well, this is not coming from the right-wing, it's coming from the lunatic-fringe-left. so it must be true, no?
personally i don't support communist terrorism, but it's interesting to see the lunatic-fringe left (communists) attacking the far-left (congress).
crony capitalism (eg. IPL) leads to marie-antoinette-type excesses while the natives are getting restless. i guess in this orgy of IPL-love manmohan singh has forgotten the Mango Man (aam aadmi).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sri
Indias gravest threat
GS Vasu
The Express Buzz
I am amused by the nature of the discourse that has taken place ever since
the Maoists carried out the biggest ever attack on Indian security forces in
Dantewada, Chhattisgarh last fortnight. Did the CRPF men walk into a trap?
Should we use the army? Will use of unmanned aircraft help? These have been
the typical questions that have been raised but we are unwilling to discuss
why this is happening.
And I am not the only one who is amused. In the wake of the Chhattisgarh
incident, I visited a senior police officer with considerable experience in
handling Naxalite issues, and to my surprise, he too was amused. He asked me
a counter question: What else do you think will happen when thousands of
acres are given away to companies and lakhs of tribals are displaced? They
are bound to fight back. Feigning innocence, I asked him if this aspect is
ever discussed in Delhi where plans are made to root out the menace of
Naxalism. No, he replied. It is always about how many platoons should be
sent, where and what kind of weapons they should be armed with.
This despite having the plain facts before us. It is now four decades since
we saw Spring Thunder. During this period, some 10,000 people, supposedly
Maoists, have been killed in encounters, thousands of crores have been spent
on deploying forces and equipping them with modern weaponry, but all that we
managed to do is to help the movement spread from one district in one state
to over 200 districts in 15 states. I would not give the credit for this to
the Maoists. It is the Indian state and its economic policies which are
creating Maoists as we speak.
During my travels in Telangana, I happened to visit a Special Economic Zone
that has displaced about 1,000 people. Their lands, abutting a national
highway, were taken away by the government for sums ranging from Rs 18,000
to Rs 60,000 per acre. As construction began, the same farmers turned into
coolies working for daily wages of Rs 100, carrying brick and sand on the
same land they had once tilled. As the chief minister turned up to
inaugurate a companys unit, police fenced off the village to keep the
oustees at bay lest they create trouble. It reminded me of the Indo-Pak
border.
In another district, another company has been given close to 10,000 acres
for an SEZ. All that the farmers got was around Rs 50,000 per acre while the
SEZ promoter is now said to be quoting Rs 50 lakh per acre to those
intending to set up a unit there. In the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam
district, a government enterprise took up the responsibility of mining
bauxite and handing over the ore to a foreign company for smelting because
the law prevents private firms from exploiting natural resources in tribal
areas. This is a Machiavellian way to circumvent the Constitution and the
protection it offers to people who are vulnerable to exploitation. Most of
the companies favoured with such SEZs have, as a quid pro quo, invested
hundreds of crores in business ventures in which the powers-that-be have an
interest. Who is to remind our rulers of the oath they take when they assume
office that they will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution
and work without fear or favour, affection or ill will? And, tomorrow, if
all those affected by these projects become Maoists, who are we to blame?
That is not all. Today, in the rural areas, our primary health centres dont
function, and government hospitals in towns and cities are on the verge of
collapse. Every year, in the Agency areas of Andhra Pradesh, tribals die in
the hundreds of curable diseases such as diarrhoea or malaria. Who cares for
them? We have placed our healthcare system firmly in the control of
corporate hospitals. We dont care when tribal women are raped by security
forces as is happening in the Agency areas of AP or Chhattisgarh but the
molestation of a middle or upper middle class woman in Mumbai or Delhi
becomes front page news for our media. I dont condone the latter but this
only reflects our class bias. Are we saying it is acceptable or tolerable
for tribal women to be raped?
The same holds good for education. Gone are the days when government-run
residential schools and colleges produced top rankers. Like healthcare,
profit-oriented companies today control education and those who cant get
into their schools are made to feel they do not deserve to study. Thanks to
globalisation, several sections have been pushed to the brink. Debt-ridden
farmers and weavers are driven to suicide. In the cities, small businesses
are being edged out by big companies selling everything from vegetables,
footwear, milk and broomsticks to gold and petrol. Today, we have corporates
which show off their stinking wealth by dumping thousands of crores on
fashion shows like the Indian Premier League. Once upon a time we used to
talk disapprovingly of the politician-businessman nexus. Now businessmen
themselves get elected to legislatures and dictate our policies.
The revolutionary writer Vara Vara Rao was candid to tell me that its the
governments policies displacing tribals to benefit MNCs that have
largely strengthened the Maoist movement, be it in Lalgarh, Orissa or
Chhattisgarh. What globalisation and market fundamentalism have done in many
South American countries should teach us the perils of our current economic
policies, provided we are willing to learn from the experience. When Maoists
held talks with the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh five
years ago, two of their main demands were: (a) implementation of land
reforms and (b) laws meant to protect tribals and their rights over land. It
is ironic that a group which does not believe in the Constitution had to
tell a constitutionally-elected government what to do.
The fact is that city lights are not the real India. They are just a facade
beneath which a volcano is bubbling. When our Union home minister talks of
restoring order in Naxal-dominated areas, he does not seem to realise what
the causes of disorder are. At some point, inflation, unequal distribution
of income and corruption our vice-president believes that corruption is a
threat to national security while our prime minister thinks it is the
Maoists are bound to threaten social stability and state power too. The
police officer I met very casually remarked to me that as long as
Manmohanomics prevails, Maoism will survive, irrespective of how many forces
you deploy and how many Naxalites you kill. The time has come for the Indian
intelligentsia to debate whether Manmohanomics or Maoism is the gravest
internal security threat.
vasu@expressbuzz.com
About the author:
G S Vasu is the resident editor of The New Indian Express, Andhra Pradesh
and is based in Hyderabad
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/indias-gravest-threat/166894.html
From: sri
Indias gravest threat
GS Vasu
The Express Buzz
I am amused by the nature of the discourse that has taken place ever since
the Maoists carried out the biggest ever attack on Indian security forces in
Dantewada, Chhattisgarh last fortnight. Did the CRPF men walk into a trap?
Should we use the army? Will use of unmanned aircraft help? These have been
the typical questions that have been raised but we are unwilling to discuss
why this is happening.
And I am not the only one who is amused. In the wake of the Chhattisgarh
incident, I visited a senior police officer with considerable experience in
handling Naxalite issues, and to my surprise, he too was amused. He asked me
a counter question: What else do you think will happen when thousands of
acres are given away to companies and lakhs of tribals are displaced? They
are bound to fight back. Feigning innocence, I asked him if this aspect is
ever discussed in Delhi where plans are made to root out the menace of
Naxalism. No, he replied. It is always about how many platoons should be
sent, where and what kind of weapons they should be armed with.
This despite having the plain facts before us. It is now four decades since
we saw Spring Thunder. During this period, some 10,000 people, supposedly
Maoists, have been killed in encounters, thousands of crores have been spent
on deploying forces and equipping them with modern weaponry, but all that we
managed to do is to help the movement spread from one district in one state
to over 200 districts in 15 states. I would not give the credit for this to
the Maoists. It is the Indian state and its economic policies which are
creating Maoists as we speak.
During my travels in Telangana, I happened to visit a Special Economic Zone
that has displaced about 1,000 people. Their lands, abutting a national
highway, were taken away by the government for sums ranging from Rs 18,000
to Rs 60,000 per acre. As construction began, the same farmers turned into
coolies working for daily wages of Rs 100, carrying brick and sand on the
same land they had once tilled. As the chief minister turned up to
inaugurate a companys unit, police fenced off the village to keep the
oustees at bay lest they create trouble. It reminded me of the Indo-Pak
border.
In another district, another company has been given close to 10,000 acres
for an SEZ. All that the farmers got was around Rs 50,000 per acre while the
SEZ promoter is now said to be quoting Rs 50 lakh per acre to those
intending to set up a unit there. In the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam
district, a government enterprise took up the responsibility of mining
bauxite and handing over the ore to a foreign company for smelting because
the law prevents private firms from exploiting natural resources in tribal
areas. This is a Machiavellian way to circumvent the Constitution and the
protection it offers to people who are vulnerable to exploitation. Most of
the companies favoured with such SEZs have, as a quid pro quo, invested
hundreds of crores in business ventures in which the powers-that-be have an
interest. Who is to remind our rulers of the oath they take when they assume
office that they will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution
and work without fear or favour, affection or ill will? And, tomorrow, if
all those affected by these projects become Maoists, who are we to blame?
That is not all. Today, in the rural areas, our primary health centres dont
function, and government hospitals in towns and cities are on the verge of
collapse. Every year, in the Agency areas of Andhra Pradesh, tribals die in
the hundreds of curable diseases such as diarrhoea or malaria. Who cares for
them? We have placed our healthcare system firmly in the control of
corporate hospitals. We dont care when tribal women are raped by security
forces as is happening in the Agency areas of AP or Chhattisgarh but the
molestation of a middle or upper middle class woman in Mumbai or Delhi
becomes front page news for our media. I dont condone the latter but this
only reflects our class bias. Are we saying it is acceptable or tolerable
for tribal women to be raped?
The same holds good for education. Gone are the days when government-run
residential schools and colleges produced top rankers. Like healthcare,
profit-oriented companies today control education and those who cant get
into their schools are made to feel they do not deserve to study. Thanks to
globalisation, several sections have been pushed to the brink. Debt-ridden
farmers and weavers are driven to suicide. In the cities, small businesses
are being edged out by big companies selling everything from vegetables,
footwear, milk and broomsticks to gold and petrol. Today, we have corporates
which show off their stinking wealth by dumping thousands of crores on
fashion shows like the Indian Premier League. Once upon a time we used to
talk disapprovingly of the politician-businessman nexus. Now businessmen
themselves get elected to legislatures and dictate our policies.
The revolutionary writer Vara Vara Rao was candid to tell me that its the
governments policies displacing tribals to benefit MNCs that have
largely strengthened the Maoist movement, be it in Lalgarh, Orissa or
Chhattisgarh. What globalisation and market fundamentalism have done in many
South American countries should teach us the perils of our current economic
policies, provided we are willing to learn from the experience. When Maoists
held talks with the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh five
years ago, two of their main demands were: (a) implementation of land
reforms and (b) laws meant to protect tribals and their rights over land. It
is ironic that a group which does not believe in the Constitution had to
tell a constitutionally-elected government what to do.
The fact is that city lights are not the real India. They are just a facade
beneath which a volcano is bubbling. When our Union home minister talks of
restoring order in Naxal-dominated areas, he does not seem to realise what
the causes of disorder are. At some point, inflation, unequal distribution
of income and corruption our vice-president believes that corruption is a
threat to national security while our prime minister thinks it is the
Maoists are bound to threaten social stability and state power too. The
police officer I met very casually remarked to me that as long as
Manmohanomics prevails, Maoism will survive, irrespective of how many forces
you deploy and how many Naxalites you kill. The time has come for the Indian
intelligentsia to debate whether Manmohanomics or Maoism is the gravest
internal security threat.
vasu@expressbuzz.com
About the author:
G S Vasu is the resident editor of The New Indian Express, Andhra Pradesh
and is based in Hyderabad
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/indias-gravest-threat/166894.html
1 comment:
A left wing loser is berating another left wing govt leader means nice funny material for a conservative capitalist nationalist like me.HeHE idiots berating idiots.
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