Gandhism and Maoism

-Aranyak Saikia, 

St Stephen's College

The time has come for us to have a thorough analysis into the endless cycle of Red extremism that has engulfed Central India and is threatening to spread its tentacles across other regions of the country, particularly the Northeast.  Although numerous attempts have been made to explain why there is a recurring cycle of violence in the Maoist affected states, there seems to have been a systematic attempt at polarising the different approaches to explaining Naxalism into two groups, namely the Pro-government and the Pro-Maoist, rather than understanding the common strings of thought between the two approaches. This polarisation then undermines the seriousness of the issue of tackling Red extremism- that is becoming an obstacle to the long term peace and stability and effectiveness of our democracy as a whole.

  

The recent ambush of the senior leadership of the Chhattisgarh Congress and the subsequent media outburst appears to have followed the above mentioned trend. On one hand, we have the government and the people who are a part of the government machinery branding the Maoists as brutal terrorists and on the other hand, we have the ‘Maoist sympathizers’ who believe these killings are a genuine expression of the frustration of the tribal people due to their exploitation at the hands of the Congress leadership, notably Mahendra Karma who started the Salwa Judum. However, a thorough analysis clearly shows that the situation isn’t that black or white. Although a detailed analysis is beyond anyone’s reach, it is still imperative that we try to assess this situation in a holistic manner and maybe invoke Gandhian principles at a time when the nation seems to have taken a large detour from Gandhi’s ideologies.

The manifestation of red terror in Central India is the result, among others, of the failure of the Government to provide effective governance in the tribal regions and thereby deliver the fruits of development to those people. The tribal regions comprising the forests of Central India are also rich in mineral deposits which till recently were owned by the state and now this ownership is being systematically transferred to individuals and large corporations in the name of liberalisation. A large number of dams and other projects have also been planned or are under construction in these areas. However, this has led to the indigenous tribals and forest dwellers being alienated from their own land. At the same time, the government has failed to provide adequate compensation and rehabilitation to these people, resulting in their disillusionment with the democratically elected government. These situations are therefore the fertile breeding grounds of political and social movements that seek to change or overthrow the existing form of governance. Maoism is just one of those politically motivated movements that have been able to hijack attention towards the entire issue of development of the tribal people through its use of terrorism, extortion and violence.

Many people, including the Maoists, argue that the ownership of the resources should be given to the tribals who are better capable at managing the resources in a sustainable manner, unlike the big corporations whose sole motive is to exploit these resources to earn greater profits. It is here that Gandhi’s vision of ‘production by the masses’ instead of mass production comes into focus. Mahatma Gandhi made clear his hatred for mass production and the development model followed by the West. Although the Government has taken many of its policies keeping Gandhiji’s ideologies in mind, the recent attempts at liberalisation and to achieve the growth model followed by the West have actually highlighted its serious derailment from his ideologies which has actually aggravated the tribal-government conflict in the forests of Central India. Now-a-days, even the West is arguing about the effectiveness and necessity of such a development model based on large scale exploitation of natural resources and mass production that has serious environmental repercussions. Even the Stiglitz Commission set up by French President Nicholas Sarkozy agreed that non-market activity that actually results in sustainability of resources should be given greater significance and weightage while measuring the development of nations.

This is exactly what Gandhi envisioned when he questioned the Western model of development. And this is exactly what the Indian Government seems not to be doing. It has systematically tried to exploit India’s resources without estimating the costs of large scale environmental degradation. In the process, it has developed a form of crony capitalism that has prevented even the benefits of capitalism from reaching the nation’s citizens. Many of the mines operated in the tribal dominated forests of Central India are illegal. The recent Supreme Court rulings banning such illegal mining activity has been cited as one of the reasons for the negative growth registered by the mining sector in the last quarter. All this goes to show that our government’s present policies are not really capable of managing the mining sector.

This argument however, does not go on to show that Gandhiji believed in Maoist ideologies. Gandhi’s ideology of non-violence and democracy are completely at odds with the Maoists, as recent incidents show. The Maoists have just filled the void where the Government has left. Thus, although the government cannot ‘deliver development’ in Maoist affected areas, it can actually send the right message by providing greater rights to the tribals in areas where the threat of Maoism has been eliminated. It should follow this by greater access to healthcare and other welfare activities. At the same time, the government must ensure greater accountability of the officials and bureaucrats who are posted in those regions to prevent ‘administrative leakage’- an euphemism for corruption. It is only then can Gandhi’s vision of equal opportunity for all and peaceful existence through empowerment of the indigenous people can be realized.

SATYA 2013 - Annual Journal of Gandhi Study Circle, SSC

Gandhi Study Circle Journal - SATYA 2013

Download Link: http://pdf.thepdfportal.com//PDFFiles/43032.pdf

http://pdf.thepdfportal.com/?id=43032

From retribution to reformation...A visit to the Chanchalguda jail

By Radhika Agarwal (NALSAR)

The thought of a jail immediately conjures up morbid images of dungeons with manacled prisoners behind bars. This is exactly what I had in mind when I set out on a field trip to Chanchalguda with my friend for my Criminal Law project which was a study on women under trials. This entailed a study of female offenders in the ‘Special Prison for women’ located in Chanchalguda in the city of Hyderabad. I had mentally prepared myself to see hardened dangerous-looking, blood-thirsty convicts waiting to practise violence on anybody who came so much as fifty feet near them. The classical school of criminology itself believes that criminals are born with those “criminal-like” features and a propensity to be violent. You can imagine the apprehension then with which my friend and I set foot inside the jail.

Little did we know what was in store for us when we entered...The prison compound was not a very heavily guarded one, as you would expect. None of the guards (all were females) were armed. We were asked to deposit our cell phones with them. Then we were shown inside the office of Mrs. Basheera Begum, who was the Superintendent of the jail. She was a cheerful lady who gave us a warm welcome by offering us tea and biscuits. The sumptuous biscuits, we were told, had been prepared by the prison inmates in the jail’s very own bakery, by the name of ‘Sudhar’ Bakery! Mrs. Basheera Begum then told us about the reformatory programmes that had been undertaken by the jail authorities in order to bring about sudhar or improvement in the condition of the jail inmates. The women were engaged in the activities of making chalk powder, tooth powder and various bakery items like cakes and biscuits. The money which was earned by selling these useful products was distributed among the inmates as their wages. Education was also imparted to them in jail. Quite a few inmates had in fact completed their graduation while in jail, the Superintendent proudly told us.

From providing the women with a steady source of income to organizing cultural programmes for them, the jail authorities had indeed made a sincere effort to rehabilitate the inmates of the prison. As we flipped through the photos displaying the activities of the inmates, we got a pleasant vista of the jail which was quite different from the one which we had in mind earlier. At one of its cultural programmes, a few prison-mates had organized a skit elucidating the ill-effects of dowry in society. I was personally quite impressed with the kind of reformative treatment that was being meted out to the women in jails.

Then we were taken on a round of the jail by Mrs. Basheera Begum herself. We came across a bunch of convicts being talked to by a small group of Christian missionaries. In another part of the jail, we observed a few women washing their clothes and cleaning their rooms. Most of the women and their children however could be seen in the T.V. room, watching T.V. When we entered they all stood up and looked at us in an inquisitive manner. Mrs. Basheera Begum introduced us to some of the women undertrials who were being tried for offences like murder, prostitution and sale of liquor. What was most heart-wrenching was the innocence and fear that we saw in the eyes of these women. It was as if they themselves did not understand why they were being kept there. To even think that these women were capable of committing such crimes seemed unthinkable to me. Some of the convicts and women under trial had their children living with them. Some of these children were born inside the jail!

We were told that children could live with the mother only till the age of six. After that, since they started developing mentally and understanding the environment of the prison, they were removed and placed either in the care of relatives or sent to another home for these children (if there was nobody else to care for them). We were also shown the hospital and special healthcare units which had been made for pregnant women inside the jail.

Since it was Sunday, the Bakery was closed for visitors. Mrs. Basheera Begum invited us to visit again on a week day where we could see the inmates at work and even get a chance to personally interact with them. It was with a light heart and an enlightened mind that we left the jail and made our way back to college.

The visit left us disillusioned about the notion of a jail as a dreary and desolate place for meting out harsh punishment to criminals. The move towards reformation of the system of imprisonment is definitely a much needed and welcome one.

Small things that matter!

By Somya Barpanda (St. Stephen's College)

If one were to describe the present mood of the Indian economy, ‘pessimism’...’gloom’...’frustration’ are some words that instantly strike the mind. These are the words that current newspaper articles are peppered with and that media-men today use with great gusto. Be it our financial markets or our corporate houses, all seem bitten by the bug of uncertainty. People of eminence have already written off the ‘India Growth Story’, credit rating agencies have downgraded it and the ‘once upon a time’ fairy tale-like GDP- growth figure of 9 % has slid to a despicable 5%. UPA II is getting brickbats (and rightly so) for having been unable to avert the dark clouds that are presently hovering over the domestic economy. Every day, on every news channel, panelists are seen shouting at the top of their voices, directing all their ire at the government and accusing it of ‘policy paralysis’.

While matters on economics and politics are covered with great fervour by the Indian media, there are issues that don’t get due coverage. These are issues that seem superficially small but affect the average Indian far more directly than a bearish economy or a high profile corruption case. What this article points toward is something simpler than present national political and economic problems, yet equally serious... which we see happening all around us but don’t view it as wrong since we’ve become so used to it... WHICH IS the cockeyed ways in which the common man in the country conducts himself in public spaces. Yes! The aam aadmi, who in popular perception (again perpetuated by the media), is always the ‘helpless victim’ of the misdeeds of the not so aam netas and babus, is also in fact a perpetrator; often many of his own actions are not in the nation’s best interest. The charge here, for a change, is on the humble junta which is comprised of YOU and ME. 

The Maoists are blamed for not letting development take off in the red-districts. They are fanatics and they destroy but what do WE do to keep the public property, we regularly use, in good shape? Whether buses or parks, immediate neighbourhoods or roads, we just can’t contain our urge to litter public spaces. Step out of your house, and it’s hard not to come across people spitting openly or men peeing indiscreetly. And these are not scenes from a backward village or town but scenes that mark our big cities including our celebrated metros where the majority of the population is fairly well to do and educated in nature. Our cities have levels of squalor that are unacceptable for a country even at India’s present   stage of development. Even countries (like Sri Lanka) which are poorer than India have cleaner cities.    

Municipalities are hounded for the common urban woe of ‘squalor’ but our right to put blame falls flat when we see a fellow urban-dweller fling chips’ packets/plastic pet bottles out of his swanky moving car. The same posh car may go on and hit a pedestrian but it won’t be much of a surprise to us if the rich spoilt brat driving it, easily gets rid of all charges on virtue of his money-muscle.

This money-power seems to have gotten to the heads of our opulent class. What is even more alarming is their sense of defiance and apathy. The rich feel they can do no wrong; their ever-burgeoning egos prevent them from owning up to the mistakes they commit. It is for these men and women that cities like Delhi witness horrifying road-rage incidents almost every day. Such disturbing instances make one think if we even deserve to be included in the league of future economic super powers of the world. 

And these are only a few of the many disheartening occurrences that mar the image of our country. What we don’t realise is that each time we casually throw away that ice cream wrapper or shower abuses on that stranger who leaves a dent on our car, we set a wrong precedent for the children of our society. All their school lessons on civic sense and good manners go waste as they see the opposite being true in practical life. They grow up to become the same irresponsible countrymen.             

Change, like charity, has to begin at home. For wholesome and meaningful development of the nation, we need to start by mending our own ways first because these small and seemingly insignificant habits of the public can go a long way in affecting a nation. One can’t stop admiring Singapore’s spick and span roads and public places. And only a few decades back, this very country was known for its filthy streets and polluted water bodies. Behind the stupendous economic success of Singapore and other East Asian Tigers lay the crucial role played by their respective citizens who were cooperative in their government’s developmental initiatives and due maintenance of the same.

Chinese inhabitants on the other hand have been socially pre-conditioned by the aggressive tactics of the authoritarian communist regime. It amazes one to learn that China had made it compulsory for all to observe ‘bus/metro-seat-giving day’, ‘queuing day’, ‘greeting day’ etc before Beijing Olympics (2008) to instil good manners in the masses so that foreigner-guests leave with a good impression of the country! Being a democracy, India can’t follow a similar mass-disciplining-drive. Instead, the educated class must lead by example and help overcome people’s current callous attitude towards public property and towards their public demeanour. The clichéd argument “We’re like that only” is a weak one for there is no glory in justifying our ‘chalta hai’ mentality. At least in this case, for our own sake, we must adopt Mamatadi’s ‘Cholbe na!’ attitude and get down to reforming our undesirable traits of recklessness, apathy, self-centredness etc.

We have become so used to seeing the media portray our politicians as near villains that we’ve forgotten to introspect and reflect back on our own immediate follies. Each one of us is as much a party to errors of omission and commission as our political class. We need to break the vicious cycle of passing the buck by realising that the buck eventually stops with us; for governments may come and go, but a nation’s destiny is ultimately shaped by its people. The Indian citizenry thus needs to wake up to its responsibilities and do its bit for the country so that the next time a 9%-like boom phase pays us a visit, we live up to the ‘super-growth economy’ tag and make the most out of it.

Art in British India

By Gaurav Poddar (St. Stephen's College)

Paintings have always been pleasing to my eyes. I believe, the artist paints and leaves the viewer to travel through the painting to explore and appreciate the richness that lies therein.

If today, we travel to a country and find great monuments, palaces, etc. we click them in order to have a copy of it with us. Well, when Britishers came to India there were no cameras. So, when they were fascinated by the rich heritage and flora and fauna that India possessed, they hired Indian artists to paint it for them so that they can preserve it. From 1850 to 1875, Britishers developed a number of art schools for training the Indian artists. Four schools in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Lahore (Mayo School of Arts) were opened and Indians were trained to become portraitists, lithographers, illustrators, ornament designers, etc.

In British India, there were various styles of paintings that arose in different cities. These styles were heavily influenced by traditions. The paintings had a 'royal touch' and numerous prized paintings were accumulated. It was to please the British upper society. There were various themes of which war was the most common.

The Relief of Lucknow - Jessie's dream - By Frederick Goodall 1858

By Sitaram - A view of mosque and gateway in Upper Bengal (Water colour on paper)

Bengal Fish - by Calcutta Scool (Pencil, Water colour and gliding on paper)

Eight men in Indian and Burmese Costume (Opaque water colour, ink and gold on paper)

Kill the Feringhis!

By Gaurav Poddar (St. Stephen's College)

1857, 11th May to 16th May are the grand days which will always be memorable in the history of India. The Hindus and the Mahomedans rivalry came to an end and they were proclaimed as brothers and equal. Those were the golden days when the Hindus and Mahomedans, together raised the flag of national freedom at Delhi!

It was agreed that May 31st, 1857 will be the day of uprising, but had the whole of India risen on that day, we would have got freedom much earlier. But, there was rising in Meerut before May 31st. The Revolutionaries, all geared up,  then started to march towards Delhi. The horses neighing, the sounds of boots of soldiers, the shouts and cries of "Delhi Delhi" was enough to keep this city awake. The army, crossed the Jumna river and reached all the way to Delhi and after that what happened was remarkable.

"Let the English Rule be destroyed"

Kashmiri Gate, Delhi

"Kill the whites"
"Din Din"
The city roared with the cries of the revolutionaries.

And finally, the historic Kashmiri gate was opened and these revolutionaries entered Delhi. Another part of the army entered through the Calcutta gate. After that everyone, everything associated with English were to be killed, destroyed, all traces were to be removed. The Captain was killed, the commissioner was killed, the church was destroyed, the bottles in English hospitals were broken, anyone found on streets having any association with English were brutally murdered. Yes, the revolutionaries were on fire!

When the emperor told that he didn't have enough funds for the army, the army enthusiastically decided to loot the English treasury. The mob was acting its way. There was a total tamasha which the revolutionaries were enjoying. When the English refused to surrender the arsenal to these sepoys, these sepoys attacked the arsenal. Since English were few in number and saw no chance of them getting saved, they instead of surrendering the arsenal, set fire to it and gave their lives. There was a terrible crash of a thousand cannon and many people were torn into pieces! Englishmen were taken to maidan and on order, within a fraction of seconds all of them were killed. No one dared to question the Sepoys. Many Englishmen manged to escape as well! They fled to Flagstaff Tower in the North-West ridge.

The Flagstaff Tower

On 16th May, not even a trace of English domination was left in Delhi. It was the need of freedom, it was the love for the nation, it was extraordinary patriotism and it was the ever-increasing hatred against the English Rule that resulted in a combustible mixture! The Hindus and the Mahomedans together proclaimed that India was their country.


However, the pre-mature attacks warned the English people...

Crossword

Crossword #1

ACROSS

2.  Me-Dam-Me-Phi

4.  According to Gandhi, strength comes not from physical capacity but from ___

9.  Followers of some asterisks

10.  "Always aim at complete harmony of thought and ___ and deed"

11.  First novel by the author of Satanic Verses

13.  Envisaging an India without an underlying government, an ideal non-violent state as an ordered ___

14.  "In all probability this will be my last speech to you" Where was it said?

15.  A person who feels the need to abuse a child or sees them as sex objects

16.  The Rushdie Affair was said to have pitted a core western value of freedom of ___

19.  Single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country

20.  "Bad money drives good money out in circulation" Which law?

21.  My experiments with ___

22.  Creator of technology that merges sound with text

23.  The report on new avatar of MNREGA seeks to exploit synergy between MNREGA and ___

DOWN

1.	Dance with colourful masks in Jharkhand
3.	Great souled
5.	"Off the books" and "under the table" refers to this type of economy
6.	Spoken around western Andaman Strait, an extinct Great Andamanese language
7.	Musharraf wrote in his memoirs that Armitage said that Pakistan would be bombed back to "___"- a phrase that Armitage denied using
8.	"If you see a snake, just kill it, don't appoint a ____ on snakes"
12.	A symbol of 2011 Egyptian Revolution
17.	CAT stands for Committee Against ___
18.	A tool and symbol of the Indian independence movement (Answers will be posted as a comment to this post soon. Till then you can write whichever answers you get as a comment here)

BREAKING NEWS: Bournvita to aid BJP in its tayyari jeet ki

By Somya Barpanda (St. Stephen's College)


BJP is leaving no stone unturned in preparing for the maha sangram in 2014. The party management has come up with an innovative idea to boost the energy levels of its members by infusing into them some ‘Bournvita confidence’ for election-wins. Inspired and influenced by Bournvita’s phenomenal ad-campaign on “tayyari jeet ki”, BJP President; Nitin Gadkari announced in the last party-meeting that from now on, in place of tea, coffee or any other XYZ beverage, all BJP offices and meetings will strictly stick to serving ONLY Bournvita milk. He stressed that it was imperative that they take ‘serious’ steps to up their chances of winning the 2014 elections and this was an ‘important’ initiative in that direction. The announcement has generated brouhaha in the BJP circuit.

While many party-loyalists have welcomed the move saying that Bournvita-doodh will help them strengthen their ‘ageing’ bones and provide them with the much needed stamina for the impending rath yatras and long speeches during election campaigns, others oppose it; Chai is the most preferred drink of the many octogenarians in the party and Mr. Gadkari will have a tough time convincing them.

Photo Credits: Sudeep Shukla (IIT Guwahati)

Not surprisingly, Mr. Advani expressed his displeasure over the issue. He’s reported to have said, “The decision has been taken without due discussion with the ‘very senior members’ of the party who harbour the view that traditional chai made out of shudh aka unadulterated holy cow-milk is what BJP needs. Making Bournvita-consumption compulsory for all is undemocratic!” Slamming him, Narendra Modi said, “Modernisation is the need of the day and I back Gadkariji’s decision. At a time when Congress has let down corporate India, BJP will be giving a push to the demand-side of companies like Bournvita even though it’s not yet in power at the centre.” Reliable sources close to Modi revealed that he’s even lobbying for Gujarat’s dairy-giant Amul to get the contract for exclusive supply of all milk to BJP.

The tension within the party seems to have been exacerbated by this issue. But the spokesperson continued to say that the BJP parivar remains united and efforts are on to resolve differences.

Back in the corporate world, Bournvita is in a celebratory mood and is lauding its ad-agency for its excellent campaign. “We had not expected that our market-base would grow to such an extent. But thanks to the strong influence of the advertisement, now along with kids, our product will also prepare BJP for its jeet.” said the Co. Head. On a more serious note, he added that with the main customer-base adversely affecting the product’s demand with its budget-squeezing practices, the emergence of such new ‘secure’ political-markets will act as a welcome breather.


Prime adversary Horlicks is now known to be trying hard to strike a similar alliance with Congress. Despite repeated calls and messages, the Congress spokesperson has not yet confirmed of any such development.

The Return of Samajwad

By Pranav Gupta (St. Stephen's College)

About 3 years ago, when Raj Babbar of the INC defeated Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav in a bye election in the family bastion of Firozabad, the Samajwadi Party had seen its lowest point in Uttar Pradesh. Buoyed by the recent victory and a magnificent performance in the Lok Sabha Elections in the state, the Congress was dreaming of a victory in 2012.

The SP's future seemed bleak as UP was tuning into a bi-polar contest between the BSP and the INC. At this time, hardly anyone gave the SP a realistic chance as people laughed off Akhilesh Yadav's claims of 2012 being a direct contest between him and his bete noire Rahul Gandhi (People will still laugh at that claim today but for an entirely different reason!).

Thus, started the journey towards the socialist resurgence in UP. Borrowing Mrs. Renuka  Chaudhary's words from a TV show last night, they have emerged like a phoenix from the ashes. The SP's landslide victory will have major consequences on national politics.
While Mayawati's loss can be attributed only to her decisions and policies, SP's win in such a scenario was caused by numerous exogenous and endogenous factors. 

The emergence of a new Samajwadi

When Mulayam Singh Yadav appointed Akhilesh as the State President, it seemed to be a decision made to keep the dynasty going as opposed to improving the party's prospects. The party introspected and realized that while the glitz and glamour of bollywood seemed to be very charming, they could never fit in with Lohia. Over the years, Amar Singh had become the face of the party and had completely changed the party. From a party struggling to gather funds for elections, SP had the country's biggest businessmen as its face. When it came to star campaigners, even national parties could not match up to the Samajwadi Party with Amitabh Bacchan, Aishwarya Rai, Jaya Bacchan, Sanjay Dutt, Jayapradha campaigning for the party. With all this came dirty allegations of horsetrading and corruption, the same Amar Singh who had made the party a national party had now become a liability for the party. Promises of banning English and Computers and being seen as agents of rich industrialists did not go down well with the public. (The party's Lok Sabha tally reduced to 22). It was very clear; the party had to decide which path to follow. The father-son duo made a tough decision of throwing out Amar Singh. 

The party's traditional voters, the Muslims were moving away from the party. In a bid to gather the Lodhi and OBC vote, the party had brought Kalyan Singh. A move that completely back fired as the Muslim community went away from the party. Party leaders publicly apologized for this move and brought back Azam Khan to win back Muslim voters. Another important development that helped the party was the implicit acceptance of the 'Gunda Raj' by Akhilesh Yadav. Maintenance of law and order is necessary for any party to come to power. The D.P. Yadav incident gave a lot of positive publicity to the party and enhanced Akhilesh's image as a leader against  'Gundayi'. Personally I believe the party has been hypocritical in its approach towards the Gunda Raj. Akhilesh talked about a no-tolerance approach towards violation of law and order but his recent statements on the violent acts in numerous post-victory celebrations seem positive. What remains to be seen is whether the party is able to remove the goons and criminals at the cadre level?

The party also brought about a major change in its approach towards computers and English. Akhilesh knew that this change would appeal to the youth of Uttar Pradesh. The difficulty was to convince his father about the viability of giving free laptops and tablets to students. While the viability of such freebies and the implementation of such policies remain questionable, what we need to focus on is that this is a major change in the party's ideology. The party recognized the need to appeal to young voters A recent survey by CSDS shows how youth candidates and youth leaders appeal to young voters. For the young voters of UP the choice was between Rahul Gandhi - For whom UP is a path to 7, RCR and Akhilesh Yadav - For whom UP will be the Karmabhoomi.

Consolidating the Anti Incumbency vote 

Mayawati in a press conference on Wednesday attributed her poll loss to communal polarization of votes caused by statements made by BJP and congress leaders. While it will be wrong to deny the presence of an anti incumbency wave due to heavy corruption during her reign, it will also be wrong to completely rebuff her argument.

Mayawati's decisions of expelling numerous ministers and dropping sitting MLA's probably led to wide scale resentment among the party cadre. Mayawati it seems did not realize that her umbrella coalition of Upper castes and SC's had failed in 2012. The party held on to its upper caste votes but lost out its core votes - The Jatavs and other dalits. The biggest problem for the BSP was its performance in the reserved constituencies which are the real test of an umbrella social coalition as all parties put up Dalit candidates which leads to a division of the dalit vote. The SP managed to win 54 of the 84 reserved constituencies of the state. In 2007, the BSP had won 62 of these constituencies. Only 57% Jatavs voted for the party as compared to a massive 84% in 2007.

The Muslim Reservation promise of the Congress led to a lot of controversy during this election. Contrary to popular perception the policy did not lead to any major gains for the Congress.  This election saw the return of Muslim to the SP. In 2007, the SP got 46% of the votes which dropped to an all time low of 30% in 2009. This figure rose to 49% in 2012, a major reason for this landslide victory. While Mayawati's explanation on the consolidation of Muslim votes can’t be taken as the sole reason for her loss, it can definitely be taken as an important factor for the Congress's problems. The return of Muslims can be attributed to many factors and not solely on the SP's promise of 18% reservation, something that would be very difficult for the party to implement.

The OBC backlash that many people were predicting did not happen. The BJP had brought in Babu Singh Kushwaha and Uma Bharti, the party's OBC faces in order to attract the OBC voters. The party heavily criticized the reservation policy, hoping for some support from the OBC.

While Uma Bharti's campaigning helped the party win 3 seats in Bundelkhand, the party lost out Ayodhya and could win only one seat in party bastion Lucknow. Infighting, factionalism, negative publicity due to the Kushwaha saga and inability to project a leader can be considered as major reasons for the party's failure in the state.

The Congress lost votes among all groups as compared to the 2009 elections and got almost as much support as they got in 2007. The party's gains among Kurmi voters can be explained as a general improvement for the party from 2007 as opposed to some specific impact of Kurmi leader Beni Prasad Verma as the party fared poorly in all assembly segments in his Gonda Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress didnt do anything very different from what it did in 2009 in fact it was better prepared. It had the same organizational structure or probably a worse one in 2009. What explains this is probably an increasing trend of voting differently in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. As compared to high profile candidates like Sonia Gandhi, Salman Khurshid, Rahul Gandhi, Beni Prasad Verma, P.L. Punia, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Mohd. Azzarudhin, Raj Babbar to name a few, the only people that the congress offered in 2012 were rebels from all parties.

The lower margin of victories can be attributed to delimitation and a four way battle or a five way in almost all segments. The 2012 result also shows a possible shift towards bipolarity in Uttar Pradesh with huge seat swings between the major parties.

The results will have a major impact on national politics with calls for midterm polls already growing.

Child Labour

By Pooja Johry (St. Stephen's College)

Childhood is a dream; innocence and joy, an age to blossom and should be free from all responsibilities and shackles of the society. The brilliance of childhood gets tarnished when those little shoulders are made to carry the burden of earning their living.

Child labour generally refers to work for children that harms them or exploits them, physically, mentally, and morally or by restricting them from access to basic education. However, work done by children may not always be unsuitable and dangerous for them. Work which enhances their educational skills or helps them earn without hindering with attainment of basic education, like job that involves distribution of newspapers, is not at all a dangerous job but in fact, beneficial for them. As UNICEF’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report puts it, "Children’s work needs to be seen as happening along a continuum, with destructive or exploitative work at one end and beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest - at the other. And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development."

 

The International Labour Organization estimates that 215 million children ages 5-17 are engaged in child labour. An estimated 12 percent of children in India ages 5-14 are engaged in child labour activities. Most of them work under unhygienic and unsafe conditions. They are forced to work over 18 hours a day in the confines of a factory. Many children work daily in carpet making factories, glass blowing units and make fireworks with bare little hands, making them prone to disastrous hazards. The degree of child labour is not the same everywhere. In some areas it takes a much worse form where children trafficked in one form of labour may be sold into another one. Many girls recruited for various other works are often sold to sex industry forcefully and are not allowed to move out of it.

Poverty is the main reason responsible for child labour in various countries. Due to acute poverty in various regions, families are deprived of basic health care and they do not have enough money to fulfil their basic consumption requirements, let alone supporting the basic education system for their children. As a result, parents force their children to work so that they could have an additional source of income. Children under their parental pressure take up jobs which are mostly under the unorganized sector of the society where they work with no job security and in unhygienic conditions.

Child labour activities are more prevalent in developing countries like India where around 90% of the population works under the unorganized sector. Most of the production in the country demands unskilled labour in huge amounts.  According to the given statistics, around 350-400 million people in India are below poverty line which means that a large number of families are in need of jobs. Since the poor people do not have enough money to educate their children, children end up taking marginal jobs and giving up education. Thus we see that apart from lack of importance given by parents to their child’s education and considering him an extra earning hand, affordability of education is also a problem resulting in child labour.

The corruption levels in our country are very high due to which many school authorities demand huge amount of money as the admission fees. This accentuates affordability constraints. Another factor influencing low literacy rates and high child labour is the accessibility.  There are not many institutions especially in rural areas which provide children with basic educational facilities. Lack of a school in the vicinity, unsafe conditions, lack of teachers and other facilities in schools reduces a family’s incentive to educate their children.

Child labour can be curbed if steps are taken by the government in the right direction. If most of the families can be raised above the poverty line, it can solve a major part of the problem. If families are able to meet their basic consumption needs then they would not wish to send their children to work instead of sending them to school. Government spends a significant amount on education and for the development of the economy. Hence we should ensure effective implementation of government schemes and laws and this can be achieved by opening schools in various regions and employing good teachers who can educate their students properly. Regular inspection, appointment of responsible and credible officials and creating awareness about benefits of education can ensure effective implementation. Families sending their children to school should be incentivised. This will prompt more families to send their children to school and avail of the benefits. Also, families should be educated about the family planning schemes and healthcare facilities so that they are not burdened by large number of children and they can manage proper schooling and health facilities for them.

Child labour is one of the most serious and dangerous issues in front of the government which needs to be eradicated from its very roots. Children are the future of our country and they need to be safeguarded from any kind of harassment. Serious steps need to be taken to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her own rights and is supported with basic educational and health facilities. It is every child’s right to study and enjoy their childhood to the fullest. At this tender age we need to nurture them with care and should mould them into beautiful human beings. We should set them free from all the chains of baseless social norms so that they can feel the beauty of the nature around them rather than confining their childhood to dark and dingy factories.

FLASHBACK

2011-2012

Annual Report by Deepali Aparajita (President, Gandhi Study Circle 2011-12)

From a state of mere passiveness to plunging into a string of activities, the Gandhi Study Circle had an eventful year. With the academic year beginning in the third week of July and every other college society getting busy with their activities by the fourth week (even before that!) itself, we seemed quite dysfunctional.  The lack of money, events, advisory problems and non-cooperative members made everything appear tough for the GSC. However, hard work and patience paid off and by the end of the academic year the Gandhi Study Circle, St. Stephen’s College had a couple of substantial events to boast of.

We ended our phase of dormancy by organizing a workshop on “love”, courtesy Pooja. The workshop was conducted by Mrs. Suman Khanna Aggarwal, the founder of a Gandhian NGO.  Both entertaining and educational, the workshop taught us the message underlying all the teachings of our beloved Bapu. With this, GSC witnessed the addition of twenty new members. Come the first week of September, the feminists had their bit of Gandhi-ism with Tanya getting Mrs. Prema Cariappa to give a lecture on “Development of Women in India”. From discussions on marginalization of women to the politicization of the familial domain, gender battles and so on- we discussed it all. As November approached, we had to get started with serious events, things that really mattered. It is then that we found Ashita, a student of Physics in college who works to make a difference in others’ lives. Thanks to Ashita, we screened a documentary titled, “Tales from the Margin”, based on Irom Sharmila and more importantly the women of Manipur who decided to fight the injustice caused by the AFSPA in the North-eastern states. The documentary screening was followed by a discussion on the same. The event was marked by participation of students from within as well as outside college.

And then came the end of the first semester in the academic year 2011-12. With everyone getting busy with examinations we were back to being inactive. The exams got over by December and Mahvish got busy with the journal work. The new semester brought with it new hopes, hopes for more and better events which included our annual fest, “Satya-2012”. We wanted to do something different this year for the fest, as Anuroop rightly put, “Last year people came and saw, this year they should come and learn”. Something new and substantial meant that we had to come up with a strong theme. After much thought we zeroed down to the theme, “Tribals and their marginalization over the years”. After deciding on the overarching framework, we had to chart out the events and get sponsors for the same (hats off to Pooja for all the hard work). We entered the fest mood with Asmita Theatre’s award winning play, ‘Ambedkar aur Gandhi’ performed in the college hall a couple of days prior to the Fest. (Juni used her organizational skills and got it done in two days).

 It was now that everyone started working harder than they could. And we found our guide in Ms Eva Loreng, our new staff advisor. After a lot of disappointments we tasted our bit of success with a talk by Ms. Medha Patkar and a panel discussion including eminent personalities like Mrs. Amita Baviskar, Mr. Harsh Mander, Mr.S.N. Sahu and Mr. Abhay Khakha (thanks to Anuroop, Pranav and Anshuman). We also had a Mao dance (a tribal dance form from Nagaland). Satya screened “To the Dream Mountain”, a documentary on the educational initiaves in the tribal dominated district of Wayanad in Kerala. This was followed by a discussion conducted by Arun D. Paul, again a Physicist from college, who has worked for the same cause. The quiz on socio-political issues in the seminar room stimulated the festive air with a brilliance unexpected! (courtesy Pranav and the ever so helpful students of first Economics).  

With the events mentioned above, a good fest and even better compliments from both the senior and the junior members, the year couldn’t have been better.  So much to learn over the months (the other members would agree with me) - hard work pays off, we don’t really need a lot of money to organize a good fest, and that Physicists do a lot more than just physics.

RANGZEN 2010

Towards a more (dis) inclusive world?

By Radhika Agarwal (NALSAR University of Law)

The first part of the paper highlights the fact that despite their objective of helping the world’s poorest and most marginalized people, the Millenium Development Goals overlook the needs of the disabled people as an impoverished group. The second part of the paper studies the initiatives taken by the United Nations to eradicate poverty among the disabled population. Since India ratified the recent United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is under an obligation to respect the rights of the disabled persons and to protect them under its national laws. In the third part of the paper, the researcher has given her own analysis of the extent to which the present Persons with Disabilities Act (PWDA) in India respects the rights of the persons as laid down in the United Nations Convention.

PART I- MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND DISABILITY

“The rights of disabled people need to be better incorporated into our poverty reduction work and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals”- Gareth Thomas, Parliamentary under Secretary of State, DFID (DFID Spotlight 29 September 2004)

According to a study conducted by the World Bank, twenty percent of the world’s poor population is afflicted by disability, with ten percent of the world’s population comprising persons with disabilities. The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) were set to specifically overcome the problem of poverty^[1].  In light of the aforementioned facts, it is ironical that there is no mention of persons with disabilities in the Millenium Development Goals.^[2] Even the vast body of guidelines, policies and programmes that forms an integral part of the MDGs lacks any reference to the persons with disabilities. Hence, the rhetorical question: If the MDGs indeed aim to help the poorest and most marginalized section of the world, can it be done by neglecting this twenty percent of the population? ^[3]

There is evidently a strong correlation that exists between disability and poverty. This argument can be made in two ways, the first being that poverty leads to disability. Malnutrition among pregnant women is seen to be a direct cause of physical deformities leading to disabilities in new-born children. Secondly, poverty can be a consequence of disability.^[4] While elucidating his ‘capabilities’ approach, the well-known economist, Amartya Sen, argued that persons with disabilities suffer from something known as a “conversion handicap”. “.. In the developing world, the disabled are quite often the poorest of the poor in terms of income, but in addition, their need for income is greater than that of able-bodied people, since they require money and assistance to try to live normal lives and to attempt to alleviate their handicaps. The impairment of income-earning ability, which can be called the ‘earning handicap’, tends to be reinforced and much magnified in its effect by ‘the conversion handicap’: the difficulty in converting incomes and resources into good living, precisely because of disability.” Owing to the greater

care that a disabled person requires when compared to a “non-disabled” person, more resources are required to be spent while fulfilling the needs of a person with disability. This may lead to poverty in a family that has to support a disabled member.^[5]

PART II- UNITED NATIONS AND DISABILITY

"Together, let us travel this road toward a more caring and inclusive world." –Ban Ki-Moon (Secretary-General, United Nations)

The United Nations has been proactively involved in advocating rights of persons with disabilities. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) was not only this century’s first comprehensive human rights treaty, but was also the first treaty in the history of United Nations to have 82 signatories on the day it was opened for signature.

The treaty identifies and lists the rights of persons with disabilities which the parties to the treaty must ensure. These rights such as equality before the law without discrimination, right to education, right to work and right to health have to be respected and protected.

The rights of disabled people were also recognised by the United Nations in its earlier declarations of 1970s- The Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons (1971) and The Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (1975). Both the declarations aimed to ensure the inclusion of such persons in society. Among the many rights, both declarations recognized that persons with disabilities have the right to be protected against exploitation, the right to have access to legal aid and the right to live with their families.

The year 1981 was observed as the International Year of Disabled Persons. This led to the adoption of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons in 1982. The programme seeks to promote a human rights approach through “equalization of opportunities”. Also, the Decade of Disabled Persons (1980-1990) resulted in the 1993 General Assembly Resolution adopting the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The twenty two standard rules summarize the objective of the World Programme of Action.

Apart from the treaties and declarations that focus specifically on the rights of persons with disabilities, other international conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child seek to prevent disability as a ground for discrimination. While conventions such as The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination do not specifically refer to disability as a basis of discrimination, they are understood to implicitly mean so.

The Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (SCRPD) is a part of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote the basic human rights of persons with disabilities through the implementation of the various human rights treaties, especially the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The work of the United Nations in the field of disability rights seems promising as its most recent Convention has 153 signatories and has been ratified by 110 parties. The Convention is also legally binding on the parties. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Inter Agency Support Group for the Convention work together to ensure compliance with the principles of the

Convention. India is among the 110 State parties to ratify the Convention which thus places it under an international obligation to respect the rights of persons with disabilities. Moreover, the national laws of the land should be reflective of such an obligation.

PART III- DISABILITY LAW IN INDIA

The most important legislation in India that deals with disability is the  Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWDA). The Act was enacted on January 1, 1996 after the signing of the Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of the People with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities aims to ensure the right to education, the right to health and the right to work for persons with disabilities. Section 26^[6] of the Act lays down that the local authorities and appropriate governments shall secure free education for disabled children till they attain the age of eighteen years. Chapter VI of the Act aims to ensure employment for people with disabilities. The provisions of the Act thus seem to protect the rights of the disabled. However, there is very less implementation of the provisions. According to a study by Pamela Koehler on ‘Using Disability Law to Protect Persons living With HIV/Aids: The Indian and American Approach’^[7], there is widespread discrimination against the persons disabled by HIV/AIDs. This can be observed in educational institutions, workplaces and even in hospitals. The disabled are denied their basic rights to education, employment and health-care on account of their disability. The children of people suffering from HIV are often denied admission in schools.

It is safely inferred from such data that much of the disability law exists only on paper.  Moreover, most of the drafting of the current disability law in India has been done without the participation of the disabled people. This is the ‘satya’ that lawmakers need to reconcile. The law hence needs to be amended keeping in view the needs of the people with disabilities. It is imperative to consult the disabled for whom the law is being made. To comply with its international obligations towards people with disabilities as laid down in the UN Disability Convention, India needs to revise its law and to make provisions for better implementation of the same.

“You and I and millions of others know, that when we respect the inherent dignity of persons with disabilities, we enrich our human family,” – Asha Rose-Migiro (Deputy Secretary General, United Nations)

Radhika Agarwal is a second year student pursuing B.A. LL.B. (H) at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.

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[1]  “The MDGs are specifically designed to address the needs of the world’s poorest citizens and the world’s most marginalized populations.”

See generally  http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1470 (last visited March 3, 2012)

[2]  “The relevance of disability in the understanding of deprivation in the world is often underestimated, and this can be one of the most important arguments for paying attention to the capability perspective. People with physical or mental disability are not only among the most deprived human beings in the world, they are also, frequently enough, the most neglected.”- Amartya Sen

See generally Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice (Penguin 2009)

[3] The United Nations concluded with its Expert Group meeting on MDGs that “The Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved without the full and effective inclusion of persons with disabilities and their participation in all stages of the MDGs processes.”    

“The entire gamut of social policies needs to be monitored in terms of their impact on the most marginalized sections, if inclusive growth is to become a real policy, instead of remaining a mere slogan”- Ashwini Deshpande(Professor of economics at the Delhi School of Economics), Why Do We Need Inclusive Growth ?, UNews MDG Supplement.

[4] I am grateful to Mr. Gabor Gombos (member, UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) for his valuable insights on people with disabilities.

[5]  See generally ‘Disability, Poverty and the Millenium Development Goals: Relevances, Challenges and Opportunities for DFID’

available at http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/

[6] Section 26 of the PWDA: The appropriate Governments and the local authorities shall- 

(a) Ensure that every child with a disability has access to free education in an appropriate environment till he attains the age of eighteen years;

(b) Endeavor to promote the integration of students with disabilities in the normal schools;

(c) Promote setting up of special schools in Government and private sector for those in need of special education, in such a manner that children with disabilities living in any part of the country have access to such schools;

(d) Endeavor to equip the special schools for children with disabilities with vocational training facilities.

[7] available at http://www.law.fsu.edu/journals/transnational/vol19_2/koehler.pdf (last visited March 5, 2012)