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PM At N-Summits :INDIA ON A BALANCING ACT, by Monish Tourangbam, 20 April 2010 Print E-mail

Round The World

New Delhi, 20 April 2010

PM At N-Summits

INDIA ON A BALANCING ACT

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of InternationalStudies, JNU

 

The plates has been full for PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh this past week, attending the BRIC (Brazil, Russia,India and China) and IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) summits in Brasilia soonafter the conclusion of the multi-nation Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.Singh managed to sail through deliberations in these high-profile summitsshowcasing India’s relevanceto international issues, though he had some balancing act to do when it came tothe issue of sanctions against an intransigent Iran.

Moreover, despite theacknowledgement of India’scontribution to the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan,major differences still persist when it comes to US AfPak strategy and itsovert dependence on Pakistan.But, as of now both New Delhi and Washington have shownmaturity and agreed to disagree over these critical issues.

These differences did not come inthe way of the camaraderie that President Obama and PM Singh shared during theNuclear Security Summit and the welcome given to India’s plan to set up a GlobalCentre for Nuclear Energy Partnership. The BRIC and the IBSA that held their summitsclose on the heels of the Washington summit, are significant for the way theyhave come up as unmistakable signs of the way the international system ischanging.

The spheres of power are diffused inthis world and international organizations and machineries of internationalpolitics need to come out of the past and embrace the new changes. This is themantra of BRIC and IBSA, which look at the inevitability of changes in theinternational economic system to better reflect the changes in the nature ofworld economy.

The Nuclear Security Summit, in trueWashingtonfashion brought leaders from 47 nations around the world, as sort of avindication of President Obama’s priority to prevent the misuse of nuclearknowhow and materials. The Washingtonsummit came out with a communiqué and a work plan binding the countries in acommon resolve to maintain effective security of nuclear materials. Withoutmaking any legal distinction between the nuclear and non-nuclear weapon States,the communiqué attempts to extract a common commitment towards securing allnuclear materials.

The Summit stuck to the issue of nuclear securitywhich has been distinguished from the issue of non-proliferation. That’s thereason the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) does not find reference inthe present communiqué. The inclusion of the issue of NPT would haveunnecessarily made it difficult to take into confidence responsible nuclearweapon States such as India,which has refused to sign the treaty complaining of its discriminatory nature.

Hence, the Obama administrationprobably understood that to take forward the issue of nuclear safety andsecurity and to significantly raise the issue of nuclear terrorism, it had tobe de-linked from the issue of non-proliferation. Over the NPT issue, Washington and NewDelhi continue to spar.

The outcome of the summit calls moresupport for strengthening of existing mechanism to enhance nuclear security,for instance the 1979 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materialand its 2005 amendment, the Convention on the Suppression of Nuclear Terrorism.The primary motive as such of the present endeavor of Nuclear Securityspecifically wants to prevent the nuclear materials from falling into the handsof those entities that have no right to possess in the first place --- non-Stateactors and terrorists.

Thus, the effort which is to apin-point target on the issue of nuclear terrorism is being de-linked from thatof nuclear non-proliferation that focuses on preventing the further spread ofnuclear technology to countries that do not have them and at the same persuadesthe “de-facto” nuclear States to sign the NPT. The summit brings forth thequestion of State responsibility when it comes to preventing nuclear materialsfrom falling into the wrong hands. In this respect, the abject failure of the Pakistani State to have control over the shoddyblack-market notoriety of its once respected nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan isnoteworthy.

In an apparent criticism of thePakistani government, Singh spoke on the need of countries to abide by theirinternational obligations so as to prevent the recurrence of past mistakes,which have led to lot of insecurity, especially for India. One of the highlights of thesummit was the announcement of India’splan to institute a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which wasmuch appreciated by Obama.  

It is visualized as astate-of-the-art facility based on international participation from theInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other interested foreignpartners. Explaining the project further, the Singh said the Centre wouldconsist of four schools dealing with Advanced Nuclear Energy System Studies,Nuclear Security, Radiation Safety, and the application of Radiation Technologyin the areas of healthcare, agriculture and food.  

Of late, the Obama administration hasgone ahead to institute what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls “biting”against Iran,which has ignited recurrent suspicions regarding the nature of its nuclearprogramme.  The Ahmadinejad regime hastime and again reiterated that the nuclear programme is meant for peacefulpurposes but has not been able to convince a large part of the internationalcommunity. American intentions to take hard measures against the regime have oftenbeen given a soft-landing by other permanent members of the UN Security Councillike China and Russia.

And it is in the case of the Iraniannuclear programme, Indiahas had to walk a tightrope. In the past, India’svotes against Iranat the IAEA have often faced domestic criticism for tip-toeing the Americanline. Moreover, India hasreasonable bilateral contacts with Iran,particularly in the realm of energy where Iran is seen to be an importantsource. Indiahas made it known officially that it does not necessarily buy the American linethat sanctions will not affect the ordinary people. On the contrary, itbelieves that sanctions do affect the ordinary people while those in power areoften unaffected, and such a scenario increases support for the regime.

The BRIC and the IBSA nations werenot keen on instituting sanctions against the Iranian regime. Though all thenations feel that Iranshould be more transparent regarding the nature of its nuclear programme, theyalso feel that sanctions are not the right instruments to persuade the regime.All members of the BRIC and IBSA prefer the route of diplomacy and thecementing of the relevance and centrality of the IAEA in resolving this issue.

However, such divergence on an issuewould not seriously affect the trajectory of India-US relations, which is seento be multi-pronged and of long-term interest to both the nations. New Delhi does not say itis happy with the Iranian nuclear programme and instead favours the Iranianregime to come clean and convince a suspicious international community thatthere is nothing to hide. And it has amply shown its displeasure by its votesagainst Iranat the IAEA. But, it does not favour taking extreme measures before all meansare exhausted. Hence, there is no lack in India’s commitment to fightproliferation activities but the divergence is only in the means employed.---INFA

(Copyright, IndiaNews and Feature Alliance)

 

PM At N-Summits :INDIA ON A BALANCING ACT, by Monish Tourangbam, 20 April 2010 Print E-mail

Round The World

New Delhi, 20 April 2010

PM At N-Summits

INDIA ON A BALANCING ACT

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of InternationalStudies, JNU

 

The plates has been full for PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh this past week, attending the BRIC (Brazil, Russia,India and China) and IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) summits in Brasilia soonafter the conclusion of the multi-nation Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.Singh managed to sail through deliberations in these high-profile summitsshowcasing India’s relevanceto international issues, though he had some balancing act to do when it came tothe issue of sanctions against an intransigent Iran.

Moreover, despite theacknowledgement of India’scontribution to the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan,major differences still persist when it comes to US AfPak strategy and itsovert dependence on Pakistan.But, as of now both New Delhi and Washington have shownmaturity and agreed to disagree over these critical issues.

These differences did not come inthe way of the camaraderie that President Obama and PM Singh shared during theNuclear Security Summit and the welcome given to India’s plan to set up a GlobalCentre for Nuclear Energy Partnership. The BRIC and the IBSA that held their summitsclose on the heels of the Washington summit, are significant for the way theyhave come up as unmistakable signs of the way the international system ischanging.

The spheres of power are diffused inthis world and international organizations and machineries of internationalpolitics need to come out of the past and embrace the new changes. This is themantra of BRIC and IBSA, which look at the inevitability of changes in theinternational economic system to better reflect the changes in the nature ofworld economy.

The Nuclear Security Summit, in trueWashingtonfashion brought leaders from 47 nations around the world, as sort of avindication of President Obama’s priority to prevent the misuse of nuclearknowhow and materials. The Washingtonsummit came out with a communiqué and a work plan binding the countries in acommon resolve to maintain effective security of nuclear materials. Withoutmaking any legal distinction between the nuclear and non-nuclear weapon States,the communiqué attempts to extract a common commitment towards securing allnuclear materials.

The Summit stuck to the issue of nuclear securitywhich has been distinguished from the issue of non-proliferation. That’s thereason the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) does not find reference inthe present communiqué. The inclusion of the issue of NPT would haveunnecessarily made it difficult to take into confidence responsible nuclearweapon States such as India,which has refused to sign the treaty complaining of its discriminatory nature.

Hence, the Obama administrationprobably understood that to take forward the issue of nuclear safety andsecurity and to significantly raise the issue of nuclear terrorism, it had tobe de-linked from the issue of non-proliferation. Over the NPT issue, Washington and NewDelhi continue to spar.

The outcome of the summit calls moresupport for strengthening of existing mechanism to enhance nuclear security,for instance the 1979 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materialand its 2005 amendment, the Convention on the Suppression of Nuclear Terrorism.The primary motive as such of the present endeavor of Nuclear Securityspecifically wants to prevent the nuclear materials from falling into the handsof those entities that have no right to possess in the first place --- non-Stateactors and terrorists.

Thus, the effort which is to apin-point target on the issue of nuclear terrorism is being de-linked from thatof nuclear non-proliferation that focuses on preventing the further spread ofnuclear technology to countries that do not have them and at the same persuadesthe “de-facto” nuclear States to sign the NPT. The summit brings forth thequestion of State responsibility when it comes to preventing nuclear materialsfrom falling into the wrong hands. In this respect, the abject failure of the Pakistani State to have control over the shoddyblack-market notoriety of its once respected nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan isnoteworthy.

In an apparent criticism of thePakistani government, Singh spoke on the need of countries to abide by theirinternational obligations so as to prevent the recurrence of past mistakes,which have led to lot of insecurity, especially for India. One of the highlights of thesummit was the announcement of India’splan to institute a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which wasmuch appreciated by Obama.  

It is visualized as astate-of-the-art facility based on international participation from theInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other interested foreignpartners. Explaining the project further, the Singh said the Centre wouldconsist of four schools dealing with Advanced Nuclear Energy System Studies,Nuclear Security, Radiation Safety, and the application of Radiation Technologyin the areas of healthcare, agriculture and food.  

Of late, the Obama administration hasgone ahead to institute what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls “biting”against Iran,which has ignited recurrent suspicions regarding the nature of its nuclearprogramme.  The Ahmadinejad regime hastime and again reiterated that the nuclear programme is meant for peacefulpurposes but has not been able to convince a large part of the internationalcommunity. American intentions to take hard measures against the regime have oftenbeen given a soft-landing by other permanent members of the UN Security Councillike China and Russia.

And it is in the case of the Iraniannuclear programme, Indiahas had to walk a tightrope. In the past, India’svotes against Iranat the IAEA have often faced domestic criticism for tip-toeing the Americanline. Moreover, India hasreasonable bilateral contacts with Iran,particularly in the realm of energy where Iran is seen to be an importantsource. Indiahas made it known officially that it does not necessarily buy the American linethat sanctions will not affect the ordinary people. On the contrary, itbelieves that sanctions do affect the ordinary people while those in power areoften unaffected, and such a scenario increases support for the regime.

The BRIC and the IBSA nations werenot keen on instituting sanctions against the Iranian regime. Though all thenations feel that Iranshould be more transparent regarding the nature of its nuclear programme, theyalso feel that sanctions are not the right instruments to persuade the regime.All members of the BRIC and IBSA prefer the route of diplomacy and thecementing of the relevance and centrality of the IAEA in resolving this issue.

However, such divergence on an issuewould not seriously affect the trajectory of India-US relations, which is seento be multi-pronged and of long-term interest to both the nations. New Delhi does not say itis happy with the Iranian nuclear programme and instead favours the Iranianregime to come clean and convince a suspicious international community thatthere is nothing to hide. And it has amply shown its displeasure by its votesagainst Iranat the IAEA. But, it does not favour taking extreme measures before all meansare exhausted. Hence, there is no lack in India’s commitment to fightproliferation activities but the divergence is only in the means employed.---INFA

(Copyright, IndiaNews and Feature Alliance)

 

PM To The States:GROWTH MUST TO FIGHT NAXALS, by Insaf, 22 April 2010 Print E-mail

Round The States

New Delhi, 22 April 2010

PM To The States

GROWTH MUST TOFIGHT NAXALS

By Insaf

 

The Centre is finally listening to States. It is showingsigns of moderating its policy to fight the Naxal menace, thereby acknowledgingthat it is not just a “law and order problem”. Addressing the country’s topbureaucrats on Civil Services Day on Wednesday last, Prime Minister ManmohanSingh urged the officers to come up with “innovative ways” to ensure that thebenefits of government programmes reached the people in the remotest villages.This, he said was important as one could not overlook the fact that Left-wingextremism flourished in under-developed areas. Clearly, the recent events (readDantewada massacre) have underscored the need for urgent and considered action andthat the poor tribals need to get equitable share in the fruits of development,so that the Naxals get no local support. Of course, the UPA government would furtherneed to actively involve the State governments and seek their advice of how totake forward its agenda of “inclusive growth” in the naxal-affected districtsin the red corridor.  

More so as the Naxal threat is bound to have a bearing onthe country’s mammoth population census, which could help target governmentservices such as PDS or NREGA reaching the people.  So far, in Chhattisgarh hundreds of villageshave been rendered out of bounds for government officials by the naxalitegroups. The administration of six districts, including Dantewada and Bastar hasinformed senior officials in Raipurthat it will be difficult to carry out the census exercise--counting of people,collection of biometrics data for preparation of the National Population Register(NPR) in many areas because of inaccessible terrain and the presence of naxalitesin the villages. This, unfortunately will affect the data in the NPR, which isexpected to be fed into a scheme for allotting a unique identification numberto every individual in the country. The NPR and UID are aimed at bettertargeting of government schemes especially to those belonging to the sociallyand economically weaker sections. 

*                                   *                                              *                                   *

Setback To ModiPlan

Narendra Modi’s grand plans of making Gujaratthe first State to introduce compulsory voting in elections to all local bodies’received an unfortunate setback. Last week, Governor Kamla Beniwal refused togive her assent and returned the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment Bill2009). The reasons cited: the legislation violates the Constitution, which doesnot allow voting to be mandatory and that no punishment can be meted out fornot participating in the voting exercise. Recall, that the State Assembly hadpassed the Bill in December last year. However, Modi appears to be determinedand proposes to pass the Bill once again in the Assembly. “It is the privilegeof the Governor to return the Bill. As far as the government is concerned wewill place the Bill before the Assembly and pass it,” said its spokesperson onTuesday last. Additionally, the government does not propose to incorporate anychanges in the Bill and will stick to its present form for now!

*                                   *                                              *                                   *

New CM In Meghalaya

Musical chairs in Meghalaya seem never-ending. On Tuesdaylast, the north eastern State got its 25th Chief Minister since itacquired statehood in 1970 and the eighth in 12 years! Mukul M Sangma took overfrom chief minister DD Lapang after he was elected as the leader of theCongress Legislature Party on Monday night. Apparently, trouble started brewingfor Lapang a month ago when some party members wanted him to drop threeIndependents and the lone regional party (KHNAM) MLA from the Cabinet. However,Lapang refused to oblige. He “could not betray friends” who helped him form theCongress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government in March 2008. These friendshad broken away from the NCP-backed Meghalaya Progressive Alliance after thevoters had delivered a fractured verdict. The ruling alliance has a comfortablemajority of 44 ina 60-member Assembly, with 28 MLAs of its own, along with partners-- the UnitedDemocratic Party (10 MLAs) and six others including three Independents. Sangmais considered the Congress’ counter to NCP’s Purno Sangma in the Garohills—half of Meghalaya. How long he will last is anyone’s guess. 

*                                   *                                              *                                   *

RTE Binds ThreeStates

The three States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal have something in common. They all lag waybehind other States in terms of education indices and will have to pitch in themaximum for implementing the Right To Education Act. As per the statistics ofthe Human Resource Development Ministry, of the 13.3 lakh new teachers, theBSP-ruled UP will have to induct 3.9 lakh, JD(U)-ruled Bihar 2.2 lakh and CPM-ruledWest Bengal 1 lakh. And, of the 7.5 additionalclasses required, UP will need the most ---2.5 lakhs, followed by Bihar 2.2 andWest Bengal 1.3 lakhs. Also the three Stateswill need to construct the maximum number of toilets for girls in schools andmake special provision for drinking water. Obviously, the statistics are aglaring example of how these three States have paid scant attention toeducation over the years. In contrast, States such as Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh and Maharashtra reveal that these aremore educationally enlightened. The big question before the HRD Ministry iswill the three opposition States be able to meet the goal of free andcompulsory education to children as envisaged.  

*                                   *                                               *          

 To Drought-HitStates

The Centre is now adhering to the adage “A stitch in timesaves nine.” It has realized that it is better to give subsidies to save thestanding crop rather than dole out relief to States once the crop has failed.Interestingly, the realization dawned after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjeefinally approved over Rs 4,800 crore from the National Calamity ContingencyFund (NCCF) for 325 districts in 15 States hit by drought last year. Importantly,an additional Rs 1,200 crore was approved for Punjab (Rs 800 crore) and Haryana(Rs 400 crore), which had not declared drought in 2009 event though the twowere worst-affected by deficient rainfall and had chosen to put in extraefforts to save the standing crop. The funds are expected to help the twoStates cover costs in providing power to farmers to save the paddy crop. Of theRs 3,600 crores for 14 other States, Bihar, whichgoes to polls will get the largest chunk of Rs 1,200 crore. The others includeRajasthan 1,034 crore, Maharashtra Rs 672 crore, Andhra Rs 640 crore, UP Rs 515crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 245 crore and Jharkhand  Rs 200 crore.

*  *  *                * 

 Priority ForWomen

Andhra Pradesh is giving top priority women empowerment asdesired by the Congress High Command. The party-led Rosaiah government onMonday last decided to give land to 69,500 women from landless families under itsland distribution programme. Accordingly, the women in 23 districts have achoice of either taking 2.5 acres of wet land or five acres of dry land. Inaddition, the government will provide monetary assistance as it realizes thatgiving land alone will not help. And, those who want to start cultivationimmediately could apply for crop loans. Women, feels the Andhra administrationcan be better custodians of land a they have more affinity to it instead of menwho could decide to mortgage, sell or dispose it off. In all, of the 1,00,600acres earmarked to be distributed under the programme, 52,000 acres will go tothe SCs/STs and BCs in the hope that the exercise will help in povertyalleviation. ---INFA


(Copyright,India News and Feature Alliance)

 

States To Centre:TALK LESS, WORK MORE, by Insaf, 15 April 2010 Print E-mail

Round The States 

New Delhi, 15 April 2010

States To Centre

TALK LESS, WORKMORE

By Insaf

 Naxalism and the Dantewada disaster continue to dominate thethinking across the country, not only in the Maoists-infested Statesbut elsewhere too. The States now count upon the Centre to be less bossy and bemore cooperative and understanding. Bihar’sChief Minister Nitish Kumar reflected their thinking as he pithily commented thatUnion Home Minister P Chidambaram needs to talk less and work more. Essentially,the Dantewada disaster is not just the failure of Chidambaram and his“intellectual arrogance” but is essentially a failure of the Union HomeMinistry, Intelligence and other various wings. These Chief Ministers areagreed that the decision of Chidambaram’s resignation should be regarded as a closedchapter but the rest of the matter calls for honest introspection.  

More so as Chidambaram has also come in for a scathingattack from within his own Party. Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh andCongress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, recently in an article slammed theHome Minister for adopting "a narrow sectarian view”. According to Singh, Naxalismcould not be treated as a “law and order” problem and that there was “need fora holistic strategy which included pro-poor policies to win over the locals.” Clearly,the Centre needs to identify the causes of failure of the Dantewada massacre inwhich 76 CRPF personnel were butchered and the measures required to deal withthe growing Maoist threat, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described asthe biggest internal threat to the country.  

*                      *                                               *                                               *

UP Turf War Hots Up

Uttar Pradesh appears to be fast moving towards totalwarfare between the Congress and BSP supremo and Chief Minister Mayawati. The Congress’young General Secretary Rahul Gandhi flagged off his party’s “chetna yatras” fromAmbedkarnagar on Wednesday last. In all there will be 10 yatras spread out over103 days and each will last 90 days! Indeed, the most ambitious exercise undertakenby the party to regain power in the country’s largest State. Though the launch coincidedwith the Congress’ 125th year celebrations, its timing—the birthanniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar and the place assume significance. Not only isit a direct challenge to Mayawati but is also being seen as a kick off forRahul’s campaign for the UP elections in 2012. The yatras, said Rahul promise“politics of youth, politics of empowerment, politics of development,” whichthe BSP government has failed to provide. While it’s anyone’s guess howMayawati will tackle the challenge, for starters her party ensured that Rahuldid not garland Ambedkar’s statue, by putting pandals all around it. Instead,he had to garland a photo of Ambedkar along with one of Mahatama Gandhi on thestage!   

*                        *                                               *                                   *          

Revival Of TN UpperHouse

The DMK government in Tamil Nadu is finally going to fulfillits promise made in the late 80s. It is all set to revive the LegislativeCouncil, abolished on 1 November 1986, by the then AIADMK government under MG Ramachandran.On Monday last, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi got his resolution in favour ofthe Council passed by 155 votes against 61 in the Legislative Assembly. TheCouncil had its roots in the Madras Legislative Council of the pre-Independencedays when it was a presidency. It functioned as an Upper House for decades andeven had Congress’ C Rajagopalachari and DMK’s CN Annadurai as members, whenthey were sworn in as CMs. The decision to abolish the Council was taken by MGRand ratified by the Assembly on 14 May 1986 after he failed to send a partysympathizer, film and TV artiste, A B Shanthi as its member. Though the DMKmade various attempts to revive the Council, it failed to secure the requisitemajority. Now that Karunanidhi has fulfilled his promise of reviving theCouncil, he must be serious about its composition and ensure it is trulyrepresentative of the Elders. It should not be a House to distribute patronageor to bring in daughters, son-in-laws, nieces, et al.

*                                   *                                   *                                              *

Khap PanchayatsUltimatum 

The khap panchayats of four States are all set to take onthe Centre and the law courts. Its members have threatened a protest march to Delhi if the HinduMarriage Act was not amended to ban the same gotra (sub-caste) marriages. OnTuesday last, a Maha Khap Panchayat,claiming representation of 36 khap panchayats spread across Haryana and partsof Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhiwas held in Kurukshetra. It condemned the landmark judgement of a Karnal court,which had sentenced five persons to death for the murder of a young couple formarrying in the same gotra. Additionally, it decided to challenge the verdictin the High court. This apart, the panchayats resolved to make it compulsoryfor parents of youth getting married, as well as the sarpanch to be witness toweddings and demanded a Lok Adalat status for themselves. A 51-member committeesaid it would soon announce the date for its protest to Delhi. Many may have reason to agree with thekhap panchayats as the Parsi community is slowly but surely disappearing.Nothing can save it but marrying outside the gotra.   

*                                   *                                  *                                   *     

On Warpath

The Gurjars in Rajasthan are on the warpath again. They havedecided to step up pressure on the Ashok Gehlot Congress government to fulfilltheir long-pending demand of five per cent reservation in State jobs. On Mondaylast, the Gurjars led by Kirorisingh Bainsala and his Gurjar Aarakshan Samitiembarked on their plan to lay a siege on the State capital, Jaipur. Forstarters they organized a mahapadav(sit in) in Hinduan, Karauli district, about 150 km from Jaipur. The stepwas taken as the first round of talks with Gehlot before starting the agitationhad ended in a stalemate. The Samiti is now hell-bent on “cutting off allaccess to the capital.” However, the government is trying to calm tempers downand has assured the Samiti that it would hold off five per cent of thegovernment recruitment, till the High Court stay on the law granting Gurjarsreservation was vacated. The question is will it suffice, as the previousBJP-government was unable to keep its word.

*                                        *                              *                                        *                              

Deaths OnRise

Custodial deaths are on a disturbing rise. The number ofdeaths has increased by 41.66 per cent since the UPA government came to powerin 2004. This includes 70.72 per cent increase in deaths in prison custody and12.69 per cent increase in deaths in police custody. The State which heads thelist is the country’s financial capital, Maharashtra with the highest number ofcustodial deaths—246 in 2009 followed by Uttar Pradesh (165), Gujarat (139), West Bengal (112) and Andhra Pradesh. These startlingrevelations were released in a report “Torture in India 2010” by the AsianCentre for Human rights (ACHR) released on Tuesday last.  Importantly, the report notes that if anAmerican journalist Joel Elliot could be tortured by the Delhi police in October 2009, “what wouldhappen to the aam aadmi?” Will the Centreand State governments please pay heed? ---INFA

 (Copyright,India News & Feature Alliance)

Bareilly To Hyderabad :…AND THE RIOTS PERSIST, by Syed Ali Mujtaba, 21 April 2010 Print E-mail

Open Forum

New Delhi, 21 April 2010

Bareilly To Hyderabad

…AND THE RIOTS PERSIST

By Syed Ali Mujtaba

Communal riots have become part and parcel of the Indiansocial life. The birth pangs of the country were on the throes of communalriots. The history of the last sixty years or so to a section of the society,who has been on the receiving end of communal riots, is nothing but a historyof wanton destruction of lives and properties.

The irony is, the psyche of the countrymen has become immuneto such development that there is little effort either from the government ofthe day or the civil groups to stop such well-planned and well-orchestratedcommunal mayhem in the nation that swears by the word peace, unity indiversity, peaceful coexistence and such blah, blah…. 

The year 2010 so far has witnessed two communal riots, onein Bareilly a small city in Uttar Pradesh, theother in Hyderabad,the capital of Andhra Pradesh. While the incidence of communal violence in Bareilly is rare, Hyderabadremains on the seismic zone of communal flare-ups.

The genesis of the Bareillyriot was the Bara-wafaat procession taken out by the Muslims on the occasion ofthe birthday of Prophet Mohammad. This was on 2 March when a small group ofMuslim boys not more than 30, were going to join the main procession and theypassed through a Hindu locality. They were challenged and hot words wereexchanged and this followed a volley of bricks making the boys bleedprofusely.  The fact that the bricks insuch huge quantity were kept on roof tops suggests that some planning must havebeen done before the flash point

However, the group of boys somehow made it to the mainprocession, which characteristically was not a procession where some thousands gathered,but of much smaller in numbers who after seeing their co-religionist bleeding retaliatedby burning shops which was indiscriminate. Unlike the popular belief that it wereonly the Hindu shops which were torched, the fact remains that there were manyMuslim shops too which were completely burned down. 

This resulted in the clamping down of curfew, and after sixdays when every one thought it would finally be lifted, the administrationarrested the powerful Sunni Muslim cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, theNational president of powerful Ittehad e Millat (IMC) on charges of incitingtrouble. 

Bareilly is a great seat of Barellvi sect ofthe Sunni Muslim Schooland the Maulana is no baby sheep. The arrest made the supporters of Maulana tosit on dharna, demanding his unconditional release. This time the numbers were around30, 000 and these kept increasing with each passing moment. In spite of suchlarge numbers the supporters displayed remarkable discipline and none reportedto have done anything negative, except peacefully sitting in Satyagrah for over 30 hours.

In was after three days that Maulana Tauqeer was releasedfrom jail on March 11. His supporters after hearing the news of the release starteddispersing peacefully to their homes. However, at this moment the goons of the BajrangDal and the BJP reportedly started attacking the unarmed returning Muslims in whichtwo sustained severe cut injuries by sword.  At the same time the belligerent mob got busyvandalizing, looting and burning Muslim-owned shops and property.

This continued unabated for two days and the police andparamilitary forces had a tough time containing them.  It was only by March 15, when the curfew waslifted after two weeks that the city limped back to normalcy.

On the other hand, the riots in Hyderabad city are a basket case of communal clashes.It is once again the same old story where the State apparatus has failed topreempt the situation and only bolted the doors when the horses had fled!  

The riot in Hyderabadhad its origin in the rabble rousing speeches at the Vishwa Hindu Parishadconference on 24 March. This led to the filing of cases against those provokingviolence against the minority community.  And, it happened three days before thebreakout of actual violence that took place on Hanuman Jayanti day on 30 March.

Hanuman Jayanti, a festival that was hitherto celebratedwith relative simplicity in Hyderabadcity saw an unprecedented mobilization of crowds by the Hindu extremistorganizations that blanketed the entire city with Saffron flags. Thebelligerence of the Saffron brigade was at the height when they provocativelyplanted Saffron flags and other Hindu religious symbols on Mosques, Churchesand similar other religious sites.   

The provocation was enough for retaliation from the fearfulcommunity and according to reports it was a free-for-all where three lives werelost and 90 people left injured. The police arrested 272 two suspects, most ofthem Muslims, imposing curfew within the jurisdiction of 25 police stations ofthe city. It took several days for the situation to come back to normal andpeace restored.

In both the cases, Bareillyand Hyderbad, the role of the State administration was clearly dubious. It isunfortunate that both the State governments allowed the riots to unsettle thestate of communal harmony and did little to pre-empt the situation. In both thecases, the Hindutva groups were reportedly the main culprits and agentprovocateurs in destabilizing communal harmony and provoking religiousviolence.

The general public had begun to sense the communal tension butnot the administration that has intelligence gathering apparatus. It seems thepolice intelligence agency were either oblivious to the fact or deliberately remainedsilent.  

Importantly, these copy book cases of communal riots in thecountry have been recurring in pauses each year for the last 60 years or so. Nota single year passes when there are no communal riots in India. On arough estimate there could be an average three to five riots each year. Stillno one in this country gives a damn about it. Everyone forgets about it whenthings get normal after some fire fighting exercises, till it recurs again.This sounds bizarre but it is true.  

Ask those who have been reeling under violence, terror andcurfew. Imagine living under the looming shadow of uncertainty, danger and thethreat of violence and the State imposed restrictions under curfew. What kindof wound it may inflict on the minds of the sufferers? 

Clearly, it leaves on wondering how long this madness willbe allowed to perpetrate by the collusion of the State and Central governments.Are they not responsible for producing Jihadis in this country? It’s a murkygame where one first produces the Jihadis, and then goes after them.

The irony is that each one of us gets carried away by thesymptoms and none cares of thinking of the ways and means to control thedisease. The biggest, stakeholder in this, the State, seems to be wavering inits commitment to uphold the secular credentials that’s guaranteed in our Constitution.  

At the end, a mere regular investigation is ordered to probethese riots and what it would come up with. Another step may be a judicialprobe of these incidents. But is that sufficient to get to the real storybehind the riots? Even if we are able to get one, will that avoid further lossof life in yet another riot on yet another pretext?  Your guess is as good as mine! ---INFA

 

(Copyright,India News and Feature Alliance)

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