Note: forwarded message attached.


=====

Web : www.tamilinfoservice.com/manitham
Email: manitham@...





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Respected Sir,

"An adjure of expectation not a demand"

from the desk of students, teachers and management of a Smalll village
Elanthope , Mayiladuthurai taluk, Nagai district ,Tamil Nadu - India

we hope your participation will definitely change the life of poor
children

Thank you, sir

S.Subramanian
Secretary
Govt.Aided Middle School
Elanthope   609201
Mayiladuthurai  Taluk
Nagai  District
Tamil Nadu
India

Phone :
Out Side India      :  # 91  04364 258 586
Out Side Tamil Nadu : 04364 258 586
With In Tamil Nadu    : 954364 258 586
With in Mayiladuthurai Zone : 258 586
The Secretary,
Govt Aided Middle School,
Elanthope, Mayiladuthurai,
Tamilnadu, India - 609201.
email:
gamselanthope@...
phone:
out side india: 91-4364-258586
out side tamil nadu : 04364- 258586
with in tamil nadu : 954364-258586

 Manitham –members

 

Dear Sirs,

 

 I,Dr.R.Pakkrisamy from chennai sending this appeal to you. regarding this discussion on Sethu Samudram Canal Project. This project is boon to the tamilians. Certainly this project when completed will bring economical development to the years together  poor tamilians of southern districts. Please see  the present condition of the tamilians of the southern districts They are poor,  poor,poor people At some times they are eating rats, cats. There are no fertile lands in that area, There are no big industry also to give them jobs. ,Now many many young Engineering and other  graduates are coming to Northern districts, northern states .they are doing jobs even to the level of menial works and many go astry.

 

 Request you sirs please give life to those young people. If you deny them bread earning jobs I certainly assure you sirs they may become low grade people.in the society 

 

When this project is completed the Tuticorin port will become a major port, south eastern Asia .Many ships will come to the ports Industries in and around Tuticorin will come up .Almost all the youngsters will get employment and they need not to come to the northern districts,

 

I dot not deny that they there will be some ecological unbalance during the time of execution ONLY and not afterwards. Technology has improved so much as that all the operations can be done by being in the shore itself without using heavy equipments,

 

This projects will give  life to Tamilians  This project is already delayed by 144 years .as this project was planned in 1860 itself,

 

I respect you sirs, I beg you sirs It is always the fate of tamilians such kind stop blocks do come in the life of tamilians when he try to come up. Please sir I request you, you  need not be the stop blocks. in  stopping/delaying the project.

 

On behalf of tamilians I request you sirs to  pl do not stand in the way of execution of the project. .pl help our community tamilians. Let us draw a middle line between Man s‘life ,young people s‘life and the life of fishes Without any kind of damage to any of them let us execute the project. Let our future tamilians do enjoy the best benefit of the  profitable project.

 

Let us have further discussion, and let us come to a better solution for the benefit of tamilians.

 

Nandri! Nandri! Sirs

 

Dr.R.Pakkrisamy

Annanagr Chennai-40. Ph 26211683 .cell 9440 11051

pakkri2004@...

---

IF YOU ARE A HUMAN

This article is about Human beings, Democracy, UNHCR, Refugees, The Iraqis,
Islam,
Kurds, Human rights, Respect, Money, Donations, Angelina Jolie, Pavarotti,
Giorgio
Armani, Donors, Peace, History, Campaigns and about you if you care about these
words.

Hi there,

I am Sam, an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon at the moment; I have spent the
last 9 years of
my life as a refugee registered with the UNHCR in Beirut. The last 3 years, I
have spent as
an activist for human rights (especially refugees and asylum seekers) on the
Internet; I'm also
a books author and ebooks publisher. I have launched many campaigns to improve
our
situation as refugees in Lebanon and hopefully bring more understanding to our
problems
worldwide. I helped make many changes and improvements at the UNHCR office in
Beirut;
I used the Internet as the field for my activities (you can read more about that
in my free
ebook 'MY CAMPAIGNS' http://www.unhcr.co.uk/free_ebooks.htm).

My latest campaign is to stop the UNHCR from conducting illegal and humiliating
actions,
by using photos of refugees as banners and human buttons to collect money. This
is an
abuse of the dignity and humanity of the refugees and must stop immediately and
a clear
public apology present by the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees. My
friends,
I am talking about the pictures you can see here:
http://www.unhcr.co.uk/if_human/if_human.htm

As I'm a refugee and an activist for human rights, I feel that the problems of
refugees are not
being solved by the UNHCR in fact their policies are worsening them. I have been
saying
this since the first day I started my activities and I said then that "If we
want to improve the
situation of the refugees in the world we must start with changing the policies
of the
UNHCR," I even wrote this in my books.

The people of the UNHCR have used these pictures as banners and buttons to
collect
money from donors. As a human being and a refugee, I felt these pictures
represent a bad
and offensive example of the disrespect for our humanity as refugees and asylum
seekers. It
does nothing to represent the meaning and the principles that were mentioned in
the UN51
convention. It fills me with pain and sorrow to see this disrespect to our
dignity and humanity
and also how they are deceiving the community with these pictures.

Unfortunately, the people who work at the UNHCR are working hard to present to
you a
portrait of a refugee as a poor human being who's problem will end when you
donate a few
$$$. Please look at their website (just google for the unhcr) and look at the
pictures there.
Everywhere on the site you'll just see pictures about poor people!

They have worked hard to establish a deep-rooted connection between poverty and
refugees. Everywhere in the world now if you ask anyone what the word 'refugee'
means the
answer will be "a poor person who has lost his home" does any one of you know
another
meaning for the word?

They have showed you just one thing: poor people as refugees and they made it
clear that
by paying some money to them, the problem will be solved; all it needs is
financial
resources! When you look directly at their websites, the pictures of poor people
will grab
your attention straight away! For UNHCR, the problem is the money only! We're
all as
humans need money, but not only the money! There are many things in the life not
only the
money, for example things like what you could read in my free ebook 'REFUGEES
FARM'
http://www.unhcr.co.uk/free_ebooks.htm

When I started to post in Yahoo groups mentioning I'm a refugee, many people
didn't
believe me, and they asked, "how it was possible for me to have access to the
Internet?" I
was astonished at the beginning but afterwards I understood the reality of what
they were
saying and started to post messages telling the truth and because of this the
UNHCR
declared war on me. So then I started to call myself "The Truth Warrior" because
I am
struggling to tell you the truth.

The people of the UNHCR emphasized the connection between the refugees and
poverty
and drew a foggy picture of refugees, creating a strong impression about their
poverty, more
than the fact they were stateless refugees. They also put forward the idea it
was the poverty
creating the reality of them being refugees in the first place. Now it is an
accepted idea in the
world community that a refugee is just a poor person looking for a better life,
well this is just
not true! The majority of the world doesn't even realize that it is even
possible for a
millionaire to have to flee his home and be a refugee.

Article 1 of the Convention defines a refugee as "A person who is outside
his/her country of
nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution
because of his/her
race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or
political opinion; and is
unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country,
or to return there,
for fear of persecution."

There is no mention made of the financial situation of the refugee or the degree
of poverty he
is experiencing, in plain simple words 'poverty does not make someone a
refugee'. As I said
before "the link between poverty and being a refugee is another thing entirely".
Most of the
time the situation of the refugees is bad because they have no security, no
opportunities to
get work and this then does create poverty! Its clear that giving money will not
solve the
problem, what's needed is real understanding of the problems that refugees are
facing and
they need global co-operation to solve this. This inspired me to adopt as my
motto:
Justice brings peace, freedom brings democracy
Understanding is the way.

Let me share with you some figures published by the UNHCR itself.
Annex I
Updated : 12 May 2004
DONOR INCOME
Italy
Private donors Italy 3,068,858
Pavarotti & Friends 2,336,932
Giorgio Armani, Italy 356,295
Total Private donors Italy 5,762,085
Spain
Espana con ACNUR *** 155,204
Private donors Spain 1,254
(Contributions of US$ 4,330,908 from Autonomous Communities
to Espaٌa con ACNUR are recorded under Government Contributions)
Total Private donors Spain 156,458
Netherlands
Dutch Postcode Lottery (NPL), Netherlands 1,076,426
Stichting Vluchteling 800,921
Breesaap B.V., Netherlands 300,000
Private donors Netherlands 2,444
Total Private donors Netherlands 2,179,791
Japan
Japan Association for UNHCR 1,550,162
Private donors Japan 271,605
Shin-Nyo-En Foundation 109,244
Total Private donors Japan 1,931,011
Germany
Deutsche Stiftung fur UNO-Fluchtlingshilfe E.V. 1,296,044
Private donors Germany 2,390
Total Private donors Germany 1,298,434
United States of America
USA for UNHCR 412,758
World Conference on Religion and Peace, USA 300,000
UNF/UNFIP (Ted Turner ) 177,737
Private donors United States of America 35,658
Total Private donors United States of America 926,153
France
Association Francaise de soutien a l'UNHCR. 661,144
Private donors France 143
Total Private donors France 661,287
Kuwait
Kuwait Red Crescent Society 441,705
Private donors Kuwait 29,995
Total Private donors Kuwait 471,700
Australia
Australia for UNHCR 437,607
Total Private donors Australia 437,607
Switzerland
Florindon Foundation, Switzerland 234,742
Private donors Switzerland 146,391
Total Private donors Switzerland 381,133
Oman
Oman Charitable Organization , Oman 366,902
Total Private donors Oman 366,902
United Kingdom
United Kingdom for UNHCR 303,519
Private donors United Kingdom 818
Total Private donors United Kingdom 304,337
Norway
STATOIL 275,458
Total Private donors Norway 275,458
Greece
Private donors Greece 232,915
Total Private donors Greece 232,915
Canada
Private donors Canada 207,535
Total Private donors Canada 207,535
Other Private donors 148,296
Total Contributions from private donors 15,741,102
NB: Only donor contributions more than USD 100,000 are individually identified
in
this table
*** The total contributions raised from the Private Sector including US$
4,330,908
from Spanish Autonomous
Communities (shown under Government of Spain & Other Administrations) amount
to US$ 20,072,010.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO 2003 UNHCR PROGRAMMES
in United States Dollars
Breakdown of Non-Governmental Organizations, Foundations and Private donors
situation as at 31 December 2003
---
Now let's analyze the figures, its not clear if private donations are 15 or 20
million dollars a
year, (nothing to do with governments) Anyway if we consider the total numbers
of asylum
seekers and refugees and others of concern to the UNHCR which was 20,556,781
people
published on their table on the 1st of August 2003. Now we need to divide that
amount on
the number of refugees 20,072,010/20,556,781 guess what? It's equals $0.97! I
used the
biggest number in the donations table.

So then each refugee will have a grand sum of $0.97 every year from these
donations!!! Yes
my friend, they humiliated us for less than $0.97 a year. Now let me think what
I can do
with this amount of money in one-year m'mmmm, maybe I can buy 2 bars of Lebanese
candy! I registered with UNHCR more than 8 years ago now and until this day I
have not
received one cent from them! So according to that table they owe me $7.80, a
fortune!!! I
declare now that I don't want this money ($7.80) I just want them to remove
these
humiliating pictures and make a public apology.

The big question is: Does all this money come from these human-buttons asking
for
donations on the UNHCR'S site? Does Pavarotti or Giorgio Armani need these human
buttons to make donations? If they need these buttons and it's a good way for
collecting
money for the UNHCR why don't they use their own pictures this way to bring more
money
in for the UNHCR. Also about Angelina Jolie, she is a goodwill Ambassador for
the
UNHCR and she has worked hard to collect money for the UNHCR, she is pretty and
attractive and her picture would make an excellent human button. They could
write on the
Angelina Jolie button "make a donation and be like Angelina" or Send a donation
to receive
thanks from Angelina" do you think that would offend her or the others we spoke
about?
Why would it do you think??? Her pictures are everywhere so let them use these
as a
human button to collect money if they feel it is inoffensive and not
dishonorable to her.

The last thing about these numbers is the percentage of the amount that
different
governments contribution to the UNHCR. I read in one table the total is
$928,865,984. So
what will happen if the UNHCR loses the 20 million that comes from private
donors, if they
remove the human-buttons of refugees? OK, they will have $908,865,984, but they
would
be giving respect to the refugees of the world, do you think they care?

$0.97 a year makes no difference to a human being but if we divide the same
amount
between the number of people working for the UNHCR, I believe they have about
5000
employees… so 20,072,010/5000=$4014.40 more than $4000 a year don't you think
that
makes a difference?

I have finished now about the numbers, let us continue about the pictures, and
the idea of
using the Angelina Jolie, maybe you will say that her picture is already being
used on the site
of the UNHCR and you would be right! But there are a few differences between her
picture
and the pictures of the refugees. Angelina's picture isn't used to collect
money; it's used to
show how much she cares about people and her help for the UNHCR. When you click
on
her picture, you read about Angelina, but when you click on the human-button of
the
refugees you find a form to donate money.

The important difference being this, Angelina's picture gives you her name,
dates and
history. The human-buttons, say nothing about the people on them, no names, no
dates,
nothing! This pushed me to find out more about these human-buttons. I found out
the truth
about the picture on the Iraqi banner in the page about Iraq, and the button on
this page to
donate money. I wrote about it in my book "THE TRUTH WARRIOR" I could tell you
quickly about it now, for more details please look in the book.

This is a picture of a Kurdish family, and it was taken in 1991! So that was 13
years ago!!!
The funny thing is that they used it to illustrate and draw attention to an
event that happened
last year, writing on it "IRAQ EMERGENCY" strange to speak about an emergency
and
use a 13 year old picture don't you think?

Do you know why they used that picture? Because it was easy… they had it
already, no
new refugee crisis happened during the last war with the USA on Iraq in 2003!
Guess what?
This picture shows a Kurdish family fleeing by crossing the border near
Suleymaniye in the
north of Iraq! The problem now, of course is the returning of refugees who left
during
Saddam's rule. The age of the picture and the fact it was taken for a different
reason, it's
deceptive and dishonest act.

I would have thought that a big organization like the UNHCR would be able to get
a more
modern picture of what is happening. They receive information daily and I am
sure they
don't need to resort to 13-year-old pictures; this information is from the last
century!!!
Maybe now there are not any pictures of Iraqi refugees to encourage donors to
click the
human-button! What a pity for the people of the UNHCR and for the refugees,
especially
the Iraqis. I wonder, how old the other pictures?

Do you feel that the picture shows the real situation of Iraqi refugees now? Are
the Iraqis
still fleeing and seeking refuge outside Iraq? The truth is always painful. The
UNHCR has
stopped receiving new applications form Iraqis seeking help, and when an Iraqi
goes to the
UNHCR in Beirut to ask for assistance they are told that the only help they can
get is
repatriation to Iraq. At the moment Iraqi refugees are scattered around the
world, Many
countries are offering to help return Iraqis home. These countries governments
mostly
finance these plans. For example in England the government has offered $1000
plus the cost
of their flight home to each refugee.

In Lebanon, we are not sure about the amount of financial support for those
wishing to
return home, but someone who had gone home that it was about $40 informed me,
the
source of the money was also unclear. Some people are saying that this money is
from
unknown Iraqi parties and some say the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut. I am currently
looking for
more information on this matter.

Anyway I don't feel the $40 dollars given to refugees in Lebanon is worth
anything.
Especially when viewed against the $1000 given by most European countries. The
question
is this: If there is no refugee crisis in Iraq and the financial support is
being paid for by the
governments where these people are, why is the UNHCR still asking for money
using
pictures of Iraqi refugees?

One more important question about that picture, do you think that the people who
work for
the UNHCR know anything about this woman or her family? Are they registered
refugees?
What is her name and where are they all now? Do you think she agreed to have her
picture
put on the web and used as a human-button?

I would love to know the answers to these questions, but unfortunately I can't
ask the
people at the UNHCR even though I tried many times over the years. They never
answer
any questions! Instead they have tried to hurt me and even tried to get my ISP
to cut my
connection! I hope one day you get the chance to ask them, and that maybe they
will
answer you. They didn't answer any of my friends who sent them messages. So
please if
you like, let us play their game and be a little cheeky. I hope that one of you
can contact
them and tell them you want to donate money to help the family they showed in
the picture.
Not telling them of course that you know the picture is old. Just tell them you
want to
sponsor that family. Notice that they wrote on it 'Emergency' so it's good to
help them out!
I'll wait with baited breath to hear their answers.

What do you think the answer will be? What do you think she would feel like if
she saw her
picture used like that, and what if her family sees her like this or someone in
her village? She
is a Moslem and to expose herself like this is a sin in Islam. Did you notice
she uses two
pieces of cloth to cover her head (I had another picture of her on my site)?

Just a little comment here about the "Burq'a" veil, it is used in Islamic
countries to cover all
the face and the head. In some Arabic countries like Saudi Arabia, there was a
problem
over women's driving licenses; they were concerned that policemen may need to
see their
picture that is how sensitive this matter is to Moslems. Can you imagine their
fear that one
day a man will see their picture without the protection of their "Burq-a"!!! So
what do you
think now about the UNHCR using pictures of Moslem women on the net as a banner
and
as a human-button to collect money where millions of men could see her!!! That
is a very big
sin in Islam.

As I'm a Moslem and I am sure the UNHCR haven't asked the woman's permission to
display her picture publicly like they are doing now, I am asking them to
respect the Islamic
religion and apologize to the woman and remove her picture immediately. Also I
am asking
each Moslem person reading this article to express their concern about this sin,
which is
being committed by the UNHCR for the sake of this woman and her family. Every
Moslem
knows what sin is, and it is also a sin to be silent when you see a wrong being
committed. I
am asking each Moslem to contact the UNHCR and express your opinion as we are
guided
to do by Islam. 2

There is a legal point of view for this subject:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established by the U.N.
General
Assembly in 1950. According to the UN51 convention and the Statute of the Office
of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (G.A. res. 428 (V), annex, 5 U.N.
GAOR
Supp. (No. 20) at 46, U.N. Doc. A/1775 (1950)).

"CHAPTER II. - FUNCTIONS OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER

10. The High Commissioner shall administer any funds, public or private, which
he receives
for assistance to refugees, and shall distribute them among the private and, as
appropriate,
public agencies which he deems best qualified to administer such assistance.
The High Commissioner may reject any offers which he does not consider
appropriate or
which cannot be utilized.
The High Commissioner shall not appeal to governments for funds or make a
general
appeal, without the prior approval of the General Assembly.
The High Commissioner shall include in his annual report a statement of his
activities in this
field."

As you can see the UNHCR must have permission from the General assembly for any
general appeal for money. The question is: Did the General Assembly agree to use
these
pictures to appeal for funds?

I would sincerely love to receive an answer, I am a refugee and I feel it is an
abuse of our
humanity as refugees in this world. Its not just abuse of our humanity but for
the humanity of
all humans.

We appeal to you to support this campaign to remove these abuses and to provide
more
respect for all refugees worldwide. Our situation in the world worsens day after
day without
any new polices to help or improve our situation. The UNHCR uses us as
human-buttons
and baits to collect money! Our problem is not only because of poverty it's
because the
general abuse of the meaning and the principles of UN51 convention because of
these
money collectors in UNHCR and other organizations.

This abuse must stop immediately. If UNHCR needs money so badly, there must be
other
respectable and honorable ways to make general and public appeals for money. For
example using buttons like paypal provides for donation without any humiliating
pictures of
humans at all.

I'm not saying that the people of UNHCR are all bad, they're just part of a
system and they
have their procedures and regulations. I just wanted to explain some of our
feelings as
refugees. To offer my understanding of the relationship between the refugees and
the
UNHCR. I'm an eyewitness to that relationship, trying hard to improve the
relationship using
my campaigns, my books and my unanswered questions.

I feel sad because the UNHCR has failed in the past 3 years to answer my
questions. Until
this day they failed to answer even one question! I'm not asking for the
impossible. I just
want some answers, as I'm a refugee, as I'm a human and as I'm an activist for
human rights.
All that gives me the right to ask and to have my questions answered.

I invite you as fellow humans and members of the world community to support my
mission
by asking the UNHCR to remove these abuses and to provide some reasonable
answers for
the questions that you have read in this article.

This invitation is a very important as part of the collective efforts to enhance
human rights,
respect and global peace. The UNHCR represent an important constituent of our
community, as humans and any failure in its performance will weaken the harmony
and
peace of the world.

We're living in a time where wars are declared to liberate people from despotism
and further
democracy and human rights. Blood is being shed now to try and improve
democracy,
human rights and respect. Do we need wars and to shed blood every time we face
disregard
for human rights and democracy?! Isn't there any peaceful way?

I have heard many people claim that they're working to help the refugees and
human rights
activists and some of them are collecting money also. I'm asking these people:
What are you
doing to help refugees and enhance human rights and respect? I'd like to know,
and if you
have nothing to do now, you can start work and help refugees by working to
remove these
abuses and humiliations for all humans. Contact the UNHCR and ask them about
these
pictures and tell them that these pictures are an abuse of refugees' dignity and
humanity,
when you can do this then we can see that you really care about refugees.

I don't have any money to pay you but if you would like to help us in our
struggle and you
respect our humanity as refugees in the world, then we would be very thankful
for this help.
I'm an E-book publisher and I will be publishing many more E-books in the
future. I would
like to have answers to the questions in this article and since the people at
the UNHCR
refused to answer my questions, I declare now that I'll give free access to all
of the E-books
I will write in my lifetime to the first person who will find the answers to my
many questions
concerning the UNHCR. He/she will be a hero of all refugees and I'll write about
them what
they would like. I can't give them a medal now, but we will give them our love
and our
thanks as refugees.

Please, if you think this issue is important and needs acts, you can send
messages to the
UNHCR and your government to speak your opinions according to your rights and
democracy. Here are some emails: ecu@...,inquiries@...,Hqpr00@...,tb-
petitions@...,info@...

Notice that you can find more emails here: http://www.umacr.org/emails.htm or
you can
brows for more on the net or to find more ways for contact them like phones or
faxes.

Together we will build better world.

You could reach me fast via this form: http://www.unhcr.us/email_me.htm

Thanks

THE TRUTH WARRIOR
OSAM ALTAEE
http://www.truth-warrior.com

URGENT ACTION : Abolishing Corporal Punishment in Schools

Please sign On-Line Petition: http://tamilinfoservice.com/manitham/form/petition/5.php#SIGN
Signatories : http://tamilinfoservice.com/manitham/form/petition/school.htm
------
Date : 10-08-2004

To

Thiru. Naresh, M.Sc. M.Ed.
Chief Educational Officer
Raja Street
Coimbatore - 641 001

Dear Sir,

Sub: Abolishing Corporal Punishment in Schools - Immediate action requested.
---------------
We are extremely pained to bring to your immediate notice the way in which school going children are put to emotional harassment and physical torture. As there is a mad 'rat race called learning process' schools [both Aided and Government] resort to use mean methods to 'groom' their students. Sporadic episodes of suicides of adolescent learners do add spice to sensational newspapers. But like an ice berg, the enormity of inhuman treatment inflicted upon young helpless kids remains hidden. Transfer Certificate is the cheapest trump card used to keep the victims stay mute.

It has been brought to our notice through oral messages, through phone calls and letters that in spite of the "BAN" against Corporal Punishments it is being generously unleashed upon students by 'strict' educators.

This crime is continuously committed by Heads of Institutions and Physical Education teachers and Physical Directors. Even a Secretary of an aided Institution in Coimbatore performs such heartless beastly acts under the pretext of 'disciplining the students'. Prayer assemblies are the arena for public display of physical punishment of the students in schools.

'Poor performers', 'disobedient students', 'late comers', 'fee - defaulters', are those who get special treatments. Concentration camps of Hitler's Germany would not have been this cruel.

We appeal to the authorities to look into this matter very urgently, because India's destiny is decided in her class rooms. It is time that we collectively learnt to look at our children as young individuals who have the birth-right of living their childhood days sans, fear and anxiety. Humanity is betrayed through corporal punishments inflicted upon the youth. Beast liners leave an indelible mark of anguish in the minds of the victims.

Thanks

Yours Sincerely,
Sd. Subramanian.G
Executive Director,
MANITHAM - Promoting Human Rights & Protecting Environment.

Copy to:

1. The Secretary,
Department of Education,
Fort St. George, Chennai.

2. Director of School Education,
Office of the Director of School Education,
College Road, Chennai

3. Joint Director of Secondary School Education,
Office of the Director of School Education,
College Road, Chennai

4. Joint Director (Elementary Education)
Directorate of Elementary Education
Chennai 600 006

5. Honourable Chief Minister,
Chief Minister Special Cell,
Fort St. George, Chennai.

6. Honourable Education Minister,
Chief Minister Special Cell,
Fort St. George, Chennai.

7. The District Collector,
Coimbatore Collectorate
Huzur Road, Coimbatore

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http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/04dhan.htm

Home > News > Report

Kalam rejects Dhananjay's mercy petition

Onkar Singh in Delhi | August 04, 2004 10:57 IST
Last Updated: August 04, 2004 13:17 IST


President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday rejected the mercy petition of
Dhananjoy Chatterjee.The President decided to reject the petition after
he had discussions with legal experts, including Attorney General Milon
Banerji.

A West Bengal trial court had sentenced him to death, which was
confirmed by the high court and the Supreme Court, for raping and
murdering 14-year-old school girl Hetal Parekh in 1990.

Kalam's Press Secretary S M Khan told rediff.com that the President
signed the rejection of the mercy petition late last night.

The petition was moved by Dhananjay's wife and brother two and a half
months ago. The mercy petition was sent by the home ministry for the
President's consideration about a month back.

This was Dhananjoy's second mercy petition before the President. His
first one was rejected on June 23, 1994.

The execution order was confirmed by a division bench of the Calcutta
high court comprising Justice M K Mukherjee and Justice J N Hore on
August 7, 1992.

The convict moved the Supreme Court and his appeal was dismissed by a
division bench comprising Justice A S Anand and Justice N P Singh on
January 11, 1994.

His review petition before the apex court was also rejected on January
20, 1994.

He then moved a mercy petition before the West Bengal Governor on
February 2, 1994, which was rejected on February 16 the same year.

Following this, he had moved a mercy petition before the President, on
February 17, 1994, which was rejected on June 23 the same year.


Since his death sentence in 1992 by the sessions court for the gruesome
act, Dhananjoy has successfully used loopholes in the legal procedures
to escape the gallows for over a decade.

Chatterjee had once before escaped the noose by a whisker in 1994, when
he got a stay on his execution from the Calcutta high court and the
Supreme Court.

He had moved the high court a day before February 25, 1994, the date
fixed for his execution and obtained a stay from the court on the ground
that he had moved a mercy petition before the President on February 17.

On the same day (February 24) his wife Purnima had moved the apex court
seeking a stay on execution on the ground that she be allowed time to
move a mercy petition before the President.

The apex court granted the stay for a week till March 4 and a communique
was received by the West Bengal Judicial Department the same evening
about the stay, just hours before the scheduled execution at 4.30 a.m
the next morning.

He managed two more extensions on the stay by the high court and then an
unlimited stay till disposal of his petition by the President,
suppressing the fact that his wife had also obtained a stay on his
execution from the apex court giving the same reason, public prosecutor
for state before the high court, Kaji Safiullah.

While the mercy petition was rejected by the President on June 23, 1994,
the state government did not take any step to vacate the stay by the
high court, till it came to the notice of a Judicial Department officer
in October 2003.

Once the high court was informed of the situation by the judicial
department, the then Chief Justice A K Mathur assigned the matter to
Justice D P Sengupta and the stay was vacated in November last.

An appeal against this order by Dhananjoy was also rejected by a
division bench of the High Court a month later.

Dhananjoy had been convicted on three counts-- Section 302 (murder) IPC
for which the execution order was given, Section 376 (rape) IPC for
which he was sentenced to life imprisonment and Section 380 (theft
inside house) IPC, for  which he was sentenced to five years'
imprisonment.

Dhananjoy was sentenced to death on August 12, 1991, by the Second
Additional Session Judge, Alipur, R N Kali.

The execution order was confirmed by a division bench of the Calcutta
high court comprising Justice M K Mukherjee and Justice J N Hore on
August 7, 1992.

The convict moved the Supreme Court and his appeal was dismissed by a
division bench comprising Justice A S Anand  and Justice N P Singh on
January 11, 1994.

His review petition before the apex court was also rejected on January
20, 1994.

He then moved a mercy petition before the West Bengal Governor on
February two, 1994, which was rejected on February 16 the same year.

Following this, he had moved a mercy petition before the President, on
February 17, 1994, which was rejected on June 23 the same year.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government said it was yet to receive any
formal communication from the Union law ministry about initiating the
process of execution of Dhananjay Chatterjee.

"We have heard about it, but no formal communication has been received
from the Centre yet," official sources said in Kolkata.

Neither the Chief Secretary nor the Home Secretary of the state were
available for comment.

The office of the State Advocate General said it would take some time
for the secretariat of the AG to receive a formal communication in this
regard.

With inputs from Press Trust of India

New Indian Express, August 02, 2004, Monday

CBI report defends police action in Muthanga incident

KOCHI: The Muthanga incident looks likely to bounce back to Kerala’s political scenario with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) acquitting state police of any excesses during their operation to bust unlawful assembly of tribals on reserved forestland in Wayanad last February.

The report of the CBI investigation into the incident has also termed that Geetanandan was mainly responsible for the build-up that led to police firing and that he had kept Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha leader C.K.Janu in the dark about the snowballing crisis.

The probe report by the Chennai unit of the premier investigating agency is now awaiting nod from agency’s top brass and legal officers in Delhi.

While the report on its probe into issues that caused Muthanga tragedy would be submitted before the Kerala High Court within a fortnight, another one on police action will be forwarded to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) through the State Government.

Sources told this website’s newspaper that the CBI has endorsed police action in Muthanga that left one tribal and one constable dead.

Justifying police action in Muthanga, including firing that killed Jogi, the CBI has reportedly justified it as a move that helped defuse the situation.

The report, however, has not commented on other possible alternatives before the Government that could have eased tension without collateral damage.

Portraying police firing as a hostage-rescue operation, the CBI said police cannot be faulted for opening fire to save life of KAP constable Vinod.

‘‘The report finds no reason to blame the police for any excesses. They were just obeying orders to evict encroachers who had unlawfully assembled inside protected forest land and killed wild animals,’’ sources said.

Contrary to the popular feeling that C.K.Janu was the brain behind Muthanga developments, the CBI has pointed fingers at Geetanandan for the tragedy.

The report, sources said, blames Geetanandan for fuelling tribals’ ire against Government with a view to gaining control over AGMS and tribal population.

‘‘It all started as a simple agitation. But Geetanandan re-routed its course and converted it into a riot. He had kept even Janu out of the scheme of things,’’ sources said.

However, Janu also figures in the list of accused. ‘‘Hundreds of people had assembled and occupied places like Thakarapady, Ponkuzhy and Ambukuthy at her instance. But she was not present on February 19 when police forcefully ousted tribals. The agency has convincing evidence that Geetanandan had taken control of the assembly on the eve of police firing,’’ sources said.

The Central probe agency, however, has ruled out any external influence like Naxals from Andhra Pradesh among factors that caused the Muthanga incident.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040802010325&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0&
----------------------------------------------------

The Hindu, August 02, 2004, Monday

Rights panel to target corrupt officials

By Our Staff Reporter

VELLORE, AUG. 1. The Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission will soon be draw up a plan to expose corrupt Central and State government officials and facilitate recognition of the honest ones, Member, Justice S.Sambandham, said.

Talking to newspersons here, he said about 15 per cent of government officials were corrupt and accepted illegal gratification giving the excuse they had to bribe higher officials and politicians. "These officials will not be happy if politicians decide to be clean." Honest officials who worked with conscience should be honoured. The SHRC would channel ideas and efforts by the people and organisations interested in eliminating corruption, he said.

Mr. Sambandham wanted to know why the officials blocked government money reaching the targeted sections. He sought the cooperation of well-meaning persons and the press for the implementation of the plan, the details of which, he said he would disclosed in 15 days at a meeting organised by a non-governmental organisation in Coimbatore.

The SHRC took strong action against doctors who indulged in sale of kidneys, exploiting the poverty of handloom weavers. About 95 per cent of beggary among children at busy traffic junctions in Chennai was eliminated.

On the recommendation of the Commission, the government initiated several reforms in the administration of mental asylums in Ramanathapuram district following the Yerwadi asylum fire, in which about 25 inmates perished more than three years ago. The practice of handcuffing inmates too was stopped at the intervention of the Commission. Mentally-disturbed persons no longer roamed the Kanyakumari streets, thanks to the action taken by the Collector and Superintendent of Police of the district at the instance of the Commission.

More petitions received

The number of petitions received by the Commission multiplied following awareness programmes conducted in 14 districts.

The number of petitions, 700 in 1997 when the Commission was started, had gone up to 9,500 in 2003. The largest number was against the police and on custodial violence.

Given the constraints such as vacancies in the posts of chairperson and two members, the 5-member commission, now functioning only with two members, was disposing of as many petitions as possible.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/02/stories/2004080204130600.htm
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New Indian Express, August 02, 2004, Monday

Collector asks police for report on child burial incident

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Virudhunagar District Collector A Mohammad Aslam has called for a report from the police on the `child burial' ritual that was conducted during a temple festival at Kottaipatti village in the district on Thursday.

The State Government banned the customary practice of burying children for a few minutes, as part of a religious ritual to appease the Gods, two years ago. The ban followed a report in this website’s newspaperabout several children being `buried' in Peraiyur in Madurai district. The Peraiyur incident resulted in Sedapatti MLA, who participated in the ceremony, forfeiting his portfolio.

Despite the ban, the child burial ritual was performed at Kottaipatti village on Thursday as part of the Muthalamman Temple festival, which is held in July every year. According to eyewitnesses, five children were buried in a small pit and taken out after a few minutes. The Collector said that he has referred the matter to the police for investigations and has called for a report from the SP.

Virudhunagar SP Jeyachanran said, ``The five children who took part in Thursday's rituals were about 14 years old. The customary practice during such rituals is to dig a pit, with dimensions of 3 ft X 2 ft X 7 ft (depth, width and length respectively). The children are asked to lie down inside the pit. A wooden plank is placed on the pit, covering it partly, so that the priest carrying the idol can walk across.''

The children do not run the risk of suffocation as the pit is only half-covered, he said. However, investigations are on to ascertain the facts, he added.

Meanwhile, child rights activists said that the issue raises serious concerns about the health of children. Moreover, it was done in violation of the ban, they said.

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20040801114930&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0
-------------------------------------

New Indian Express, August 02, 2004, Monday

Collector asks police for report on child burial incident

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Virudhunagar District Collector A Mohammad Aslam has called for a report from the police on the `child burial' ritual that was conducted during a temple festival at Kottaipatti village in the district on Thursday.

The State Government banned the customary practice of burying children for a few minutes, as part of a religious ritual to appease the Gods, two years ago. The ban followed a report in this website’s newspaperabout several children being `buried' in Peraiyur in Madurai district. The Peraiyur incident resulted in Sedapatti MLA, who participated in the ceremony, forfeiting his portfolio.

Despite the ban, the child burial ritual was performed at Kottaipatti village on Thursday as part of the Muthalamman Temple festival, which is held in July every year. According to eyewitnesses, five children were buried in a small pit and taken out after a few minutes. The Collector said that he has referred the matter to the police for investigations and has called for a report from the SP.

Virudhunagar SP Jeyachanran said, ``The five children who took part in Thursday's rituals were about 14 years old. The customary practice during such rituals is to dig a pit, with dimensions of 3 ft X 2 ft X 7 ft (depth, width and length respectively). The children are asked to lie down inside the pit. A wooden plank is placed on the pit, covering it partly, so that the priest carrying the idol can walk across.''

The children do not run the risk of suffocation as the pit is only half-covered, he said. However, investigations are on to ascertain the facts, he added.

Meanwhile, child rights activists said that the issue raises serious concerns about the health of children. Moreover, it was done in violation of the ban, they said.

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20040801114930&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0
-------------------------------------

The Hindu, August 02, 2004, Monday

How the better half dies — II

By P. Sainath

Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda and Anantapur (ANDHRA PRADESH), AUG. 1. The creditors arrived the moment we did. They did not describe themselves that way, but hovered around Bhagawantamma. Even trying to answer some of the questions we asked her. Maybe we were Government officials giving her some money. If so, they would take it from her the moment we left. Her husband, Tanki Balappa, committed suicide just days ago. At least a couple of the men present had lent him money. They are also amongst the bigger landowners here in Rakonda village, Mahbubnagar.

Balappa's crops had failed — on the one-and-a-half acres he owned and on the three he had taken on lease. Bhagawantamma is not clear on how much he had borrowed, as he never consulted her. It could be around Rs. 85,000 or upwards of Rs. 1 lakh. Now she has to look after two sons and a daughter while running the farm. And cope with the creditors. Including some who might have no proof that her husband owed them anything.

Suicides amongst their own numbers are not the only way women farmers are hit by the ongoing crisis. Suicides by their husbands leave many in a predatory world. There is a high risk of losing the family's land. And of facing extreme pressure, including sexual harassment, from creditors and others.

Creditors swoop in

Claims by moneylenders, real and fake, swiftly follow the husbands' suicide. This was evident in all six districts where we surveyed such households. In many cases, the widows had little or no idea of the extent of their husbands' debts. "That's men's business," as one villager told me sternly.

Right now, it is the woman's business whether she likes it or not, as Yadamma of G. Edavalli village, in Nalgonda district, is finding out. The widow of Korvi Salaiah has just begun to gauge the scale of her husband's borrowings. Each day brings a fresh demand. "He never told me anything about what he was doing," she said. There are many who will be telling her about it soon. And forcefully.

The field is also open for fraud in societies that go largely by trust and the spoken word. More so, when many widows feel responsible for their husbands' dues, even if never consulted by them. For Kamalamma, whose husband Pamul Reddy took his life this year in Mushampalli, Nalgonda, "the issue is not a legal one. It is my moral duty to clear my husband's debts."

Imambi in Rayalappadhodi, Anantapur, is one woman who does dispute a creditor's claims. It has not stopped him from grabbing five acres of her land, though. Imambi's husband, Razaksaab, committed suicide in March 2003. Local journalists say that the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, met and helped her when on a visit to Anantapur. But Imambi's 15 minutes of fame did not help get back the land.

There are other dangers too. Children becoming bonded labourers is one of them. All three sons of Lakshmamma in Munnanuru village, Mahbubnagar, are bonded. "What choice do we have? Just look at our condition," she says. Her husband, Pedda Bhimaiah, a farmer with just one acre, took his life in despair eight months ago.

The fortunes of already indebted families sink faster after the suicide. And sometimes, that causes a second one. In Mirdhoddhi, Medak district, Gunnala Narayana took his life last August after yet another crop failure. This June, less than a year later, his son Kumar did the same, unable to face his creditors. Kumar's wife, mother and sister are in dire straits.

Assets diminish

Within months of the suicide, many widows and families are left with no assets whatsoever. And no prospect of acquiring any. Among those left behind by the suicide of Dhomala Srinivas in Suranpalli in Medak are his ailing mother, Lakshmi, his handicapped sister, Satyalakshmi and his father, Narasaiah, who suffers from paralysis. The family had sold all cattle and some land to keep afloat. Their debts and health expenditures mount in tandem.

Drought makes the unbearable impossible. More so, when male members of the household migrate in search of work. A rural woman could spend up to eight hours a day on just three chores: fetching water, firewood and fodder. That is, a third of her life. This is apart from cooking, washing and looking after the children. When drought strikes, she could be walking twice the `normal' distance in search of water. The hunt for fodder becomes more urgent as the condition of livestock begins to deteriorate. The absence of any support at home makes things worse.

In Jambuladhine, Anantapur, Lakshmi Devi has lost both husband and sanity. P. Nagireddy was a farmer and a marriage broker hit on both fronts. Crop failure ruined many like him. The crisis also put off countless weddings and thus ruined his marriage broker business as well. The delay in his own daughter's wedding crushed Nagireddy, who committed suicide in April last year. Sick with worry about her debts and her daughters, Lakshmi Devi went out of her mind.

Education, a casualty

The farm crisis has also wrecked the education of many girls. In Kurugunta in Anantapur, the bright younger daughter of G. Hanumantha Reddy has had to quit school. Her family cannot afford it. This district has seen some young girls committing suicide after being pulled out of school.

The world the `suicide widows' face is a daunting one. To run the farm, face the creditors, bring up the children and earn a living is not easy. Nor is having to pay off debts they did nothing to incur. Yet, some of them try. Like Parvati who, having studied till the 10th class, is one of the most educated young women in Chinna Mushtiuru, Anantapur.

Parvati counselled her husband, Duggala Mallappa, against despair. She pointed out to him that the whole village was in the same state of debt. And asked him not to give in to the pressures of moneylenders. He did. And Parvati tries today to run the farm while bringing up three young daughters aged 6, 4 and 10 months. The odds are stacked against her. But there is no trace of self-pity in her words. Just a calm determination to see that her girls get some education, like her. "Somehow," as she says, "we have to pull on."

http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/02/stories/2004080203411200.htm

How the better half dies — I
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2004/08/01/stories/2004080100061100.htm
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New Indian Express, August 02, 2004, Monday

Collector asks police for report on child burial incident

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Virudhunagar District Collector A Mohammad Aslam has called for a report from the police on the `child burial' ritual that was conducted during a temple festival at Kottaipatti village in the district on Thursday.

The State Government banned the customary practice of burying children for a few minutes, as part of a religious ritual to appease the Gods, two years ago. The ban followed a report in this website’s newspaperabout several children being `buried' in Peraiyur in Madurai district. The Peraiyur incident resulted in Sedapatti MLA, who participated in the ceremony, forfeiting his portfolio.

Despite the ban, the child burial ritual was performed at Kottaipatti village on Thursday as part of the Muthalamman Temple festival, which is held in July every year. According to eyewitnesses, five children were buried in a small pit and taken out after a few minutes. The Collector said that he has referred the matter to the police for investigations and has called for a report from the SP.

Virudhunagar SP Jeyachanran said, ``The five children who took part in Thursday's rituals were about 14 years old. The customary practice during such rituals is to dig a pit, with dimensions of 3 ft X 2 ft X 7 ft (depth, width and length respectively). The children are asked to lie down inside the pit. A wooden plank is placed on the pit, covering it partly, so that the priest carrying the idol can walk across.''

The children do not run the risk of suffocation as the pit is only half-covered, he said. However, investigations are on to ascertain the facts, he added.

Meanwhile, child rights activists said that the issue raises serious concerns about the health of children. Moreover, it was done in violation of the ban, they said.

http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20040801114930&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0
-------------------------------------

The Hindu, August 02, 2004, Monday

Child torture case: royal family member arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR, AUG. 1. The Orissa police have arrested one of the two members of a royal family of the State who had been named accused in a child torture case.

Bhubaneswar Singh Deo, who belonged to the erstwhile royal family of Khariar in Nuapara district, was arrested from the Kantabanjhi railway station early today as soon as he got down from a passenger train. The whereabouts of his wife, Pushpalata Singh Deo, are not known.

Mr. Singh Deo, whose father, the late Anup Singh Deo, was a Cabinet Minister in the State, was produced before the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Khariar and remanded to judicial custody till August 13.

A case had been registered against Mr. Singh Deo and his wife after the Khariar police found an eight-year-old orphaned boy with severe burns and fractured bones in their Lal Mahal palace.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/02/stories/2004080201971300.htm
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The Hindu, August 02, 2004, Monday

Tribal healers script a success story

By R. Madhavan Nair

KOZHIKODE, AUG. 1. A new generation of tribal healers in Wayanad have scripted a success story for the State Backward and Scheduled Communities Welfare Department.

A group of Adivasi youth who studied tribal medical lore from well-known practioners of tribal medicines under a scheme of the department have emerged as successful medical practioners. More importantly, they have gained considerable knowledge about a medical system which many feared would disappear with the aging tribal practioners. That too amid reports of the reluctance of many senior tribal physicians to pass on their knowledge to the younger generation.

Rajan Vaidyar, who has put up a dispensary 20 km from Kalpetta town in Wayanad, is a representative of the new breed of tribal healers who learned tribal medicine during a three-year certificate course in tribal medicine conducted by the Kerala Institute for Research Training and Development Studies (Kirtads) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Eight Adivasi youth who enrolled for the programme were paid a monthly stipend of Rs.600 each by the department.

Heavy demand

Under the supervision of a team of senior tribal physicians led by Achappan Vaidyar, a tribal physician belonging to the Kurichiya community, the students were imparted training in identifying medicinal plants, manufacturing medicines and the intricate methodology of disease diagnosis. The successful youth tribals later set up practice in their own place.

Rajan Vaidyar, a former State champion in archery, joined the course after doing pre-degree and has been quick to make a name as a dependable tribal healer. People troubled by various ailments travel from distant places into the interior Wayanad by bus and jeep seeking his herbal medicines.

JULY 24 was a hectic day for him and his assistants. Nearly 300 patients had taken token to meet him in his three-room dispensary. While men, women and children waited outside for their turn, inside his assistants were chopping, grinding and boiling leaves, stem and roots of medicinal plants.

Therapeutic properties

Middle-aged Joseph said he had come in search of a medicine for his chronic rheumatic problem. In one side of the building, herbs were boiled in giant pots and the steam, believed to have therapeutic properties, was sent through crude pipes to a patient sitting inside a chamber. It was a steam bath. Different herbs were used for different diseases.

According to Rajan Vaidyar, they come mainly for sinusitis and skin diseases. Our medicine is effective. So more and more people come here.

He is not the sole beneficiary of the programme. Nearly 40 others, mostly tribals, work for him. Antony, a post-graduate in commerce, is his accountant. He has women working in his packing department. And there are tribals who go into the forests to collect medicinal plants.

Besides Rajan Vaidyar, his batch-mates Chandu, Rajan and Mohanan are also successful practioners of tribal medicine. Another 20 tribal youth are in their second year of the training programme under senior tribal physicians at Valad in Wayanad, Attappady in Palakkad, Marayur in Idukki and Ilachiyam in Thiruvananthapuram.

The training is funded by the department and conducted by the Indian Indigenous People Service Society, a non-governmental organisation engaged in the promotion of traditional tribal knowledge system.

Viswanathan Nair, anthropologist and president of the Indian Indigenous People Service Society, believes that the new generation of tribal healers is the torch-bearer of an ancient medical system which has many efficacious medicines.

Some are sceptical

Rajan Vaidyar and some other tribal healers may have gained public acceptance, but there are physicians who are sceptical about the efficacy of tribal medicines. The Kozhikode district secretary of Indian Medical Association, K.V. Prabhakaran, believes that since the action, more specifically side-effects, of tribal medicines has not been scientifically studied, it is not advisable to rush to tribal healers for all ailments. But he agreed that sometimes these medicines turn out to be efficacious for some patients. But Dr. Viswanathan Nair points out that many States having large populations of tribal people encourage tribal healers in various ways.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/02/stories/2004080201470500.htm
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The Hindu, August 02, 2004, Monday

`Kaya Taran speaks about dilemma of identity'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 1. ``There has been a strange reluctance to confront the 1984 anti-Sikh riots which, by conservative estimates, claimed around 8,000 lives. May be because it does not fall into our stereotype of mass violence. `Kaya Taran' is set against the backdrop of the anti-Sikh riots and the post-Godhra massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in

2002 which also claimed hundreds of lives, but it is not an attempt to frontally depict the violence or the killings, but to take a distanced look at the dilemma of nurturing one's cultural identity in a volatile, multi-cultural society," says Sashi Kumar about his debut film.

In the Kerala capital in connection with a preview of his film, Sashi Kumar told journalists during an interaction at the Press Club today that negotiations were on with a Mumbai-based distributor for the national release of the film.

`Kaya Taran' has been made in Hindi and the present proposal is to have it sub-titled in English for non-Hindi and non-Indian audience, Sashi Kumar said.

Violence contextualised

Sashi Kumar said his attempt was to contextualise the violence of 1984 with that in 2002 in Gujarat and see these as symptomatic of a deeper and more insidious challenge, the challenge from within, to the nation's multi-culturalism. "There are two types of identities: one is an identity that is aggressive and the other a cultural identity that must struggle to survive. It is the vulnerability of this identity that I have tried to look at," he said.

Hindutva forces

Replying to the possibility of the film's ending (where the protagonist resolves his dilemma of identity and wears a turban) being used by the Hindutva forces for rationalising their position on religious identity, Sashi Kumar said he was uncomfortable with the possibility of the film's ending being used for rationalisation of the Hindutva forces, but did not wish to have a dogmatic ending for his film. "I don't agree with negation of cultural identity from an ultra-progressive position," he said and added that he would `draw a distinction between wearing your religious identity on your sleeves and continuing with your cultural identity'. Sashi Kumar said he considered C.K. Janu one of the stalwarts of Kerala and had included a sequence showing the cover of Janu's memoirs in Malayalam as a personal tribute to her.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/02/stories/2004080205740400.htm
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The Indian Express, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Next, Gujjar may get Mulayam ‘shelter’

AMAN SHARMA

LUCKNOW, JULY 31: After providing political patronage to Phoolan Devi, the next dacoit from the ravines of Chambal to land in UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s shelter could be Nirbhay Gujjar, carrying a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head.

In a prelude to Gujjar’s impending surrender, his 20-year-old wife and adopted son surrendered before the anti-dacoity court in Etawah today. ‘‘ I am planning my surrender. I will join politics,’’ Gujjar said reacting to their surrender.

Mulayam had used his weight to ensure Phoolan Devi’s release and later turned her into a Samajwadi Party MP to cash in on the Mallah (boatmen) community votes. Gujjar, wanted for the past 25 years, is also reported to be close to Mulayam. He had openly canvassed for the Samajwadi Party during the Lok Sabha elections and had even issued threats to villagers to vote for Mulayam.

It is believed that a senior officer of the Uttar Pradesh DGP’s office is in constant touch with Gujjar to effect the surrender. Gujjar had released his set of demands for the surrender some days ago, saying he and his family members should be pardoned of all crimes.

Ironically, the surrender of Gujjar’s wife Nirmala Gupta and his adopted son Shyam Jatav comes in Etawah, Mulayam’s home district. Gujjar had recently married Nirmala — almost 40 years his junior and a dreaded member of his gang. Nirmala and Jatav deserted Gujjar around 20 days ago and fled with jewellery and Rs 8 lakh in cash.

Alarmed by the split in his gang, Gujjar had then announced a reward of Rs 21 lakh on their heads. The fugitives caught everyone by surprise today when they produced themselves before Special Judge Naresh Singh, unarmed.

Senior police and administration officials rushed to the court when the news of their surrender spread. The judge has sent the duo to police custody for three days. The matter will now come up for hearing on August 3.

Gujjar’s 100-member gang is said to be the most active along the UP-MP border, striking terror in Etawah, Jalaun and Kanpur region since 1981. The gang is wanted by the UP and MP police in as many as 149 cases, including that of murder and abduction. The gang is said to have extorted at least Rs 3 crore by kidnapping over 200 persons over the past decade.

Gujjar’s gang was the prime target for UP police after DGP V.K.B. Nair launched ‘‘Operation Mayur’’ on July 19 for catching members of the state’s 38 most dreaded gangs.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=52168
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CHRO News, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Soopy in a soup on national anthem sans ‘Gujarat’

Already piqued by umpteen woeful worries, the Kerala Education Minister, Nalakath Soopy, is in deep trouble, including losing his post in the imminent Cabinet reshuffle.

To top it all, Soopy now faces legal action that tinges patriotism, if not jingoism. The charge is

printing national anthem in a school textbook from which ‘Gujarat’ is curiously missing.

For anybody else this at best is a printing error, or at worst an uncanny mistake. However, from Sangh Parivar hypes, it constituted a serious offence as Soopy belongs to their bet noire Muslim League party. The issue has its added furor since it is linked with Gujarat - of Modi of present, than India’s good old Mahatma.

Gujarat was found missing from the national anthem printed on the front page of IX Standard English Medium Mathematics textbook. Taking objection to it, B. Krishna Kumar (“Govinda Nivas”, Nellimukil near Adoor), sought the Governor’s permission to initiate legal action against Soopy and Director of SCERT.

Due objections were raised for repeating the letter ‘A’ in “Aashisha” in the line “Thava Subha Aashisha Maage”. In the last sentence of “Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey”, the word “Jaya” was printed one less, it was further objected.

The Governor’s permission was sought in a notice sent by the complainant to Kerala Chief Secretary through Adv. C. Pradeep Kumar.

Interestingly, several controversies have been raised on the national anthem in the past. One is whether it was written in praise of the former British King, rather than the modern Independent India.

Interestingly, names of several Indian states, including Kerala, are missing in the original version of national anthem. (Kerala is clubbed alongwith other Southern states as "Dravida").

A few years ago, group of students belonging to the Yahova Christian sect in Central Travancore region of Kerala refused to sing national anthem in the school assembly. Singing a song in praise of anybody or anything other than Yahova infringed their religious faith, they contended. As the students were summarily terminated from the school, the dispute reached the Supreme Court. Ultimately, the right of Yahova students to not to sing national anthem was upheld.
----------------------------------------------------

Rajani's Suicide: Case Against 5 Persons

New Indian Express, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Rajani’s suicide: Case against 5 persons

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Poojappura police on Saturday filed a case against five persons, including the director of Scheduled Caste Development Department, in connection with the suicide of engineering student Rajani S.Anand.

This was in view of a directive from the court on the basis of a private petition seeking permission to file murder case in connection with the incident.

The first information report was submitted to the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate here. The others named as accused in the first information report are a section officer of the Scheduled Caste Development Department, manager of the Indian Overseas Bank at Poozhanad, principal of the College of Engineering, Adoor and superintendent of the General Hospital here.

Rajani, who hailed from a scheduled caste family, committed suicide by jumping from the terrace of the seven-storeyed Housing Board complex here last week.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20040801013405&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0&
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New Indian Express, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Live burial of five kids at temple festival

SIVAKASI: Though ‘live burial ceremony' of children, even as a religious ritual is banned, the practice continues. The ritual was performed at Kottaipatti village in Elayirampannai police limits in Virudhunagar district on Thursday.

This ritual is performed every year in the month of July during the festival at the Muthalamman temple

in the village. This year, this ritual was performed on Wednesday and Thursday by parents to redeem their vows.

On Wednesday, an idol of the deity Muthalamman was moulded in clay and poojas were offered. On Thursday, the ‘live burial ceremony' was performed.

For this purpose six feet deep `graves' were dug in the courtyard of the temple. Neem leaves were spread in the pits.

The clay idol was then taken in procession led by musicians. The children to be `buried' were draped in yellow cloth and brought to the `graves'.

After the `interment', a plank was placed on top of the grave. The priest who carried the idol on his head then stepped on the plank, which was then removed and the children taken out.

This year, five children were buried and taken out. It is the belief of the devotees that this ritual cures their children of incurable diseases.

District Collector A. Mohamed Aslam, when asked about this ritual, said that he was away on leave and was not aware of this ritual.

Many human rights activists recall here how the Chief Minister reacted to a similar ritual in Peraiyur in Madurai district two years ago, which resulted in a Minister who participated in the ceremony, forfeiting his portfolio.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20040731111726&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0
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New Indian Express, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Dial L for murder

Madhavi Ravikumar

June 21: It was a bright Monday morning in Vijayawada, when some final year MCA students from the Sarada College had gathered to take their viva-voce. The viva-voce normally takes place after an intense half-year project work, and the students were clearly excited to meet their friends after a long gap. But nobody could have ever imagined the tragedy that was about to take place. None, least of all, Sri Lakshmi, a gold medallist and a distinction student, seated on the third bench.

As the room was bustling with chatter, Y Manohar, another student, quietly entered the class. He greeted his colleagues, and casually sidled up to Sri Lakshmi who was flipping through the pages of her project report. Suddenly, without any provocation, Manohar whipped out a butcher’s knife from under his T-shirt, and in a flash dealt successive blows to Lakshmi’s head, making at least nine deep cuts.

It was like a scene straight out of a movie, and the young girl’s life was snuffed out instantly, even as her classmates fled the spot in terror. Manohar walked out as casually as he had entered, leaving behind the victim in a pool of blood.

What brought on this act of violence? Here was a girl from lower middle class background who wanted to make it big in the IT industry. She had lost her parents early in life and had even mortgaged her jewellery to complete her MCA. Her fault? She had rejected Manohar’s love.

This is not an isolated case. A quick look at the statistics pertaining to ‘crimes of passion’ shows that one woman is killed every 10 days on account of sexual jealousy in Hyderabad. In the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, three women are murdered every fortnight for the same reason. Vijayawada, in fact, tops the state with an average 1,327 cases of crime against women every year; Hyderabad is next with 959 cases; Visakhapatnam recorded 305 cases. Karimnagar district has the dubious distinction of recording an average of 95 rapes each year. ........

http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEH20040729234526&eTitle=Cover+Story&rLink=0
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The Hindu, August 01, 2004, Sunday

New whispers in Silent Valley

Its fabled rainforests are in the limelight once again. C. SURENDRANATH and M. SUCHITRA detail the new developments in this national park.

"THE story of Silent Valley is a golden chapter in the history of the conservation movement. It is a

story marked by struggle and is the continuity of an assaulted Amazon, a burning Borneo, a corporated Congo, extinct bison and dodos." This was how Satis Chandran Nair, ecologist (his impassioned explorations of rainforests contributed much to the recognition and conservation of the Silent Valley forests in Kerala state, South India, as a global heritage site and a national park in 1984) reflects a decade later on the "Save Silent Valley" crusade. And it is with reason, as the Kunthi river that originates in Silent Valley's rainforests is currently the focus of attention and the centre of a struggle being re-enacted.

The story starts with what environmentalists perceive to be a threat to the pristine Silent Valley ecosystem in a scheme, the Pathrakkadavu Hydroelectric Project (PHEP), proposed on the Kunthi just outside the boundary of the park. However, the State authorities argue that the apprehensions are misplaced and misguided.

Shielded from extreme climatic variations as well as human incursions by tall ridges, some as high as 2,000 metres, the 8,952-hectare Silent Valley National Park on the Nilgiri plateau remains an "ecological island." The Silent Valley is perhaps the only forestland in the region with a relatively undisturbed evolutionary history of at least 50 million years.

When compared to all other sub-tributaries of the Bharathappuzha, the lifeline of central Kerala, the Kunthi flows undisturbed perhaps due to the success of the conservation of the Silent Valley.

`Less submergence'

"The Pathrakkadavu dam is an "eco-friendly alternative" to the Silent Valley project, says Kadavoor Sivadasan, Minister for Electricity. The PHEP is being designed as a run-off-the-river project with an installed capacity of 70 MW in the first phase (105 MW eventually) and an energy generation of 214 million units (Mu) from a 64.5-metre high dam with a minimal gross storage of 0.872 million cubic metres. The claim is that the submergence area of the PHEP would be a negligible 4.10 ha, compared to 830 ha of tropical evergreen rainforest in the now abandoned Silent Valley Hydro-Electric Project (SVHEP).

Such features of the project have won some support for the PHEP even among the think-tank of the Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), the people's science movement which had heralded the "Save Silent Valley" struggle. "The PHEP is a technically feasible project," says Dr. A. Achuthan, Kozhikode district president of the KSSP, but is cautious enough to add that "more studies are needed to confirm this".

"It's a conventional project masquerading as an alternative," counters Prof. R.V.G. Menon, former State president of the KSSP.

The division is subtle.

In contrast to the stark reductionism that characterised the nascent conservation debate in the 1980s on the SVHEP ("man or monkey, which is more important?" — the reference being to humans or the lion-tailed macaque, the mascot of the Silent Valley) the arguments over the PHEP are refined. Now, opposition springs from a variety of perspectives — ecological to managerial.

"The first and the foremost argument" is that the PHEP "posed a major threat to the long-term viability of the National Park" by negating and proposing to sever the ecosystem continuity, according to Satis.

The present National Park is an artificial administrative unit of 89 sq. km, with its boundaries being those fixed for ownership reasons that date back to 1914. From an ecological point of view, the park should have encompassed contiguous biodiversity-rich forest tracts that cut across even states. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, then secretary to the Department of Agriculture, had suggested this way in 1979, but his suggestion for carving out a national rainforest biosphere reserve in the region spread over 39,000 ha was not pursued.

The success of the struggle over the SVHEP had brought in complacency. The boundary of the park was never expanded and no buffer zone created. The park remained an island under constant threat. The environmental movement too had left no second line of defence, leaving the park to be governed by the forest department.

Rich bio-diversity

But nature hasn't heeded to administrative logic. The non-park forests in the PHEP project site abutting the Nellikkal ridge of the national park too remain a hotspot of bio-diversity. Even the Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (REIA), which the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) got done in just five months, had to acknowledge the presence of 381 species of flowering plants here. Of these 55 are endemic and seven rare. The floral and faunal endemism is a high 20 per cent. Other studies have put this to be much higher. During a brief 12-hour trek, scientists of the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology (SACON) found nine more species of butterflies, one more reptile and two other amphibians than listed in the REIA. While the latter could find only 18 species of fish in the Kunthi, studies in 2000 had reported 57.

It was based on the REIA, which Dr. V.S. Vijayan, director, SACON, qualifies as "quite inadequate", that the KSEB and the Kerala State Pollution Control Board rushed through the formality of a public hearing on the project on May 21. The hearing was a fiasco with the local MLA ordering out outsiders and "organised groups" intimidating those who tried to criticise the project.

The fundamentals of the PHEP have also been questioned, for instance, on the blatant mismatch between rain gauge data and the river gauge data in the Detailed Project Report. "In months when rainfall is found to be below average, river flow is shown to be 30 per cent higher!" points out R.V.G. Menon. Rainfall at the Sairandhri site is shown to have increased 80 to 100 per cent between 1982 and 2003, a contention that even laymen question. With such exaggerations in the river runoff data (estimated now at 498.25 Million m+3 against 293 Mm+3 estimated in 1982) the power potential and the cost benefit ratio are skewed, argues Dr. A. Latha of the Chalakkudi Puzha Samrakshana Samithi (The Chalakkudi River Protection Forum).

Instead of projecting the PHEP as the "alternative" to the failed SVHEP, the KSEB should have looked at options, it is being pointed out. A three per cent reduction in transmission and distribution losses can provide the equivalent of power generation at the PHEP, argues the Samithi. The next best option is faster completion of scores of incomplete projects, some of which have gone on for a quarter of a century. Then, the State had an identified potential of over 600 MW in small hydropower (SHP), nearly the same amount in wind energy and an untapped wealth of biomass energy. Such options should precede an adventurous project that could have an impact, the magnitude and value of which are as yet unquantifiable.

But such arguments continue to fall on ears deafened by the vociferous ideology of Development. Like dams, ideologies too have time and cost overruns.

@ The Quest Features & Footage

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/08/01/stories/2004080100140100.htm
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The Hindu, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Foreign waste being dumped in India

By Anjali Dhal Samanta

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. Domestic waste from European countries is illegally finding its way into India under the garb of "paper waste'', keeping their own backyard clean. While import of paper waste -- recycled here -- is not banned in India, mixed household waste is entering the country with the containers usually marked as "green category'' or "paper waste".

Violating a host of international agreements -- including the Basel Convention that covers "household and other wastes'' and prohibits their trans-boundary movement -- import of domestic waste from European countries appears to be turning into a lucrative business.

As recently as January of this year, one such container -- marked as "paper waste'' -- consisting of domestic waste was intercepted at Nhava Sheva port by Customs officials.

Part of a consignment of 11 containers en route to India, it was discovered by Customs officers and employees of the Inspectorate for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in Rotterdam, Netherlands. According to sources, since this was in violation of the European Regulation on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community, the Dutch Inspectorate had requested the company to return the waste materials to their State of dispatch -- Ireland.

However, by mistake one of the containers arrived at the Nhava Sheva port.

"Though it was marked as `paper waste' which is not banned in India, it was full of household waste like plastics, bottles and cans. It smelt of garbage even though it had been several months since it had been despatched from Ireland.

The party that came to claim the waste said that they had not ordered what was in the container.

"But that is expected. They are not likely to admit that they were accepting such waste since it is banned,'' said environmentalist Claude Alvares who with fellow Supreme Court Monitoring Committee member, Dr D.B. Boralkar, inspected the container before it was re-transported to Rotterdam on June 5. The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee -- set up by the Supreme Court to monitor the implementation of its recent Order on Hazardous Waste -- has been apprised of the matter.

Alarmingly, this is not an isolated incident. In December last year, about 40 containers of domestic waste en route to India from Ireland were intercepted by the Netherlands Inspectorate for the Environment, an outpost of the Seaport Project set up by six European Union countries for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Basel Convention on Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous and Other Wastes.

According to sources, while the invoice for the containers indicated that the materials were "paper waste'', the Inspectorate in Rotterdam, Netherlands, discovered that the commodity was not paper waste but "smelly garbage: paper/cardboard, PET bottles, plastics, beer cans, food cans, milk cartons (tetra pack), textile and food rests. It smelt like household waste and also had black files''.

When contacted by the Inspectorate about the matter, the Ministry of Environment and Forests here informed that "it had not approved the import of any garbage from any country''.

According to sources in the MoEF, another similar complaint was received in January.

"We wrote to the Chief Commissioner of Customs (Imports) in Nhava Sheva and told them to be on the alert. But nothing came out of it. Since we have been sending the waste back, we hope this will stop soon as it is very expensive for them to ship it all the way back,'' said an official.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/01/stories/2004080103540400.htm
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1) Rediff News/PTI, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Farmer suicides unabated in AP

The assurances by Andhra Pradesh government notwithstanding, five debt-ridden farmers committed suicide at various places in Karimnagar district....
http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/01ap.htm

2) BACKGROUNDER: Rediff News, July 01, 2004, Thursday
AP govt's steps to stop farmer suicides
http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/jul/01ap2.htm

3) The Hindu, August 01, 2004, Sunday

Farmer commits suicide (in U.P.)

By J.P. Shukla

LUCKNOW, JULY 31. In the first incident of its kind in Uttar Pradesh, a farmer committed suicide because of his inability to pay off a loan taken to buy a tractor.

Six senior officials, including the District Magistrate of Barabanki, where the incident took place, have been suspended following the incident. ....
http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/01/stories/2004080102531000.htm

4) The Hindu, August 01, 2004, Sunday

How the better half dies — I

By P. Sainath

ANANTAPUR (ANDHRA PRADESH), JULY 31. When Pedda Narsamma hanged herself in Pandi Parthi village, her eight-member household was shattered. For decades, it was Narsamma, 50, who kept both farm and family going. Two years later, the Government has taken note of this suicide. And an inquiry process seems to be on. But her family is unsure of any compensation.

Pedda Narsamma was a Dalit. And a woman. And women are not accepted as "farmers." Which means this may not finally go down as a "farmer's suicide."  .....
http://www.hindu.com/2004/08/01/stories/2004080100061100.htm

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Asia Tribune, July 31, 2004, Saturday

India faces a severe drought

Radha Viswanath – Reporting from New Delhi

New Delhi: All hopes of a normal or near normal rainfall have receded. With barely a month to go before the monsoon takes its formal bow, as many as 28 of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions in India have recorded ‘below average' rainfall and the nation is staring straight into a drought year.

Weathermen, who have been talking of a possible monsoon revival in different parts of the country, have stopped holding out such a hope. For, even if some of the 276 (out of a total of 524) districts in the country, where precipitation was deficient or scanty till now, receive good rainfall in the coming weeks, it will be of little help to the farming community. For the agriculturists, the kharif crop is as good as lost. In fact, there is a view in the agriculture ministry that drought 2004 could be worse than what the country experienced two years ago.

This is bad news for the Manmohan Singh government, which assumed office less than three months back. Drought now would mean that the targets set for various sectors of the economy in the budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the first half of July would not be achieved. The projected GDP growth will not happen and employment generation would suffer. GDP growth, projected at over seven per cent in the 2004-05 budget, may not even touch six per cent. Worse, the depleted purchasing power of farmers and rural artisans is not good news for the corporate world. For, the strong agriculture growth orientation of the first UPA government budget had raised hopes of increased rural demand for white goods.

In most parts of the country, farmers have lost the seed they planted to deficient rainfall. This means that even in the unlikely event of the monsoon reviving to near normal levels in the coming weeks, the damage done to crops cannot be reversed. This prospect has made agricultural experts espouse the creation of seed, feed and fodder reserves as a buffer stock. They recommend that the government write off the kharif season and start preparations to make gains in the rabi season to offset the crop loss now.

The Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has paid heed to expert advice and has launched action to mitigate human suffering on account of drought. Expert teams are being readied to visit various regions where rainfall has been deficient to assess the situation and make plans to provide timely and adequate relief to the affected population. Emphasis is also on minimizing deaths of livestock. With its long experience in managing drought in certain pockets of the country even during “good” monsoon years, there is a well-oiled machinery to cope with the situation.

However, the job on hand – particularly with regard to providing drinking water – is bound to prove ticklish for the authorities, given the sinking levels of ground water in most parts of the country. It is in this context that a proposal to establish a National Water Mission is receiving active consideration from the government. The Mission is expected to take an integrated look at the problem and chalk out coordinated strategies to ensure that there is equitable distribution of this scarce natural resource.

- Asian Tribune -
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Direct Contribution, July 31, 2004, Saturday

KERALA: LOSS-OF-ALL-HOPE

Saji P. George

In the South Indian state of Kerala, news channels are now keeping a count, like the one maintained by the global media for the US causalities in Iraq. A count of the dead. Whenever a farmer, hopeless at the mounting financial debts, commits suicide the report that flashes will most usually end up with

the following words. “Now the total count reached…” The count is moving up almost every day for the last two months. The extreme rightist provincial regime, which has left the task of financial engineering to the Asian Development Bank, first tried to deny the truth of the corpses, then it invented the truth of the whole matter that the reason for these mounting suicides is a phenomenon called loss-of-all-hope. In Kerala, which until very recently maintained a human development index comparable to many developed nations, this is unprecedented. Corporate Globalization process aggressively followed by the Union Government in New Delhi is now bringing its results for our masses. Suicides! It was the Plantation workers whose intense protests did yield virtually no result, turned first to this kind of a final solution. The farmers are following suit. But now alarmingly a new category is joining the line. The students and youths!

Following the dictums of the non-interventionist era, the Govt in Kerala privatized its education sector. Soon private entrepreneurs came in flock and there was a boom of institutions mostly Engineering colleges and Medical colleges. The entire funds for running the institutions including the mark-up for the owners are to be generated from Course fee. Hence the poor, who are unfortunately the majority has no stake. To facilitate the unfolding scenario the Reserve Bank of India issued a generous circular to all the Banks in the country. It directed the Banks to grant educational loans for poor students at an interest rate between 11-15%! It did not forget to give the usual smartness tip also, not to be lazy in recovering the amount from defaulters!! The bank officer’s organizations are pointing out that this will lead many of the poor youngsters only to huge Debts and Suicides!

The issue sparked up again when the leftist Student unions violently agitated and virtually rocked the State on the issue following the suicide of a dalit girl student Rajani.

Rajani was a bright Computer Engineering student who is supposed to belong to the category of the most aspiring people. But destiny joined her only to the most desperate ones. She has not taken a loan. Being expelled from her hostel for not paying the fee she approached many quarters including the local bank for a loan but in vain. Finally she went up to the office of the Entrance Examination Controller at the State capital in Trivandrum, the office of the authority who conducted the competitive examination for selecting engineering students and thus made her an eligible engineering student. She reached up to the 8th floor and jumped her last journey down. Devoid of choices for a desired destiny she chose her death magnificently. Her choice had made her a martyr, a martyr in the rank of the Korean farmer who stabbed himself to death in protest of the WTO. In the mythology of the Indian left the martyr is an untainted. Knowing this all too well the rightist regime had done every thing at their disposal to malign her, they had even instructed to conduct a virginity test on the dead body!

Higher Education system in Kerala is a remnant of the colonial period created by the British to prepare Clerks. Functionally worthy knowledge, vocational skills, expertise or language skills of the students graduating from these colleges are dismal. These institutions are an utter failure in catering to the societies needs in knowledge and skills. But there have been little efforts to revamp the system than to write off the whole to ultra right commercial
interests.

The traditional leftist parties in Kerala have also failed to imagine an alternative for the decadent vestiges of colonial education and hence have to cooperate with the rightists while offering a show of resistance to slow down their pace. When the present kind of Self Financing of education was systematized, they compromised at every juncture and finally during the last spark of violent agitations their ire was mostly turned to the Banks reluctant to issue loans. The crashed ATM counters across the towns stood as the most eloquent _expression of leftist endorsement of a bank financed education system in place of the public funded education system.

Now, recently students at a government run medical college stalled an effort by an agent of a private medical college to take a dead body from their mortuary. The dead body was sold to the private college illegally for using in specimen studies. When students questioned the concerned head of department, it was revealed that the corpse was sold at the rate of Rs.15000/-. The Govt. had instructed each departments of the college to generate funds themselves and sale of corpse was the one means invented by that department. INR15000/- is enough to bye a thousand meals! In a region where people dispossessed of the means of living by neo-liberal policies turn often to rackets trading on human
organs, offering a Kidney for money, this may not invite much attention. But it silently reminds that here life diminishes a human beings worth. Ratings will go up as breathing go down. The current market rate for a corpse is INR 15000/-!

sajipgeorge@...
---------------------------------

IANS, July 31, 2004, Saturday

Utter chaos reigns in 'God's Own Country'

Thiruvananthapuram: A series of politically backed protests that has rocked Kerala over the past 10 days has pushed the state to the brink of chaos.

Private buses, the main mode of transport for the population, stayed off the roads for the sixth day Saturday and schools and colleges had remained closed for the entire week.

Student activists have started attacking banks and government vehicles to protest last week's suicide of Rajani Anand, an impoverished college student who ended her life after failing to get an educational loan to pay the fees.

Anand's death on July 22 sparked off widespread protests with student groups affiliated to the opposition parties and youth activists taking law into their own hands.

Chief Minister A.K Antony's government suffered a major setback Thursday when a three-judge bench of the apex court referred to a larger bench the three petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Kerala Self Financing Professional Colleges (Prohibition of Capitation Fees and Procedure for Admission and Fixation of Fees) Act of 2004.

The state's image got a further beating the next day when protesting students of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (Red Flag) burnt an effigy of the 'Supreme Court Judge' inside he premises of a local court in Kozhikode.

Retired judge D.Sreedevi termed the Kozhikode incident as disgusting and a blatant challenge to the judiciary.

"There have been instances when the court, after it went wrong on a judgment, corrected itself. But attacking the judiciary would only spell doom", said Sreedevi.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led opposition is using Anand's suicide as an issue to attack the Antony government for what it describes as its wrong education policies.

"It is very unfortunate that the CPI-M is taking the law into its hands and has unleashed terror in the state. Why can't they wait till the next assembly election, which is not very far off, to pull us down? We would take strong action against the guilty and no one would be allowed to escape", said Antony.

The strike by private bus operators has hit the state's transport badly as in most of the 14 districts people are solely dependent on the 25,000 private buses rather than the 4,000 buses run by the state road transport corporation.

The government and the operators have failed to reach a solution after two rounds of talks. While the operators are demanding a hike in bus fares, the government has asked for a month's time.

The Kerala High Court has already asked the government to declare transport as an essential service but the government is yet to act.

"We are armed with all the laws and at the appropriate time we would do it", said Transport Minister R.Balakrishna Pillai.

Matters could come to a head after a scheduled cabinet reshuffle takes place. Then the otherwise silent political arena would also become charged with open discontent of legislators who fail to get a ministerial berth.

Antony however need not bother about the Karunakaran factor for some time as the Congress stalwart seems to have gone into hiding after being ejected from the prestigious party Working Committee.
-----------------------------------

 

The Hindu, July 30, 2004, Friday
Call to re-open Godhra issue

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 29. "The burning of S6 coach of Sabarmati Express at Godhra was an accidental occurrence. It is not due to petrol or any inflammable fuel as was claimed by some people. It was not by any way a pre-planned conspiracy.

The entire Godhra issue has to be re-opened," said lawyer Mukul Sinha during a seminar on "Rebuilding Justice and Hope in Gujarat: The Agenda Ahead" here today.

Speaking on "The Truth About Godhra" Mr. Sinha backed his arguments with "evidence" that he along with various non-government organisations have been gathering from the field.

"The District Superintendent of Police who was there on the scene while the coach was on fire, has given evidence that he had not seen anyone from the Muslim community preventing the passengers in S6 or S7 coaches from jumping outside. It had been claimed later that the doors of the cabin had been locked. But that is not so. Also, the DSP has claimed that there was no smell of any inflammable fuel coming from the coach. In fact, even statements given by kar sevaks themselves who jumped out from the burning coach said that there was no fluid on the floor," Mr. Sinha said.

He also tried to re-construct the entire incident with statements from Railway personnel who were at the station when it occurred. "The guard of the Sabarmati Express, Satyanarayan Verma, and the Railway Protection Force constable, Mohan Jagdish Yadav, have also given their version of events. According to Mohan Yadav, who was patrolling the station at that point of time, people inside the train and those standing on the other side of the fence started throwing stones at each other. And that might have been sparked off because of some fight with a hawker," said Mr. Sinha.

This version, according to him, tallies with the statements given by the Muslim community of Godhra.

The use of laws like Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was also discussed during the seminar organised by Anhad, Janandolan, Citizens Initiative and India International Centre here. "We don't need something like POTA. It is targeted against the public. It is the ideology behind POTA that we need to look at. Something like this can never be anything but an instrument of State terror," said lawyer Nitya Ramakrishnan.

However, Chaman Lal associated with the National Human Rights Commission, argued for the need for such laws provided they are not misused.
------------------------------------------------------------
Indian Express (Delhi), July 30, 2004, Friday

'POST-RIOTS, MUSLIMS FACING ECONOMIC BOYCOTT'

New Delhi, July 29: A seminar on the rehabilitation of victims of the post-Godhra riots was organised by the NGO ANHAD, at the
India International Centre today.

Fr Cedric Prakash, a social activist from Ahmedabad, said that one of the most important issues is the ongoing economic boycott of most of
the state's Muslims. ''The condition in Gujarat is much worse today than it was in March 2000,'' he said. ''Today, if you are a Muslim in Gujarat, your life is confined to clearly defined ghettos, without any economic activity of import...where you will not find even a single branch of a nationalised bank.''

''There is no better example of a fascist state than today's Gujarat anywhere in the world," he added.

''There are people who live in the so-called border areas of these ghettos...with their bags perpetually packed, ready to leave at the smallest sign of trouble, whether in the form of police checks before a VIP passes through, or a procession to the nearest temple,'' said Zakia, an aid-worker. She also mentioned the increasing drop-out rates among Muslim children.

Speakers drew attention to ''inadequate compensation'' provided to riot victims. ''The state spent anything between Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 4
lakh per family when the earthquake happened. All it has done in the case of the riot victims is to build 5,000 homes, at a cost of Rs 22,000 to Rs 32,000 each,'' said Gagan Sethi, one of the panelists. He claimed there are 5,000 displaced people who have not received any aid.

''If to be rehabilitated means to have four walls and a roof around you, then yes, these people have been rehabilitated. But the fact remains that most of us have bigger bathrooms than the so-called houses that government has built for them,'' said Professor Ansari, one of the speakers.

''In fact, after the riots were over, the inspectors went around evaluating the losses suffered by the victims. Some of their houses and shops were valued at a few hundred rupees, whereas earthquake victims got Rs 40,000, even if they lived in a slum,'' he added.

''The state bureaucracy have identified themselves with the powers-that-be, thinking that is going to help them survive...Police are busy looking after VIP-security and partisan policing poses the greatest danger to the well-being of the state today,'' said Chaman Lal, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission.
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