Kashmir: Discussion on TV

I was watching TIMES NOW on TV.  This is some time ago, but relevant even today. 

One guy says, ‘Let us have freedoms. Let us talk about freedoms.  We should have freedoms.  But don’t push it to ridiculous extent.  Like Azadi.  Why Azadi? From whom?  I find this whole Azadi thing ridiculous’.

The other guy says, ‘Think of nation’s sentiments.  Respect India’s sentiments.  Let’s live together.  Think in the right perspective.’

The anchor says, ‘Why are you taking support from Pakistan? Isn’t that country the one which is intolerant?  Pakistan is the one which is intolerant. Not India.  Aren’t Mohajirs discriminated in Pakistan? Why do you want to take refuge in Pakistan’s support?’

And I find something grossly wrong with the whole proceedings though most of my Indian brothers and sisters are OK with these discussions.   Today, once again Kashmir is burning.  More than 20 protestors were shot dead by the Indian forces stationed in Kashmir.   According to TIMES OF INDIA, In Iraq, there is 1 soldier every 166 people, and in Kashmir, there is 1 for every 20, nearly 8 times more.   It’s like living in the Bangalore city with nearly 3 lakh troops, one-fourth of Indian Army. 

In the discussion above, the first guy thinks that we all should have freedoms, but not Azadi (freedom).   Whom are we duping here?  Why is Azadi a ridiculous proposition?  We all want to be free.  Every human being wants to be free.  Who wants to wake up to face the gun on a daily basis?  Who wants armies stationed in their towns and villages on a daily basis? Who wants their sisters raped, brothers killed, uncles gone missing? 

‘Homeopathy is nonsense’

Homeopathy is nonsense, say UK doctors.  They say it is nonsense to drive a point.   They want the state to stop funding this pseudoscience because it is bogus, ‘witchcraft’, and ‘nonsense’.    Almost anyone who has understood science the right way already knows that homeopathy is utter bogus, closer to magic than actual medicine.  And yet, many people swear by homeopathy and continue to consume balls of sugar dipped in alcohol hoping and believing it is actually going to cure them.

The ground reality is that 90% of the people who have studied science do not understand science.  They go through science classes because they have to, learning it by rote, understanding few implications not understanding the gist, and without imbibing the scientific temperament.  That’s quite understandable actually.  Most of the theories of science are counter-intuitive to humans and the laws of nature are not obvious to most of us.   Science has been in the mainstream thought only for the last few hundred years and human brains are not evolved to grasp scientific ideas naturally.   Humans have to leave their natural intuition aside and follow the rigorous tools of careful observations, sophisticated experimentation and logical deductions to understand and appreciate science.  However, most humans are lazy and they continue to see patterns where there are none, and continue to believe in certain miracles where there are none.

Court decisions on Hindi/Burqa

Is Hindi our national language?

In one of the previous articles, Hindi is a North Indian Language, I said that Hindi is not our national language, though many Indians seem to believe that.

Recently, Gujarat High Court has observed that Hindi is not a national language because there is nothing on record to suggest it. 

The court observed, “Normally, in India, majority of the people have accepted Hindi as a national language and many people speak Hindi and write in Devanagari script but there is nothing on record to suggest that any provision has been made or order issued declaring Hindi as a national language of the country.”

Hindi remains an official language.  So does English.  One of the key recommendations I make to emancipate the downtrodden in India is to teach their subjects in English.  All government schools in India should embrace English as medium of instruction right away.  The elite, the politicians and other Indophiles who are keen on protecting the regional language could send their kids to private schools where the medium of instruction is a regional language.

Supreme Court doesn’t allow veiled women IDs

In another landmark decision, Supreme Court of India has asked the veiled women to lift their veil for voter identification. 

Darwin’s Theory and Atheism

Charles Darwin was not an atheist in the conventional sense.  He believed that God was responsible for the First Cause.  And yet, he is a poster boy for atheists nowadays.  As such many non-atheistic skeptics and rationalists of the past are championed by present-day atheists.

We run into these situations again and again – Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of United States of America, wrote at lengths on freedom, equality and liberty and yet he had slaves in his household.  Abraham Lincoln, who waged war against the Confederates, thus abolishing slavery in the South, was still not ready to concede Blacks were equal to Whites.   Isaac Newton, who discovered Universal Law of Gravitation, thus setting the trend for removing God from affairs of the Universe and Man, was a firm believer in God.

Liberalism or Atheism or any such progressive idea has been changing, increasing in its extent and vigor, being different in different times.  Thomas Jefferson may be a liberal thinker for his times but when we look into the past and measure his liberalism from our yardstick he fails the test.  Charles Darwin or Einstein may not qualify as atheists from our standpoint and yet they were atheists of their times.   When Judaism came on board, atheists were not non-believers of God but non-believers of God of Moses, the pagans, the worshippers of animals.  When Islam came into existence, atheists were believers of other established religions.  During Spanish Inquisition, the Protestants, the Jews, and skeptics of God were all put in the same league as atheists.  

What’s the problem with Indians?

Look at this attitude:

#1. “This is how I live.  This is the right way of living.  You have to live like me”

Many problems in India come from the above attitude.  Many Indians believe they have an idea what a good and moral life is, and they believe they lead such a good and moral life that they take the next step of imposing it onto others.   Contrast the above attitude with the one below:

#2. “This is how I live. That is how you live.  You live your life. I will live mine”

We would solve many social problems with attitude #2.  However, most Indians go with attitude #1 because we tend to believe that we Indians lead a moral life which derives its strength from our Indianness or Hinduness, and we believe it is our prerogative to safeguard our lifestyle by imposing it onto others and correcting other’s lifestyles.

Khap the crap

Most Indians believe that their civilization is the greatest on the planet.  They think it is the greatest civilization because of their unmatched and unsurpassed supreme moral values.  They believe they derive these values from their religion which is not just any religion but a way of life - that gives answers to all the questions and problems you pose, and to even those which you have not posed. 

These Indians also believe that it is extremely important for them protect this greatest civilization and their supreme morals against onslaught of impure alien civilizations that are hell bent on polluting its great culture.  

Hinduism has at its roots the dreadful casteism; and casteism cannot thrive without terming certain things and people as pure or impure.  It has whole set of rules on what is right and what is wrong.  If you keep doing things that are right you keep getting purer and if you do things that are wrong you keep getting impure. When you do things that are impure you are born as low caste; you have to do a whole lot of pure things to improve your caste in the next incarnation. 

I am an atheist...

Copied from: http://bestoftheblogs.com/Home/30793. Liked it. Made a new version because the original was small.
 

To Caste or not

When the current population census in India for 2011 got underway, I was really sad that it did not include information on caste.   India has been recording the data on SC/STs but not on OBCs.  The last census on OBCs was done in 1931 by the British.  

Indians have tumultuous relationship with caste.  While caste continues to dominate one’s life, decide one’s food habits, select one’s spouse, and determine one’s access to education and opportunity, the elite and modern Indians do not like to discuss about it.   Though it is a dominant identity, sometimes more dominant than religion or sex, that determines the fate of an individual in nearly 75% of India, most of us living in cities like to believe that caste is a shameful identity of the archaic past.  

In reality, one cannot escape caste so easily even in cities.  Though there are Tamils, Telugus and Malayalee in my apartment complex, close family relationships are maintained along casteist lines. So how did these people discover other’s caste?  They do so by many means, by one’s food habits, one’s last names, and sometimes through the maids who seem to be the conduit for such information disclosing the caste of other families to the curious minds.

While we are quite OK to gather official information on language, religion, and sex, why are we reluctant to gather information on caste, especially when the socio-economic status of an individual has such strong correlation with one’s caste, more so than with any other identity?  When caste is such an important identity why shy away from collecting scientific data on castes in India?

Should MPs get a salary hike?

Today, I woke up to read morning newspapers and I found myself in disagreement with host of issues.  Here’s the first one.   The MPs in Indian Parliament are about to get a hike from the current salary of Rs 16,000 to Rs 80,000.   Is that a good thing or bad thing? 

For a very long time, I have strongly believed that one of the best ways to reduce corruption in India is to increase the salaries of government employees.  In many evening and late-night discussions with my fellow Indians, I found myself in opposition to most others who thought that Indian government employees are extremely corrupt and hence they do not deserve any hike; if ever they deserve a punishment, not a reward.

Freedom from Religion

What we Indians need is freedom from religion; freedom from its foolishness, from its ignorance, from its zealotry.  We need freedom from a religion’s version of morality, from its archaic traditions, from its blind faith, from its superstition.  We need freedom from its imbecility, its bigotry and its intolerant imposition of values and virtues onto us.   Religious people are free to practice any idiocy in their lives, but they have no right to impose it onto us, by any law or by any decree of the land.

And yet, we are stuck with one of archaic and medieval laws.  Section 295A of Indian Penal Code says:

295A. Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

Thou shall not eat beef!

In an extremely sad move, inching closer to complete Hinduization of this country, Karnataka government headed by the Hindu right wing political party BJP, has passed a bill to ban cow slaughter, making sale, consumption and possession of beef a punishable offense up to seven years.

India was never a secular country.  It has been including many elements of bowing down to blind and irrational religious sentiments and made them laws to impose it onto everyone.  India is becoming more and more of a Hindu country much to the celebration of Hindutva supporters.  With these moves India is moving away from ideal of becoming a safe place for practice of one’s faith without intervention of state as protected in Article 25 of Indian Constitution. 

This is clear case of a Hindu majority, dominated by upper caste version of Hinduism where cow is a sacred animal, imposing its will on other religions and lower caste Hindus.  Beef is a food to many people just like chicken or mutton.  State has no right to impose what people of this country can eat or not eat, unless the animal species under consideration is deemed a protected species.   Making an animal sacred is not the domain of a secular country.

Women’s Bill: Rotation System

The current Women’s Bill is a landmark bill that is designed to emancipate and empower Indian woman.  However, it has a serious flaw.  

This quota reserves a constituency for woman on rotation basis.  That means 33% of constituencies have quota for women in one term of Lok Sabha, and then another set of 33% constituencies have quota for women in the next term of Lok Sabha, and so on.  That means every constituency gets a woman leader every three terms.   The flaw in this system is following:

Assuming only men win during non-quota time, at any instance, there are potentially 66% of candidates in Lok Sabha who would not be able to contest from the same constituency in the next elections.  That means 2/3 of Indian Lok Sabha has no incentive to perform for their constituency in the current term.  This results in serious damage to India democracy because the only check against the incumbent lawmaker in Indian politics is the incentive to win in the next elections.  With that incentive gone, 2/3 of Indian constituencies do not have a leader who is accountable to them.

Telangana 53: Raj in Bangalore

2014 AD

Raj is a Malayalee from Kerala who migrated to Bangalore with his wife and a kid when he got a job with an MNC in Bangalore.   He looked for a nice apartment and moved in.  After settling down he realized that apartment building consists of Tamils, Telugus, Malayalees, Marathis, and North Indians.   The maids at his home are Tamilians.  

He was happy that he was in a cosmopolitan environment surrounded by people from different regions. But he never bothered to notice that there were no Kannadigas in the entire building.  At work, he made friends with many kinds of people.  It included non-Indians, and Indians from various regions.  There were few Kannadigas but they spoke English or Hindi and looked like any other Indian in their deportment and makeup. 

The only Kannadigas who spoke Kannada were auto drivers, with whom he had bitter experiences in haggling fares.   Other than that he did not know many Kannadigas who spoke Kannada.  ‘Jaasti’ ‘Swalpa’ were good enough words to talk to an auto driver, and that’s all he knew about the region around Bangalore – those few words.

Once in a while he saw few auto drivers carrying the regional flags.  He didn’t bother to understand what the flag meant, whether it was red on top or yellow on top.  He didn’t bother to see the insignia on the flag either.  As far as he is concerned, these flag-bearing auto drivers and low class workers were a major nuisance because they stopped traffic once in a while during their dharnas and bandhs. 

Women’s Bill in the Parliament

Usually I refrain from writing about topics on which I have not made up my mind.  Here’s one topic where I have not made up my mind but still decided to write about.  It is about Women’s Bill in the Parliament.  With passing of this bill, India is going to reserve 33% of the seats in Parliament and State Assemblies to women. 

At the outset, I am happy that such a bill is coming into existence.  We are going to set a great example in the world if we have many women parliamentarians and ministers. India has emancipated some of its women through series of steps, started during British Empire where sati was banned and women were allowed into schools through Independence Movement where we saw women standing shoulder to shoulder with men. 

Telangana 52: Curious case of MIM

While most of Telangana irrespective of their caste, religion, political affiliation, is supporting the cause of Telangana, one man and one party stand out.  It is Akbaruddin Owaisi leading AIMIM who enjoys massive support from Muslims of old city Hyderabad.  He has now made his stance clear against separate Telangana after maintaining silence on this matter for many months.

So, why does he stand out?  To understand his stance, we should go back in time and open our closets.

MF Husain takes Qatar Nationality

It’s unfortunate that India could not become a home to an artist that was born and raised in India.   MF Husain who was haunted by Hindu zealots for many years now has eventually taken up Qatar nationality giving up Indian citizenship.   This is a major setback to Indian democracy.  This shows that we are still a long way from becoming a mature democracy.   

Related Topics:  Nude paintings, Nude God, Judgment, Talibanization of India Slowed Down, Nudes and Mothers. 

This is how MF Husain depicted Sita

 

 

Telangana 51: My answers to questions for JP

I have taken liberty to answer some of the questions that Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) of Lok Satta was asked.  In most cases JP was vague and completely evasive.  He is not taking a stand on many questions.  Here is my rebuttal.

kondal311: Do you mean politicians are using this sentiment for their gain. In 2004 elections TRS was part of UPA and during 2009 it joined hands with TDP. Almost all parties said they are OK for telangana during 2009 elections. Is it oppertunistic politics or Do we need Telangana really ?

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: In our first-past-the-post system(our election system in which even one vote majority gives the victory to a candidate), parties are desperate to get a few more votes to be in power. So, they mean one thing, but say another thing. It is these short term political tactics which lead to this crisis.

Sujai: Yes, politicians are using this sentiment for their gain.  Every political party in India, Congress, TDP, Praja Rajyam, TRS, and even those who are not contesting in Telangana, like NCP, Trinamool Congress, BSP has endorsed Telangana.  They all want to get political mileage out of this sentiment.  During British rule in India, Congress and Muslim League won most of the elections because they all said they are fighting for freedom.  Just because some political parties have used a sentiment doesn’t mean the sentiment does not exist.   Most of Telangana people want a separate state and they voted those parties which promised them Telangana, which happen to be many parties.

K Suresh:Good evening sir.Earlier we didnt see much responce from students on telengana issue.why do you think students are actively participatiing in telengana issue?

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan: Jobs are important, and there is a misplaced hope that everyone will get government jobs if a new state is created.

Sujai: Every great movement on the planet which brought about great changes for their people was carried out by students.  The fight for freedom in Tiananmen Square in China was carried out by students; the fight against Vietnam War in US was carried out by students.  Even the recent anti-Iraq War protests in US were carried out by students.  The fact that there is a Black man as US president is a change the young people of United States brought about.   Therefore, the fact that students are carrying out this movement in Telangana shows that it is beyond political parties and that it is truly a people’s movement.   We should celebrate this instead of ridiculing it like JP is doing.  

Telangana 50: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

What happens when you give a fire extinguisher to bunch of monkeys? They use it to kill other small animals.  Though a fire extinguisher is designed to save lives, it can become dangerous if the user doesn't know how to use it.  The same holds true with statistics.  If the user doesn't know how to use them and when to use them, they can become lethal.

There are fools and then there are educated fools.  I have not studied Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan of Lok Satta, but was happy to know that he has chosen to fight corruption.  That's laudable.  But in the context of Telangana, I chose to describe Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan as one such educated fool who doesn't know how and where to use these statistics.   This is an excerpt from a chat with him:

There are some more facts. Literacy growth: Telangana : 1143% Rest of AP: 448%.

Some facts: Agricultural implents: Telengana-67% Rest of AP-33% Food grains-Rice growth(1955 to 2006): Telengana-708% Rest of AP-191%. Gross irrigation growth: Telengana-140% Rest of AP-38%.   

 
Because the growth rate in Telangana was high he quickly concludes that Telangana is doing much better than rest of AP.  Detractors of Telangana are using his observations to say that Telangana has never been discriminated - and in fact it developed more and better than rest of AP.

Here are three different countries with GDP growth rates for year 2007.

Country A: 11.1%

Country B: 5.9%

Country C: 2.0%

If you ask Jayaprakash of Lok Satta (JP) which country is doing the best, he and his followers will tell you that Country A is doing the best, followed by Country B, followed by Country C.  If JP was asked which country is far ahead of others, he would say that Country A is far ahead of Country C by many counts.  JP may even tell you that it is much better to live in Country A followed by Country B and the least desirable place would be Country C by all standards.  So, what are these countries?

Telangana 49: Naxals

Naxalism in Telangana

Many detractors of Telangana movement are trying to blemish our genuine people's movement by calling it a Maoist-led movement, and that the student protestors are none but 'Naxals'.

Unlike what most other people think outside Telangana, calling someone a Naxal is not derogatory to most people of Telangana.   He is not seen as a terrorist as most people think.  Naxalism, according to us, is a socio-economic problem, something that needs to be addressed as a collective responsibility, the way we would address suicides of farmers.  Our current government in New Delhi got the whole thing wrong.  They are on the brink of creating another Frankenstein monster approaching this problem as a menace rather than a socio-economic problem.  Like Indira Gandhi who goofed up on Telangana, Punjab and Northeast, the current administration is about to goof up on this problem which has its origins in poverty, injustice and lack of land reforms that continue to exist since pre-Independence.   Unlike most others outside our region, we think that Naxals need to be embraced and rehabilitated so that they become a part of the mainstream. 

In fact, the very thinking that Naxalism can be crushed with violent methods is foolish thinking.  About ten years ago, when I asked a man who was entrusted with combating Naxalism, a DIG in Andhra Pradesh at a dinner, ‘So, Sir, when do you think we will get rid of Naxal problem?’ he smiled and told me, ‘that’s a naïve question.  As long as there is a huge disparity between the haves and have-nots in this region, as long as most of the people are denied justice and opportunity, there will always be Naxalism’.  

Naxalism came about in Telangana region after the ruthless crushing of 1969 Telangana Agitation followed by Machiavellian political maneuvers that completely hijacked a genuine people’s movement.  That’s when the youth of Telangana got disenchanted with legal and electoral institutions of flawed Indian democracy.  

Let’s revisit the events. 

Telangana 48: Idiotic journalism

What happens when journalists become idiots?

Here is an example of a journalist who allows his prejudice cloud his judgment and reasoning.  His name is Shaik Ahmed Ali and he writes on IBN Live.

While Yadaiah's love for Telangana is undisputable, I suspect whether he willingly attempted suicide.  At least I don't want to believe that Yadaiah's suicide bid was a spontaneous reaction. The authorities need to find answers for: who were all aware he would attempt suicide; who were was possessing the suicide note and why; when, how and who brought his life-size photographs in the campus and how the media representatives got access to his suicide note even before the police got it and why did he choose the place where the media cameras were present. The suicide bid was perfectly planned and timed in order to get maximum publicity. But who planned it?

Most newspaper reports and media reports already provide answers to many of these questions.  There was no need for Shaik Ahmed Ali to ask the same irrelevant questions.  In fact, it was his duty to answer those questions to his readers to allay their misinformed suspicions.   Instead, Ali is just playing to prejudices of his audience. 

It is well known now that Yadaiah brought with him a bag in which he had few bottles of kerosene, a set of photographs of himself standing next to few prominent leaders – this can be explained because he was working at video/photo studio and participating in Telangana agitation, a set of his school certificates, and a suicide note.  When he ran towards the police after setting himself on fire, it is natural for anyone to look around, find a bag, open, and show it to the nearest media person.  That’s how the media got access to his suicide note before the police got hold of his belongings.  Media was inside the cordon closer to where Yadiah was standing while the police was outside the cordon. 

One doesn’t need a hand of CIA or Mossad to explain something that is obvious, and yet Shaik Ahmed Ali wants us to believe that there is a conspiracy behind self-immolation of this leaderless, rudderless and clueless young orphan kid of Telangana.  It is duty of a journalist to see the events in the right perspective.  If he thinks there is a conspiracy, it is his duty to uncover it, not just succumb to his prejudices or pander to the detractors that form his audience.

Telangana burns

Yesterday a kid named Yadaiah immolated himself near OU campus.  Last night he died due to severe burns.  Yadaiah was a class XI student living in Rangareddi district.  He was an orphan. 

Dileep Konatham wrote this yesterday:

Friends:

I write this email with a burning heart and tears rolling down my eyes. I went to Osmania University today morning to cover the Chalo Assembly protest called by students. The situation was tense as thousands of students and police pushed and shoved each other for over 3 hours. A batch of students broke the police cordon and ran towards Vidyanagar. I followed them with my camera. Some of these students were intercepted at Vidyanagar, while a few managed to escape from here too.   The next batch was intercepted at Narayanguda. This is where students scattered into small groups.  I then came home. 

I switched on the television only to see the most ghastly visuals of my life. A youngster named Yadaiah immolated himself at OU gates. The visuals of Yadaiah running like a ball of fire will remain etched in my mind for eternity. It was exactly the place where I was standing barely 30 minutes ago. Yadaiah suffered over 80% injuries and was shifted to Apollo DRDO hospital.

It is shame that while youngsters are sacrificing their lives like this our leaders have shamelessly decided to cheat us yet again.

Each passing day the agony is becoming unbearable.

Telangana 47: On People’s Movements

I believe that a people’s movement should have three set of activities- those that appeal to Insiders, those that appeal to Outsiders, and those that compel the authorities.

Appeal to Insiders: 

Every people’s movement has a set of ideologues, a set of leaders, a set of organizers, a set of agitators (foot soldiers) and a huge set of sympathizers.   To create a large support base of new leaders, organizers and supporters, the movement should involve educating the people, winning over them, telling them why they need to come out and fight.  Most Indians naively think that if a movement is really genuine then there should be no need for such education.

Even the great Indian Independence Movement did not come about in a day.  It had to win many sections of its people to come and fight.  To start with, most Indians did not know what freedom meant.  To change their attitude from being a ‘subject of a king’ to a ‘citizen with rights’ took lot of education and time.  That movement involved books, pamphlets, speeches, and many participatory activities that rallied people into its fold.  Gandhi’s Dandi March, Khilafat Movement et al were all those activities that were launched to win the local support for the people’s cause.  It involved embracing all sections of society, lower castes, Muslims, Sikhs, women, North Indians, South Indians, etc.  Even the French Revolution and Russian Revolution had to appeal to the local people for their support.  Martin Luther King Jr. and his predecessors had to go educate their people on why they should not live like slaves or second-class citizens anymore.

Telangana 46: Shame!

Shame! What a shame!

We got the greatest of the people’s movements in contemporary history headed by the lousiest of the leaders.  When the Dec 9^th announcement was made, 123 MLAs from Andhra-Rayalaseema resigned within two days.   Now, though JAC has announced for resignation of all Telangana MLAs only 12 have resigned so far.  What a shame!

We have been saying this.  What we need is a political decision.  What we need now is a political fight.  What we need now is our political leaders to actually become more responsible towards their people and little less subservient to their Babus and Madams. 

No wonder the world laughs at us. We can’t even unite our political leaders to act together. 

Proposal

Go to a prominent place in Hyderabad.  Tank Bund sounds good.  Place a very big granite slab, something that cannot be moved easily or vandalized easily.  Etch on it the names of MPs, MLAs, MLCs who have not resigned.   And title it as ‘Betrayers’.  Let it be known for our progeny why we had to fight so hard to accomplish such a small thing called ‘creation of state’ in India.  Let it stand as a proof of how our politicians betrayed us when we needed their support the most.

Let those names be there so that we can actively campaign against each of them in the next elections. 

What’s happening in Osmania University?

Most of the TV channels are not showing anything.  I don’t get HMTV.  However, the SMS is being used as a tool to communicate to the world outside.   I kept getting regular updates that night.  Here, I am including some links that I received from Dileep Konatham.

The Police have used Grey Hounds and Rapid Action Force in addition to CRPF, CISF and APSP Armed Battalions, Civil Police and Home Guards in Osmania University

Links:

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/16/stories/2010021658200200.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/16/stories/2010021658170200.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/16/stories/2010021658300200.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/16/stories/2010021659180300.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/16/stories/2010021654240500.htm

Telangana 45: Stand on Sri Krishna Committee

It is clear that introduction of Srikrishna Committee is a step backwards for Telangana from Dec 9^th statement.  Srikrishna Committee is NOT formed to bring in Telangana.  Instead, it is formed to “study” if Telangana is indeed “underdeveloped”, and if so, how and where.   There is no clear indication if the recommendations from this committee will be binding upon the government.  There is no indication if this committee is going to give one clear solution to the current problem or propose a set of measures like Times of India does – present both ‘view’ and ‘counterview’.

What should Telanganas do now?

We should embrace Srikrishna Committee for what it is – a study of Telangana, to understand how it is underdeveloped, where it is underdeveloped.   We should cooperate and extend our support to this committee by supplying various papers, books, research materials and historical evidences.  The report from this committee could be used by Telangana in future, to educate our progeny on our history, to help our administrators to rule better in future, to make a case against Andhras who have discriminated us, and as vindication of why we formed our new state. 

However, we should completely, unanimously and categorically reject Srikrishna Committee as a political solution to the current situation in Telangana, because it doesn’t provide one.  There should no expectation whatsoever that Srikrishna Committee will provide a solution to the current problem in the state.  What is needed is not another ‘study’, not another ‘research’, but an action that demonstrates political expediency, a political and unequivocal decision that solves the problem of Telangana right away – which is creation of Telangana.   All the actions should be towards that direction – the next and immediate steps should be: decision on the fate of Hyderabad, agreements on sharing of resources, repatriation of settlers, compensations to different regions, etc.  Nothing more nothing less.

Let’s make it clear to ourselves now.  We don’t want to be a guinea pig for another social research. 

Telangana 44: A note to my readers

Most readers who have visited this blog for the first time, only because of Telangana agitation, may find my criticism of Andhras extremely harsh.  That’s because they have not read my other posts on this blog, where I am equally critical of many other aspects of India, including being critical of identities that I am a part of.  I am critical of Hindus though I am Hindu, I am critical of Indians though I am an Indian.  In one of the posts, I was critical of Telugus too, though I am Telugu. 

Most new readers, especially those who are not from Telangana, assume that my criticism of Andhras is based in hatred.  They think that I am a bigot inciting hatred towards Andhras to win support of Telanganas.   They don’t realize that I am equally incisive on many other people, not just Andhras. 

Movie: 3 Idiots

I have always admired Raju Hirani’s movies.  Raju Hirani uses his movies to send across pretty serious message to wider audiences embedded with humor to compensate for the seriousness of his message.  During the whole movie whenever you begin to feel that a sentimental drama is going to unfold, he suddenly relaxes you giving it a humorous twist. 

This movie is about three engineers who made it to a top school in India.  One of them, Rancho (Aamir Khan) is not your typical kid.  His idea of engineering is different from most others, including his professors, and his idea of success is different from most students around him.  It’s a tale of what education should be really about.

Telangana 43: Don’t play with us!

On 3 June 1947, Lord Mountbatten was asked when India would become independent.   For many years Indians were fighting for complete freedom from the British and were looking for a concrete answer, not another vague statement.   Lord Mountbatten was sent to India to transfer the power to local leaders but he was not prepared with a clear deadline.  The first date that came into his mind was the date Japanese surrendered to Allies two years ago on 15 August 1945.   He made up the deadline on the fly for India’s Independence: 15 August 1947.  It took less than 3 months to create a new country out of the crown jewel of British Empire and divide a subcontinent.

We were looking for a deadline

How long will it take to carve up a state within the legal confines of Indian Constitution?  Indians think that forming a state is more complex and complicated than forming a country.  Srikrishna Committee is given 11 months to come up with a report.  The decision to create Telangana is now on hold.  So nobody knows exactly when Telangana will be formed.   A cartoon in Times of India captures this well.  One politician says to the other:  Tell them Telangana will be formed by April – don’t specify the year or the century.

In last few weeks, the entire Telangana was looking forward to announcement of a date when Telangana would be formed.  Instead, what we got was another committee.  Another cartoon in Times of India captures this.  A politician is announcing to the press:  A core group will select experts to elect a panel to form a commission headed by…

Terms of Reference of Srikrishna Committee

The Terms of Reference of the five member Shri Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee constituted on 3rd February, 2010 will be the following:-

 (1)         To examine the situation in the State of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate State of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra Pradesh.

 (2)         To review the developments in the State since its formation and their impact on the progress and development of the different regions of the State.

(3)          To examine the impact of the recent developments in the State on the different sections of the people such as women, children, students, minorities, other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

(4)          To identify the key issues that must be addressed while considering the matters mentioned in items (1), (2) and (3) above.

Telangana 42: Where we differ with Andhras

Three major differences

I see three major differences between the attitudes of Andhras and Telanganas when it comes to state of Andhra Pradesh and the current agitations.

1. While Telanganas looked at Andhra Pradesh as a conditional merger based on safeguards, guarantees, and protection of its regions, its funds, its jobs and its waters based on contracts that were signed, Andhras saw the merger as an opportunity to expand, opportunity for new jobs, new resources, and new funds. 
2. While Telanganas have had a different socio-politico-economic history for few centuries whereby they became open to influences from other regions, religions and languages, creating cosmopolitan cities like Hyderabad, coming up with cross-cultural festivals, talking a mixed language, etc, Andhras saw Andhra Pradesh as a means to homogenize the state under the Telugu and Hindu identities, treating everyone who didn’t fit their image as unworthy of being enlisted for superior culture called Telugu Pride.