India Census 2011: Where are the Atheists?

- Subhash Gatade

The consternation witnessed around release of religious figures in Census 2011 has rather overshadowed an interesting fact which has emerged through this mammoth exercise. It tells us that India has 2.87 million people who have no faith in any religion, which is around 0.24 per cent of our population. Definitely it includes not only atheists, rationalists but all those people who do not believe in any faith but some ‘unknown’ force.

Definitely it is a welcome development that the state has finally acknowledged their existence and what Dravid Kazhagam leader K Veeramani said ‘recorded their voice for the first time in the census’. but a cursory glance at earlier surveys and studies makes it amply clear that the figures are on the lower end.

Take the case of a survey done by the Times of India people with TNS, a leading market research agency to know ‘how Indians view God and their faith’.(10 city TOI-TNS poll, TOI, 26th Nov 2006) It was done across ten cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Patna, Lucknow and Nagpur- with 1,007 respondents, and which was restricted to people falling in socio-economic categories A,B and C.

According to the survey three fourths of Indians were strong believers; 72 per cent of those in their twenties strongly believe in god ; mere 11 per cent of respondents saw god as explicitly male ; number of people who said they are more religious today than they used to be was considerably larger than those who felt they had become less religious. The survey also brought to the fore the unwritten divide existing between the south and the north. While according to the survey 92 % of the respondents in the north had expressed their belief in God, the figure slipped to 86% in South. The scepticism of the south was also evident in things like belief in spiritual gurus or on questions less directly connected to religiosity.

Or, refer to the ‘Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism’ (More Indians have stopped believing in God: Survey, Kounteya Sinha,TNN | May 27, 2013) which found that ‘the number of non-religious people in India has risen.’ While in the same survey in 2005, 87% participants declared themselves to be religious, the percentage fell to 81 % in 2013, a drop by 6 % in seven years. Interestingly the survey found 1% dip in the number of people calling themselves as an atheist. If 4% people declared themselves to be atheist in 2005, in 2012, it had dipped to 3%.

They also found that the trend is similar globally, while religiosity has dropped by 9 %, atheism has risen by 3 % and they witnessed a ‘notable decline across the globe in self-description of being religious.’ If one goes into the details one discovers that they talked to 51,297 persons from 57 countries in five continents. And in each country they interviewed around 1,000 men and women.

Interestingly a writeup in a leading newspaper ( In God We Don’t Believe, The Telegraph, January 11, 2015) talked about emergence of a ‘silently unfolding counter-movement’ and ‘Atheism gathering followers among Indian youth’. It also said:

"A random dipstick survey of the metros shows that nearly 30 per cent of the people do not believe in God. Of them, 17 per cent are avowed atheists. Among those who do believe in the existence of God, nearly half approach God as an indefinable superpower rather than a religious concept."

जनगणना में अल्पसंख्यक

-सुभाष गाताडे

“लोकप्रिय स्तर पर लोगों के लिए इस हकीकत पर गौर करना या उसे जज्ब़ करना मुश्किल जान पड़ता है जब उन्हें बताया जाता है कि बहुसंख्यक मुस्लिम आबादी वाले इंडोनेशिया की प्रजननक्षमता (कुल प्रजनन क्षमता दर 2.6) की दर बहुसंख्यक हिन्दू आबादी वाले भारत की तुलना में (कुल प्रजनन क्षमता दर 3.2) कम है। दरअसल इंडोनेशिया में प्रजनन क्षमता में कमी को परिवार नियोजन पर कारगर अमल, जो मुल्क की स्वास्थ्यसेवाओं के साथ अभिन्न रूप से जुड़ी हैं, से जोड़ा जा सकता है। हाल के समयों में बांगलादेश में भी परिवार नियोजन के बढ़ते स्तर ने वहां की प्रजनन क्षमता को में काफी तेजी से कमी दिखाई दी।’’

(फेक्ट एण्ड फिक्शन आन हिन्दुत्व क्लेम्स, आर बी भगत, सितम्बर 25, 2004, इकोनोमिक एण्ड पोलिटिकल वीकली )

1.

Courtesy -hinduexistence.org

जनगणना के आंकड़े एक गतिशील समाज के तेजी से बदलते परिदृश्य को उदघाटित करते रहते हैं। आंकड़ों का यह समुच्चय नीतिनिर्धारकों को ही नहीं समाजविज्ञानियों, राजनीतिक विश्लेषकों या सामाजिक-राजनीतिक कार्यकर्ताओं के लिए एक खजाने के तौर पर उपस्थित होता है, जिसका विश्लेषण करके वह अपनी समझदारी तय करते हैं या अपने हस्तक्षेप की रूपरेखा बनाते हैं। एक सौ बीस करोड़ से अधिक आबादी का भारतीय समाज - जहां दुनिया के लगभग सभी धर्मों के अनुयायी मिलते हैं - और जो अपने उपमहाद्वीपीय आकार के चलते ; भाषाई, सांस्कृतिक तथा अन्य विविधताओं के चलते दुनिया भर के जनसंख्याविदों के लिए कुतूहल एवं अध्ययन का विषय बनता है, ऐसा ही नज़ारा उपस्थित करता है।

यह अलग बात है आज जबकि दक्षिण एशिया के इस हिस्से में बहुसंख्यकवाद अर्थात मेजोरिटेरियानिजम का बोलबाला बढ़ा है और भारत के इस हिस्से के धर्मनिरपेक्ष एवं समावेशी जनतंत्रा के क्षरण की कोशिशें तेज हो चली हैं हम पा रहे हैं कि जनगणना के आंकड़ों के माध्यम से अपनी संकीर्ण राजनीति को ही हवा देने की कोशिशें तेज हो रही है, और उसके व्यापक निहितार्थों पर परदा डाले रखने के प्रयास चल रहे हैं। यह महज इत्तेफाक नहीं कि बिहार विधानसभा चुनावों के ऐन मौकों पर जनगणना के धार्मिक आंकड़ों को जारी किया गया है ताकि उसके आंशिक निष्कर्षों को सामने लाकर अल्पसंख्यकों की ‘बढ़ती आबादी’ के नाम पर बहुसंख्यकों का ध्रुवीकरण किया जा सके और चूंकि 2001-2011 के दरमियान हिन्दुओं की आबादी की तुलना में मुसलमानों की आबादी अधिक बढ़ने के आंकड़े सामने आए हैं, लिहाजा उसी को लेकर एक नए ध्रुवीकरण के फिराक में वह दिखती है। विडम्बना है कि जनगणना के जाति सम्बन्धी आंकड़ों पर अभी भी चुप्पी है, जिसकी लम्बे समय से मांग हो रही है।

और मीडिया जिसे ‘लोकतंत्रा का प्रहरी’ कहा जाता है उसने भी - चन्द अपवादों को छोड़ दें तो - एक तरह से इसी सुर में सुर मिला लिया है। जनगणना 2011 के धार्मिक आकड़ों  को जिस अन्दाज़ में भाषाई मीडिया ने और अंग्रेजी अख़बारों के एक हिस्से ने पेश किया है, वह शायद इसी बात की ताईद करता है। एक अग्रणी हिन्दी अख़बार की सूर्खियां थीं ‘ धर्म का सियासी डेटा ‘ चुनाव के पहले जनगणना के आंकडे, मुस्लिम आबादी सबसे तेज बढ़ी’ /नवभारत टाईम्स/, दूसरे अख़बार की हेडलाइन थी:बढ़ी मुस्लिम आबादी: सरकार ने जारी किए 2011 जनगणना के धार्मिक आंकडे/जागरण/; ‘अमर उजाला’ का कहना था ‘आबादी की रफतार: हिन्दुओं की धीमी, मुस्लिमों की तेज’ ; हालांकि ‘राजस्थान पत्रिका’ के गुजरात संस्करण जैसे चन्द अपवाद भी थे जिन्होंने आबादी में प्रमुख धर्मो के मौजूदा प्रतिशत को बताते हुए इस बात को रेखांकित किया कि ‘मुस्लिमों की बढ़ोत्तरी दर पिछले दशक के मुकाबले घटी’ तो ‘द टेलिग्राफ’ की रिपोर्ट थी ‘सेन्सस नेल्स प्रमोटर्स आफ पैरोनेइया’ अर्थात ‘जनगणना के आंकड़ों ने फर्जी आतंक पैदा करनेवालों पर नकेल डाली’।

इस प्रष्ठभूमि में यह बेहद समीचीन होगा कि हम मसले की गहन समीक्षा करें। और जिसकी शुरूआत जनगणना को लेकर चन्द सामान्य सूचनाएं साझा करके की जा सकती है।

क्या कहते हैं जनगणना के धार्मिक आंकडें

जनगणना 2011 के धार्मिक आंकड़ों के मुताबिक 92 करोड़ 63 लाख आबादी के साथ हिंदू देश का सबसे बड़ा धार्मिक समूह है(हिस्सेदारी 79.82) तो मुसलमानों की आबादी 17.22 करोड़ (हिस्सेदारी 14.2 फीसदी) है। अन्य समुदायों की आबादी इस प्रकार है: ईसाई 2.78 करोड़(2.3 फीसदी), सिख 2.08 करोड़ (1.7 फीसदी), बौद्ध 84 लाख (0.7 फीसदी), जैन 45 लाख (0.4 फीसदी) और अन्य 78 लाख (0.7 फीसदी)

गौरतलब है कि 2001 के आंकड़ों की तुलना में हिन्दुओं की आबादी 0.7 फीसदी घटी है तो मुसलमानों की 0.8 फीसदी बढ़ी है, ईसाइयों एवं जैनियों की आबादी के अनुपात में कोई फर्क नहीं आया है ( 2.3 फीसदी और 0.4 फीसदी क्रमशः) जबकि सिखों की आबादी 1.9 फीसदी से 1.7 फीसदी तक हुई है और बौद्धों की आबादी भी 0.8 फीसदी से 0.7 फीसदी तक हुई हैं।

[Open Letter to Odisha CM] False Charges Against GASS Activist Debaranjan

 WITHDRAW FALSE CHARGES AGAINST DEBARANJAN OF GASS, ODISHA

To:

Mr. Naveen Patnaik

Chief Minister,

Government of Odisha

22 August 2015

 We, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the foisting of a false case on Debaranjan, member of the Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangathan (GASS) in Odisha.

Debaranjan has for several years now been deeply involved with people’s struggles in Odisha, first as a full-time activist in Kashipur, Rayagada district, then as film-maker, and most recently also as a member of the democratic rights group GASS. His has been among the consistent voices in Odisha for over twenty years against state repression on people’s struggles, atrocities faced by adivasis, dalits and other underprivileged communities, and against communalization of the polity and in society. This is the political context in which he is being targeted.

Last week, Debaranjan was sought to be interrogated by the Special Branch of the Intelligence Department while he was engaged in work on a documentary film in Malkangari district. Subsequently, a number of false charges were filed against him by the Malkangiri Police, including charges pertaining to molestation under Section 354 (b) of the IPC, and under sections 354 and 323. We believe these charges to be patently false and absurd, and constitute nothing other than harassment and part of the continued persecution of democratic voices in this country.

Debaranjan has been part of investigations by democratic rights organizations into police violence and extra-judicial killings by the state seeking to target Left movements in Odisha. He was part of other investigations into communal violence in southern Karnataka and in Kandhamal district in Odisha. He has been part of struggles against and critiqued rampant development, mining in adivasi areas, the forced displacement and police repression that inevitably comes in the wake of such development projects. Whatever one may think of such development, we believe that those critical of it have a right to have their voices heard, to highlight and be critical of state atrocities, and to express dissent. By foisting false charges on Debaranjan, the state seeks to fetter democratic voices in Odisha, and implicitly threaten democratic voices everywhere in this country. We condemn such harassment, the shrinking of the democratic space, and demand that the false charges on Debaranjan be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally.

“उदास नस्लें” के दास्तानगो अब्दुल्ला हुसैन

जावेद अनीस

उर्दू के शीर्ष उपन्यासकार अब्दुल्ला हुसैन का 7 जून 2015 का 84 वर्ष के उम्र में देहांत हो गया, वे लम्बे समय से कैंसर से पीड़ित थे और उनका लाहौर के एक निजी अस्पताल में इलाज चल रहा था। करीब 53 साल पहले जब उनकी पहली उपन्यास “उदास नस्लें” प्रकाशित हुई तो मानो उर्दू साहित्य में तहलका मच गया,इस एक ही उपन्यास ने उन्हें चोटी पर पहुँचा दिया और यही उनकी पहचान बन गयी। “उदास नस्लें” को पाकिस्तान का पहला नॉवेल तक कहा जाता है। इसके बाद भी उन्होनें बहुत कुछ लिखा लेकिन उदास नस्लें के जरिये वे शोहरत की जिस बुलंदी पर पहुँच चुके थे उसमें कोई इजाफा मुमकिन नही था। अकेले यही उन्हें उर्दू के सबसे बड़े उपन्यासकारों की सूची में शुमार करने के लिए काफी थी।

“उदास नस्लें” के अलावा उन्होनें ‘बाध’, ‘फरेब’, ‘नशेब’ जैसे उपन्यास लिखे हैं और उनकी 3 कहानी संग्रह भी प्रकाशित हुए हैं। इसी साल उन्हें प्रधानमंत्री के लाइफटाइम अचीवमेंट अवॉर्ड से सम्मानित किया गया था। 2012 में साहित्य के उनके योगदान पर पाकिस्तानी सरकार ने उन्हें वहां के सबसे बडे साहित्यक सम्मान ‘कमाल फन’ से नवाजा था। “उदास नस्लें” के लिए उन्हें ‘आदम जी’ अवार्ड से भी सम्मानित किया जा चूका है। “उदास नस्लें” का 1963 में ‘दि वियरी जेनरेशन्स’ शीर्षक से अंग्रेजी में अनुवाद हुआ था जिसे अंग्रेजी के पाठकों ने बहुत पसंद किया, हिंदी में भी इसे राजकमल प्रकाशन द्वारा प्रकाशित गया है। 

दो साल पहले ही उदास नस्लें की सिल्वर जुब्ली एडिशन सामने आयी थी। यह जितनी पाकिस्तान में मशहूर थी उतनी ही हिन्दुस्तान में भी। “उदास नस्लें” ने 50 बरस का अर्सा सह लिया और इस दौरान हर पीढ़ी के पाठकों ने इसे सराहा, इससे यह बात एक बार फिर साबित होती है कि रचना में अगर जान हो तो बगैर किसी लाबी, प्रोपोगेंड़ा और मीडि़या की मदद के भी एक नॉवेल केवल अपने बलबूते पर ही लम्बे समय तक जिंदा रह सकती है। चंद बरस पहले अब्दुल्ला हुसैन ने कराची लिटरेचर फेस्टीवल में “उदास नस्लें” के बारे में चर्चा करते हुए कहा था कि उन्होंने यह नॉवेल 1956 में उस वक्त लिखा था जब वो एक निजी कंपनी में काम करते थे और उनकी डयूटी किसी वीराने इलाके में थी तब उन्होनें अपनी उकताहट से तंग आकर एक कहानी लिखने के इरादे से कलम उठाया था लेकिन चंद पन्ने लिखने के बाद ही उनके जहन में अचानक “उदास नस्लें” की कहानी फ्लैश की सूरत में गुजरी और नॉवेल का पूरा सांचा दिमाग में आ गया। इस तरह से यह नॉवेल 1961 में पूरी हुई। जब उन्होनें यह लिखना शुरु किया था तो उनकी उम्र 25 साल की थी। 

Its time to read the writing on the walls

- Critique Collective

Note: This piece was published under the title "Students rise to free education, Resist onslaught of free Market" as the editorial in Critique Magazine, Vol-1, No-2, January-March, 2011. Though written and published more than 4 years ago, the piece remains very much relevant for today.

The current unrest in universities across the globe seems to stretch the limits of national boundaries. It is not about England or Germany or South Africa or any other country; the speedy transformations in higher education occurring within the geo-political boundary of India are more than education in India. If students’ protest in the UK are reverberating its pulses in other parts of the globe, though varied in degree or nature these may be, the current ‘reforms’ attempted by coordinates of power within the Indian education system, could well stand ironically in a position of pre-empting possible disturbances that might result in mass protests. Slogans of different students’ protests against reckless process of privatisation and privilegisation of education which are unabashed symptoms of the chronic rampage of dear old capitalism, have sought to analyse, reassert as well as redefine the meaning and nature of a university:

“University is a factory”

“University has no history of its own; its history is the history of capital. Its essential function is reproduction of the relationship between capital and labour”

“Resistance does not mean nostalgia for the old university model that was embedded in state power and supported by an idealistic and ideological conception of the university as an ‘ivory tower’ of national pride”

These slogans from around the world capture the nature and idea of a university in the current context. Lessons are to be learnt.

In a capitalist world, the production of knowledge and ideas are bound to comply to need of capital like everything else in society has been made to since its advent, be it the patriarchal family or the modern state. The recent developments in universities across the globe are historical consequences of a churning that has long been attempted and resisted. This upsurge of protests are mirrors of what is wrong with capitalism and are clarion calls for what is to be done about this wrong. While students cannot offer a blueprint of “What is to be done” to destroy capitalism, they constitute a force which can ignite the restlessness in society. If university has become a factory, the relationship of the students with the university has become like the one between factory owners and workers.

The nature and intensity of students’ organisation/movement/protest have been determined by nature of state and market, as much as by ideology. The immediate context, however, is the nature of the university within which they are located. For instance, in the recent developments in the Delhi University, the resistance against the ill-conceived educational reforms by undemocratic imposition of the Semester System came mainly from the teaching community and not the students. While we have witnessed that in other places it was mainly the student mass which led and organized the protests, eventually to be joined by other sections directly or indirectly linked to university and education. What is so different about Delhi University then, becomes a question to be deliberated upon, at least a worthwhile question to ask if not sure answers as of now. The clue perhaps lies in the hierarchical relations between students and teachers which further reflect persistent pre-modern hierarchies in our societies.

The nature and structure of teacher-student relationship with Delhi University, as in most parts of India, is largely a hierarchical one. Despite entering the university as adults, the students are largely infantilised; their concerns, especially academic ones, are represented by teachers who do a sorry job of entering into any widespread and intensive dialogue with the student community. This has only got reiterated during the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) movement against the new Semester System. The history of Delhi University students’ politics (barring the small scale protests by mainly left students’ organization) have rarely seen students coming out as a mass force to take up academic issues in their own hands and make an argumentation towards a radical intervention. It is a reality that what has been inflicting students in other universities in the world is also inflicting students in Delhi University. However, the latter seem to be waiting for a taste of bitterness to enter into its veins or it lies incapacitated. In recent times, it is true that the class character of the students might have gradually changed and entered the chasm of consumerism at large. However, the problem is not simple as that. It is an indication of why these ‘conscious’ sections of society are not ready to ‘fight’. If the court has admonished the striking teachers for being ‘disruptive’, the teachers in general filter down the same ‘value’ to the students. The teaching and the student community stand segregated making a mockery of the organic teacher-student relationship which defines the university. University as a space of adults and free deliberations, dialogues, debates and imagination ceases to exist as a whole, with allowances of tiny and sporadic sparks which might not necessarily lead to a firing of consciousness. 

Statement by teachers and scholars in solidarity with the students of Film & Television Institute of India (FTII)

In Solidarity with the Students of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII)

We, the undersigned teachers, scholars and researchers within and outside the university system in India, are disturbed by the repeated and systematic attempts to undermine the academic autonomy of universities and other institutions of teaching and learning, such as the FTII (Pune), by the government. There is a concerted effort to monopolise academic spaces by replacing substantive academic autonomy with policies aimed at destroying academic excellence, diversity, creativity and an atmosphere in which students and teachers can think critically and function freely.

Further, we strongly protest the organised attacks against students and other individuals, in universities and elsewhere, for critiquing the state, be it through film screenings, books, talks or exhibitions. The growing number of censorships and bans is encouraging a widespread culture of intolerance and anti-intellectualism that is openly threatening the freedom of academic expression, democractic and participatory governance, and fundamental rights.

1. We mark our solidarity with the students of the FTII who have been on strike since June 12, 2015. We support their view that Mr. Gajendra Chauhan, an official member of the BJP since 2004, was chosen to be President of the FTII Society and Chairman of the Governing Council for his loyalty to the party and not because he has any credentials to occupy these posts. Mr Chauhan’s appointment is in sharp contrast to previous appointments of nationally and internationally acclaimed personalities such as UR Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Mrinal Sen, each of whom had built solid reputations for themselves in their respective fields. We urge the government to desist from taking any steps that would harm the future of students, as well as the longterm interests of an institute such as the FTII. We suggest that the current Governing Council be held passive until such time as the FTII society is reconstituted. In the interim, a temporary body, acceptable to all concerned, could be put in place in order to supervise the transition.

2. Through its dubious appointments not just in the FTII but also in other key institutions like the ICHR, ICCR, NFDC, NBT, CBFC, Prasar Bharati, the IIMs and the IITs, among others, the current government has made it amply clear that it has scarce respect for eligibility critera, academic accomplishments or professional reputation. If appointees, including four out of the eight appointees to the FTII society, are chosen on the basis of loyalty to the Sangh Parivar and for commitment to its exclusivist and authoritarian ideology, then institutional autonomy, merit, credentials, professionalism, scholarship, and academic excellence stand destroyed and replaced with propaganda. We demand that professional standards of appointments be re-instituted, and the politics of partisanship stopped.

3. We strongly condemn the actions of organizations such as the ABVP, which assaulted FTII students when they screened Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade. Last week the ABVP prevented the screening of a film that seeks to understand the recent riots in Muzzafarnagar and their impact on the lives of people living in the area, at a college in Delhi University, even as all students present wished to continue watching the film. This same group pressurised Delhi University to excise AK Ramanujan’s acclaimed essay on the many Ramayanas from the university syllabus in 2011/12, and continues to act, together with sundry other anti-democratic formations of varied political hues, as a violent extra-legal, self–appointed censor board across campuses in the country. Law Schools, we learn, are now being directed to incorporate a Minister’s books on animal rights as part of the syllabus!

We urge the government to take serious note of the political and administrative processes that are gravely undermining academic and institutional autonomy, substituting dialogue with censorship or violence, creating an atmosphere of fear, and fostering an exclusivist, propaganda-ridden anti-democratic political culture instead of one that encourages citizens to read, write, think, create and speak freely and critically, without fear of community, ‘hurt sentiments’ and God.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the statement belong to that of the signatories. They do not represent the position of their institutions.

[Mukto-Mona Statement] On Murder of Bangladeshi Atheist Blogger and Activist Niloy Neel

Image courtesy: Daily Star, 8th August edition, Dhaka

Following the murders of Rajeeb Haider, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahmna, and Ananta Bijoy Das, today, the Mukto-Mona writer, blogger, and activist Niloy Neel has been hacked to death. He wrote in Mutko-Mona as well as in Istishon, and Facebook under the name of “Niloy Neel” (twitter: #NiloyNeel). In addition to writing, Niloy Neel was involved in various social justice movements and was the founder of the Bangladesh Science and Rationalists Association.

Ansar Al Islam, the Bangladesh branch of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for murdering Niloy Neel in his own home, in front of his family, because of his writing. The fundamentalists continue in their tradition of responding to the pen with machetes; the government of Bangladesh continues to supply the fundamentalists with all that is necessary to keep their machetes honed. One by one the enlightened, the freethinking writers, and activists of Bangladesh, are being brutally murdered. Their only crime is taking a stand against injustice, and superstitions prevalent in society. A machete may kill, in a cowardly manner, a human being of flesh and bone; it cannot kill their ideology. Our fight will continue. With all our strength we will continue to speak our minds, our dreams. For as long as there is even a single member of the freethinking community alive; for as long as a single sentence written by freethinking writers survives.

Niloy Neel’s FB status regarding lack of safety:

“Two men were following me two days ago. This happened when I was on my way back from attending the rally organized to protest “The Murder of Ananta Bijoy Das.” First, when I reached a certain place via public bus, they came with me to the same spot. Then, when I got on to a Laguna to reach my destination, one of them climbed aboard the Laguna with me. On the Laguna I realized this was the same guy who was on the bus with me, but there were two of them then. I thought to myself, well, it’s possible; perhaps one of them was going somewhere else so he took a different route.

Until then it seemed as usual. But on the Laguna, the young man was continually texting from his cellphone which made me suspicious. When I exited the Laguna before I reached my actual destination, he got off with me. I was quite scared, and hurried into a unfamiliar alley. Later when I looked back, I noticed that another young man, who had also been on the bus, had joined this young man, and they had not followed me into the alley; they were waiting at the alley entrance. Then I was quite certain that I was being followed. Because even if their destination was the same, they reached their through separate routes, following me. I went farther into the alley, and took a rickshaw keeping the hood up, and traveled to my destination. I reached in apparent safety with the help of a friend nearby.

When I tried to lodge a General Diary about this incident, I faced an even more bizarre situation. A police officer had told me in confidence that the police do not want to accept General Diaries like this because the officer who accepted such a General Diary, related to the personal safety of an individual, remains accountable to ensure the personal safety of said individual. If the said individual faces any difficulty, then the relevant police officer may even lose his job for negligence in duty. This is what I saw when I visited the thanas to file a General Diary. When the surveillance on me had occurred, I had had to pass by several thanas, and so today when I visited one that had been in the vicinity, they refused to accept my General Diary. They told me this isn’t under our jurisdiction, go to this other thana, it’s their jurisdiction, and also, leave the country as soon as possible.”

FTII Protests in Delhi on 3rd August 2015: Resist the Attack on Higher Education

JOIN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST SAFFRONISATION! 

RESIST THE ATTACK ON HIGHER EDUCATION!

Friends,

For the last 52 days, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students, are on strike against the questionable appointments made in the apex decision making body of FTII - The FTII Society.

The strike has brought into focus a trend of appointments of highly unqualified individuals associated with RSS and BJP The recent appointments at institutions like NFDC, CFSI, & CBFC have already started to affect independent critical & artistic endeavors on issues faced by the country. Nalanda university, ICHR, IIT, NBT, ICCR, ICHR, NCERT, TIFR & IIMs are all resisting governments interference in academics and governance.

FTII continues to persist despite the underhand tactics like threats of expulsion, flimsy FIRs against the students, vandalism and relentless character assassination of the students and the institution.

The voice of the students at FTII has resonated with other students, artists, filmmakers, cultural organizations, civil rights and political groups across the country that have openly come out in support. Support for the students is pouring in from a plethora of cities and centers every day. International students and mainstream media, alarmed at the developments, have started registering their support. 

In midst of it all, FTII students has decided to take our democratic protest to the streets of Delhi

100+ students from FTII will lead a march from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament Street, at 2pm on 3rd of August.

We call out to all the students, youth, parents, artists, educators, everyone who is concerned about the institutions of higher education & throttling of independent & critical voices in our country. This is a call to all who value spaces where rational, reasonable and scholarly debate can happen. Where voices critical of majority are not labelled as 'anti hindu' ,where a certain variety of nationalism is not forced upon people. We urge people, from all walks of life who are concerned and alarmed by the 'environment of fear' where any criticism is simply not allowed, to come out vociferously in support of the students and join them in this march which represents a historic struggle for the sake of preserving academic autonomy and the universal tenets of freedom of thought, expression and right to criticise and dissent. 

On 3rd each voice will be standing for the fight to save our institutions from undemocratic and fascist forces.

JOIN US AT JANTAR MANTAR, 2 pm , 3rd August (MONDAY).

"NOTHING STRENGTHENS AUTHORITY SO MUCH AS SILENCE" - Albert Einstein

warmly

FTII STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION