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Is Google violating women's rights? |
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On September 17, 2008, internet-giant Google Inc. issued an AdWords advertising policy update stating it would no longer accept ads that promote abortion services in fifteen countries: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain and Taiwan. When a user searches for keywords in a search engine, AdWords show up alongside search results as âsponsored linksâ and are a source of revenue for the search engine company. At the time of this writing, when searching for the relevant translation of âabortionâ in each of the fifteen localized Google search engines, no sponsored links appeared in any of the countries â" for abortion-related services or otherwise. Incidentally, no AdWords come up either in China - a country that heavily restricts search results for many topics â" Greece or South Korea.. Meanwhile, AdWords featuring abortion service providers do appear in localized searches in Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
AdWords are Politically-Charged
Since their inception, AdWords have been the subject of numerous controversies. For example, because advertisers select keywords to be associated with their ads, they can manipulate the searcher's intention to find specific kinds of information. Search engine companies can also control access to information by refusing to accept certain kinds of ads, raising red flags about freedom of information, as was the case here and with a December 2008 controversy when Google Inc. did not allow members of the public to place Web ads detailing companies that have donated to politicians in the US.
With this policy revision, it appears that Google Inc. has chosen to steer clear of controversy, avoiding any kind of related ads altogether in the fifteen specified countries. The shift in and specificity of the companyâs policy indicates it is taking a stronger role in verifying and deciding what ads are placed â" a move that has policy and ethical implications.
Policy Inquiry
Various womenâs rights organizations, including Women on Waves and Health Equity and Law Clinic at the University of Toronto as well as Feministing blogger Lori Adelman, approached Google Inc. in June 2009 to ask for a rationale behind and revision of the policy..
Acknowledging that Google Inc. had the right to ârefuse or terminate any advertisement at any time and for any reason,â Rebecca Gomperts, Joanna Erdman and Susan Newell, who wrote the inquiry on behalf of Women on Waves, the Health Equity and Law Clinic and more than 115 other signatory individuals and organizations worldwide, were concerned about âthe adverse effect of the [policy] on women seeking safe and lawful abortion services due to restricting access to information.â They argued that such restrictions âmay contribute to unsafe abortion in a manner inconsistent with human rights principles,â pointing out that Google Inc. âplays an important role in the protection of human rights.â The inquiry letter also argued âadvertisements on abortion services can be a valuable source of information on both the legal status of abortion and the availability of services, and thus a crucial measure to mitigate access barriers to safe and lawful abortion.â Susan Newell, who spoke to AWID earlier this month, said that, to her knowledge, they have not yet received a response to the letter.
Adelman told her readers that she was âpretty disturbed by Googleâs ability to withhold information about reproductive health services in these countries without justification or accountability.â Adelman also wrote to Google Inc. and received a reply from a company representative stating the search engineâs goals were to âprovide more relevant results and a higher quality experience for our users, and to have policies that are fair, consistent and adaptable.â The spokesperson went on to say that the new policy was âconsistent with local customs and practicesâ and that it created a âlevel playing fieldâ that enabled religious associations to place ads on abortion in a âfactualâ and âcampaigningâ way, provided that the goal was to âeducate and inform, not shock.â
Legality of Abortion Services Ads
In most cases, the first screen for allowing ads is compliance with local laws.
Although Google Inc. did not state this in its response to Feministing, there is an assumption that, at least in some of the fifteen countries, the company is simply complying with local law that forbids advertisement for any medical services and prescription drugs, as is the case in France.
In other countries, such as Germany and Italy, for-profit abortion providers are illegal and abortions can only be had in public hospitals. In a few other countries, private abortion providers, while operating legally, are still prohibited from buying advertisements in any medium.
When asked about the legality issues surrounding this, Newell explained âan absolute prohibition on abortion service advertisements is unnecessary and inconsistent with the Google AdWordsâ general policy on advertisements that are subject to legal regulation. The general policy states that it is the responsibility of the advertiser (not Google AdWords) to ensure that its advertisements are in full compliance with the applicable domestic law.â In other words, those submitting the ads, and not Google Inc., should be doing the screening for legal compliance.
Similarly, Southern Students for Choice, a self-identified pro-choice group in the US that submitted comments to the Feministing blog, argued that âif Google restricts ads for abortion because of a countryâs laws, it follows that people will question itâs reliability in providing unbiased search results, especially from algorithms that in themselves have to introduce a kind of ranking â" or bias- to simply display a list of results.â
Given all the legal issues, it is unclear â" and difficult to discern - whether national governments have put pressure on Google Inc. to block certain kinds of ads, as was the case in China; whether Google Inc. is bowing to pressure from certain religious groups and using legality as a convenient reason for prohibiting ads and/or whether Google Inc. is proactively abiding by law. In any case, it is unlikely that Google Inc. or any other search engine would risk breaking the law, especially if there is little profit to be made from a certain type of ad, and the topic is potentially controversial.
Arenât Ads Viewed as Spam Anyway? A number of comments on the Feministing blog note that, while the policy is disturbing, it is not a âbig dealâ in the long-run given that search engine results themselves still yield information about abortion service providers, which is the case in most of the fifteen countries, even if links to service providers are buried several pages into the search results. Another comment stated, âGoogle ads are best known for spam."
Southern Students for Choice wrote in response that âin geographic areas where abortion rights are restricted it is even more important for people to be informed about laws, policies, and existing providers, both through advertising as well as through more objective sources of information.â Thus, they say, ads matter.
Newell agrees, dismissing the claim that most people automatically treat the ads as spam. She reasons that âAdWords advertisements provide a benefit over search results alone,â explaining that âthe person attempting to access the information is more likely to see the advertisement as it will appear on the first few pages of results, and information appearing as an advertisement through Google AdWords increases the credibility of information.â She explains that this is particularly important given the rising number of sites providing medical information these days and the difficulty of assessing the quality and credibility of them, an âoverwhelming taskâ for a woman seeking an abortion.
So do we want Google Inc. sorting, accrediting and ordering our information for us, ads or otherwise? And is doing so in a truly unbiased way possible for a for-profit company whose major source of revenue is dependent on advertising?
âDecisionâ Search Engine?
Microsoft, with its recently-launched âdecision search engineâ Bing, claims to do just this. Billed as a tool that âfinds and organizes the answers you need so you can make faster, more informed decisions,â the new product claims to circumvent the âoverwhelmedâ problem. Bing orders descriptive information about each topic prior to any opinion or service-related sites in all of its localized search engines, regardless of country.
Regardless of search engine used â" Google, Bing or otherwise - search results are ordered through an algorithm that is not publicly revealed, and employees from these companies manually alter the algorithm and the display of search results.
Competing Priorities
While search engine companies such as Google Inc. may aim to âorganize the world's information and make it universally accessible and usefulâ, it is clear they wonât fundamentally compromise their revenue stream or embroil themselves in legal and political battles to do so.
Meanwhile, a number of womenâs rights groups are calling on Google Inc. to uphold freedom of information and protect human rights.
This tension remains unresolved and is being worked out through policy decisions such as the recent Google Inc. decision. In the meantime, it is important for womenâs rights activists and social justice advocates more generally to understand the issues and limitations behind what does â" and does not - show up when Googling for âabortionâ or any other topic, for that matter, and continue to be on the lookout for this âinvisibleâ violation of womenâs rights.
Masum Momaya
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To post your messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions, documentary video and public event invitations at The National Forum of India (NFI) websites, simply send it to national-forum-of-india@yahoogroups.com. No sign-up required. NFI broadcasts public submitted multi-media contents on more than thirty websites like http://forum.ozg.in | http://hot-debate.ozg.in | http://india-forum.ozg.in | http://india.ozg.in NFI Posting Policy - http://india.ozg.in/2009/07/national-forum-of-india.html http://Delhi.ozg.in http://Bombay.ozg.in http://Kolkata.ozg.in http://Chennai.ozg.in http://bangalore.ozg.in http://Andhra.ozg.in http://Arunachal.ozg.in http://Assam.ozg.in http://Bengal.ozg.in http://Bihar.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarh.ozg.in http://Goa.ozg.in http://Gujarat.ozg.in http://Haryana.ozg.in http://Himachal.ozg.in http://Jammu-Kashmir.ozg.in http://Jharkhand.ozg.in http://Karnataka.ozg.in http://Kerala.ozg.in http://Madhya-Pradesh.ozg.in http://Maharashtra.ozg.in http://Manipur.ozg.in http://Meghalaya.ozg.in http://Mizoram.ozg.in http://Nagaland.ozg.in http://Orissa.ozg.in http://Punjab.ozg.in http://Rajasthan.ozg.in http://Sikkim.ozg.in http://Tamilnadu.ozg.in http://Tripura.ozg.in http://Uttarakhand.ozg.in http://Uttar-Pradesh.ozg.in ->-> REGIONAL MUSIC N MOVIE LINKS <-<- http://Arunachali.ozg.in http://Assamese.ozg.in http://Bengali.ozg.in http://Bhojpuri.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarhi.ozg.in http://Gujarati.ozg.in http://Kannada.ozg.in http://Haryanavi.ozg.in http://Himachali.ozg.in http://Jharkhandi.ozg.in http://Kashmiri.ozg.in http://Malayalam.ozg.in http://Konkani.ozg.in http://Maithili.ozg.in http://Manipuri.ozg.in http://Marathi.ozg.in http://Oriya.ozg.in http://Punjabi.ozg.in http://Santali.ozg.in http://Kurukh.ozg.in http://Mizo.ozg.in http://Tamil.ozg.in http://Telugu.ozg.in http://Rajasthani.ozg.in http://Uttarakhandi.ozg.in
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Development of Koraput, Bolangir, Kalahandi districts in Orissa |
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The Southern and Western districts of Orissa are regarded as the most backward region by the planning commission and re-designated some of these districts as KBK (Koraput, Bolangir, Kalahandi). During 1992-93, the three larger districts were re-organized into eight districts: Koraput, Malkangiri, Nawrangpur, Rayagada, Bolangir, Sonepur, Kalahandi and Nuapada. These eight districts comprise of 14 Subdivisions, 37 Tehsils, 80 CD Blocks, 1,437 Gram Panchayats and 12,293 villages. The eight districts which form the KBK account for 19.72% population occupy over 30.59% geographical area of the State. Around 90 % people of this region still live in villages. Female literacy is only 24.72%. As per the 1997 census of BPL families, about 72% families are below poverty line live in this region which was 82 % during 1992 census. More specifically, 49 CD Blocks of KBK districts are regarded as "very backward" and 28 CD Blocks are considered as "backward". Persistent crop failure, lack of access to the basic service and entitlements, starvation, malnutrition and migration are the leading manifestations in the region.
Myths about KBK development:
Removal of regional disparities has been one of the important planks of the development strategies adopted by Union as well as Orissa Government during successive Five Year Plans. A Long Term Action Plan (LTAP) for the KBK districts was formulated in consultation with the Centre for a period of seven years from 1995-96 to 2001-2002 and was formally launched by the then Prime Minister on August 18, 1995. LTAP was formulated with two principal objectives in view: (i) drought and distress proofing, and (ii) poverty alleviation and development saturation.
Despite the much-hyped declaration, subsequent events suggest that no separate provision were made in the Union budget in the name of "KBK Yojana". It was mentioned in the third Revised LTAP that in the field of rural development other then the allotted money of central plan there would be an additional requirement of Rs. 715.15 Crore.
Similarly, in the field of agriculture, health and family welfare, employment etc. there will be an additional requirement of Rs. 789.35 Crore. Going through such calculations the Union Ministry of Finance decided to provide an additional amount of Rs. 1503.85 Crore only.
Subsequently, another Central delegation headed by Yugandhar, the then Secretary of PMO, after holding discussion with the state government observed that at both the stage the required amount is Rs. 4,859 crore. In addition, after deducting the already allotted central assistance of Rs. 4,282.39 crore in those areas, it calculated that another Rs. 5,76.61 Crore could be provided for these areas. Finally, the grant amount came down to only a sum of Rs. 389.21 crore. In the subsequent years what was provided in the name of KBK Yojana or Revised LTAP was far below from what was announced originally.
Politics of development in KBK:
The first Special Area Development Programme (SADP) of the Union government was experimented in the region during 1958-1985 when the Dandakarnya Development Authority (DDA), a ministry of resettlement and rehabilitation was established by the Centre to rehabilitate and resettle the 30,000 refugee families of erstwhile East Pakistan. The early form of KBK was conceived involving Koraput-Bastar and Kalahandi where the refugees were supposed to be resettled.
However, finally the refugees were settled in Bastar and undivided Koraput district with huge central government investment, infrastructure, man power which has sustained for about 30 years. The project has acquired and reclaimed around 180,000 acres of land against the target of 260,000 acres for the purpose and launched a number of developmental programmes. Unfortunately, despite the stated mandate of DDA to redistribute the fruits of investment to the locals who have sacrificed their land, common property and natural resources for the projects have been largely forgotten and denied their legitimate share.
Furthermore, it is quite troubling to reconcile as how on earth the central government with all its frontline departments actively worked for 30 years in remote Malkangiri, Koraput and Bastar covering 30,052 sq km tribal land has failed to realise the intricacies, aspiration and development of the tribals and messed up with KBK development.
Successive political parties and ruling elites have tried their best to play with the starving people's aspiration into precious vote bank and continue to propagate and fuel the starvation and development politics as key election mantra. While, the Congress wanted to appease its loyal tribal voters through KBK yojana with multi million budget, the BJD conveniently used the time tested divide and rule policy as weapon to dismantle the collective bargaining of the people of these districts through redrawing the new district boundaries. Today the BJD has successfully demolished the Congress domination in the region and now repackaged the KBK in a brand new wrapper and named as Biju KBK. Time will tell whether the legends name will do any black magic in KBK.
The outcome:
In his report dated March 13, 2006 to NHRC, the Special Rapporteur, NHRC has observed, among other things, that " poverty in the KBK region has to be considered in its specific context by recognizing not only the incidence of poverty as per national norm but also the depth and severity of poverty which distinguishes it from poverty in other parts of the country and calls for special strategies and concerted action".
The New Delhi based Institute of Applied Manpower and Research, which was entrusted by the Union government to review the KBK programme revealed that despite of the Central aid of Rs 4,544 Crore under the KBK head (1995-96 to 2005-06), it has not really changed the living condition of the people.
Marathon KBK reviews by planning commission, state government and high powered committees, CAG's rims of reports on financial ineptness, mindboggling NHRC special rapporteurs observation and recommendation, lengthy debate and discussion in Parliament and State Assembly has hardly produced any significant and visible result in the region.
The failure of development, unequal resources distribution and depressing poverty has perhaps fueled the emergence of Maoist movement in this region. The radical people's movement has been slowly and steadily strengthening its base and influence in the tribal region. As a consequence, the central government's focus and priority for the region has significantly shifted from development to more of law enforcement and counter Maoist programme implementation.
On the other hand, the state government which used to demand and argue for more development funds for the KBK has started bargaining for more budget, infrastructure and equipment to tackle Maoist movement. It is a complex, egg and chicken situation for the government to consider whether development is the best way to tackle the spread of radical movement or armed counter strategies is the best option for brining development to the region.
Need for a collective vision and action:
Where to go from here? Is there any readymade, quick fix or instant recipe available to solve the historic, structural and complex social, economical, environmental, ethnic and political issues of KBK. No one has the answer, but the people of this region perhaps have some solution. Some process should be embarked on to involve, engage and give a patience hearing to common people's idea, suggestion and alternatives. The people led change process should begin afresh.
The process of engagement and idea's can be structured and open, cognitive level or based on practical experimentation, local knowledge or state of the art technology oriented, basic service, entitlement, social justice and resources management focused, larger policy formulation vis-à-vis enforcement of the existing ones, and notably, creating a political determination and bureaucratic action is must.
In an effort to engage, dialogue, critique, and contribute to the politics and processes of development policy and action in KBK, a forum known as "KBK roundtable" citizen's initiative for development and change has been underway. The forum is an open and voluntary platform for concern citizens from all walks of life to come together and to find out a local and collective solution to the historical deprivation, backwardness and poverty of people of KBK and the region through an active engagement with the government and civil society organizations for a better different and developed KBK. A viable forum need to be evolved as collective groups in all the eight districts including Phulbani and Gajapati districts to facilitate the following:
1. Create pressure group and be a watch dog on KBK development.
2. Socio-economic research to understand the issues in depth and educate the people and influence policy makers.
3. Create a pool of local experts and intelligentsia who can help rebuilding the lost vision and plan alternatives development paradigm.
4. Budgetary and financial analysis of programmes and projects in KBK to demystify the politics of budget, fund and its utilization.
5. Workshop, seminars and consultations to seek people views, suggestion and prepare peoples vision for a different KBK.
6. People's assembly and public hearing to expose bottleneck, irregularities and bungling of development fund and programmes.
7. Interaction with press, people in politics, bureaucrat, NGO and larger civil society to air dissent and alternatives.
8. Publication and disseminations to reach-out people, media and policy makers.
9. Networking and alliance building process to strengthen collective vision, action and advocacy.
10. Demand and assert revision of KBK plans and inclusion of other similar districts having similar problems and end regional disparities.
Umi Daniel
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To post your messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions, documentary video and public event invitations at The National Forum of India (NFI) websites, simply send it to national-forum-of-india@yahoogroups.com. No sign-up required. NFI broadcasts public submitted multi-media contents on more than thirty websites like http://forum.ozg.in | http://hot-debate.ozg.in | http://india-forum.ozg.in | http://india.ozg.in NFI Posting Policy - http://india.ozg.in/2009/07/national-forum-of-india.html http://Delhi.ozg.in http://Bombay.ozg.in http://Kolkata.ozg.in http://Chennai.ozg.in http://bangalore.ozg.in http://Andhra.ozg.in http://Arunachal.ozg.in http://Assam.ozg.in http://Bengal.ozg.in http://Bihar.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarh.ozg.in http://Goa.ozg.in http://Gujarat.ozg.in http://Haryana.ozg.in http://Himachal.ozg.in http://Jammu-Kashmir.ozg.in http://Jharkhand.ozg.in http://Karnataka.ozg.in http://Kerala.ozg.in http://Madhya-Pradesh.ozg.in http://Maharashtra.ozg.in http://Manipur.ozg.in http://Meghalaya.ozg.in http://Mizoram.ozg.in http://Nagaland.ozg.in http://Orissa.ozg.in http://Punjab.ozg.in http://Rajasthan.ozg.in http://Sikkim.ozg.in http://Tamilnadu.ozg.in http://Tripura.ozg.in http://Uttarakhand.ozg.in http://Uttar-Pradesh.ozg.in ->-> REGIONAL MUSIC N MOVIE LINKS <-<- http://Arunachali.ozg.in http://Assamese.ozg.in http://Bengali.ozg.in http://Bhojpuri.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarhi.ozg.in http://Gujarati.ozg.in http://Kannada.ozg.in http://Haryanavi.ozg.in http://Himachali.ozg.in http://Jharkhandi.ozg.in http://Kashmiri.ozg.in http://Malayalam.ozg.in http://Konkani.ozg.in http://Maithili.ozg.in http://Manipuri.ozg.in http://Marathi.ozg.in http://Oriya.ozg.in http://Punjabi.ozg.in http://Santali.ozg.in http://Kurukh.ozg.in http://Mizo.ozg.in http://Tamil.ozg.in http://Telugu.ozg.in http://Rajasthani.ozg.in http://Uttarakhandi.ozg.in
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Adivasi Communities of India: Development and Change |
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Text of the Vice President's inaugural address to Seminar on Adivasi Communities in India The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the reality is unpalatable and the data speaks for itself. Compared to other sections of our society, the tribal population has the lowest Human Development Index. Delivering inaugural address at the International Seminar on "Adivasi/ST Communities in India: Development and Change" organized by the Institute for Human Development here today, he said that the literacy rate of the Schedule Tribes (STs) at 47.1 in the 2001 Census is far below the national literacy rate of 64.84. Tribal children suffer from high drop out rates and low female literacy. They also have high infant mortality rates and malnutrition as compared to other population groups. He expressed his concern that STs suffer from geographical and social exclusion, high poverty rates and lack of access to appropriate administrative and judicial mechanisms. Low level of infra-structural endowments and growing gap in infrastructure creation in tribal areas, as compared to the rest of India, has further diminished prospects for progress. For the 85 million Scheduled Tribes in India, the struggle to retain their identities and seek empowerment through our Constitutional framework has not yielded commensurate outcomes. The Vice President opined that the Forest Rights Act of 2006 represents an important step in attempting to reverse the marginalisation of our tribal people. It gives legislative teeth to the Constitutional provisions for protection and development of Scheduled Tribes, provides them a level playing field and casts tribal rights in a new matrix based on community control and customary access. It acknowledges the immense hardship caused to the Scheduled Tribes due to insecurity of tenurial and access rights and forced relocation due to State development interventions. Quick implementation of the provisions of this Act by various State Governments would go a long way in realising the vision of our Founding Fathers and ensuring that economic development and social progress is inclusive. Following is the text of the Vice President's inaugural address: "It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate this international seminar organised by the Institute for Human Development. The choice of the theme is appropriate. It covers a range of issues of local, national and global importance relating to the well-being of Adivasi communities in India. A look at recent history provides a perspective. The political, social and cultural heterogeneity of India was amply reflected in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly. The Objectives Resolution was tabled by Jawaharlal Nehru in December 1946. It sought to secure social, economic and political justice, equality of status, of opportunity, and before the law to all the people and promised adequate safeguards for minorities, backward and tribal areas, and depressed and other backward classes. The contours of the debate were quantified by Jaipal Singh of Chotanagpur who, speaking on behalf of, as he put it, "millions of unknown hordes… unrecognised warriors of freedom, the original people of India who have variously been known as backward tribes, primitive tribes, criminal tribes and everything else", supported the Resolution. Jaipal Singh also gave vent to long standing grievances and articulated the problem candidly: "If there is any group of Indian people that has been shabbily treated it is my people. They have been disgracefully treated, neglected for the last 6,000 years. This Resolution is not going to teach Adibasis democracy. You cannot teach democracy to the tribal people; you have to learn democratic ways from them. They are the most democratic people on earth. What my people require is not adequate safeguards… We do not ask for any special protection. We want to be treated like every other Indian….The whole history of my people is one of continuous exploitation and dispossession by the non-aboriginals of India punctuated by rebellions and disorder, and yet I take Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru at his word. I take you all at your word that now we are going to start a new chapter, a new chapter of Independent India where there is equality of opportunity, where no one would be neglected." Six decades later, a few questions need to be answered: 1. Has the experience of six decades been different from that of the earlier millennia and have Adivasis been treated with greater attention and justice? 2. Have Adivasis been afforded the equality of opportunity? The reality is unpalatable and the data speaks for itself. Compared to other sections of our society, the tribal population has the lowest Human Development Index. The literacy rate of the STs at 47.1 in the 2001 Census is far below the national literacy rate of 64.84. Tribal children suffer from high drop out rates and low female literacy. They also have high infant mortality rates and malnutrition as compared to other population groups. They suffer from geographical and social exclusion, high poverty rates and lack of access to appropriate administrative and judicial mechanisms. Low level of infrastructural endowments and growing gap in infrastructure creation in tribal areas, as compared to the rest of India, has further diminished prospects for progress. For the 85 million Scheduled Tribes in India, the struggle to retain their identities and seek empowerment through our Constitutional framework has not yielded commensurate outcomes. I therefore wish to highlight a few points for the consideration of this audience: First, over 80 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes population works in the primary sector, with 45 per cent of them being cultivators and 37 per cent being agricultural labourers. Land thus represents the most important source of livelihood, emotional attachment and social stability in tribal communities. It is critical for cultivation horticulture, forestry and animal husbandry. The Draft National Tribal Policy testifies to it and notes that "alienation of tribal land is the single most important cause of pauperisation of tribals, rendering their vulnerable economic situation more precarious." The Forest Rights Act of 2006 represents an important step in attempting to reverse the marginalisation of our tribal people. It gives legislative teeth to the Constitutional provisions for protection and development of Scheduled Tribes, provides them a level playing field and casts tribal rights in a new matrix based on community control and customary access. It acknowledges the immense hardship caused to the Scheduled Tribes due to insecurity of tenurial and access rights and forced relocation due to State development interventions. Quick implementation of the provisions of this Act by various State Governments would go a long way in realising the vision of our Founding Fathers and ensuring that economic development and social progress is inclusive. Second, the Constitution of India provides specific social, economic and political guarantees to the Scheduled Tribes. In the social dimension, these are covered under Articles 14, 15(4), 16(4), 16(4 A), 338 (A) and 339 (1). The economic provisions are covered under Article 46, 275(1) and 335. The political provisions are very elaborate and are spelt out in Article 244 and 5th and 6th Schedules of the Constitution, as also in Articles 330, 332, and 243 (D). The extent to which the Constitutional provisions have been implemented and the normative guarantees translated into policy are a matter of ongoing debate. Civil society groups and activists have pointed out the manner in which the application of the Indian Forest Act 1927 and The Land Acquisition Act 1894 has caused marginalisation and hardship to the Adivasis. They also note that 5th Schedule provisions to prevent application of such laws to Scheduled Areas had not been invoked. Third, in comparison to other disadvantaged communities and groups, the Adivasis have been less effective in constituting themselves as a Pan-Indian interest group and in articulating their grievances through the formal political system. This could partly be attributed to lack of national homogeneity in the context and mechanisms that have led to the exclusion and oppression of the Adivasis. Geographical dispersion of the Adivasis and lack of iconic leadership with a national appeal also prevents effective political mobilisation. To a lesser extent, our education system and our media are also to blame for the lower profile accorded to the predicament of Indian tribes. Fourth, the development paradigm of independent India has led to, in the words of the Draft National Tribal Policy, tribal communities witnessing "their habitats and homelands fragmented, their cultures disrupted, their communities shattered, the monetary compensation which tribal communities are not equipped to handle slipping out of their hands, turning them from owners of the resources and well-knit contented communities to individual wage earners in the urban conglomerates with uncertain futures and threatened existence". Across the nation gigantic industrial, power, irrigation and mining projects representing the current development paradigm of independent Adivasi protests against land acquisition and displacement. Aligning our development needs with Adivasi rights and enhancing their Human Development Index is the need of the hour. This is also essential to prevent violent manifestations of discontent and unrest in our tribal areas emanating from exclusion and alienation. Fifth, it is lost sight of that many Adivasis straddle multiple dimensions of deprivation and vulnerability. Besides being Scheduled Tribes, many of the Adivasis are also religious and linguistic minorities. It is very important that the protections afforded by the Constitution to the religious and linguistic minorities be fully made available to tribal communities that qualify. I hope this seminar would act as a powerful tool for public advocacy on the extent of deprivation of Adivasis in the country and means to address them. I am confident that your deliberations would be immensely helpful for formulating policies conducive to Adivasi development. __._,_.___
To post your messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions, documentary video and public event invitations at The National Forum of India (NFI) websites, simply send it to national-forum-of-india@yahoogroups.com. No sign-up required. NFI broadcasts public submitted multi-media contents on more than thirty websites like http://forum.ozg.in | http://hot-debate.ozg.in | http://india-forum.ozg.in | http://india.ozg.in NFI Posting Policy - http://india.ozg.in/2009/07/national-forum-of-india.html http://Delhi.ozg.in http://Bombay.ozg.in http://Kolkata.ozg.in http://Chennai.ozg.in http://bangalore.ozg.in http://Andhra.ozg.in http://Arunachal.ozg.in http://Assam.ozg.in http://Bengal.ozg.in http://Bihar.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarh.ozg.in http://Goa.ozg.in http://Gujarat.ozg.in http://Haryana.ozg.in http://Himachal.ozg.in http://Jammu-Kashmir.ozg.in http://Jharkhand.ozg.in http://Karnataka.ozg.in http://Kerala.ozg.in http://Madhya-Pradesh.ozg.in http://Maharashtra.ozg.in http://Manipur.ozg.in http://Meghalaya.ozg.in http://Mizoram.ozg.in http://Nagaland.ozg.in http://Orissa.ozg.in http://Punjab.ozg.in http://Rajasthan.ozg.in http://Sikkim.ozg.in http://Tamilnadu.ozg.in http://Tripura.ozg.in http://Uttarakhand.ozg.in http://Uttar-Pradesh.ozg.in ->-> REGIONAL MUSIC N MOVIE LINKS <-<- http://Arunachali.ozg.in http://Assamese.ozg.in http://Bengali.ozg.in http://Bhojpuri.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarhi.ozg.in http://Gujarati.ozg.in http://Kannada.ozg.in http://Haryanavi.ozg.in http://Himachali.ozg.in http://Jharkhandi.ozg.in http://Kashmiri.ozg.in http://Malayalam.ozg.in http://Konkani.ozg.in http://Maithili.ozg.in http://Manipuri.ozg.in http://Marathi.ozg.in http://Oriya.ozg.in http://Punjabi.ozg.in http://Santali.ozg.in http://Kurukh.ozg.in http://Mizo.ozg.in http://Tamil.ozg.in http://Telugu.ozg.in http://Rajasthani.ozg.in http://Uttarakhandi.ozg.in
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Jaswant, Jinnah and India's partition |
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Jaswant Singh's latest book on Jinnah (August 2009) has rekindled the debate 'who did it' of partition. The storm created by this work can be gauzed from the fact that BJP, the party of which Jaswant Singh has been the founder member and for which he has been working from last three decades, was expelled him from the party. The basic point Singh is making is that Jinnah was a secular person, he has been wrongfully demonized in India, that Nehru and Patel rather than Jinnah were responsible for partition of India because of which there was gory violence and that Muslims are being treated as aliens in India. To take the last point first. One concedes that Muslims have and are being treated as aliens in India. One of the major political parties which has targeted Muslims and, whose aggressive anti Muslim campaigns have resulted in their present plight, their exclusion from social and economic space is BJP, itself. The question is what has Mr. Jaswant Singh been doing when BJP has been asserting the concept of Hindu nation, has been part of processes which have relegated Muslims to the status of second class citizens? One is not arguing that the maltreatment of Muslims is only due to BJP. The major factor has been the subtle penetration of RSS ideology in the social and political arena of Indian life. While Jaswant Singh does not come from the RSS shakhas, he has been part of the party, which is the political vehicle of RSS. In this case his cry of 'alienation of Muslims' looks like shedding crocodile tears! As far as Jinnah being secular is concerned, it is ironical that a party, which Jinnah headed with 'brilliance', had the name Muslim League! If that does not clarify the communal evaluation of a person what else will. Jinnah despite his exposure to the Western culture, despite his being part of the Indian National Congress for initial part of his life, did become the 'sole spokesman' of interests of Muslims, i.e. Muslim elite, in due course of time. One agrees that the individual attributes of the Qaed-e-Azam of Pakistan were remarkable, but that does not make him secular. Secularism essentially stands for relegating religious identity to private realm to one's life, while Jinnah chose to lead Muslim League, where the religious identity was the base of the national identity. There were people like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai and others who chose to be part of National movement for composite Indian nation. Majority of poor Muslims continued to support and follow Mahatma Gandhi and national movement. There were even Muslim religious leaders, and seminaries like those of Barelvi and Deoband, which stood for composite Indian Nationalism. On the other hand Muslim League, initially a product of the politics of Muslim Landlords and Nawabs and later joined in by section of educated and affluent Muslims, kept talking of interests of 'Muslims' and kept labeling Congress as Hindu party, despite its secular policy of Indian Nationalism. The language of Interests of Muslims, leading to the notion of 'Muslims are a separate nation' was quiet akin and parallel to the concept of Hindu nation propagated by Savarkar-RSS, of India being a Hindu Rashtra, Hindu Nation. Do all Muslims have similar interests as asserted by Jinnah? What was the similarity between the interests of Ashraf and Arjal Muslims? What was the similarity of interests between the interests of rich landlord, businessmen Muslims and the poor artisan Muslims? Savarkar and RSS talked of the interests of Hindus, which layers of Hindus were these? Essentially the same layers which as Muslims were the beneficiaries of Muslim Leagues' articulation, i.e. landlords, clergy and a section of middle classes. Jinnah's enticing 12th August 1947 'secular speech' notwithstanding, the whole Muslim League predominantly consisted of those communal elements, who did want to convert Pakistan into a Muslims Nation, which they did in due course. And it was the same Muslim League under Jinnah's leadership, which called for a separate state for Muslims, Pakistan, in 1940 Lahore resolution. Just because Jinnah was a non-practicing Muslim and a Westernized person does not make him secular. One's association in politics should determine one's characterization. As far as role in the partition of the country is concerned, most of the debate is generally focused at superficial level, Muslim League, Congress, Nehru-Patel. Most of the debate is in the language of Heroes and villains, the deeper processes which gave rise to the political streams, which believed in religion based nation state, the role of British in creating such a situation is missing in the debate. While in Pakistan a large section will blame the intransigence of 'Hindu Congress' for partition, in India, Muslim League, Jinnah are blamed for the same. The source of 'Hate politics' in India, the RSS ideology, holds Gandhi also as a major culprit. According to the RSS-Hindu Mahasabha thinking expressed in so many ways, most clearly in the speech and action of Nathuram Godse, Gandhi is to blame for partition as he followed the policy of Muslim appeasement leading to their becoming assertive and going on to demand Pakistan. In most of the communal discourse, a large part of which has become part of social common sense in both the countries, the role of British in leading to the divisive path, and class character of communal organizations, which believed in the Religion based nation state, is missing altogether. After the coming into being of Indian National Congress in 1885, from amongst the rising classes of Industrialist-Businessmen, educated sections and workers, the old declining classes of Landlords and Kings came together (1888) to form United India Patriotic Association. It is in this organization in which the future founders of Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha were working shoulder to shoulder, e.g. Raja of Kashi and Nawab of Dhaka. British played their cards very well and in pursuance with the imperial policy of divide et empera (divide and rule) recognized Muslim League as the representative of Muslims in 1906. That time it was predominantly formed by Muslim elite, who themselves were contemptuous of low caste Muslims; Arzals and Azlafs. Similarly Hindu Mahasabha, which was founded in 1915 had Hindu elite who were for Hindu Nation and average Hindus and low castes had no place in their scheme of things. There is a lot of deeper parallelism in the agenda and language of both these communal streams. These were not only predominantly male dominated organizations, they also talked exclusively of identity issues. At that time the process of social transformation of caste and gender was going on but these streams totally kept aloof from those social processes. These communal streams emphasized on Muslim (elite) Hindu (elite) interests. That's why they kept aloof from the national movement which aimed to bring in people of all religions, regions, castes and gender into a single stream of Indian ness. Jinnah's focus on Constitutional methods and deep opposition to participation of masses in national movement was quite similar to Hindu Mahasbah and RSS policy of keeping aloof from freedom movement. It is from the Hindu stream, Savarakar, that the concept of Hindu nation and its politics, Hindutva, emerged. This Hindutva was later picked up by RSS. There was not much difference in many a formulation, which came from these two stables. As a matter of fact Savarkar goes on to quote approvingly, Jinnah's statement that there are two Nations in India, Hindus and Muslims. And then says that since this is predominantly a Hindu nation, Muslim nation has to remain subordinate to the same. The deeper agenda of communal streams was same, the only difference was Muslim League called for parity and Hindu Mahasabha-RSS wanted subordination of Muslim nation. While Hindu Communalism got fragmented between Hindu Mahasabha, RSS and some part of it entered Congress, Muslim communalism came up as a major force and later on a section of the Muslim educated classes came to support the same. It is in this background that the logistics of partition has to be seen. For Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha-RSS it was a control over nation. National movement and Congress targeted for getting freedom, to come out of the shackles of feudal system and to lay the foundation of Industrial society on democratic basis. It is because of this that Nehru refused to accommodate Muslim League demand of take them in UP ministry in 1937, despite the defeat of Muslim League. Nehru's argument was that since Congress wants to go for land reforms etc., how they can have a landlord representative sitting in the cabinet. Also Nehru refused to believe that Muslim League is a representative of all Muslims, the same way he opposed the formulation that Hindu Mahasabha-RSS are representatives of Hindus. Cabinet Mission plan, to which Congress and Muslim League both had assented, suggested a federal structure with all powers to provinces and have only defense, communication, currency and external affairs with the Central Government. During the course Nehru and Patel both realized that such a weak center will not be able to undertake the programs for country, programs for centralized planning for industrialization and related progress. Superficially Nehru and Patel can be held responsible for what happened, but that's like looking at the tip of iceberg. The deeper seed of divisiveness, the protection to interests of landlord elements was the British policy. It is in pursuance with that the Muslim League and Hindu Mahsabha was never the subject of British wrath, while the leaders of national movement had to make the British jails as their second home. For Advani and Jaswant Singh the deeper fascination for Jinnah has some logic. Jinnah pursued two nation theory and succeeded in forming a Muslim nation. They have the wish to have a Hindu nation, so a subtle admiration as to how Jinnah could achieve his goal and so is a great hero for those pursuing religion based politics. At ideological level they are on the same wave-length, religion based nation state, as was Jinnah. They also visualize that by exonerating Jinnah from the blame of partition they are cornering Nehru and Congress, which at one level serves the BJP agenda. And here lies the problem. Since Nehru and Patel are inalienable as for as the trajectory of practical politics is concerned, Patel also comes in to the gambit of blame game which cannot be tolerated by large section of BJP followers. Another reason is that in RSS shakhas' indoctrination module, the blame of partition is put on Jinnah's head and the on the follies of Gandhi and Nehru. So how can Jinnah be resurrected without annoying the RSS module of indoctrination? Here lies the dilemma of RSS controlled Rajnath Singhs, and so the expulsion of Jaswant Singh for writing all this. Advani could save his skin earlier despite his 'secular Jinnah speech' because of electoral exigencies, as with sickness of Vajpayee, it was difficult to fill the gap by anybody else. History has strange lessons to teach. Today lot of powerful opinions are being voiced, but most of them are based on one or the other superficial observation e.g. Jinnah's earlier period when he was part of Congress or his 12th August 1947 speech in the Parliament. Similar type of historiography is also used for the communal historiography where kings are glorified or demonized according their religion. The deeper issues related to the workers, peasants and other average people are missing in this discourse. Same is the problem with the presentation of recent history, where the roots of communal streams (Muslim League, Hindu Mahsabha, and RSS) from the feudal lords and feudal values (Birth based hierarchy of caste and gender) is undermined and deliberately overlooked. This attitude also revels in creating heroes and villains; one streams' hero being another streams villain. No wonder Bollywood is so successful in using this formula. And as major section of Bollywood is not bothered about the deeper issues of broad layers of society so are many of the worthy commentators for whom this wavelength is something easily understood and deliberated upon! Ram Puniyani __._,_.___
To post your messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions, documentary video and public event invitations at The National Forum of India (NFI) websites, simply send it to national-forum-of-india@yahoogroups.com. No sign-up required. NFI broadcasts public submitted multi-media contents on more than thirty websites like http://forum.ozg.in | http://hot-debate.ozg.in | http://india-forum.ozg.in | http://india.ozg.in NFI Posting Policy - http://india.ozg.in/2009/07/national-forum-of-india.html http://Delhi.ozg.in http://Bombay.ozg.in http://Kolkata.ozg.in http://Chennai.ozg.in http://bangalore.ozg.in http://Andhra.ozg.in http://Arunachal.ozg.in http://Assam.ozg.in http://Bengal.ozg.in http://Bihar.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarh.ozg.in http://Goa.ozg.in http://Gujarat.ozg.in http://Haryana.ozg.in http://Himachal.ozg.in http://Jammu-Kashmir.ozg.in http://Jharkhand.ozg.in http://Karnataka.ozg.in http://Kerala.ozg.in http://Madhya-Pradesh.ozg.in http://Maharashtra.ozg.in http://Manipur.ozg.in http://Meghalaya.ozg.in http://Mizoram.ozg.in http://Nagaland.ozg.in http://Orissa.ozg.in http://Punjab.ozg.in http://Rajasthan.ozg.in http://Sikkim.ozg.in http://Tamilnadu.ozg.in http://Tripura.ozg.in http://Uttarakhand.ozg.in http://Uttar-Pradesh.ozg.in ->-> REGIONAL MUSIC N MOVIE LINKS <-<- http://Arunachali.ozg.in http://Assamese.ozg.in http://Bengali.ozg.in http://Bhojpuri.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarhi.ozg.in http://Gujarati.ozg.in http://Kannada.ozg.in http://Haryanavi.ozg.in http://Himachali.ozg.in http://Jharkhandi.ozg.in http://Kashmiri.ozg.in http://Malayalam.ozg.in http://Konkani.ozg.in http://Maithili.ozg.in http://Manipuri.ozg.in http://Marathi.ozg.in http://Oriya.ozg.in http://Punjabi.ozg.in http://Santali.ozg.in http://Kurukh.ozg.in http://Mizo.ozg.in http://Tamil.ozg.in http://Telugu.ozg.in http://Rajasthani.ozg.in http://Uttarakhandi.ozg.in
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What is Tribal battalion ? |
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In a move to endear tribals ahead of the proposed anti-Naxalite offensive, the state government has announced raising a new tribal battalion, exclusively for Gadchiroli. This was announced by Home Minister Jayant Patil on Friday. Patil was laying the foundation stone for Alpha Hawks, the special force created by merger of Unconventional Operations Training Centre (UOTC) and the Special Action Force (SAG). "The idea is to create a fighting force and also provide the tribal youths employment opportunities and thus bring them into mainstream — nearly a thousand of them will get police jobs. They will also be well-versed with the local conditions, so will be useful in that sense," outgoing Additional Director General of Police (Anti-Naxalite Operations) Pankaj Gupta told The Indian Express. Andhra Pradesh, incidentally, raised a similar battalion about a year ago in Khammam district. Gadchiroli will also get over 2,000 new policemen, 117 new vehicles and equipment ahead of the anti-Maoist operation set to be launched simultaneously across the Red Corridor. Expected to be raised in one year's time, the battalion will add further to the police presence in the Naxal-infested areas. Gadchiroli and Gondia already have C-60 commando unit and SAG. One of the three India Reserve Battalions (IRB) in the state is being raised at Gondia. The one envisaged earlier for Kolhapur is to be shifted to Gadchiroli, sources said. Patil later visited Gadchiroli, where he opened a residential colony for policemen. He also announced a hike in pay of policemen working in Naxal-infested areas — 50 per cent additional pay in place of about 20-21 per cent. The government also decided to give up to Rs 5 lakh to kin of police informants killed by Naxalites and up to Rs 3 lakh to those injured or handicapped. Cops working in sensitive posts in Naxal areas will now get Rs 60 a day as ration allowance. It has also been decided to extend the special schemes and benefits given to 26/11 martyrs to those killed in Naxal violence. While cops will serve six more months in Naxal areas, they will get a month's additional leave. Operations office to be bifurcated Regarding the shifting of Anti-Naxalite Operations (ANO) office to Gadchiroli, the government has decided to shift the Additional DGP's office to Mumbai, and the DIG (ANO), a post that lay buried in ANO since long, will now be DIG (Gachiroli Range comprising Gadchiroli, Aheri and Gondia police districts). Sunil Ramanand has already been appointed to the post. Aug 22, 2009 / Express India News Service __._,_.___
To post your messages, articles, write-up, issues for public discussions, documentary video and public event invitations at The National Forum of India (NFI) websites, simply send it to national-forum-of-india@yahoogroups.com. No sign-up required. NFI broadcasts public submitted multi-media contents on more than thirty websites like http://forum.ozg.in | http://hot-debate.ozg.in | http://india-forum.ozg.in | http://india.ozg.in NFI Posting Policy - http://india.ozg.in/2009/07/national-forum-of-india.html http://Delhi.ozg.in http://Bombay.ozg.in http://Kolkata.ozg.in http://Chennai.ozg.in http://bangalore.ozg.in http://Andhra.ozg.in http://Arunachal.ozg.in http://Assam.ozg.in http://Bengal.ozg.in http://Bihar.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarh.ozg.in http://Goa.ozg.in http://Gujarat.ozg.in http://Haryana.ozg.in http://Himachal.ozg.in http://Jammu-Kashmir.ozg.in http://Jharkhand.ozg.in http://Karnataka.ozg.in http://Kerala.ozg.in http://Madhya-Pradesh.ozg.in http://Maharashtra.ozg.in http://Manipur.ozg.in http://Meghalaya.ozg.in http://Mizoram.ozg.in http://Nagaland.ozg.in http://Orissa.ozg.in http://Punjab.ozg.in http://Rajasthan.ozg.in http://Sikkim.ozg.in http://Tamilnadu.ozg.in http://Tripura.ozg.in http://Uttarakhand.ozg.in http://Uttar-Pradesh.ozg.in ->-> REGIONAL MUSIC N MOVIE LINKS <-<- http://Arunachali.ozg.in http://Assamese.ozg.in http://Bengali.ozg.in http://Bhojpuri.ozg.in http://Chhattisgarhi.ozg.in http://Gujarati.ozg.in http://Kannada.ozg.in http://Haryanavi.ozg.in http://Himachali.ozg.in http://Jharkhandi.ozg.in http://Kashmiri.ozg.in http://Malayalam.ozg.in http://Konkani.ozg.in http://Maithili.ozg.in http://Manipuri.ozg.in http://Marathi.ozg.in http://Oriya.ozg.in http://Punjabi.ozg.in http://Santali.ozg.in http://Kurukh.ozg.in http://Mizo.ozg.in http://Tamil.ozg.in http://Telugu.ozg.in http://Rajasthani.ozg.in http://Uttarakhandi.ozg.in
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