What rights do a people, who have been dispossessed of their land for half a century and live in another country, have? This must be the question Tibetans must be asking themselves in the wake of Chinese premier Hu Jintao’s visit to India.
Ever since China’s brutal invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1959 India has hosted the largest community of Tibetan exiles including their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. They have lived here for three generations and the younger members have no living memory of Tibet, except for their parents tales of it, and a nostalgic yearning for a lost homeland. Every time a Chinese official visits India the Tibetans have organized protests demanding freedom for Tibet. This time too the Tibetans geared up to greet Hu with protests and sit ins. But the Indian government took no chances and muzzled their protests. Tibetans were placed under preventive custody and those who actually protested were arrested and whisked away.
The Tibetans have a right to protest and express their grievances in public spaces. Especially since China is still continuing with its brutal occupation of Tibet and has reduced the Tibetans to a minority in their own land by encouraging Han Chinese to migrate there. Tibetan culture has been brutally suppressed in the name of development and China has arrested thousands of Tibetans.
But surely India is a more politically open country. Or is it? If Tibetans are Indian citizens (and most of them are) they should be able to express their dissent. It is guaranteed by the constitution. But the government, perhaps not wanting to displease the Chinese, muzzled the rights of the Tibetans. Let us remember that China is an aggressive nation that has border disputes with all its neighbours. It has claimed Arunachal Pradesh on the spurious grounds that a Panchen Lama was born there and until recently refused to recognize Sikkim as a part of India and they still hold parts of Kashmir. Going by the same logic my great grand uncle’s nephew was born in Beijing, so I will claim Beijing as a part of India! Ridiculous.
I wonder what it must feel like not to belong. Not knowing your own country. Knowing that your land and people are not free. Knowing that there is no hope of returning to it. Despite celebrity endorsement, the “Free Tibet” movement is a lost cause (at least for the time being) caught as it is between the cleft stick of a pacifist Dalai Lama and an increasingly restless younger generation. Despite Richard Gere lending it charm and sex appeal, which country has dared to challenge China on its occupation or human rights record in Tibet? Countries and corporations will put economics before human dignity because all want a piece of the Chinese economic miracle.
Till now the Tibetan community in India was secure in the knowledge that this country was a democracy where rights were by and large respected. That confidence will be just a wee bit shaken now.
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The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) recently held a meeting of major Indian scientists in Bangalore to discuss the feasibility and economics of sending an Indian astronaut into space and then later landing him/her on the moon. This has given rise to the usual arguments both in favor of and against such a venture. There are those who argue that India, with her many social and economic problems, should not waste money on something that has already been done before and will yield nothing new. That instead, the money should be used to help the poor and the downtrodden. Simply put, India should not dare to dream that big and be constantly aware of her limits.
I firmly disagree. I think India should seriously plan on putting a man into space and then later on the moon. Yes, it will be expensive. However, what no one realizes is how much of a kick start it will give to the science and technology fields in India and ultimately benefit society. The space race between the erstwhile U.S.S.R. and the U.S. in the 1950s and 60s led to the development of many new technologies that later found widespread applications in many different areas, ranging from health to housing.
Poverty or social ills are important problems and need to be tackled but they need to be dealt within their own space. One cannot link space exploration to how India has so far failed to help many of its poor. There were many who were skeptical or opposed even India’s initial modest attempts at developing satellite launch capabilities. ISRO is having the last laugh now. India has one of the most cost effective launch systems in the world. The satellites put into space by ISRO have helped greatly in early cyclone warning, broader reach of education and world class remote sensing to mention a few. The early cyclone warning process enabled by ISRO’s satellites alone has saved thousands of lives by letting authorities evacuate people before a cyclone hit.
In addition, space exploration is not just about boosting a nation’s self esteem. It is the exploration of the final frontier. Humanity needs to look beyond Earth. We need to get off this planet sometime. There are not enough resources on Earth to feed, clothe and satisfy the world’s population forever. Space exploration is a very costly and cumbersome undertaking but all new technologies are expensive. The first computers were huge monsters and cost small fortunes. In the same way, the initial decades of space exploration will demand huge spending but there will definitely be tangible results. If not for our generation then for the next.
Sometimes it pays to have a broader vision. To think and dream big. As long as we keep drawing lines and limiting ourselves we can never truly achieve anything big. For more than one billion Indians space exploration should not just be a distant dream but a tangible reality.
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A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court for banning the social networking site, Orkut, which is owned by Google, according to this report. Apparently, the petitioner, a certain Subodh Balsaraf of Thane, found that ‘Orkut’ used “slang, rude and vulgar language” about the Maratha king Shivaji. Disturbingly, Orkut has already been banned in Pune by the police after the occurrence of a few violent incidents there.
I’m surprised. Does Mr. Balsaraf or for the matter the police even know how Orkut works? Orkut by itself does not post any inflammatory remarks. It is some people who are bent on stirring things up that start these ‘hate’ communities. I even know of a few ‘Hate India’ communities started by some Pakistanis on Orkut.
There is a feature on Orkut to report about such communities to the people who run Orkut. Apparently, if enough complaints are received, steps are taken to remove that community. Now, I’m not very sure how effective this report back feature is but if you have a problem about certain people posting defamatory remarks about your idol you should first write to the people who run the site. Banning the complete site won’t help. It will only cause inconvenience to thousands of others. Orkut is actually very popular among Indians and is used by many, including myself, to keep in touch with friends and people sharing similar interests from around the world.
There are all kinds of loonies on the internet who would like nothing better than to cause trouble and stir up hatred. We should be on our guard and not let our emotions blind us. A ban on Orkut will only be playing into the hands of such trouble makers. Apart from that, it is putting a restriction on the way people access the internet. A road, which in my opinion, we should never take as an open and democratic country. If not anything it will set a bad precedent. Tomorrow, there will be similar demands to ban all kinds of different websites just because they seem to cause ‘hurt’ to some people. For example, searching for ‘Hate India’ on Google returns about 3,210,000 links. Should we ban Google also for linking to such sites, some of which genuinely propagate hate against India?
If the court does end up banning the site, it will prevent access to a simple tool that helps enhance social interaction between people living in different parts of India and the world. I hope the Bombay High Court, after due process, throws this petition right out of the window.
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Another dream(s) crumbles to dust under the wheels of a spoilt brats car. Six labourers were mowed to death last night on Carter Road in Bandra by drunken louts driving a Toyota Corolla. That’s six innocent lives snuffed out by a reckless 20 year old who has daddy’s money to throw around. The dead include a pregnant woman and two children. So if you count the unborn child as a separate entity that’s seven people. As always (anyone remember the Salman Khan case?) the people at the receiving end were daily wage labourers who lived in tin sheds on the pavement on Carter Road and the killers were teenagers who had been partying at the Taj hotel till the wee hours before they embarked on their drive from hell.
So apart form the hue and cry in today’s papers (it has made front page news in ToI and IE) who will spare a thought for those killed? Life will go on as usual; People will rush about with their daily grind, People will jostle for space on the Churchgate fast local and A few anguished souls will vent their angst in the blogosphere.
The bastards who did this will all cry in front of the TV cameras and say they didn’t intend to do it, that it was all a mistake and then work their way around the courts. Because they are rich enough to hire expensive lawyers who know how to beat the system. Already, the lawyer of the guy who was driving (Alistair Parreira) has said “What happened was unfortunate, but it was an accident and not intentional.” Not intentional!!! You moron, your client may not have intended it, but six people are DEAD. And he has to pay the price. Listen to Alistair’s uncle: The car was speeding and anything could have happened to the youngsters. Allistair blamed the car instead.
Welcome to India my friend. The land of the 5000 year old civilisation, the land of Gandhi and JP Narayanan, the next world superpower. Oh yeah, did someone mention the fact that if you are rich you get away with murder (literally) and if you are poor your conditions are so wretched you wish you were dead. There are enough rich drunken people out there willing to oblige.
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Where is the humanity in this? Is this the very land where apparently tolerance is ingrained in our very blood? Is this happening in the same country where the government is bending over backwards to build nuclear bombs and lobby for a permanent seat in the Security Council when the police cannot be depended upon to protect those who need it the most? This is human nature at its darkest.
To read that the whole village, including women, stood by and watched as Surekha (45 yrs old) and her daughter Priyanka (17 years old) were beaten, mutilated, disfigured, tortured and gang-raped to death. To read that her two sons, Roshan (23 years old and blind) and Sudhir (21 years old), were beaten to death and their genitals mutilated makes me frightened to think about what is happening in the ‘other’ India. An India, where being born into a lower caste is like being cursed for life, where justice and human rights are words without any meaning, and where police and other public officials are puppets in the hands of a powerful few. This is not the ‘news’ the rest of India is fed. This is not the ‘democracy’ the high and mighty of the political elite want the world to see. This is not the ‘equality under law’ the politicians preach.
So speak out my dear friends. Talk about this on/in your blogs, phones, drawing rooms, offices, street corners, restaurants, pubs, clubs, discos, coffee joints and spread the word. Tell everyone you know about how the dreams of three youngsters and their mother were brutally erased. Talk about how the police even now ignore basic procedures and protect the perpetrators. Talk about how justice is only the preserve of a select few in today’s India. For even talking is better than being silent. For perhaps someone somewhere in the corridors of power will listen and take action.
William Dalrymple’s new book ‘The Last Mughal’ is out. I am going to buy my copy ASAP. His last book ‘The White Mughals’ rocked. I expect this one to be just as good. Dalrymple writes in a very entertaining and engaging style. Not academic and pedantic, his writing is simple, humourous and fun to read. At the same time he challenges conventional wisdom and opens up new vistas of thinking.
The Last Mughal is about the great 1857 revolt or war of independence (depending on how you view it). The title refers to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the poet who tragically became a figure head for the revolutionaries. But a dozen other characters also put in an appearance including the famed Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. Significantly, Mangal Pandey is a minor character, though he is deified as central to the events of 1857 in certain Indian quarters.
The book is bound to ruffle feathers in India and Britain because it challenges the views held by both countries about the empire-shaking events of 1857. What makes the narrative more credible is that Dalrymple’s primary source were papers in Urdu and Persian written by Indians about the revolt. This assumes significance because till now (or so Dalrymple says) all accounts about what happened relied on European records. There were presumed to be no Indian eyewitness accounts. Even Indian historians relied on European accounts. For instance Marxist historians allege that the conflict occurred due to economic reasons. Dalrymple disputes this view. According to him the main reason was religion since evangelical Christianity was on the rise at this time. The enfield rifle controversy (documented in the film Mangal Pandey that starred Amair Khan) was the fuse that ignited the issue.
At the same time I feel sad. A foreigner (no doubt Dalrymple is an Indophile, but a firang nevertheless) comes and discovers ANOTHER aspect of India’s past that we have not bothered about. What is it about us that makes us neglect our own country and leave it to foreigners to tell us about ourselves? The documents that Dalrymple used were lying in the Nehru memorial library all these years for anyone to access. But it just so happened that no Indian bothered to read them.
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Its finally happened. Bangalore has become Bengalooru. The Karnataka government has officially nativised the names of the capital and 10 other cities in the state. Mysore is now Mysooru, Belgaum is Bellagavi, Gulbarga is Kalburgi, Hubli is Hubbali…you get the drift. The move came on November 1, the 50th anniversary of the formation of the state of Karnataka. This means that the cities will be written the new way even in English, though this was the way they were written in Kannada.
The Kannada chauvinists have had their way, led by the Kannada Rakshana Vedike and a pack of other equally Kannada chauvinist organizations. At the root of this idiocy lies a fear that “Kannada culture” is dying. Even heavyweights like UR Anantamurthy have weighed in on the issue. I heard him the other night on NDTV saying that Bangalore has lost its Kannada moorings and there are way too many outsiders in the city. I mean, this is the guy who won a Sahitya Academy award for his book Samskara and is considered a major literary figure. I hope he sleeps easy tonight knowing that his beloved city has now regained some of its Kannada flavour.
I can understand the sentiment behind the move. In a fast globalizing world, where identities and cultures are changing at a rapid pace the fear of losing one’s own identity is a very real one. Whether that fear is real or misplaced is an entirely different issue. Last year when I was at Ranga Shankara (a premier theatre festival in Bangalore) a Kannadiga complained to me how the crowd at the venue (a swanky auditorium) was “so English speaking without a trace of Kannada. The couples here kiss openly,” this gentleman recounted in horror. At that time I argued with him, but I suspect my arguments didn’t have much impact.
I just wish that these people would engage with issues of culture and identity in a deeper way. This business of renaming cities is such a superficial way of asserting yourself that its laughable. For now it looks like the ‘digs’ have won (what a Pyhrric victory).
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These are the findings of the Sachar committee report which was constituted by the UPA government to find the true socio-economic condition of India’s largest minority. Muslims are at the bottom of virtually most socio-economic indicators like government jobs, education, health care. In some cases their condition is even worse than that of the scheduled castes and tribes.
For instance, Muslims are severely underrepresented in government jobs. Their numbers are well below their share as a percentage of the population. In Assam where they constitute 30 %, they have only 11.2% of govt jobs; West Bengal (25%) 4.2% [This in a bastion of the supposedly secular CPI(M)]; Kerala (24%) 10.4%; UP (18.5%) 5.1%. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are states with more proportionate representation.
Even in the judiciary its the same story. Muslims share of jobs here is less than their population share overall. When it comes to education Muslims are worse off than OBCs, SCs and STs.
The only place where Muslims are over-represented are prisons. The share of Muslims in prison for petty and serious crime is way above their proportional share in the population. A mixture of prejudice and apathy on the part of the authorities and a failure of Muslims to show determination to move out of their plight is maybe responsible for this state of affairs. The condition of Muslims in India is not very different from the condition of Afro-Americans in USA.
The current state of affairs cannot continue. 15 % of India’s population cannot be allowed to languish at the bottom of the socio-economic table and not expect serious repercussions in the future. The government should take concrete steps to improve the lot of Muslims. The time for cosmetic measures of the Mulayam Singh Yadav variety is long past. Something has to be done NOW.
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