Social and Political state of justice in Chhattisgarh

Just about a week ago we heard the Supreme Court grant bail to acclaimed social activist Binayak Sen. The bail along with the proceedings of the lower court raises some very serious questions on the system and method of governance at the state level. Here I will only take into consideration the Binayak Sen case in the present day state of Chhattisgarh. Having parents who work in similar fields in Jharkhand and who know Binayak Sen and his wife Ilina Sen personally for the past 10 years I feel, I may have a slightly different perspective.

Binayak Sen was, while advocating nonviolent political engagement by the BJP ruled Chhattisgarh state, arrested in May 2007 on charges of sedation. He was subsequently kept in solitary confinement and has been in jail for around 2 years since then. He was charged under 124A of the IPC. Before we move on, a small discussion on the 124A. This law has been repetitively criticised by many people for a long time. Not only has it been termed old and colonial but has also been a hindrance to the liberal and democratic nature of our country from time to time. Gandhi in 1922 while pleading guilty of sedition declared –“I have no desire whatsoever to conceal from this court the fact that to preach disaffection towards the existing system of government has almost become a passion within me” He went on to say that “affection cannot be manufactured or regulated by the law” and described section 124A as, “the prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress liberty of the citizen.” The same law has, and is, being used even today. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, one of India’s most loved patriots was charged under this law, twice. Even Nehru criticised this law way back in 1951, calling it “highly objectionable and obnoxious” in parliament!

Anyway moving on, we come to the question, why, even after such seemingly lack of evidence and public outcry was Dr Sen sentenced to life by the high court? To answer that question we shall move back to the politics and state of affairs in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh as a state is rich in minerals and natural resources and this has resulted in a lot of interest been shown by huge multinational mining and industrial projects. Now these companies not only get cheap labour and resources, they also see an easily manipulative and easy to bribe political and bureaucratic setup in Chhattisgarh. Social welfare is frankly the least of these companies’ motives and we don’t need a research to see that this also goes for the bureaucrats and politicians.

So now we have the money hungry politicians and bureaucrats and the profit driven companies. But in Chhattisgarh we have another factor coming into play. The Maoists are a strong organisation and have a three decade old established setup in Chhattisgarh. Now the companies of course cannot run any industry or mine with the maoists opposing it. And so, the state in order to drive the maoists out, devised the most undemocratic, violent and inhuman methods in the form of Salwa Judum. The method involved arming common villagers to fight the maoists. Not only did it result in hundreds of innocent civilians being tortured, raped, or killed but also in thousands of people being displaced from their native places. And for a tribal there is nothing that is more painful than being separated from his homeland, for that is what he is.

So then we have social activists like Dr Binayak Sen who have been working for the people dedicating their lives for the good of the society, voicing their dissent against the methods and activities of the state. Binayak Sen, who demanded proper rehabilitation for the tribals and stopping of the Salwa Judum, was instead locked up and charged with sedation.

We can debate on the solutions the state can implement, but if the state resorts to violence to carry out processes of consent, then communities that survive on natural resources cannot be expected to lie down and die. When the people at the helm of affairs are corrupt to the core there are really slim hopes of justice. There are people who think that Dr Sen has been rightly convicted for ‘hating’ India, and that justice has been delivered with a strong and iron hand. Millions of indigenous and rural people among whom Dr Sen worked are also those who ‘hate India’. That may be true because they belong to ‘Bharat’ and not the ‘India’ that you seem to represent which wants to run this vast country like a colony, similar to the British and Mughal empires. Open your eyes and find out who really is looting our country- is it doctors like Binayak who have dedicated their lives to the poor or the politicians and businessmen who hide behind pseudo-patriotic slogans every time someone challenges their exploitation?

The above written is largely personal opinion. The rest is fact.

Written by Kabir Sagar Ghosh on 24th April, 2011 5.17 PM

LOKPAL POLITICS: THE MAKING OF THE ONSLAUGHT

Though the whole nation is a stakeholder in corruption,

but the stakes vary to the detriment of the nation.

The movement for Jan Lokpal Bill to become an act was in full swing. The Drafting Committee for the bill, for the first time in the history of Independent India, comprised members of Civil Society. Though the mannerism of the Hazare Campaign suffers with serious anomalies and lacunae, it is indeed a positive step towards curtailing the Corruption. A few misgivings from the Campaign are that the 5 members of Civil Society have not been elected in a democratic manner and the misunderstanding of Representative System of Democracy by Hazare. But at the end of the day, it deserves more praise than criticism because these are the people who were willing and stood up to change the status quo.

The Lokpal bill has been there since 1968 but apart from 1985 when it was withdrawn by the government it has never been passed by the Parliament, be it due its dissolution or MPs’ harangue on strict law v. personal interests. This time also the progress made by the Campaign was not liked by some Political Personalities or they saw in it an opportunity to reaffirm their Political affiliations.

To talk of the latest developments, the CD released by Amar Singh claimed to be one containing Shanti Bhushan’s secret conversation with Mulayam Singh Yadav has a very dirty political tinge attached to it. Whether the CD is doctored or original, the fuss about that is going on between Forensic Labs. The CD says something about Shanti Bhushan’s assurance to Mulayam Singh about Prashant Bhushan’s (his son) capability to obtain a favourable judgement from a judge by bribing him in a case concerning him; but is it not an issue concerning the probity of a Judge? A politician who is in the knowledge of such facts but exposes these only when he can extract a personal benefit out of it for himself or his political party sets the lowest example possible for the Country’s Politics. It tantamounts to abetment of corruption in Judiciary.

When Amar Singh targeted Bhushans for undervaluation of their properties, obtaining plots from UP CMs discretionary quota et al, the only thing which defeated the understanding of the common man was the reason for withholding of this information by him till date. There was a reasonable suspicion that there might have been a nexus he might have had with these kind of murky dealing taking place all over the place which so debilitate and effeminate him to bring these to fore never but on the advent of an opportunity surpassing the fruits of keeping the info under the lock.

When Digvijay Singh targeted the weakness of Santosh Hegde as a member of the Civil Society in Drafting Committee, citing his laxity in the perusal of the investigations as the Karnataka Lokaytukta against the State’s CM Shree B.S. Yediurappa, he should have known the ambit of Lokayukta Powers. Ignorance is not expected from the people who are supposed to eliminate it.

Finally to conclude, this opportunistic brand of politics will do nothing but wreak havoc for the development of the Country. The Country is in dire need of a strong anti-graft statute and if the movement which has shown the capability of giving it to the nation breaks up, disembarks or gives it up, then the future looks very bleak......

NO DEVELOPMENT IN WEST BENGAL UNDER LEFT GOVERNMENT

The demolition of 'Adarsh'...

Its a very recent news that court proceeding for the Adarsh building will be held on 27th April. Mumbai High Court will listen to all the testimonies, views from the the Adarsh building committee and also from the environmentalists. Its a simple phenomenon that even if you demolish Adarsh society then also there can be no revival of the enviornment.

There is no doubt that it was one of the hottest issues in the winter session of Maharashtra legislature. Adarsh issue together with Lavasa city issue. The building may be demolished and there will be certain other losses now such as-

i) Cost of the construction.

ii) Building material which cannot be used again.

iii)Cost of architecture, maps and blueprint.

iv)Loss of time used in legislature because even a session of legislature requires money.

These are just few losses which I have stated here. There might be many more losses which may not have not come in light. All this is because of politics. If the Adarsh is the result of the ruling party then the opposition desperately wants it to be demolished.

It's a simple principle that if any project is started by the ruling party which requires some tenure of 8 years (for example) and if the opposition party comes to power and they have negative image of politics then they will surely try to stop the project and finally when it will come to the light of the people and other committees then the ruling party will blame to the x-ruling government.

The committee will declare some time to submit the report. Before the committee is formed there is politics in the legislature followed by the ratification process. Its a hard core process.

Finally, the loss is incurred by the government in the financial terms and partly the time for development is lost. If the government suffers the financial loss then who indirectly suffers. It is suffered by the people who pay tax.

Loss of people, is the loss of the democracy. Loss of democracy= result of negative politics (Demolition of 'adarsh')

Demolition of Adarsh in two means (one is Adarsh society and other one is inner virtues).

Thanks.

Let the spirit of democracy be in positive means.

Raj Agrawal

COALITION POLITICS: WHERE ARE THE BENEFITS?

Going by the basics of coalition politics, it is considered to be an improvised institution of checks and balances in a multi-party democracy. It is expected to preclude the dictatorial wielding of power likely to be practiced by any one political party if incase it gets the popular mandate. In Indian context arrival of Coalition Politics was necessitated by strengthening bond between incumbency and Congress; the bond which was seen as a potential threat to India as a democracy and federation.

But recently, our Prime Minister made a remark which meant that 2G Scam was a result of coalition politics. Agreed that it was a result of coalition politics. But then I have a few questions in this regard:

1. Was the government aware beforehand that it was making unethical compromises?

2. Does the desire to stay in power for this government supersedes the principles of governance that demand the obeisance of the government to the nation and its people prior to any coalition partner?

3. Why does this admission made post the vociferous and vehement claims of innocence of Raja?

4. If the CBI, judiciary, opposition and the media would have succumbed to the government’s denial of the scam (which I know was least likely to happen, but still there was a probability) , then how would our PM have imitated Caesar’s wife (his standard of probity) ?

Finally, where do we have the benefits of coalition politics when the power is shared in a manner so as not to check despotism but to share the perpetration of despotism?

I was unable to find an answer to it, if you can, then please let me know.....

ARE WE ENTITLED TO A PADHA LIKHA NETA?

One fine day our political science teacher was teaching us the Qualifications/Disqualifications for becoming a MP or contesting Lok Sabha elections as enshrined in the Article 84, 102 of the Constitution of India and in the Representatives of People Act, 1951. She randomly posed before all of us a question as to the need of inclusion of a clause specifying some minimum educational standard for the same. I have just laid down what I think of this issue.

Why do we need educated politicians?

1. It might be due to the reason that they are better equipped to understand the nature of their work properly by the virtue of the intellect differential they share with their uneducated counterparts.

Yes, I do agree with this. But I think that the work of a MP/MLA is to provide directions to the authorities under his area which can be done by any development seeking honest and truthful person even if he/she is deprived of education. Most of the work is to be done by the bureaucrats who are highly educated and capable of giving concrete shape to their vision.

2. It is also a viewpoint that their presence would reduce corruption.

I totally disagree with this because the probity, integrity and morality has a little to do with education. Nowadays, what Kapil Sibal is doing in defending UPA in the 2G Scam is in my opinion the best example in this context.

3. Raise people’s faith in government/ reduce the governance deficit.

Yes, that is certainly true because politicians are also the citizens of society first and their being educated is good for the overall betterment of the society.

Why dont we need educated politicians?

1. Anti-Democratic: It will undermine the true spirit of democracy as there would be no equal opportunity for contesting of elections.

2. Managerial Job: The job of a MP/MLA is more of managerial kind. As we know that many corporate houses are a gift of the entrepreneurs who are uneducated people, we should not undermine the capability of determined but uneducated politicians to change the tide flowing in India Inc.

An apt manner of resolving this issue would be to wait for the society to be educated through the various measure taken by the government which would eventually produce educated politicians also. But the current constitutional provisions in this regard (qualifications for contesting elections) shouldn’t be tampered with.

The fulfilled [ :( ] promises of politicians....

I had discussion with one of my friends that what law applies if any teacher denies to take coaching class of any college ? I didn't understood anything but they both were discussing were something about article 14 (right to education ) of constitution. If school is made then there are certain rules but private coaching classes do not follow any of such rules. According to the article of Indian express:

CM promises law to check coaching classes.
http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/20000609/ina09031.html

The article is of date June 9,2000. It was done after the Chate controversy.

But the point here is not of Chate controversy or what so ever. Today the private coaching classes are spreading and they are charging the ransom amount they want. The professors of government colleges are working in private coaching classes.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_regulate-coaching-classes-hc-tells-govt_1147217

The above stated article is of June 2008, DNA INDIA. According to these article, HC (Bombay)  had given government four weeks time to frame regulation for private coaching classes.

I had a personal experience too. When I was in HSC, I had admitted myself to a well known private coaching classes of my city. One teacher used to teach us chemistry and simultaneously he used to work in a college also (he is well known author in chemistry).I didn't know that he worked in government college. It came to my knowledge when a complaint was lodged against him by some other rival coaching class (where also a government college professor worked).

Once he took a day leave, and when I asked in detail than it came to my knowledge that he was already aware that inspection was going to come in private coaching class to check. It was the way when the officials came and they didn't found him. Here was a corrupt political setup which is infact very small but very interesting also. This is just one example but there are lot of professors like this.

Here is another article of July 2009 by INDIA TIMES:
http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=2&edlabel=TOIM&mydateHid=03-07-2009&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Mumbai+-+Times+City&edname=&articleid=Ar00201&format=&publabel=TOI  


There has been always regulation and decision of government but the thing is that it is never working properly.  The article I showed was of 2000,2008 and 2009 but there is no regulation regarding private coaching classes. Here is how the system works...!

These are the promises fulfilled by politicians...! [ : ( ]

Regards,

Take care,

Raj Agrawal