Dr. Binayak Sen's Lifer- A Mockery Of Justice

The most brazen injustice meted out to Dr Binayak Sen, Vice president of PUCL by the lower court of Raipur (Chattisgarh) has aroused enormous amount of dissent/outrage amongst every cross section of civil society across the globe. The travesty of justice given to such a person  who has been dedicated to the community health care system of one of the  poorest region of  Bastar Dist. (Chattisgarh) . The paradigm of his cent percent contribution in taking care of health of the poorest of the poor has no parallel at the present society of consumerism. He abhorred the hedonist lifestyle as the market economy provokes.

After passing out MD in Paediatrics with Gold Medal from CMC Vellore any Doctor of his time would have looked for green pastures in the west. But, he instead, took a plunge off the beaten track to serve the cause of most poverty stricken Adivasis of Bastar. So, naturally the affluent as well the privileged section of the middle class society were very much averse to his commitment to serve the have-nots .He has not swayed by the avarice and been acting against the will of the plunderers of  mines. The unholy alliance of the state politicians and industrial lobbies along with the people of vested interests has been contemplating to frame him in a draconian law right through. On May 14^th 2007 he was arrested as a conduit between Maoists under a draconian law of the state of Chattisgarh and languished in jail for two years. After a prolonged legal battle distinguished People’s lawyer Prashanta Bhusan was able to get Dr. Binayak Sen released by the order of Supreme Court on bail. During such detention, he was given 2008 Jonathan Mann Award by the Global Health Council for his health care service and upholding of human rights. He was denied to receive the award in person despite a joint appeal made by twenty-two Nobel laureates to the PM (Manmohan Singh).

At this time of market economy, human values, morality, sacrifice, dedication are passé. These have become so inconsequential that even plundering of national wealth (extraction of metals & minerals spectrum buying) has become the right of the industrialists resulting in displacement of the marginalized people to the hilt. It is a raw manifestation of crony capitalism. The arsonists, rapists, rioters, scam-stars, money launders, 2G spectrum looters are all roaming around scot-free by flouting all the laws of the land. But, if a person or for that matter any organization raise their legitimate demand of Fundamental Right Under Article 14,19,21 as enshrined in our constitution, they are booked under the draconian law of 1870’s (Sedition &Treason charges).

But, this time, civil society of our country has come forward in big way to thwart such a unconstitutional action by the judiciary. We have found that from 24^th. December2010,a stream of  intellectuals right from ANAND PATTABARDHAN (DOC. FILM MAKER)ARUNA ROY ( MEMBER, NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL) ASHISH NANDY(SOCIOLOGIST)  RAM CHANDRA GUHA (HISTORIAN) ARUNDHATI ROY (ESSAYIST, SOCIAL ACTIVIST)MEDHA PATKAR (SOCIAL ACTIVIST) APARNA SEN ( FILM MAKER) SOLI  SORABJI (EX. ATTORNEY GENERAL) FALI  NARIMAN (EMINENT JURIST),ASHOKE MITRA(ECONOMIST),AMARTYA SEN(ECONOMIST&NOBLE LAUREATE) DEBABRATA BANDOPADHYAY( RETD. IAS, EX, LANDREVENUE SECY) E.M. RAMMOHAN (EX.DGP, CRPF MEMBER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE), ROMILA THAPAR (HISTORIAN), RAJENDRA SACHAR &A.P.SHAH (BOTH RETD. CHIEF JUSTICE OF DELHI HC),  BRINDA KARAT (M.P.CPM) MALINI BHATTACHARJEE (CHAIRPERSON ,W.B. WOMEN’S COMMISSION) VRINDA GROVER (LAWYER,SUPREME COURT) AND THE PEOPLE’S LAWYER PRASHANTA BHUSAN (who moved the petition of bail at supreme court on behalf of Dr. Sen) to NOAM CHOMSKY, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL , PUCL,PUDR and innumerable number of individuals, organizations have unequivocally condemned the atrocious judgement and resolved in no uncertain terms to fight out to enforce  the rule of justice as guaranteed  in our constitution by democratic means.

We as a law abiding citizen of India, do express our solidarity in letter & spirit with Ms. Ilina Sen in the ensuing legal battle at the High Court.

We need Arundhati's straight talk

 Arubndhati Roy, the great social thinker, humanist and internationally acclaimed writer, has stirred up the hornet's nest by speaking her mind in a seminar on 21.10.10 in Delhi.The seminar was organised by the sympathisers of the movement  for self determination of long pending dispute of Kashmir.The necessity of organising such seminar was ostensibly been taken to make people aware of the situation in Kashmir soon after the armed forces had killed 107 innocent child & adolescent people for their alleged stone pelting to the security forces.

Kashmir is now under seize .Seventy thousands of Armed Forces are on constant vigil so that no anti national element could raise any voice to ask for minimum freedom of expression let alone " Azadi". Now, the question ,why the majority of people ( From 8yrs.to 80 yrs.) are doggedly struggling for Independence? Because, the annexation of Kashmir was done by deceit. The Plebiscite, as assured to the people of Kashmir in the United Nations,had never been attempted to . And, hence our country had been hoodwinking the people of Kashmir by denying them the opportunity of ascertaing the mandate of people through referendum. Since, that was the basis of merging of Kashmir to the independent India.

In this context,we have read many books and came to know the hard reality of Kashmir. ARUNDHATI ROY has just narrated all such facts in minute details at the Seminar.This has irked the hardcore Hindu Fundamentalist so much so that any person who would try to even acknowledge the historical truth would be branded as an ant-national----- as such any statement pertaining to the aspirations of the people of Kashmir would be trampled down.This travesty is nothing but transgressing to the fundamental right of a person.

Kashmir is and always has been an emotive and sensational issue.The print & electronic media are equally to be blamed for not analysing the volatile issue in a more objective way rather than sensationalising it to raise the readership/ TRP rates. That is why Nwespapers/TV channels with a few exceptions,have come

down heavily on one and only eminent writer-humanist-our conscience keeper Arundhati Roy. I, for one, regard her as Noam Chomsky of our country.Name any issue of suppression/oppression by the state perpetuated against the general mass, she is there, as a conscience-keeper to  make us understand the role of the oppressor and thereby  raise our voices against it. So, quite obviously all the stake holders in the fray would be furious to hound her out to prove her as an anti-national.

In the premise,the vandalism as shown by a handful of religious bigots, vigourosly trying to tear apart the pluralistic society by committing progom and genocide in Gujarat and elsewhere, should never been allowed to happen in the seminar in Delhi. Because,in democracy, it is imperative to allow any dissenting voice to be heard by people howsoever it may ridicule the state for that matter.

In the year 1922,M.K. Gandhi arguably the father of the nation was arrested under 124(A) IPC of 1898,by the Britsh govt.and many more  freedom fighters were also arrested during the freedom movement in India.As per this draconian law if any person does express his/her disaffection towards the elected govt. of the day by writing,statement,deeds,lecture etc. it could be termed as treason and may be booked under this draconian law. Mr. Gandhi, during his trial satirically said that " if one had no affection for a person or system,one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection....".

Arundhati's straight talk has thus placed her in the same league as Gandhi.The history of dissenting voices have long list of legends e.g.from Voltaire,Jean Paul Satre,Ralf Waldo Emerson,Hainz, Sigmond Froyd,Bertand Russel et al to the moderndays Noam Chomosky and ours Arundhati Roy. We must feel extremely fortunate that instead of being swayed by this hedonist and consumerist culture of the world, her every move gives the middle class people an insight as well as prick our conscience that ALL IS NOT WELL here.

.On 12.09.10, Hindustan Times had published an article in page no 11 where a young girl of 30s named SABBAH HAJI expressed her anguish, desperation and above all her alienation from the spirit of our nationhood. Her interpretation of nationhood is completely different from us as she has been subjected to by the "oppressive" state apparatus of Kashmir.Arundhati Roy has narrated the collective voices of the disgruntled,humiliated people numbering 66% of the valley. It's not morally right to gag her voice on the pretext of her having "anti-National" stand. The print and electronic media has clubbed together to insinuate her in a most unethical way so as to arouse public outrage against her. This is evident from the vandalism organised by the Women wing of obnoxious RSS at the residence of the writer in full view of OB van of ND/TIMES TV.soon after the seminar was held.

Hence, under the present situation prevailing in our country, in spite of the much-touted  GDP growth rate and fastest growing number of billioners,  we should  recall the Ambedkar's warning " On the 26th. January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality.In politics, we will be recognising the principle of one man-one vote-one value. In our social and economic life,we shall by reason of our social and economic structure continue to deny the principle of one man-one value.How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril".

DO AWAY WITH WISHY- WASHY APPROACH

Far from being swayed away by the hullabaloo  of  organizing 19^th. Commonwealth Games in Delhi , I am very much concerned  about the fate of the indepth enquiry as  announced by PMO to dig out the massive corruption involved in it.and to see that the culprits must not get away with impunity. Despite the great achievement made by our sportsmen and women who have excelled immensely in thisCWG the huge corruption involved into it has marred  the sporting event of this nature. That too, `744 Crore ( allotted )money for the welfare of SCs has been  diverted to conduct such a sporting extravaganza( out of a cumulative spending of  `.70,000 crores from the state exchequer).

This apart, India has been elected as a non permanent member of  UN Security Council for a period of 2 years after 1992,of course, without a voting power. In the economic front there has been a massive hike in SENSEX touching 20K mark, Gold price also rose to  `.20K in addition to it there is `1 Trillion FOREIGN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENT (FII) with the GDP is standing at 8-9%.These are the Shining India’s part which are being glorified by the Govt. By Contrast, the suffering India’s story has outweighed abysmally the much publicized Economic Achievement made thus far.

India stands at 62 in the GLOBAL HUMAN INDEX  where as China is at 6, The food inflation  has risen to 16.37% thereby further pushing the impoverished 836 million people to remain hungry since as per Arjun Sengupta’s report 77% people  earn   `.20/- a day. This is the state of affair today with the much vaunted and touted about LPG (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) adopted by the govt. since 1991

Thus the inclusive growth of our economy has become a myth . By allowing to increase the number of middle class in our country which is 35 million (the total population of USA & AUSTRALIA) and along with a handful of super-rich people who are holding 25% of the national wealth ,the govt of the day are simply duping the vast majority of the toiling and most suffering masses.. The mere lip service and rhetoric will not suffice. There needs to have a paradigm shift in declared policy implementation formulated by a few selfless honest eminent experts in their respective fields. The need of the hour is to put the best foot forward by the govt  and implement the different welfare programme to the mal/undernourished children, provide food, shelter and employment to the vast majority of  our country. In absence of giving the top priority to such programmes the power that be would simply pave the way to the violent protest by suffering masses in a befitting manner in  more often than not. This does not at all augur well for a country who is aspiring to be global Economic power to match our neighbour.

When judiciary confronts religion

Eventualy, the court of law gets to be the one and only authority to decide upon any thing from criminal act to title suit of a mythological character's birthplace.

As a citizen of India , I feel extreme pain and agony when  I find a nation aspiring to be a global power in economy  engaged with as trivial and archaic issue as Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhumi ownership dispute. For the past few days, there had been a tremendous build -up of tension and excitement in both communities across the length and breadth of India over the verdict to be delivered by the Allahabad High Court..Now the judgement is out, and we see that the verdict is a climax-buster to please both the communities with the provision to appeal before the apex court within three months if any of the litigants feel dissatisfied with the judgement. And it's just plain dumb thing to think that the fuss is over. Just wait, and one of the parties, if not the both, would be rushing to the Supreme court soon. That takes you back to square one. So what gives? 

I am aghast that bigotry, even in this 21st. century, has such a pervasive following. What a pity the scientists of the world are now trying hard to discover the birth of the universe while we Indians, like jackals in the jungle, are fighting the battle of the cave ages! This is height of utter stupidity.

When this issue, or rather non-issue comes up next time, shoot it down with your millenium insight and don't behave like an  immature sod.

System failure: poverty grows on USA!

Frankly, I'm shocked going through the press report that 44 million people in US are living in BPL.This is 14.4% of the the country's total population of three hundred and fifteen million. For us Indians, specially for the middle and upper middle class folks, America has always been  a coveted greener pasture where you get all the goodies without much of an effort.  But what do hear now? Ever since the economic meltdown in 2008, the country has declined economically for sure, but is not this revelation  a bit too scary? BPL, so long a phenomenon of developing countries, is now a fact of life in your dream land of  milk and honey. Oh, capitalism!

 Cuba, that hallowed citadel of socialism, which  fought relentles battle against Imperialist forces since 1959 under the able leadership of Che Guevera and Fidel Castro,  has now landed in a deep crisis.Their much avowed socialist policies of food,shelter and employment for all,  have got a serious beating.Their economy is in a shambles. Raul Castro,brother of Fidel Castro and now president of Cuba, has recently announced that the onslaught of sanctions by USA & its allies on all items barring agricultural products and medicines, has left him with no other options but to resort to stringent measures such as phasewise retrenchnent of workers. Oh, socialism!

The bottom line is, no system - or doctrine for that matter - is full-proof, and guarantees any secured  livelihood of the mankind.  It's fair to conclude that at a certain point of time any structure  / concept on which the administration works, crumbles irrespective of the world order.

 Of late, the  Heads of 189 countries at United Nations have vowed ,as part of their Millenium Goals.  to eradicate poverty, stop climate change and overcome economic crises all over the world by 2015.

I wonder if it is going to be another exercise that ends up in yet another system failure.

So, what's Rahul Gandhi up to?

So, what is Rahul Gandhi up to?

The scion of Neheru-Gandhi dynasty recently had a whirlwind tour across West Bengal and aroused the intesest of the masses by simply mouthing things that were half-baked rhetoric. To cite just one example, he told in a meeting that there are two Bengals – one that of rich CPM’s, and another of the poor masses. He was of course cheered with applauses, but is there anything new about it? Do you see any novelty in such a benign and apolitical statement? If it wasn’t shit, it was not a tolerable insight either.

Rahul is evidently posing as the messiah of the underdogs, but without any credibility. Think what he stated in the wake of the Central Government’s rejection of Vedanta’s Niyamgiri project in Orissa following the relentless resistance movement by the Adivasis. He congratulated the Adivasis for the triumph of the movement, and assured them that he would be their ‘sepahi’ in New Delhi to fight for their cause in future. Now, who is going to have his faith in someone who has never ever associated himself with this movement?

Here is the irony: Rahul advocates for the poor while his Government is systematically batting for the mining corporates who are supposed to hike the GDP!

So, it does not require much brain to understand that Rahul is just paying lip service for the ordinary poor people of India and is in the game of building up an image on his way to being at the helm of affairs in not too distant a future.

Graveyard humour!

In yet another long essay in the Outlook weekly, Arundhati Roy lambasts Manmohan Singh and Co with her great prose.

Excerpt:
On the 64th anniversary of India’s Independence, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh climbed into his bullet-proof soapbox in the Red Fort to deliver a passionless, bone-chillingly banal speech to the nation. Listening to him, who would have guessed that he was addressing a country that, despite having the second-highest economic growth rate in the world, has more poor people than 26 of Africa’s poorest countries put together? “All of you have contributed to India’s success,” he said, “the hard work of our workers, our artisans, our farmers has brought our country to where it stands today.... We are building a new India in which every citizen would have a stake, an India which would be prosperous and in which all citizens would be able to live a life of honour and dignity in an environment of peace and goodwill. An India in which all problems could be solved through democratic means. An India in which the basic rights of every citizen would be protected.” Some would call this graveyard humour. He might as well have been speaking to people in Finland, or Sweden.