BOMBAY HIERARCHIES - Between cruelty and normalcy | |
| Ruchir Joshi | |
There is a nasty, aggressively authoritarian side to Bombay that long predates its Mumbsenafication. An old alloy of the Marathi fetish for rules and regulations and the hardest Gujarati stinginess produced, many decades ago, a steely under-hoop of pomposity and petty cruelty around which the city still drapes her changing skirts of shiny material. It’s something that hits any Calcutta alien immediately. Hailing from a town where every expenditure of oppression and violence is tempered by lethargy, it alarms one to see so much relentless official energy being devoted to hurting people just for the sake of hurting. I feel the edge of the under-hoop as soon as I climb into the prepaid Fiat yellow-black at the airport. The sticker on the glove compartment proclaims the new rule: “Smoking in taxi cab is an offence! Fine Rs 300!” My lighter freeze-frames on its way up to that first, desperate, post-flight fag. But the driver is not a Bambaiya taxi-walla for nothing. “Arre peejiya na sahab! Havaldar dikhega toh hum bol denge, nichey kar dijiyega (Go ahead and smoke, sahab. If I spot a cop I’ll warn you and you just lower it).” I thank my benefactor and the floodgates open. He guesses that I’m neither a Mumbai-cur nor a Ghaat-tigger and starts off. Who can object to someone smoking in one of these traffic jams, that too with open windows? This law has been made to enable robbery, officially 300 or bribe-wise at least 100. Don’t like working in Bambai, but what to do, it doesn’t let you go, this town. Effortlessly, he changes the gears of his UP Hindi to rhyme. Iss sheher mein sab rotaa hai, koi sotaa nahi (Everyone cries here, no one sleeps). Rehne ke liye yeh sheher hai, lekin zindagi yeh zeher hai (For living this is a city, yes, but as a life this is poison). Then he turns to the local ethnic-cleansing industry:“Hain woh kuttey, lekin kehna padta hai ki, haan bhai tum sher ho (Actually they’re dogs, but you have say ‘Oh yes, you are a tiger’).” “Kaam kuchh kartey nahin, biwi ke paise pey jeetey ho, lekin tum sher ho (You do no work, you live off your wife’s earnings, but yes, you’re a tiger alright).” The Ghaat-tiggers get away with it because they come in mobs to pick on lone Bhaiyas driving taxis or auto-rikshas, otherwise they are no match for us. We go through a scenario where all the Bhaiyas have abandoned Bombay. Who will drive the taxi and trucks, who will shift the goods, who will do all your dirty work? Finally, the man from Faizabad cheers up. Delhi is making great progress, as it should. That will take clout away from this city. “Balki Gujarat bhi inki achchhi tarah sey bajaa raha hai! Woh bhi achchha hai! Duss saal mey inn saalon ki kaun poochhega (Even Gujarat is making this town squeal. This is also good. Who’s going to look at these b*****ds in ten years’ time)?” A couple of evenings later, I certainly find myself looking at Bombay and marvelling at the other phenomenon that cuts across all classes and holds the city together — the way normal hierarchies become suspended in some pockets. On the surface, it’s nothing remarkable: a non-fancy Goan bar and restaurant in Bandra, busy on a Saturday night, every table of the small establishment occupied. Look again and you see that half the tables consist of upper middle-class women customers, women with no accompanying men. Perhaps they are here primarily for the food, you think, but no. There’s a two-seater with a bottle of wine and some peanuts in a bowl, two young women settled down for an evening’s drink and quiet adda; there’s another table with four women, two in their twenties, two a bit older, noisy, laughing, ordering yet another round of beer and cocktails, no sign of dinner. Other tables, couples, men and women, some flirting and courting, others clearly ‘just friends’. Conversation, merriment, drink, xacuti and cafreal, happiness. Coming from a city where most middle-level bars still refuse to serve women without male companions, I feel a pang of envy at this normalcy. Getting to the restaurant, I’ve seen another facet of this hierarchy-suspension. Our auto-riksha man is young, big built, with a ‘786’ chain bracelet on his wrist. Driving from the highway into the crowded innards of Bandra he has almost replicated a chase scene in a James Bond movie. Somehow he has hurtled — there is no other word — through a steel mesh of traffic, sending people skipping out of his way, missing other autos by millimetres, ramming on to the wrong side of the road, going nose to nose with shiny, armoured-car sized SUVs with blackened windows, not caring whether the vehicles might contain dons or billionaires. “Bhaiya, we need to get there alive,” my terrified friend has wailed. Without looking back at her, spilling out from both sides of the driver’s seat, our young pehelvan has grunted. “I need to drop you and get this gaadiback to the owner. Time is up, I’m late.” There is no hint of apology in his voice, just a statement of flat Bombay fact. “Didi, mi udhya naahi yenaar. Mujhe woh form bharney ko jaana hai (I won’t be coming tomorrow, I have to go fill in that form).” There is the same lack of apology in the mixed Marathi-Hindi of the woman who cooks for another friend. My friend glowers at the bai, but you can tell it’s in mock anger. “What can you say?” she asks rhetorically after thebai leaves. “This woman does everything, comes, works, goes back and feeds her kids, and even handles the damned form-bharoing! Her man sits around doing nothing.” I think back to my taxiwalla and the grudging respect in his voice when he said, “Haan, yeh zaroor hai ki unki auratein jumm ke kaam karti hain (It’s true that their women work really hard).” When I ask, my friend agrees. “You can’t oppress these Bombay bais the way you can servants in Delhi or Calcutta. The great thing is they just will not take s**t from employers.” Outside my friend’s 16th floor apartment, the vertical arrondissement of Lokhandwala stretches away, canyon upon cliff upon cascade of concrete, Diwali lights blinking on high balconies, semaphores being sent into the universe, many of the towers in darkness, the flats unoccupied in the current real estate glut. Just below us is a group of buildings primarily populated by Muslims. I’ve heard the morning azan and noted it to be quite tuneful. As the evening azan begins it’s clear that the assistant mullah has taken over. Fighting through the pounding crackers his voice rises, exactly mimicking a large jetliner taking off, reaching out, no doubt, to the huge crowds of Haj pilgrims camped under pandals outside Shivaji International. Inside, two people working in The Industry have joined my host. Scurrilous stories criss-cross the dining table. One is about a top star who we shall call Gallu. “So the thing with Gallu is he’s really nice when he’s switched on, but you can’t go to his trailer and wake him for a shot. You can only disturb him when he’s awake and he sleeps a lot. So there is this poor assistant director whose sole job it is to sit on Gallu’s trailer ke steps and wait. What they’ve done is made a small hole in the drainage pipe from the trailer loo and this guy has to keep looking under the trailer. Only when he sees a leak from the pipe does he know ki the big man is awake, after which he can knock.” I remind myself this is Bee-o-em-bee-o-vaay, Bombay-meri-jaan, where nothing should be taken at obvious face value. So, quasi-semi-egalitarian, yes, in many ways not to be found in the rest of the country, but deeply hierarchical too, in rare and bizarre ways. Just before I leave, I visit my aunt on Altamont Road. Outside her apartment building I notice that a piece of sky I’ve been used to since childhood has now gone missing. Antilla, that Mother Godzilla of all Bombay buildings, now zigzags up from the trees. The news is that Ambani hasn’t been able to move into his infamous pile because the vaastu has been found to be wrong. Thinking about it, I’m sure one Dhirubhai Ambani never worried too much about stuff like this when he was driving through the Indian economy like that Bandra auto-riksha driver. I think about my friend’s bai missing a day’s work to apply for a kholi in a slum. I think about the continent of blue tarpaulin-covered slums that unfurls under the belly of the plane when you fly into Bombay from the east. I think of all the people who cry in this town but don’t sleep, who struggle through each day despite the fact that the vaastu of this whole city is quite clearly wrong. |
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
BOMBAY HIERARCHIES
Long Live Judiciary - after 8years of legal battle - witness assaulted, guilty police, doctor, magistrate are enjoying impunity
8th November 2011
To
The Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
Safdarjung House,
Copernicus Marg
New Delhi - 1
Respected Sir,
With a grave concern I am to write you with a hope that you will intervene the matter with all seriousness. Though your good office was approached in 2004, but till date no such action has been taken.
We have received information that one Mr. Uttam Sahu, son of Mr. Nirapada Sahu of village-Issaripur, police Station-Kakdwip, District-South 24 Parganas came under attack on 21.10.2011 at about 10.30 pm. At the time of the incident he was returning from his grocery shop at Narayanpur Bazar and the miscreants namely (1) Mr. Bahadur Ari, son of Late Khudiram Ari; (2) Kanchan Ari, son of Mr. Bahadur Ari and another son of Mr. bahadur Ari caught hold him in a open field near 4th Ferry Ghat and they assaulted him mercilessly by fists and blows. They threatened him to kill on the spot abusing him filthy languages. They also robbed Rs.20, 000/- and one gold chain (weight-20 grams) from him. Mr. Uttam Sahu somehow freed himself from the grip of the miscreants and ran from the spot to save his life. He entered into one of his relatives house namely Mr. Sukumar Sahu and with his help he went to Kakdwip Police Station immediately. The police of the said police station heard the incident from him but did not register any First Information Report against the miscreants. The police only recorded the incident in the General Diary Entry Book vide Kakdwip Police Station GDE no. 1827 dated 21.10.2011 and sent him to Kakdwip Sub-Divisional Hospital for treatment. Later he was referred to Diamond Harbour Sadar Hospital for better treatment.
It is further revealed that Mr. Kanchan Ari who is one of the miscreants in assaulting Mr. Uttam Sahu, is an accused person in a criminal case vide Kakdwip Police Station Case no. 101/2003 where Ms. Mousumi Ari was murdered in her matrimonial house by the accused Kanchan Ari and others. Mr. Uttam Sahu was the maternal uncle of deceased Mousumi Ari.
Mr. Uttam Sahu is a witness in the said Mousumi Ari murder case and he is scheduled to depose in the court. The family members of Mr. Uttam Sahu stated before our fact finding team that the said Mr. Kanchan Ari and his accomplices threatened him with dire consequences if he dared to depose in court before the present incident of assault upon him. The family members of Mr. Uttam Sahu further stated that not only Mr. Uttam Sahu but other members of Sahu family who are witnesses in Mousumi Ari murder case were threatened by Mr. Kanchan Ari and the other accused persons and they regretted that the administration failed to provide any protection to them even well aware of the incidents of threats by Mr. Kanchan Ari and his other family members being accused persons in Mousumi Ari murder case.
The whole incident discloses that the police of Kakdwip Police Station deliberately and willfully did not provide any protection to Mr. Uttam Sahu and his other family members who are witnesses in a criminal case and such inaction encouraged the accused persons even to commit criminal offences upon them without any fear of law and this is quite evident from another gross dereliction of duty by the police of Kakdwip Police Station by not registering any FIR against the culprits over the incident of heinous assault upon Mr. Uttam Sahu on 21.10.2011. Needless to mention here that the same police station was previously accused of falsely tabling that Mousumi Ari committed suicide not murdered.
Background
On 25 October,2003 Mousumi Ari @Sahoo aged about 16 years was murdered within 20 months of her marriage in her in-law’s house, at 3rd Gheri, Narayanpur, Police Station Kakdwip, 24 Parganas (South). Mousumi’s husband is Bidhan Ari, son of Swadesh Ari, Swadesh Ari is a policeman, posted at Kakdwip Police Station. Mousumi was pregnant at the time of her death.
There were blood stains in the floor, wall of the bedroom. Police started a case of dowry death. Police party forcibly obtained signatures from the eyewitnesses from the family members in blank paper. Enquiry of magistrate was held without informing the family members of the victim in violation to the mandatory provision 176 Cr.P.C. At the relevant time the members of the victim family were present at Kakdwip Police Station. Most interestingly, the inquest by the magistrate was done over a body which was not declared as “dead” by any doctor.
The autopsy surgeon, Dr. Gouranga Biswas, attached with Diamond Harbour State General Hospital conducted Post Mortem examination over the body of Mousumi in a malafide manner. There was not a single word or a talk of injury in the Post Mortem Report.
The Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate of Diamond Harbour, in which court the case was heard, after hearing all the aspects, passed an order on 20.12.2003 for re-examination of the body, which was still then lying buried under the earth. Under of the Ld. Magistrate dated 20.12.2003 a second Post Mortem examination over the body of the Mousumi was conducted.
The Second Post Mortem examination over the body of Mousumi was conducted by the expert professors of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, eminent doctors of Calcutta and the said examination was conducted at Calcutta Morgue under Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta.
That it appears from record that the investigation relating to the cause of death of Mousumi Ari was completed by the investigating agency at a date earlier to 4.1.2004 when the Second Port Mortem examination was conducted and soon after holding the said Second post-mortem on 4.1.2004 on the alleged basis of conclusion of the investigation a charge sheet being Chare Sheet No.8 dtd.31.1.2004 Under Section 498A/304B/302 IPC has been submitted impleading the inmates of the in-law’s house of Mousumi Ari in the said charge sheet.
We, MASUM have conducted an independent fact finding enquiry and the revelations in the said fact finding enquiry, apart from the facts which have already been stated hereinbefore, are as follows :-
(i) At the time when on 25.10.2003 the police personnel of Kakdwip Police Station reached the spot where the body of Mousumi Ari was there, the police team was not accompanied by any Doctor nor the police had any occasion to call for any Doctor to ascertain the primary fact as to whether Mousumi was dead at that point of time or not. The assertion of the members of the victim family in this regard are those that at the time when access to the bed room with police party could be enforced body of Mousumi was warm enough so as not to conclude that Mousumi was dead at that point of time.
(ii) The police proceeded on the basis that as if the Mousumi was dead at the particular point of time when police reached the spot. The grievances of the members of the victim family in this regard are those that the police team / party was never accompanied by a doctor nor the police called for any doctor within about 24 hours but the police themselves decided that Mousumi has dead.
(iii) The evidences collected by the petitioners from the relatives of Mousumi including the parents of Mousumi go to show that after reaching the spot the members of family of Mousumi could find that Mousumi was there in her sitting posture in her bed room in a unnatural manner with blood stains in her body and wearing apparel, the body of Mousumi was not cold rather it was warm. Mousumi was found in her bed room in a sitting posture with multiple injuries. There were several and numerous marks of blood stains in the floor and wall, earthen floor and the bed room where the body of Mousumi was there. In the room one sandow ganjee with blood stains was there. Also, there was a pair of shoes. The height of the room is very low and there was a wooden cot allegedly standing upon of which Mousumi hanged herself. The story of hanging is simply belied by a mere fact that no one having a physical height like Mousumi can hang herself standing on the cot from the wooden beam of the straw thatched room where the body of Mousumi was there.
(iv) That further revelation by the fact finding enquiry is that the police personnel and investigating officer who were present at the spot asked the members of the family of the in-law’s of Mousumi to get out Mousumi’s father and other relatives out of their house to bring new saree, petty coat and upper garments for Mousumi. After arrival of new wearing apparel the police personnel caused removal of the garments containing blood stains from the body of Mousumi and the fresh garments were put in the body of Mousumi. The garments containing blood stains were kept in a polythene pack which was taken away by the police. Interestingly the garments so kept in the polythene pack were not shown in the seizure list.
(v) That further revelation by the fact finding enquiry of the petitioners are those that the police personnel who were present at the spot caused remover / eraser of the blood stains which were there in the earthen floor and the earthen wall of the room in question. The members of the in-law’s family of Mousumi were made instrumental in causing disappearance of the blood stains / mark of blood which were there in the floor and the wall of the room. The police personnel also allowed the room to be kept open. The room was not locked or sealed.
(vi) That after the police personnel took the body of Mousumi to Kakdwip Police Station which is about 15 to 16 k.m. away from the in-law’s of Mousumi, the members of the victim family went to the police station. The members of the victim’s family reached the Police Station at about 11.00 a.m. when the body of Mousumi was kept in a cycle van tied by rope in front of the main entrance of the police station wrapped in a plastic sheet. Most interestingly, the police personnel of Kakdwip P.S. behaved like physician. They themselves decided that Mousumi is dead, they did not bother to consult any physician that Mousumi was still alive or not.
(vi) That the members of the victim family from the very point of their reaching the Police Station were tried to be persuaded by the police personnel to lodge an FIR simply stating that Mousumi committed suicide. The members of the victim family did not agree to lodge an FIR by simply mentioning that Mousumi committed suicide. The members of victim family wanted to lodge complain that Mousumi was murdered at her in-law’s house. The members of victim’s family were there at Kakdwip Police Station for the whole day. The process of persuasions (administration of threat in other words) continued for the whole day. At about 8.00 P.M. Shri Dipak Kumar Kanungo, Executive Magistrate, arrived at the police station. The said respondent had no occasion to conduct inquest of the body of Mousumi nor said Shri Dipak Kumar Kanungo, Executive Magistrate could contact any such inquest because the body of Mousumi was kept wrapped in a plastic sheet all along and all through.
(vii) That after Dipak Kumar Kanungo, Executive Magistrate arrived at the scene with the Officer-in-Charge of Kakdwip police station and other police personnel who were present at the Police Station in a combination at about 11.00 P.M. the members of the victim family compelled the members of the victim family to write on a piece of paper that Mousumi Ari has committed suicide in her in-laws house. Further revelations of the fact finding enquiry of the petitioners are those that the members of the victim family who were there at Kakdwip police station since morning were not in a position to continue with the battle till late at night because all of them did not have their bath and food and that all of them were physically exhausted due to fatigue and tiredness coupled with mental shock which was received by them due to the death of Mousumi and with continuous pressure upon them.
(viii) That on 26.10.2003 a purported post mortem was conducted at Diamond Harbour State General Hospital where Dr. Gouranga Biswas, conducted the post mortem of Mousumi Ari. The report of post mortem so conducted by Dr. Gouranga Biswas, no injury other than a ligature mark with a printed saree at the neck was found. It is to be noted that the autopsy surgeon of Diamond Harbour Hospital, Dr. Gouranga Biswas by his extraordinary capacity opined that Mousumi was hanged by a printed saree, not by any other saree or ropes.
(ix) That on 26.10.2003 after the post mortem was conducted on the body of Mousumi the members of the victim’s family took the body from the morgue of Diamond Harbour State General Hospital and decided to keep the body buried in the adjoining land appertaining to the residential huts of the uncle of Mousumi. The members of the victim’s family, they being all fishermen, thought that the body of Mousumi can be kept preserved in the same manner as they preserve fish. By digging the earth and after keeping the body of Mousumi 70 kgs. of salt was added to the body buried with salt.
(x) That after the body of Mousumi was kept buried with 70 kgs. of salt by the members of victim family as aforesaid the father of Mousumi Ari made several, successive and numerous representations / appeals both in writing and in person to all the Authorities but nothing positive could turn up. In course of his search for assistance the father of victim Mousumi Ari had occasion to meet some of the activists of Sramajibi Mahila Samity who suggested the father of Mousumi to establish contact with MASUM and by that process we got involved into the matter and conducted a detailed fact finding of its own.
(xii) That the police of Kakdwip police station, the Doctor conducting the first post mortem, the Executive Magistrate but the authorities have failed and/or neglected to discharge disciplinary and other administrative measures to regulate the conduct of all such governmental officials
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Thanking You,
Yours truly,
Kirity Roy
Secretary,MASUM --
Kirity Roy
Secretary
Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha
(MASUM)
&
National Convenor (PACTI)
Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity
40A, Barabagan Lane (4th Floor)
Balaji Place
Shibtala
Srirampur
Hooghly
PIN- 712203
Tele-Fax - +91-33-26220843
Phone- +91-33-26220844 / 0845
e. mail : kirityroy@gmail.com
Web: www.masum.org.in
Saturday, 5 November 2011
A TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND
Bhupen Hazarika no more! The Indian Voice from North East joining the Mainstream would Echo for long!Golden voice of Indian music falls silent!
bistirno dupure
dil hoom hoom kare
Ami Ek Jajabor
bistirno dupure
dil hoom hoom kare
Ami Ek Jajabor
Gopone Gopone Kato Je Kheli Dr. Bhupen Hazarika
POLITICS: KARNATAKA Watered Down An RSS group baiting Modi? Read on.
Dam it Modi on the Sabarmati, in which Narmada water now runs
POLITICS: KARNATAKA
Watered Down
An RSS group baiting Modi? Read on.
Less Than Half...
Here’s the background. In September 1993, the Gujarat government floated the SSNNL bonds at Rs 3,600 each, of which the deemed value at the end of 20 years was Rs 1.11 lakh. While SSNNL could not force early redemption, investors were given the option of exiting at the 7th, 11th and 15th years from the date of allotment. Nationalised banks were then offering 13 per cent interest on deposits, while the bonds offered net returns of 17.5 per cent, so they attracted many middle-class and institutional investors. Among the investors were the the provident- and gratuity-fund trusts of Mysore Paper Mills, SAIL and Hotel Janpath.
In 2004, the Modi government tried to redeem the bonds prematurely but gave up in the face of stiff resistance. But in 2008, the government had an act passed to redeem the bonds on January 10, 2009, five years before maturity, fixing the deemed value at Rs 50,000. Feeling cheated, bond holders challenged the legislation in the high courts of Bombay, Gujarat and Karnataka. SEBI impleaded itself as a party and filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of all cases to the apex court. This was upheld, and the matter is now before a bench headed by the chief justice of India.
“Modi claims the GDP growth rate of Gujarat is higher than the national average, but he has forgotten who made it possible,” says Ramakrishna. “If people like me had not invested in the bonds, do you think Gujarat could have built the dam? If the dam hadn’t been built, could the state have attracted investors? The availability of water for homes, industry, hydropower and so on is because of the dam. Why deny people who helped the state their legitimate returns?”
Vishwanath S. Malagan, a member of the Mysore Paper Mills Limited Employees Provident Fund Trust, says the trust suffered huge losses owing to the forced early redemption. Bond holders are hoping the Supreme Court will decide the case before January 2014, the original redemption date. Modi, never short on rhetoric, especially while addressing two groups—the middle class and investors—hasn’t said anything so far to assuage the feelings of the bond buyers, who belong to those very groups.
- Investors in SSNNL bonds of 1993, for funding the Narmada dam, are upset at the early redemption of the bonds
- The Rs 3,600 bonds promised Rs 1.11 lakh at the end of 20 years
- In 2008, the Modi govt legislated to redeem the bonds five years early, offering just Rs 50,000
- The case is in the SC. An RSS-backed group in Karnataka is opposing Modi on this.
***
When new Karnataka CM D.V. Sadananda Gowda invited his party colleague and Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi to participate in the Mysore Dussehra festivities in October, he knew perhaps that some ‘progressive types’ would make some noise. But he certainly would not have expected people of his own ilk to protest. Modi skipped the Dussehra function. But by then, this unexpected protest had been made public through a letter to a leading Kannada daily. It was about the early redemption of deep discount bonds of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL), issued by the Gujarat government in 1993 to raise funds for the Narmada project when agencies like the World Bank and IMF had refused to fund it. T.N. Ramakrishna, an RSS swayamsevak who runs the Rastra Gaurava Samrakshana Parishath, in a letter headlined ‘Narendra Modi should not come to Karnataka’, accused Modi of “causing huge losses” to thousands of retail and institutional investors by forcing the early redemption of the SSNNL bonds.Here’s the background. In September 1993, the Gujarat government floated the SSNNL bonds at Rs 3,600 each, of which the deemed value at the end of 20 years was Rs 1.11 lakh. While SSNNL could not force early redemption, investors were given the option of exiting at the 7th, 11th and 15th years from the date of allotment. Nationalised banks were then offering 13 per cent interest on deposits, while the bonds offered net returns of 17.5 per cent, so they attracted many middle-class and institutional investors. Among the investors were the the provident- and gratuity-fund trusts of Mysore Paper Mills, SAIL and Hotel Janpath.
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“Modi claims the GDP growth rate of Gujarat is higher than the national average, but he has forgotten who made it possible,” says Ramakrishna. “If people like me had not invested in the bonds, do you think Gujarat could have built the dam? If the dam hadn’t been built, could the state have attracted investors? The availability of water for homes, industry, hydropower and so on is because of the dam. Why deny people who helped the state their legitimate returns?”
Vishwanath S. Malagan, a member of the Mysore Paper Mills Limited Employees Provident Fund Trust, says the trust suffered huge losses owing to the forced early redemption. Bond holders are hoping the Supreme Court will decide the case before January 2014, the original redemption date. Modi, never short on rhetoric, especially while addressing two groups—the middle class and investors—hasn’t said anything so far to assuage the feelings of the bond buyers, who belong to those very groups.
POLITICS: UTTAR PRADESH
SANJAY RAWAT
Bronze assault Statues of BSP leaders at Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal, Noida
POLITICS: UTTAR PRADESH
Up For Grabs
With corruption eating into Mayawati’s chances, rival parties see electoral hope
Moves & Countermoves
In the game of attrition that multi-pronged contests turn into, what could tilt the balance are not huge waves but the cumulative effect of smaller forces. Two parties, for instance, can have a potentially disproportionate influence despite their limited scope: Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which is confined to barely half-a-dozen districts of affluent western UP; and the little known Peace Party, headed by Dr Mohammed Ayub, which has a presence among Muslims in poverty-ridden eastern UP. The Peace Party could act as a spoiler for all four larger players, although it goes without saying that all parties are doing their best to woo the Muslim community.
Unlike in 2007, the two big players, the BSP and SP, go into battle with their roles reversed. Then, the BSP benefited from the SP’s shrinking aura. The anti-incumbency feeling against Mulayam Singh Yadav was stoked by his inability to counter general charges like the collapse of law and order. (His playing footsie with ex-BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, for anticipated benefits from his Lodh votebase, corroded his image further in the interim.) This time, however, it’s the BSP that has to struggle to retain its turf. Many in Mayawati’s inner coterie privately admit that notching up 150 seats in a house of 403 may not be easy.
This isn’t because of simple ‘anti-incumbency’. For parties like the BSP, which enjoy an ultra-loyal votebase, are relatively immune to wild fluctuations in popularity. It’s because the crucial additional strength that came to the otherwise essentially Dalit outfit in the form of Brahmin support in 2007 cannot be taken for granted this time. Satish Mishra, who had then emerged as the BSP’s Brahmin face and kingmaker, has failed to establish himself as a Brahmin leader. His focus on aggrandisement of his kin (half-a-dozen of them were placed in positions equivalent to cabinet ministers) meant he could not consolidate on the goodwill he enjoyed previously.
“Anybody in Satish Mishra’s position could have used the opportunity to rise as a genuine Brahmin leader, but he couldn’t rise above petty family considerations and somehow also nursed this ill-conceived notion that inaccessibility was a virtue in politics,” says a senior BSP Brahmin leader who stands sidelined today. So the halcyon days of ‘Haathi nahin Ganesh hai...’ slogans may be over. Another area of concern for the BSP is that its famed loyal votebase may finally be feeling a genuine strain, due to a visible division between younger and older Dalits. The latter remain totally with Mayawati, but a section of youth seem disillusioned with her. Awadhesh, a 24-year-old Dalit from a village outside Lucknow, says: “Behenji’s emergence to power in 2007 had raised a lot of hope among the Dalit youth that they would now get jobs without discrimination. But what we experienced was discrimination of another kind: those who can pay bribes have a clear edge.”
Will it be a home run? Akhilesh Yadav at a Samajwadi Party rallyThe SP offers a mirror. An analyst says, “Mulayam’s SP crumbled last time not only due to bad law and order but also because he lost some two dozen seats in the core Yadav belt of central UP, essentially because many Yadavs chose not to vote. They were annoyed with him for he dashed their hopes of getting government jobs. Those who couldn’t pay money under the table did not get jobs.” And if Mulayam was tainted by a blatant patronage of criminals and corruption, during Mayawati’s regime rapes and murders by important persons in government subtracted from her image as a tough leader who deals with crime with an iron fist.
Mayawati, in defence, cites the “stern action against even the high and mighty in her party” if they were found involved in any crime. “Can you cite one example where Mulayam took action against his party leaders? Behenji has not spared even senior party mlas and ministers,” says a supporter. Others talk of overall improvement in the power and water situation. The successful conduct of the recent F1 event is also seen as a feather in her cap. But rivals, including the Congress, point to the encephalitis epidemic claiming the lives of close to 500 children in the state.
Reaching out Rahul Gandhi in Mirzapur
Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav, now travelling across the state to reach out to the people, rejects the idea that the BSP has handled corruption effectively. “Look at the level of corruption in which people at the highest level are involved. There’s so much construction, only in order to plunder taxpayers’ money. The extent of pilferage is unimaginable,” he says. “What’s her contribution to development, other than raising her own statues and building monuments and mansions for herself?”
As for the Congress, it was after two decades that it managed to get back into the reckoning in UP, where it finished with 22 seats in 2007. This poll has long been touted as Rahul Gandhi’s coming-of-age party, meant to showcase an earnest focus on ‘rebuilding the party’ in its old fief. Mayawati has been dismissive of Rahul’s surprise visits to Dalit homes, but the virulence of her attacks itself offered proof that the Gandhi scion possessed an unknown capacity for weaning away her voters. This will now be put to the test. Regardless of how he fares finally, Rahul has been a regular thorn in Mayawati’s flesh. His sneaking into Bhatta Parsaul village to support farmers agitating against land acquisition by the state government for the benefit of builders forced Mayawati to train her sights on him. She shot off several letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against Rahul’s unscheduled visits (and also hastily passed a new land acquisition bill). She has also blamed the Centre for pretty much everything that was wrong in UP. The UPA leadership has now hit back with allegations against the BSP regime of misuse of funds meant for social welfare programmes like nrega.
Rajnath and the ‘repatriated’ Uma Bharati. (Photograph by Nirala Tripathi)The BJP is still putting its act together and rejuvenating its base in UP. Knowing the dissensions within the rank and file, the party leadership has divided the responsibilities between ex-CM Rajnath Singh and party veteran Kalraj Mishra, who, despite having been a minister in successive BJP regimes, has never won an election. Unlike Rajnath, Kalraj is also seen to be a less than rousing figure.
At the end of the day, the bloc with the most seats in the assembly will get a shot at government-making, so the role of alliances may be vital. This is where the Congress and BJP could come into the picture, depending on how they themselves fare. Of course, if either the BSP or SP gets a majority, as their supporters claim, the script will be different. Much can change between now and May 2012.
- The BSP and the SP are the main players, with the ruling BSP taking the development plank and the latter hoping anti-incumbency will work in its favour.
- The Cong is charging the BSP govt with large-scale corruption, especially in land acquisition, inability to check epidemics
- Muslims are being wooed by all parties, chiefly with promises of job reservations
- The BJP hopes to be the third-largest party in the House, to play kingmaker. It is attacking the Cong by highlighting the UPA’s scams.
***
The countdown to what may be the biggest political test before 2014—the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for May 2012—has begun. Seen in a schematic way, the equations are unchanged from the last edition in 2007. A four-cornered contest, with the fractured vote it implies, is what political parties in this high-stakes game have to contend with again. The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its sworn adversary, the Samajwadi Party (SP), are the main players. The BJP and Congress are seen to be fighting for the third place, which could well be that of kingmaker should there be a hung verdict, a possibility political pundits never rule out in this kind of scenario. But despite the odds, Mayawati’s BSP could still emerge the single largest party.In the game of attrition that multi-pronged contests turn into, what could tilt the balance are not huge waves but the cumulative effect of smaller forces. Two parties, for instance, can have a potentially disproportionate influence despite their limited scope: Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which is confined to barely half-a-dozen districts of affluent western UP; and the little known Peace Party, headed by Dr Mohammed Ayub, which has a presence among Muslims in poverty-ridden eastern UP. The Peace Party could act as a spoiler for all four larger players, although it goes without saying that all parties are doing their best to woo the Muslim community.
Unlike in 2007, the two big players, the BSP and SP, go into battle with their roles reversed. Then, the BSP benefited from the SP’s shrinking aura. The anti-incumbency feeling against Mulayam Singh Yadav was stoked by his inability to counter general charges like the collapse of law and order. (His playing footsie with ex-BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh before the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, for anticipated benefits from his Lodh votebase, corroded his image further in the interim.) This time, however, it’s the BSP that has to struggle to retain its turf. Many in Mayawati’s inner coterie privately admit that notching up 150 seats in a house of 403 may not be easy.This isn’t because of simple ‘anti-incumbency’. For parties like the BSP, which enjoy an ultra-loyal votebase, are relatively immune to wild fluctuations in popularity. It’s because the crucial additional strength that came to the otherwise essentially Dalit outfit in the form of Brahmin support in 2007 cannot be taken for granted this time. Satish Mishra, who had then emerged as the BSP’s Brahmin face and kingmaker, has failed to establish himself as a Brahmin leader. His focus on aggrandisement of his kin (half-a-dozen of them were placed in positions equivalent to cabinet ministers) meant he could not consolidate on the goodwill he enjoyed previously.
“Anybody in Satish Mishra’s position could have used the opportunity to rise as a genuine Brahmin leader, but he couldn’t rise above petty family considerations and somehow also nursed this ill-conceived notion that inaccessibility was a virtue in politics,” says a senior BSP Brahmin leader who stands sidelined today. So the halcyon days of ‘Haathi nahin Ganesh hai...’ slogans may be over. Another area of concern for the BSP is that its famed loyal votebase may finally be feeling a genuine strain, due to a visible division between younger and older Dalits. The latter remain totally with Mayawati, but a section of youth seem disillusioned with her. Awadhesh, a 24-year-old Dalit from a village outside Lucknow, says: “Behenji’s emergence to power in 2007 had raised a lot of hope among the Dalit youth that they would now get jobs without discrimination. But what we experienced was discrimination of another kind: those who can pay bribes have a clear edge.”
Will it be a home run? Akhilesh Yadav at a Samajwadi Party rally
Mayawati, in defence, cites the “stern action against even the high and mighty in her party” if they were found involved in any crime. “Can you cite one example where Mulayam took action against his party leaders? Behenji has not spared even senior party mlas and ministers,” says a supporter. Others talk of overall improvement in the power and water situation. The successful conduct of the recent F1 event is also seen as a feather in her cap. But rivals, including the Congress, point to the encephalitis epidemic claiming the lives of close to 500 children in the state.
Reaching out Rahul Gandhi in Mirzapur
As for the Congress, it was after two decades that it managed to get back into the reckoning in UP, where it finished with 22 seats in 2007. This poll has long been touted as Rahul Gandhi’s coming-of-age party, meant to showcase an earnest focus on ‘rebuilding the party’ in its old fief. Mayawati has been dismissive of Rahul’s surprise visits to Dalit homes, but the virulence of her attacks itself offered proof that the Gandhi scion possessed an unknown capacity for weaning away her voters. This will now be put to the test. Regardless of how he fares finally, Rahul has been a regular thorn in Mayawati’s flesh. His sneaking into Bhatta Parsaul village to support farmers agitating against land acquisition by the state government for the benefit of builders forced Mayawati to train her sights on him. She shot off several letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against Rahul’s unscheduled visits (and also hastily passed a new land acquisition bill). She has also blamed the Centre for pretty much everything that was wrong in UP. The UPA leadership has now hit back with allegations against the BSP regime of misuse of funds meant for social welfare programmes like nrega.
Rajnath and the ‘repatriated’ Uma Bharati. (Photograph by Nirala Tripathi)
At the end of the day, the bloc with the most seats in the assembly will get a shot at government-making, so the role of alliances may be vital. This is where the Congress and BJP could come into the picture, depending on how they themselves fare. Of course, if either the BSP or SP gets a majority, as their supporters claim, the script will be different. Much can change between now and May 2012.
Man pleads guilty to illegally trafficking kidneys from Israel where they were later transplanted into American patients at prestigious US hospitals
Man pleads guilty to illegally trafficking kidneys from Israel where they were later transplanted into American patients at prestigious US hospitals
Friday, November 04, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson,
Friday, November 04, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson,
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, an Israeli citizen living in Brooklyn, NY, has pleaded guilty to illegally purchasing kidneys from desperate Israelis, and trafficking them back to the US for transplant in patients at prestigious, but unnamed, American hospitals. Rosenbaum has also reportedly pleaded guilty to conspiracy for illegally brokering kidney sales.
According to theJewish Telegraphic Agency(JTA), desperate kidney patients collectively paid Rosenbaum $410,000 to purchase kidneys harvested from Israelis who had sold them for a mere fraction of this amount. Rosenbaum's lawyers claim that all the donors agreed to give up their kidneys, but a 1984 federal law prohibits knowingly purchasing or selling organs for transplant.
Rosenbaum allegedly bought the kidneys for as little as $10,000 each, and resold them for a minimum of $120,000 each. He then used the money to purchase property, which he has since agreed to forfeit following his guilty pleas.
According to Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an anthropologist and organ trade expert, Israel is a hotbed of illegal organ trafficking. Many of those who are willing to donate a kidney, which is one of the few organs that can be harvested from a live person, are very poor immigrants from Eastern European countries who are desperate for money.
Rosenbaum had reportedly been arrested several years ago as part of a massive organ trafficking sting. A US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent pretended to be businessman in order to nab Rosenbaum, as well as 46 others, many of whom were rabbis, for participating in illegal activity.
On October 27, Rosenbaum pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court to three counts of organ trafficking and one count of conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and as much as a $250,000 fine. He could also be deported back to Israel.
"A black market in human organs is not only a grave threat to public health, it reserves lifesaving treatment for those who can best afford it at the expense of those who cannot," said New Jersey's US Attorney Paul Fishman about the case. "We will not tolerate such an affront to human dignity."
Most countries of the world currently have laws on the books prohibiting organ trafficking. But because organs are in extremely high demand, the black market for organs continues to thrive.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.jta.org/news/article/201...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...
According to theJewish Telegraphic Agency(JTA), desperate kidney patients collectively paid Rosenbaum $410,000 to purchase kidneys harvested from Israelis who had sold them for a mere fraction of this amount. Rosenbaum's lawyers claim that all the donors agreed to give up their kidneys, but a 1984 federal law prohibits knowingly purchasing or selling organs for transplant.
Rosenbaum allegedly bought the kidneys for as little as $10,000 each, and resold them for a minimum of $120,000 each. He then used the money to purchase property, which he has since agreed to forfeit following his guilty pleas.
According to Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an anthropologist and organ trade expert, Israel is a hotbed of illegal organ trafficking. Many of those who are willing to donate a kidney, which is one of the few organs that can be harvested from a live person, are very poor immigrants from Eastern European countries who are desperate for money.
Rosenbaum had reportedly been arrested several years ago as part of a massive organ trafficking sting. A US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent pretended to be businessman in order to nab Rosenbaum, as well as 46 others, many of whom were rabbis, for participating in illegal activity.
On October 27, Rosenbaum pleaded guilty in a New Jersey court to three counts of organ trafficking and one count of conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and as much as a $250,000 fine. He could also be deported back to Israel.
"A black market in human organs is not only a grave threat to public health, it reserves lifesaving treatment for those who can best afford it at the expense of those who cannot," said New Jersey's US Attorney Paul Fishman about the case. "We will not tolerate such an affront to human dignity."
Most countries of the world currently have laws on the books prohibiting organ trafficking. But because organs are in extremely high demand, the black market for organs continues to thrive.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.jta.org/news/article/201...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...
Human Rights Group Details Police Brutality at Papua Rally
Human Rights Group Details Police Brutality at Papua Rally
Camelia Pasandaran | November 04, 2011
Police arrest people who attended the Third Papuan Peoples' Congress event in Abepura, at the outskirts of Jayapura, on Oct. 19. (Reuters Photo)
Camelia Pasandaran | November 04, 2011
Police arrest people who attended the Third Papuan Peoples' Congress event in Abepura, at the outskirts of Jayapura, on Oct. 19. (Reuters Photo) The National Commission on Human Rights on Friday released a report detailing alleged human rights violations carried out by Indonesian security forces during a raid on a separatist rally near Jayapura on Oct 19.
The commission, also known as Komnas HAM, also called on the National Police to conduct a thorough internal investigation into the crackdown, which the commission concluded resulted in the deaths of four people and the beating and imprisonment of dozens more.
The commission, also known as Komnas HAM, also called on the National Police to conduct a thorough internal investigation into the crackdown, which the commission concluded resulted in the deaths of four people and the beating and imprisonment of dozens more.
“We found four examples of human rights violations: the right to life, the right to live free from torture and brutal actions, property rights and the right to not live in fear,” Komnas chairman Ifdhal Kasim told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.
The police have come harsh under fire for what many rights groups and foreign governments have decried as the violent tactics used to disperse the crowd attending the Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress.
Ifdahl said three people found dead in the wake of the congress were killed with no legal justification by security forces, a violation of the victims’ right to life.
“They are Demianus Daniel Kadepa, Yakobus Samonsabra and Max Asa Yeuw. Another person, Martinus Yorisitouw was shot in the buttocks and the bullet traveled through his rib cage and ended up in his head,” Ifdahl said.
The bullet blinded Martinus, who eventually died from his wounds, Ifdahl added.
The Indonesian government has continued to deny that police or military officers shot anyone on that day.
The report also claimed that a security officer put the muzzle of his rifle into the mouth of Marthen Luther Norotao, 23, and pulled the trigger. Martinus survived, Ifdahl said, but the bullet shattered several of his teeth and tore a hole in his cheek.
“The National Police should independently investigate their members who have clearly violated human rights and sanction those officers,” he said.
“We also demand the evaluation of troop placements in Papua and West Papua, as there are too many law enforcers there.”
The commission also recommended that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accelerate dialogue with the “real” Papuan people representing the tribal groups and listen to their opinions and concerns.
The police have come harsh under fire for what many rights groups and foreign governments have decried as the violent tactics used to disperse the crowd attending the Third Papuan Peoples’ Congress.
Ifdahl said three people found dead in the wake of the congress were killed with no legal justification by security forces, a violation of the victims’ right to life.
“They are Demianus Daniel Kadepa, Yakobus Samonsabra and Max Asa Yeuw. Another person, Martinus Yorisitouw was shot in the buttocks and the bullet traveled through his rib cage and ended up in his head,” Ifdahl said.
The bullet blinded Martinus, who eventually died from his wounds, Ifdahl added.
The Indonesian government has continued to deny that police or military officers shot anyone on that day.
The report also claimed that a security officer put the muzzle of his rifle into the mouth of Marthen Luther Norotao, 23, and pulled the trigger. Martinus survived, Ifdahl said, but the bullet shattered several of his teeth and tore a hole in his cheek.
“The National Police should independently investigate their members who have clearly violated human rights and sanction those officers,” he said.
“We also demand the evaluation of troop placements in Papua and West Papua, as there are too many law enforcers there.”
The commission also recommended that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accelerate dialogue with the “real” Papuan people representing the tribal groups and listen to their opinions and concerns.
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