जागे जागे सारा रात ब्राइन आउँछन् भनेर...
मनोज वोगटी,कालेबुङ,22 अप्रेल।जागे जागे सारा रात.. मायालु आउँछिन् भनेर ..
यस्तो मास्टरपीस गीतका गायक-संगीतकार ब्राइन मोक्तान फर्किआउने आशामा तिनको परिवार चारदिनदेखि जागो बसेका छन्। ब्राइन मोक्तानले यही गीत गाउन गिटार बजाउने वित्तिकै तिनका प्रसंशकहरूले कार्यक्रम भवन नै थर्काउने गर्थे। अहिले मोक्तान निखोज भएकोले तिनका प्रसंशकहरू शोकित छन्। सारा रात जागै बसेर प्रियसी आउने आशामा बस्ने ब्राइन मोक्तान निखोज भएदेखि तिनकी बृद्ध आमा, पत्नी, छोरीहरू अनि भाइहरू तिनी फर्किआउने आशामा नै बसिरहेका छन्। तिनका भाइ प्रशान्त वाइबा भन्छन्, दाजु, केही दिनको निम्ति कतै गएका छन्। उनी फर्कि आउनेछन्। हामी तिनी आउने आशामा बसिरहेका छौं। चारैतिर खोजिरहेका छौं। हामीलाई विश्वास छ, तिनी फर्किनेछन्।
सबैले प्रतीक्षा गरेको विधानसभा चुनाउ-2011 आयो अनि गयो पनि तर यही चुनाउलाई सफल बनाउन ड्युटीमा गएका ब्राइन मोक्तान फर्किएनन्। 16 अप्रेलको दिन ब्राइन मोक्तान चुनाउको ड्युटी पाएर अन्य साथीहरूसित नै खरसाङको बन्दाखेती गएका थिए। तिनीले आफ्नो ड्युटी निभाए अनि चुनाउ सकेर तिनी उनीहरूलाई लिएर गएको बस सिक्किम व्युटीमा नै 19 अप्रेलको दिन सिलगढ़ी भएर फर्किरहेका थिए। सबै कुरा ठीकै थियो। साथीहरूसित राम्रै कुराकानी गरिरहेका थिए। टिस्टाको 18 माइलमा आइपुग्दा बस जाममा पर्यो। त्यसैबेला बाहिर निस्किएका ब्राइन मोक्तान फेरि बसमा चढ़ेनन्। सोही दिनदेखि ब्राइन मोक्तान लापत्ता छन्।
मोक्तानसित नै प्रिसाइडिङ अफिसर बनेर गएका दिलु ठटाल भन्छन्, मोक्तान निखोज भएको कुराले म आहत छु। तिनले नै सबै काम गरेका थिए। हामीले त उनीजति काम गर्नै परेन। सबै उनैले गरे। तिनले माहौल नै रमाइलो पारेका थिए। 18 तारिक हामी 12 बजी छुट्टिएका थियौं। तिनी यसरी लापत्ता बन्ला भन्ने कुरा पत्याउनै सकेको छैन। तिनको अनुहारमा कुनै पीड़ा त के आशान्तिको कुनै छनक थिएन। जे भए पनि मोक्तान लापत्ता भएको खबर चारैतिर फैलिएको थियो।यसबीच ब्राइन मोक्तानलाई लिएर कतिपय अफवाह चलेकोले परिवार पक्ष आहत बनेको प्रशान्तले जनाए। तिनले भने, तिनी ड्युटी जॉंदैगर्दा मलाई फोन गरेका थिए। त्यही अन्तिम बातचित बन्यो हाम्रो। तिनी निडर र मिलनसार थिए। तिनी बेपत्ता भएको कुरा नै विश्वास लागेको छैन। मोक्तानसित हरेकदिन सगैँ हुने प्रशिद्ध फुटबल खेलाड़ी साथी उर्गेन लामा उर्फ मिनी भन्छन्, ब्राइन सबैभन्दा नजिकको साथी हुन् मेरो। तिनलाई पाइएन भने संगीत जगतमा गतिलो क्षति हुनेछ। तिनी यस्ता संगीतकार थिए जसलाई वर्ड भन्दा पनि धेर कर्ड थाहा थियो। उनी जस्तो मान्छे संगीत क्षेत्रले अर्को पाउने छैनन्। गीतकार विपिन स्याङदेन भन्छन्, उनी वेपत्ता बनेकोले टुहुरो अनुभव गरेको छु। नितान्त एक्लो अनुभव गरेको छु। तिनले अझ भने, तिनले मेरो खोलै खोला बगेर पुग्यो सागरैमा, भन्ने गीतमा संगीत दिएका थिए जसले गृहलक्ष्मी पुरस्कार जितेको थियो। |
| Photos: Mrigendra |
तिनी टिस्टाबाट नै हराए। मलाई मेरै गीतले अहिले पिरोलिरहेको छ। युवा संगीतकार किरण छेत्रीले आफ्नो मेरूदण्ड नै गुमेको बताउँदै भन्छन्, उनी आउनेछन्, मलाई यो विश्वास छ। चारदिनदेखि छोरो हराएकोमा छटपट्टिएकी मोक्तानकी आमा सुलोचना मोक्तानले भनिन्, चुनाउको निम्ति ड्युटीमा गएका सबै फर्किए, मेरो छोरो फर्किएको छैन। जानेबेला दुइ छोरीलाई बाई भनेर गएका, गएकै भए। घरमा आएका छैनन्। सबै उसैलाई पर्खिरहेका छौं। यता कालेबुङमा ब्राइन मोक्तानसित पहिलो म्युजिकल व्याण्ड खोल्ने केशर मोक्तान भन्छन्, फिलिङगो व्याण्ड खोलेका थियौं, जसको नाइके ब्राइन नै थिए। अहिले सबै बितेका दिनहरू ताजा भइरहेको छ। म पीड़ित छु। यस्ता कोही छैनन् जो ब्राइन निखोजको खबरले आहत नहोस्।
यसकारण ब्राइनका निकटवर्ती मित्र, शुभचिन्तक, प्रशंसकहरूले तिनको खोजी कार्य जारी राखेका छन्। तिनी निखोज रहेको प्राथमिकी दर्ता पनि गरिएको छ भने महकुमा अधिकारीलाई पनि चुनाउ ड्युटी गएका मोक्तान घर नफर्किएको कुरा जनाइएको छ। परिवार पक्षले कसैले पनि कतै देखे परिवार पक्षलाई जनाइदिने अपील पनि गरेको छ। ब्राइन मोक्तानकी आमा भन्छिन्, चार दिन भयो, छोरो घर आएको छैन। किसिमकिसिमको खबर आइरहेको छ। मलाई त जस्तोरूपमा नै भएपनि छोरो घर आइदिओस् लागेको छ।
JAKS divided- New Adhoc employees union formed
KalimNews: According to a report Janmukti Asthayi Karmachari Samity a frontal organisation of GJM consisting of DGHC adhoc employeed faced a major division. Some of the employees separated themself from JAKS and formed DGHC Karmachari Sangathan. Anil Rai and Palden Bhutia founding leaders of DGHCKS said that it is a purely non political union.
Both Rai and Bhutia said that we had been actively involved in the agitation led by GJM but not a single of our problems are solved by GJM. They further said that if sixth schedule is implemented then the services of 6,321 staff will be made permanent as it is more powerful. Meanwhile JAKS has warned the members to rejoin the union within 13th May.
It is believed that DGHCKS is backed by GNLF.
VC Lama on South Asia panel
TT, Gangtok, April 22: The central government has nominated Sikkim University’s founding vice-chancellor Mahendra P. Lama and the additional secretary of the ministry of external affairs, Asoke Kumar Mukherji, as its representatives in the newly created South Asia Forum, a Sikkim University release has said.
Eight South Asian countries had agreed to form the forum during the 2010 Thimpu Saarc Summit for generation of debate, discussion and the exchange of ideas on South Asia and its future development.
The release said the forum would be modelled on existing initiatives of a similar nature such as the Boao Forum for Asia in China, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Asia Pacific Roundtable in Australia.
Accused dead
TT, Siliguri: A 55-year-old man who had been missing for the past two days after he was accused of murdering his tenant’s daughter was found dead in a scrap iron godown here on Friday. Police said Shankar Das was found hanging at the godown in Prakashnagar and is suspected to have committed suicide.
The police had been searching for Das, a resident of Dasrathpally, after the 17-year-old daughter of his tenant Amal Modak was found dead on her bed at home on Tuesday night. The police had at first registered the girl’s death as an “unnatural” case but the family members demonastrated in front of the police station with the body, alleging that she had been murdered.
यसकारण ब्राइनका निकटवर्ती मित्र, शुभचिन्तक, प्रशंसकहरूले तिनको खोजी कार्य जारी राखेका छन्। तिनी निखोज रहेको प्राथमिकी दर्ता पनि गरिएको छ भने महकुमा अधिकारीलाई पनि चुनाउ ड्युटी गएका मोक्तान घर नफर्किएको कुरा जनाइएको छ। परिवार पक्षले कसैले पनि कतै देखे परिवार पक्षलाई जनाइदिने अपील पनि गरेको छ। ब्राइन मोक्तानकी आमा भन्छिन्, चार दिन भयो, छोरो घर आएको छैन। किसिमकिसिमको खबर आइरहेको छ। मलाई त जस्तोरूपमा नै भएपनि छोरो घर आइदिओस् लागेको छ।
JAKS divided- New Adhoc employees union formed
KalimNews: According to a report Janmukti Asthayi Karmachari Samity a frontal organisation of GJM consisting of DGHC adhoc employeed faced a major division. Some of the employees separated themself from JAKS and formed DGHC Karmachari Sangathan. Anil Rai and Palden Bhutia founding leaders of DGHCKS said that it is a purely non political union.
Both Rai and Bhutia said that we had been actively involved in the agitation led by GJM but not a single of our problems are solved by GJM. They further said that if sixth schedule is implemented then the services of 6,321 staff will be made permanent as it is more powerful. Meanwhile JAKS has warned the members to rejoin the union within 13th May.
It is believed that DGHCKS is backed by GNLF.
VC Lama on South Asia panel
TT, Gangtok, April 22: The central government has nominated Sikkim University’s founding vice-chancellor Mahendra P. Lama and the additional secretary of the ministry of external affairs, Asoke Kumar Mukherji, as its representatives in the newly created South Asia Forum, a Sikkim University release has said.
Eight South Asian countries had agreed to form the forum during the 2010 Thimpu Saarc Summit for generation of debate, discussion and the exchange of ideas on South Asia and its future development.
The release said the forum would be modelled on existing initiatives of a similar nature such as the Boao Forum for Asia in China, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Asia Pacific Roundtable in Australia.
Accused dead
TT, Siliguri: A 55-year-old man who had been missing for the past two days after he was accused of murdering his tenant’s daughter was found dead in a scrap iron godown here on Friday. Police said Shankar Das was found hanging at the godown in Prakashnagar and is suspected to have committed suicide.
The police had been searching for Das, a resident of Dasrathpally, after the 17-year-old daughter of his tenant Amal Modak was found dead on her bed at home on Tuesday night. The police had at first registered the girl’s death as an “unnatural” case but the family members demonastrated in front of the police station with the body, alleging that she had been murdered.
भागोप पाण्डम शाखाका सल्लाहकारको निधनमा शोक प्रकट
गान्तोक,22 अप्रेल। भारतीय गोर्खा परिसंघ (भागोप)-को सेन्ट्रल पाण्डम शाखाका बरिष्ठ सल्लाहकार तथा गोर्खा समुदायको उत्थानको निम्ति संकल्पीत व्यक्ति गोकुल प्रसाद ढुंगेलको असामयिक निधनमा भागोप सिक्किम राज्य शाखाले गहिरो शोक व्यक्त गरेको छ। सिक्किम सरकारको सहकारी विभागमा डेपुटी रेजिट्राको पदमा कार्यरत 53 वर्षिय ढुंगेल भागोपको शुरूआती अवस्थादेखि नै सक्रिय सल्लाहकारको रूपमा रहेर पाण्डम शाखालाई हरेक कार्यक्रम र योजनाहरूमा महत्वपूर्ण सल्लाह प्रदान गर्दै जातीय उत्थानको निम्ति भागोपले थालेको समाज निर्माणको प्रक्रियामा महत्वपूर्ण अंगको रूपमा बाँचुञ्जेल कार्य गरेको पाण्डम शाखा अध्यक्ष सुरेन्द्र ढुंगेलले बताएका छन्।
भागोप सिक्किम राज्य शाखाले उनको निधनमा गहिरो शोक व्यक्त गर्दै कार्यकारी समितिको एक बैठकमा शोक प्रस्ताव ग्रहण गरेको छ। पाण्डमको कर्मीथाङ गाउँमा जन्मेर जातीय उत्थानको निम्ति आफ्नो अन्तिम श्वाससम्म कार्य गर्ने हाक्की गोर्खे छोराको अभाव सधैं खट्किरहने ठहर गर्दै शोक सन्तप्त परिवार प्रति भागोप सिक्किम राज्य समिति हार्दिक सान्तवना व्यक्त गर्दछ भने परिवारमाथि परेको घातलाई सहनशील भएर सामना गर्ने ईश्वरसित कामना गर्दछ।
4 bodies, chopper wreckage found
- Army helicopter crashed in North Sikkim
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| An Advanced Light Helicopter |
TT, Gangtok, April 22: The bodies of two majors who were flying a Dhruv and two technical assistants on board were recovered this morning, almost 24 hours after the helicopter lost touch with army control and crashed into a hillside in North Sikkim near the Indo-China border.
Army sources said the remains of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, which was doing a routine sortie, was found some 5-6km ahead of the Shiv Mandir area of Yumthang Valley, 160km from Gangtok.
A defence ministry source said the wreckage of the ALH was spotted by an army search team and the bodies have been recovered.
A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the mishap. Although no names or the ranks of those in the ALH have been disclosed yet, army sources had said yesterday that the chopper was carrying two pilots of the rank of major and two technicians, one of whom is a junior commissioned officer and the other a non-commissioned officer.
Local sources here said the four search and rescue ground teams consisting of 22 jawans each had been mobilised yesterday to look for the ALH after it lost radio contact and went missing around 11.20am.
Inclement weather, snow and challenging topography of the area at 12000ft hampered the search mission.
But late in the evening, some wreckage of the chopper was located and another search operation was conducted early this morning by the army.
Sources said the bodies were recovered from a deep gorge in the Shiv Mandir area, 32km from Lachung, the nearest human habitat with a police outpost.
The bodies are expected to be brought back to Lachung by late in the afternoon and from there they could be possibly flown to the military hospital at Libing in Gangtok for post-mortem. The ill-fated chopper from the Army Aviation Corps attached to the 33 corps headquartered in Sukna was flying in tandem with another helicopter that had landed safely at Shiv Mandir yesterday.
Both the helicopters had taken off from the Sevoke Military station under Sukna near Siliguri.
Writer Subash on Ghisingh, the leader
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| Subash Ghisingh: Authorspea |
Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, April 22: Subash the writer is dear to Ghisingh the politician.
GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh today said he was always a “writer” first. “I am a writer first. I came into politics after I realised that the politicians then were doing no good to the community. I was a driver trying to guide the bus for want of a proper operator,” said the 75-year-old Ghisingh.
The veteran hill politician, who once wrote Nepali novels using the name “Subash”, has 22 works to his credit. But ever since Ghisingh gained mass support as a leader in the eighties when he started the Gorkhaland agitation, though he has been in politics since the late 60s, he had not been writing much. One of his popular works is Manna.
In fact, the GNLF chief, who was interacting with a group of journalists today, seems to have lost count of his novels. “I had written about 18-19 books but if I would have continued, the figure would have now crossed 100,” he said.
After being hounded out of the Darjeeling hills in 2008, a year after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha came into existence with its renewed Gorkhaland agitation, Ghisingh had kept himself busy with research. “I am currently doing a research on the World War II and the feats of Gorkhas after which they were recognised as a martial race. There are more than 300 cemeteries of the Gorkhas in Rangoon.”
The GNLF chief had extensively travelled to Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Bhutan while cooling his heels for the last three years.
Asked when he would publish his next book, Ghisingh said: “Let me take care of the situation here. If I get time, I will have to visit more places for my research work.” Most of the publishers of Ghisingh’s book are Darjeeling based.
Ghisingh is also working on Theravada Buddhism one of the oldest surviving Buddhist schools and widely practised in the south-eastern countries.
The leader has been also advocating the need to inculcate the habit of travelling. “A person must have a passport. He must travel far and wide to understand one’s place. If you haven’t seen the world, how can you as a leader prescribe a solution for a place,” he said adding: “Apart from D.P. Rai, the hills no longer have leaders of quality.”
Rai, an ABGL leader who died in the eighties, was the first from the hills to be a minister in the United Front government in Bengal.
Talking as “Ghisingh the politician”, the GNLF chief wondered why the hill people rejected the Sixth Schedule status.
“It has legislative powers. The new Gorkha Hill Council (under the special status) can take care of everything. There will be tax holidays and there will be a beeline of investors thus generating employment for this region,” the politician said. “I am fine but the people here seem to have turned upside down.”
Asked if he would launch an agitation for the inclusion of the hills within the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, Ghisingh said: “The party has already done its job by signing a historic document (on December 6, 2005 with the state and Centre).”
The hint was that he was not interested in a mass agitation unless the people came forward to support him.
Ghisingh said he was trying to educate the “misled people” by distributing CDs of his Mirik and Darjeeling speeches. “Politics means, being in tune with desh, kaal ani paristhiti (place, time and current situations) or else it will be a waste of time,” politician Ghisingh said.
Mujnai to reopen on May 4
TT, Alipurduar, April 22: The Mujnai tea estate is set to re-open on May 4 but workers today refused the Rs 500 that the new owners had agreed to pay them as advance after local Citu leaders refused to accept the deal.
On Wednesday, nearly 400 workers of Mujnai Tea Estate blocked NH31C at Madarihat for seven hours, demanding the opening of the garden.
Yesterday, the Jalpaiguri administration held a meeting to sort out the issue and it was decided that the new management would pay Rs 500 as advance to each worker today and distribute ration on Monday. It was also decided that another round of meeting would be held and the next
instalment of Rs 500 would be paid on the day the garden opened.
Sukha Oraon, garden unit secretary of the Citu-affiliated Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, said: “We did not sign the agreement. The central leaders did it and they have nothing to do with the workers. The new owner, Ashoke Garg, had said many labourers would be retrenched and the rest would work for four days a week only. We are against this. The management will have to give us in writing that there would be no retrenchment.”
An Intuc leader of Jalpaiguri, Mani Kumar Darnal, said the new management should be given a chance to operate. “When Jha came, they did not ask for any agreement,” he said.
Ratan Kumar Jha was arrested on Wednesday after he failed to prove that he was the valid owner of the garden. He has been accused of being an impostor.
Jalpaiguri district magistrate Vandana Yadav said Ashoke Garg’s credentials have been verified. “He is the new owner. A meeting will be held with the workers before the garden opens on May 4.”
Bengal ready for round II amidst dissent
HT, Kolkata, April 22, 201The issue of disgruntled Congress leaders putting up rebel candidates against Trinamool nominees is the thread that binds the second phase of polls on Saturday with the earlier one. And in a more orchestrated manner. During the first round on April 18, the problem was pronounced just in North Dinajpur district, where Congress MP Deepa Dasmunshi took a rebellious stance against the party leadership.
But this time the rebel factor is present in two districts, which account for 39 of the 50 (Trinamool 29, Congress 21) going to polls in this phase.
In Murshidabad, which has 22 seats, and Nadia, with 17, apart from putting up “independents” against Trinamool candidates, some Congress leaders have asked party workers not to take part in campaigns for the ally. Murshidabad district Congress president and Behrampore MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhury has refused to withdraw his four independents pitted against official Trinamool candidates.
Even threats of disciplinary action from Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier this week could not deter Choudhury, who said his allegiance was towards his party first and the alliance later.
A heavyweight candidate facing elections in the second phase is the CPI(M)’s Anisur Rahaman, a minister for two decades. At Domkal in Murshidabad, Rahaman will face a youngster, Soumik Hossain, son of local Congress MP Mannan Hossain.
In Nadia’s Chapra constituency, the Trinamool’s Rukbanur Rahaman, brother of graphics artist Rizwanur Rahaman, whose death caused embarrassment to the state government in 2007, will contest against local CPI(M) strongman Shamsul Islam Molla.
In Birbhum district, which has 11 seats, all eyes will be on Nalhati, where Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son, Abhijit, is making his electoral debut.
Three Indian boxers enter semis of Serbia Invitational
TOI, NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Paramjeet Samota (+91kg), Manpreet Singh (91kg) and teen sensation Shiva Thapa (56kg) notched up contrasting wins to enter the semifinals on a mixed opening day for Indian boxers in the Winners’ International tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.
Samota, also an Asian Games bronze-medallist, beat Mongolian boxer, Davolkhagva Iderbat 25-10.
Asian Games silver medal winner Manpreet, on the other hand, got the better of Algeria’s Bouloudinats Chou 15-12.
The 17-year-old Shiva, a silver-medallist from the Youth World Championships and a bronze-winner from the inaugural Youth Olympics last year, defeated Scottish boxer Joe Ham 5-1 to book a semifinal berth in the event where India has been invited for the first time.
However, there was disappointment for India as well with Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Kuldeep Singh (75kg) losing in the opening round.While Manoj lost 1-3 to Munkhardene Uranch of Mongolia, Kuldeep went down 1-3 to local favourite Jovanovic Nikola.
In the semifinals, Shiva will meet Nagy Krisztian of Hungary, while Manpreet will face Pulev Tervel of Bulgaria.
Samota will be up against Rygebayev Rustam of Kazakhstan.
A Messiah And The Melodramatic Middle class:
‘Rethinking' The Anna Hazare Movement Against Corruption
Avinash Pandey Samar, 22 April, 2011 Countercurrents.org: Reason is almost always the first and the biggest casualty of frenzy. This remains so even if the frenzy is built not by acts of violence or hatred, but by orchestrated protests around a righteous cause with all the paraphernalia in place, cheering middle classes (who till the other day were cheering India and sometimes abusing Pakistan and would be cheering different IPL teams/players nowadays), the celebrity members of civil society (does that mean all other are un/a-civil), a doting media covering a 98 hour event for more than 250 hours, facebook pages espousing people to join this cause and so on and so forth. And of course, there were saints of many hues adding religiosity to the self proclaimed righteousness of the cause. Add a Gandhi cap wearing diminutive figure as the leader and the recipe for a successful campaign is all complete. This was the Anna Hazare led movement against corruption in nutshell.
These are the times when you find foes and friends standing at the same side of the fence, making the same, tall and false claims of victory even in the middle of raising contradictory slogans. These are the times when the heart takes over head and the attempts to critically engage with the issue are fraught with the danger of being shouted down with all the contempt of the world. Clearly, investigating such an event can be arduous and very frustrating. But then, investigating such an event becomes a very important political task for the precise reason, remember the old man who exhorted his followers to doubt everything and to build understandings on the basis of concrete analysis of concrete situations!
So think about a movement, supposedly the largest after the JP movement of the 70s, that did not see actual participation of more than a few thousand at Jantar Mantar. Contrast it with the recently organized workers' rally protesting against price rise, inflation and violation of labour laws that drew more than 200000 workers to the same city. The same media that is calling Anna's movement Indian Peoples' League did not do as much as even taking notice of that rally. Interestingly, that rally was covered by international news agencies and channels like BBC, AFP and Reuters!
So what is it that makes Anna's movement such a success while condemning workers' protest to the margins of print and electronic media alike? It was lack of politics, nothing else. Remember that hating politics is one of the most favorite pastimes of the middle classes, at least the affluent sections of it, after watching cricket I concede. Remember that the very survival of its champions, the renowned members of civil society, is based on this hatred for political processes. Would they not be thrown out of business if the people themselves become stakeholders in the decision make process?
This is the actual fear that produces, shapes and defines the repugnance ‘Civil Society' has for the actual political process. It was not for nothing that George Konrad, one of the earliest exponents of actually existing civil society (not the concept but its materialization) has titled his article as ANTIPOLITICS while asserting that “Civil society is still only an idea; let us look at ourselves here in Budapest, as if from the island of Utopia”.
This hatred, however, does not get translated into hatred towards structures of power; quite on the contrary, civil society generally aligns itself with the state till it serves the interests. Civil society, more often than not, ends up working as another front of the state by usurping the sites of protests and thus diffusing any real anger towards the state, as prophetically identified by Gramsci in his times. In the war of positions, for him, civil society was nothing more than ‘trenches' and ‘permanent fortifications' for the state that was merely an ‘outer ditch'. (Of course, things have changed quite a lot since then, and we may find a very tiny section of civil society that stands by the oppressed and, consequently, finds itself on the wrong side of the state. One can readily think of Dr. Binayak Sen and Arundhati Ray as representing two absolutely different streams of such a section of civil society. However, the attitude of the state towards them does nothing more than strengthening the argument about the general character of the ‘civil society'!)
Why was this extension of the state on streets taking the state with all the might it could muster in the form of media coverage, if not the real people? Simply because the exigencies of the actual political process include a fierce struggle over agenda setting and because of that the governments cannot always afford to cater to the demands of civil society and its actual bosses. The governments, even in a quasi-democratic set up, have to face the people time and again and that demand of accountability, compels them to take some actions, even if very reluctantly, for the real people. A case in the point would be the enactment of the right to employment after a fierce struggle of the people across the country with several political mass organisations leading the battle from the front, in the middle of vicious opposition from the same corporations arguing that such an act would amount to criminal wastage of money and resources. (Interestingly, same corporations, led by t he Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) were extending full support to this movement.)
Corruption in the process of governance troubles these ‘captains of industry and business' like nothing else. Yet, the power that this democratic set up has conferred on the political elite makes them almost helpless to fight it on their own. The failures of the system in unearthing, probing, and then punishing those behind this corruption merely adds to their woes. Needless to say, then, is their desperation to fight against this, to make corruption in the process of governance ‘the issue'.
I am not suggesting that corruption is not a REAL problem. It definitely is. Especially in the wake of the plethora of scams involving unprecedented amounts of money, it has shaken the very conscience of the people of this country. But then, the question is whether corruption is ‘the problem' or merely a manifestation of something far more deeper, far more malicious than this.
After all, these same people, especially the corporations, do not think twice before engaging in corrupt practices to usurp the land belonging to poor people for establishing their special economic zones. These same corporations employ all the dirty tricks to subvert the law of the land to evict people from their own lands for profit. These same corporations actually manage to use the government for ‘acquiring' lands for their private profit. They even benefit from the corruption for earning everything from contracts to spectrum.
Is the corruption real issue then? It certainly is not. Had corruption been the real issue, the proposed Janlokpal Bill would not have kept both the Corporations and other Non Governmental Organisations out of its ambit. It would not have, in that case, targeted the political class alone.
The real agenda is usurping the political process and appropriating the sites of protest for privileging their own agenda over others', read the silent majority.
A quick glance over some glaring facts may explain this further. As per government's own admission more than 46 percent of the children of this country are malnourished, under 5 mortality rate is still as high as 74.6 per thousand live births, comparable with highly undeveloped counties and 51 percent of households have no access to sanitation even today! ( http://asiapacific.endpoverty2015.org/pdf/MDGGOIreport.pdf ) Issues like these, especially those of hunger, housing, sanitation, health care and education are the most pressing issues for the silent majority of India and none of them emanate out of corruption.
They are the products of highly skewed distribution of resources in the society along the lines of pre modern structures of caste and kinship and cannot, therefore, be resolved without bringing in fundamental changes in the patterns of distribution. Corruption, actually, emanates out of this and not the otherwise. Just think of the fact that a Dalit will have to bribe everyone from the village chief to the block development officer to get actual benefit under any welfare scheme, but would s/he have needed it in the first place if s/he was not a landless labour in a village where all the land belongs to a few ‘upper caste' families!
The success of Anna Hazare led movement, therefore, is the success of the tiny, actually almost miniscule in numerical terms, middle classes to masquerade their agenda as that of the nation. Here is a quick fact check again. Noted economist Nancy Birdsall, in the World Bank publication titled Equity in a Globalising World defines the middle class in developing world as that section of population with an income above $10 day, but excluding the top 5% of that country as this is the only segment of society that has a ‘degree of economic security' which allows it to ‘uphold rule of law', invest and desire ‘stability'.( http://www.growthcommission.org/storage/cgdev/
documents/volume_equity/ch7equity.pdf ) Despite the fact that $10 a day means nothing more than 450 INR a day or 13,500 rupees a month, India has no section of society earning that much outside the top 5 per cent of Indian population! Does one need to say anything more?
Interestingly, civil society does not represent even these 5% but reflects the desires of a miniscule sections sitting at the top of this section (Not for nothing we have those with assets more than 100 Crores representing the middle classes!)
This brings me to the last question. How could such a motley crowd of vested interests succeed in forging an almost impossible coalition of convenience? Think of the intriguing fact that it was a movement where CPI-ML liberation was seen standing together with Bhartiya Janta Party and FICCI! And then think of the old man who had asserted that the world is divided between the oppressors and the oppressed classes, and not only the interests of these respective classes are different but they are antagonistic! Then ponder over if by any stretch of imagination the class interests of Liberation and FICCI can be similar? Add Narendra Modi to this motley crowd and the picture becomes even murkier!
Had people on the left supporting this movement suspended their critical faculties for a while? Were they swept off their feet by the presence of a few thousand to the extent of ignoring the dangerous imagery of Hindu Rashtra that was omnipresent at the protest site and was betraying the real character of the movement despite all pretensions?
Had they forgotten that secularism essentially means relegating religion to the private sphere at least, and not letting them come in public domain and intervene and influence secular processes of democratic decision making?
Or, were they genuinely impressed by this Gandhian Messiah demanding death sentence to the ‘corrupt leaders' who did never demand any punishment for any other category of corrupt people? Did they even bother to check the track record of this Gandhian messiah who supports Maharashtra NavNirman Sena, warns outsiders in Bombay to live in their limits, and has enforced a labour division based on Varnashram system in his village complete to the detail of having poles to tie and beat down the violators?
Had they forgotten that the Sarkari Sant (a saint on government duty) tradition is not new to this country? Did the memories of Vinoba Bhave ending up in supporting Indira Gandhi imposed internal emergency not haunt them? I do not know how and why history would judge Anna Hazare, but it would ask very uncomfortable questions to those self acclaimed champions of the working classes standing by this struggle of the hegemonic class. It would ask them why they bartered their torches with the colourful candles offered to them and they would have to answer.
Mujnai to reopen on May 4
TT, Alipurduar, April 22: The Mujnai tea estate is set to re-open on May 4 but workers today refused the Rs 500 that the new owners had agreed to pay them as advance after local Citu leaders refused to accept the deal.
On Wednesday, nearly 400 workers of Mujnai Tea Estate blocked NH31C at Madarihat for seven hours, demanding the opening of the garden.
Yesterday, the Jalpaiguri administration held a meeting to sort out the issue and it was decided that the new management would pay Rs 500 as advance to each worker today and distribute ration on Monday. It was also decided that another round of meeting would be held and the next
instalment of Rs 500 would be paid on the day the garden opened.
Sukha Oraon, garden unit secretary of the Citu-affiliated Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union, said: “We did not sign the agreement. The central leaders did it and they have nothing to do with the workers. The new owner, Ashoke Garg, had said many labourers would be retrenched and the rest would work for four days a week only. We are against this. The management will have to give us in writing that there would be no retrenchment.”
An Intuc leader of Jalpaiguri, Mani Kumar Darnal, said the new management should be given a chance to operate. “When Jha came, they did not ask for any agreement,” he said.
Ratan Kumar Jha was arrested on Wednesday after he failed to prove that he was the valid owner of the garden. He has been accused of being an impostor.
Jalpaiguri district magistrate Vandana Yadav said Ashoke Garg’s credentials have been verified. “He is the new owner. A meeting will be held with the workers before the garden opens on May 4.”
Bengal ready for round II amidst dissent
HT, Kolkata, April 22, 201The issue of disgruntled Congress leaders putting up rebel candidates against Trinamool nominees is the thread that binds the second phase of polls on Saturday with the earlier one. And in a more orchestrated manner. During the first round on April 18, the problem was pronounced just in North Dinajpur district, where Congress MP Deepa Dasmunshi took a rebellious stance against the party leadership.
But this time the rebel factor is present in two districts, which account for 39 of the 50 (Trinamool 29, Congress 21) going to polls in this phase.
In Murshidabad, which has 22 seats, and Nadia, with 17, apart from putting up “independents” against Trinamool candidates, some Congress leaders have asked party workers not to take part in campaigns for the ally. Murshidabad district Congress president and Behrampore MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhury has refused to withdraw his four independents pitted against official Trinamool candidates.
Even threats of disciplinary action from Congress president Sonia Gandhi earlier this week could not deter Choudhury, who said his allegiance was towards his party first and the alliance later.
A heavyweight candidate facing elections in the second phase is the CPI(M)’s Anisur Rahaman, a minister for two decades. At Domkal in Murshidabad, Rahaman will face a youngster, Soumik Hossain, son of local Congress MP Mannan Hossain.
In Nadia’s Chapra constituency, the Trinamool’s Rukbanur Rahaman, brother of graphics artist Rizwanur Rahaman, whose death caused embarrassment to the state government in 2007, will contest against local CPI(M) strongman Shamsul Islam Molla.
In Birbhum district, which has 11 seats, all eyes will be on Nalhati, where Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son, Abhijit, is making his electoral debut.
Three Indian boxers enter semis of Serbia Invitational
TOI, NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Paramjeet Samota (+91kg), Manpreet Singh (91kg) and teen sensation Shiva Thapa (56kg) notched up contrasting wins to enter the semifinals on a mixed opening day for Indian boxers in the Winners’ International tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.
Samota, also an Asian Games bronze-medallist, beat Mongolian boxer, Davolkhagva Iderbat 25-10.
Asian Games silver medal winner Manpreet, on the other hand, got the better of Algeria’s Bouloudinats Chou 15-12.
The 17-year-old Shiva, a silver-medallist from the Youth World Championships and a bronze-winner from the inaugural Youth Olympics last year, defeated Scottish boxer Joe Ham 5-1 to book a semifinal berth in the event where India has been invited for the first time.
However, there was disappointment for India as well with Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Kuldeep Singh (75kg) losing in the opening round.While Manoj lost 1-3 to Munkhardene Uranch of Mongolia, Kuldeep went down 1-3 to local favourite Jovanovic Nikola.
In the semifinals, Shiva will meet Nagy Krisztian of Hungary, while Manpreet will face Pulev Tervel of Bulgaria.
Samota will be up against Rygebayev Rustam of Kazakhstan.
A Messiah And The Melodramatic Middle class:
‘Rethinking' The Anna Hazare Movement Against Corruption
Avinash Pandey Samar, 22 April, 2011 Countercurrents.org: Reason is almost always the first and the biggest casualty of frenzy. This remains so even if the frenzy is built not by acts of violence or hatred, but by orchestrated protests around a righteous cause with all the paraphernalia in place, cheering middle classes (who till the other day were cheering India and sometimes abusing Pakistan and would be cheering different IPL teams/players nowadays), the celebrity members of civil society (does that mean all other are un/a-civil), a doting media covering a 98 hour event for more than 250 hours, facebook pages espousing people to join this cause and so on and so forth. And of course, there were saints of many hues adding religiosity to the self proclaimed righteousness of the cause. Add a Gandhi cap wearing diminutive figure as the leader and the recipe for a successful campaign is all complete. This was the Anna Hazare led movement against corruption in nutshell.
These are the times when you find foes and friends standing at the same side of the fence, making the same, tall and false claims of victory even in the middle of raising contradictory slogans. These are the times when the heart takes over head and the attempts to critically engage with the issue are fraught with the danger of being shouted down with all the contempt of the world. Clearly, investigating such an event can be arduous and very frustrating. But then, investigating such an event becomes a very important political task for the precise reason, remember the old man who exhorted his followers to doubt everything and to build understandings on the basis of concrete analysis of concrete situations!
So think about a movement, supposedly the largest after the JP movement of the 70s, that did not see actual participation of more than a few thousand at Jantar Mantar. Contrast it with the recently organized workers' rally protesting against price rise, inflation and violation of labour laws that drew more than 200000 workers to the same city. The same media that is calling Anna's movement Indian Peoples' League did not do as much as even taking notice of that rally. Interestingly, that rally was covered by international news agencies and channels like BBC, AFP and Reuters!
So what is it that makes Anna's movement such a success while condemning workers' protest to the margins of print and electronic media alike? It was lack of politics, nothing else. Remember that hating politics is one of the most favorite pastimes of the middle classes, at least the affluent sections of it, after watching cricket I concede. Remember that the very survival of its champions, the renowned members of civil society, is based on this hatred for political processes. Would they not be thrown out of business if the people themselves become stakeholders in the decision make process?
This is the actual fear that produces, shapes and defines the repugnance ‘Civil Society' has for the actual political process. It was not for nothing that George Konrad, one of the earliest exponents of actually existing civil society (not the concept but its materialization) has titled his article as ANTIPOLITICS while asserting that “Civil society is still only an idea; let us look at ourselves here in Budapest, as if from the island of Utopia”.
This hatred, however, does not get translated into hatred towards structures of power; quite on the contrary, civil society generally aligns itself with the state till it serves the interests. Civil society, more often than not, ends up working as another front of the state by usurping the sites of protests and thus diffusing any real anger towards the state, as prophetically identified by Gramsci in his times. In the war of positions, for him, civil society was nothing more than ‘trenches' and ‘permanent fortifications' for the state that was merely an ‘outer ditch'. (Of course, things have changed quite a lot since then, and we may find a very tiny section of civil society that stands by the oppressed and, consequently, finds itself on the wrong side of the state. One can readily think of Dr. Binayak Sen and Arundhati Ray as representing two absolutely different streams of such a section of civil society. However, the attitude of the state towards them does nothing more than strengthening the argument about the general character of the ‘civil society'!)
Why was this extension of the state on streets taking the state with all the might it could muster in the form of media coverage, if not the real people? Simply because the exigencies of the actual political process include a fierce struggle over agenda setting and because of that the governments cannot always afford to cater to the demands of civil society and its actual bosses. The governments, even in a quasi-democratic set up, have to face the people time and again and that demand of accountability, compels them to take some actions, even if very reluctantly, for the real people. A case in the point would be the enactment of the right to employment after a fierce struggle of the people across the country with several political mass organisations leading the battle from the front, in the middle of vicious opposition from the same corporations arguing that such an act would amount to criminal wastage of money and resources. (Interestingly, same corporations, led by t he Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) were extending full support to this movement.)
Corruption in the process of governance troubles these ‘captains of industry and business' like nothing else. Yet, the power that this democratic set up has conferred on the political elite makes them almost helpless to fight it on their own. The failures of the system in unearthing, probing, and then punishing those behind this corruption merely adds to their woes. Needless to say, then, is their desperation to fight against this, to make corruption in the process of governance ‘the issue'.
I am not suggesting that corruption is not a REAL problem. It definitely is. Especially in the wake of the plethora of scams involving unprecedented amounts of money, it has shaken the very conscience of the people of this country. But then, the question is whether corruption is ‘the problem' or merely a manifestation of something far more deeper, far more malicious than this.
After all, these same people, especially the corporations, do not think twice before engaging in corrupt practices to usurp the land belonging to poor people for establishing their special economic zones. These same corporations employ all the dirty tricks to subvert the law of the land to evict people from their own lands for profit. These same corporations actually manage to use the government for ‘acquiring' lands for their private profit. They even benefit from the corruption for earning everything from contracts to spectrum.
Is the corruption real issue then? It certainly is not. Had corruption been the real issue, the proposed Janlokpal Bill would not have kept both the Corporations and other Non Governmental Organisations out of its ambit. It would not have, in that case, targeted the political class alone.
The real agenda is usurping the political process and appropriating the sites of protest for privileging their own agenda over others', read the silent majority.
A quick glance over some glaring facts may explain this further. As per government's own admission more than 46 percent of the children of this country are malnourished, under 5 mortality rate is still as high as 74.6 per thousand live births, comparable with highly undeveloped counties and 51 percent of households have no access to sanitation even today! ( http://asiapacific.endpoverty2015.org/pdf/MDGGOIreport.pdf ) Issues like these, especially those of hunger, housing, sanitation, health care and education are the most pressing issues for the silent majority of India and none of them emanate out of corruption.
They are the products of highly skewed distribution of resources in the society along the lines of pre modern structures of caste and kinship and cannot, therefore, be resolved without bringing in fundamental changes in the patterns of distribution. Corruption, actually, emanates out of this and not the otherwise. Just think of the fact that a Dalit will have to bribe everyone from the village chief to the block development officer to get actual benefit under any welfare scheme, but would s/he have needed it in the first place if s/he was not a landless labour in a village where all the land belongs to a few ‘upper caste' families!
The success of Anna Hazare led movement, therefore, is the success of the tiny, actually almost miniscule in numerical terms, middle classes to masquerade their agenda as that of the nation. Here is a quick fact check again. Noted economist Nancy Birdsall, in the World Bank publication titled Equity in a Globalising World defines the middle class in developing world as that section of population with an income above $10 day, but excluding the top 5% of that country as this is the only segment of society that has a ‘degree of economic security' which allows it to ‘uphold rule of law', invest and desire ‘stability'.( http://www.growthcommission.org/storage/cgdev/
documents/volume_equity/ch7equity.pdf ) Despite the fact that $10 a day means nothing more than 450 INR a day or 13,500 rupees a month, India has no section of society earning that much outside the top 5 per cent of Indian population! Does one need to say anything more?
Interestingly, civil society does not represent even these 5% but reflects the desires of a miniscule sections sitting at the top of this section (Not for nothing we have those with assets more than 100 Crores representing the middle classes!)
This brings me to the last question. How could such a motley crowd of vested interests succeed in forging an almost impossible coalition of convenience? Think of the intriguing fact that it was a movement where CPI-ML liberation was seen standing together with Bhartiya Janta Party and FICCI! And then think of the old man who had asserted that the world is divided between the oppressors and the oppressed classes, and not only the interests of these respective classes are different but they are antagonistic! Then ponder over if by any stretch of imagination the class interests of Liberation and FICCI can be similar? Add Narendra Modi to this motley crowd and the picture becomes even murkier!
Had people on the left supporting this movement suspended their critical faculties for a while? Were they swept off their feet by the presence of a few thousand to the extent of ignoring the dangerous imagery of Hindu Rashtra that was omnipresent at the protest site and was betraying the real character of the movement despite all pretensions?
Had they forgotten that secularism essentially means relegating religion to the private sphere at least, and not letting them come in public domain and intervene and influence secular processes of democratic decision making?
Or, were they genuinely impressed by this Gandhian Messiah demanding death sentence to the ‘corrupt leaders' who did never demand any punishment for any other category of corrupt people? Did they even bother to check the track record of this Gandhian messiah who supports Maharashtra NavNirman Sena, warns outsiders in Bombay to live in their limits, and has enforced a labour division based on Varnashram system in his village complete to the detail of having poles to tie and beat down the violators?
Had they forgotten that the Sarkari Sant (a saint on government duty) tradition is not new to this country? Did the memories of Vinoba Bhave ending up in supporting Indira Gandhi imposed internal emergency not haunt them? I do not know how and why history would judge Anna Hazare, but it would ask very uncomfortable questions to those self acclaimed champions of the working classes standing by this struggle of the hegemonic class. It would ask them why they bartered their torches with the colourful candles offered to them and they would have to answer.
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