Editorial, PEASANT SUICIDES IN TELANGANA, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 October 2014, Vol. 10, Part 2, No. 19 issue

PEASANT SUICIDES IN TELANGANA

Though it is a very sad and really awkward topic to comment on at this juncture of the nascent State of Telangana, it seems quite essential too. Now, there is no redeeming First Cause of a separatist movement in the account of which all such heartrending happenings could easily be put; nor is there any justification for a psychic chauvinist government to yet make any third parties responsible for what is so evidently a consequence solely of the Tuglaqian policies and measures of governance. Telangana has been a power deficit region and due to the adjustment policies in the united State, a lion’s share was allotted to Telangana consumption much above its population proportion. Now that Telangana has become a separate entity, perforce it has to fend for itself. The share of allotment of power generated through central power production units in the united State as indicated in the AP Reorganization Act 2014 may only be a temporary solace and is also subject to several riders. Instead of concentrating on the imminent power crisis from the day one of its installation, the State Government of Telangana has been focusing on other extraneous matters and also resorting to repressive measures against the people’s liberties. Instead of counseling the agitated farmers, no doubt severely suffering due to non-supply of enough power for their irrigation purposes that has much ruined their agriculture, and so livelihoods even, they have been deliberately ignoring, even repressing, their agitation. The Telangana CM himself declared irresponsibly that neither he, nor his/anybody’s ancestors come alive, could supply adequate power for the next three years; a further provocation to the already broke and disappointed farmers who are committing suicides in droves. This government is in the main responsible for this tragic development though the distorted development policies and measures of the erstwhile governments also play a contributory part. One solution lies in the present government publicly and honestly assuring all the farmers that their losses, and lives, will be taken care of and nobody need worried unduly about their future; and then enter into a meaningful dialogue with the Centre and other states to devise ways and means to solve this intricate problem instead of concentrating on making whipping boys of this or that person or party or sections of people. §§§

Editorial, 'THE AMERICAN CONNECTION" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 September 2014, Vol. 10, Pt. 2, No. 18 issue.

THE AMERICAN CONNECTION

It is hotly debatable whether the much acclaimed American connection is so much essential for our country. True, our new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, till now a persona-non-grata for the US, was welcomed with fanfare and assured of continued support and aid to us, but the point remains whether the US itself is today in a position to help, and not wreck, others. Of course, Modi was also vocal enough to state that the future belongs to Asia but even the present, it is generally felt, is looking towards this continent. Were Modi to invest even half the zeal and energy displayed by him for cultivating America to the case of improving relations with China, our bigger neighbor, whose President has so graciously come forward to first visit our country, our commerce and industry, particularly in the field of high speed railways, would have certainly benefited several times more than what US could help to do. The vexed and protracted border dispute with that country should be solved at the earliest in a ‘give and take’ spirit, for which that side has always been and still remains ready, without being bugged by the prejudices from the past. Perhaps a way out for our ‘oil crisis’ can also be found in close relations with China than banking on the Gas Pipeline that America is so ambitious, and genocidally aggressive, to push through the Middle East for its greedy profits. It is said that the aggressiveness of the US abroad and protectiveness at home go together and due to the latter we may lose several thousand jobs, and more opportunities, for our youths in that country which are available now. It doesn’t seem Modi has addressed that problem at all though he gave effusive exhortations about the Indian jaagaran at Madison Square NY, sounding quite hypocritical in lauding Gandhi (who never visited that country), while completely forgetting or deliberately overlooking Swami Vivekananda, who perhaps was our first ambassador of peace to that land, let alone the indomitable Hindustani Gadar Party with patriots and martyrs like Har Dayal, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna, Karatar Singh Saraba and Vishnu Ganesh Pingle, who began their valiant fight for our freedom from that free land. Anyway, it is safer for us to remain at a respectable distance from the US lest we be wittingly/unwittingly drawn into the maelstrom of all the ‘terrorist’ wars it is spreading in the world. §§§

Editorial, 'THE GREAT DECEPTION!?" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 September 2014, Vol. 10, Pt. 2, No. 17 issue.

THE GREAT DECEPTION!?

Well, it could very well be so. Especially if one observes the almost free fall of the WTC 7 tower, not hit by any plane/body, it appears as a controlled demolition and so the non-mentioning of even the fact of its collapse in the 9/11 Commission Report, and ascribing of a silly reason for the same in the NSIT Report which in its turn slighted the 9/11 Commission Report, surely indicates a massive cover-up by the then government of America, which alas continues to this day. Many of us have all along opposed American invasion of Iraq, on the allegations of Saddam Hussein’s belligerent and harsh measures and his alleged possession of the so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction, which ultimately proved fraudulent with not a single WMD found anywhere but even so the Iraqi President, who might have been despotic in his own country but was a rare secular Arab leader of the day, mercilessly executed by a lackey government through a Kangaroo Court trial amidst worldwide protests. But none of us had an inkling that the American extra-territorial expansionist policy and measures could have been built on the basis of a horrendous homicidal crime perpetrated on their own people through this 9/11 carnage, which, per what the 9/11 Truth movement or several war veterans/military-intelligence officers of America now reveal and accuse, is certainly a dirty work of the notorious Bush-Cheney gang then in power. Even the US intervention in Afghanistan was excessive and counter productive. Their recent intervention in Syria in aid of the very al-Qaeda and other fundamentalist outfits and its proxy war on Assad of Syria, another secular Arab leader, has generated the ‘Frankenstein Monster’ of ISIS, a religious fanatic terrorist outfit whose atrocities are so horrendous. It is a matter of utmost shame, even of grave crime, on the part of the US as also the developed democracies of the West that they could not launch an effective criminal investigation into this crime of the century with the UN also supine. We join the voice of the 9/11 Truth Movement and demand an impartial and comprehensive criminal inquiry into the 9/11 incidents, preferably through the United Nations, by an international tribunal comprising of eminent jurists, lawyers, engineers and other experts from all over the world to find out the real causes/ persons responsible for this calamitous crime. §§§

Editorial, "Alas, the Giants are Departing" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 August 2014 issue, Vol. 10: Part 2, No. 16

ALAS, THE GIANTS ARE DEPARTING

one by one – gargantuan in their respective fields, with superb motivation to serve humanity in general. Their extraordinary achievements in diverse arenas are but contributions to the cause of common human weal. This editor fondly remembers his school days when all the students – generally film goers – would split into two camps of ANR-NTR fans and heatedly argue as to ‘ANR goppaa? NTR goppaa?’ [who is greater hero – ANR or NTR?] and gradually realization would dawn that both were great, unparalleled-in-their-respective-specialized-characters actors who had mesmerized the Telugu film watching public in those days. They were a competing, if not rival, duo in the eyes of people then. In contrast the friendly duo of Bapu-Ramana commanded the Telugu film sector to an extent in recent decades. Bapu’s versatility in art, direction and production is indescribable and sadly his body now extinct, following his demised friend, a magician of the written word in Telugu. Well, as time passed, the fascination for films waned and this editor as also many of the growing up students were drawn into the vortex of academic, social and political developments in the country and some into the movements to ‘change the society’ [samaaj ko badal dalo] when acquaintance first and camaraderie next with giants in political and social transformation movements had taken place. That is how a M.T. Khan and a Bipan Chandra came into the socio-political circle of contacts to this editor and the former was more of a comrade-in-arms, as a revolutionary writer, in the movement for social and human emancipation that shook the country in the late sixties and seventies, which continued to the present day with Khan Saheb more and more immersing himself in and guiding the human rights movements. And Bipan Chandra, a doyen of progressive historians in India, with his in-depth, scholarly studies into the history of the freedom struggle and communist movement, was a sort of Dronacharya for several Ekalavya disciples like this editor. This very personal note is to profoundly condole the passing away of these eminent personalities and, paying them glowing tributes, to rededicate ourselves to their noble ideal of universal human welfare in the sublime spirit of ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ (entire world one family). §§§

Editorial "Basically Skewed Household Survey" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 August 2014 issue.

Editorial, 'Freedoms of Speech and Residence," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 July 2014 issue, Vol. 10, Part 2, No. 14

FREEDOMS OF SPEECH AND RESIDENCE

both protected, or even ensured, by the Constitution of India, particularly by Articles 15, 19 & 21, are in grave danger due to the ruling regional chauvinism in Telangana. One of those has already been sadly, and so easily, suppressed by a mere cable operators’ federation, allegedly acting at the instance of an eccentrically sectarian Chief Minister, by blocking two reputed TV channels. And the same chief is seeking to extinguish the right to residence of a section of people by mooting the queer proposal of fixing the residential eligibility of student candidates per their parents’ or grandparents’ residential status pre-1956. Till now one is used to hear about the nativity or residential status of a candidate only, but perhaps it is for the first time in free India that proposals for linking the candidates’ statutory entitlements to the origins of their ancestors are being heard. To worse confound the confusion, the ignorant daughter of this notorious chauvinist, she a first time MP too, has gone awry talking about the sovereign status of the State of Hyderabad [hence of Telangana] pre-1948 and decrying its forcible annexation by the Indian Union and linking it to the ever-raging dispute of Jammu and Kashmir – all the while not knowing, or deliberately overlooking, or maliciously suppressing the burning truth of a vast majority of the people in Telangana, as also Hyderabad State, having had militantly agitated for freedom from the despotic rule of the Nizam and for merger with the Indian Union in a popular ‘Join the Indian Union Movement’. And another minister-servile of the psychic chief has hurled a near-racist remark against ‘Andhras’, placing them on a level much below other migrants to Telangana, targeting them for denial of any entitlements on par with others – all the time forgetting that their own revered veteran leaders of Telangana like Survaram Pratap Reddy, author of the award winning ‘Social History of Andhras’, Burgula, Madapati, P.V., Dasarathi et al, all integrationists, had taken so much pride in that denomination. Regrettably, our constitutional courts have also not acted readily and effectively to rein in such unruly horses and remedy the injustices; it seems nowhere else does the maxim ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ apply so aptly as in our country.  §§§

Editorial: "Middle East Boiling Again" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 July 2014, Vol. 10, Part 2, No. 13 issue.

MIDDLE EAST BOILING AGAIN

Zionist extremism in the cause of the only Jewish State in the world and Islamic fundamentalism in Gaza as a part of Palestine liberation movement are once again seriously clashing in the Middle East in the recent background of more gory developments in Syria and Iraq where Sunni Islamic extremism, raising up as the Frankenstein monster created by the notorious American imperialism, has been with impunity engaging in the worst sorts of genocide and atrocities, and this is certainly a problem of profound concern to the entire world community. The wanton killings – especially the collateral damage – perpetrated by the Zionist aggressors as also the Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalist forces are no doubt to be condemned in no uncertain and vehement terms but this is not the time to go on picking faults and hurling condemnations alone. A novel and fruitful solution to this ever raging crisis and especially the now boiling conflict situation in the Middle East has to be devised and the world community should act with foresight and firmness through the United Nations here and now. A United Nations Peace Keeping Force should be specially set up and sent to the Syria-Iraq arena and the entire crisis there should be taken under its wings by the United Nations through its Security Council. As far as possible recalcitrant forces are to be disarmed and at least a cease fire and orderly administration to the extent possible should be enforced by the world community in that field. Coming to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the Security Council should direct an immediate and effective cease fire and the Camp David 2005 Accords be revived to make meaningful progress in the solution of this age-old crisis. The Arabs and Muslims should be told in no uncertain terms to overcome their psychopathic hatred and give up the disgusting demand of ‘wiping out Israel from the map of the world’; and Israel should be sternly directed not to transgress its limits and engage in wanton atrocities on Palestinians anymore. An intense effort be made to convince Egypt to cede Sinai or a good part of it also to Palestine to make room for a fairly large Palestinian State, the European Union take both Israel and Palestine under its wings as part of a comprehensive peace accord to be struck and strictly enforced under UN auspices. §§§