Thursday, September 13, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Editorial, 'WE THE UNDERACHIEVERS' in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 August 2012, Vol. 8, Part 2, No. 15 issue
WE THE UNDERACHIEVERS
on any count, if not totally failure statues, have to
pause and seriously introspect as to what went wrong with us in confidently
marching to our tryst with destiny and redeeming the pledges to the nation made
by innumerable freedom fighters for its full independence, true democracy, economic
prosperity, social justice and peaceful progress. No point in just engaging in any
blame-game; ‘we the people’ have to collectively rethink the strategies and
tactics to be adopted in our struggle for an egalitarian social democracy - the
vision of our national leaders of various hues – like Gandhi, Bose or Bhagat
Singh – instead of the current drift towards a rabid exploitative, eco-destructive
capitalization process in sad imitation of the greedy and over-consuming West
which achieved all its prosperity by downright swindling and pillage of the
vast majority of global population in colonial times and continues to do so
even now. It is true, as Pranab Mukherjee stressed in his presidential address
to the nation on the eve of this 66th ‘independence day’, that
British imperialism did wrought havoc; our economy, thriving in the 1750s with ~
24% of world’s manufacture to our credit, was smashed down to a mere 1.7% level
by 1900 and our growth rate during 1900-1947 was hardly 1% p.a. from which
point we have come a long way to the ~ 8% growth in the last 7 years period.
However, even smaller countries of Asia, not to speak of the bigger China
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Editorial, "SAAHASA LAKSHMI PASSES AWAY," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 July 2012 issue (Vol. 8, Part 2, No. 14)
SAHASA LAKSHMI PASSES AWAY
The springing tigress of the Azad Hind Fauz (INA) is
no more amidst us. One of the loyal aides of Netaji’s stupendous effort to free
the country by armed struggle and war from outside the borders, she was humane
to the core and an able, kind-hearted physician. A faithful partner of Colonel
Sahgal, of the same INA fame, and an affectionate mother to Subhashini Ali and
Anisa, she always held the whole world a family and assiduously worked in her
clinic for the cure and alleviation of health problems and social miseries of
the poor people. She was quite vocal and steadfast in her politics and pedagogy
of the oppressed and that was what brought her into the communist movement.
Even so, she was never, to our knowledge, a doctrinaire, authoritarian party-boss
but an affectionate and helpful guide to several young and active militants
working for the cause of socialism and democracy. Her faith and confidence in
the democratic destiny of the country and her devotion and commitment to the
cause of the unity and integrity of the nation spurred her, at a definite
juncture, to contest for the Presidency of the country locking horns with the
esteemed Abdul Kalam-ji in the electoral battle and it was then that this
editor wrote, “Springing
tiger was the emblem of the Indian National Army led by that valiant tiger of a
man, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and his illustrious disciple, Dr. Lakshmi only
inherited that ferocious grit. … Knowing full well that the odds are heavily
against her, she has now sprung up like a tigress to counter the foxy maneuvers
of the Indian bourgeois classes and to champion the causes and claims of the
downtrodden people of India,” that “her contest itself will be more glorious than
any victory” and that “One need not worry that the wall on writing is obvious
and defeat is certain, for the very endeavour itself is noble to be undertaken
in the spirit of Karmanyevaadhikarastae
maa phaleshu kadachana {Worry
not for the fruit of action, you have only right to do the action}!” She always lived, served, fought,
sacrificed and ultimately breathed her last in the same spirit, leaving a huge void in the leftist political circles
and profound sorrow in the hearts of all lovers of socialism and democracy. To
try to emulate her example by deed would be the best possible tribute to her
indeed. §§§
Editorial, "Police atrocities in political wilderness," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 July 2012, Vol. 8, Part 2, No. 13 issue.
POLICE ATROCITIES IN
POLITICAL WILDERNESS
The indirect ‘spat’ between Kishore Chandra Dev, Union
Tribal Minister, and the Union Home
Minister, P. Chidambaram, has laid bare the hollowness of the official claims
that the 29 June 2012 raid on suspected Maoists in Bijapur district of
Chattisgarh was a real encounter between armed Maoists and the CRPF and State
Police. Of course, the Police insist that Maoists use people of the region as
human shields while confronting the security forces and hence innocent people
also do or may suffer in the process, but there are some salient norms to be
followed in armed conflicts when innocent or ignorant people are used in such a
manner. Reckless or ‘panicky’ firing responses are not called for in such
eventualities even if the first shots may be from the rebel groups. If the
police had information that Maoists are holding a meeting in a village, they
should have been amply forewarned that many innocent villagers would
participate in it, especially in an area claimed and unofficially recognized as
a Maoist liberated area. Contrary to the claims of the Director General of CRPF
that the police conducted themselves with extreme restraint and the backing by
Mr. Raman, Chief Minister of Chattisgarh, that it was a real encounter in which
people could have suffered due to the human shield tactics of the Maoists, we
find the firing being wild and jumpy with even women and children killed in its
course. Though Kishore Chandra Dev has tried to downplay their internal
differences saying he acted according to ‘the inputs he got’ and the Home
Minister as per ‘information he got’, the conduct of the Home Minister is
hasty, cold and totally unjustified. The callousness of the bureaucracy in the
entire affair is truly revolting. And we do agree with Swami Agnivesh that the
Prime Minister should rise to the occasion and apologize – at least for the
deaths of innocent women and children and duly compensate them. The Judicial
enquiry ordered may bring out the real facts and reasons for this gory killing
but there is urgent need to curb the ‘panic reflexes’ and ‘trigger happiness’
of the police forces also. Finally, this acute armed conflict should be viewed
more as a socio-economic problem to be solved than a mere law and order or
security concern to be overcome by the use of superior armed force §§§
Editorial, "Whither Sustainable Development?" in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 30 June 2012, Vol. 8, Part 1, No. 12 issue
WHITHER SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT?
Is it the ‘Future
we want’ – as the final document passed in the Rio+20 Earth Summit attended
by about 100 Heads of State and Government and others in the largest ever
organized environmental conference, emphasizing the goal of sustainable
development asserts – that matters, or does it amount only to the ‘Future we bought’ as lampooned and torn
to pieces by protesting social activists outside the main conference on 22 June
2012, and deserves to be condemned by all protagonists of equitable eco-friendly
development. We too are not happy with the progress in inches projected by this
document while people need to swiftly traverse miles and miles for effective
remedy of ages-old injustices and injuries against the ‘commons’. Truly, the
outcome of this much vaunted conference is “nothing but a political surrender to the forces of
ecological destruction that now put human civilization as we know it at stake.” Talking about
‘Green economy’ involving capitalist corporations, absence of emphasis on
non-capitalist development models and allusions to ‘unsustainable consumption and production patterns’ etc. only
aggravate further the current globalized capitalist depredations. Perhaps the
real clue lies, as one astute eco-critic (Rikard Warlenius) contends,
in recognizing the ‘ecological debt’
owed by the affluent North to the deprived South. As he rightly says, “From colonial days
until today, raw materials and energy from the South and the global commons, as
well as their sink capacities, have been expropriated for the social metabolism
of the North without properly compensating material losses, ecological
degradation, labor and lost development opportunities. This has been crucial
for the North's ability to secure world dominance as well as welfare and
prosperity for most of its citizens, while the South's efforts to catch up
constantly have been undermined. The ecological debt is hard to measure in full
extent, but attempts at quantifying one important part of it, the climate debt,
show that most African countries are creditors rather than a debtors, while all
Northern countries have a huge debt not only to the South, but also to future
generations everywhere... This debt should be acknowledged and compensated for…
While repayment of the ecological debt could and should enable (sustainable)
development for those who need it most, it is also clear that the capitalist
economic growth in both North and South has a very high social cost and is
environmentally disastrous. In the end, a new development model is needed.” Also, “Rio de Janeiro also hosted a parallel People's Summit
Thursday, June 21, 2012
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