Gujarat

Frontline calls it the hit list, a list of individuals and organsations under threat from forces within Gujarat.

"MEDHA PATKAR, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader, is attacked every time she enters Gujarat. The last time this happened was at a peace meeting in Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, during the communal riots in 2002. The NBA office in Vadodara has been ransacked several times.

Mrinalini Sarabhai, dancer, was forced to withdraw her signature from an NBA petition. Her daughter, Mallika Sarabhai, dancer, has been harassed for speaking out against the communal violence.

Ramdhan, Scheduled Caste/Schedule Tribe Commission chairperson, was attacked when he visited the Narmada dam site some years ago.

Painter M.F. Husain's gallery, in a cave in Ahmedabad, has been attacked twice and his works have been destroyed.

Citizen's Initiative, an alliance of organisations that was involved in relief and rehabilitation after the communal violence in 2002, was threatened, had its phones tapped and its offices raided, and some of its camp organisers were even arrested.

Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a collective of unorganised women workers, was harassed and government aid was cut because a large number of its members were Muslim.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a human rights organisation supporting witnesses in court, receives constant threats. Acid bottles were flung into the house of the project coordinator in Vadodara, and later it was broken into and all legal papers were stolen. Yet, the police have done nothing and refuse to provide protection.

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan's films Rang De Basanti and Fanaa were not screened in Gujarat because the Bajrang Dal threatened violence. Khan incurred the wrath of the Sangh Parivar because he supported the NBA. Students who went to Mumbai to see Fanaa were beaten up when they returned to Gujarat.

Dia Mirza, Bollywood actor, was hurriedly rushed out of Rajkot because she supported Aamir Khan's stand on the Narmada issue."

Do we have a fascist state within our nation?

Maoist threat

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently declared that "the greatest single threat to 'India's security' were the Maoist-led guerrilla armies and mass movements in the poorest parts of the country". The statement did not generate any discussion in popular media and I would assume most of the populace wouldn't have considered the statement worthy of dissection.
A separate statistic would help to understand the gravity of the situation better. The total number of districts in the country is 602. In the 1990s, the number of districts affected by Maoist violence stood at 15. In 15 years the number has risen exponentially, today the number of districts under some kind of Maoist influence stands at 170. Previously Indians could afford to ignore the Maoist issue as a remote problem, but with over one-fourth of the country experiencing Maoist influences it is about time the average Indian sat up and took notice.
The reason Maoist rebels have been able to grow so rapidly is directly related to India's failure in addressing the widespread poverty that afflicts the country. Mass movements that threaten to overthrow the existing establishment will always appeal to those who have been neglected by it. It should be noted that people would enroll within the cadres of these guerrilla armies, not essentially because they would subscribe to the ideologies of these nihilistic organizations, but only with the hope that such a cause may bring a better tomorrow.
The government's knee-jerk response to incidents of Maoist violence, like the recent attack on a police outpost in Chhattisgarh killing 55 people; the assasination of an MP Sunil Mahato, has been has been to deploy security forces to contain the violence. If only successive governments had done a better job, this issue wouldn't have crossed the seas and arrive at our doorstep. To combat violence with violence, is only a temporary solution and does not address deeper issues. Policies which address the economic inequality of the population will take us a longer way in resolving the Maoist violence.

The Indian cricketer, unworthy of high regard!

The world cup is here, and India plays its first game this Saturday. The whole nation flips back and forth pondering over the chances of India's success. Thoughts abound on game strategies, cricket is religion and the players are gods. Speaking of which the question arises, do these cricketers truly deserve their demi-god status?
Being a great player on a field is one thing, but true greatness is measured by one's actions off the field. The players that I hold great respect for include-

• Imran Khan, lost his mother to cancer in 1984. Cancer was known as a rich-man's disease in Pakistan. During that time, Imran was witness to the lack of specialist treatment available to the poor. 10 years later, he founded the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, a charitable institution that serves the poor.
  
• Steve Waugh, his association with Udayan, a home for children who come from Calcutta's leprosy colonies. Since 1998 he holds a special relationship with the kids at Udayan, known as Steveda among them.

Now these players weren't merely leaders of men on the field, they exemplified this skill in their personal lives as well.

In stark contrast, I am yet to hear of an Indian player who has lent his name to a social cause. The "god" Tendulkar is more famous for his evasion of a 120% duty on his Ferrari. Aren't men like him supposed to be guided by principle? I am yet to hear of Sachin's donations to society, oh yes! I have heard of him donating bats, pads and the like. But could anyone bring to my notice any mention in the media about Sachin parting with generous amounts of his wealth for charitable causes? The same goes for every other popular player in the country. There is no shortage for social issues in India, from killer diseases like AIDS to female infanticide, issues which could be addressed more effectively through awareness. Has any cricketer stepped forward with dedicated and prolonged commitment to a single social cause? The popular Indian cricketer has one ready formula, he'll play charity matches, it's easy and baggage free.

All our successes hold a greater value because they are bestowed upon us by society, especially in the case of social figures(politicians and players alike). It is every successful man's moral responsibility to return to the people, by virtue of sharing his wealth or by lending his voice to social causes. It is an obligation, payback for the rewards society confers upon them.

While a hollow sense of satisfaction would be achieved by saving Rs 1.13 crore, the legitimate joy that one would experience with the knowledge that despite all their patriotism 300 children in Calcutta would be cheering for you when on the field,....immeasurable.

Patriotism

In my interactions with new friends, colleagues, acquaintances, I have, with increasing incidence, been referred to as a patriot. Since the occasion had never arisen for me to declare my patriotism, I had never spent too much time brooding over the matter. The last half an hour I have spent watching a short documentary on TV, called "Painted Nation". It gives an account of the Indian billboard painter, the fast demise of an industry as it loses out to computer generated images. Most painters will be out of jobs soon, and while India continues to write it's growth story, these painters will be trampled upon and forgotten.
It pulls a chord of pathos within me, and it is a feeling I cannot escape. And it has been something I haven't been able to escape from for as far as I can remember. Be it watching a child trying to sell ear-buds at a traffic signal, poor children singing on the train for a couple of coins, families of impoverished farmers resorting to beggary after a complete loss of self-esteem(imagine the emotion of a man having to watch his wife and children beg for a meal), ...the situations are many and have always involved suffering people. Every time, it has induced a certain amount of grief in me, because these are my people and I cannot turn a blind eye to their plights.
The answers, the solutions to all the problems my countrymen face, I have none. The monetary acts of charity, help an individual or two, but I am not in a position of power to address the issues of the population as a whole. But of the one thing that I am sure, is that I will not desert my country and her people. Many of her sons and daughters have left her shores, in search of a better life in more developed countries. I do not blame them, the choices one makes in life are sometimes personal and no one has the right to question them. But, for me as an individual, I cannot stand from the comfort of a villa in USA, and watch my nation bleed. I cannot take a passive interest in my country and her people. I am driven to attend to her, to alleviate her condition, to try and stop the suicides of her farmers, to try and get her children into schools and not on the streets of metropolitan cities begging for food.
If this implies patriotism, then a staunch patriot I am.

Savage attack

You know you've come a full circle when the animals we protect end up killing our own children. In the last 2 months, Bangalore has witnessed the deaths of two small kids, both under the age of 10, bitten by packs of stray dogs. Plainly put, it is appalling. We have a law in place which does not permit the "putting-to-sleep" of stray dogs. That is fair enough, the whole matter of taking the life of a lesser creature, is controversial and involves many facets such as animal rights. However, such a law, for a lack of an alternative that can be implemented more easily, has resulted in a steady increase in stray dog numbers. Consequently, you have stray dog packs in every locality.
Similar reports have surfaced in other parts of the country as well, and the victim has always been a young child. These attacks should not be viewed as stray behaviour, they rather indicate pack mentality, which should come as no surprise as dogs come from the wolf family.
While I definitely support a more humane way of treating the stray dog menace, such as sterilizing and providing shelter in state/NGO run dog-homes, it is a well-known fact that with all our budget restraints matters such as providing shelters to stray dogs will always take last priority (This means it will never be implemented). In which case we are left with two choices, put the stray dogs to sleep or watch our children savagely attacked by packs. Between the two, despite all the legitimate cries of animal rights activists, I would prefer the former.

Budget 2007

The Finance Minister's budget speech is probably one of the biggest political events in the country. It is in many ways similar to the State of the Union address in the USA, as far the media hoopla involved goes. I have a long way to go in terms of understanding the terms that determine how good a budget is, such as fiscal consolidation, revenue buoyancy, gap funding. However, here's a brief list of some straightforward aspects of the budget:

• The threshold limit of tax exemption has been increased by Rs. 10000.
• Defence spending has been increased by around 7%.
• There's a reduction in duty on certain imported goods such as pet foods!!!! So if you were importing your dog's dinner, well it has gotten cheaper.
  
• IT companies are not very happy as the tax holiday that they currently enjoy and which expires in 2009, has not been extended.
• Nothing commendable on the infrastructure front, the Golden Quadrilateral is scheduled for completion by 2009.
• Nothing worth mentioning on the education front either.
• A few populist schemes have been announced such as "Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana", which provides death and disability insurance cover to rural landless households, through LIC. The government proposes to pay 50% of the premium. But as with many populist schemes that are announced every year, don't be surprised if it is not impemented to fruition.