviewing the man who capturedTilikum by tearing him away from his mother as ayoung calf in Iceland, killing many other whales inthe pod, and covering up the crime. The film thentraces Tilikum’s history: first, in a poorly runfacility called SeaLand in Victoria, B.C. where hewas brutalized by the older whales, confined to avery small pool, and eventually killed a trainer.When that incident caused SeaLand to close in1992, Tilikum was sold to SeaWorld, where hebecame the star of the Orlando park. None of thestaff knew of Tilikum’s traumatized past or hisprevious killing, and he became a regular in moreand more shows as trainers took greater and greaterrisks. Yet the film documents many close callswhere trainers nearly died, but the incidents wereall covered up. In 1999, Tilikum killed a man whohad hid after park closing, and apparently tried toget too close to the whale during the night (he wasallegedly not detected, even though they havesecurity cameras everywhere). His body was foundnaked and maimed, floating atop Tilikum, the nextmorning.

Interspersed with the story of Tilikum areinteresting interviews with marine biologists aboutorcas in the wild, describing their incrediblycomplex social structure, with a wide range ofvocalizations that can be rightfully called“different languages.” Again and again, the moviedemonstrates not only how intelligent thesecreatures are, but also how they are tightly bondedto their family units in the pod. The offspring neverleave their mothers for their entire lives—unlessdeath or a marine park separates them. Although

31


SeaWorld is the primary focus of the story, the filmtakes a brief tour to another similar park in theCanary Islands west of Spain, where a marine parkabused its animals, and eventually an orca killed atrainer. The film then concludes with the details ofthe death of Dawn Brancheau, and shows thatTilikum without provocation suddenly dragged herto her death, and then ate her. (You see a lot ofgut-wrenching footage, but no actual killings ormaimings).

This incident led to an OSHA investigation, withSeaWorld trying to escape liability by blaming it on“trainer error”, even though the video footage ofthe incident, the eyewitnesses, and the trainers whoknew her, clearly demonstrate that she did nothingwrong. OSHA ruled against SeaWorld, andconcluded that orcas were too dangerous to behandled this way. SeaWorld employees now mustkeep barriers between themselves and the whales atall times, and no longer enter the water with them.But there is a much larger issue here. At one time,we thought of orcas as frightening, terrible “killerwhales” and they were the subject of numerouslow-budget exploitation films. Now we understandthat they are as intelligent, or more intelligent, thanany other wild animal, with complex socialbehaviors and tight mother-offspring bonds—yetwe treat them as “dumb fish” to be cooped up intiny pools, and moved around from park to park,disrupting their family bonds that are seldombroken in the wild.

Clearly, it makes no sense to put humans in harm’sway, because these creatures are always “wildanimals” that could turn on you and kill you in afew seconds. (Just ask Siegfried and Roy). But thefilm makes it clear that keeping them in theseinhumane conditions is incredibly cruel andtraumatic for them, and there is no real justificationfor it. They are not threatened in the wild, so (unlikesome endangered animals in zoos) the marine parksare not protecting them from extinction. Nor doesthe “educational value” of letting a few people seethem close-up justify the inhumanity of theirconfinement for decades. Some would argue that

SeaWorld could build them bigger pools to swimin, although this is ludicrous when you realize theyswim hundreds of miles a day in the wild. And whathas SeaWorld been building instead? Rollercoasters! So why does SeaWorld do it, and why didthey try to blame the victim whenever tragedyoccurs? As you might expect, it’s all about money.Not only are the orca shows the biggest draws inSeaWorld (generating revenue not only with theirshows, but especially with all the merchandise), butTilikum in particular is valuable as a stud. Hissperm is worth thousands of dollars, andconsequently he is the father of a large number ofthe whales currently in the collections. (We evenget to see how they stimulate the semen out of a bullorca in graphic detail). Clearly, SeaWorld viewsthe orca show as critical to their entire businessmodel. No wonder they refused to cooperate withthe filmmakers. When they did respond to the filmshortly before its release, their PR statement mostlymisrepresented what the film actually says, orrepeated the false claim that Dawn Brancheau wasto blame for having a ponytail that the whale couldgrab (clearly debunked by the actual videofootage). Corporations clearly want to protectthemselves, but you emerge from the filmdisgusted with SeaWorld’s well-documentedpattern of covering up dozens of dangerousincidents and close calls, and trying to play down orcover up the deaths that Tilikum alone caused—orblame the victim after she is dead and cannotdefend herself. The ancient Romans enjoyedbrutality, watching gladiators fight to death in theirarenas, and lions eat Christians. Animals of everykind were forced to fight and kill each other—allfor entertainment. A few centuries ago, bear baitingwas considered fun and acceptable as a sport. Bullfighting, dog fighting, and cock fighting are stillfound around the world, although they are illegal inmost of the developed countries. We look on thesepractices and cannot imagine how people couldderive enjoyment out of such horrendous treatmentof animals. Perhaps some day soon, we’ll look backand have the same attitude toward depriving and

32


torturing orcas, and keeping them in prison for ourown enjoyment as well. After all, most research onchimps is over or nearly phased out. Sometimes we

do make progress. Film Review URL:

http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/13-09-11/#Ske

pticality

[Dr. Donald R. Prothero was Professor of Geology

at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and Lecturer

in Geobiology at the California Institute of

Technology in Pasadena. He earned M.A., M.Phil.,

and Ph.D. degrees in geological sciences from

Columbia University in 1982, and a B.A. in

geology and biology (highest honors, Phi Beta

Kappa) from the University of California,

Riverside. He is currently the author, co-author,

editor, or co-editor of 32 books and over 250

scientific papers, including five leading geology

textbooks and five trade books as well as edited

symposium volumes and other technical works. He

is on the editorial board of Skeptic magazine, and

in the past has served as an associate or technical

editor for Geology, Paleobiology and Journal of

Paleontology. He is a Fellow of the Geological

Society of America, the Paleontological Society,

and the Linnaean Society of London, and has also

received fellowships from the Guggenheim

Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

He has served as the President and Vice President

of the Pacific Section of SEPM (Society of

Sedimentary Geology), and five years as the

Program Chair for the Society of Vertebrate

Paleontology. In 1991, he received the Schuchert

Award of the Paleontological Society for the

outstanding paleontologist under the age of 40. He

has also been featured on several television

documentaries, including episodes of Paleoworld

(BBC), Prehistoric Monsters Revealed (History

Channel), Entelodon and Hyaenodon (National

Geographic Channel) and Walking with

Prehistoric Beasts (BBC). His website is:

www.donaldprothero.com. Check out Donald

Prothero’s page at Shop Skeptic].

2) Book Review:

From Lal Salaam to RedBlooms

—By Dipavali Sen

[BOOK: Red Blooms in the Forest, Nilima

Sinha, Niyogi Books, New Delhi, 2013,

paperback, pp 243, price Rs 350.]

An evocative name and a sensitivetreatment have been given to the

Naxalite movement in this novel by Nilima Sinha.

To treat this particular theme still requires a lot ofdaring as well as delicacy. The author had shownboth and treated difficult issues with literary charm.Nilima Sinha has carved out a niche for herself inchildren’s literature, having several prizes to hercredit and international acclaim as well. Throughher long association with the Association ofWriters and Illustrators for Children (A.W.I.C.),she has encouraged children’s literature in India togrow. The most interesting aspect of hercontribution to children’s literature in India is thatshe has written about the plight of forced childlabour, e.g., in her book S.O.S. from Muniya.Widely traveled, with intimate acquaintance withlife in and around Jharkhand, she has directknowledge of the matter. She knows as well asloves the heartland of India. It is from that informedsympathy that this book, Red Blooms in the Forest,has emerged. It is another of the fine productions ofNiyogi Books, a relatively young and unknownpublishing house with coffee-table books andautobiographies to its credit. The cover design (byShashi Bhushan Prasad) captures the theme verywell. The language is sweet, the style simple.Books on similar themes are usually rife withcurses and slang and `bad language’. It is a relief tofind that this book is not. References to the sunset,the shadows, the peal of temple bells and so on,creates an atmosphere of peace and beauty throughwhich, of course, gunshots ring out.

In the book, Champa, a teenager from a village nearthe saal forests of Jharkhand gets caught up in

33


whorl of Naxalite insurgence. The opening of thebook is poignant, when hungry and hunted ‘junglefolk’ in khaki clothes barge into her hut anddemand the pet goat to be cooked for them,especially hurting the sensitivities of Champa’syounger brother Gopu. Champa’s Babuji is pickedup by the police. Her traumatic visit to the muffasil

police station is described with realism but withoutcrudity. Later, to get her father out of policecustody, Champa goes into the jungle and ties upwith Vijay, one of the Maovadis. He takes her toCommander Bhaskar, a physics teacher fromAndhra Pradesh, then “known as a hotbed ofMaoist activity”( p 59). He had joined the Maoiststo avenge his sister’s humiliation and death. Nowhe was in charge of a militant group of young menand women in this jungle. Disillusioned with thepolice, Champa joins the Maoist rebels. Withoutmaking it heavy stuff, the author mentions Marxistand Maoist literature being read by the members ofthe group. “The annihilation of class enemies, withextreme violence if need be, was the goal of allgroups, who were committed to Mao’s strategy of`protracted armed struggle’, leading to the seizureof power. In great excitement Vijay read thedocument, ‘Hold High the Bright Red Banner ofMarxism-Leninism-Maoism’, along with otherpapers that were outlined by the Central Committeeof the Maoists, and dreamt of a bright future for thepeople once they were in power. The thought ofhaving a Communist Liberated Zone covering theentire stretch of territory from Nepal, Bihar,Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Odisha, down toAndhra Pradesh, under the revolutionary rule of theNaxalites was a dream that elated.” (pp 78-79)

Champa too begins to feel the elation. She alsofeels an attraction for Vikas that is more thancomradeship. Her feeling is not unreciprocatedeither. At this point, a youth named Manas Gupta, aproduct of IIT and Harvard, enters the novel. TheNaxalites in the jungle kidnap him. He tried tomake his escape but gets shot in the leg, and sore-captured. At this `action’ Chandra feels anunquiet in her mind. She realizes that over the

month she has spent here, she had become “a slavefor life” (p 108). In spite of his leg-injury, Manasremains spirited and questions Vijay and othersabout their activities and attitudes. He is made tocontact his people through the mobile phone andChampa is moved by his emotions as he does so.Sudhir, an enthusiastic member of the group, getsshot by the police and she had further doubts aboutthe violent ways of this life. Manas ticks to hisstand – violence is not the solution – democracy is(p174). As his parents do not respond to the ransomcall for him, the group wonders if they should killhim off or go on trying to brainwash him.Commander Bhaskar offers him his life if he joinedthe group with his technical expertise. But Manasangrily refuses to “join that … killer of men” (p217). Exasperated, Comrade Bhaskar orders Vijayto “punish” Manas by chopping off his limbs oneby one and then slitting his throat. But just thenthere begins a planned helicopter attack by thepolice. As everyone runs helter-skelter, Champasets Manas free and even shows him an “escaperoute” (p 227). When Vijay comes to fulfill the`Cammander’s orders’, he finds the prisoner gone.

Champa tries to turn Vijay back from following theCommander’s path. Vijay is tender but firm. Theypart ways, Vijay going towards the jungle andMaoist action, Champa towards the village andself-improvement. “Manas was right”, feelsChampa. “Violence could not be the solution.People like her must be strong enough to care forthemselves. Strength came from education.Somehow, some day, she would grab theireducation, not just for herself but for her littlebrother as well.”(p 240) Back with his people,Manas too decides, not to go back to the US but todedicate himself to the cause of India, like hiskidnappers had done, but in a different way, that ofproviding free education to those who cannotafford it (p 242).

All in all, it is a book to pick up and read through,and then wonder about the red blooms that are stillblooming in the forest, and getting crushed all thetime by the heavy boots of the government and the

34


police. Even as we sip our coke, and watchtelevision, some Champa somewhere is rebellingand some Sudhir is laying down his life. NilimaSinha’s book is about the young, the blooms oftoday and tomorrow. Reading it, I was transportedto my youth which has been spent largely in WestBengal when, in the late nineteen-sixties and earlyseventies, the Naxalite movement was live andvibrant before being ruthlessly crushed by thegovernment. Though set in a different State andlater times, this novel brought back memories ofthose days when everyday some red bloom was

shed on Kolkata streets. It is thus a book for theyoung, the blooms that are not yet shed.

[Ms. Dipavali Sen, from Delhi School of

Economics and Gokhale Institute of Politics and

Economics (Pune)has taught at Visva Bharati

University, Santiniketan. She teaches at Sri Guru

Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Delhi

University. She is a prolific writer and has written

creative pieces and articles for children as well as

adults, both in English and Bengali.

[email protected]]

35


BOOKS BY M.N. ROY

Published by Renaissance Publishers, Indian Renaissance Institute,

Oxford University Press and Others

1. POLITICS POWER AND PARTIES Rs. 90.00

2. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY Rs.95.00

3. BEYOND COMMUNISM Rs.40.00

4. THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF ISLAM Rs.40.00

5. MEN I MET Rs.60.00

6. INDIA’S MESSAGE Rs.100.00

7. MATERIALISM Rs. 110.00

8. REVOLUTION & COUNTER REVOLUTION IN CHINARs. 250.00

9. REASON, ROMANTICISM AND REVOLUTION Rs.300.00

10. NEW ORIENTATION Rs 090.00

11. ISLAAM KI ETIHASIK BHOOMIKA (IN HINDI) Rs.25.00

12. HAMARA SANSKRITIK DARP (IN HINDI) Rs.40.00

13. NAV MANAVWAD (IN HINDI) Rs.90.00

14 .SAMYAWAD KE PAAR (IN HINDI) Rs.45.00

Humanist News Section:

I

Pope Francis: It's OK Not to Believe in God if

You Have Clean Conscience:

It's not belief in God that counts, but a cleanconscience that determines who gets to heaven,Pope Francis tells atheists in a letter written to theItalian newspaper La Repubblica.

The 2,500-word letter was a response to questionsasked by the paper's co-founder and former editor,Eugenio Scalfari, over the summer about whetherGod forgives those who don't believe in him, TheIndependent of London reported.

"You ask me if the God of the Christians forgivesthose who don't believe and who don't seek thefaith," the Pope wrote. "Given — and this is thefundamental thing — that God's mercy has nolimits, if He is approached with a sincere andrepentant heart, the question for those who do notbelieve in God is to abide by their own conscience."

"There is sin, also for those who have no faith, ingoing against one's conscience. Listening to it andabiding by it means making up one's mind aboutwhat is good and evil," he added.

According to The Independent, Scalfariappreciated the papal comments, saying they were"further evidence of his ability and desire toovercome barriers in dialogue with all."

This isn't the first time Pope Francis has offered anolive branch to atheists. In May, he told a Catholicwho asked if Jesus had redeemed atheists that theunbelievers should "just do good, and we'll find ameeting point."

News URL:

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ncis-atheist-conscience/2013/09/12/id/525304?n

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II

Combating Superstition and Blind Faith -

Meeting in memory of Dr. Narender

Dhabolkar:

The cowardly and brutal killing of the notedrationalist and anti-superstition activist Dr.Narendra Dabholkar at Pune on 20th August 2013by some unknown persons has shocked all thosewho are devoted to the eradication of the twin-evilsof superstition & blind faith from the society. It isobvious that this brutal killing is the handiwork ofthose regressive forces which are opposed torational thinking and scientific temper and who areflourishing by exploiting people on the basis ofsuperstition and blind faith. As said by M.N. Roy“Fatalism and blind faith have killed in the bulk ofIndian people the incentive for knowledge andprogress” and therefore combating superstition &blind faith is a historical necessity.

Indian Renaissance Institute organized a meetingon 12th Sept. 2013 at Gandhi Peace Foundation,New Delhi to condole the brutal killing of Dr.Narendra Dabholkar and to discuss the ways andmeans to promote and strengthen movementagainst superstition and blind faith.

N.D. Pancholi, Secretary of Indian RenaissanceInstitute, gave a brief introduction about the lifeand work of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar. He said thatremoval of superstition and blind faith was one ofthe basic task for achieving social and economicprogress of the Indian people and Dr. Dabholkarhad devoted his life to this basic need. In fact,unless blind faith and superstition are not removed,Indian would not be able to achieve development.

Shri Vinod Jain, President of Indian RadicalHumanist Association, gave historical descriptionof valiant fighters like Socrates, Galelio and otherswho had to sacrifice their lives for the sake of theirbeliefs which went counter to the prevalentsuperstitions and blind faith. But for their sacrificemankind would not have seen the progress of ideasand science which we see today.

36


Shri Atul Wadera, Supreme Court Advocatewarned that such incidents would continue tohappen unless concrete steps were taken at thegrass roots level.

“We have to acknowledge that there are certaindeformities in our system. The two armed bikerswho shot down the 68 year old man acted ascowards. No arrests have been made because somegroups have influence at the higher level.”

Shri Narottam Vyas, Treasurer of IndianRenaissance Institute and a Supreme CourtAdvocate, said since malaise was so deep rooted inevery religion, the only solution was achieving100% literacy.

Shri Sumit Chakravarty, Editor Mainstream, saidthat specific instances of prevailing superstitionsand blind faith like ‘Sati-Pratha’ and ‘Melas’(Fairs) to observe their memories should beinvestigated and recorded so that campaigns maybe undertaken to eradicate them.

Shri Premnathan, Associate Professor in Deptt ofLanguages, Delhi University endorsed the viewexpressed by Shri Narottam Vyas and said thateducational systems in our country required a lot ofchanges with the objective that promotion ofrationality and scientific temper was the basic aimand spirit of enquiry should be inculcated amongour youth.

Lively discussion followed and it was resolved thatIndian Renaissance Institute would devise waysand means to undertake and promote the campaignsagainst the superstitions and blind faith.

Shri B.D. Sharma, President of Indian RenaissanceInstitute, who presided over the meeting in hisconcluding remarks, said that sacrifice of ShriDabholkar should make all progressive persons andgroups to redouble their efforts to fight against thisevil. He hoped that all those organizations andpersons who believed in the values for which Dr.Dabholkar lived and died would come closer andfight in a united manner to achieve our objectives.

The meeting observed two minutes silence inmemory of Dr. Dabholkar.

III

Mohan Singh (4th March, 1945-22nd

September, 2013) passed away.

Samajwadi Party General Secretary and RajyaSabha member Mohan Singh, passed away atAIIMS on 22nd September, 2013 in New Delhiafter a prolonged battle with blood cancer. MohanSingh, 68, was admitted to AIIMS on September18.He is survived by his wife Urmila and twodaughters.

Son of Shri Mahendra Pratap Singh and Smt. SuryaJyoti Kumari, Mohan Singh was born on 4thMarch, 1945, at Deoria. He was married to Smt.Urmila Singh on 6th July, 1969.His romance withsocialist movement started at very young age withthe guidance of his uncle late Shri Ugrasen, whowas elected to UP Vidhan Sabah several times asSocialist party candidate and later to sixth LokSabha as Janata Party nominee. Mohan Singh wasalso inspired by Great Socialist leader Dr. RamManohar Lohia, Rajnarain and Madhu Limaye.

Mohan Singh, educated at Allahabad University,Allahabad and did M.A.As a student he took keeninterest in debate competitions. He was President,Allahabad University Students` Union, 1968-69.He was imprisoned several times while taking partin student agitation, 1966, occupying AnandBhavan, Allahabad and also in an agitationlaunched by Socialist party on the language issuealong with Shri Rajnarain.He was also Jailed alongwith Shri Madhu Limaye for participating inSatyagraha in 1973.He was detained for 20 monthsduring Emergency for taking part in JayaprakashNarayan’s movement. He took part in SocialistYouth Conference at Brussels in 1974 and alsovisited several other countries like Belgium,Germany, Holland, Thailand, U.K., U.S.A.

He was General Secretary, All India SamajvadiYuvjan Sabha, 1973-74. Joint Secretary, SocialistParty, Uttar Pradesh, 1973-74.General SecretaryUttar Pradesh Janata Party, 1977-79.Member UttarPradesh Assembly, 1977-85.Minister of State,Government of Uttar Pradesh. Chief whip, Lok Dal

37


Legislature Party,1980-85. Member Uttar PradeshLegislative Council, 1990-91.Elected to the tenthLok Sabha, 1991-96.Deputy Chief Whip, JanataDal Parliamentary Party,1991-94.Joined SamataParty, Chief Whip Samata Party,1994-96.Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha,1998-99.Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha (3rd term)in2004 and was Member, National ExecutiveSamajwadi Party and elected to Rajya Sabha in2010. He was awarded the Best Parliamentarianaward in 2008.

He was committed to socialist ideology andsocialist cause for his life time. He was thinker andwriter and wrote hundreds of articles and manybooks. Some of his books are (i) Yaadain AurBatain; ( ii) Bharatiya Samvidhan Ke Nirman MeinNehru (in Hindi); (iii ) Dr. Ambedkar - A

Multifaceted Personality; (iv) History of SocialistMovement ; and (v) Freedom Movement andSocialist Contribution.

"After the demise of Janeshwar Mishra and BrijBhushan Tiwari, the demise of Mohan Singh is asetback for the socialist movement. He was a manof principles and his death has left a void in theSamajwadi Party," said SP Supremo MulayamSingh Yadav.

UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, UP AssemblySpeaker Mata Prasad Pandey, LJP leader RamVilas Paswan, JDU President Sharad Yadav andGeneral Secretary KC Tyagi MP, NCP Leader andRajya Sabha member Prof. D P Tripathi and severalother party leaders have condoled his death.

—Report sent by Qurban Ali

38


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This Month's Contributors

DIPAVALI SEN

From Gurgaon, Haryana

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From Kathmandu,Nepal

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RITVIK KULKARNI

From Pune, Maharashtra, India

(Page 23)

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From California, United States

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