special interest...

Hazare dare to India, Hurriyat style - Disdain for democracy common link

2011-08-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

SANKARSHAN THAKUR

New Delhi, Aug. 26: Between television and the real thing lies a deceptive parallax. That insistent image — a portly frame shifting, screaming at the bottom of a cinemascope Gandhi, almost an appendage to the plastered muse of his mesmeric ventriloquism — is barely even accessible to the naked eye at close range.

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Disabled professionals to travel India in 81 days to audit accessibility and change mindsets

2011-08-22T20:24:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, Aug 11: It’s a desi Zindagi Na Mile Dobara with a
difference. Four professionals- a TV network owner, an offshore
construction company director, a tax accountant and a businesswoman-
will travel to 40 cities across 28 states in India, by road, on a trip
they’ve been planning for a decade. The difference is that all of them
are confined to wheelchairs. Apart from having the time of their
lives, they will also write a report on how disabled friendly India’s
tourist facilities are and will also sensitise tourism officials and
professionals to makes Incredible India inclusive too.

The Beyond barriers Incredible India Tour, which will take place from
September 28 to December 20, was formally flagged off by union tourism
minister Subodh Kant Sahai today. Sahai, who seeks to use their audit
to make India’s tourist facilities accessible to the disabled, dubbed
their trip as a “daredevil mission.”

“Incredible India (his ministry’s punchline) must have credible means
for the handicapped,” said the minister. “Their report will be an
asset for us as we are committed to implement UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”

He added that his goal is that disabled tourists in India should get
the same amenities as their counterparts in developed countries.
Throughout this year his ministry would focus on this aspect, he said.

The four travelers Arvind Prabhoo, Nishant Khade, Sunita Sacheti and
Neenu Kewlani are all from Mumbai and are associated with the Vijay
Merchant Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled. At every stop they
will be liasoning with local NGOs and state tourism departments for
carrying out the access audit. They will also try to meet Chief
Ministers and Disability Commissioners of every state to sensitise
them on the travel needs of the disabled.

“We will collect data and will write to hotels, ministries and other
(tourism related) organizations with our findings. We will also follow
up the progress on the reforms we suggest to them,” said Prabhoo, who
is quadriplegic.

The four will be driving in three cars with drivers and care-givers.
Their journey will take them to all the corners of India from Silvassa
to Imphal and Sawai Madhopur to Cooch Behar. People can follow their
daily updates of facebook and twitter and regular video uploads on
youtube.

By the end of the 16,000 km drive they will publish a comprehensive
report which will also serve as a guide for the disabled. “Despite
being disabled we still have the will to travel. Being in a wheelchair
is not going to stop me from seeing Incredible India,” Prabhoo added.

Baul who made it big, after fleeing the CPM, wants to return to Mamata’s Bengal

2011-08-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, June 23: East Bengal had retained the Calcutta Football League Super Division title and the Left had had won the assembly polls for a third time in Bengal, the previous year. Solidarity had not won in Poland and Tiananmen protests had not yet taken place. Partybaazi seemed like a safe career option for Madhusudan Baul- who had dropped out of Surendranath Law College to look for work in 1988.

He was staying at the YMCA Students’ Hostel, occasionally doing accounts for doctors and singing in trains to make a living, when the SFI called him to speak at a students rally against computerization in Scottish Church.

“They said I was a Baul and I could sing and make people understand why computers are bad. But I didn’t know anything about computers. I went on stage and asked that computers don’t eat our rice, dal, fish or milk like us so how could they harm us. I heard vehicular pollution could make us sick but I didn’t know if computers could,” says Baul who is now a renowned performer.

He adds, “The SFI was enraged that I went on their stage and spoke against their beliefs. They gave me the thrashing of my life and forced me to vacate the hostel. I roamed around the streets of Calcutta for two months looking for work until a friend called me to Delhi. I reached here on the Republic Day of 1989. It was no longer safe in Calcutta.”

Baul landed up at the Mahamukti Dham- a Baul hub in Lakshmibai Nagar in Central Delhi. The singer, who now stays in a temple near Thyagaraj Sports Complex with six other Bauls, says many of them came to Delhi for a better income.

“We Bauls are not accustomed to comfortable living, but we never starve as people always contribute. I have never got as much respect as I get in Delhi, when I was in Bengal. Delhiites had never seen singing and dancing babas,” said the singer who hails from Burdwan district.

Baul has made a name for himself here and has been sent on many tours abroad by the government. The artiste is associated with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

In Delhi, he met the late Guru Byomkesh Banerjee and began his formal training in music under Banerjee and his wife Neelima. For the first two years in Delhi he worked in factories, offices and schools, until he realised that he would only be happy being a Baul musician.

He began hanging around mendicants to learn scriptures and tapasya. “To sing from the heart you must understand the meaning of birth, life and death. The main thing to realize is that you are nothing, the person before you is everything. That is the essence of sanatana dharma,” he says.

He also met filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who started the Jahan-e-Khusrau sufi music festival in Delhi in 2001. Baul says Ali’s son Murad helped him a lot and put him in touch with Sufi singers in Ajmer and other shrines. Now, he regularly sings along with sufi singers in Nizamuddin in Old Delhi. Known as the Bangali Baul Dada, he’s appeared in Ali’s 2002 film India, Garden of Saints.

“I met didi (Mamata Banerjee) when she was an MP sometime in the mid 90s. I used to land up in front of Bengal MPs houses and sing. Usually they ignored me. When I came to didi’s residence, I heard her tell someone on the phone that she had not come to Delhi to beg, but to fight for the rights of the people. I was impressed,” says Baul.

Mamata gave him letters of recommendation that helped getting him more calls for government functions in India and abroad. Soon his popularity grew and earnings stabilized. He’s married to another Baul singer now and his daughter is back home in Burdwan learning the traditional music.

“Bengal is filled with violence now and we can’t make music amidst violence. I never wanted to back to Bengal after I escaped because the CPM now controlled everything, even the life in my village. They don’t believe in God or tradition or the value of work. But now I miss the fields and jungles and I want to go back. After didi has won I am making plans to return.”

Mixed response to culture ministry scheme to fund participation in book fairs

2011-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, June 16: A central scheme to fund organization of and participation in book fairs, exhibitions and publishing events is being both welcomed with glee and dismissed with cynicism by the intended beneficiaries- publishers and libraries.

The objective behind this culture ministry scheme is to popularize Indian culture and encourage more people to buy and read books. Focused on non-profit organizations and small publishers, the scheme is open to varsities, book trade bodies and trusts which have been registered and functioning for at least three years.

“We didn’t have a scheme particularly for smaller publishers to participate in book fairs in India and abroad. Small publishers don’t have the resources nor the scope to raise more money to participate. By this scheme we hope to not only promote the book trade but also enrich our libraries,” a ministry official said.

While the ministry would finance 75 per cent of the cost, up to a ceiling of Rs. 10 lakhs per event, the beneficiary needs to prove it can afford the remainder 25 per cent and should preferably have prior experience in the field. While the advertisement for availing the scheme would be made once a year, the application can be submitted any time- with a recommendation from any of the national or state Akademis and government culture bodies.

Shakti Malik, honorary general secretary of the Federation of Indian Publishers, explains that most renowned bookshops largely stock books of foreign or multinational publishers. “We believe that every book has a buyer and every bookseller can sell at least 2 to 3 copies of any book. But if Indian publishers don’t get exposure our books will not sell.”

He adds, “We had approached Culture Secretary Jawhar Sircar saying that its becoming increasingly expensive for us to participate or organize book fairs. Strictly speaking this comes under the HRD ministry, but books also sell our culture to other countries. Literary works are more than commercial commodities. He then agreed to bring a scheme for us.”

This scheme will not only encourage more publishers to exhibit but also market Indian books better through literary events, he stated.

While Baldev Verma, Vice President (North) of the Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Association of India, welcomes the ministry’s manna, he expressed doubts over the way book fairs are run. “There’s no authority to supervise the way book fairs go on. The rentals for stalls go up every year at the World Book Fair in Delhi and now they want to have it from February 26 to March 4 next year- right in the middle of exam season. Which parent will bring their child now- subsidy or no subsidy.”

While Verma says that the scheme will definitely help publishers go for book fairs abroad, he was skeptical about getting the grant- which he fears may be caught in red tape.

It’s a fear that’s shared by varsities too. The Dr. Zakir Husain Library, of Jamia Millia Islamia university here, houses rare manuscripts. The scheme also covers exhibitions of manuscripts, but University Librarian Gayas Makhdumi prefers small in-house activities.

His reasoning is blunt: “Who will spend so much time and do the paperwork to get this grant to go for book fairs. We use our own resources. Besides, there are issues of security if we send manuscripts outside.”

Shakti Malik though is confident that once the word spreads, publishers will line up for the dole. The ministry’s also roped him in to publicise the scheme. The question however, from most small publishers was, “Will the ministry really subsidise us to go for book fairs. Can they afford it?”

A senior ministry official assured this paper that applicants would be screened and only the best would make it. If money runs out, more could always be transferred from other heads where it is unspent. If there are still deserving publishers, the finance ministry is always kind to culture.

Historians welcome selection of Mahesh Rangarajan as NMML director, though objections over selection process persist

2011-07-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, July 9: The chairman of executive council of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library- India’s premier institute for research on modern and contemporary history- Karan Singh told The Telegraph today that historian Mahesh Rangarajan would be its next director.

Rangarajan, a renowned environment historian and former journalist with this paper, was mailed his appointment letter yesterday, said Singh. He was chosen by a selection committee comprising of Karan Singh- a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha, Balmiki Prasad Singh- governor of Sikkim and former home and culture secretary and, Nitin Desai- economist and former adviser to UN Secretary General.

The term of incumbent director Mridula Mukherjee expires on August 9. Her term, which began in 2006, has been plagued with controversies of flouting payment regulations, mis-utilization of funds and her alleged proximity to the Congress. In 2009, 57 scholars led by Ramachandra Guha had written to the prime minister against her being given an extension. Rangarajan was part of this campaign.

The latest controversy pertains to the selection of the new director. Historians Arjun Dev, Irfan Habib, Shireen Moosvi, Bipan Chandra and D. N. Gupta have filed a petition in the Delhi High court challenging the procedure of selection and the executive committee’s amendment of rules extending eligibility for director to even non-historians. In February, the Indian History Congress had unanimously passed a resolution asking the government to annul the changes amendment.

Speaking to this paper, Moosvi said, “The PIL has nothing to do with any individual. It is to highlight the malfunctioning of the NMML Society- which never met for a deacde… There were no historians on the selection committee. Besides, how can an appointment be made before the term of the present director is over.”

The petitioners have also alleged that Mukherjee has been restrained from her duties since May 2. The latter didn’t respond to repeated calls to her mobile phone from this correspondent.

Moosvi promptly pointed out that she had nothing against Rangarjan. In fact she was a visitor’s nominee with veto powers over his appointment to Delhi University, she claimed.

“I recommended him to DU despite him not having a single day’s teaching experience. Our fight is on principles. A premier institute of this country cannot run on the whims of former rajas (Karan Singh is the titular maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir). We want academics, not politicians, to run the place,” she said.

On Rangarajan’s selection, Ramchandra Guha said, “Finally, the government has got something right. Mahesh Rangarajan is the finest historian of his generation. He was chosen through an open and transparent process. Given proper support, he will certainly make the NMML a world-class institution.”

The appointment would be final only after Rangarajan and DU agree to his deputation to NMML. He said that he would only speak to the press after everything was finalized.

Modern historian S. Irfan Habib (not the Irfan Habib who filed the petition), of the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, said that he saw no reason for litigation over the issue.

“Search Committees normally announce the selection before the incumbent’s term ends. This is not the first time. Anyone wanting an extension shouldn’t stop the government to proceed with the selection. Besides the result is that a fairly younger history professor- who has been using the institute for a long time and who is competent to carry on the legacy on the institute- has been chosen,” he explained.

Another senior Marxist historian said that Rangarajan fears trouble from Marxists as he is seen in the company of post-modernists like Guha. “But we need to see people in a broader frame beyond ideological positions. He is open, progressive and secular and that is what India needs.”

Rahul Gandhi begins long march from Greater Noida to Aligarh Kisan Mahapanchayat

2011-07-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

Nagla Bhatona, Uttar Pradesh, July 5: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi began his four-day long march from Parsaul village near Greater Noida to Aligarh, where he will participate in a Kisan Mahapanchayat. Flanked by the Special Protection Group (SPG), state police and Congressmen, Gandhi is covering the distance of almost 130 km on foot- stopping at villages to convene public meetings over land acquisition.

He came unannounced for a panchayat at Parsaul village at 6 AM today, almost two months after he was whisked away by the police from the same spot. On May 11, he was forcibly evacuated to Delhi during a sit-in against alleged police atrocities on farmers opposed to land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway.

Gandhi has attempted a Dandi March, beginning his march from Parsaul at 630 A.M.- the same time at which the Mahatma broke the Salt Laws in Gujarat’s coastal village of Dandi on April 6, 1930. The Congress- which had planned a Kisan Mahapanchayat at Bhatta and Parsaul villages- was forced to shift the venue to Aligarh’s exhibition grounds due to pressure for the state government.

The initial venue was the place where police clashed with villagers who were holding three transport employees hostage, on May 7. Four people, including two policemen were killed.

From Parsaul, he moved to Rustampur and Bhaipur villages, meeting people, walking through fields and slush in the fierce sun. He kept rolling up his sleeves, deliberately showing off his biceps. After walking a distance of 16km he sat for a panchayat at Nagla Bhatona village.

The villager elders spoke over a megaphone one-by-one, all saying that the prices offered for their land to be acquired for the Yamuna Expressway was too low, on how MNREGA wages weren’t paid fully, on how their MP and MLA hadn’t visited them since May 7. The local MLA and MP are from the BSP.

“Every time farmers ask for their rights, they get shot at,” said Niranjan Singh- an elderly peasant leader- “You must lead a Congress government in UP next year. That is the only solution.”

Finally, Rahul took the megaphone and said, “From Delhi we can’t understand the land problem, that’s why I have come here… I haven’t found one farmer who will deny his land to the government. They only want a fair price. The rich will get a market, the poor need justice.” The villagers nodded in agreement.

Villager Subhash Bhati, who’s land yields him four crops annually said that all they want was for the government to negotiate the price with them, and not impose it. “There’s an atmosphere of fear and uncertainity. We don’t know when our land will be acquired,” he said looking fondly at his clay field with a standing maize crop.

His friend, hookah-smoking 70-year-old Jagbir Singh said, “Other parties just courted arrest at the border. After Rahul has come, it’s just one-way traffic for the Congress.” They begin to jeer at Mausam Khan a local BSP activist asking him, “Where’s your party now.” Mausam now denies the BSP, almost as vehemently as Peter denied Christ.

Many villagers said that even if they got a good price they wouldn’t know what to do with it. “All we know is farming. Our relatives in neighbouring villages who sold their land bought houses and cars. Now they are broke, their sons criminals,” said village elder Sundar Pal.

Congress sources said that the apart from getting inputs for amendment to the Land Acquisition Act, the march is also an attempt to win back the Gujjars who have drifted away from the Congress in the recent past. “Beyond Aligarh, it is the Jats who dominate and they largely remain loyal to Ajit Singh. This part of western UP- which is a Gujjar Belt- has great potential,” said a senior leader.

Gandhi rested for about 3 hours in a house in the village. As rain clouds gathered after a squall subsided by 5 PM, Gandhi continued his march, not speaking a word, towards Jewar 9km away- where Mayawati has been pushing for an airport.

The first story i filed for a mainstream paper, while interning at The Hindu, Puducherry

2011-06-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

6th May, 2007
Second round of French Presidential polls

Hectic politicking in Puducherry

Reporter

PUDUCHERRY: France went to a second round of presidential polls today. The final contestants in the fray are Segolene Royal of the socialist party and Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for the presidential majority (UMP). The latter is the incumbent Interior [Home] Minister of France. The French Consul General's office here is the voting centre for Puducherry. There are more than 5000 voters on the electoral rolls of Puducherry. The turnout is expected to be lower than the first round which took place last week, in which Ms. Royal led with a slim majority in Puducherry but was second overall.

The electorate here is sharply divided and both parties have been campaigning vigourously for their votes. The UMP has even advertised in Tamil dailies and pasted posters declaring victory for Sarkozy. Most young voters appeared to be in favour of Royal, due to Sarkozy's alleged racist leanings. A young female voter, from Auroville, said, "He's [Sarkozy] racist. Look what he's doing to the country! I voted [for the] Socialist." Yet, there were other youth, like Vijayan from Puducherry town, who was impressed with Sarkozy's punch line, 'Everything is possible.' He supported Sarkozy's tough stand against illegal migration.

Many senior citizens, even those infirm, turned out to vote. Among them were Gaullists who owe their allegiance to the UMP. Most of these individuals are ex-service personnel. One such Gaullist, Thiru Bichat Balaraman said, that the Socialists are dividing the country on basis of economic status. With the UMP, everyone would prosper. He criticised the youth supporting Royal without having a proper understanding of history.

The presence of Socialists in front of the Consulate was prominent. Thiru Bhupathi Bernard, the treasurer if their Puducherry unit said that the incumbent UMP's handling of issues like migration, racism and citizenship would prove to be its death knell. He added, "Over 1000 applications for citizenship for spouses of French nationals in Puducherry are pending in the consulate. This is due pressure from the French government to exclude those of non-European origin from France." Socialist youth were observed tearing off UMP posters pasted opposite the consulate.

The Muslim backlash against Sarkozy in France is absent in Puducherry. Even the UMP organiser here is Muslim, viz. Lieutenant Colonel Mouhamad Moustafa, a former intelligence officer in Armee de l'Air [French Air Force].

One voter, Thirumathi Camatchiammane complained of his lethargic attitude towards the campaign. As the fate of their presidency in far off France is decided, the French nationals of Puducherry will have an anxious night ahead.

Karuna comes to town

2011-05-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

Karuna keeps mum, Kani consoles cadre

New Delhi, May 23: He’s angry, he’s hurt and he’s is no mood to chat. DMK chief M. Karunanidhi flew in to the capital today only to meet his daughter Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, DMK MP A. Raja and DMK-backed Kalaignar TV’s chief Sharad Kumar. The trio is under-trials lodged in Tihar Jail for their alleged roles in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Kalaignar (scholar of arts) - as the 87-year old leader is addressed by his supporters- headed straight to Hotel Taj Mansingh from the airport. The wheelchair bound leader got into an ambassador, with deeply tinted windows, on the tarmac itself and sped out taking the press by surprise. All his party’s MPs, who were chatting near the ceremonial lounge, dashed off behind him.

The press smarting after the airport no-show got back with an incandescent vengeance at

MK as his car stopped at the portico of the central Delhi 5- star hotel. The leader, seated beside the driver had to be carried out by his staff to his mechanized wheelchair. But, not before the camera corps broke through the special branch cordon around the convoy and smothered him with flashes, leaving the old patriarch gasping and his eyelids twitching.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S. Jagathrakshakan had to rush forward with National Security Guard black cats, shoving photographers aside, to save MK. Watching the commotion MP Dayanidhi Maran laughed out loud, but had to abruptly stop, when he realised no one else was.

Dayanidhi refused to answer any questions about the excerpts from wikileaks, published in an English daily today, in which he criticized his party for corruption and giving freebies.

The former CM remained closeted inside the Taj, with party faithful, before leaving for Tihar in the evening. Party leaders who met him described him as shocked. “He kept asking as how we would feel if our daughters were taken off to prison like this,” said former Tamil Nadu minister S. P. Sarguna Pandian who met him. His daughter’s incarceration perhaps it reminded him of his many innings in prison- innings that ironically contributed to his popularity.

Kanimozhi on the other hand encouraged supporters in court to continue party work fearlessly despite losing power in the state. “We are all so disturbed, but she kept asking us to be bold,” said former MLA Shankari Narayanan.

At the jail, he met Kanimozhi for 20 minutes in camera, along with her mother Rajathi, husband G. Aravindan and son 11-year old Adithya. MK met Sharad and Raja for 15 minutes after that. “We allowed the meeting after visiting hours because he is wheel-chair ridden,” said DG Prisons Neeraj Kumar.

MPs like T. R. Baalu who accompanied him stood outside the meeting hall, while others like Tiruchi Siva posed for pictures with Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel stationed at Tihar Jail. Neeraj Kumar clarified that he has no doubts on the loyalities of the TN cops.

Speaking to The Telegraph, a head constable with the TN contingent said that Kanimozhi and Raja were very courteous. “Raja’s lunch comes from Tamil Nadu Bhavan canteen (as he has a stomach ulcer). Akka (elder sister Kanimozhi) had the dal-roti in jail for one day, but now gets one meal from her family when he attends court.”

“Seeing such big persons of our state living in such a small room with an open bathroom, within the room, makes us feel sad,” said a constable. “She’s very friendly with women constables. Raja always asks us is we’ve had our meals on time. Once we were joking with Sharad that out timings are long. He said that your lives are easy. Look at me.”

Karuna gets more lebensraum, while cadres catfight

New Delhi, May 24: Perhaps feeling as stifled as his daughter Kanimozhi- who is in a 150 square feet cell with an open toilet within it- Karunanidhi shifted out the two rooms allotted in Taj Mansingh to a presidential suite at ITC Maurya in Delhi’s Diplomatic Enclave of Chanakyapuri.

His supporters and security detail kept funereal huddles in two other executive class rooms of the hotel, which has a known South Indian restaurant called Dakshin.

A source said that it was uncomfortable for Karuna to eat and sleep in two different room. The two-lakh-a-day presidential suite was large enough to accommodate him and his wife Rajathi Ammal.

“He hasn’t spoken much today,” a former DMK MLA said. “He only says he’s missing his daughter.”

Karunanidhi stayed perched up in his spacious suite all day, while Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jayanthi Natarajan called on him. Even Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah who stopped to say hi, after his lunch at the hotel, couldn’t recharge the Kalaignar.

MLA and DMK Deputy General Secretary M. K. Stalin, who came here last night, left this afternoon after his sister Kanimozhi and party colleague A. Raja in court. As Karuna prepared to leave for his 440 PM flight to Chennai, Kanimozhi’s mother Rajathi Ammal- her eyes red and moist- came to the lobby accompanied Kanniyakumari MP J. Helen Davidson and other women leaders of the DMK.

Looking at former state minister K. Ponmudi she said in a tearful voice, “What injustice is this (imprisonment of Kanimozhi)?” He pacified her by saying that it’s all for greater good.

“In jail, Kani asked me to be courageous. She said she didn’t know when she would come out. What could I say to her,” said Rajathi to The Telegraph before her voice choked up.

On the sidelines, an ugly verbal duel broke out in full media glare between Helen and Rajya Sabha MP Vasanthi Stanley in front of a visibly shaken Rajathi. Helen is believed to have commented that it wasn’t proper for a DMK MP to wear salwar-kameez. All other women leaders wore sarees. Incidentally, Kanimozhi also usually wears salwars.

Rajathi tried to pacify an agitated Vasanthi who replied, “If senior leaders like her (referring to former state minister S. P. Sarguna Pandian who was also present) tell me how to dress it is fine. But who is she (Helen)? Since when is she in a position to teach me?” Ponmudi had to step in and take Vasanthi aside.

Helen and her husband have been driving Rajathi to and from the Patiala House Courts where her daughter is being tried. She is considered close to Kanimozhi while Vasanthi is believed to have drifted away for the “daughter of the party.”

Karuna soon came down with a simple white cotton towel on his shoulders, instead of his trademark yellow shawl. The womens’ brigade switched from their drama over Dravidian sartorial sensibilities to slogans offering their lives “to protect to Kalaignar of the Tamil-speaking world.”

Kani plays truant to press amidst murmurs of cop out

2011-05-31T22:20:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, May 6: DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi refused to speak to the press in the capital today, where she is being tried for her alleged role in the 2G scam. Her Pilatesque defence in court, pinning the blame on DMK-backed Kalaignar TV promoter Sharad Kumar, has set the tongues of her party cadre waggling about the party’s interest being allegedly sacrificed for “the daughter.”

A pall of anxiety prevailed over Tamil Nadu House, this morning, before Kanimozhi left to court. An old issue of Deccan Herald headlined “CBI raids Kalignar TV office” lay at the temple-chariot like entrance of the building. Tamil Nadu government drivers spoke in hushed tones under a streetlight bearing a tattered DMK banner.

Tight-lipped DMK-cadre in trademark black-red bordered veshtis, led by Ministers of State S. Gandhiselvan, S. S. Palanimanickam and D. Napoleon, diverted the press to the main entrance as Kanimozhi exited from the back door. Scribes who got the wind of it rushed to the back, even as she shielded her son Adithya from camera flashes with her dupatta.

Her school-going son had come down the stairs to wish his mother luck, before she left to court. She immediately whizzed out with her husband G. Aravindan in a Toyota Corolla.

DMK supporters huddled at a tea stall in Patiala House Courts Complex, as the trial dragged on inside. Most of them were Ariyalur, a district bifurcated from jailed DMK MP A. Raja’s home district of Perambalur.

“Party seniors have told us not to talk to the press. You people have created all this trouble. We do not want to be misquoted,” said an elderly DMK town secretary.

Another party elder added that they had primarily come to Delhi to see “their son Raja.”

“We saw him in the jail van. He waved at us,” he added. “Many North Indians ask us if we gave voters a lot of money. I can assure you that I haven’t given anyone a paisa in my ward.”

At noon, North Chennai DMK MP T. K. S. Elangovan stepped out of the courtroom for tea. He wore the same calm smile that he sported at the counting centre after trouncing CPI stalwart D. Pandian in the previous parliamentary polls.

“This case is not a political issue for us,” said Elangovan coolly. “We are all here in solidarity and are ready to face whatever comes.” His words seemed to calm the jittery DMK faithful present.

Back at the Tamil Nadu House canteen, waiters discussed the bits of news on the case that they were getting from text messages. They too had been advised against indulging journalists. Any case related query was replied with an offer of more filter coffee.

A Tamil Nadu bureaucrat came in with his wife for lunch. After speaking to a junior official, before entering the canteen, she exclaimed loudly, “You know the media is here because Kanimozhi may be arrested.” “Shut up!” her husband muttered under his breath.

The case which was expected to wind up after lunch dragged on till sunset. When news that she had left court came in, scribes split up in two teams guarding the front and back entrances. True to instinct, Kanimozhi’s Corolla went straight to the back entrance. She stepped out, visibly shaken up, as party leaders pushed TV cameras aside to make way for her.

Later, a DMK MP came out of a huddle with Kanimozhi and called a few journalists aside. “Everyone says what they want without thinking about the party, “the MP said on condition of anonymity. “Just yesterday she (Kanimozhi) said that she doesn’t want any concession for being a woman; now her lawyer asks leniency in the name of motherhood. The blame of the scam has now been shoved on the party, to save her.”

On being asked whether the DMK would break their alliance with the Congress if Kanimozhi was arrested, the MP said that it was all up to the Congress now. “We knew we are in trouble when that drunkard (referring to actor-politician Vijayakanth) joined the ADMK alliance. But even if we lose the election or the Congress leaves us, the party can still face it.”

Website builds bonds among Delhi babus

2011-05-31T22:19:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, April 21: Five-year old Kushal (name changed) wanted to play the tabla. His father, K. K. Funda- an assistant director at the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, bought the boy a pair, but couldn’t find an Ustad to teach his mentally challenged son.

“I saw a govtservants.com sticker in our ministry toilet. It is not normal for me to use online forums. But I posted a message on the site, and Ustad Vimal came to my house within a month to meet my son.”

Funda’s online message didn’t mention his son’s medical condition. “After Vimal ji spoke to my son, he offered to teach him for free. He had heard about my message from his bureaucrat friend. I had to force him to take some honorarium. I am so grateful to this website.”

Govtservants.com was the brainchild of a Mines Department section officer, a Supreme Court advocate who retired from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s office and, a deputy secretary of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution- all of whom didn’t want to mention their names. The Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules prohibits babus from managing publications or electronic media without sanction.

The website, which started a couple of years back, allows anyone to post messages for car pools, furniture, medical needs, queries on service matters and almost anything under the sun. The site made primarily for government employees also filters messages according to the building the bureaucrat works in.

No unionizing is allowed though. A few weeks back an under secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting requested the site to have a small box with notices of the Central Secretariat Service Forum. His request was declined. “We want to be in the good books of the government. This will not be a lobbying platform,” said a founder who has been sticking bills with the site’s URL near lifts and toilets at government buildings.

“There was no platform for government employees to interact. The site makes our lives happier and we will never charge users a paisa. We got to host the site for only Rs. 3000 for nine years and will look for ads only after five years,” said a founder. Initially they were helped by staff from the National Informatics Centre. The site is now managed by IT professionals Gaurav and Sudhanshu Tyagi in the United States.

A founder added that babus are generally trustworthy. “Even for a car pool we like to have some safe person. This site doesn’t allow ads from any agencies. Only users post messages and we vet them.” He adds that real estate companies have already been approaching the site to advertise.

The site, which was re-launched with a user friendly interface last week, gets around 200 hits a day. The owners plan to expand it to other metros as well.

For the women in men working in behemoth-like tube-lit offices, this forum is also connecting them to employees in other departments who’ve probably been working on the same floor for years without exchanging a glance. The site’s moderators don’t mediate and users can directly contact each other.

Coming soon on the site is an option for home-stays as well. “An officer in Udagamandalam can offer to host the family of his compatriot in Delhi, at a nominal rate. That way we can go for holidays which we can’t afford otherwise,” said a founder.

India finally makes it to Venice Biennale, sets stage for delayed triennale

2011-05-31T22:18:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, April 15: India’s first ever national pavilion at the 54^th Venice Biennale will assert a view of Indian art which will be a counterview to the kind of Indian art that the west has been exposed to, said art critic Ranjit Hoskote, who will curate the pavilion.

India will finally find a place among 94 other countries at this 116-year-old show. This comes after many missed attempts for national representation at the prestigious international art exhibition. Selection to it is globally recognised as a coming-of-age of a nation’s contemporary art.

Ashok Vajpeyi, Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi which is sending the expedition to Venice, indicated that this would set the stage for the Triennale in India which is scheduled to take place next year. The XI Triennale in India was held in 2005.

New York based mixed-media artist Zarina Hashmi; painter-sculptor and video artists Praneet Soi from Kolkata and Gigi Scaria from Delhi and; Guwahati’s Desire Machine Collective’s Sonal Jain and Mriganka Madhukaillya’s works will be featured at the pavilion. The Venice Biennale is from June 4 to November 27.

“Much of Indian art that has been exhibited abroad has gone there through the market route,” said Hoskote who added that the pavilion will showcase the country’s non-commercial contemporary art.

Vajpeyi justified the discretionary selection of Hoskote as curator, saying that the number of curators in India was disproportionately smaller than the demand for them. Other exhibitions would feature different curators who will also be chosen at the Akademi’s discretion.

The selection of artistes was done so as to showcase the cross cultural nature of contemporary art from diverse locations. The rich art practices that run parallel to the gallery circuit will be displayed.

The rent for the pavilion, at the Arsenale in Venice is Rs. 60 lakhs. India’s art adventure to the Adriatic will totally cost the exchequer almost Rs. 2 crore, “a cost too small for India’s pride,” confirmed Culture Secretary Jawhar Sircar. There would be three important art conferences in Mumbai, Delhi and Guwahati while the Biennale is and a delegation led by the culture minister would visit the show, he added.

He emphasized that the recent Anish Kapoor exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, India’s entry to Biennale and, a waiver on import duty for art and antiquities to galleries in India- are the ministry’s attempts to back art and make things easier for exhibitors and connoisseurs.

Mani report finds Zonal Cultural Centres completely out of sync with their objective of taking culture to the aam aadmi

2011-05-31T22:16:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, April 12: A report on Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs)- which were set up 25 years back to disseminate India’s varied cultures to audiences who did not have access to them- says these bodies have completely deviated from their objectives. More than Rs. 288 crores has been spent by ZCCs since they were formed.

The three-volume report on the seven ZCCs was authored by a committee- established by the Central Advisory Board on Culture in August 2010- chaired by Rajya Sabha Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar, actor Amol Palekar and Oriya poet Sitakant Mahapatra. They found that ZCCs have focused on cultural performances at their headquarters and middle-class urban venues, instead of disseminating the cultures of the region across the zone.

The ZCCs were set up in Patiala, Thanjavur, Santiniketan, Udaipur, Dimapur, Nagpur and Allahabad, and not in state capitals to prevent them from being state-oriented instead of catering the region as a whole. The governors of the host states chair the ZCCs, to keep them free from state politics and domination.

Yet, exactly this has happened. While most centres had seen a rise in the number of programmes they conducted, these mostly took place at the state capital or the headquarters of the centre.

The Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre now has headquarters both in Santiniketan and Salt Lake. The report notes that in the last 15 years, with a sizeable increase in funds, “…the concentration of programming at the two Headquarters of the ZCC in Salt Lake City and Santiniketan becomes even more marked.” It adds that little has been done for the poor of Calcutta or other urban centres like Siliguri.

In her deposition for the committee Danseuse Leela Samson, Director, South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC) stated, “I think if the SZCC is only serving the Governor of Tamil Nadu, then they should equally be serving the governors of all member-States. This is a very partisan kind of situation. It really was not working because there is obviously very high pressure from the Governor’s Office.”

The committee also found that the ZCCs were regarded as a limbo for bureaucrats waiting for a posting. Danseuse Sonal Mansingh stated, “There a lot of aims, lot of money, lot of opportunities, but there is a confusion of aims.”

The committee has recommended that the corpus fund of ZCCs be raised to Rs. 50 crores to prevent them from being dominated by governments of host states, like has happened to the SZCC where all infrastructure funding was done by Tamil Nadu.

It has also recommended that ZCC director posts not be reserved only for bureaucrats.

Structural changes have also been proposed to distance ZCCs from the government, and to give the cultural community as sense of ownership over them, said Aiyar.

An independent Indian Council of Zonal Cultural Centres, integrated with the three national academies and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. ZCCs must be linked with local bodies and youth clubs.

For Naxalite-hit areas, the committee has recommended police action against ultras to be combined with participative development by promoting tribal artistes. “Cultural troupes matter at least as much as armed troops in the struggle,” says the report.

A Folk and Tribal Arts Akademi and museum, along with livelihood security for tribal artistes is an imperative to protect the dying cultural repertoire of tribals, the committee found. Cross country cultural yatras culminating in a silver jubilee Apna Utsav yatra in Kolkata or Chennai coordinated by Amol Palekar, has been proposed for this year.

ED attaching properties of Koda and Co worth almost 130 crores, tip of the iceberg say officials

2011-05-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, April 12: The Directorate of Enforcement has started attaching properties of former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda and his associates Binod Sinha, Vikas Sinha and Sunil Sinha.

They have begun doing so after getting an approval order on April 6 from the Adjudicating Authority for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) - a finance ministry body. The properties- land and apartments- are located in Jharkhand, Bihar and Maharashtra have a registry value of around Rs. 130 crores according to 2007 revenue department valuations, say Directorate sources.

“This is the largest attachment made under the PMLA from any politician,” said a senior official, “You can expect another couple of orders, but this will take at least a month’s time as we are busy with 2G cases.” The total value of the properties identified may go up to Rs. 300 crores.

Many companies, including Rohitas Krishnan’s Quantum Powertech, Ranchi and Manohar Lal Pal’s Smridhi Sponge Limited, Jamshedpur, have also been attached.

While Krishnan was arrested by the CBI for money laundering last year, Pal and former Jharkhand CM Shibu Soren’s son Mrinal were questioned in February by the Directorate in Delhi.

Krishnan is also allegedly involved in Jharkhand’s rural electrification scam along with Binod, who was arrested by the CBI in Delhi last October. On April 1, the Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau revealed that Binod and Krishnan had given Koda Rs. 90 lakhs to fight the 2009 parliamentary polls.

Other companies on the list also include Kolkata- based Lacky Projects, IAG Co. and Shivans Steel, Jamshedpur-based Kolhan Trading, India Cars and Motors, Emmar Alloys and Ranchi’s Khalari Cements.

“While the companies will be allowed to function, to protect the livelihoods of their employees, they cannot be disposed off, altered or destroyed,” a Directorate source said.

He added that they would need the assistance of Jharkhand’s government, district officials and police to attach the properties, but assured that the directorate would lose no time in doing so. “We are also examining if there are properties under benami ownership, in which case they also will be attached. Investigations are still on.”

Directorate sources suspect they have not got “fair assistance” from other investigating agencies like the Jharkhand Police.

He added that this has been a “quite a tough case” as many of the defendants, like Sanjay Choudhary, Dhananjay Choudhary, Indonesia-based Anil Vastavade and Pune-based businessman Ajay Bafna are at large and have non- bailable warrants on their heads.

“Binod could only be examined by November. Until then he has managed to continue his secret proceeds of crime and he may have destroyed incriminating documents,” the official added.

The Directorate had on March 4 filed a charge sheet at a special court in Ranchi against Koda, Binod, Vikas, Manoj Punamiya and hawala trader Arvind Vyas. Mumbai based precious-metal trader Punamiya’s revelations, under interrogation in Delhi last month, are said to be critical to the case.

The directorate is awaiting replies to its Letters Rogatories (LRs) sent to countries like Dubai, Sweden, Thailand, Indonesia and Liberia to probe illegal investments.

Koda and his associates are being probed by the Income Tax department, the CBI and Jharkhand Vigilance for a range of financial crimes.

Back home with Japan lessons

2011-05-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

- Indians recall how people worked calmly amid quake devastation

PHEROZE L. VINCENT

Dr Abhishek Kaushik at Nishitaga Hospital in Sendai

New Delhi, March 17: Indian expatriates arriving from Japan following the earthquake and tsunami say that amid all the devastation, they have learnt a lesson from the Japanese: how not to panic but to go on working.

Air India and Japan Airlines have begun ferrying scores of Indians along with a few Japanese tourists. The national carrier’s flight AI 307 arrived with 309 passengers in Delhi last night.

Most looked a bit shaken but were full of praise for the resilient Japanese who took the tragedy in their stride and worked at clockwork precision to get their lives back on track.

Two young IT professionals working in Tokyo, who gave their names only as Rohit and Vishal, said they saw no chaos on the streets. Zubair, who too works in Tokyo, said it was mostly the foreigners who panicked... Click to follow link

Remains of the day- resentment over father-son duo in drafting committee

2011-05-31T12:00:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, April 9: The music’s over, but unlike The Doors song, they aren’t ready to turn off the lights yet. The acceptance of Hazare’s demand of a joint drafting committee of both government and non-government representatives has opened a pandora’s box of questions from participants of his 98-hour fast.

Many refused to break their fast at 1045 AM along with 72-year-old Hazare until they were offered an explanation as to why ex-cop and activist Kiran Bedi was excluded and father-and-son laywer duo Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan were included in the committee.

Much of the 4-day street show featured activists crying hoarse over dynastic rule. Irate fasters got into verbal duels today afternoon with Swami Agnivesh, Arvind Kejriwal and Medha Patkar- whom Hazare had left behind to face the people. People jostled for the mic claiming that it was their right to ask questions after the 4-day fast.

A man got hold of the mic and asked who had elected the members of the committee. “You had the names ready when the government asked for it? You kept us in the dark about it. How can two members be from the same family,” he shouted at Agnivesh.

Agnivesh replied that Bedi had herself requested not to be part of the committee. “We couldn’t conduct polling to chose the members under the circumstances of the agitation. Chidambaram, Salman Khursheed and Sibal are big lawyers. We needed equally strong lawyers to shut them up in the meetings.” It is only a coincidence that they are father and son, he explained. Shanti Bhushan had represented Raj Narain against Indira Gandhi in 1975 and his pursued many PILs for free. Besides, they were instrumental in framing the bill.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Prashant Bhushan said that he would’ve preferred to stay out of the committee. “I wanted it to be more broad based. Retired Judges could have been included along with activists. It was Hazare and Kejriwal who insisted on my father and I being part of it as they needed legal inputs on the committee as the government has included many good lawyers.”

Those who hadn’t broken their fast in the morning, did do after Agnivesh’s speech at 330 PM with khichdi and curds. One such faster Mahipal Arya said that the challenge now was to get the bill, in the form they want, to be passed. He was sad that Bedi wasn’t in, but then “picture abhi baaki hai,” he said. At the clebrations at India Gate in the evening, many people carried posters with “Picture abhi baaki hai” written on them along with the uncharitable jibes- against Sonia Gandhi and the PM- which was characteristic of this campaign.

Agnivesh announced a conference in Delhi on June 4 and 5 of all anti-corruption activists to review the passage of the bill.

Medha bats for more power to the “people”

2011-05-31T11:57:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, April 9: Having tasted success after the fast-unto-death led by social activist Anna Hazare, activist Medha Patkar- who has been leading the campaign against big dams on the River Narmada for 22 years- now wants a greater role for “people’s organizations” in lawmaking.

“It is not just us (activists) who want a greater role in framing laws, society as a whole wants that,” she said after the Hazare fast wound up today. Though Patkar wasn’t willing to specify if she wanted social activists nominated to the Lok Sabha in addition to the Rajya Sabha, she said that “people’s organizations” were already playing a big role in legislation, either in their drafting or lobbying or both.

“To avoid conflict the government, we want a joint drafting committee for the Development Planning Act too,” she told The Telegraph before heading to Swami Agnivesh’s office for a meeting.

The act, she said is a combination of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill which the union government is working on. Patkar wants a comprehensive bill on both the issues.

Patkar’s demands found resonance with participants of the celebrations at India Gate and Jantar Mantar today. Akhilesh Rawat, an independent film producer, who usually supports the left parties said that he would vote for the leaders of the anti-corruption movement if they would contest for polls. “I don’t see any party that fully represents us. These people are known to be clean and I will definitely vote for them. Even if they don’t form a party they should have a greater say in law making as we don’t trust the Congress or BJP to make honest laws.”

It seems that the acceptance of a joint drafting committee will be used as a precedent, coupled with street shows to compel the government into submission. Akhilesh says that volunteers involved in the fast, will be regularly meeting. “We need to be vigilant and support whatever causes that may arise in future,” he said. Hazare and Agnivesh also exhorted the crowd to be ready for a long battle ahead.

“This is only the beginning. We cannot be complacent. As Swami Agnivesh said, there are many more struggles ahead; there are more reforms to be made,” said Hersh Vardhan- a demonstrator at India Gate.

Hazare’s flock increases even as he appeals to keep it secular. Uma, Chautala shown the door

2011-05-31T11:53:00.002-07:00

New Delhi, April 6: Hundred and seventy-two people have joined Anna Hazare’s fast at Jantar Mantar, here. Banners of Baba Ramdev in front of the stage have given those of the Art of Living foundation and ex- service men supporting the agitation.

Hazare supporters even appealed to the crowd not to sing religious songs. Politicians- like former CMs Uma Bharti and Om Prakash Chautala- were also kept off the stage. Hazare is also drawing new followers- like the hundred temporary school teachers, sacked by the Delhi government, who marched to his tent raising slogans against corruption. Students in Delhi, are coming to the venue between exam papers.

“I’m damn sure this will work. We can’t hire or fire ministers. Anna’s stature will force the government to pass this bill,” said Bhumika Rai, a student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

The closest Ram Awadh Gond (60) from Mau, Uttar Pradesh, had ever got to politics was voting for Kalyan Singh when the latter was CM. After Kalyan went, he stopped voting. “I read about this protest in the paper. I came here alone. I will fast for four days before going back to tend to my farm. I’m happy here because this will end corruption,” he said.

Volunteer doctors are conducting regular check-ups of those fasting. “We’ve been asking people to at least drink lime juice, as many are dehydrated and having low blood pressure. Once this goes on for 60 hours, then some may have to be admitted. Anna’s BP though is stable,” said a doctor on condition of anonymity.

A government ambulance with advanced life support systems has been stationed at the venue.Perhaps sensing the limit of endurance, Hazare announced that he would launch a jail bharo agitation of the government fails to form a joint committee with the civil society to frame the Jan Lokpal Bill.

The protest has also got more organised. There’s a daily timetable dividing the day into meetings, rest, press briefings and sangeet-bhajan. Volunteers wearing ‘India against corruption’ caps and badges go around distributing pamphlets with information on the Jan Lokpal Bill. They run a counter with the sign- We need your support, more than your donations. “Free Miss Call to 02261559789 to fight against corruption says another.” SMS from known BJP sources are flooding text message inboxes.

There’s also a huge vinyl sheet with tricolour roundels for people to write their views. At regular intervals fasters are given the mic. They say their name, where they’re from and then say what they think is wrong with the system and how they want to change.

Old timers in the crowd comment that this is like the emergency. Sampurna Kranti is on its way. As Anna lies down fasting, the comperes have declared an open season on the Congress. Personal attacks on the PM are routine.

A poster of former BJP leader K. N. Govindacharya along with the pantheon of Hindu freedom fighters and icons and with former president APJ Abdul Kalam has come up. Even an image of Lord Ganesha was put up on the stage. It was later taken off.

Sunil Sharma, who walked around with a banner of Ramdev wrapped around himself, thinks that this will turn into another Tahrir Square. Speakers on stage have been promising that since yesterday. “If this doesn’t force the government to end corruption, Baba has promised to start a new party. This is just the beginning,” he said.

Shaukat Ali, a Hazare supporter from Amravati, Maharashtra, said that these additions were done by Ramdev’s men. “I trust in Anna. He is secular. The rest will come and go.”

Anna Hazare begins indefinite fast for Jan Lokpal Bill- Saffron nationalists make presence felt

2011-05-31T11:53:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, April 5: Tricolours fluttered atop SUVs also bearing BJP, Rahtriya Lok Dal and yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Bharat Swabhiman Nyas’ stickers and flags near Jantar Mantar, in the capital, where social activist Kisan Baburao “Anna” Hazare began a fast-unto-death at for a Jan Lokpal Bill.

Hazare said that this bill- drafted by Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde, activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan social worker Arvind Kejriwal- is more transparent and stringent than the government’s Lokpal Bill which, would give to give more teeth to the ombudsman to curb corruption.

Addressing a crowd of around 500- mostly salaried class and small trader audience- 73-year-old Padmashree winner Hazare said that he had is undertaking this fast because the government denied his demand that the drafting committee for the bill have an equal number of government and civil society representatives.

“The government proposed a four-member ministerial committee. I said if ministers could stop corruption, then why is it increasing for 61 years since we became a republic.”

Hazare added that before he attended Ramdev’s anti-corruption rally in Delhi on February 27, he had written to Sonia Gandhi about the bill. “She didn’t even reply. You can’t reply to a man who has given his whole life for the country,” said the 1965-war veteran.

The audience, mesmerized by his simple manner and apparent asceticism, started raising slogans of “Shame! Shame!”

“The NAC kept calling me, but I didn’t go. They want to just use me as a photo opportunity to take the wind out the sails of our movement. I will only go when the de facto PM Sonia Gandhi takes a decision,” he added.

He said that he expected the government to relent in three to four days.

Hazare shared the dais with Magsaysay award winners Kiran Bedi, Sandeep Pandey and Kejriwal, along with activist preacher Swami Agnivesh and Prashant Bhushan. He was also visited by the JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav and the BJP’s Prakash Javadekar, who expressed solidarity with his causebut asked him to call off the fast.

The backdrop of the stage has a large image of Bharat Mata. The compere Kumar Vishwas said that in history books Alexander, Akbar and Babur were on one side a poets like Kabir on the other. Hazare was like the latter. People like the former will be forced to leave the country. Flags and banners of Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation also fluttered at the tent, and their activists chanted nationalists slogans.

Bhushan termed the government’s Lokpal Bill as “useless.”

“The Lokpal,” he said, “should have the power to recover ill-gotten wealth from the guilty.” He explained that they weren’t insisting that the government accept their draft in its entirety. “We are also agreeable to the NAC choosing common people and government representatives to frame the bill.”

While Hazare and Bhushan insisted their objective wasn’t to fell the government, Agnivesh appealed to the crowd to “throw out these corrupt rulers.” He said that simultaneous fasts are on in 500 towns and cities. “If Anna dies don’t think you will win Manmohan Singh. Ten thousand more Annas are here from Dhanbad, Hyderabad, Indore and other places,” he thundered.

Many youth and school students in the crowd said that they had got to know of the meeting from Facebook. Various organizations supporting the fast, like India Against Corruption, have launched a vigorous online publicity campaign.

Defence veterans too had gathered wearing their regimental side caps. Recent scams were the last straw that has brought them out on the street said retired Colonel R. P. Chaturvedi. “As responsible citizens we can’t burn buses. We will protest by peacefully agitating with Gandhians like Hazare,” he said.

Vimla, a slum dweller associated with city based NGO Centre for Advocacy and Research, who attended the demonstration, “This may lead to at least a small change. We trust this movement because we area part of it. We slum dwellers suffer the most due to corruption. Anna will see to it the bug fish are caught, the smaller ones will then follow.”

MPs want roads, cops prefer water supply to combat Maoists

2011-05-31T11:51:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, March 14: MPs may have won the battle to be included in the selection panel for schemes from Integrated Action Plan (IAP) funds for Left Wing Extremist (LWE) hit districts, but the war on how these will be spent is brewing between them and the police.

The IAP was started last year with a grant of 25 crore per district per year. This will increase to Rs. 30 crore for the next financial year. Funds have started pouring in by this year.

Chatra’s independent MP Inder Singh Namdhari threw down the gauntlet when he wrote the home minister last month about MPs being excluded from selection panels.

Currently selection panels include the district’s collector or magistrate, superintendent of police and forest officer. In some districts, even officers in charge of police stations, block development officers and sub divisional officers, of the areas in which the schemes are implemented, are included.

In his terse letter Namdhari cited the landmine blast on SP Anoop T. Mathew’s convoy on May 28 last year in Palmau district, in which a cop died and two of his colleagues were injured. He blamed it on the dilapidated road at Palamu’s Chak village where the attack happened.

He wrote, “… even after release of LWE fund, this road has not been incorporated by the concerned deputy commissioners of Palamu & [sic] Chatra. It is also unfortunate that the directive sent by the home ministry has eliminated the names of MPs from the selection panel of schemes… I feel frustrated because I am not in a position to face the public of the area which has elected me.”

His views are echoed by Jehanabad’s JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma. “Local MPs know local problems. DC’s don’t know everything. They do what they will before being transferred, but we have to live here whether we remain MPs or not. How can they beat the naxals when work hasn’t even started with these funds?

The planning commission’s online progress report shows that work on anganwadis have started in Jehanabad in January. Sharma wasn’t willing to comment on his own CM scrapping the corruption ridden MLA LADS funds.

While the finance minister included MPs on the panel in his budget speech, their mention was amiss in the printed version. Sharma, Namdhari and others wrote to him to which he clarified that MPs would be included. The online version of the speech was subsequently edited.

Planning Commission sources say that initially they had proposed to only include panchayat representatives, and not legislators, to prevent corruption and politicization. Senior police officers too want politicians out.

“We take feedback and opinions from local people whenever we implement schemes. If politicians are on the panel these schemes will get unnecessarily politicized,” said an SP of an LWE hit district.

Disagreements with politicians aren’t just on procedure, but they also extend to the actual implementation of the schemes.

Namdhari explained that underdevelopment and unemployment aren’t the only reasons for naxals gaining strength. “They are addicted to the levy they extort from contractors. The more money you pump in the stronger they get. They have a vested interest in not letting development take place.”

He added that LWE funds should solely be spent on increasing the accessibility of the police, like road building. “You shouldn’t waste it on digging ponds.” He ever wrote to Pranab Mukherjee saying, “… in the previous lot of schemes selected by officials several useless schemes have been chosen.”

The IAP however specifies that schemes should show results in the short term. An SP of an LWE district in Jharkhand explained: “I want schools in interior villages. In Palamu and Latehar there is no water in summer. Drinking water, communications- these are of best use in interior villages. Only then will the public believe in us.”

SP Anoop Mathew said, “We take on schemes we can implement fast. They may be roads, but in areas where we can provide security for construction. We have to make visible changes. This is the first time the police are playing a major role in development planning. We’re confident they will contribute in curbing naxalism.”

With legislators finally set to enter selection panels, one can only hope against hopes for a productive synergy between the 2 pillars of democracy in curbing naxalism.

Manipur’s digital film revolution comes to Delhi

2011-05-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, March 12: The first Manipuri film festival- Nongpokthong (Eastern Gate)- in the capital is running to near packed houses. The fest showcases the best of Manipuri cinema right from the state’s first film Matamgi Manipur to latest ones in languages other than the dominant Meitei.

While Manipuri films have been winning international accolades since the eighties, many excellent ones in the recent past couldn’t make it to the Indian Panorama and other lists of top films because they were digital and not on celluloid.

With a population of around 25 lakhs, films aren’t the most viable business in the state. But technology has made filmmaking cheaper. “Earlier we had to go for post production to Chennai or Mumbai. But with improvements in technology we now do it on computers in Manipur,” says critically acclaimed director Ronel Haobam.

These are mostly digital films made with which camera an enthusiast can afford, edited with threadbare software. But the National Film Awards used to only accept films in celluloid format.

To show that good films aren’t the monopoly of celluloid, trailblazer director Aribam Syam Sharma and Jawaharlal Nehru University teacher A. Bimol Akoijam conceived a film festival in Delhi, a year back. “This was to be a push for acceptance of the digital format,” said Akoijam.

Since then a lot of water has flown down the Barak. Film Forum, Manipur, went to court for the acceptance of digital films and the Shyam Benegal led expert committee allowed them to compete in the National Film Awards and other festivals.

Akoijam had almost buried the idea, when the Manipur Film Development Corporation called him up a month back to ask him to host a film festival. “What they had in mind was a three-day fest in Siri Fort Auditorium. But I wanted the whole thing repackaged,” he explained.

The result: a five-day fest in two varsities and four colleges of the capital. Plus there are interactions with Manipuri film personalities, cultural shows, northeastern food and DVDs of films.

And the crowds are coming. With Delhi University on strike against the murder of student Radhika Tanwar, students are spending their weekend at the movies. Akoijam says he’s tempted to ask MFDC to make this an annual affair.

Over 40 films more than 5 languages of the state are being screened, with English subtitles. One of the more popular ones was Haobam Paban Kumar’s Golden Lotus winning documentary AFSPA 1958.

The film documents the unrest that followed the rape and murder of Manipur girl Manorama Devi by the Assam Rifles in 2004. Kumar said that though the violence and bloodshed disturbed the censors they didn’t delete much.

“I don’t know if the film can change public opinion on the AFSPA, but we filmmakers try to improve the situation of the state in our own way. I don’t want to hope for a big change lest I break down later,” he said.

An alumnus of Calcutta’s Satyajit Ray Film Institute, Kumar won another Golden Lotus last year for Mr. India- the story true of HIV positive body builder Khundrakpam Pradip Kumar Singh. He said that a welcome change in the Manipuri film industry is the entry of a lot of trained professionals. “Most people never know the problems of the northeast. Let them watch our films and decide.”

The fest had everything from melodrama to sports, but politics has a strong influence in many of the films. “Even our love stories are political,” said Akoijam. “They reflect what’s going on in the state.”

The panel discussions also cover a wide spectrum with lively debates on a wide spectrum of issues. Filmstars and singers like Sadananda, Uttam, Seema and Yengkhom Roma have also turned up for the fest.

Despite minimal publicity the fest has drawn a lot of youth as it is being held on campuses. A common refrain of the audience is they now want to know more of the northeast.

Curtains go up on NSD satellite strife

2011-05-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

PHEROZE L. VINCENT

The National School of Drama in New Delhi; (right) a ground on the campus decked out for the school’s annual festival. Pictures by Prem Singh

New Delhi, March 4: Theatre artistes pushing for national drama schools in 18 scheduled languages are feeling cheated by the government’s proposal to set up five regional centres of the National School of Drama in various states.

Culture minister Kumari Selja had said in Parliament this week that the centres would come up in Calcutta, one either in Maharashtra or Goa, one in the Northeast, possibly Manipur and one in Jammu and Kashmir. The fifth would be in Bangalore, where the regional resource centre would be upgraded into an NSD centre.

The demand for the regional language theatre centres, voiced off and on over the last 15-20 years, had gathered steam in 2007 after former NSD director Prasanna went on a hungerstrike in Bangalore. He called off the fast only after then Union culture minister Ambika Soni assured him his demand would be met.

“This was about declaring the theatre in Indian languages as national theatre,” Prasanna said. “Regional centres of NSD were not what we demanded, not what the minister (Soni) said, and it is unacceptable.”

Click to follow link

Bengal’s child bravery award winner kept illiterate despite ‘full state support’

2011-05-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Jan 19: Birbhum’s Sunita Murmu is West Bengal’s sole National Bravery Award winner for 2010. 17-year-old Sunita can’t read or write. She had dropped out after Class II. She was gifted a laptop along with other award winners, by an education consultancy firm, by an education.

The irony doesn’t end here. The government has put up Sunita at an NGO, in Rampurhat, for her safety. Though the NGO says that she has all the help from the state, she is still not being sent to school.

Santhal girl Sunita was paraded naked across three villages on May 11, 2010, for allegedly befriending a non tribal boy. A 15-minute-long MMS of her ordeal was circulated. She won the bravery award for pursuing the legal battle, against the wishes of her family. Most of her tormentors are now behind bars.

“I had gone to the village shop to buy something. There the badmash captured me and…” her voice trembles down. Her citation reads that she was also sexually abused.

“The people in my village were not against me, but no one said a word when the atyachaar happened on me in front of them,” she says

This paper had reported, on December 12, that most villagers are sorry for what happened and want her to come back. But Sunita says she doesn’t want to go back.

There isn’t much to go back to. She says her village school doesn’t work any more. Her biggest ambition isn’t getting a job, or move to a big city. She just wants to study, she says.

Staff Officer Dipankar K. Ray of the Pushparagniketan Temporary Home for Destitute Women, in Rampurhat where she stays, said that there isn’t any school close by. Rampurhat is the sub-divisional headquarters.

“We have provided her a TV. She likes watching Bengali TV channels during the day,” says Ray, with a misplaced sense of pride.

A Bengal government publication says that Birbhum means “Land of the Brave.” It is only fitting that a bravery award winner comes from here. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Amartya Sen hail from here. Tagore chose the district to set up Santiniketan. For Sunita, the pride ends here.

40 per cent niggle in PM studio theatre scheme

2011-05-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

PHEROZE L. VINCENT

Artistes perform at the annual theatre fest of the National School of Drama in New Delhi on Tuesday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, Jan. 12: The Prime Minister’s latest gift to the theatre fraternity may not find too many takers.

On January 7, Manmohan Singh had flagged off the “Scheme of Building Grants, including Studio Theatres”, under which registered not-for-profit organisations and cultural groups dealing with the performing arts would be given 60 per cent of the money estimated to construct a studio theatre... Click to follow link

Pro Telangana students meet intellectuals, curse Congress in Delhi

2011-05-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Jan 6: Members of the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee came to Delhi to urge leaders to boycott the release of the Srikrishna Committee report. They also met students and intellectuals to support a separate state. They were hosted by Congressman V. Hanumantha Rao, Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh.

J. Ramesh Babu, of Hyderabad’s Osmania University, said the region’s youth given up on political parties to achieve Telangana. He dubbed the Srikrishna report as a betrayal of the people by Sonia Gandhi. It was on her birthday, on December 9, 2009, did home minister P. Chidambaram announce the initiation of the formation of Telangana.

After a meeting with BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Anurag Thakur, the students burnt an effigy of Sonia and a copy of the report in front of the AICC hadquarters. Hussain promised that the first bill his government would pass, if they won the parliamentary elections, would be that of forming Telangana.

Since they were refused entry into the premises, they left their memorandum with the security. “We have nothing to do Congress from now on,” said Babu. The activists were further angered as rumours of 3 students getting hit by police rubber bullets, in Osmania University, reached them.

His views were echoed by social activist Swami Agnivesh, who told the students to confine the report to the dustbin. “It’s a cruel joke on the people. All those who testified before Srikrishna feel betrayed,” he added.

On the swami’s suggestion that Telangana Rashtra Samiti was the most credible party in the region, student activist Rajesh told him that the party hadn’t taken a single concrete step to solve even the day to day problems of the people.

Rajesh is from the Backward Caste Students Federation of Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, in coastal Andhra. Politicians from the region have a firm stand against bifurcation. Yet a large proportion of the students came from outside Telangana.

“Ambedkar said that smaller states would strengthen the depressed classed. Only politicians and capitalists want a united Andhra,” said Y. Vasudeva from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, in the state’s Rayalaseema region.

He added that they expect trouble from their classmates, for their support for bifurcation, when they return. “We would still flock to Hyderabad’s superior colleges, but they deserve a separate state,” said Vasudeva.

The activists appeared in front of TV cameras near the home ministry, at North Block, where the report was released. The held up placards and shouted slogans despite prohibitory orders in the area. None of them were arrested.

A public meeting by Telangana supporters is scheduled in Jawaharlal Nehru University tomorrow. Activists say they want to rope in dissent icon Arundhati Roy too. Many far- left student outfits too, in the city, are supporting the agitation.

JNU students, alumnus prevent another Nirupama Pathak

2011-05-31T11:15:00.001-07:00

New Delhi, Jan 6: Janta ki aave paltaniya, hilela jhakjhor ee duniya (The platoon of the people is coming, it violently shakes the world) sang the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), accompanied by beats of a daflu, in front of Jharkhand Bhawan.

Their comrade Shruti Tiwari, a first year MA Spanish student, didn’t turn up for registration for the spring semester after the winter vacations. Tiwari, from Ranchi, had married Kaushal Kishore Thakur in August last, in Delhi.

Thakur, a Ph. D researcher at English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, is also from Ranchi. Their marriage was solemnized at a temple followed by a registration in court. Tiwari’s parents had no knowledge of their union.

From friends and her roommate, students got to know yesterday that her brother had leaked the news to her parents. The parents then confined her at home and began threatening Thakur’s family. Though a complaint was registered with the Ranchi police, no action was taken.

The All India Students Association, JNU, contacted Mukesh Kumar, additional district magistrate of Chaibasa, who coaxed the cops to act. In Delhi today, more than 60 students came to see Jharkhand’s resident commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

Kumar called up the state’s DGP, who said that the police had visited the girl today. She would be sent back to Delhi before January 10^th, the last day for registration for the semester. The commissioner then helped them prepare a memorandum, which he accepted.

It’s apparently a happy ending for the couple. But students say they won’t rest till Tiwari’s back. They marched away into the sunset, tapping the daflu and raising slogans against khap panchayats.

M. S. Swaminathan addresses RSS backed NGO forum

2011-05-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Dec 22: With an image of Bharat Mata holding a saffron flag in the background, National Advisory Council member Prof. M. S. Swaminathan spoke on sustainable development at the National Convention of Voluntary Organisations, in the city today.

Organised by the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, an organization close to the Sangh Parivar, the 2 day seminar was on Ecology for Development. Dr. Swaminathan praised Gujarat for introducing soil health charts for farmers all over the state. “It is the first state to formulate a strategy for fertilizer based on the soil’s health,” he explained.

Swaminathan rued the fact that traditional cereals, like ragi, jowar and so on, are being confined only to tribal areas. The public distribution system (PDS) only gives rice and wheat. NGOs need to impress upon the government to include traditional cereals too in the PDS and noon meals,” he said.

He added that his research foundation will start a sea water farming project in Vedaranyam Tamil Nadu, on December 26. Sea water farming can be used to cultivate shrimp, medicinal plants and mangroves which serve as a shield against tsunamis and cyclones, he said.

The need of the hour is harmony, said the professor. “A greed revolution is engulfing the country with extravagant consumption.” He cited the examples of long convoys of politicians and “the 5000 crore house of an industrialist in Mumbai,” as examples of extravagant consumption.

Swaminathan stressed the need for good social values and education.

Turn veg to school your child

2011-05-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, Dec 28: Delhi’s Jain schools may probably achieve what Anbumani Ramadoss and Baba Ramdev have been trying for long. Most of the 58 schools run by the community, in the capital, will give additional points for admission to children of teetotalers and vegetarians. Parents will have to sign declarations to that effect.

Private schools in Delhi follow a point based system by which applicants are given points based on proximity to the school, siblings in the school, alumni parents, famous parents and so on. The top scorers get into nursery.

While minority institutions have the right to prefer students of their community, discrimination based on food habits of parents is illegal says Ashok Agarwal of NGO Social Jurist. It is casteist move.

“Discrimination during admission violates the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the constitution,” says advocate Agarwal who has filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court against the nursery admission guidelines of the state government. The guidelines, he says, gave a free hand to private schools to select whom they wanted.

Agarwal favours the system adopted by government schools. Weightage is only given to proximity of the child’s home to the school. After that selection is by lottery.

But managements of private schools have deemed the lottery impractical. Some parents too favour preference in admission to a school whose value system they subscribe too. The government wants a mix of points and lottery.

“The RTE says states should formulate criteria for admission. We are following the point based system as laid down by the Ashok Ganguly committee, which the High Court prescribed,” says R. C. Jain, President of the Delhi State Public Schools Management Association.

Jain, a former secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, adds that giving extra points to kids of vegetarians and teetotalers is a right of minority institutions. This right extends not just to the general category (75 %) but even the economically weaker category (25%). Reservation for poor children is imperative under the RTE.

Agarwal differs saying that while reserving seats for minorities is legal, policing food habits of people is not. “They’re not just saying seats for Jains. They’re also defining what kind of Jains.” Besides, the Ganguly committee called for a uniform selection procedure across the board, not unique criteria for every school, he adds.

At the time of filing this report Delhi’s education ministry was still undecided as to who could talk to the press- Minister A. S. Lovely or Director P. Krishnamurthy. However, the ministry will have to answer the court on Agarwal’s PIL by January 31.

But admissions begin on January 1 and it seems the revivalists will have their way.

The great Congress mela

2010-12-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

Pheroze L. Vincent

New Delhi, Dec 19: Putting to rest all queries about his religion, a huge banner with a smiling Rahul Gandhi read: “The Indian flag is my religion.” This was among a series of banners lining Dr. Hegdewar Marg, on the periphery of the The All India Congress Committee’s 83rd plenary session in Burari, near the Delhi- Haryana border.

The banners also had images of local Congressmen who had erected them, complete with even their aliases. Aliases like Bobby, Lalu, Bhairon unnerved a sexagenarian Congressman from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, who got off the van with me. “Yeh sab Kangressi hain,” (Are these Congressmen?) he remarked.

“Jaath se hum Brahmin hain. Naam hai mera Dubey,” (I am a Brahmin named Dubey) he said introducing himself. Dubey, visibly annoyed after realizing we had got off 4.5 km. from the main entrance, went on, “Corruption and price rise will kill this party. Coming here is just an obligation to the organization my family has been part of. Look how well, Nitish and Modi are working. Why can’t we abolish the (corruption ridden) MLA- LADS scheme like Nitish?”

The Burari complex is huge- an ocean of white tents and kurta-pyjamas- surrounded by a wall of khaki. Policemen from almost every state in the country have accompanied the Congressmen they guard. Though I didn’t have a pass, I could work my way through the Central Resreve Police cordon with the rudimentary Malayalam I know.

Budaun’s Suresh Goswami stood out among this white flood. Sporting a tattered tricolour kurta and bandana, with an array of shells and beads, he has been attending Congress sessions for 22 years. “Everyone knows me,” he said, rattling off names of every known Congress boss. “I want the Congress to win,” he shouted- his voice whistling between the four teeth he has left. “I dress like this for leaders to recognize me.”

The Burari complex also has a make shift post office, a railway reservation counter and a Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity stall selling “calandars” [sic] of endangered species. The post office says they haven’t made much of a profit. “We’re only here because we have been ordered to,” said a postal worker.

The stall with the largest crowd though is the ones selling Congress merchandise- flags, badges, diaries and posters of the Mahatma Gandhi, the Nehru- Gandhi family and even Ambedkar. Congressmen made a beeline at the section selling Kurta material.

“First me, mera teen metre kaato,” (cut three meters for me) barked a leader wearing a “We want Telangana” scarf. He wanted a mint green kurta for himself. He and a couple of others later took pains to explain to others that they were from Telangana, not Andhra Pradesh’s Congress.

There weren’t any foreign delegates of fraternal parties to be seen, except for Adrian Forster from London. Part of the West Bengal Congress’ theatre troop, Adrian is playing the role of Allan Octavian Hume- the party’s founder.

“The presentation will recreate the first session of the party in Bombay in 1885. It is a combination of theatre, dance, cinema and music. There is also film footage of the anti-partition movement of Bengal,” said the director and WBPCC spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

The 17 minute show has 60 actors drawn from various theatres of Calcutta. “We don’t want to mention their names else it may unnecessarily give political colour to these theatre groups,” Roy added.

Behind the scenes, an army of cooks stacked piles of jalebis, kachoris, and other sweets. Sambar, with an overdose of red chillies, simmered as Congress leaders and cops dropped by to sample the grub.

Some felt that the food wasn’t up to the mark and the power cuts were unacceptable. But for Chandy Oomen, of the Youth Congress, “the session gave a feel of India.”

“It’s a great exposure for youngsters to the party's line of thought,” he added.

At the exit, Mary Babychan of the All India Womens’ Association created a ruckus. “The Lord is coming she said,” holding up a bible. “I want to see Sonia. They should give each family 5 kg rice at Re. 1 per kilo like Tamil Nadu. You policemen, who are you to stop me? Will you stop me when judgment day comes.”

A crowd of Seva Dal cadre and police gathered. “Am I saying anything wrong,” Mary asked them. A plain-clothes police man came and took her name and address. On his list were a couple of other names too.

I asked him if he would take action against her. He asked me where my pass was.

Survival of the fittest

2010-07-21T02:45:00.000-07:00

Graphic: B. Karthikeyan

HEALTH Local communities find ways to cope with food price inflation

Twenty paise (about 0.3 US cents). that's how much money is spent on veggies for lunch for a child in an anganwadi (Indian government creche) everyday.... click to read more

Forever young

2010-05-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Most people would be laid up in bed if they got blood clots due to acute physical strain; most people would be too demoralised to represent the country after their spouse and mentor died an unnatural death; most of us give up when faced with red tape. But homeo practitioner Dr. Vasantha Samuel isn't like most people...

Education loans X- rayed

2010-05-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Student loans and how, PHEROZE L. VINCENT finds out

DOCUMENTS NEEDED

Education records- Banks prefer students with 70 to 80 per cent marks. Carry your mark sheets along.

Proof of admission- Bring your admission letter, course details and duration, details of the university (should be accredited, preferably by a government agency). Admission should be on merit.

Identity- Banks insist on checking your passport, PAN card and proof of age.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Some banks insist that the guarantor be less than 65 years old. They also need proof of her/ his residence.

If you are giving collateral, then it has to be assessed by the bank's accredited assessor, the documents be verified by the bank's lawyer and a non-encumbrance certificate acquired from the sub registrar.

You may be asked to take a life insurance policy.

Banks insist that borrowers be account holders in the bank, living in its vicinity. This is only a guideline and not a reason for denying a loan.

Shoestring existence

2010-05-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Mahalingam has been hammering me for 15 long years. We met when he came from Tiruchirapalli to make shoes here in Coimbatore. Back then, working out of his shanty in Kamarajapuram, we could produce a dozen pairs a day. Even with a rudimentary anvil like me we could make a profit of 35 per cent.

But after our customers went away to the big footwear outlets, we had to shut shop seven years back. We now work, out of a room in Ramanathapuram, for a local businessman. We have a few direct customers but now we mainly supply shoes to the dealers. Mahalingam and his friend Velu often have to wait long before they get paid. After our boss gets his cut, we make a meagre five per cent profit. No wonder none of their kids want to become cobblers...

Networking for special people

2010-03-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Dr. M. N G. Mani tells Pheroze L. Vincent about his mission to win the battles disabled people fight everyday

"“Even if a tenth of all buses were disabled friendly, commuters would wait for those buses. Little things like audio signals at road crossings, for the blind, won't cost much.”...

Beyond the Bhavani

2010-03-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

The narrow road to Upper Bhavani Dam clings to the hills and is overshadowed by tall pines and oak. A check- post and a few electricity board buildings lay the bright copper sulphate blue waters of the dam. Beyond it is the Mukurthi National Park.

The forest department's main interest in the park is to protect Tamil Nadu's state animal, the endangered Nilgiri tahr. These stocky brown wild sheep have curved horns.
They thrive in the shola grasslands founds on the slopes here and relish the hypericum bushes with yellow flowers...

Scrublands of the Nilgiris

2010-02-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

There's a certain romance in these dry thorn forests.

Masinagudi reminds me of Malgudi, with its quaint old Mysore charm and the Kannada-laced Tamil spoken by its taxi-men. It is a small dusty town on The Nilgiris border with Karnataka. Small hotels and eateries have come up to cater to tourists who come to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

I'm travelling with British Council's International Climate Champions, an eclectic bunch of youngsters trying to stop climate change.

Our first stop: Indian Institute of Science Research Station, where we meet environment researchers Geetha Ramaswami and Rutuja Chitra- Tarak, who study the dynamics of a dry forest. The Nilgiris mountains boast of four kinds of vegetation: scrub, dry deciduous, moist deciduous and semi evergreen. Masinagudi is in the scrub and dry deciduous part....

http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2010/02/08/stories/2010020850520100.htm

Here come the champions!

2010-02-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Pheroze L. Vincent joined British Council's International Climate Champions on a trip through the Nilgiris

Photo album: p2 onwards http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130322&id=712606572&l=a07110f4dd

Pondy’s best affordable restaurants

2010-01-20T06:44:00.000-08:00

On public demand; here's something I had written a year back for our ACJ lab blog A Chance Journey

Puducherry is home to a wonderful array of cuisines ranging from Vietnamese to Tibetan. The perfect weekend getaway trip, be it spiritual or romantic, is incomplete without enjoying the fine food the town has to offer. A Chance Journey lists five great places for the palate, in and around Pondy, that won’t burn a hole in your pocket.

In the fifth place, we have Salem Biriyani on Nidarajapayer Street. Housed in a former customs godown, this place is a must visit for biriyani enthusiasts. What’s unique about this place, apart from the prison cell like chambers where the food is served, is that the biriyani is very different from the popular Hyderabadi or Delhi varieties.

The minimal use of tomato and the small succulent pieces of meat, with their special brinjal curry is the USP of this place. Ponni rice is used instead of Basmati. The taste and the whole theme of the restaurant is rustic, relaxing and proudly Tamil. The Biriyanis ranging from Rs. 50 to 60, are the perfect lunch solution for shoppers who throng the Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nehru Street and Goubert flea markets.

At fourth place we have Lhasa in Auroville. Just along the slope from Auroville bus stop, in Tamil Nadu- 8 km from Pondy, Lhasa is a delightful little thatched restaurant decorated with brilliant Tibetan wall hangings and flags. Run by Tibetan refugees who settled in Auroville in 1959, Lhasa is a popular hangout for college-goers.

The momos are large and the chilly sauce is just perfect. What’s even better is that eight momos cost only Rs. 35. The family that runs the place is very friendly and offers a special soup remedy to customers who look sick. It is impossible to figure out the ingredients of this therapeutic soup and the recipe is a family secret.

Lhasa is the ideal place to stretch your legs after a long day exploring Auroville. The green tea served with jaggery is also very refreshing. What’s unique here is the Tibetan music played, which sounds strangely familiar to old Hindi film tunes.

Coming a close third is Punjabi Dhaba on Sardar Patel Road. Known for its parathas and butter chicken, the Dhaba is run by a Sikh family, out of their apartment. Half a plate of the sinfully-floating-in-butter chicken is enough to feed three. A whole repertoire of parathas, made with potatoes, fenugreek and radish are served, also with butter floating on them. It is an excellent place for the health-carefree to dine. The complimentary mango pickle is coveted by most customers.

Ranked second is China Garden on Lal Bahadur Street. It is an elegant place just above the Baker Street bakery. The owners, from China Town, Kolkata, play western pop music and the Anglo-Indian and Gorkha waiters are more than willing to chat about anything from local politics to the best watering holes in the city. The servings are particularly generous and the food is not too spicy. Tipplers from Bussy Bar, across the street, love to gorge over the exquisite pork served here.

The crowning glory of the Garden is the lemon grass soup. The soup is a potent concoction with finely chopped lemon grass floating in it. It is an excellent appetiser and feels almost magical.

Standing tall at rank one is Aristo on Nehru Street. Do not be deceived by the small blue signboard. Aristo offers wonderful Mughlai and Deccan cuisine. The service is really good. It is particularly famous for its biriyanis and mutton dishes.

On the mezzanine floor, there is a French restaurant called Aristo Garden. This place boasts of the best affordable authentic French and colonial Vietnamese cuisine in town. The soups are works of culinary art. The steaks are also excellent. No liquor or wine is served here.

What’s wonderful about these places is that they are rarely crowded. They have a limited, loyal clientele and the service is always good. These family run restaurants feel just like home.

4 out of 5 Indian port labour unions agree to historic wage agreement

2010-01-19T19:40:00.001-08:00

T.Narendra Rao,

General Secretary,

Water Transport Workers Federation of India,

Camp at: Mormugoa, dated: 20.01.2010. at 0800Hrs.

Dear Comrades,

First of all I would like to inform you all that the Historical wage settlement of the Port & Dock workers was at last signed on 19.01.2010 at Goa at exactly 12.30 Hrs of Indian Standard time. The lengthy process of wage negotiation which was started before 36 months and at last after 26 rounds of BWNC discussion has come to end and finally it was achieved with all of your co-operation and blessings. Really it is a good settlement for the Port & Dock workers of this Era.

However, there is a small itch, out of 5 recognized Federations, 4 Federation leaders have already signed the settlement papers including this Federation. The HMS (Kulakarni) federation did not sign the settlement so fact. Anyway, we hope the best, they will also be signing very shortly, they are waiting for word from their leader Mr.S.R.Kulkarni who is sick and staying at Mumbai.

But the reason which they are telling to their grass rood level cadres is different. That is the management is not providing the pay for the employees who got the promotion. However, the management, has circulated three model calculations of wage fixation for the employees who are getting promotions and method of their wage fixation other Public Sector Undertakings like M/s. Shipping Corporation of Indi a, M/s. Dredging Corporation of India and M/s. Cochin Ship Yard Limited, these three public sectors are coming under the purview of Shipping Ministry.

Any way the agreement is implementable by the Ministry, the sources from the Labour Department said. Because out of 12 BWNC members, 7 members have already signed the document. All efforts would be taken by the Port Management to pay the arrear amount within 60 days from the dagte of signing this settlement, copy of the original settlement papers would be sent to you after obtaininf the official documents from the Indian Ports Association, because they will give the papers only after obtaining the signatures from the HMS Federation.

Other details would be communicated as and when there is communication from IPA.

Thanking you all, with kind regards,

T.Narendra Rao,

General Secretary,

Indian port workers will finally get fair wages

2010-01-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

T.Narendra Rao,
General Secretary,
Water Transport Workers Federation of India,
55/26.Moore Street,
Chennai-600 001, Phone/Fax: 044-2526 6794.
Dated: 04.01.2010.

Dear Comrades,
First of all, I would like to convey my happy New Year greetings to you all.

All the Five Federation leaders reached New Delhi on 1st January 2010. We attended the conciliation meeting convened by the Chief Labour Commissioner (C) at 02.30 p.m.

He requested us to find out a formula in between the proposal of the IPA and Ours. That is, the IPA was suggesting that we should accept the arrear amount from 1.1.2009. But we were demanding all the allowances from 1.1.2007. So consensus was not arrived.

Hence it was advised by the CLC that the BWNC must be convened by 4th January 2010, or otherwise the federation will resort the indefinite strike from 4th midnight.

So we, all the federation leaders stayed at the IPA Guest House.
--------------

Today that is on 4th January 2010 at 11 a.m. the BWNC meeting was convened. Again all the eleven issues which were in the annexure of the Strike Notice, was taken for discussion.

Except the issue of payment of area amount, all the other ten items were discussed and a consensus was arrived, whereas no conclusion was arrived on the arrear amount to be paid form 1.1.2007 for HRA, Port City allowance, Transport reimbursement, washing allowance, and Night Weightage allowance etc..

When the meeting was going on debating on these issues, the CLC came to participate in the BWNC meeting at 1.30 p.m. and he said that if no consensus is arrived here, the Secretary (Shipping) has requested him to bring the entire team of BWNC to his Chamber at 2 p.m. for arriving a conclusion.

Accordingly all the federation leaders and the Port Chairmen representing the IPA went to his Chamber at 2 p.m.

At the conference hall the meeting was held. The Secretary (S) first proposed that the federation should agree the IPA proposal. All the leaders unanimously disagreed, and explained the reason for our genuine demand. Finally the Secretary (s) suggested that the HRA alone would be paid with effect from 1.1.2007, and all other allowances would be paid with effect from 1.1.2008.

Again, the General Secretaries of the Five Federations alone went to meet the Secretary at his room and requested that other allowances are also very small part of arrear amount to be paid, and very purpose of Minister’s offer of 23% fitment would be defeated if it is denied.

At last he agreed for that also, provided he requested the federation leaders to co-operate with the Port managements to increase the productivity.

After thanking the Secretary and all the Port Chairmen, the five federations’ leaders happily left his room and conveyed this message to all the Port workers of the eleven major ports and announced there itself withdrawing the proposed strike call given which could have been commenced from midnight of 4th January 2010.

The Draft copy of the full and final settlement would be prepared within a day or two then for signing the agreement we would be once again called by the Chief Labour Commissioner to New Delhi.

From the date of signing the settlement, every effort would be taken to pay arrear amount within 60 days.

This is really happy news for all the Port & Dock employees for this New Year, and Pongal (Sankaranti) festival. Celebrate with cheers. Do not hesitate to build up the Trade Union activities in the Ports. Try to strengthen your Trade Unions and their unity. Because without the Unity of the five federations this success could not be possible.

We once again thank one and all for supporting us during the period of struggle and whenever a call was given from federations.

Last, but not least do not hesitate to donate liberally to the unions/federations to which you are all attached.

Thanking you all,

With regards.

T.Narendra Rao,

04.01.2010. at 20.00 Hrs
Camp: at New Delhi.

What is Copenhagen?

2009-12-25T07:11:00.000-08:00

Copenhagen simplified for kids

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is hosting the fifteenth United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15). The abbreviation COP 15, means that this is the fifteenth Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).

What is the FCCC?
The FCCC is an international treaty to stabilise the level of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. These gases trap the sun’s heat within the atmosphere which heats up the earth.

The FCCC was produced at United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. 192 countries have signed the FCCC.

The treaty does not fix the maximum levels of greenhouse gas emissions per country. It is not a law, instead it calls for protocols to fix levels. The Kyoto Protocol is the most important protocol of the FCCC.

What is the Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and in force from 2005, asks developed countries to promise to reduce their emissions of four greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, and two groups of gases: hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.

187 countries have ratified the treaty. United States of America, which emits the highest amount of carbon dioxide per person, has not ratified the treaty. They have not ratified it because they want legally binding levels of emission also on developing countries and, they feel that by reducing emissions to Kyoto specified levels, they will become less productive and their economy will suffer.

Yet, many states and cities in the US are using their own methods to cut emissions.

Why are people in Copenhagen fighting?

Protestors in Copenhagen feel that developed countries want to escape their responsibility of cutting emissions. Leaked documents of negotiations between developed countries show that they want to sideline the UN and create divisions among poorer countries. This has angered developing countries. Developed countries are trying to shirk their responsibilities under the Kyoto Protocol.

Also, developing countries like India want no legally binding deal on when our emissions should peak, after which it will be reduced. Also, we want no legally binding emission cuts. The principle of the Kyoto Protocol puts greater responsibility to cut emissions on developed countries which have polluted the most. But what countries like the US want work out to them polluting twice as much as we do.

We also do not want any foreign agency to be checking what we do on our own about pollution. Such measures include removing vehicles that consume excess fuel, environment friendly construction and clean coal technology which will reduce India’s carbon emissions by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020.

(something that didn't make it to Young World. Nice one for the year end I hope)

What an adventure

2009-12-01T10:37:00.001-08:00

Book Review: Around the world in 80 days: Wing Commander Rahul Monga; Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi in association with KW Publishers, 4676/21, First Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi- 110002. Rs. 720

Pheroze L. Vincent

It is what legends are made of. Reality is much more fantastic than fiction, because of the intricacies of it.

On June 1, 2007, Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar set out from Air Force Station Hindan, near Delhi, in a CTSW microlight aircraft. Their mission: to create a world record of circumnavigating the globe in a microlight aircraft. The previous record was held by Colin Bodil who performed the feat in 99 days in 2001.

The author, in very simple English, lets the reader vicariously enjoy the 80 day adventure, spaced across 81 airstrips in 17 countries. Apart from the treasure of practical flying knowledge the book offers, Monga’s description also makes it a delightful read for the lay reader.

It reads like a log book, a journal of sorties from one landing to the next. Through Monga’s eyes you see the purple lagoons of Thailand and hear the hysterical screams of Russian navigator as they fly through heavy rain. You even feel the pain of frostbite and injuries that don’t heal.

There are innocent descriptions of the colourful characters that bind the tale together. People like Robin, the Chinese barber. “Robin was a dude. He set the pace for the haircut by switching on the TV in front to a channel blaring Chinese rock and started jiving.”

Monga isn’t the best of writers and he fails when he experiments with sophistication. But he is really good at painting a colourful picture even of the most mundane things like filing flight plans with an air traffic controller.

Another critical aspect the book throws light on is the networking of Indian diplomats and the camaraderie of aviators all over the world. Men like a 75-year-old British paratrooper who served in the Second World War, who offers the author “the most wonderful sortie” of his life in a 1943 Piper L4; and the Indian diplomat in Iran, who drove in the middle of the night with 200 litres of incendiary aviation fuel. The book is replete with such adventures and wonderful people.

Jet lag and fatigue lets the mind philosophise. Monga gives plain observations on the little things like traffic, markets, the smiles and body language, the tempers and the view from the skies. There are moments when he jokes about situations that could have been fatal, in the most casual manner. In brief sentences he ties them together with opinions on human nature and the purpose of it all. There are also hilarious tales of the hotel and the food, like the one about a Chinese hotel room stocked with spermicidal lotion and tiger balm and, the homogeneity of American fast food.

Conspicuous in his fleeting presence is the co-pilot Anil. There is hardly any mention of him, as the author hogs most of the limelight. The author does give examples of how they deal with snags in the aircraft like short circuited transformers, high oil pressure, punctured tires and other such unnerving obstacles. The credit of the success goes not to technology, but to their presence of mind and uncommon courage.

The intricate details of documentation and red tape are given a fairly good explanation in the book. Most shocking though, is the shabby treatment of Indian officials when the plane gets back. This is in sharp contrast to the warm and lavish reception by the Pakistan Air Force in Karachi. The author bluntly admits being driven to tears by the irrational interruptions to the mission on its seventy ninth day, in India.

The essence of this book is in the preface where Monga writes, “I learnt something very important. I learnt that the world is beautiful and that some places on our earth are so wonderful and so fragile that we must never go there.”

Coimbatore ryots give up paddy for cocoa

2009-11-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Cocoa is the new buzzword for farmers in Coimbatore district. Grown in the shade of coconut, cocoa gives a profit of around Rs. 15,000 per acre per year. It takes about three years to obtain the first harvest, and production peaks after seven years. It has a productive lifespan of 25 years. This well irrigated district, known for paddy, sugarcane and groundnut, is gradually shifting to cocoa.

“Rice is a suicidal crop,” says V. J. Prasad of Pollachi Taluk..Mr. Prasad began farming on his family’s 75 acres in Sethumadai, after voluntary retirement 15 years back. He tried every method to make paddy cultivation feasible but in vain. “The inputs are too costly. But the main problem here is the labour shortage,” he says.

With the youth choosing to work in textile mills in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts, farmers say, most of the workforce is above 45 years of age. “Their work hours have come down from seven to four a day. It is hard to find labour, even for high wages,” says farmer K. Sethuraman, who cultivates three acres in Ramanamudalipudur Thottam, near Anamalai.

Women are paid Rs. 80 and men, Rs. 150 for a day’s work here. Women now opt for work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which fetches Rs.100 a day.

Heaps of coconuts gather cobwebs on his land, for want of labourers to extract the copra. “No one will steal them. The price is too low,” he says. A coconut fetches the grower a maximum of Rs. 4 in these parts.

Sethuraman, Prasad and other farmers now raise cocoa intercropped with coconut. Cocoa is neither capital nor labour intensive and the returns are as high as Rs. 110 per kg of dried beans. Upto 250 plants can be raised per acre to get almost 1.5 kg of dried beans per plant.

In June 2007, Tamil Nadu’s Horticulture Department signed a memorandum of understanding with Cadbury, one of the largest confectionery makers. As part of the deal, Cadbury’s nursery near Anamalai gives saplings to farmers for which the state foots the bill. The farmer is also assured of a minimum price of Rs. 60 for a kg of dried beans produced. The government gives them organic fertilizer and organic pesticide for free, and arranges technical assistance and institutional credit, through Cadbury.

The total government subsidy is more than Rs. 4,500 per acre, for the first three years of cultivation.

Farmers say that Cadbury's technical assistance they get is irregular, neem cakes are ineffective and credit is a nightmare. “We have to get the clearance from the tehsildar for pledging our patta (legal document of the ownership of the land) to get a loan from cooperative banks at 12 per cent interest. Why should we pledge our lands for a small loan,” asks Mr. Prasad.

Private lenders charge a monthly interest of two to three per cent, which compounds to 27 to 43 per cent per annum. Most farmers here though have invested their own money. They make a profit of only six to eight per cent of their investment, if they multi-crop. “We can get that much by just leaving the money in the bank,” adds Prasad. “We only keep our land for pride,” says Sethuraman.

Cultivation costs of cocoa range from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000 an acre, depending on labour charges and irrigation. “This is a plantation crop and we can’t shift overnight if the prices fall,” says K. Krishnaraj who has 18 acres of cocoa at Ambarampalayam.

And that is the biggest risk. Between 1981 and 1982, cocoa cultivation peaked in Kerala and Karnataka. Farmers were assured of high prices and procurement. But in the late 80s, demand suddenly fell and chocolate manufacturers failed to honour their promise, just as the plants began to yield.

Unlike food crops, affected farmers can’t eat cocoa to survive.

According to P. Thirugnanasambantham, Coimbatore district secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha, the MoU’s assured price only holds good if there is any procurement of cocoa. “The government must provide labour to agriculture through the NREGA. Without subsidising labour, agriculture can’t survive,” he adds. Shunning food crops for cash crops is a serious threat to food security, he explains.

Farmers say that the government asks them to mechanise. But complete mechanisation is impossible and unviable for small farms. “Cadbury is only concentrating on big farms now,” says Mr. Prasad.

This could spell disaster for small farmers like Sethuraman, who swears that he will never let his children do agriculture. “Let my troubles die with me,” he says.

All in a day's work

2009-11-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

Biography of a Municipal bullock

The natural witness

2009-10-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hidden in the woods of Forest Campus, R S Puram, is a repository of jungle heritage, discovers Pheroze L. Vincent

Temperature drops as you turn in to Cowley Brown Road. That’s because of the forest campus which, apart from training institutes and a wealth of plants, birds and butterflies, has a botanical garden, a bambusetum (nursery for bamboo plants), th e Fischer Herbarium, and the Gass Forest Museum...

It's a jumble out there!

2009-10-19T02:51:00.000-07:00

The annual jumble sale organised by the Vasantha Memorial Trust was a huge success

A 1995 Fiat for Rs. 30,000, scooters for Rs. 4000, Sony music systems for Rs. 1000 and a revolving chair for Rs. 500; the sale had it all in three floors of the school. Thousand of people jostled to get their hands on old dolls and trophies and even an old Mofa circus bike.

It’s a funny site there

2009-09-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

Webcomics are an integral part of cyber life. Profane, funny, sadistic and inspirational at the same time, Pheroze L. Vincent finds out why they tick

Trek into the heavens

2009-09-14T03:22:00.000-07:00

Treacherous terrain, incessant rain and the breathtaking ghats greet climbers to the Vellingiri Hills

A tale of terrific tiramisu

2009-08-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

The Blueberry pastry is a creamy wonder that melts in your mouth. It has generous layers of cream mildly flavoured with the berry. To let the guilt sink in there’s an extra dollop of flavoured cream on top, with a thin dribble of chocolate sauce.

Voice of the hills

2009-08-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

A mild mannered former banker challenges the idea of development to save the Western Ghats. Pheroze L. Vincent finds out why and how

The perils of being single

2009-08-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

Pheroze Vincent finds out that if you’re single, they’re out to get you ..

Now time to walk the walk

2009-07-22T03:41:00.000-07:00

From Gorky to Didi, how the meaning of 'storm petrel' has changed

Community education: the way forward

2009-07-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi plans to offer, 2- year long, associate degree programmes through 200 community colleges in India. These courses will focus on employability and will initially be offered in business, office practices, accounting, agriculture, computer technologies, para medicine and para legal disciplines. Students will be able to vertically upgrade to a 3-year degree, in this scheme.

Community colleges, which started in India in 1995, primarily cater to students who cannot afford formal higher education. They offer courses according to the employment needs of the area they are situated in.

Dr. Helen Vincent, Secretary, Stella Maris College and former principal of Madras Community College, Santhome, explains that while class IV workers do not need higher education for their professions and technicians are trained at industrial training institutes, a large number of youth do not fall into either of these categories.

A large number of literate youth can’t afford to go to Arts and Science or Professional colleges. These youth feel left out of the “stereotyped degree system” Community colleges, she says, concentrate on life skills like personality development and spoken English, while preparing them to work in sectors like computers, travel and tourism, logistics and so on.

“Young women are in great demand as home nurses and for old-age care. There are petty shopkeepers who, with basic skills in retail management, can run their businesses efficiently and with dignity,” adds Dr. Vincent.

There is a feeling among educationists and industrialists that mainstream colleges have outlived their utility as providers of employable youth. Community colleges are attempting to fill this vacuum.

Currently, the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU), Chennai recognizes 118 community colleges in India. The Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), Nashik is to follow suit in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat, while the Haryana government has also come forward to do the same.

Despite the 11th five-year plan directive for community colleges to be established in backward districts, most of them are based in urban areas. This is more feasible as they draw upon faculty from regular colleges and are able to get industry experts for work training. To bridge this urban-rural divide, many such colleges offer scholarships and limited hostel facilities.

Dr. Vincent points out that a group of nuns that run a community college in the Sathyamangalam forests, teaching para medicine to tribal women. The students intern in a hospital attached to the college.

N. Manimegalai, undergoing teachers training at Nirmala Community College in Santhome, says that the hostel facilities are good in her college. She and her friend Suganthi, studying desktop publishing (DTP) in the same college, are enjoying full scholarships, which include tuition fees, hostel and mess facilities.

Manimegalai, who joined this course after completing school, is from Alathur, a village near Vandalur, on Chennai’s outskirts. She says she is confident of getting a job in a kindergarten school, as almost all her seniors have got jobs.

Suganthi too is confident of getting a job and doesn’t want to get married at the moment. She is interested in computers and may pursue further studies after working for a while.

According to their principal, Sr. Angela Antonysamy, their annual hostel and mess fees are Rs. 10, 000 and the annual courses fees are Rs. 7000 for teachers training and Rs. 4000 for the DTP course. “We are subsidized by the fees we collect from students of the Cultural Academy we run next door. We can’t afford to pay the staff more than Rs. 10, 000,”adds Sr. Antonysamy.

The nature of community colleges is such that the administrations that manage them cannot expect any profits. Though job prospects are good, the students are economically backward and find it hard to get education loans. Most community colleges, therefore, are run by charitable organizations.

Christian institutions play a big role in this sector. Even the national nodal agency, Indian Centre for Research and Development of Community Education (ICRDCE) is run by the Chengai Jesuit Society and is headed by a priest. As a result, 39 per cent of students are Christian.

The proportion of Muslim students in community colleges is only 3 per cent. Fr. M. S. Jacob, Deputy Director of ICRDCE explains this is not different from the general trend for Muslims in the country. He adds that after IGNOU’s announcement of the new scheme many organizations, including Muslim institutions, have come forward to start community colleges. The ICRDCE plans to collaborate with them after consultation with IGNOU on 31 March.

According to 2001 data from the National Information Centre, Vellore, 36 per cent of school students in Tamil Nadu drop out by the time they reach high school. 90 per cent of these are girls. In the higher secondary level the drop out percentage is a whopping 82.3 per cent. Madras Community College, one of the oldest, of its kind, in India, now only concentrates on coaching students to finish school and helping them pursue degrees and join community colleges.

Though community colleges were initially expected to admit students who just had an elementary education, today a majority of the students already have a higher secondary certificate when they join.

Almost all the students pursue a correspondence degree from a regular university, while studying at these colleges. The ICRDCE statistics point out that while 75 per cent of the students begin to work after graduating from community colleges, 15 per cent go for higher studies.

Dr. Vincent points out that there is a mind set about community colleges that needs to be changed. Looked upon as inferior colleges by society, students do not enjoy government bus passes or scholarships. Ironically, it is in these colleges and not mainstream universities, where the concentration of depressed classes, women and minorities is the highest. Three out of every four community college graduates in India are women.

Placements rates these graduates stand high at 75 per cent. According to Fr. Xavier Alphonse, Director of ICRDCE, in most cases their family income has doubled and this has led to poverty alleviation. He advocates the setting up central placement cells in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries and chambers of commerce.

The Indian community college model is being replicated in South Africa and Papua New Guinea, where the ICRDCE trains teachers and prepared text books.

For the love of the land

2009-07-20T01:53:00.000-07:00

Shanta Ramaswamy has networked with organic farmers across the region to give them a fair deal, and us, a healthy life. PHEROZE L. VINCENT finds out how

In letter and spirit

2009-07-20T01:52:00.000-07:00

In the zonal consultative meeting for developing a national dementia strategy happening in Coimbatore on July 25, one of the issues to be discussed is the legal hassles that plague patients and their families.

The Mental Health Act (1987), which came into effect in April 1993, replaced the anachronistic Indian Lunacy Act (1912). It did away with offensive terminology like “lunatic”, established licensing authorities and recognized the human rights of those afflicted. But is this enough?

The red orchestra

2009-07-20T01:49:00.000-07:00

Pakistani fusion band Laal has catapulted to fame with its uplifting music and poetic lyrics. Pheroze L Vincent interviews Taimur Rahman, the composer of the band.

A former teacher at the Lahore School of Economics and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Taimur Rahman used to play the guitar in his classes to entertain and teach. In fact, Shahram Azhar, the lead vocalist of the band, was his student at LUMS. Taimur is also famous in Pakistani theatre as a producer, director and actor.

When the guns fell silent

2009-07-20T01:48:00.000-07:00

India celebrates Kargil Vijay Diwas (Kargil Victory Day) on July 26. On this day, in 1999, India declared victory over Pakistani forces that had captured around 200 square kilometres of Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir.

Stick with the starters

2009-07-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

Forrest Gump’s mother would definitely have found Rathna Regent’s new menu like a box of chocolates. You never know what you get. Well, for one, there’s so much to choose from, if you aren’t full with the starters.

Nostalgia for the Raj

2009-07-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

The 20-hairpin bend ascent to Yercaud is dotted with lovers on bikes, and monkeys. On approaching the top you see the vast expanse of Salem below; the highways lined with amber sodium-vapour lights and the city spotted with star-like white fluorescent lamps. Come here in the morning and you'll see the Stanley Reservoir shimmering in the sunshine, like molten gold splashed in the valley. (got a dozen threat calls after this one)

An immortal musician

2009-07-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

“On stage for me was home. I was most comfortable on stage but once I got off stage, I was like very sad.”- Michael Jackson to Oprah Winfrey in 1993

Never say die

2009-07-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

I can’t see, so I have no fear.” These were the words of 24 year old Gopalakrishnan, who despite his visual impairment, trekked 62 kilometres up to Beas Kund, more than 3895 metres above sea level.

Welcome to the spice club

2009-07-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

“If he was in Hong Kong, he (would) die,” says Chef Hardy Cheung, wiping the sweat off his scalp. His victim, the soup chef, scurries away into the kitchen, before Chef Hardy could start Kung Fu fighting. This is the most entertaining food festival I’ve been to.

Jayaram of the jungles

2009-07-13T06:34:00.001-07:00

The house is spotless, without a speck of dust. Identical pots filled with leaf compost surround the bright living room. K. Jayaram is surrounded by colonial era volumes of Fauna of British India, Flora of Nilgiri and Pulney hill-tops and Flora of the Presidency of Madras. He doesn’t have any curtains. He loves light.

Making a metro

2009-07-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

A CII seminar on Brand Coimbatore (tripped a bit on this one)

Heart is where the nest is

2009-07-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

An excise superintendent and a birdwatcher come out with a seminal work on birds

Symphony of dissent

2009-07-13T06:23:00.001-07:00

The last century saw the expression of public outrage against injustice, through music. Pheroze L. Vincent takes some notes

Romancing the tomes

2009-07-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

The booksellers of Eswaran Koil Street are a passionate tribe of bibliophiles, subsidising education in their enterprising little way, writes Pheroze L. Vincent

2009-06-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

New buffet on the block

2009-06-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

“Greet all those who rule over you,” reads a slogan on the walls leading to the cellar... click to read on.

2009-06-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

The tragi-comedy of choice

2009-05-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

I don't get it! Why on earth was Amma cribbing over the Chennai Central seat (CPM was dying to have it) so much, when her party isn't even campaigning for it? D. Pandian, CPI’s state secretary and Chennai North candidate, may have had a better chance here against a candidate that can match his arrogance.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) isn't splitting too many hairs on the seat because they are sure of victory; the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) candidate S. M. K. M. A. Jinnah is sticking to his pocket borough of Triplicane while the Desiya Murpoku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) is going berserk printing pamphlets in English.

The BJP, which has forgotten Sukumaran Nambiar, hasn’t even fielded a candidate and the BSP’s Yunus Khan remains content with sending a campaign jeep into Triplicane Mosque in the dead of the night.

The Youth and Students Party, which seems strangely familiar to the Syrian Christian Youth Club, is parading its pathetic slogans on a tempo on Uttamar Gandhi Salai. As if all this wasn’t enough, Nungambakkam residents found themselves staring at Pyramid Party of India pamphlets (with a flowing white bearded Maharishi peeping out), as they started their vehicles in the morning.

I am sorry to say that I may have ended up voting for Hyder Bhai of the Manithaneeya Makkal Katchi (MMK), if I had a vote in the constituency. The joke that the Chennai Central campaign has been reduced to, has made even a party like MMK seem ideal to the few incurable romantic socialists that live in this constituency. No, there’s no sign of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI).

Coming home, to vote in Krishnagiri constituency, was fun. The Election Commission has played the perfect party pooper (literally) from the hinterland to the state capital, ensuring nobody has any campaign kondattam except the BJP.

This is the only party I find actually campaigning in Tamil Nadu. Kovai to Krishnagiri is dotted with saffron flags and banners with images of Advani, Karthik and Sarath Kumar and Subramanian Swamy on them. What a sangam;D

The flags don’t seem to bother either of the squabbling Dravidian twins, who are busy clashing from Luz Corner to Anchetti forest, apart from stoning the Central Industrial Security Force in Krishnagiri. The vinyl banners though, are a comic relief.

Much to the chagrin of my photographer roomie Kapil Ganesh, the election stalls of the DMK in Hosur are attracting more crowds than any others. I think I spotted late Com. Mohit Sen’s United Communist Party of India flag, among the many others, decorating a DMK stall opposite the town’s police station.

T. Rajendharr’s Latchiya Makkal Katchi’s teeny-weenie stall lay barren beside it. I actually appreciate the man for not joining the bandwagon of ‘election-parties’ that are the NDA in TN this time, but he really does push his luck to ensure the joke is on him doesn’t he?

The UPA may not be so lucky in Salem, where the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s mobilisation coupled with the Vanniyar loyalty to the PMK is punishing poor Mr. Thangkabalu. Yes, all you Tamil nationalists, I actually like Mega TV :)

Nowhere have I seen the DMDK so popular, as in my district. The night before polling two bubbly gentlemen came home to give our voting slips with the ‘Murasu’ (DMDK’s drum symbol) on it. These courageous poll code violators seemed like excited little children stealing mangoes in the dead of the night.

Despite their charm, I violated the Party line and pressed the ‘Udaya Suryan.’

Poll Punch:

1. All you Dakshin Kannada voters who think you did a favour to the cause of pub-going by voting for BJP rebel Ram Bhat, think again; he's backed the the Sri Ram Sene.

2. Ever visited Kerala's Left Democatic Front website. There's only CPM, CPI and Kerala Congress (Joseph). See, Mr. smarts pants RSP and AIFB, the CPM finally gave it to you tit-for-tat for South 24 Parganas and Dinhata. Long live Left Unity!

The rise and fall of public health in Tamil Nadu

2009-04-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

“Tamil Nadu has always been the leader in immunization,” says Dr. T. Jacob John, virologist at the Christian Medical College, Vellore. Though small pox was eradicated in India in 1974, Tamil Nadu had already accomplished this almost a decade earlier, in 1965.

In 1977, India accepted the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), without the measles vaccine. But, in 1978, Tamil Nadu introduced the Measles vaccine against national policy. In 1984, the Planning Commission acknowledged this as a “fantastic success” and by 1990 it was introduced all over the country, says Dr. John. Tamil Nadu also became the first state to conduct laboratory investigations of measles outbreaks. There are no more deaths to due measles in the state.

Dr. John attributes these strides in public health to the state’s former health minister Dr. H. V. Hande. In 1986, Hande mandated five doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for infants. The national policy only mandated three doses, so Hande got Rotary International to sponsor the additional doses. Tamil Nadu became the first state to eradicate Polio.

Sadly, this trend is in reverse. The second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) in 1998-99, recorded 89 per cent complete vaccine coverage of children between 12 and 23 months old. This has fallen to 81 per cent, according to the NFHS-3 in 2005-06.

Nowadays, only the first OPV dose is given free and peopled are forced to spend Rs. 500-600 on vaccines for infants, says Dr. Shanmugavelayutham, Professor of Social Work at Loyola College, Chennai. He adds that the poor spend upto 40 per cent of their income on medical expenses in states like Tamil Nadu, where health awareness is high.

After the deaths of four babies in Tiruvallur district, close to Chennai, in April, last year, due to a mix up of the measles vaccine, the state government ordered that vaccines only be given in primary health centres (PHCs).

Before this tragedy, health workers went to individual households and vaccinated infants. As a result of the government order, daily wage earners, who cannot afford to take a day off to travel to a PHC, are not getting their children vaccinated. This has lead to the number of vaccine recipients decreasing by almost 50 per cent, says Dr. Shanmugavelayutham.

Immunity from communicable diseases can be achieved by vaccinating up to a critical threshold of 80 to 85 per cent of the population and hence it will take two to three years for the immunity to fall below the threshold and diseases like measles, diphtheria and polio to make a comeback. Diphtheria outbreaks have already been reported from Vellore and Tuticorin districts of the state.

Where were you...

2009-04-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

Pachaiyappa’s and Nandanam boys fight pitched battle at Choolaimedu subway

2009-03-05T10:15:00.000-08:00

Students of Pachaiyappa’s College and Government Arts College, Nandanam pelted each other with stones in the Choolaimedu subway, on March 5.

As part of the annual ‘Bus Day’ celebrations, Arts College boys rode in a decorated bus on route 41D. The bus passed on Periyar EVR high road in front of Pachaiyappa’s College, on Thursday morning. In the previous years, celebration buses have taken Nelson Manickam road, to avoid trouble. When the bus was returning on Nelson Manickam road, in the afternoon, it was stoned in the subway.

According to local resident Thyagarajan, around 100 Pachaiyappa’s College boys came walking along the railway tracks at about 12.30 in the afternoon. As the 41D route celebration bus passed through the subway under the tracks, they began stoning it. Nandanam College boys got out of the bus and threw the stones back at them. This fight went on for about an hour. He added that a police officer then came in a jeep and warned them to leave, brandishing his revolver at them. They threw big stones and broke his jeep’s windows, before fleeing.

The police haven’t yet traced the culprits and no arrests have been made. A case will be filed against Pachaiyappa’s students, said Inspector U. K. Pasupathy of Choolaimedu police station. Pasupathy suspects the motive behind the attack to be past enmity between students of both colleges.

The officer, whose Tata Sumo jeep was damaged, is a crime branch inspector of the Aminjikarai police station. He was on his way from Metha Nagar, when the incident occurred.

Traffic came to a standstill on either side of the subway for more than an hour. Trains also did not run for more than 20 minutes.

Railway officials said that the Railway Protection Force is also investigating the attack.

Murugesan, an auto driver sustained minor injuries on his head and leg. “They were fighting like mad men. They didn’t listen to us when we asked them not to injure bystanders,” he said.

Speaking to the Daily Word, Rizwan, a student of the college, boldly said, “We won’t relinquish our rowdy-ism to any other college,” as he nursed a 100ml bottle of Mcdowell's brandy under his arm.

Annual ‘Bus Day’ celebrations of men’s colleges, in February and March, have become a recipe for disaster, leading to violence, traffic jams and damage to public property. A ‘Bus Day’ poster in Pachaiyappa’s College reading “Dil Irundha Vaa” (Come, if you have the guts), clearly spells out the stuff the revelers are made off.

CPI mum on Lok Sabha candidates for TN

2009-02-27T12:06:00.001-08:00

The Communist Party of India (CPI) remains tight lipped on its candidates in Tamil Nadu for the general elections this year. Speaking to the Daily Word, the party’s assistant secretary C. Mahendran said it would be unethical to leak the list before coming to an understanding with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The AIADMK is the Left’s main ally, in Tamil Nadu for the elections.

The Party has announced that it would be contesting from 50 seats all over the country. The first list of 33 candidates has been released. The lists for Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are to be announced after consulting local allies.

CPI’s main left front ally, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will be contesting for 80 parliamentary seats.

Refusing to talk about ideological differences between the AIADMK and the CPI, Mahendran said that the objective was to form a government without the Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The AIADMK has not been participating in the agitation, of which the CPI is a part, against the conflict in Sri Lanka. R. Thirumalai, state secretary of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), the party’s student wing, said, “Alliance partners may not be of the same opinion. The Congress led government is supplying arms to Sri Lanka.”

The CPI(M) is also not part of the agitation. “The CPI(M) stand is wrong. They have failed to understand the emotions of the people for Sri Lankan Tamils,” said Thirumalai.

Mahendran emphasized that his party has no electoral understanding with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). “The BSP has a policy of no pre-poll alliances, hence we are not having any seat adjustments with the BSP,” he added. The CPI and CPI(M) are fielding 8 and 6 candidates, respectively, from BSP ruled Uttar Pradesh. CPI’s Atul Anjan is contesting from Ghosi.

Thirumalai explained that though some of the party’s supporters may temporarily shift to the BSP, they would come back to the party in the long run. “The party will continue to be the vanguard of the downtrodden,” he added.

Autos fight bikes for parking space

2009-02-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Parking space on Usman Road is a scarce commodity due to thousands of shoppers that throng its huge retail outlets. The area below the half-year old Usman Road flyover has provided succour to vehicle owners. This area is also used by auto-rickshaw drivers who woo customers at the entrances of shops. The quest for parking space is now a contest between non-commercial vehicles and auto-rickshaws.

The situation is manageable on weekdays but fights over parking space can get ugly on weekends. “Auto men refuse to let us take out our bikes from below the flyover. They claim the area opposite Saravana Stores as theirs, though it is for two-wheeler parking,” says Raja, an IT professional from Perambur.

On condition of anonymity, an auto- driver points to a line of autos occupying the entire parking space opposite Saravana Stores. “They are T- Nagar autos. They even chase us away.” This driver is from Egmore but comes to Theagaraya Nagar for business.

He says that autos aren’t allowed to park on Usman Road, though it’s good for business. They flee when the police raids or they are fined Rs. 100. This reporter witnessed a traffic head-constable on duty, not bothered about auto-rickshaws parked under the flyover.

Stands allotted for all major auto-rickshaw driver unions are almost empty, as all the autos stand on the road, to solicit customers. Two wheeler and car owners struggle to park or take out their vehicles, as many auto-rickshaw drivers leave their vehicles unattended and blocking movement.

According to G. Suresh, traffic sub- inspector at Mambalam police station, the area under the flyover is a no-parking zone. “As per a Supreme Court directive, no vehicle can be allowed to park there. It is a security risk. Anyone can leave a bomb in the vehicles and go.”

Usman Road is a sea of humanity during weekends and festivals and the flyover has a constant flow of traffic. Any explosion in this area would be devastating.

Suresh says that since the shop owners have not provided parking space, the police is forced to relax enforcement of the directive. “We regularly seize autos violating rules,” he says.

There are 45 traffic police personnel in Mambalam, an area which has a very high flow of traffic. Suresh says that despite paucity of staff, they try their best to keep traffic flowing in the worst of conditions, like peak hours, festivals, rallies and so on.

Many prominent retail outlets on Usman road are in violation of building norms. On 31 October 2006, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority had cautioned seven establishments on this road for improper construction. These establishments had illegally added several storeys to their palace-like shops.

A fire that broke out in Saravana Stores on 1 September, last year, exposed the lack of safety measures taken by the owners.

Despite the government regularizing many such violations, shops have not even spared their basements for their customers’ vehicles. Apart from the fight for space between autos and others, this carelessness by the shops, increase the vulnerability of the city to terrorist attacks.

Into the great wide open

2009-02-27T09:24:00.000-08:00

If you want to go to Pulicat, also known as Pazhaverkaadu, do not go online. The transport, tourism and forest department websites, of Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh have nothing to offer.

Pulicat Lake is a backwater on the Andhra-Tamil Nadu border, 90 km from Chennai. Most of it is in Ponneri taluk of Thiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu. It is known for Flamingoes, Painted Storks and Pelicans. The route is motorable, as most of it is on National Highway 5.

It is on route 58C of the state’s transport corporation. Five buses go there from 8.15 a.m. to 8.45 p.m. One can also go to neighbouring Ponneri town by bus or train, and take a connecting bus from there. Public transport from Chennai and back only costs Rs. 28.

On Sunday morning, the 15th of February, The 8.15 bus pulled out of the Koyambedu bus terminus with the mild golden sun and thin mist creeping through its windows. The noise of vehicles horns and the smell of petrol fumes fade away as the driver changes gear and darts onto NH5. Dry wild grass lines the highway. The drowsy muffled roar of the bus has caressed most passengers into blissful slumber. The bliss does not last.

An infant sitting beside me wakes up to a distant hammering of an engine piston. The hammering gets louder and soon a rapture of hammering roars past the bus. Men in grey t- shirts race along NH5 on beautifully painted and polished Yezdi motorcycles, with the words “Roaring Riders” emblazoned on their backs. Gazing at the bikes riding off into the horizon, the young father of the infant turns away from his wife and smiles, slowly.

After Ponneri, the bus turns right onto State Highway-104. The road gets bumpier and a lady vomits out of the window. State transport buses desperately need to be cleansed. Ground nut shells and dirt are all over and betel spitting colours the windows.

At 10.40 a.m. the bus reaches Pazhaverkaadu bus stand which is in a garbage dump cum open toilet, opposite the 400-year-old dutch cemetery. The smell of dry fish overwhelms me.

The cemetery’s entrance is a stone arch with skeletons sculpted on both sides and a skull on top. A haunting air prevails in the cemetery. A beggar lies drunk under the dome of a mausoleum. Another beggar, who looks like Hagrid from Hogwarts, melts way behind a tomb. There are 20-feet-tall pyramids atop two tombs. Graves bear coats of arms of Dutch nobility.

The Dutch Fort Geldria at Pulicat, traded with the East Indies, from 1606 to 1690 A.D. Locally woven coloured (check-pattern) handkerchiefs and lungies were the chief items of trade, apart from medicinal herbs, silk, diamonds, spices and donkeys, procured from the hinterland. Only ruins of this fort exist.

The town is quite dirty and there are no public toilets. Avoiding restaurants is advisable. If hunger overpowers you, the safest cooked meal is Sambar rice at Jamaal’s.

SH104 ends at a jetty-under-construction on the Buckingham Canal. The place is filled with blue metal and rusty iron rods. The earth is carpeted with shiny silver fish, drying under the blinding sun. The Yezdis of the Roaring Riders line the entrance of the jetty.

Boats offer to take groups of people around the million-year-old lake, for Rs. 500. I choose to walk along its banks to reach the sea.

A tall fair chap wearing a Roaring Rider t-shirt stands beside a petty shop in the shade. He looks like Aurobindo Ghosh. He is Sachi, moderator of the riders.

“We are a club of Yezdi and Java riders from in and around Chennai. We ride to places near Chennai, once a month, besides meeting at 7.30 every Sunday morning on Elliots Beach. There are a 157 of us,” says Sachi.

The riders are a colourful bunch wearing hats and stylish helmets. They offer me a banana which energises me for the walk ahead.

I pass through quiet streets lined with trees until a reach a quieter bank of the lake. I only see the cloudless grayish blue sky above and hear bay lashing in the distance, behind the row of palm trees that appear like matchsticks. Tom Petty’s song “Into the Great Wide Open, Under them skies of blue” plays in my head. The mind is clear and the joy of escaping Chennai lifts my heart.

Three young men appear with a packet of ‘Hide n Seek’ biscuits and bananas. They jump into a boat. One of them puts the rotor in the water and spins the engine into throttle with a thin jute rope. Thick black diesel fumes burst out and they roar off into the lake. They wave me goodbye. I walk on.

The bank is never ending and I decide to walk across the lake at a point where the remains of some old concrete cylinders stretch across to the other bank. My feet sink into the clay. With each step, black earth mixes with the transparent water, like rain clouds appearing on a white sky. The water is shimmers in the sunlight. Little balloon like organisms dot the brownish-yellow bed of the lake. A stork trots gracefully beside me as I struggle through the clay. A mild breeze cajoles me on and I reach the bank.

I stumble through a small settlement. A huge Peepal tree growing on top of a ruined Hindu shrine marks the entrance of the settlement. There is a lot of construction activity. A worker hums a hypnotic tune, while two little boys lie in a concrete basin flying a kite.

As I sneak out my camera, some kids in the distance yell out “Police!” The boys in the basin scoot across the sands, into the settlement. “I’m not a cop,” I shout back. They slowly come back and pose for the camera. I move on along the shore.

Villagers catch fish with little bags woven with palm leaves. The bags are immersed in the water. The fish slip into them and the water drains out. This lunch time activity goes as I continue to seek the sea like a deer thirsting for water. I reach the Arni River which is too deep to be crossed on foot.

The earth is caked with salt. There is a burnt cactus beside me. I am dying of hunger and thirst. I contemplate whether to eat red berries growing off a shrub, as a Grey Heron comes and perches on it. My slippers are pierced with thorns and I turn back, defeated.

I walk in the shallower part of the river to cool my feet. Weeds below crunch under my toes. I reach the settlement. Wade waist deep through the lake and find my way back to town.

As I stagger back to civilization, I see an old temple which looked like a piece of the Angkor Vat. The concrete entrance to the temple which led to its iron-studded gate and coconut trees all around is like a scene from ‘Apocalypse now.’

D. R. Mani, the caretaker shows me around. “This temple was built during Krishnadevaraya’s reign. It was closed for a hundred years. I git the jungle around it cleared 15 days back and held Poojas. We plan to hold a temple festival soon,” he says.

The Adinarayana Perumal temple is awe inspiring. It is made of brick and supported by rock pillars. There is a shrine inside this complex which is a chariot carved in stone. Mani shows me an inscription, on a rock beam supporting the ceiling of the chariot. The script looks like ancient Telugu. “This is a mystery,” he says, pointing towards it. “I cannot understand it. If someone from the archaeological department could come make sense of it, we will be satisfied.”

I thank him and rush to the bus stand. I pass through neat rows of streets populated by muslims, said to be of Arab descent. It is 3 p.m. and everything here is closed. I get a bus to Ponneri and eat to my hearts content.

There aren’t any buses to Chennai, so I decide to take a train. People around ask my to walk to the railway tracks and keep walking on then till I reach Ponneri railway station. I stumble along the tracks with unburnt diesel of the trains sticking to my toes. Finally, beyond the glare of the blazing sun, I see Ponneri railway station.

Advani riding on the Tiger's back?

2009-02-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani’s veiled demand for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka during a Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) led fast in Chennai on Friday has surprised political pundits. Advani, who has consistently opposed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants the issue to be resolved through negotiated political settlement and not by "brutal use of force".

During the BJP-led-National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, Advani, then home minister, opposed the former defence minister George Fernandes, over his support to the LTTE. Fernandes was even asked not to host Tamil nationalist leader P. Nedumaran or other LTTE supporters.

Advani’s new stance has upset conservative politicians like Subramanian Swamy of the Janata Party. Swamy said that Advani's statement at the fast was not in line with BJP's zero tolerance policy on terrorism. Swamy who is believed to be supportive of BJP’s ideology, said that there can't be any talks with Tamil Tigers and India must support the government of Sri Lanka in eliminating the LTTE.

During the release of the Tamil edition of BJP leader Narendra Modi’s quotes on education yesterday, Thuglak editor, Cho Ramaswamy, criticized Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for demanding a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Cho compared Eelam to Kashmir implying that India should oppose secessionism in both.

The crowd, largely of BJP supporters erupted in defiance, forcing the police to intervene to maintain order. Advani seems to have recognised this latent pan-Tamil solidarity even in his party supporters in Tamil Nadu.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), which is close to the BJP, has long been trying to project the Sri Lankan conflict as a Buddhist genocide of Hindus in Lanka. Even the LTTE attempted to enforce a traditional Tamil dress code for women, in the late 1990s, in areas they controlled. The LTTE brand of nationalism, thus appeals to a section of the Hindu right.

Left without an alliance partner in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Advani has joined the bandwagon of politicians attempting to ride on a wave of sympathy for Sri Lankan Tamils caught in the crossfire between the LTTE and Sri Lankan forces. He is also attempting to get close to subtle Tamil chauvinists like Vijaykanth in order to bolster support for his party in the General elections.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has promised to field three “forward community” candidates from Tamil Nadu in these elections. Currently Jayalalithaa and S. V. Sekhar, both of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), are the only Brahmin members of the states legislative assembly. None of Tamil Nadu’s Members of Parliament are Brahmin. Brahmins are a little more than three per cent of the state’s population and are considered BJP’s core vote bank in the state.

Brahmin leaders like S. V. Sekhar are getting close to the BSP, whose ranks have swelled with defectors from the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a pro-LTTE party. The BSP’s Tamil Nadu and Puducherry units are openly supporting the LTTE in their rallies.

The BJP is attempting to mobilize the Hindu vote bank on this issue. During a protest in Coimbatore on January 30th, against the killing of Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka, BJP leader S. R. Sekhar was quoted saying, “"The BJP is the only party, which is viewing it as a Hindu problem. The whole nation will be responding. The Central Government is not responding because they are thinking it's a Tamil problem alone.”

The BJP is clearly interested in exploiting the Sri Lankan Tamil issue for national mobilization, something the other national parties have failed to do.

An IT worker's story

2009-02-13T01:15:00.001-08:00

Com. "Olba", a friend of mine, published this in a workers' fortnightly in Faridabad. In this article, she writes of her experiences in India Inc. and about the prospects of organising IT workers. She works for an IT company in Delhi.

Lal Salaam Com. "Olba" ! ! !

Reservations to end in IITs, NITs, AIIMS, JIPMER etc

2009-02-01T04:37:00.000-08:00

The ruling classes have moved to consolidate and legitimise their casteist hegemony over premier educational institutes by trying to abolish reservation of teaching posts. Soon it will follow even for students. The only Dalits in IIT will then be conservancy staff.

This calls for a Dravida Kazhagam style violent agitation, which rid Guindy Engineering College, AC Tech and other colleges in Tamil Nadu from upper caste hegemony in the 70s.

What I fail to understand is why is the Congress hell-bent on committing political suicide before the General elections?

Blood and monsoon passion

2009-01-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

another blast from the past

25/11/2005
the inter block soccer matches at thomas's had more colour today with the warden threatening to stop the tournament. apparently he's sulkin coz he wasnt informed. he vented out his frustration by abusing and intimidating senior residents(including a minister) of da hall threatening to dismiss them if they stood on the field. My dear Karadi jesudasan you arent a fuckin zamindar to order us off our football field. we pay for its maintenance not you.

The jolliest fellows of Tambaram, led by Jude, rose to the occassion by collectively approaching karadi, demanding an explanation for his reactionary behaviour only to be rebuffed by a familiar excuse, " I have an appointment". He scooted away on his CD dawn to gather all the resident profs to, "fix the boys".

The grapevine has it that Jude and Randolph are going to be enquired by wardy, dean and gabriel sir. the tournament including the exciting match with martin went on as scheduled, much to the chagrin of wardy. Latest news: senthil n randy wrote apologies. jude's in a tight situation

MCC sports convener attacked

2009-01-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

picture of the gang that ruled mcc in 05-06 (standing l-r)Anil Abraham, Madhan anna, Palani sir, Arms, Vasu (princi), shagpathi, Manoj cheta, duck, Vipin, Rajpurohit, Sid, Ajai Kuruvilla, David Ibin.squatting- ME

remembering the days when our blood was inflammable and our heads were in the skies
Feb 6, 2006 6:53 PM

In an unprecedented display of criminal behaviour, Johnson- security liaison officer, violently intercepted and humiliated sports convener- Madhan and sportsman Kumar, while they were neck deep in organising the Danis Esau tournament. their bike also was illegally seized in broad daylight. This shocking incident occurred on Friday, feb the 3rd in front of the eco & hist. depts building.

after obtaining permission from the vice-presi and the physical director, the boys were allowed to bring the bike on campus for organizing purposes. they did exactly this on 3rd morning, with the full knowledge of the security supervisor. on returning from the pavillion, johnson theatrically attempted to ram his bike into their front wheel. they narrowly missed collision, thanks to madhan's acumen. Without wating for any explanation, Johnson began hurling the filthiest abuses for using a bike on campus. perhaps that what he obtained his PH.d tamil in. he also physically threatened them shoving his index finger in Madhan's eye.

Hats off to the two machomen, Madhan and Kumar for keeping their cool or somebody would have been at Christudas hospital now. that indeed would have been delightful. as if that wasnt enough, the bike also was seized. so much for MCC-ian fairplay, justice and transparency. are you readin VJ. Johnson, despite his antagonistic tactics, couldnt agitate the boys, much to his chagrin. that bald headed bastard sure is pushing his luck.

When the VP went to retrieve the bike, a guilty and frustrated johnson falsely accused the students' council of gherao. the lust of power and marital conflict apparently has blurred reality for the old reactionary. Meanwhile Madhan, in the highest gentlemanly traditions of christian college, has preferred a complainy with the chairman. all eyes are on princi now, who needs to prove that at least 1 set of balls exists in the management. the recent past hasnt shown that.

Tanneries killing Pernambut

2009-01-18T23:53:00.000-08:00

“Like refugees in their own land, land owners are now working as coolies for others,” says G.M.Munirathnam, President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Pernambut town. Munirathnam showed, this writer, acres of land lying fallow, due to the excessive soil salinity caused by the tanneries.

Pernambut is in the tannery belt of Vellore district. There are 36 tanneries in and around the town. 18 of them pipe their effluents, 350 kilolitres in total, to TALCO Pernambut Tannery Effluent Treatment Company.

This writer observed effluent tanks of the company leaking. The land around the plant had shades of blue, black and white, and the whole area had a foul stench. Children play cricket in the vicinity of these open-air tanks.

Salim Basha, the manager of the plant, said that the total dissolved solids (TDS) levels of the treated water discharged by the plant, is five times the permissible limit. In 12 to 18 months, he hopes to complete a government sponsored renovation and upgrade of the plant, which would bring this under control.

“The water discharged from this plant is unfit for any purpose like agriculture, drinking etc. It is let off into the Palar river bed,” says Basha. The Palar now runs dry as it has been dammed off in Karnataka.

Munirathnam says that the company has been promising this for months without showing any results. “Tanneries have not paid the cess for compensating farmers that have lost their livelihood due to their pollution. The government doesn’t touch them.”

He points out that people suffer from vomiting, dysentery and renal failure due to the ground water. In localities like KK Nagar and MGR Nagar, cases of cardiac problems in children have been reported.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had, in the past, closed down 135 tanneries, for causing pollution. This has not proved a sufficient deterrent on to the tanneries, which continue to plague Vellore district.

Tourism overuns tribal culture

2009-01-18T23:45:00.000-08:00

Kolkarar, Nilavoor’s village guard shows this writer traditional coarse grains like Cholam, Saamai. These grains are at the risk of going out of production due to low rainfall and poor irrigation, says G. Raju, village headman and Congress leader of Nilavoor, a Kaaralar tribal village in Yelagiri Hills, Vellore district.

Raju, a former Panchayat president says, “People are selling their land as the tourism boom has made land prices shoot up. One acre is selling for 1.5 to 2 crores.” Though a tribal area, Yelagiri hills is not reserved for them as it is a tourist area. There are no restrictions on transfer of tribal lands.

“PMK founder Ramadoss aiyya has also said that these traditional grains are much healthier, but the younger generation wants polished rice instead,” Raju explains.

“I used to grow Saamai on my 3 acres of land. I sold 2 acres to the resort people for 7 lakhs in 1999, to get my seven daughters married,” says Govindan, a tribal elder. Tourist resorts now dot the hills.

Once dense jungle, large patches of forest have been cleared out for construction activity. Construction labour wages are as high as Rs. 200 a day and there is no visible unemployment.

“Our people don’t know what to do with all this money from real estate and higher wages. They are buying motorcycles or becoming alcoholics. There are only 5 men in this village, including me, that do not drink,” woes Raju.

Due to the influx of money, most youth from the village are well qualified and work in cities. Modern Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) find many buyers in Nilavoor.

Nagamma, a shopkeeper, who sources groceries from Athanavur, the administrative centre of the hills, sells them at a profit of 50p to Re1, per item. I have good sales. Most leading cigarette brands, soft drinks and packaged snacks are sold in this village.

“We are now rich, but arrogant. We need to preserve our culture or risking losing our identity and harmony in our community,” says Raju.

“The contract system must go”

2009-01-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

The Word reporter PHEROZE L. VINCENT talked to K. G. Kalimuthu, a beedi labour leader, about the problems and prospects of beedi workers in Vellore district.

K. G. Kalimuthu is the President of the Tirupathur Taluk Beedi Labour Union in Kodiyur, Vellore District. The union is affiliated to the United Trade Union Congress of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a constituent of the Left Front.

Over 70 years old, Mr. Kalimuthu has rolled beedis since his childhood. Influenced by the communist movement in his boyhood, he joined the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) in the 1940s. He has undergone imprisonment several times, spending two years behind bars in all.

In 1964 he followed his mentors Harkishen Singh Surjeet, Jyoti Basu, P. Ramamurthi and A. K. Gopalan to form the Communist Paty of India- Marxist (CPM). He spearheaded the successful agitation in 1985 to regularise the services of beedi workers in Tamil Nadu and achieve minimum wages, provident fund, bonuses and paid leave. These benefits won through bitter struggle have now been eroded by the introduction of the contract system.

Two years ago, he split from the CPM and joined the RSP. He says he did so because he felt that the CPM had begun to only represent organised workers in the private sector. He broke away when he was asked to merge his union into a Vellore district wide union of beedi workers. “Our account books are open to all, but we can’t sacrifice our independence,” says this veteran revolutionary.

The walls of his office are still adorned with portraits of the CPM leaders named above.

Excerpts from the conversation:

PLV: Since when have you been involved in the union?

KGK: We started this union in 1955. It was then affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress of the undivided CPI. Later on it was affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions of the CPM.

PLV: What are the demands of the beedi workers?

KGK: We demand payment of minimum wages, provident fund, bonus during festivals and leave with pay. We achieved these rights after a massive agitation in 1985. To get around these regulations the beedi companies started the contract system more than a decade ago.

In this system, the rolling work is given to contractors who employ people in villages to do the job. They work at home and are not organised. They do not get any benefits apart from their wages. If we are to realise the rights we fought for, the contract system has to go. We demand direct employment under the principal employers.

PLV: But, the law allows contract labour. The liability of providing mandatory benefits to the workers is on the company.

KGK: The companies bribe the government officials and get around these regulations. The Labour and Provident Fund departments of the government do not implement these benefits.

PLV: Then why aren’t beedi workers agitating?

KGK: Only 10% of the 1 lakh workforce in the district is organised. Ours is the largest union. There are other unions affiliated to CITU, AITUC and Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) of the Congress party.

PLV: Why such a low level of union membership?

KGK: Workers are nowadays largely in the villages. It is easier to organise in urban centres, where large numbers of workers live and work in proximity, often together in factories. We are not that successful in penetrating rural areas.

PLV: Isn’t the trade itself bad? Beedi rolling is said to cause tuberculosis and cancer.

KGK: If the government wants to ban this trade, it must provide us alternative employment. The beedi industry is the third largest employer in the country. Cigarettes are more dangerous.
I have been rolling beedis ever since I can remember and I’m perfectly healthy. I know people who smoke 20-25 beedis a day and live into their nineties. There is a lot of adverse medical propaganda in this regard.

(This reporter spoke to five families that rolled beedis, in three villages in the district. None had any diseases. Other reporters of this paper came across some cases of respiratory diseases in beedi workers.)

PLV: Has the Smoking Ban reduced employment of beedi workers?

KGK: No, the employment levels are the same. The way I see it, people with breathing problems shouldn’t go anywhere near tobacco or it will kill them. For the healthy, there is no problem.

The government is busy implementing smoking bans. Can’t it do something to provide alternative employment? Agriculture has failed. I haven’t gone to college like you and I can’t speak English, but I know that if we don’t save this industry, we will starve.

PLV: What about child labour?

KGK: Times have changed. People of my generation and the next grew up rolling beedis. Now, awareness of the need for education has been spread. Even the poorest of landless labourers send their kids to school. Some children do the work of closing beedi ends, after school, but most kids don’t touch beedis.

PLV: Doesn’t the fragmentation of unions jeopardise labour unity?

KGK: I left CITU with a heavy heart. But, the leaders like Ramamurthi (he glances at his portrait hanging on the wall) who led me into the movement are now gone. I have rolled beedis for decades. We workers know our problems. Union leaders without experience in the field cannot effectively guide us.

Also, leaders like Surjeet and Gopalan were austere mass leaders who were revered. I have heard reports of Income Tax Department raids on the homes of present day Communist leaders. How can a man whom the IT department raids be a communist?

Low rainfall hits Cotton crop in Tirupathur taluk

2009-01-15T04:45:00.000-08:00

Periamotur, Vellore District, Jan 9: “I don’t know how much we spend every month,” says a V. Vanitha, after she and her husband R. Vellikannan, spend five minutes trying to figure out their monthly expenses. Vellikannan and Vanitha are farmers in Poonaikuttaipallam in Periamotur, Tirupathur taluk, Vellore district. Both of them are illiterates who live off the acre of land they own. Rain is the only source of water. The neighbouring well has run dry due to low rainfall.

“I spent almost Rs. 5000 for sowing this cotton. I am now keeping the harvest at home and not selling it until the price rises. The market price is only Rs. 2700 per quintal. Last year we got Rs. 3000 per quintal,” says Vellikannan. The Cotton Corporation of India increased its Minimum Support Price (MSP) by 39% last month to Rs. 2500.

Vellikannan says that he used to harvest almost 10 quintals of cotton every year, but this year he won’t get half as much, due to low rainfall. According to ikisan.com, the total cost of producing a quintal of cotton for a small farmer like Vellikannan is almost Rs. 2250.

“I used to work as a labourer in Himachal Pradesh. I have used our own savings to cultivate this crop and haven’t gone to the moneylender. All three of my daughters are in school. How will we manage?” asks Vellikannan.

The cotton is grown between June and January, of the following year. During the rest of the year, Vellikannan and Vanitha grow tomato and ash gourd.

Sampath grows cotton with his wife and two daughters on their 2.5 acres. They share a borewell with a neighbouring farmer.

“It costs Rs. 50,000 to sink a borewell. When the water table is normal, it irrigates up to five acres a day. But now, only half an acre can be irrigated,” says Sampath, who has invested Rs. 15,000 in sowing his land. He too has not gone to a moneylender.

During a good year, the prices go up to Rs. 4000 per quintal. Look at our fate this year. I haven’t hired labourers for harvesting. Even my married daughter has come to help us,” Sampath says.

When not working on the land, Sampath works as a construction labourer while his younger daughter and wife roll beedis. Sampath hopes to get work digging a government sponsored rainwater storage tank, on which work is expected to start soon.

Farmers associations have demanded that the MSP of all crops be at least 30% more than the cost of producing them. The Press Information Bureau’s jubilant announcement of an MSP increase, that is even lower than the market price, is a slap on the faces of farmers here in Vellore district whose children are forced to roll bidis when they should be doing their homework.

Dying fish and crumbling flats

2009-01-05T02:35:00.000-08:00

“How can we complain against the government and big people,” says a puzzled Prakash, when asked about why he has not complained about fish dying from effluents dumped by Metrowater and the skyscrapers of neighbouring MRC Nagar.

Prakash is fisherman from Srinivasapuram, a slum on the banks of the Adayar Creek, in ward 150- Avvai Nagar (South) of the Chennai Corporation. The seaward side is picturesque and wonderful to walk through, but the side facing the creek is terribly congested and stinks of sewage.

The local municipal councillor is T. Velu of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Srinivasapuram is in the Mylapore assembly constituency and Chennai South parliamentary constituency, represented by S. V. Shekher All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and T. R. Baalu (DMK), respectively.

Karthik, another fisherman from Srinivasapuram says they find syringes in the creek, dumped by hospitals. The water stinks. This writer observed dead fish floating below Broken Bridge, on the creek.

Sundar, health coordinator of Montfort Community Development Society (MCDS), which regularly conducts health camps in Srinivasapuram, says fishermen suffer from skin diseases due to contact with sea water. They usually do not bother to get it treated.

People here also fall sick after drinking contaminated water from Metrowater tankers, says Sundar. The MCDS spreads awareness about health by conducting these camps with organisations like Rotary International.

Daisy Rani, a resident from the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) apartments here, says people cannot afford to boil water. Only some can afford packaged water cans while the rest have to depend on Metrowater. The Apartments do not have running water but some of the private houses do.

She says Corporation health personnel only visit during calamities, the tsunami, or for neo-natal care. Only three physicians, all private, frequent the area. Underground drainage has only recently been constructed. “The nearest hospitals are in Santhome and Triplicane (3-6km away).We need to go until there even for a delivery,” Daisy points out.

“The TNSCB flats have toilets but the sanitation in the huts is bad. Still, some residents rent out their flats and live outside. Public toilets are very dirty. There is moss growing in the urinals,” adds Daisy. After the tsunami, Daisy was relocated to a single storey house in Chemmancherry, a southern coastal suburb. Despite amenities like running water, she shifted back to Srinivasapuram for her childrens’ education.

According to Gomathi Manoharan (DMK), former municipal councillor of the ward, there are 1356 TNSCB apartments here, which came up in 1993. They house about 2000 families. 5000 more families live in huts. The government relocated 4000 families to Chemmancherry after the tsunami, but many, like Daisy have come back.

“(TNSCB) Flats residents sleep outside for fear of the roof caving in. The buildings are damaged but the government won’t resettle us in situ as they want to sell the land to Larsen & Toubro. The company doesn’t want us beside the buildings they construct.”

Gomathi says 50 people from Srinivasapuram got killed in the tsunami. That is because the area is surrounded by water on 3 sides. Even the fourth side got flooded and there was no where to run. She believes these could have been avoided if the TNSCB tenements were in neighbouring Pattinapakkam. According to her, this was the original plan, but the Pattinapakkam tenements were given to other slum dwellers in Chennai.

“We need 2000 more flats. 1000 in Pattinapakkam, for the kids and 1000 here, for the elders. There are three families living in my house (single storey private construction, less than 500 square feet) itself.” She adds that the Corporation has an elaborate plan to resettle them in apartments, to be built in Pattinapakkam, with a park and other amenities. But the execution of it would take two years. “Where will we live during that time,” she asks.

According to resident Srinivasan people have complained to the MLA and MP, but nothing seems to get done because people are divided on caste lines. “After the Tsunami, fishermen got boats, but we (non-fishermen) got nothing. Parties can keep winning here by appeasing the fishing community,” says Srinivasan.

According to Srinivasan, the Pattinapakkam dispensary has attenders but no physicians and the nearest government hospital is in Royapettah, 7 km away. The nearest government schools are CMS higher secondary school, Santhome and Pattinapakkam elementary school, yet people spend more and send their children to private schools like PS Senior Secondary School, Mylapore or Santhome High School.

Gomathi Manoharan agrees. She says in the 1970s the government had to raid homes for children not going to school. Now, due to awareness, people are even sending their children to expensive private schools. Government schools are also good and mid-day meals are served. “It doesn’t matter if the fathers are drunk. At least the children don’t go hungry,” says an ageing Gomathi.

She smiles saying how the one child norm is voluntarily followed here. “In 1976, men were forcefully sterilised. Now my son has just had one daughter and he doesn’t want any more,” she boasts.

There are many christians and muslims here and inter-religious marriage is common, says Gomathi. “There are no communal clashes and our girls can roam freely even at 1 AM. That’s because we have known each other for 50 years.”

A collective effort against the flesh trade

2008-12-16T22:17:00.000-08:00

The Word talked to B. Baby and Kalaivani, President and Secretary of the Indira Female Peer Educators Collective (IFPEC), respectively. IFPEC is a collective, of former and working female sex workers (FSWs) started in 2003 with 20 members. Today it boasts of 2088 members.

IFPEC has been organised by the Indian Community Welfare Organisation (ICWO), an NGO based in Vallalar Nagar, Anna Nagar West, Chennai. The collective primarily educates FSWs on safe sex and AIDS prevention. It also works as an advocacy group for FSWs, cares for their children, encourages savings schemes among them and even spreads awareness and rescues girls lured into the flesh trade. Pheroze L. Vincent reports…

(Pheroze L. Vincent ) PV: When did you become an FSW?
(B. Baby) BB: When I was 20 years old. I had a love marriage at 13. My husband was a drunkard. I had a friend whom, I didn’t know, was an FSW. One night my friend took me to her house when my husband had beaten me up very badly. She initiated me to the profession.

PV: What problems have you faced as an FSW?
BB: Customers have taken me to unknown locations and have not paid after the night was over. Some have left me off at unknown places. The decent ones give the bus fare for going home. Some get drunk and threaten us with knives. They hold us for more than a night and make us have sex with groups of 5 or 6.

PV: Have you ever been arrested?
BB: I was in a remand home in Bangalore for 6 months. In the home, we were taught Kannada, basket weaving and incense-stick making. The food was bad. We would get kanji (rice soup) and sometimes get eggs. I was bailed out by the owner of the lodge I worked in. Even after my released I faced many raids.

PV: Was there any torture?
BB: Police used to beat up repeated offenders in lock ups. We would pay the fine and get released. After they have been sensitized the torture has stopped for the past two years.

PV: Did you try any other profession after being released?
BB: I remained an FSW. I didn’t know about HIV. Once an FSW, we are stigmatized and we can’t find rented accommodation or jobs. Wherever we went we ended up in the same profession.

PV: When did you leave the profession?
BB: I got in touch with ICWO 12 years ago. We FSWs understand the plight of other FSWs. Another FSW talked me into joining. It has been 5 years since I left the profession.

PV: How do you recruit?
(Kalaivani) K: Our field volunteers distribute condoms to FSWs, free of charge, at soliciting sites, daily. We spread awareness about HIV and even demonstrated how condoms are used. Initially members are enrolled in a thrift society. We even conduct street plays.

BB: We have divided the city into 10 zones for operation. Volunteers and zone leaders need to submit regular reports and are even subject to audits. (She shows this writer, folders of audits and hand written reports.)

PV: What employment is available to former FSWs?
K: We train them in tailoring, driving, flower vending, candle making, running Idli shopsand so on. They also find jobs as domestic helps and security guards.

PV: How many FSWs are there in Chennai?
K: A survey in 2004 listed 6500 FSWs. They are centred mainly around the film production areas of Kodambakkam. When leaders of these zones get information of a procurer bringing girls into the trade, we go rescue them. They victims come here for jobs, especially in the cine field.

PV: Don’t you face opposition from those who run the business?
K: We counsel procurers and pimps too and sensitise them against this trade. We attend public hearings regarding sex workers so we are known to the authorities. We also bail out peer educators, who inevitably get arrested in raids.

PV: Do you face harassment of any sort?
BB: No, we do not operate in the areas we used to practice. The police know we belong to IFPEC. Some of us haven’t revealed our involvement in the trade to even our own children. We tell the landlords that we work for an NGO.

PV: Do you know of any FSW’s children born in prison?
K: No, we do not practice when we are pregnant. But, the atmosphere at home isn’t always good. Most of us, who are in the trade, are there because of irresponsible husbands. When FSWs are arrested we have cluster mothers who take care of them. We also have mentors who see that they get an education. The children often educate their parents.

BB: My daughter is in Class 12 now. She will go to college next year.

PV: What goals have you set for IFPEC?
K: We are now active in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Villupuram and Madurai districts. We want to spread our mission all over Tamil Nadu.

ICWO and IFPEC partner with the Tamil Nadu Aids Initiative- Voluntary Health Service (TAI-VHS) and Chennai Corporation AIDS Prevention and Control Society (CAPACS) and have even conducted workshops for the Tamil Nadu Police. The organization is headed by Mr. Hariharan. Information about their activities can be accessed at www.icwoindia.org.

(With inputs and translation from Devasitham, who is doing a Masters in Social Work- Community Development student at Madras Christian College and interning at ICWO.)

Prabhakaran Praises Karuna as TN MPs defer resignation

2008-12-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader, V. Prabhakaran in a recent interview to Tamil magazine Nakkeeran, has praised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for his efforts to send relief to Tamils in Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran has said, “Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Kalaignar is a Tamil nationalist. He has not only voiced his concern against the Sinhala state terrorism in Tamil Eelam, but has also showed it in action.” Prabhakaran has also condemned Tamil Nadu opposition leader of All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK), J. Jayalalithaa, for distancing herself from the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.

This recent interview of Prabhakaran takes the steam out of protests led by parties like the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), whose leader V. Gopalaswamy alias Vaiko, is now in jail for making speeches in support of the LTTE, and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).

Prabhakaran, in his interview, has chosen to praise Karunanidhi, whom pro-LTTE groups, like the MDMK, VCK and the Tamil National Movement, have condemned for allegedly paying lip-service to the Eelam cause while continuing to be a part of the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre. Karunanidhi has also withdrawn his threat to pull out of the Union Government after External Affairs Minster Pranab Mukherjee recently called on him, in Chennai.

When asked how the MDMK felt on losing the glory of supporting Eelam, to the DMK, party spokesperson Mr. Nanmaran said, “We are not a narrow-minded party. Karunanidhi is talking about the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils only now, whereas we have been constantly supporting the (Eelam) cause for a long time. It is with generosity, that Prabhakaran has given this statement praising Karunanidhi for his relief efforts.”

The current wave of protests, in Tamil Nadu, against the alleged atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils was started off on October 2, with the Communist Party of India (CPI) holding a public fast. The DMK, later, took up the issue with the Centre, and convened an all-party meeting that called for the resignation of Tamil MPs from parliament. The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leader Vijaykanth has accused the DMK of hijacking the issue from the CPI.

Com. Mahendran, Assistant Secretary of the CPI, Tamil Nadu, speaking to this reporter, said that after the October 2 fast, the whole state recognizes that the CPI is completely committed to the well-being of Sri Lankan Tamils. “Our All India Party Congress, in Hyderabad, had decided that there has to only be a political solution for the self-determination of Sri Lankan Tamils within a united Sri Lanka. Instead of an Indian federal setup, we support the Quebec model for Lanka.”

On being asked about whether the CPI’s decisions were coordinated with the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, which is a part of the ruling coalition there, Com. Mahendran said that they too want an end to atrocities on Tamils.” Being the Tamil Nadu branch of the CPI, we have to consider the sentiments of the Tamil people first. Every communist party acts according to how it assesses the national condition.” This year’s May Day rallies in Sri Lanka echoed a strong anti-war sentiment.

The bulk of the LTTE’s support in India comes Dalit youth, who, rightly or wrongly, look upon the LTTE as an ideal movement for Dalit emancipation. Dalit parties like the VCK are the militant in their support for Eelam. Bala, a young Bahujan Samaj Party worker in Nungambakkam, who was formerly a supporter of the VCK, spoke to this reporter. “Our CM has fulfilled his responsibility by organizing aid for Sri Lankan Tamils. The MDMK and VCK have taken money from the LTTE, hence they are doing this propaganda.”

The credibility of Tamil nationalist groups is in doubt as political exigencies have caused them to swing between the ADMK and DMK, threatening to erode their core base of Tamil nationalists and Dalits.

Stir in support of Dalit law students

2008-12-16T01:45:00.000-08:00

Chennai, Dec 3: A Class 8 schoolboy named Mani from Chromepet demonstrated today in support of Dalits involved in the violence at Dr. Ambedkar Law College on Novemeber 12.

“We have to defend ourselves from upper caste thugs from outside (of Chennai) if we have to study in college,” he said as he joined around 70 supporters of the Revolutionary Students’ Youth Front (RSYF) held in front of Memorial Hall at Park Town here today.

The speakers at the event accused the media of sensationalism and not investigating the root cause of the violence which, they claimed, was discrimination against Dalits.

Veeraswami of the Peoples Art & Literary Association (PALA) said upper caste students would not eat with Dalits and mocked them when they received the SC/ST scholarships.

“They pass comments like, ‘You coolies who live off gruel we give you in villages don’t wear slippers there, yet you show off with shoes here.’ Dalits were attacked during exams. Finally when the three main sub-castes of Dalits jointly resolved to hit back, this violence broke out,” said Veeraswami.

D. Ganesan, joint secretary, RSYF Chennai, said that with the closure of the hostel and canteen, the Rs.1000 SC/ST scholarship is too little to survive. Ganesan suspects a conspiracy by politicians, police and the media, to project a bad image of students, so that students lose the sympathy of the public.

“By tainting students as rowdies, police action to crush student struggles becomes easier and the government can continue to neglect reform in education,” he said.

The Mess with no name

2008-12-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

In the quaint streets of George Town, this writer discovers a slice of Kerala, whose taste lingers on

George Town is a Mecca for die-hard shoppers, weary migrant labourers and all those interested in experiencing old Chennai. It is also home to a number of lodges, mansions, hostels, shipping corporations and trade unions, law firms and financial institutions. The buildings of George Town never fail to enchant those who choose to explore the narrow streets and their hidden treasures.

In the labyrinth of these crumbling towers of history, this writer discovered an excellent Malayalee restaurant, which has no name or signboard. Its patrons attract new customers by telling their friends about it. It is located in a sinister looking, soot-caked, old colonial building on Armenian Street and one has to figure out a maze of staircase to locate it. The hallucinating aroma of frying curry leaves, guides the hungry through this maze. GPRS mobile phone maps will not work here. It is the smell of coconut oil and the sound of ladle striking wok, which serves as a beacon. It is popularly known as ‘Mallu Mess.’ The proprietors are reluctant to talk to reporters as their eatery is not properly registered. The eatery is a hit with the residents of the hostels and lodges. Hostel residents of Madras Medical College (MMC ) and the Catholic Centre are its loyal clientele.

The walls are painted with a very bright shade of blue enamel. It is coated with a jagged finish of soot, dust and grease. There is a large exhaust fan, which looks as if it has been salvaged from an oil slick. Cardboards squares decorate the edges of the fan. It is very relaxing to have long conversations in the constant whirr of this fan. The mess is managed by a trio who are known to everyone as Dinesh, Master and Cashier. The old patriarch, Master has a terrific sense of humour. His sarcastic humour is a balm that soothes our fatigue. The mess serves Puttu- Kadala on Sunday mornings. This attracts a large number of Malayalees who live, work or study in the area. The mess’ speciality is the Parotta-Beef, which this writer found to be the best he had come across. Dishes are very reasonably priced and an enormous quantity of rice is served for a meal, available for Rs. 20/-. This eatery works from 8 AM to 10 PM, everyday of the week. It has a seating capacity of eight.

'International' football in Tambaram

2008-12-10T07:38:00.000-08:00

There’s a usually a fight during the finals of the annual Mini International Football Tournament in Madras Christian College (MCC), Tambaram- especially when the teams are neck-to-neck. This year, however, was different.

The tournament is believed to have begun in the latter half of the 1990s. This year it was held from 10–29 Novemeber. The name is a misnomer as most teams are domestic. Yet, nationalist sentiments were visible. At this year’s tournament from November 10-29, Tibetan supporters proudly displayed their national colours of red and dark blue. Mizo supporters sang the Zotlang Ram Nuam (the Mizo national anthem) to cheer their teams.

The tournament was started by Thai and Tibetan youth of Chennai, and they gave the ‘international’ name. Later, other teams, like the Chennai Mizo Welfare Association (CMWA) and the Naga Students Union-Chennai (NSUC), were invited. “The tournament today, is largely a forum for interaction for youth of Mongoloid races, in Chennai,” says Asun, Sports Secretary, NSUC. Northeastern and Tibetan youth, living in Chennai come out in full strength to cheer their teams. Most of them come here to study or work in the IT sector.

The tournament is a jamboree for these people for whom football is an important part of life. This year too, the spirit of the players and the 150 spectators was in no way dampened by the rain. A kind soul passed around whisky in an army liquor flask to warm up the drenched fans. Tibetan fan Dorje said, that the previous day trains only ran from Kodambakkam. Trains usually start from Beach, but could not as the tracks were flooded by the rain. Teams and fans spent at least Rs.100 per auto to get to the railway station. Asked why they chose to play in Tamabaram, on the outskirts of Chennai, Mizo player Samuel said that the MCC grounds are one of the best in Chennai. “It is also convenient as most players are resident students in MCC,” said Samuel. NSUC’s Asung added that the MCC grounds are free of cost and it is a lot easier to book them than other grounds like Loyola College.

Ten teams participated this year. They were: Tibetan Students Association-Madras (TSAM)- 2 teams; CMWA- 2 teams; NSUC; Manipur; Andaman & Nicobar Islands; Arunachal Pradesh; Stars of Africa and United Tribes (a mixed bag of players from different states and countries). No Thai team has appeared for a couple of years due to a lack of players. This year, CMWA- Team ‘A’ and NSUC made it to the finals, while CMWA- Team ‘B’ and TSAM- Team ‘A’ battled for the third place on Saturday, 29 November on the MCC Football Grounds. The third place match saw some wonderful football. The players fought it out in the slush, seemingly tireless even as the game progressed to the second half. Tibetan captain Dorje Tsering led the team to a 2-1 victory against the Mizos.

The final match between CMWA and NSUC saw tensions run high, as the CMWA aimed to win the tournament for the third consecutive time. The previous champions were the NSUC in early 2006. This year the Mizos fielded former Indian Bank forward Lalchhauchhuah. NSUC’s Asung described the 2006 win as his most memorable moment as the match was a tough contest and his team scored the wining at the last moment. He has been playing since 2003. This year the teams were equally good and were equal at 2-2, when the match ended.

There were tense moments of the field and scuffles were averted by timely pacification by Mizo captain Michael, an MCC student. The referees and linesmen worked hard to keep spectators off the field during the match. The Mizos won in the penalty shootout 3-0 and with it the Mini International.

Mizo supporters cried and leaped in ecstasy when the winning goal was scored. Fireworks were lit and players huddled around on the ground for a thanksgiving prayer. A crestfallen Asung said that they are hope to break the Mizo jinx next year. A lot of good youngsters are expected next year, he said. On why female support for the Mizos was more than the other teams, captain Michael said it was because of “girl-magnet goalkeeper Lalhmangaizuala.” The female fans were not willing to comment.

Recession hits Indian workers

2008-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

The recession in the United States has caused many companies to sack employees. Companies are sighting low consumer demand as a reason for laying off. Industries worst hit are Textiles, Automobiles, Information Technology (IT) and allied industries. Labour unrest is beginning in Tamil Nadu, in industrial hubs like Hosur, Coimbatore and Ennore. This will have a bearing in the upcoming General Elections.

T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary of the Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India and member of the Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPM), says that his party is taking this issue to voters in their campaign through street corner meetings and public meetings.

According to Rao, the Left’s constant opposition to Foreign Direct Investment has partially insulated India from the full impact of recession. “Only the Left had foreseen this. No other party can take credit for it,” says Rao.

According to L. F. Vincent, General Manager, Carborundum Universal, the recession has reduced the bargaining power of workers. Increments to blue-collar workers are largely made according to their bargaining power rather than their performance on the company’s profits. “Workers are groomed to follow might-is-right tactics. But with the recession, even their strikes against sacking are ineffective because factories don’t need their services as production has been cut.” says Vincent.
Vincent adds that the worst hit, are workers who were due for wage negotiation. They have lost their jobs instead of getting increments. Industries like Steel, which enjoyed a boom in the last three years are now passing off the entire burden of the recession on to their workers. Public Sector Undertakings and companies with strong trade unions are not laying off though.

This worries union leaders like Rao. Only 7% of workers are in the organised sector, says Rao. “Strikes are useless as temporary replacements are easily found. We are now trying our best to organise in the IT and the unorganized sector.”

Advocate V. Krishna Ananth says the law in this matter clear. “For instance, where the management decides to layoff a section of its workmen for a particular period of time, such workmen are entitled for a layoff compensation amounting to half the sum of the Basic Salary and Dearness Allowance and this will be applicable for a period of 45 days,” Ananth explains.

Prof. D. A. O. Abel Rajan, an Economist in Madras Christian College, says that companies are known to make unofficial payments to authorities to find a way around the law. Ananth and Vincent agree. Rajan believes that we need a right balance of economics and spirituality. “Here MNCs dictate terms to the State. This problem is of our own doing. What we need is self sufficiency. We need to re-plan our economy to avoid importing,” says Rajan.

He says that IT professionals are over paid and must be willing to suffer wage cuts. Their conspicuous consumption has contributed to inflation. “The Government needs to control the boom in real estate and regulate the IT sector.”

M. V. Krishna Prakasam, an employee of Cognizant, an IT giant says that there were fears of lay offs after Satyam Computers pink-slipped 4500 employees. Cognizant has assured job security, he says. “We recently won an outsourced contract of Pepsi, which took away 1500 American jobs. We have to contact these sacked employees to ask them about the project. It is very sad talking to them.”

Golden opportunity for dropouts

2008-12-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

“My teacher used to beat me up in my old school, so I stopped going to school,” says Atiya before she and her classmate Ammu act out how her teacher used to beat her. 8-year-old Atiya of Foreshore Estate, now studies at the Transit School in the Government Primary School building, Patinapakkam. She is one of many children that have been brought back to school by the Montfort Community Development Society (MCDS), Shastri Nagar. MCDS, which runs seven such schools with 74 students this academic year, is one among 14 NGOs in the city that work in partnership with the Corporation of Chennai (CC), in running these Transit Schools.

Transit Schools are one-year schooling programmes for school dropouts and child labourers, before they are admitted to regular schools. They are unable to join regular schools for the lack of a Transfer Certificate. Most of their parents are illiterate and do not collect a Transfer Certificate before migrating. On completing the course the students write entrance exams for regular schools and are admitted in the class that suits their ability. The Transfer Certificates, which are universally valid, are issued by the Corporation

“We admit children of ages 6 to 16. For each academic year we work in collaboration with either the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) or the National Child Labour Project (NCLP),” says Mr. Arul, Senior Coordinator of the MCDS. The Cardinal Leger Foundation of Canada also supports this project. This academic year is funded by the SSA. An academic year runs from August to May. In the months of June and July prospective students are identified by surveying the slums of Chennai.

Surveys are a dangerous job. “Sometimes sundry missiles have been thrown at the surveyors. We have to face abusive parents and employers, but we are able to counsel them into agreeing to let the children learn,” says Mr. Bosco, Coordinator of MCDS’ Transit School programme. Head teachers of neighbourhood schools help MCDS locate these children by giving them a list of dropouts. They are also involved in readmitting children in regular schools.

“We even get help from local political leaders. We have also been inviting police officials to our Child Rights Awareness programmes,” says an enthusiastic Mr. Bosco, who despite ill health, braved the rain to organize the Child Rights and Sports Day for the Government Primary School, Patinapakkam. The MCDS keeps in touch with its alumni by inviting them once a year for a get-together. Apart from sponsoring books, bags and uniforms for the children, the organisation also guides them to community colleges.

In the last 12 years MCDS has put 1860 children through these schools. “42 of these children are now toppers in regular schools,” says Bro. Patrick, Director- MCDS. MCDS also runs a programme for women from slums.

Bro. Patrick explains that when women get involved in Self Help Groups, they come in contact with other women who have children in schools and colleges. This motivates them to sacrifice the income derived from their working children, to send them to school. However, he says, it is next to impossible to convince drunken fathers to send their children to school. “We can use legal remedies but practically we can do nothing if the father of the child doesn’t want to send him to school,” woes Bro. Patrick, who has been with the MCDS for eight years.

Last year the MCDS ran a program for children of migrant cane craftsmen from Gujarat. With the Transfer Certificates obtained, they can now join schools anywhere they migrate to. In Transit Schools on Avvai Shanmugam Salai and Thousand Lights, many of the children were addicts and involved in petty crime. Yet, they are now in school, thanks to the lure of noon meals and a regular school life. The children are taught using the “activity based learning” method. The government specially trains the teachers for this purpose.

Each school is run by one teacher. They are assisted by Social Work students and helpers. The MCDS gives incentives of Rs 500 to teachers and Rs 1000 to helpers over above their salaries of Rs 1500 and Rs 800, respectively, which is paid by the government. Says Rachana, a volunteer from St. Joseph’s College, Kovur, “Though I have a language problem (she is Telugu and is not fluent in Tamil), I am able to take English classes. I am happy with the work I do here.” Those interested in volunteering or making monetary contributions to the MCDS can visit their website www.mcdschennai.org.

The children of Transit Schools
1. Besant Nagar- Gram vendors of Elliots Beach
2. N. S. Garden- Cane workers
3. Patinapakkam- Domestic helpers
4. Avvai Shanmugam Salai- Addicts/ anti-socials from the Cemetry nearby
5. Varadharajapuram- Waste electric wire workers
6. Thousand Lights- Addicts from slums along the Kuvam
7. Teynampet- Utensil tinkers

CAG finds irregularities in Chennai Port

2008-12-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

DPWorld accused of falsifying records; Suspicions on privatization confirmed

The Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has accused Dubai Ports World’s Chennai subsidiary of fudging its books, in his Compliance Audit Report no. 2 of 2008. The report has reprimanded the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) and the Chennai Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (CCTL)- DP World’s subsidiary, for “Improper compliance of agreement for privatization of the container terminal operations.” The CAG found “no proper system to ensure the veracity of the royalty paid by the operator as well of the achievement of “non-transshipment” traffic reported by the operator.”

Though clauses 3.08(A)(i)(g) and 3.08(A)(vii) of the agreement provide for the auditing of CCTL’s books by ChPT, the auditors were blocked by CCTL from doing so. The auditors had to rely on the Terminal Despatch Reports which did not contain complete data on various types of containers handled.

As per the agreement between CCTL and ChPT in August 2001, CCTL had agreed to develop Chennai as a hub port and increase non-transshipment traffic to at least 30 percent of total traffic in four years. Non-transshipment refers to direct traffic to Chennai as different from the use of Chennai Port as an intermediate destination for shipment of goods. The CAG found “a large variation” between the number of containers reported by CCTL and the number actually recorded by the Chennai Customs based on the Bills of Entry (BE). The difference between the percentage of non-transshipment containers of total traffic, as reported by CCTL and as worked out based on BE is 22.74 percent for Dec 2003-Nov 2004 and 35.19 percent for Dec 2004-Nov 2005. The net revenue earned by Ch PT from container operation in the terminal during 2002-03 to 2005-06 worked out to Rs. 322.52 crore including the royalty and land lease charges of Rs. 265.88 crore received from CCTL.

The agreement had specified that non-transshipment meant containers not shipped from Colombo, Singapore, Port Klang, Dubai and Salalah. Yet, the CCTL has included containers shipped from these ports too. In this regard the CAG summarises that “ChPT failed to ensure the fulfillment of the agreement conditions regarding non-transshipment traffic resulting in loss of compensation equivalent to the amount of royalty payable on shortfall in non-transshipment traffic.”

Labour union Leaders like T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary of Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India (WTWFI) have been highlighting these financial irregularities. “MNCs must follow Indian Laws. Even the P&O-DPW merger was not communicated to the government. Now, these people are not even allowing government auditors in.”

The CCTL is now wholly owned by Dubai Ports World (DPW), a State run port services company of the United Arab Emirates. It is the third largest global port operator. DPW bought P&O in March 2006 but did not take the permission of the various port authorities in India, which had agreements with P&O, before taking over the assets of the latter. ChPT and the Gujarat Maritime Board had objected to this violation but the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath had then assured the UAE of smooth transfer, during his Dubai visit. WTWFI had then demanded the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act be invoked as the merger foreboded the emergence of monopoly in container port service.
The CAG has also found that CCTL violated Article 3.08(A)(v) of the agreement by not informing ChPT of the life of all new equipment purchase. No clarifications have been received from DPWorld or ChPT, at the time this report was filed.

In the CAG’s Report no. 4 of 2004 (Civil): Autonomous bodies, it was revealed that the ChPT had lost Rs. 3.2 crore due to negligence in its Split coal dredging operations and had wasted Rs. 1.87 crore by availing an Asian Development Bank loan, despite the availability of adequate resources internally. The privatization of Chennai Container Terminal has cost 752 jobs. Despite the fact that the amount of Cargo handled by Indian ports has increased by 128% in the last 12 years, more than 30,000 jobs have been lost since.