Petition: Justice for the victims of Bathani Tola Massacre

You can sign the petition by clicking here

To 

The Honourable Chief Justice, 

Supreme Court of India

Sir, 

The recent acquittal by the Bihar High Court of all the accused in the horrific Bathani Tola massacre of 1996 is shocking. 

On 11 July, 1996, 21 landless poor were slaughtered in broad daylight at Bathani Tola, a dalit hamlet in Bhojpur, Bihar, by the Ranveer Sena – a private army of landowners from the dominant castes.

All the victims were from oppressed castes and minorities, and 20 of them were women, children, and infants. 

The Ara sessions court had convicted 23 people for this massacre in 2010, sentencing three to death and 20 to life imprisonment. But on 16 April this year, the Bihar High Court has overturned the conviction, and acquitted all the accused. 

The fact that, 16 years after this massacre, not a single person stands convicted for the brutal and barbaric slaughter of innocents, raises disturbing questions about whether the oppressed and the poor victims of massacres can expect justice in our Courts. 

It is relevant that the massacre was preceded by a series of attacks and a campaign of open terror against the people of Bathani Tola by the Ranveer Sena, which enjoyed the support of several powerful politicians and parties. In spite of repeated intimations and appeals to the district police and administration, no preventive action was taken. And when the bloodbath played out for hours, the police remained a mute and passive witness, while the mob of perpetrators used swords and guns to butcher people, and set fire to homes. This complicity of the police and administration with the perpetrators continued after the massacre, leading to the weakening of the case against the accused, as noted by the Bihar High Court. Shamefully, the three police eyewitnesses to the massacre deposed in Court as witnesses for the defence! 

The Ranveer Sena was banned after the Bathani Tola massacre – but in spite of the ban, it continued to operate openly, committing several more such massacres in central Bihar. The Laxmanpur-Bathe massacre in December 1998 in which 61 dalit landless poor were killed had been called a ‘national shame’ President of India, Shri K R Narayanan. 

The Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice Amir Das, which was set up after the Bathe massacre, to probe the political support received by the Ranveer Sena, was disbanded six years ago when the current State Government came to power in Bihar. The Ranveer Sena chief, Brahmeshwar Singh, is yet to be named in the FIRs of the Bathani Tola massacre and other massacres. In fact, the police informed the Ara court in 2010 that Brahmeshwar was an ‘absconder’ – when he was, at that time, a prisoner in Ara jail! Brahmeshwar Singh is now a free man – thanks to the fact that the State Governmentfailed to oppose his bail plea. The Bihar HC acquittal comes in the wake of this political climate of patronage for the perpetrators of massacres of the poor and oppressed. 

One of the survivors of the massacres who lost six members of his family, responding to the acquittal, asked, “Who, then, killed 21 people that day?” We, the undersigned, believe that the entire country and our system of justice, owes the people of Bathani Tola an answer to that question. And we write to you in the hope that the Supreme Court will correct the deep injustice to victims and survivors of Bathani Tola, and will take all possible measures to ensure that the perpetrators of this and other heinous massacres of the poor and oppressed in Bihar are tried and convicted.

Protest against Evictions and State Repression in West Bengal

Join the Demonstration against Evictions and State Repression in West Bengal, 11.30 am, 25th April 2012, Outside Banga Bhawan, 3 Hailey Road, (Near Mandi House), Delhi

Comrades, we are witnessing today the militant resistance of slum-dwellers of Nonadanga against the eviction drive of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) through brute police force. Nonadanga presents us with the determination of the urban poor and working class to constitute an alternative form of social, political and economic power. The residents of Nonadanga have refused to budge from the site, have put up temporary shelters and a community kitchen, and are confronting the police everyday with their bare hands and their indomitable will, trying to hold on to whatever little they are left with. Since April 11, 5 comrades under Ucched Pratirodh Committee have persisted with a fast-unto-death in the site for 12 days with undeterred support of the entire slum, and beyond. Reconstruction and rebuilding of the demolished houses are being undertaken by them.

Nonadanga is a paradigm of struggle and unity that must be generalised across Kolkata, West Bengal and beyond. For, it’s only through the eruption of a hundred, thousand, million Nonadangas across the country – that the working class will be able to effectively pose its might and vision against the prevailing hegemony of neo-liberalism and its authoritarian political executive. In the absence of such a countrywide generalisation of urban resistance, the working masses of this country, including the residents of Nonadanga, have no hope in hell.

Marxism: Revisiting Some Basics

- Sanjay Kumar

Note: This is the text of a presentation made at the NSI Delhi chapter's winter study camp held in Samalkha, Haryana in December, 2011

I assume everybody here is interested in Marxism because NSI unequivocally espouses the political legacy of Marx. Some of us here are inquisitive about Marxism, they would have heard or read about it; some praise, lot of criticism and ridicule, but have not yet made up their mind about the beast. On the other hand, some of us here may unabashedly declare themselves to be Marxists. If that is not to be taken as a mere label, it implies that they place their personal histories in a definite ideological, social scientific and political tradition. The majority may lie in-between, understanding and agreeing with some Marxist ideas, but then also being also aware of and appreciative of other ideas which do not fit neatly into a clear Marxist schema. I hope what I am going to say will prove useful to everybody here, particularly to the in-between majority. 

Let me state in the beginning my take on Marxism. I think Marxism as a body of theoretical ideas and political practices marks an important milestone in the history of humanity. It raises fundamental questions about the world around us, and the place of humanity in it. It provides strong arguments to reject some answers. It gives revealing insights into the nature of human society. Some of the answers it leads to are path-breaking. It provides a world-view which is open (but not chaotic, random, multiple), questioning and critical (but not speculative), and engages with reality with the aim of transforming it (but is not pragmatic). I find Marxist world view liberatory, not because the way it helps in liberation from specific bondages, but what it tells us about the stakes involved in struggles for liberation.

Event: Why is Indian State afraid of its Soni Soris?

Custodial Violence, Repression and Subversion of the Rule of Law

 A Discussion with

Himanshu Kumar (Social Activist)

Colin Gonsalves (Sr. Supreme Court Lawyer)

Venue: Activity Centre, Arts Faculty, North Campus, Delhi University. Time: 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm. Date: 29th March, 2012

Soni Sori is a tribal woman and a school teacher who was subjected to sexual violence in the custody of Dantewada Police, under the direction of the Superintendent of Police. Six months later, She is still languishing in a Chattisgarh jail awaiting justice, while her tormentor has just been awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry.

Soni Sori is not alone in her agony. Arrests, detentions and violence are increasingly being used by the state to silence activists, to put down mass struggles of the marginalized people for their rights and livelihoods. Irom Sharmila, Dr. Binayak Sen, Koodankulam protests - each is a stark example of mighty State crushing dissent and crinalizing protest through machinery meant to establish the Rule of Law. the discussion will explore how various institutions of Indian Democracy are responding to this assult on core democratic principles in the situation of conflict that exists in many parts of the country.

Organized by: All India Students' Association (AISA), Gender Studies Group, New Socialist Initiative (NSI), Stree Adhikar Sangathan.

"By giving me electric shocks, by stripping me naked, or by brutally assualting me and inserting sticks and stones into my body - will the problem of Naxalism end? Why are there so many atrocities against us women? I want answers from all of you living in this country." - Soni Sori

Petition: Speak out against the Delhi University administration for the disruption of Women's Day Celebration

Dear Friends

We, the students, faculty and staff of Delhi University and friends have been celebrating International Women's Day as an open programme with discussions and cultural events etc. since 1994, in the Arts Faculty, North Campus. This is an open gathering of individuals and organisations to honour this international day. Since March 8th this year fell on holi the gathering was postponed to March 14th.

For the first time, this year, the Delhi University's security guards stopped the programme and asked us to vacate the space immediately as no permissions had been taken. They stopped a play mid-performance and prevented us from holding any discussions and displaying any banners.

The university space has always been one of free dialogue and expression for all. We strongly object to this forcible silencing of our celebration and the closing off of university spaces for open discussions. It is particularly outrageous since celebrating International Women's Day at the Arts Faulty at Delhi University's north campus has been annual tradition since 1994. 

We demand:

• An apology from the Delhi University administration for the disruption of the programme
• The right to assemble as and when we like to express ourselves or demonstrate peacefully without "permission" 
• Access to spaces across the campus for student activity and expression without surveillance and control

To Sign the petition click here

Workers, Unions and the Left: Responding to the Global Crisis

- Rohini Hensman

Text of a talk by Rohini Hensman introducing her recent Book Workers, Unions, and Global Capitalism: Lessons from India (Columbia University Press, New York, and Tulika Books, New Delhi) at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, on 23 January 2012

I started working on what became this book more than ten years ago, because I felt there was so much confusion in the way that large sections of the trade union movement and the Left responded to globalisation. They took a straightforward anti-globalisation position which, by default, reinforced a nationalist reaction against globalisation. This went against all my Marxist internationalist instincts. Also, having been involved in trade union research for decades, it was obvious to me that many of the evils attributed to globalisation, such as subcontracting and the shifting of production, had been rampant for years or decades prior to it. Most disturbing of all, much of the anti-globalisation rhetoric was indistinguishable from the rhetoric of the extreme Right. (I have given examples of this in my book.) 

Therefore one of the first tasks I set myself was to come up with a working definition of globalisation that sorted out some of these confusions.

Defining globalisation

1. Anti-globalisation activists often called themselves anti-capitalist, and used the terms interchangeably. But if globalisation is capitalism by another name, why not simply call it capitalism? Substituting ‘globalisation’ for ‘capitalism’ implies that the real enemy is international capital: and that is dangerous. Opposition to global capital has been a defining feature of fascism since Hitler wrote, in Mein Kampf, ‘that the hardest battle would have to be fought not against hostile nations but against international capital’. At best, selective opposition to international capital propagates the illusion that capitalism can solve problems of poverty and unemployment so long as it remains national. At worst, it condones barbaric oppression and exploitation by indigenous capitalists, and encourages racism and xenophobia. Globalisation may be a phase of capitalism, but anti-globalisation can never be anti-capitalist, because genuine opposition to capitalism doesn’t distinguish between ‘national’ and ‘international’ capital, or support the former against the latter. 

2. A large section of the Left identifies globalisation with imperialism, and opposes it from this point of view. I won’t go into all the debates around imperialism that I have covered in my book, but just refer to one aspect: the relationship between imperialism, especially from the mid-19th century onwards, and the nation-state. Colonialism required the imperialist power to set up an administrative apparatus in the colony and to maintain a substantial military presence to deal with uprisings, but less traditional forms of imperialism have also relied heavily on extensions of state power outside the imperialist country: for example, the ubiquitous CIA, and US military bases around the world. Moreover, imperialist bourgeoisies demanded protectionism from the state, which benefited the working class in those countries too. As a result of nationalist ideology in the imperialist countries, ‘there arose a sudden community of interest between capital and the proletariat, which finds expression in an identical inclination of both classes to imperialism,’ as Max Adler put it. Lenin was even harsher, denouncing sections of the labour movement that supported their own bourgeoisie in World War I (which he saw an as inter-imperialist war) as a ‘labour aristocracy’ who had betrayed their own class. 

Thus nationalism and the dependence of capitalists on the military power of their own nation-state are central to imperialism. What is called globalisation, on the contrary, is marked by the emergence of advanced sectors of capital that rely on porous rather than protected national borders, and do not need military backing from a nation-state. It is very different from imperialism. 

3. Equally common on the Left is the use of the terms ‘globalisation’ and ‘neoliberalism’ as being more or less synonymous. Neoliberalism is identified as what came to be known as the Washington Consensus: the policies enforced by the IMF and World Bank. The short-term stabilisation measures include cut-backs in government expenditure, high interest rates and currency devaluation, while the longer-term adjustment measures include deregulating the economy, liberalising trade and investment, and privatising state enterprises. The primacy given to ‘free markets’ results in an implicit hostility to trade unions, which are seen as interfering with the freedom of the labour market.

Three Formidable Barriers to the Advance of Democracy

- Ravi Sinha

The key note address to the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy held in Allahabad, December 29-31,  2011

I must begin by expressing my gratitude to the organizers of this Convention and to this Forum for the opportunity and the honor you have given me by letting me address this impressive assembly. Also, I must congratulate you for choosing a theme that articulates, perhaps, the central challenge confronting all peoples and all nations of the world and more so for the peoples and the nations on the subcontinent. We are all witness to and victims of the times characterized by monstrous brutalities of war and deep scars of deprivations, inequities and oppressions. We live under a world order wherein those who brought, for example, untold tragedy and destruction to Iraq will never be brought to justice because they are the global hegemons. They will not be questioned about the hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed Iraqi men, women and children; they will not be questioned about the thousands of dead and decapitated American soldiers; they will not be questioned about the trillions of dollars spent on the war and further trillions destroyed by the war; and they will not be questioned about the kind of Iraq they are leaving behind. 

We on the subcontinent, too, have suffered grievously and felt the heat from far too close. Afghanistan is a continuing saga of tragedy; Pakistan has been made to pay too heavy a price; and India too has not managed to steer clear of the catastrophe. And we know very well that when we count the countries that have suffered, the loss is borne invariably by the people and not by their rulers. But can we – the witness, the victims, the people – escape all responsibility? 

It is true that we have not elected the hegemons and it is not by choice that we live under the present world order. It is also true that the systems under which we live in our respective countries are not designed by us, nor is it the case that we can overthrow them the moment we realize that they are not in our favor. The world order and the economic and political systems through which it operates have all had a long history and the people, even though they do make history in the long run, cannot remake it according to their wishes and desires and at every moment of their choice. The blame, therefore, lies principally with the systems and with the history. But can we claim that there is no element of willingness and complicity on our part when it comes to the functioning and the survival of this order? Can we claim that we are free from all traits that may be deployed in the service of the systems we live under? If by magic the hegemon is made to disappear and the systems it presides over are made to crumble, do we have all that it takes to realize the revolutionary and the democratic potential?

Victory Against Work Place Sexual Harassment after a long Drawn Battle

Ms. Park who has worked for 14 years at a subsidiary company of Hyundai motors at Asan, Korea was dismissed from her job after she complained about sexual harassment in her workplace. Ms. Park in a remarkable effort to get justice went the distance that many others had not dared to go. She held a Sit-In protest of 197 days demanding for the punishment of the perpetrators and for her reinstatement. During those 197 days, she held Sit-In protest not only at the factory gate but also in front of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. While she was on the Sit-In protest, she was repeated assaulted by company hired guards at the both venues and as a result of the assaults she even had to spend four weeks in hospital.

In the support of Ms. Park’s resolute struggle against Sexual Harassment and violation of workers’ right, Korean Metal Workers Union and NGA:SF Korea (Network for Glocal Activism: School of Feminism) decided to initiate an international campaign which resulted in a press conference in front of the headquarters of Hyundai Motors on 25th November 2011.

Press Conference in front of Hyundai Headquarters

The press conference was supported by and the public statement issued was signed by New Socialist Initiative (Delhi Chapter, India), Stree Mukti Sangathan (India), Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights, Asian Pacific Workers Solidarity Links, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development (New York, USA), Sahgnnoksoo (Seattle, Washington, USA), Change to Win (USA), Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment-GABRIELA (USA), Center for Workers Education (India), Women Workers Lead (India), MAKABAYAN (The Philippines), Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (The Philippines), Workers Assistance Center (The Philippines), General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (Nepal), Qingdao Workers Hotline (China), Labour Action China (Hong Kong), Asian Monitor Resource Center (Hong Kong), National Free Trade Union (Sri Lanka), Thai Labour Campaign (Thailand), Serve the People Association (Taiwan), Salud Intergral para la Mujer (Mexico), Red Genero y Economia (Mexico), Migrant Workers Trade Union (Korea), International Metalworkers' Federation, International Union of Food, Building and Wood Workers' International, International Trade Union Confederation, Metal workers union (Slovakia), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal (Indonesia), National Union of Metalworkers (South Africa), United Auto Workers, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. 

Letters of protests were also sent by various organizations to The Ministry of Employment and Labor, The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, The Hyundai Motors demanding reinstatement of Ms. Park and that the perpetrators be brought to book.

To mount more international pressure on Hyundai Motors and Korean Government a call for Global Action day was announced and demonstrations were held outside Hyundai Motors dealership in various countries on 2nd December 2011. In United States alone, from New York to Los Angeles, 75 demonstrations were held outside Hyundai motors dealership. Unfortunately, the Indian Trade Union centres did not pay heed to the global call for solidarity nor did Hyundai Motors Employee Union, India undertake any solidarity action.

Finally, after this long drawn battle by Ms. Park and the international solidarity campaign, The Ministry of Employment and Labor (Korea) was forced to intervene. 

The Ministry of Employment and Labor considered the mental trauma that Ms. Park underwent as an industrial accident. The ministry further decided that it would pay her medical expenses she incurred during her protest. It is the first time in the history of modern Korea that the victim's mental pain after sexual harassment on the factory floor shop has been regarded as an industrial accident. 

Hyundai Globis (the logistic wing of Hyndai Motor), Hyungjin Company (the sub-contractor of Hyundai Motors), Korea Metal Workers' Union and Ms. Park signed an agreement according to which Hyungjin Company has: 

• To dismiss the offender by 31th January, 2012 and has to reinstate Ms. Park by 1st February, 2012.
• To pay wages for the months that she was unfairly dismissed.
• To prohibit any gendered disadvantages at the work place.
• To prepare comprehensive measures to prevent recurrence of sexual harassment.
• To set up the program to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Interview: Hindutva terror has had a long gestation period

- Vicky Nanjappa

His book Godse's Children -- Hindutva Terror In India is creating quite a storm. The author, Subhash Gatade, (a leading member of New Socialist Initative NSI) is an engineer by training and a freelance journalist and translator by choice. He has written extensively on issues of communalism and Dalit emancipation.

His book focuses mainly on the phenomenon of Hindutva terror and their perpetrators. While discussing his book he also goes on to say that the term Hindu terror should never be used and instead it be called as Hindutva terror.

In this interview with Vicky Nanjappa, Gatade, firstly, discusses why many cases remain unsolved and adds that the job of the investigating agency has been highly unsatisfactory; secondly, he stresses that only continuous vigil by people would ensure that the law of the land remains supreme; and, thirdly, warns that we should be wary of the majoritarian mindset which dominates what is known as civil society of our country.

Tell us a bit about your book and how it has been received?

The book mainly focuses on the phenomenon of Hindutva terror which has made its presence felt in the first decade of the 21st century.

It is underlined in the beginning that all sorts of terrorisms may it be by state actors or non-state actors (which includes jihadi terror/Islamist terror/fassadi terror as well) need to be questioned, challenged and ultimately eliminated. It is broadly divided into five sections.

The first part deals with the historical background of the case and makes it clear that Hindutva terror is not a recent phenomenon.

Starting from the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, at the hands of Nathuram Godse, it also brings forth hitherto less reported incidents involving Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activists in terror acts such as the Shikarpur bomb blast (Karachi, 1947, Economic and Political Weekly, July 8, 2006) which saw deaths of two pracharaks or the terror plot discussed by Rajeshwar Dayal, the first home secretary of United Province then in his autobiography (A Life of Our Times, Orient Longman, 1999) which exposed the sinister design of the RSS workers to organise a pogrom against Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh.

Pakistan at the Cross-Road: Views from a Young Student from Across the Border

[This article was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- Saadullah Awan

In the address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on the 11^th of August 1947,  Mohammad Ali Jinnah stated, “If we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor..”

Over the 64 years of the existence of the nation, the ominous statement has been forgotten in the archives of other religious, political and communitarian rhetoric of our politicians and leaders. It is not necessarily their fault. Who is the average Pakistani? Is he the middle-aged man toiling away on the vast land of his landlord in the scorching heat of the Sindh deserts, only to be paid a paltry sum? Is she the old Punjabi woman who washes the clothes and cleans the bathrooms of the upper middle class in the metropolis of Karachi for less than minimum wage? Or is he the Pathan truck driver transporting goods, driving alongside BMWs and Landcrusisers, and smoking hashish at the end of the day, to drown his miseries away?

The only common denominator about the masses in Pakistan, it seems, is the fact that they are mostly illerate and poor. Around 73% of the population lives on under 2 US Dollars a day and the literacy rate for men is a mere 67% while for females it is 42%. Another common denominator is religion: 97% of the population of 180 million is Muslim.

However it isn’t prudent to generalize the population on these lines. Most people in Pakistan base their loyalties not on being Pakistani but on ethnicity and religious sects they think they belong to.

खटखट

[This poem was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- नरेश कुमार

खटखट

सर्र-सर्र, पों पों पों, ढम-ढम;

सब नज़र आते हैं, सुनाई देते हैं सड़क पर;

लेकिन इन सब के साथ-साथ अक्सर होती है सड़क पर 

खटखट, खटखट, खटखट।

खटखट, अक्सर सुनाई नहीं देती 

और न ही इसे सुनने की ज़रूरत समझी गई है अभी तक।

खटखट, टोह सिर्फ़ रास्ते की नहीं लेती,

चो़ट महज़ सड़क या फुटपाथ पर नहीं पड़ती;

यह खटखट कोशिश है उन दरवाजों को खटखटाने की

जो अब तक खोले नहीं गये।

और इस कोशिश की गवाही इतिहास या समाजशास्त्र की किताबें नहीं बल्कि

खरोंचे लगी टाँगें या फूटा हुआ माथा दिया करते हैं।

ये निशान महज़ निशान नहीं है।

बल्कि सबूत हैं उन कोशिशों के

जो दरवाजों को बन्द रखने के लिए लगातार की जा रही है।

और बयान इस बात का कि खटखट हो रही है।

और ज़्यादा और तेज़।

.......................................

नरेश कुमार दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के कमला नेहरु कॉलेज में इतिहास के प्राध्यापक हैं

The University and the Struggles of People with Disability

[This article was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

Dr. Nikhil Jain 

University is a place for creative learning. Introduction of several new market oriented courses has changed the meaning and objective of higher education. The recent change in the structure in the higher education through semesterisation and privatization has led to a tremendous shift in the teaching and learning process. The teaching pedagogy has been influenced by the growing need of the market. This has not only disturbed the autonomy of the universities but also has jeopardized the interests of the subaltern communities. The democratic norms and culture has totally been unsettled with this change. 

Apart from these mainstream issues, there exist several serious issues which still lie at the margins and go unnoticed. The question of accessibility is generally understood only with respect to people with disability. But it has an equal significance for others. For example the facility of ramp and lift does not only enable an Orthopedically Handicap but also supports the aged. Similarly, an audio archive at colleges not only supports a visually impaired person but also allows others to listen to important recorded lectures. The meaning of accessibility goes much deeper. It refers to the degree and nature of connectivity to a larger environment and the acquisition of resources by all. 

In Shera's Den

[This piece was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- Rijul Kochhar 

There used to be a time in the University of Delhi when people possessing anything below even a shade of superhuman prowess had to ‘negotiate’ with daily existence. You had to be careful, of a number of worthies—of dilapidated structures and fast vehicles, of roguish sidewalks and earthly drains, of dark minds and nefarious designs. For the disabled then, venturing anywhere for anything really was a venture into the heart of an abyss. One didn’t know whether one would make it in and out with all body appendages intact; but hey, it was an existential game of Russian roulette: you had as good a chance as anybody else, and you knew that! The absence of facilities—footpaths, pavement, toilets, transport, recreation, access to libraries, etc.—was indeed a shame for everybody, but a shame that was cheerfully accepted, borne, and tempered by a genuine desire to help one another. Or, made bearable by the realism of the poverty of our claims, and its resultant apathy. It was an apathy slowly tempered, and it was of great use to us. There was, in this schema, no place for diabolical intent, or deceptive deliverance. 

But we did it happily then: there were hardly any appropriate structures to tread on, roll over, sit on, or admire; that sleek umbrage of a stadium didn’t exist in the very heart of the university grounds; fancy sidewalks — with Braille! — didn’t emerge the night before and promise the hoary land of equal opportunity. All you had were the trees, the good dust, the certainty of uncertainties, and a handful of kind folk in the university offices. You simply made peace with this that you had—a chance to sit in dignity in a classroom and listen to the sonorous rotations of a dangerously clinging old fan, or an even older ‘specialist’ of the field. You walked or rolled to where you had to get to; someone helped. If you were very lucky, you had a friend who lasted; if you were in vogue, you had a pack. 

Giving Real and Substantive Recognition to the Human Rights of Physically Challenged Individuals

[This article was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- Dr. Sanjay Jain 

“Persons with disability (Hereinafter PWD) are human beings” is a statement of breathtaking banality. Normatively this statement may not be challenged but practically speaking, it reflects an ideal to be achieved rather than a statement of facts. Till recently, PWDs were considered to be a burden on a family, civil society and the state. Social consciousness rendered them invisible, as if human civilisation did not exist for them, resulting thereby in an absolute denial of their ‘right to be human’. The focus of this paper is to highlight this denial in the legal consciousness of our polity, and the peculiar nature of legal interventions in addressing the rights of the physically challenged. 

The peculiar nature of legal interventions 

By law, disability is thought to be worthy of legislative cognisance and compensation only if it is acquired by an able-bodied person, resulting in the loss of earning capacity or utility . This is evident from a close scrutiny of legislations like the Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948. Clearly, the medical model of disability was at the foundation of the all these legislations. According to the this model, the acquisition of disability constitutes a violation of rights of able-bodied persons and therefore disability per-se is not worthy of legislative action. The medical model focuses on the medical traits of the PWD’s specific impairments. This has the effect of locating the “problem” of disability within the person. The medical model encapsulates a broader and deeper social attitude – a tendency to view the disabled as a problem and therefore, as an object for clinical intervention. 

University Life: Of a Special Kind

- Vikant Maurya, an undergraduate student in St. Stephens College, in Conversation with Sanjay Kumar and Bonojit Hussain of Critique Collective

Vikant composing in Braille

As Vikant runs from room to room in Seva Kutir looking for chairs for us, it is clear that he is very familiar with every corner, turn and nook of the building. He tells us later that he lost vision very early, but even then as a child in his village in Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh he would run through village alleys, field paths, and to his family mango grove. Whiffs of air, sounds and smell created an enticing world, full of discovery and freedom. Perhaps it is the quietness of Seva Kutir and village life that sharpen his sixth sense, enabling him to fly. However, the life of a physically challenged undergraduate in one of the most sought after colleges of Delhi University is not always a run of joy. There are struggles, which at times come out in his poetry. 

Excerpts from an interview:

Question: Vikant, if you let your dreams fly for a moment, where do you think you will be in ten years from now? 

Vikant: Most likely I will be teaching in a college. History and Hindi are my strong subjects, I could be teaching either of these. 

On Rehabilitating Secularism

[This brief note was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- Devika Narayan 

Just the other day a friend of mine walked around Nizamuddin greatly puzzled by what she saw. The eerie silence which reeks only of bad news was palpable. The shutters were all lowered to the ground and the roads were strangely empty. A local mosque had recently been mowed down by the municipality. She asked a young boy who stood near a shop when it would re-open. “Kal, Jab masjid phirse bana denge tab.” He replied. The poignant naiveté of his response is jarring. At the brink of dawn when young children search for rationales to comprehend the unexpected disruption of their lives a bulldozer is clearing away the remnants of what used to be the neighbourhood mosque. 

Such incidents unleash a volley of urgent questions. When was the last time we heard of a temple being mowed down by the state? Are we suggesting that all temples in this country are built on land legitimated by the law? Why would the state be more cautious and ‘sensitive to religious sentiment’ when the issue of bulldozing temples comes to the fore? What does this speak of the state of secularism in our society? 

Some Thoughts on the Pedagogy of Semester System at Delhi University

[This brief note was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- Nandita Narain

Semesterised exams can work only if exams are set and evaluated internally (as in the USA, IIT's, JNU, where the numbers are small and the Universities are more or less residential). DU is more like the affiliating Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which have an annual exam system. In our case, especially given the great variation in standards, a lowest common denominator kind of Board exam every four months would only promote rote learning and dumb down the whole system. Neither would the best students have the time to go beyond the exam requirements, to explore, experiment, innovate, critique and learn to think independently, nor would students coming from weaker sections students have time to catch up and be able to face that Board exam. Everyone loses. 

In their tearing hurry to implement the semester system in all courses, which obviously allows no time for consultation and deliberation, the DU authorities have come up with the novel ‘solution’ of snipping syllabii in two! This, more than anything else, betrays a complete lack of understanding of the pedagogic process. Any serious teacher knows that the time taken to cover a syllabus is not linearly distributed. Concepts and foundations (many of which are often not even mentioned in syllabi and exams) take much longer than their applications. Besides, given the great diversity of faculty as well as student population, there can be no uniformity or agreement on the quantum of syllabus to be covered in the short period of three to four months.

Democracy Encountered at Batla House

[Note: This Report was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

- Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA) 

On 13th September 2008, serial blasts rocked Delhi in which about 20 people lost their lives and scores of others were injured. Less than a week after the blasts, a party of the Delhi Police Special Cell raided an apartment in the Muslim-dominated locality of Batla House and shot dead two young men, Atif Amin and Md. Sajid. It was later claimed that they were the masterminds of the Delhi blasts. An inspector of the Delhi Police was also shot at, and succumbed the same evening to his injuries. On the evening of the ‘encounter’, the Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal announced that the slain young men were key operatives of an Islamic terrorist group, called the Indian Mujahideen, and that with the ‘encounter’, the Delhi Police had cracked the conspiracy behind not only the Delhi blasts, but also several blasts which had rocked the country in 2007-08. A roommate was arrested from the site of the ‘encounter’. Several other arrests followed in the next two days. Typically, these were of boys who had either known the two killed, and who had dared to raise questions about the police theory on television channels.

What followed was a pernicious media circus of gigantic proportions. Azamgarh, from where the two slain youth hailed, was dubbed instantly the ‘epicentre of terror’, and Jamia Millia, the University abutting the Batla House locality and where Atif was enrolled as a student of M.A. labeled a ‘nursery of terror’. In the aftermath of the death of Inspector Sharma, few in the press were willing to question the police version—to raise questions was tantamount to dishonouring the martyrdom of a brave police officer. 

झूठ का सत्तातन्त्र व भरतीय राज्य

[Note: This short piece was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]

संजय कुमार

बिनायक सेन व पीयुष गुहा की जमानत याचिका छत्तीसगढ़ उच्च न्यायालय ने फरवरी 10 2011 को रद्द कर दी। उनको व नारायण सान्याल को एक निचली अदालत ने देशद्रोही करार किया है तथाआजीवन कारावास की सजा सुनायी है। अखबारों व मीडिया में बिनायक सेन पर मुकदमे पर बहुत कुछ चर्चा हुई है। बिनायक सेन के समर्थन में प्रदर्शनों का सिलसिला भी पिछले लगभग तीन सालों से चलता रहा है। बिनायक सेन पर माओवादियों का समर्थक व सहायक होने का आरोप पीयूष गुहा द्वारा पुलिस को दी गयी कथित गवाही पर आधारित है, जिसमें उसने कहा था कि उसके पास से प्राप्त पत्र बिनायक सेन ने उसे दिये थे। क्योंकि पुलिस को दी गयी गवाही को सबूत के तौर पर इस्तेमाल नहीं किया जा सकता, इसलिये एक स्वतन्त्र गवाह अनिल कुमार भी न्यायालय के सामने प्रस्तुत किया गया। जज महोदय ने पीयुष गुहा द्वारा पुलिस को कथित दिये ब्यान को तो पूरी तवज्जो दी, लेकिन उसी के द्वारा एक मैजिस्ट्रेट के सामने दिये गये ब्यान को कोई महत्व नहीं दिया जिसमें उसने कहा था कि उसे छतीसगढ़ पुलिस ने रायपुर के एक होटल से जबरदस्ती उठा कर आंख पर पटटी बान्ध कर गैर कानूनी हिरासत में सात दिन रखा था। गुहा को कहा गया कि उसके पास इस दावे का कोई स्वतन्त्र गवाह नहीं है। जबकि पुलिस के पास अपने दावे के लिये अनिल कुमार नाम का गवाह था। अगर पुलिस के गवाह के कथनों तथा उसी पुलिस द्वारा सुप्रीम कोर्ट में दिये गये एक हल्फनामे में तालमेल नहीं बैठा कि गुहा को कहां से गिरफ्तार किया गया था, तो जज महोदय ने पुलिस की दलील को सहर्ष स्वीकार कर लिया कि यह भेद टाईप की गलती के कारण हो गया होगा। पुलिस के प्रति जज महोदय की दरियादिली एक और अहम सबूत को लेकर भी भरपूर दिखती है। पुलिस दावा कर रही है कि सेन के घर छापे के दौरान उसे माओवादियों की केन्द्रीय समिति द्वारा सेन को लिखा गया एक पत्र प्राप्त हुआ है। अव्वल तो इस पत्र पर हस्ताक्षर आदि का कोई सबूत नहीं है जिसके आधार पर यह माना जा सके कि यह पत्र माओवादियों की केन्द्रीय समिति ने ही जारी किया है। दूसरे, छापे के दौरान जब्त की गयी चीजों के पन्च नामे में इस पत्र का कोई जिक्र नहीं है। इस सम्दर्भ में जज महोदय ने पुलिस की दलील को आसानी से मान लिया कि शायद यह पत्र अन्य जब्त दस्तावेजों में दबा रहा होगा, इस लिये पंचनामे में नहीं दर्ज हुआ। सच को झूठ से अलग करने के लिये आवश्यक न्याय का तराजू छत्तीसगढ के जज वर्मा के हाथों में पुलिस की तरफ अधिक झुका प्रतीत होता है। तब यह किस प्रकार पुलिस या सेन के सच या झूठ में भेद कर सकता है, सोचने की बात है?

एक अमेरिकी युवक का परिप्रेक्ष्य: ‘मैडिसन में हम अपना मुस्तकबिल (भविष्य) देखते हैं’

[Note: This short piece was published in CRITIQUE, Vol-1, Issue-3. Critique is a Quarterly brought out by the Delhi University Chapter of New Socialist Initiative (NSI)]
साल्वाटोर काप्रिआनो

जब आप राजधानी में पहला कदम रखते हैं तो वहां के गलियारों और सभागारों में प्रस्फुटित होती प्रेरणा और एकजुटता की भावना से ओतप्रोत होने से बच नहीं सकते। जनता के सैलाब से रूबरू होना एक ऐसी उम्मीद जगाता है जिससे कई लोग परिचित नहीं हैं और तमाम लोग भूल गए हैं। पहली मंजिल पर स्थित गोलभवन में छात्रों की भारी तादाद है जो इस कब्जे को अमली जामा पहनाने में लगे हैं। उनके हाथों में एक लाउडस्पीकर भी है जिसका इस्तेमाल सभी पारी पारी से कर सकते हैं।

इस संघर्ष से एकाकार होकर छात्रों ने अहम भूमिका अदा की है, स्लीप ओवर सूची तैयार करने से लेकर, फूड डोनेशन्स संगठित करने, मेडिकल स्टाफ और राजधानी में ही सूचना केन्द्र को गठित करके इस कब्जे का आधार बनाने का उन्होंने काम किया है। जगह जगह पोस्टर्स भी लगाए गए हैं जैसे कि माॅल में लगे होते हैं या बिल्डिंगों में चिपके होते हैं, जो लोगों को वांछित गन्तव्य तक पहुंचने में मददगार होते हैं।

दूसरी मंजिल पर बूथ हैं जो सूचना देते हैं या मुफ्त साहित्य वितरित करते हैं और जहां पर खाने पीने की चीजों का स्टाॅक भी पड़ा है। उसी मंजिल पर चार्जिंग स्टेशन भी है जहां पर वे तमाम लोग एकत्रित हैं जो इस संघर्ष की ख़बरों को अपने ब्लाॅगों के माध्यम से दुनिया के हर कोने तक पहुंचा रहे हैं, वहां पर वे लोग भी हैं जो अपने इलैक्ट्रानिक उपकरणों को चार्ज करवाना चाहते हैं।

रात में, दूसरी मंजिल पर तमाम छात्रा और मजदूर लेटे मिलते हैं जिन्होंने यह तय किया है कि ‘‘किसी भी सूरत में किले को बचाना है’’ और इस बात को सुनिश्चित करना है कि इस बिल्डिंग से उनकी पकड़ ढीली ना हो।