Archive for November, 2007

Nandigram: Left is Right

Published
by
Tushar
on November 25, 2007
in india and politics
. 2 Comments

For the last 11 months the Nandigram saga has been unfolding. It is a fascinating insight into the use and deployment of power by a party that has lost its ‘radical’ moorings and now is THE establishment; The insidious ways in which power is deployed to maintain monopoly and crush dissent and the justification offered for the naked use of aggression.

A quick recap: the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led West Bengal government decided to acquire 25,000 acres of land in the Nandigram block a year ago to set up a chemical hub for the Salim group of Indonesia. A notification was issued to this effect without any formal communication, the worst possible way to go about it. Nandigram is prime agricultural land and around 8,000 families stood to lose their only source of livelihood. Naturally there was resentment, especially since there was no clarification from the government about compensation for land, alternative livelihoods etc. This resentment broke out into a full fledged ‘civil war’ when the local residents organised themselves into an organisation called the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Samiti (BUPS) or Anti Land Acquisition Committee. The BUPS was a militant coalition of political and religious parties. Overnight, roads were dug up, blockades erected and CPI(M) supporters were driven out of their homes into refugee camps. Nandigram became a ‘no go’ area where the government’s writ ceased to function, a ‘liberated’ zone. This was an unprecedented challenge for the CPI(M). In the 30 years that it has ruled West Bengal, it has cultivated a strong network of cadres that have been deployed to ruthlessly crush all opposition within Bengal. The CPI(M) came to power riding on the back of classic Marxist rhetoric: power to the working classes and peasantry, treating the comprador industrial/capitalist class with suspicion and cultivated working class militancy. Never in its wildest dreams could it have imagined that the very political climate that it had cultivated could be used against it.

The matter got further politicised when the main opposition party, the Trinamul Congress, and a host of religious organisations led by the Jamiat-e-ulema hind sensed an opportunity to shore up their support base in what was considered a CPI(M) stronghold.

This volatile mix resulted in the inevitable political stalemate. Attempts to resolve the issue resulted in tragedy when police fired on a protesting crowd on March 14, 2007. Estimates of the number killed vary from 14 (official) to 19.

Justice Prevails

Published
by
Anil
on November 6, 2007
in india
. 1 Comment

ICICI Bank has been fined Rs 50 lakh by the Delhi Consumer Commission for hiring goons to recover loans in a landmark ruling. Read more here.

The commission used strong language to condemn the flouting of rules by ICICI Bank by continuing to hire goons to recover a few thousand rupees. I hope this ruling will go a long way to reign these banks in who even after a Supreme Court ruling continue to employ these recovery agents who often use brutal and unlawful methods to recover the money. Until now the banks were washing their hands off by claiming that they were not responsible for the methods employed by the recovery agents. But the Consumer Commission categorically stated that it is the bank’s responsibility to make sure that the recovery agents do not resort to unlawful methods to recover loans.

This ruling should now prevent banks resorting to exploiting legal loopholes to get away with human rights abuses that often resulted in serious injury and tragically even drove some people at the receiving end of such forceful loan recovery tactics to suicide.