Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Editorial, WORKERS OF THE WORLD, DIVIDE!?, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 April 2013 issue, Vol. 9, Part 1, No. 8.
WORKERS
OF THE WORLD, DIVIDE!?
On the eve of the glorious festival cum fighting day
of the world working class, we are quite sad to thus parody the clarion call of
Karl Marx, evolved in the course of generations of intrepid working class
struggles for socio-economic justice and humanist liberation. However, the
existing sad state of affairs in the country and the world over is that workers
are sought to be, and in reality also are, divided on sundry categories – of
race, gender, country and region – and tend to quarrel with sections among
themselves than putting up a united struggle against corporate plunderers. This disease has widely
spread to Andhra Pradesh also or else it would be difficult to understand the
rabid opposition to the allotment of captive iron ore mining rights to the
prestigious Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited [of
‘Navaratna’ status], a
wholly Government of India owned undertaking, running one of the largest
integrated steel plants in the world at Visakhapatnam, which by the way has
also thereby expressed its intent “to set up commensurate value addition facilities such
as Beneficiation Plant, Pelletisation Plant, Steel Mill, depending on the
quantum of iron ore reserves available
at Bayyaram (Khammam District) and other proposed allotment of mines in
Warangal and Karimnagar districts.” And
the sadder part is the participation of misguided workers of the region in, and
the espousal by the ‘left’ parties/groups of, this unjust agitation which hurts
more the interests of the working people at large than in any way contributing
to the progress of the region/state. We endorse the view that any labor
movement worth its name “must
be multiracial, multi-gender,
multi-aged, skilled/non-skilled, …… LGBT-inclusive, and so on…” and as such strongly condemn such anti-people, anti-labor moves by
vested interests and misguided parties/persons and call for broad and
harmonious unity and struggle of working persons irrespective of all divides.
In contrast, we really appreciate the campaign by Manda Krishna Madiga
espousing the just causes of all old persons and widows, many of whom may be
present or former workers, which good effort has also drawn applause from all right-thinking
persons cutting across all sectional/political divides. §§§
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Editorial: 'A FORUM OF LAST RESORT' in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 April 2013, Vol. 9, Part 1, No. 7 issue
A
FORUM OF LAST RESORT
is certainly required in our Indian conditions, of
course not as a Court to direct or command, but as an entity to pressurize and
lobby for, the needed justice tempered with social consciousness and mercy, in
some extreme cases of maladministration of justice or executive excesses. The
highly intellectual but eccentric Justice Katju has mooted the launching of a
Court of Last Resort saying “It has been felt for quite some time that injustice is
being done to a large number of people who have been languishing in jail either
as under trials whose cases have not been heard for several years, or who have
unjustly remained incarcerated, either because: (1) The police have
fabricated evidence against them, or (2) For want of proper legal
assistance, or (3) Who have had to spend many years in jail and
ultimately found innocent by the court;” and
curiously projected himself as the champion of ‘minorities’ whom he singled out
as the usual victims. And generally
he appeals for mercy to such persons from minorities/some high profile figures
but overlooks the woes and weal of innumerable persons from working class,
peasant and tribal communities who are languishing in jails just for demanding
their rights and facilities on the allegations of aiding and abetting extremism
and terrorism. He remembers and fights for pardon to Sanjay Dutt, who in our
opinion could be let out on probation but with strict directions for community
service in public toilets, or sweeping roads, etc. in vindication of his own
propagated filmi principle of gandhigiri,
but forgets to even consider the woes and weal of a Soni Sori who was so
cruelly tortured and is now again imprisoned for espousing the causes of tribal
women in Chattisgarh; and also conveniently does not refer to Afzal Guru who
was so unjustly dealt with and whose hanging has given rise to renewed terror
in the Kashmir valley and elsewhere. Such a Forum, we do not prefer the
appellation ‘Court’, should take up sensitive issues like stopping the hanging
of politically motivated convicts/terrorists like Bhullar which, if carried
out, could give rise to explosive situations harmful to the unity and security
of the country and again give fillip to wild terrorist activities in the name
of Khalistan, Eelam, etc. Also it should do all in its power to secure justice
to the oppressed people like the Chattisgarh tribals or Suzuki workers so
unjustly left to rot in jails without bail even. §§§
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