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

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”

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

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

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

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

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

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’

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

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

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.