Dec 2011 - RH

THE RADICAL HUMANISTRs. 20 / monthVol. 75 No 9 DECEMBER 2011

Founder Editor: M.N. Roy

(Since April 1949)

Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)

501

An Independent Judiciary?

Arab Spring and Role of Women

Is God the Source of Morality?

A Kashmiri pundit mother’s appeal

for peace in Kashmir- Part 2

India’s Capital – A Century After

Radical Humanism waning?

—Ruma Pal

—Asghar Ali Engineer

—Bill Cooke

—Asha Kachru

Book Review:

—Dipavali Sen

From From the Editor’s Desk:

—Rekha Saraswat

THE RADICAL HUMANIST DECEMBER 2011

The Radical Humanist

Monthly journal of the Indian Renaissance

Institute

Devoted to the development of the Renaissance

Movement; and for promotion of human rights,

scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist

view of life.

Founder Editor:

M.N. Roy

Editor:

Dr. Rekha Saraswat

Contributory Editors:

Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Dr. R.M. Pal, Professor

Rama Kundu

Publisher:

Mr. N.D. Pancholi

Printer:

Mr. N.D. Pancholi

Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence

Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph.

91-121-2620690, 09719333011,

E-mail articles at: [email protected]

Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of

‘The Radical Humanist’to:

Mr. Narottam Vyas (Advocate), Chamber Number

111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New

Delhi, 110001, India [email protected]

Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600

Please Note: Authors will bear sole accountability

for corroborating the facts that they give in their

write-ups. Neither IRI / the Publisher nor the Editor

of this journal will be responsible for testing the

validity and authenticity of statements &

information cited by the authors. Also, sometimes

some articles published in this journal may carry

opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist

philosophy; but they would be entertained here if the

need is felt to debate and discuss upon them.

—Rekha Saraswat

Vol. 75 Number 9 December 2011

Download and read the journal at

www.theradicalhumanist.com

- Contents -

1. From the Editor’s Desk:

Radical Humanism waning?

—Rekha Saraswat 1

2. From the Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi:

Spiritual Materialism: A case for Atheism 2

3. Guests’ Section:

An Independent Judiciary?

—Ruma Pal 6

Arab Spring and Role of Women

—Asghar Ali Engineer 16


—Bill Cooke 18

A Kashmiri pundit mother’s appeal

for peace in Kashmir- Part 2

—Asha Kachru 20

4. Responses to M.N. Roy Centenary

Memorial Lecture Video

delivered by the German Philosopher,

Late Prof. Agehananda Bharti

—B.P. Rath 26

—Amitabha Chakrabarti 27

5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section:

PUCL’s History of Struggle

—Mahipal Singh 28

6. Teachers’ & Research Scholars’ Section:

Changing Trends in Indo-Nepal Relations

—Pravesh Kumari 32

7. Book Review Section:

India’s Capital – A Century After

—Dipavali Sen 36

8. Humanist News Section 38

From The Editor’s Desk:

Radical Humanism Waning?

Any social, cultural or political

movement needs certain

primary resources not only to grow but

even to survive.

First and foremost are the people who

honestly aspire to see it move; honesty not

only in their desire but also in their efforts,

in their actions and in their words!

Clarity in their minds about the ideology,

philosophy and basic principles of the thought that

governs the movement which they follow is the

next most important requirement!

What are the ways and means to carry the

movement forward is also a basic necessity in

promoting it.

Precision in all their decisions and actions without

confusion makes it easier for them to take their

mission forward.

Things become a little difficult and ambiguous

when the movement involves all the three aspects

in one, the cultural, the social and the political.

People of all hues and shades are needed to cope

with its requirements.

How these people are coming into the fold is

another point of necessary consideration.

What is their thought pattern i.e. what do they think

about the philosophy of the movement and how do

they define their purpose of association i.e. how

will they be helpful in fulfilling its purpose of

existence needs to be discussed and analyzed by

themselves first and then by others in the

association.

If we try to add a prefix of the word ‘renaissance’

before a movement matters become all the more

complicated and intricate because now the people

involved need to have a particular intellectual

competence and maturity to work for it. The

renaissance has to occur in the minds of the people

before bringing it out in the social and

political network.

Most of the times, the situation

becomes too much to handle for those

simple supporters who are suddenly

expected to lead and not follow when

their leader, their ideal passes away.

They were attracted towards a

movement because of the gigantic

persona of their mentor, now how to develop this

personality in themselves, all of a sudden,

artificially becomes too much of a task to handle for

them.

As a natural result the cohesiveness becomes

inconsistent. Each begins to accuse the other for

lack of sincerity and faithfulness towards the goal,

while the fact is that each is utterly confused and

disheveled and incompetent in handling the

orphaned movement.

Is the picture placed here too dismal? Is the Cross

becoming too heavy for the shoulders and knees of

its carters?

Is the radical humanist movement fading? No, it is

not! And it by no means can! It will never wither

away because there is a silver lining in the very

content of its ideology! Its philosophy relies solely

upon the consequences of modern science!!

It needs no particular men to take it forward. It does

not rely upon the mercy of an organization or

institution. It has no boundaries.

It is coming into effect each day in every part of this

world wherever and whenever any human-action is

based upon a forward-looking rational and

scientific attitude and behaviour. It is actually,

radical humanism in action.

Let anyone take the credit - any person at any place

or in any institution. They are all radical humanists

with variegated hues and colours!! Let us just do

our little bit according to our capabilities without

any self-misconceptions and be happy!

I am confident about the future of Radical

Humanism!! Aren’t you??

1


Rekha Saraswat

From The Writings of Laxmanshastri Joshi:

Spiritual Materialism – A casefor Atheism

Translated by —Arundhati Khandkar

[The book Spiritual Materialism – A case for

Atheism, A New Interpretation of the

Philosophy of Materialism written by

Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi has been

translated by his daughter, Arundhati

Khandkar, who was formerly Professor of

Philosophy at S.I.E.S. College, University of

Mumbai, India. He passed away many decades

ago but his contribution in building up the

philosophical base of Radical Humanism has

been no less. Roy acknowledged it in his life time

and the followers of the philosophy continue to do

so. I had requested Ms. Khandkar to translate her

father’s major works from to Marathi to English

for the benefit of the contemporary readers of RH.

And to our pleasant surprise she informed that

there is already the above mentioned book in

English done by her. It is being serialised in The

Radical Humanist June 2010 onwards. She has

also promised to send us in English, gradually,

more of his Marathi literature.

Laxmanshastri wrote this essay with the title

Materialism or Atheism in 1941. How

meaningful and necessary it is, even now, 70

years later, can be understood by the following

paragraph given on the cover page of the book.

—Rekha Saraswat]

“That religion more often than not tends to

perpetuate the existing social structure rather than

being reformist and that it benefits the upper

classes. They perpetrate the illusions and are used

for impressing the weaker sections of the society.

Many taboos which might have had some

beneficial effects are given a permanent sanction

and these put a fetter on further progress. The

argument that religion promotes social stability and

social harmony is examined and rejected. Without

the dubious benefit of religion various secular

worldly values have been developed and they have

benefited mankind more than the vaunted religious

values. With no sops of religion men have laboured

hard and the finest admirable qualities of men’s

spirit have been developed inspite of religious

influence – the scientists and the reformers are

examples. The humility that should force itself in

the presence of the infinite and the unknown is

more to be seen with the scientist, the philosopher

than the religious leaders and often this drives them

to fathom the depths of thought in the quest for

truth. Rarely does religion explain the how and

why. These have become the preoccupations of

people in secular fields. With a sense of

self-reliance and self-confidence guiding him, man

has dropped the earlier props of religion. In India

too, the social order was seen as embodying moral

values.”

Contd. from the previous issue............

Critique of Logical Proofs for Existence of God

Philosophers have formulated eight logical proofs

for establishing God’s existence. We will review

them in this essay one by one.

We will offer the best defence for the logical

propositions in their favour. Then we will give

counter arguments. If irreconcilable differences

exist between pros and cons, we will attempt

logical reconciliation using Occam’s razor. Here is

the list of the eight proofs:

1) Design of the Universe

2) Prime Mover

2


Laxman S. Joshi

3) Prior Intent

4) Knower and Knowable

5) Beautiful God

6) Giver of Moral Law

7) Religious Experience

8) Word of a Rishi

Design of the Universe

The first proof:

“No rationale even for the design is no inference” is

a famous aphorism of the Bharatiya philosopher

Adya Shankaracharya valid for our quest in the

origin of this proof, which is described in one of the

Shat Darshana meaning in one of the Six Visionary

Philosophical Systems of India.

Organisation or the design of the universe is the

evidence for this proof. (36) This organisation or

the design or the design of the universe must have

come into being as a product of a supremely skilled

intellect. The one who possesses such an intellect is

god. We see in this universe everywhere, an empire

bounded by rules or governed by laws.

Organisation, harmony or design is the nature of all

things. The science of astronomy gives testimony

to the character of non-exceptionality and subtlety

of the laws of motion of the sun, stars and planets. If

any person doubts that there is something wrong or

some irregularity exists with the motion of the

planets, the Wanderers of the Zodiac Belt, then let it

be known for sure that, that person is verily wrong

in his understanding. Laws of physics such as the

law of conversation and the law of transformation

of energy, apply to every object in the world

beginning with the elementary particles, atoms, etc.

all the way to the solar system, and pervade objects

beginning from just a blade of grass, all the way to

the intelligent human being. We understand that the

laws of mathematics are utterly irrefutable. We also

are sure that formulation and consistency of the

concepts in mathematics possess ultimate purity.

The more the knowledge of the world grows, the

more the constituents and the events of the world

will be expressed in mathematical language.

Sciences tell us that understanding of an object

does not acquire clarity without its formulation in

mathematical terminology. What we observe is that

every object fits in the mould of causality. The

entire universe is just like a machine. Such a project

or regulated organisation or law governed system,

cannot come into existence without an architect

with intelligence fit for the project. Construction of

objects, such as a machine, a temple in exquisite

proportions, etc requires a planning genius. In his

absence, no organisation will function and only

confusion will reign. This universe has no disorder

or disorganisation anywhere. Therefore, it looks

like it has been created by someone with

exceptional forethought. That someone is god.

Only at face value is this argument plausible. Here

it should be understood that the functional

necessity for instruments of intelligence or

consciousness or knowledge is only for specific

and limited purposes. Living organisms of certain

species do need these functional instruments in

their daily activities of life. It is true that for an

animal like a human being, intelligence is essential

in the conduct of his practical life.

Limited Purpose of Intelligence

Based on this reasoning, we can ascertain that

intelligence is not necessary for the universe, in

respect of its construction, destruction, and

evolution. Man does not need intelligence for all

regular activities. Living organisms carry on

number of activities functions bodily unhindered,

without consciousness. Functions such as

digestion, blood circulation, foetal growth etc no

matter how complex, continue with automated

regularity.

In the highly evolved species of animals,

intelligence or mind has arisen as an instrument of

specific activities. Intelligence is necessary for

building a house or weaving cloth. The

corresponding brain and nerve fibres for such

activities are also a necessity. Therefore it seems

that we are required now to say that the brain and

the nerve fibres are needed for the whole

3


construction project of the universe, because

without them the attributes of such intelligence and

thought cannot exist. Well, the plants do grow in

the world and countless inanimate substances come

into existence ceaselessly in the universe! Does the

nervous system composed of brain and nerve fibres

exist at all in these locations? In this example, just

as there is no need either for the brain or the nerve

fibres, so too there is no need either for intellect or

thought!

We will easily understand how erroneous the first

proof for god’s existence is if we examine the

meaning of the following statement. “If a thought is

mistaken or attention if there is lack of attention,

chaos occurs or confusion reigns. Also when

thought is accurate, there is no chaos, and when

mind is cautious there is no confusion.” Let us

continue further. We say when the dinner that is

served is bad, “It is the chef that has made an error

because he had no knowledge or he paid no

attention while cooking.” Here the error in cooking

the food is not an error from the point of view of

physics or chemistry; it is only an error from the

point of view of the culinary art. Here the chaos or

confusion in the kitchen has only to do with the

state undesired by humans. This is what is meant

here by confusion or disorganisation. Badly cooked

dinner does not contain, in principle any

disorganisation from the point of view of the

sciences. The exception-free operation of the laws

of causality operate when the dinner is messed up

by the cook. Here the disorder in the quality of the

dinner is nothing but the result of the error-free

operation of the laws of science. That type of

disorder is only an order!

Order or orgaisation obeying the laws of physics is

the nature of the universe. This universe is not

imposed from outside. If this nature of an object is

not inherent, we will be required to say that the very

object does not exist!

Prime Mover

The second proof:

For the existence of god, evidence is as follows. It is

expected that motion needs a mover. In the

universe, motion is observed everywhere among all

the objects including atoms and elementary

particles. The one who set them first in motion is

truly god. Like a charioteer who drives the horses,

one who sets and directs similarly the motion of

these fundamental elementary substances is god.

Paradigms of Science

The second proof also does not stand the test of

reason. Not every motion needs an independent

mover. There are two reasons for our assertion.

1) Firstly, in every object there exists energy for

inherent motion expressed as the principle of

mass-energy equivalence in the theory of relativity,

(Einstein’s Equation, E = m.c (squared)). In

quantum mechanics (qm) there exists Zero point

energy, A) in the vacuum of quantum

electromagnetic field, wherein the unified theory

treats the radiation field and an elementary particle

as one and the same object, B) in an atom acting as a

harmonic oscillator, and C) in a free particle in a

potential well. Zero point energy is the lowest

energy greater than zero. Therefore, there exists an

irremovable energy in objects small or big.

In classical mechanics, an object can cause another

object to move. For these reasons, an independent

mover is not needed. Now think of a moving

railway train in which the boxcars move bumping

one into another! One boxcar already in motion

bumps into the second, pushing it forward; the

second again bumps into the third, causing it to

move on and so on, the motion continues. In the

universe, motion related laws of causality operate

in this manner. Even some scientists say that the

one that gave the impetus to the original substance,

the first time, is god. The time constraint, The First

Time itself is erroneous. There is no such thing as

the beginning of the universe. Consider the steady

state cosmological paradigm of the universe. This

universe is here accordingly since times

immemorial. It has come down to us in successive

oscillatory stages with no beginning. It changes

every moment. The very concept that there was a

4


time when there was no change in the universe and

that it was totally static is a concept ridden with

logical and cosmological fallacies.

2) The latest cosmological paradigm of the

universe is “The Big Bang”. It also gives no support

to the concept of either “The Prime Mover” or “The

First Time”. The concept, The First Time, meaning

Time Zero, has been made inaccessible by the

principle of uncertainty formulated in qm by

Heisenberg who made physics unavailable for such

ideas by defining the earliest time as the

Planck-time which is >0.

The Zero time is truly a speculative land for both

the theists and the scientists!

Prior Intent

The third proof:

There is a third evidence for the existence of god.

This is based upon the concepts of purpose, volition

or motive. The argument runs as follows: Nothing

can happen in this world without purpose. Every

object must have come into being for a purpose.

Therefore, the one in whose mind such a purpose

resides must be god. Consider the following

example in support of this proof for god. Where

there is no water, there is no animal or plant. It

seems that the relationship between animal and

water is planned with prior intent. The blood

circulation system of the heart is of a similar type. It

is not possible that such a system is formed without

any prior intent, a system: 1) in which, blood after

purification should circulate in the body, 2) in

which it should supply all the organs with the

necessary vital elements, and 3) in which,

thereafter the impure blood should return for

repurification. Food here on the earth is created

because the animals need it. To find food, animals

developed eyes. If eyes would not have been

acquired, search for food would have been difficult

and as a result, animals would have been

annihilated. Therefore, eyes were designed with

intent. There exists a lot of support for the

statement that this is the way with prior intent, each

organ has been created during the formation of the

animal body. The nature of the construction of the

universe is no different from that of animal body!

The above reasoning can be easily refuted in the

following manner. Purpose or intent is a mental

trait. Purpose means desire or will. Desire such as

something should be done for someone in a certain

manner is termed purpose. From the statement that

god has such a desire, one infers that god is

unfulfilled and is imperfect. If this is so, then one is

compelled to say that this god is not god. We desire

what we do not possess and we know that there

exists an object outside our domain. Similarly, it

needs to be pointed out that if god has a purpose it

means there is an object that is not in his domain of

power or within himself. We must also say that

what god does not have exists in the other object.

This proves that god is not omnipotent. Take for

instance, a human male who desires food or a

female. This means, if there is want of food or a

female, he does not possess within his reach these

separate independent objects that will satisfy him.

That is why a human male desires food or a female.

Here is catch-22. If god, like humans, has desire, it

means he is incomplete or at least partially lacks

capacity. If god has no desire, it definitely means

that in him, there is neither volition, nor purpose

nor intent.

Volition or causality

There is no need to insist that the organisation or the

order as a whole observed, either in the animal

body or the universe needs volition. It is true that

there is a kind of partial organ-wise volition, which

is responsible for the organisation and the harmony

of life belonging either to animal or man. We can

demonstrate, however, nothing more than the

operation of laws of causality in the total design of

the universe.

Continued in the next issue.................

5


New Humanism proclaims the sovereignty of man on the authority of modern science—M.N. Roy

Guests’ Section:

[Justice Ruma Pal, Former Judge Supreme Court

of India, delivered the following V.M. Tarkunde

Memorial Lecture in IIC, New Delhi on 10th

November 2011]

An Independent Judiciary

The usual platitudes are inadequate to

describe the honour conferred on me

today by asking me to deliver a talk in memory of

such an outstanding and multi-faceted personality

as Justice V.M. Tarkunde. Unfortunately I never

knew him personally but by all accounts his life

reflected his deep commitment to ethical values: a

commitment which he brought into every role he

played in his life including those of a judge and a

lawyer. In keeping with his strong principles, in

1981 he fought for the independence of the

judiciary (as a petitioner before the Supreme Court1

on behalf of 3 Additional Judges of the Delhi High

Court. Incidentally one of those judges, Justice S.B.

Wad, was my professor when I read for a law

degree at Nagpur. This however is not the reason

for my choosing to speak on an Independent

Judiciary and what it means today. I chose the topic

for several reasons: the issue is one which was close

to Mr. Tarkunde’s heart, it is of topical interest and

it is also a subject which has bothered me greatly

both during my career as a lawyer and as a judge.

So I welcome this opportunity to speak my mind on

the subject from the safe haven of retirement.

Independence:

In writing of India’s chances of ascending the

international rankings in the coming years, Edward

Luce in his book ‘In spite of the Gods’ says: “India

also possesses institutional advantages that have

convinced some people that the Indian tortoise will

eventually overtake the Chinese hare. As India’s

economy develops, these ‘soft’ advantages, such as

an independent judiciary and a free media, are

likely to generate ever-greater returns2. But is the

judiciary in India really independent? A complete

answer to the question warrants a doctoral thesis

and a short discourse like of today is necessarily

selective and therefore incomplete. I have tried to

maintain a balance between legalistic and lay

approaches while making it clear which side of the

fence I stand.

Any attempt at an answer must be prefaced with

two questions both of which I seek to briefly

answer: The first question is: Who do we include

within the term “judiciary”? Is it limited to

Constitutional Courts or does it also include those

tribunals which decide rights and have the

trappings of a court? Second: What does

‘independent’ mean? I will answer the second

question first.

Different dictionaries have given as many as 12

different meanings to the word ‘independent’. Of

the twelve I have chosen three-‘Freedom from

outside control’; ‘Not influenced or affected by

others; ‘impartial’ and ‘capable’ of thinking or

acting for oneself. Independence in all these senses

must be complete, unimpaired and uncorrupted and

that means first-that independence is antithetical to

corruption and second-that it is ensured by

accountability. The Chief Justice of India has

recently spoken of “institutional integrity”3 and he

drew a distinction between personal and

institutional integrity. I would like to borrow that

phrase and draw a distinction between the

institutional independence of the judiciary and the

independence of a judge.

Institutional Independence:

The independence of the judiciary which, to use the


6

Ruma Pal

language of the Supreme Court, the Constitution so

‘copiously’ protects4, is institutional independence

with institutional immunity, insulation and

autonomy [primarily from the Executive]

guaranteed under the Constitution5. It is a facet of

the separation of powers which underlies the

Constitution and is a part of its basic structure6. To

ensure freedom from Executive and Legislative

control, the pay and pension due to judges in the

superior courts are charged on the Consolidated

Funds of the States in the case of High Court

judges7 and the Consolidated Fund of India in the

case of Supreme Court judges8 and are not subject

to the vote of the Legislative Assembly9 in the case

of the former or Parliament in the latter case10.

Salaries are specified in the Second Schedule to the

Constitution and cannot be varied without an

amendment of the Constitution. No discussion can

take place in the legislature of a State with respect

to the conduct of any Judge of a High Court in the

discharge of his duties11. Nevertheless the

Constitution apparently allowed a serious inroad

into this freedom by virtually giving the Executive

the final say in the appointment12, transfer13 and

promotion of a judge as the Chief Justice of a State

High Court or as the Chief Justice of India. All that

is required of the Executive is to exercise the power

in consultation with the Chief Justice and such

judges of the Supreme Court or High Courts as the

President thinks necessary. In practice the opinion

of the Chief Justice of India on the suitability for

appointment was given weight but not finality.

Political considerations would on occasion trump

merit. For the first 25 years after Independence

apart from some aberrations the Executive left the

judiciary alone in the matter of appointments to the

judiciary. Again although there is no Constitutional

provision prescribing the mode of appointment of

the Chief Justice either of a High Court or of the

Supreme Court there was a convention that the

senior most would become the Chief Justice. This

state of affairs continued till the seventies when the

Executive began a sustained campaign to weaken

the judiciary because judgments delivered by the

judges did not suit the party then in power at the

Centre and because of the growing perception of

the Executive that the Judiciary was an

‘impediment’ to its political functioning.

It has been said of Britain by a British Judge that

“the reputation of the judiciary for independence

and impartiality is a national asset of such richness

that one government after another tries to plunder

it”14. The same could be said of the Indian

Judiciary. The first assault as far as the Supreme

Court was concerned, was the supersession of

senior judges and the ‘rewarding’ of the dissenter

with the high office of the Chief Justice of India.

The superseded judges resigned in protest. In 1975

Emergency was declared when the powers of

judicial review were severely curtailed. In 1976, 16

High Court judges were transferred to other High

Courts by the Executive ostensibly with a view to

strengthening national integration. The reason was

rejected by the Supreme Court saying: “It is indeed

strange that the Government of India should have

selected for transfer, by and large, those High

Court Judges who had decided cases against the

Government during the emergency”15. In 1977 the

Executive again used the ‘punishment’ of

supersession to bypass the then senior-most judge

in the Supreme Court, Justice H.R. Khanna, a

politically ‘inconvenient’ judge, for appointment as

the Chief Justice of India. Justice Khanna resigned.

The year 1976 also saw the Executive deliver what

they must have perceived as the coup de grace

against a stubbornly independent judiciary, by the

enactment of the 42nd Constitutional Amendment

which introduced Articles 323-A and 323-B.

Article 323-A authorizes Parliament and Article

323-B the State Legislatures to create tribunals to

which the power of adjudication of disputes on

various subjects can be transferred while excluding

the jurisdiction of the courts in respect of those

Subjects. The power of adjudication so transferred

included the power of judicial review which allows

judges of the higher courts to determine the legality

of executive action and the validity of legislation

passed by the legislature. These two Articles were

7


intended to allow and in fact did allow the

Executive to take over the powers of adjudication

from the courts because an independent judiciary

was perceived as a thorn in the flesh of political

parties in power. Both Parliament and several

States have been prompt in enacting legislation

setting up Tribunals manned by members of the

Executive to deal with a variety of subjects

normally within the jurisdiction of the High Courts.

Incidentally before the Amendment was carried out

Justice Tarkunde formed the People’s Union for

Civil Liberties to stem the political onslaughts on

the judiciary and ‘to strive for the restoration and

strengthening of civil liberties and democratic

rights’ which the 42nd Amendment sought to

affect16. Unfortunately like King Canute he was not

successful in stopping the political tide then.

Fortunes changed after there was a change in

government and the Emergency was lifted. Many

of the changes brought about by the 42nd

Constitutional Amendment including the

restrictions on the jurisdictions of the judiciary

were done away with. However Articles 323A and

B were retained. With a second change of

Government coercive steps to curb the judiciary

were again resorted to in the matter of the transfer

of newly appointed judges17.

Small wonder then that after this, a battered

judiciary (after an initial regrettable hiccup in the

form of the decision in S.P. Gupta’s case18) picked

itself up and with all the interpretative tools at its

command -termed by many as an unacceptable feat

of judicial activism-by a composite judgment in

several public interest litigations19 virtually wrested

the powers of appointment, confirmation and

transfer of judges from the Executive. Their reason

for doing so was to secure the independence of the

judiciary from Executive control or interference.

Procedural norms were judicially prescribed for

transfer and appointn1ent of judges. At present

every proposal for appointment or transfer of a

judge can only be initiated by a collegium of senior

judges together with the Chief Justice of the High

Court or Supreme Court as the case may be. From

being a mere consultant, the Chief Justice of India

and the Supreme Court collegium now have the

final word. As the Supreme Court put it “No

appointment of any Judge to the Supreme Court or

any High Court can be made, unless it is in

conformity with the opinion of the Chief Justice of

India” and “The opinion of the Chief Justice of

India has not mere primacy, but is determinative in

the matter of transfers of High Court Judges/Chief

Justices.”

The insulation of the judiciary from executive

interference in the matter of appointment and

transfer of judges is now almost complete. But the

question remains, has this almost complete

insulation achieved the object for which the

constitutional interpretation was strained to an

extent never witnessed before or after? In my

opinion it has not. It has just changed the actors

without any change either in the roles or the method

of acting. One of the criticisms of the earlier law, to

quote the Supreme Court was:

“The mystique of this process (of appointments) is

kept secret and confidential between just a few

individuals, not more than two or four as the case

may be, and the possibility cannot therefore be

ruled out that howsoever highly placed may be

these individuals, the process may on occasions

(sic) result in making of wrong appointments and

transfers and may also at times, though fortunately

very rare, lend itself to nepotism, political as well

as personal and even trade-off”.

The same criticism may be made with equal

justification of the present procedure for

appointments and transfer of judges. As I have said

elsewhere ‘the process by which a judge is

appointed to a superior court is one of the best kept

secrets in this country’20. The very secrecy of the

process leads to an inadequate input of information

as to the abilities and suitability of a possible

candidate for appointment as a judge. A chance

remark, a rumour or even third-hand information

may be sufficient to damn a judge’s prospects.

Contrariwise a personal friendship or unspoken

8


obligation may colour a recommendation.

Consensus within the collegium is sometimes

resolved through a trade-off resulting in dubious

appointments with disastrous consequences for the

litigants and the credibility of the judicial system.

Besides, institutional independence has also been

compromised by growing sycophancy and

‘lobbying’ within the system.

The solution as I see it lies not in a reversal to a

status quo ante but in the setting up of a judicial

commission with all the powers now vested with

the Chief Justice of India and the collegium of

Supreme Court judges. This is at present the subject

matter of intense public debate but the suggestion is

not new. In 1981 the Supreme Court itself after

noting the setting up of judicial Commissions by

Australia and New Zealand to consider all judicial

appointments including appointments of High

Court Judges said: “This is a matter which may well

receive serious attention of the Government of

India.”21. In 1987 the Law Commission in its 121st

Report suggested the setting up of a National

Judicial Commission and suggested its

composition22. The National Commission to

Review the Working of the Constitution in its

Report submitted in 2002 was also of the opinion

that a National Judicial Commission should be set

up for recon1mending appointments of all judges

of High Courts and the Supreme Court with a

composition different from that proposed by the

Law Commission23. Others including retired judges

have expressed the need for such a Commission but

have differed as to its composition24. Whatever the

composition, unless there are non-partisan

members, well-defined objective criteria, with the

possibility of choosing judges from a wider source

than at present and that proceedings are open or at

least recorded—the likelihood of not getting the

best as judges and of arbitrariness in making

judicial appointments will remain.

And now to answer the first question posed by me

at the outset as to who composes the “judiciary”.

Historically and semantically all bodies form part

of the judiciary which are vested (a) with the power

of resolving disputes between litigants, (b)

empowered to oversee the application and

implementation of the law by the Executive and (c)

empowered to determine whether executive and

legislative actions are constitutionally valid. This

definition includes in particular those tribunals who

have, post the 42nd Constitutional Amendment,

been vested with the jurisdiction earlier exercised

by courts.

Although the Supreme Court intrepidly asserted the

independence of the judiciary to justify virtually

excluding the Executive from having any real say

in the appointment of judges, it was timorous in

defending the same independence when it was most

needed namely in answering the question whether

the powers of adjudication can be shared with the

Executive. Under the Constitutional scheme in

keeping with the separation of powers judicial

functions are to be performed by the judiciary alone

and not by the Executive. The Supreme Court

declared that “The competence of Parliament to

make a law creating tribunals to deal with disputes

arising under or relating to a particular statute or

statutes cannot be disputed”.25 If the Tribunals are

manned by judicial officers one could have no

quarrel with the declaration. In my view, the

curtailment and transfer of judicial powers of a

particular court by Parliament or a State legislature

can only be to another judicial forum whether

called a Tribunal or by any other name. This was

the situation prior to the 42nd Amendment. There

were Rent Tribunals, Labour Courts, Motor Claims

Tribunals which were all manned by judges or

former judges. It was for the first time post 1976

that the jurisdiction of the judiciary was sought to

be curtailed by transferring the powers of court to

the Executive.

In a Kalidas-like action of cutting the branch of the

Constitutional tree on which the judiciary is sitting

and what in less picturesque language one can

describe as a judicial sell-out to the Executive, the

Supreme Court has upheld the legislations

establishing tribunals in a number of decisions26

subject to certain ‘adjustments’ in the law which

9


are more in the nature of sops to the concept of

judicial independence rather than an assertion of

it.27

To maintain the ‘independence’ of the judicial

process needed to be followed by these tribunals to

reach a decision, the Supreme Court has insisted on

the appointment of ‘judicial officers’ such as

former judges to head the tribunals. Judicial

independence has also been the reason for

excluding executive power in the matter of the

appointment of even former judges as heads of

tribunals28.The exclusion of the High Courts’

powers of judicial review has also been held to be

unconstitutional and decisions of Tribunals have

been made subject to “scrutiny by the High

Courts”29. Decisions taken by the Executive

Members in Tribunals are required to be taken ‘in a

judicial manner’ or like a judge i.e. impartially. All

this is not enough. To borrow the language of the

United States Supreme Court: “the legitimacy of

the judicial branch depends on its reputation for

impartiality and non-partisanship. That reputation

may not be borrowed by the political branches to

cloak their work in the neutral colours of judicial

action”. Nevertheless these Tribunals continue to

have members of the Executive discharging

judicial functions and all members including the

judicial members remain subject to the

administrative and financial control of the

Executive.

A recent judgment of the Supreme Court says “The

constitutional trade-off for independence is that

judges must restrain themselves from the areas

reserved to the other separate branches”30. That

being so then why or indeed how, having regard to

the principle of separation of powers, can the power

of adjudication be shared with or be transferred to

or be subject to the control of the Executive which

is what tribunalisation has come to mean in this

country?

Besides it would be too much to expect a

Government Official who has represented and been

and in some cases continues to be part of the

Executive machinery and who has been committed

to give effect to the policies framed by his/her

political masters throughout his/her career (as

every good Government official is expected to do),

to suddenly be asked to discharge judicial functions

which often requires a decision to be taken against

the Government.

Why is this at all necessary? Delay, arrears of cases,

specialized knowledge etc. have been usually cited

as reasons for the creation of such tribunals. If the

work of the judiciary is being hampered because of

the litigation explosion, the Constitution envisages

more judges being appointed and courts set up

which can function with all the safeguards of

insulation, independence and autonomy as part of

the judicial system. The Constitution also allows

the appointment of additional and acting judges to

deal with an increase in the business or the arrears

of work of the High Courts and the Supreme

Court3l. It was not envisaged under the constitution

as originally framed that the lacunae, if any, in the

functioning of the judiciary at whichever level,

would be filled by the Executive. As Chief Justice

Subba Rao speaking for a Bench of 5 judges said in

196632: “It is unreasonable to attribute to the

makers of the Constitution) who had so carefully

provided for the independence of the judiciary) an

intention to destroy the same by an indirect method.

What can be more deleterious to the good name of

the judiciary than to permit at the level of district

Judges (and now at the level of High Court judges),

recruitment from the executive departments?”

But according to a recent pronouncement of the

Supreme Court “The presence of a technical

member ensures the availability of expertise and

experience related to the field of adjudication for

which the special Tribunal is created, thereby

improving the quality of adjudication and decision

making”33. By that token all courts should have

technical members to improve the ‘quality of

decision making’. Traditionally if technical

expertise is required it is open to courts to seek the

opinion of an expert as a witness but not as a

colleague on the Bench. To have technical

10


members (meaning officers of the Executive) on a

Tribunal is as repugnant to the independence of the

judiciary as, for example, having the Secretary of

the Ministry of Finance sitting on a Bench of the

Supreme Court or High Court to decide income-tax

matters. A more serious in-road into institutional

judicial independence would be hard to find.

Besides the ‘tribunalisation’ of justice has not

worked in India. In 1997 the Supreme Court

acknowledged “Tribunals have been functioning

inefficiently ... The situation at present is that

different tribunals constituted under different

enactments are administered by different

administrative departments of the Central and the

State Governments. The problem is compounded by

the fact that some tribunals have been created

pursuant to the Central legislations and some

others have been created by State legislations.”

More than a decade later, if one is to go by the

Report of the Chairperson of the Intellectual

Property Appellate Board submitted to the Madras

High Court recently, the situation has not

improved34.

The litigant, in whose apparent interest

tribunalisation has and is taking place has been the

worst sufferer. When most of the rights are claimed

by citizens against the Government how can people

have faith in a body if even one member is

perceived as being part of the Government? The

credibility of the judicial process “comes from the

office of the judge and his or her individual and

institutional reputation for independence”.35

Additionally every decision of a tribunal is subject

either to appeal before the High Court or Supreme

Court and subject to judicial review. This has only

meant further delay and expense for a litigant

because of additional rounds of litigation. Several

brave High Court judges have tried with faultless

reasoning to set right this Constitutional anomaly in

their decisions36 but have unfortunately failed to

convince the Supreme Court up till now.

There is another seemingly minor exception to

judicial independence contained in the Foreign

Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976. Apart from

other restrictions, the Act initially forbade, except

with the permission of the Central Government, the

acceptance of foreign hospitality by members of

Legislatures, office bearers of political parties and

employees of corporations37.

In 1985, when the Law Ministry was headed by an

eminent lawyer, the Act was amended to include

judges (thus proving my theory that sometimes the

worst enemies of Judges are those lawyers who

while being members of the Bar also serve in the

capacity of politicians). At present no judge,

whether of the Supreme Court or the High Courts

can accept any invitation from any foreign person

or organization or indeed even visit a foreign

country out of his/her personal funds, unless an

application is made to the State and Central

Governments with the approval of the Chief Justice

two months ahead of the date of departure and the

application is vetted by different Ministries and

ultimately allowed or disallowed by an executive

order which may or may not be received before the

date fixed for leaving! Even if permission is

granted by the Government to accept an invitation

it is subject to the air-fare being agreed to be paid

by the Government. Clearly the Government

considers that being accommodated, wined and

dined by a foreigner do not come within the word

‘hospitality’! It also overlooks the fact that a judge

would be obliged to various Joint Secretaries of the

Government for exercising their discretion in

favour of the judge not only in granting permission

but also agreeing to bear the air-fare—a dangerous

situation since the largest litigant before any court

is the Government. Besides if the Chief Justice as

the administrative head of the judiciary in each

High Court and the Chief Justice of India in the

Supreme Court approve, to subject the judge to

Executive control does, in my opinion, interfere

with the institutional independence of the judiciary.

To complete the insulation of the judiciary the

mischief created in 1985 must be undone.

An Independent Judge:

11


The independence of the judiciary and of the

judicial system of course ultimately depends on the

personal integrity of each judge. It goes without

saying and I do not intend to dwell on the fact that

judges have to be above corruption in the monetary

sense. But it needs restating just as it needed stating

in 1988 when judges of 37 countries gathered in

Bangalore and formulated what have come to be

known as the Bangalore Principles. The principles

are intended to establish standards for the ethical

conduct of judges. Detailed guidelines have been

classified under 6 heads termed ‘values’:

Independence, Integrity, Impartiality, Propriety,

Equality, Competence and Diligence. In fact all six

values are facets of the first and cardinal one of

‘independence’. Judges are fierce in using the word

as a sword to take action in contempt against critics.

But the word is also used as a shield to cover a

multitude of sins some venial and others not so

venial. Any lawyer practising before a court will I

am sure have a rather long list of these. I have

chosen seven.

The first is the sin of “brushing under the carpet” or

turning a Nelsonian eye. Many judges are aware of

injudicious conduct of a colleague but have either

ignored it or refused to confront the judge

concerned and suppressed any public discussion on

the issue often through the great silencer-The Law

of Contempt.38

The second sin is that of “hypocrisy”. A favourite

rather pompous phrase in judgments is “Be you

ever so high, the law is above you” 39 or words to

similar effect. And yet judges who enforce the law

for others often break that law with impunity. This

includes traffic regulations and any other

regulation to which the “ordinary” citizens are

subject. Some in fact get offended if their cars are

held up by the police at all while controlling the

flow of traffic-the feeling of offence sometimes

being translated into action by issuance of a rule of

contempt against the hapless police constable40 all

in the name of judicial independence41.

The third sin is that of secrecy. The normal

response of Courts to any enquiry as to its

functioning is to temporize, stone-wall and

prevaricate. As I have said elsewhere that the

process by which a judge is appointed to the High

Court or elevated to the Supreme Court is one of the

best-kept secrets in the country. The issue whether

the records relating to appointments of judges to the

Supreme Court can be directed to be produced

under the Right to Information Act is now pending

decision before the Supreme Court42 after which

perhaps we will come to learn of the logical

connection between judicial independence and

secrecy.

If ‘independence’ is taken to mean ‘capable of

thinking for oneself’ then the fourth sin is

plagiarism and prolixity. I club the two together

because the root cause is often the same namely the

prolific and often unnecessary use of passages from

text-books and decisions of other judges-without

acknowledgment in the first case and with

acknowledgment in the latter. Many judgments are

in fact mere compendia or digests of decisions on a

particular issue with very little original reasoning in

support of the conclusion.

Often judges misconstrue judicial independence as

judicial and administrative indiscipline. Both of

these in fact stem from judicial arrogance as to

one’s intellectual ability and status. A judge’s

status like other holders of public posts is derived

from the office or the chair. One has to merely

occupy that chair during one’s tenure with dignity

and remember that each time a lawyer bows and

says “Deeply obliged” —the bow is addressed to

the office and not to the person. The Supreme Court

has laid down standards of judicial behaviour for

the sub-ordinate judiciary such as “He should be

conscientious, studious, thorough, courteous,

patient, punctual, just, impartial, and fearless of

public clamour, regardless of public praise43 but

sadly some members of the higher judiciary exempt

themselves from the need to comply with these

standards.

Intellectual arrogance or what some may call

12


intellectual dishonesty is manifest when judges

decide without being bound by principles of stare

decisis or precedent44. Independence no doubt

connotes freedom to decide but the freedom is not

absolute. It is bound to be in accordance with law.

Otherwise we have lawyers and the sub-ordinate

judiciary baffled while “mastering the lawless

science of our law” faced with “that codeless

myriad of precedent, that wilderness of single

instances.”45 Independence implies discipline to

decide objectively and with intellectual integrity

and as the judicial oath of office requires, without

fear, favour, affection or ill will. Most importantly

judges must be perceived as so deciding or to use

Lord Hewart’s classic dicta that “Justice should not

only be done, but should manifestly and

undoubtedly be seen to be done,”46 because the

belief of corruption is as damaging to the credibility

in the independence of the judiciary as the act of

corruption.

This brings me to the seventh and final sin of

nepotism or what the oath of office calls ‘favour’

and ‘affection’. What is required of a judge is a

degree of aloofness and reclusiveness not only vis a

vis litigants but also vis a vis lawyers. Litigants

include the Executive. Injudicious conduct

includes known examples such as judges using a

guesthouse of a Private Company or a Public Sector

Undertaking for a holiday or accepting benefits like

the allocation of land from the discretionary quota

of a Chief Minister.

I can only emphasise again that nothing destroys a

judge’s credibility more than a perception that

he/she decides according to closeness to one of the

parties to the litigation or what has come to be

described in the corridors of courts as ‘face value’.

As the Bangalore Principles succinctly puts it: “A

judge shall not ...convey or permit others to convey

the impression that anyone is in a special position

improperly to influence the judge in the

performance of judicial duties”47.

And here I would like to pay tribute to the great

majority of judges who are to quote N.A.

Palkhiwala men (and women) of integrity,

combining character with calibre48 who are holding

the fort against ‘enemies’ both within and outside

the system by discharging their duties with courage

and independence.

I will conclude with the most important facet of

judicial independence. Judicial independence

cannot exist without accountability. At present the

only disciplinary power over judges is vested in

Parliament which provides for the extreme

punishment of removal for acts of proven

misbehaviour by or incapacity of a judge49.

Disciplinary methods include the Chief Justice

advising a dishonest judge to resign or

recommending a judge’s name to the Chief Justice

of India for transfer to another High Court.

Deprivation of jurisdiction or the non-allocation of

work to a dishonest judge was resorted to by Chief

Justice Sabyasachi Mukharji-when the

impeachment of Justice V. Ramaswamy failed for

political reasons. Sometimes Chief Justices control

a recalcitrant judge by ensuring that the judge

concerned sits with the Chief Justice or with a

‘strong’ judge until he or she retires.

The situation becomes more difficult if the

allegations are against the Chief Justice. Solutions

evolved have proved inadequate and ad hoc. There

is a need for an effective mechanism for enforcing

judicial accountability50. The Judicial Standards

and Accountability Bill 2010 now under

consideration before Parliament provides for a

mechanism for enforcing judicial discipline under a

National Judicial Oversight Committee. But I

would add a Caveat using the language of a

Resource Document for the establishment of

judicial accountability mechanisms in South

Africa51: that “accountability mechanisms” [must

be] “embedded in the judiciary and satisfy the

appropriate standards for judicial autonomy,

respect the separation of powers framework, and

are transparent and publicly known”. This would

be in keeping with that “independence” which as I

13


said at the outset the Constitution so ‘copiously’

protects.

References:

1.S.P. Gupta v. Union oflndia,1981 Supp SCC 87

2.P. 358

3.Centre for PIL v. Union of India,(201 J) 4 SCC J,

at page 23

4.Union of India v. Sankalchand Himatlal Sheth,

(1977) 4 SCC 193, at page 2 J3

5.Union of India v. Sankalchand Himatlal Sheth,

(1977) 4 SCC 193

6.Registrar (Admn.), High Court of Orissa v. Sisir

Kania Satapathy, (1999) 7 SCC 725, at page 728

7.Article 202 (3) (d)

8.Art. 112 (3) (d) (iii)

9.Article 203 (l)

10. Article 113 (I).See Union of India v.

Sankalchand Himatlal Sheth, (1977) 4 SCC J93, at

page 217

11. Article 21 I

12. Art 124 (2) in case of Supreme Court judges and

Art. 217 in the case of High Court judges

13. Art. 222

14. Quoted in “Should Judges Conduct Public

Inquiries?” by Jack Beatson: LQR Vol 121 p.235

15. Union of India v. Sankalchand Himatlal Sheth,

(1977) 4 see 193, at page 234

16. See Granville Austin: Working a Democratic

Constitution p.384

17. See N.A. Palkhiwala: Second Chimanla1

Setalvad Memorial Lecture, 1982; Granville

Austin: The Supreme Court and Custody of the

Constitution: Supreme but not Infallible.

18. S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, 1981 Supp see 87

19. S.C. Advocates-on-Record Assn v. Union of

India (1993) 4 see 441; Special Reference No.1 of

1998: (1998) 7 see 739

20. “Information and Fundamental Rights”: Sarat

Bose Memorial Lecture, 2009

21. S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, 1981 Supp SCC

87, at page 298. Since then several countries

including England and Wales have set up a Judicial

Appointments Commission to appoint High Court

judges.

22. The Chief Justice of India (Chairman), three

senior most judges of the Supreme Court; the

retiring Chief Justice of India, three senior Chief

Justices of High Courts, the Minister of Law and

Justice, Government of India, the Attorney General

and an outstanding law academic.

23. The Vice President of India, the Chief Justice of

India, two senior most judges of the Supreme

Court, the Chief Justice of the High Court when

considering an appointment to that court and the

Minister of Law and Justice.

24. V.R. Krishna Iyer, J: The Hindu: 20th October

2003; Rajinder Sachar, J.: The Hindu: 28th March

2003, PUCL Bulletin, February 2005

25. Union of India v. R. Gandhi, President, Madras

Bar Association, (20 I 0) II see I, at page 49

26. S.P. Sam path Kumar v. Union of India, (1987)

I SCC 124; L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India,

(1997) 3 SCC 261; Union of India v. R. Gandhi,

President, Madras Bar Association, (2010) 11 SCC

I

27. They were readily conceded by the Executive

without any reference to Parliament. S.P. Sampath

Kumar Y. Union of India, (1987) I SCC 124; L.

Chandra Kumar v. Union of India, (1997) 3 SCC

261

28. State of Haryana v. National Consumer

Awareness Group, (2005) 5 SCC 284, at page 292

29. L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India, (1997) 3

SCC 261, at page 311

30. State of U.P. v. Jeet S. Bisht, (2007) 6 SCC 586,

at page 612 : per Katju, J:

31. Articles J28 and 224( 1)

32. Chandra Mohan v. State of UP :AIR 1966 SC

1987

33. Union of India v. R. Gandhi, President, Madras

Bar Association, (20 I 0) II see I, at page 40

34. See in this connection Report submitted by the

14


Chairperson, IPAB to the Madras High Court in

Shamnad Basheer v. Union of India (W.P.12S6

of20 II)

35. Jack Beatson: Should Judges Conduct Public

Inquiries: Vol. 121 LQR 221, 243

36. Sakinala Hari Nath v. State of A.P.:( (993) 2 An

WR 484; See further L. Chandra Kuma v. Union of

India (1997) 3 SCC 261,284 paras 37, 38

37. Section 9

38. See for example Surya Prakash Khetri v.

Madhu Trehan 200I Cr. LJ. 3476

39. See for example: S.P. Gupta v. Union of India,

1981 Supp see 87, at page 223; Arundhati Roy, In

Re, (2002) 3 see 343; Bangalore Medical Trust v.

B.S. Muddappa, (1991) 4 see 54, al page 92:

40. See for example: Biman Basu v. Kallol Guha

Thakurta, (20 I 0) 8 SCC 673

41. Red Lights on the Cars 0 f the Hon’ble Judges

of the High Court v. State of U.P. 1988 Cr. L.J.

4212

42. Central Public Information Officer, Supreme

Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

(2011) 1 SCC 496

43. High Court of Judicature at Bombay v.

Shirishkumar Rangrao Patil, (1997) 6 sec 339, at

page 355

44. See for example State of U.P. v. Jeet S. Bisht,

(2007) 6 sec 586, at page 623

45. Alfred Tennyson

46. R. v. Sussex JJ, ex p McCarthy: (1924) I KB

256

47. Clause 4_9

48. N.A. Palkbiwala: We, the Nation: Crisis of

Public Faith in the Judiciary at page223

49. Article 124(4), Article 217 (I) (b)

50. See in this connection Mechanism for Judicial

Accountability by J. S. Verma, Former Chief

Justice of India

IDASA: March 2

15


[Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, is a reformist-writer

and activist. Internationally known for his work

on liberation theology in Islam, he leads the

Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement. The

focus of his work is on (and action against)

communalism and communal and ethnic violence

in India and South Asia. He is an advocate of a

culture of peace, non-violence and communal

harmony, and has lectured all over the world. He

is presently the head of the ‘Institute of Islamic

Studies’ and the ‘Centre for Study of Society and

Secularism’, both of which he founded in 1980

and 1993 respectively. He currently contributes

to The God Contention, a website comparing and

contrasting various worldviews.He may be

contacted at Centre for Study of Society and

Secularism, 9B, Himalaya Apts.,1st Floor, 6th

Road, TPS III, Opp. Dena Bank, Santacruz (E),

Mumbai-400055, India]

Arab Spring and Role ofWomen

The Arab world saw great political turmoil

in the beginning of 2011. The Tunisian

dictator Zen el-Abidin was overthrown before

January 2011 ended. Then a similar turmoil began

in Egypt and hundreds of thousands of people

poured in Tahrir square to protest against Hasni

Mubarak, another long serving dictator who was

forced to go and then Libya, Syria, Yemen and

Bahrain. Now all this has been much written about

and need not be repeated but what concerns us here

is about the role of women in these revolutionary

changes in These Arab countries.

In all these countries women played very

significant role right from Tunisia to the Yemen.

No one can underestimate their role. Both in Egypt

and Yemen women initiatives played most crucial

role. In fact the Tahrir Square mobilization was due

mainly to a young girl’s appeal on the face-book.

As everyone knows the social media as face book is

called played important role in mobilization in the

Islamic world against kings and dictators.

In fact the role of women in political mobilization

was so crucial that it was being expected that Nobel

for Peace this year would be given to three women

from Arab countries i.e. Tunis, Egypt and Yemen

but instead it went to women from Africa and

Yemen, the later a Muslim woman who also played

crucial role in protection of human rights and

political mobilization for overthrow of President

Salih though there still remains stalemate in

Yemen.

What is most important to note is the role of women

in political mobilization in the3se countries and

secondly it shatters the myth that Muslim women

merely sit at home and are worth nothing more than

domestic workers and house makers. Muslim

women have proved once again that they can

mobilize people far more efficiently and

purposefully. It is also interesting to note that many

women in Tunisia and Egypt were quite active in

trade unions and used their experience gained in

trade unions to proper use and brought about

change in political structure.

But post-revolution a shadow of doubt hangs over

them? What this democratic revolution will give

them? Or will it take over the rights they had gained

under dictatorships. There is lot of truth in this as

much as there is possibility of Islamic laws, as they

are, being reimposed in these countries. In Tunisia

Ennehda Party has won elections which describes

itself a moderate Islamic party. But fortunately

Ennahda leader Ghanushi has declared that there

16


Asghar A. Engineer

will be no change in gender laws which clearly

means polygamy will not be re-imposed.

However, Libyan women are not so fortunate. The

Libyan leader who is projected as the new Prime

Minister after ousting Ghaddafi has already

announced that Islamic laws will be the only laws

imposed and polygamy will be reintroduced and

there will be no more restrictions on it. Ghaddafi,

undoubtedly a dictator and had to go, had done lot

of good in introducing and consolidating gender

justice in Libya. He had given equal rights to

women as provided for in Qur’an. He abolished

polygamy and gave women important role in public

life.

He even maintained that to confine women at home

is an imperialist conspiracy to paralyse half the

population in the Islamic world. He, therefore, even

created special force for women in the army and

assigned them duties of body guards. It was

undoubtedly a revolutionary step. Now all this is

likely to be reversed and the Libyan leader

specifically was mentioning polygamy. It will of

course remain debatable if the Shari’ah laws as

evolved during medieval ages when patriarchy

reigned supreme should be re-imposed as it is or

suitable changes in keeping with spirit of Qur’anic

values be reformulated?

To say that polygamy is permitted by Qur’an and

hence must be reintroduced is really injuring the

spirit of Qur’an. At best it is half truth. Polygamy

has been allowed in Qur’an but in specific context

and with rigorous conditions. Anyone who reads

the two verses in Qur’an on polygamy i.e. 4:3 and

4:129 would see that for Qur’an justice is more

central than multiple wives. And if justice is so

important can polygamy be made rule?

In early seventies whenever a dictator declared his

country to be an Islamic state, he would introduce

Hudud laws (Islamic punishments for theft,

adultery etc. as if these punishments were more

central than what factors motivated a person to

commit these crimes or punishing is more

important than reforming a person. Similarly today

when dictatorial regimes end a declaration is made

that family laws will be introduced and polygamy

will be permissible.

As this writer has always maintained gender justice

is very central to the Qur’an provided Qur’an is

read in proper context and today with greater and

greater role being played by women in public life it

is all the more important that gender justice be

made equally central in the Shari’ah laws through

contextual and normative understanding of

Qur’anic verses and shari’ah laws being based on

such an interpretation of the Qur’anic verses.

The present Shari’ah laws will not be acceptable to

women as education and awareness among them

increases and pressure for change will continue to

gather momentum. In fact Qur’an unambiguously

stands for gender justice and equipped women with

all the rights men were given. We are surprised how

male interpreters missed this and equally surprising

is that Muslim women submitted to these

interpretations.

17


PLEASE DO NOT SEND ARTICLES BEYOND 1500-2000 WORDS.

Dear Friends, Also, inform me whether they have been published elsewhere.

And, please try to email them at [email protected] instead of sending them by post.

You may post them (only if email is not possible) at C-8 Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India.

Do also email your passport size photographs as separate attachments (in JPG format) as well as your

small introduction, if you are contributing for the first time. Please feel free to contact me at

91-9719333011 for any other querry. —Rekha Saraswat

[Mr. Bill Cooke was editor of the Open Society

from 1992 until 2008. His next book is A Wealth

of Insights: Humanist Thought Since the

Enlightenment.]


To non-religious people, the answer to this

question is obvious. But for thousands of

religiously-minded people, it is still valid to

wonder how one can be moral without a God to

direct and punish. And some fundamentalists go

even further when they insist that one cannot

actually be moral at all unless one is religious, by

which they almost always mean their own religion.

Either way, it was the topic for the latest

high-profile debate between religious and

non-religious people on important issues. This

debate went under the banner of the Evangelical

Union and a newish grouping on Auckland

University called the Reason and Science Society.

The Christian protagonist was Matthew Flannagan,

sometime Christian

Heritage Party activist, now lecturer at what used to

be called the Bible College out in Henderson. Dr

Flannagan writes a column for Ian Wishart’s

Investigate magazine and runs a blog on

evangelical themes. And up against him was our

very own Ray Bradley, Emeritus Professor of

Philosophy at Simon Fraser University in Canada

and Honorary Associate of the NZARH. The

debate was chaired very ably, once again, by

Professor John Bishop, head of the Philosophy

Department at Auckland University.

Ray Bradley spoke first and went energetically

about his task. Supported by a generous sprinkling

of Old Testament passages, Bradley accused God

as understood by in the Judaeo-Christian tradition

of four serious charges:

A. Crimes against humanity

B. War crimes.

C. Licensing mayhem and murder.

D. Torture, including the torment of hell.

As most rationalists know, there is no shortage of

blood-curdling passages where God does all these

things. To be found guilty of any one of these

crimes, Bradley argued, would prove that God

could not possibly be the source of morality, let

alone all four.

Bradley then outlined five propositions which

theists believe about God.

1. God proposes things for us to believe and do.

2. God says he has caused, committed and

condoned all the actions listed in A, B, C and D.

3. It is morally wrong to commit A, B, C or D.

4. God is omnipotent, omniscient, all loving (and

all the rest of it).

5. A morally perfect being would not do anything

that is morally wrong.

Theists, at various stages, believe all five of these,

despite their blatantly contradicting each other.

From this, Bradley concluded, God cannot possibly

be a source of morality.

It was then Matthew Flannagan’s turn to give his

main address. Now I know that, as an atheist and

friend of Ray Bradley, I’m bound to say that

Flannagan’s argument failed, or was unconvincing.

But it really was, honestly. The main problem with

his address was not that the argument was unsound,

but that he didn’t actually have an argument. All he

did was attempting to refute Bradley’s argument.

We were told before the debate began that Bradley

and Flannagan had shown each other their main

argument. This, apparently, was an attempt to

ensure that they addressed the moot of the debate.

18


Bill Cooke

This was probably in response to my refusal to

engage William Lane Craig on the terms he so

imperiously dictated. But where I then set out an

argument explaining my action and offering a rival

account, all Flannagan did was refute Bradley. At

no time did he actually put an argument forward to

demonstrate that God was the source of morality.

When one questioner pointed this out, there was a

spontaneous round of applause, suggesting it was a

widely-held view. The closest Flannagan got to

outlining his views on the subject was when he

declared himself a supporter of divine command

theory, one of the arguments used by the new

generation of hard-line Christian apologists. Divine

command theory is a form of moral

foundationalism that argues all moral rules or

requirements emanate from God’s commands.

Flannagan didn’t give any rundown of

the theory, he just nodded in its direction. Just as

well really, since the divine command theory has

been on the back foot ever since Plato wrote the

Euthyphro about 2400 years ago.

So was Flannagan’s refutation of Bradley in any

way convincing? He claimed that Bradley’s

criticisms didn’t address the issue of God’s

greatness. I would have thought that convicting

God of crimes A, B, C and D would be a pretty clear

indication of lacking an element of greatness. Even

odder was Flannagan’s attempt to explain all the

barbaric passages of the Bible away with the

sleight-of-hand known as context. None of the

Bible passages Bradley quoted, Flannagan assured

us, are commands to us. They need to be read in

context. And they shouldn’t be taken literally; they

were metaphors, allegories, and all the rest of it.

And some were disfigured by hyperbole. And in

this way Bradley’s argument was said to have

missed the point because it was an argument

against biblical inerrancy, not against the goodness

of God.

Perhaps the most shocking admission from

Flannagan was his claim that there must have been

some overriding reason to justify God’s actions in

the Old Testament, some higher good being

pursued we were/are unaware of. How God could

be the sole legitimate source of morality when he

can justify his many crimes in the Old Testament in

the name of some greater good escapes me. And it

probably escaped Flannagan as well, as we were

not given any examples of such big-picture

benevolence. And as Bradley was quick to note,

even if some examples could be offered, the God

being apologized for in that context would be too

repugnant to contemplate. What greater good could

possibly justify the crimes of A, B, C or D, no

matter how watered down?

A lot of the audience was unimpressed by

Flannagan’s evasions. I was unconvinced that

Flannagan was not doing what apologists so often

do; explaining away the nasty bits of the Bible in

the hope of preserving the credibility of the bits

they like. I asked him if we should look to context

and be aware of genre, metaphor and a tendency to

hyperbole in, for instance, the Ten

Commandments. He didn’t answer that. I also

asked would Jesus not be rather cross with him in

the light of Matthew 5:17, which says ‘think not

that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I

am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.’ Flannagan’s

answer was extraordinary. Oh no, he assured the

audience, Jesus’ words don’t apply to us because he

was speaking at that time to a Jewish audience.

What? Has he really thought that through? When

was Jesus or Rabbi Yeshua as we should properly

address him, not talking to a Jewish audience? If

nothing he addressed to a Jewish audience applies

to us, then we can safely close the New Testament

in the knowledge that none of it applies to us. So,

from now on, every time a fundamentalist tells you

that Jesus has a message for you, you can assure the

emissary that the message was only intended for a

Jewish audience. When they harrumph that that

sounds like secular humanism, you can assure them

that, oh no, this comes from Matthew Flannagan,

evangelical Christian and apologist for divine

command theory.

19


It seems, then, that Flannagan is behaving as

apologists the world over have done: explain away

biblical passages when they are inconvenient to his

own needs. And in such blatant disobedience not

only Jesus but also to the Law Jesus himself said he

was coming to fulfill.

Look, for instance, at Deuteronomy 12:32 which

say: ‘Observe everything I command, taking

nothing away and adding nothing.’

Another problem with Flannagan’s approach was

that it makes it next to impossible to reliably gauge

what God’s commands actually are. If the Bible is a

hodge-podge of context, metaphor and allegory

written by people of their times for their Jewish

contemporaries, how are we then, in the

twenty-first century, supposed to discern the

content of God’s divine commands? Is it not

reasonable to suppose that if God is so uniformly

excellent, he should have arranged for us a clear

manual to guide us lesser beings? Apparently not.

Presumably it leaves that vital role to the very few

chosen ones who can correctly tell which bits of the

Bible are to be read in context and which are God’s

divine commands. People like Matthew Flannagan.

It’s fair to conclude that Ray Bradley got the better

of this debate. He actually addressed the question

and presented a serious argument why God could

not be any positive source of morality. Flannagan,

by contrast, was content merely to try and discredit

that argument, but offered no account why we

should consider God is in fact the sole source of

morality. And Flannagan’s attempts to discredit

Bradley’s argument either missed the point or

raised even more serious objections.

Having said all this, there remains the question of

what is gained by this twelve-rounds-of boxing

style debate. I was determined not to present to

William Lane Craig the identikit Richard Dawkins

account for him to knock around. I wanted to call

into question Craig’s claim to be giving the one and

only viable account of what it means to be

Christian. There are never only two

equally-opposed viewpoints to any one question,

and yet the debate format entrenches precisely this

model. I would still prefer a less adversarial style of

discussion of our various beliefs. At the end of this

account many readers will go away thinking,

“Gosh, what a fool Matthew Flannagan must be.”

Just as, I have no doubt, people will think of Ray

Bradley after reading accounts of the debate from

Flannagan’s supporters.

But are we better off if this is the outcome of the

debate? I don’t think so. At the end of the debate

Bradley pleaded with the audience to go away and

think the issues through themselves. Quite right

too. But maybe what’s needed now is not another

debate designed in this zero-sum way. Continuing

with debates structured in this way gives fuel to

moderate-minded people of all persuasions who

suspect that all that’s happening is two equally

entrenched positions slugging it out with no-one

actually listening to each other. What is needed

now is a dialogue. Perhaps a theist and an atheist

should come together and give an account of why

they believe as they do and what they consider the

implications of that belief to be. A dialogue of this

sort would try to keep point-scoring and criticism

of the opposing viewpoint to a minimum, focusing

instead on outlining positively their own beliefs.

Who’s up for that?


20

“New Humanism proclaims the sovereignty of man on the authority of modern science, which

has dispelled all mystery about the essence of man. It maintains that a rational and moral

society is possible because man, by nature, is rational and therefore, can be moral, not under

any compulsion, but voluntarily: that the sanction of morality is embedded in human nature.”

—M.N. Roy

[Ms. Asha Kachru lives in a remote village in

Medak district of the South indian state Andhra

Pradesh since 1992. Her primary occupation,

besides being a resource person for gender in

agriculture issues, she has been mediating

between the rural poor and the Indian

bureaucracy and promoting organic agricultural

lifestyle. Before this she was in Germany for 22

years as a scientific officer in the German

Research Center now called Max Planck Institute

for Mathematics and Data-processing. She went

to Germany as an exchange scholar after

finishing post graduate studies in Pure

Mathematics from Delhi University. She was the

first South Asian woman to become a City

Councillor (for the GREEN faction) in a

European city (Bonn, the then capital) from

1984-1987. She lives at Katakeri, Kohir village,

Medak District, Andhra Pradesh 502210.

[email protected]]

A Kashmiri pundit mother’sappeal for peace in Kashmir-

Part 2

This is the report of my second visit to the

state of Jammu and Kashmir, 13 Sept to

2nd October 2011.

Last year I went to Jammu and Kashmir in June it

was the stone pelting period. I went to Jammu for a

marriage and then to Kashmir valley and

surroundings, particularly to visit my birthplace

Anantnaag, 50 km from Kashmir valley. The report

was published in Radical Humanist in October

2010 and in Sarvodaya Talisman, Nov.-Dec. 2010

issues resp. This report of my second visit from

13.9 to 2.10.2011 is in continuation of the first.

It has been an overall pleasant experience both last

year as well as this year. Last year it was in

tumultuous stone pelting times and I could not visit

the hospital in Anantnaag where I was born,

because of some porno videos found in one

shopkeeper’s store and the youth was out stoning

the police, this year most of the cordoned fencing

was removed and generally peaceful environment

prevailing both in valley as well as outside.

However some incidents of infiltration at the

border and also in some villages did take place.

This time I could visit the Christian Bishops

hospital in which I was born. I was surprised to note

that some doctors and nurses from Andhra Pradesh

were running the hospital. What a coincidence I

thought. I am a Kashmiri pundit born in Anantnaag,

studied and worked in Delhi and Germany, now

living and working with rural poor in Andhra

Pradesh, since last 20 years and here in my

birthplace it is the Andhrite health professionals

looking after my brothers and sisters, the

Kashmiris. It gave me a nice feeling of Vasudev

Kutumbam and again a reminder that after all we

are all a family of human beings with human needs,

whether in Germany, Andhra Pradesh and/or

Kashmir. Religion, caste, class and race are of

secondary importance. Unfortunately some people

create problems by dividing humanity on the lines

of these very categories of religion, caste, class and

race. More on that later!

Let me first give an overview of who all I met and

what all I discussed:

1. Attended 20th anniversary of Black Day get

together of KP’s (Kashmiri Pundit’s) “reclaim of

our ancestral land in Kashmir” by Panun Kashmir

on 14th Sept 2011 and Amar Shaheed Yagya in

memory of KP’s killed by Militants in Kashmir.

21


Asha Kachru

2. Visited KP’s in camps (Purkhoo, Jagati, Nagotra,

Muthi etc.) in Jammu.

3. Discussed with young students from Doda,

Jammu, Poonch of YAKHJAY-Jammu group.

4. Visited my one and only family members in

Karannagar, Srinagar.

5. Visited Yasin Malik and Geelani’s residences

and the famous Mosque at Hazratbal, from which

the famous announcement for kp’s to leave valley,

but leave their women behind, was made by the

militants.

6. Revisited Sufi poet Zareef Ahmad Zareef saheb

and his family at his residence near the shrine of the

famous saint Maqdoom Saheb.

7. Discussed with the young students from Kashmir

University, of the Yakhjay group in Srinagar and

also with some members of the Association of

Social Workers JKASW.

8. Attended UN Peace Day celebration on 21st Sept

at the Samad Island of peace in Nagin Lake, with

contributions from many school children from

Srinagar

9. Discussed with counselor Dr. Arif Khan of the

HELPLINE Foundation, counseling all Kashmiris

(KM’s and KP’s) in distress.

10. Attended the one day workshop to promote a

young writers group at the women’s college in

Srinagar.

11. Visited a small private school in Mirguna

village in Khanabal near the hospital I was born

in, in District Anantnaag.

12. Visited and discussed situation of adolescent

girls and involvement of women in decision

making in Humanity Welfare NGO working

with mentally challenged children in Bijhebara,

near Ananntnaag

13. Discussed with head of Youth Parliament and

environment lawyer Nadeem Quadri at Pampore

near Srinagar, on Dal Lakes legal environmental

and women’s issues.

14. Discussed with Libel Nisa, a young Human

Rights Lawyer on women’s situation in valley and

on formation of a Women’s Group in the valley.

15. Attended the open forum discussion by women

leaders from POK, Jammu and Srinagar valley on

“an Intra Kashmir women’s dialogue”, Broadway

Hotel.

16. Discussed with Ms. Khemlata Wakhlu, ex

MLA and present chairperson of the State Social

Welfare Board on situation in Kashmir from KP’s

perspective. She invited me to speak to the state’s

one day conference for the adolescent girls. Gave

lecture on empowerment of adolescent girls at the

State Social Welfare Board meet at SKICC,

Srinagar and discussed with young girls of both,

Hindu and Muslim communities about their current

problems.

Let me now go one by one.

1.When I arrived at the Press Club in Jammu on

14th Sept., to take part in the Panun Kashmir get

together, “Black Day for KPs”, sensitizing public

on how kp’s had to flee from their homeland 21

years back on this day and even after 21 years of

exile they still do not have a home land in Kashmir,

I saw many women and man with Anna Hazare like

caps on, with “Panun Kashmir, homeland for

displaced Kashmiris” written on them. They were

shouting slogans “chyon Kashmir, myon Kashmir;

aisi chu watun panun Kashmir” (translated: YOUR

Kashmir, MY Kashmir; we want to reach OUR

Kashmir). Suneel Kulkarni, a human rights lawyer

from Gujarat joined me. He is teaching human

rights at the Saurashtra University and he is writing

a thesis on “human rights of displaced Kashmiris”.

It was good for me, walking with my stick that

Suneel, himself offered to carry my bags with

papers and books. So I could use – thanks to

Suneel- my video camera, with which I was making

a documentary of my trip to J&K. many vocative

leaders and representatives of various groups of

KP’s spoke about their situation, particularly that of

the ones living in camps. They spoke of the utter

indifference and irresponsible behavior of the

Govt. and the general ignorance of Indians on the

Kashmir issue.

22


Suneel and I decided to visit the camps. We took

addresses from some of the participants there. Then

we attended the Amar Balidan Society’s Shaheed

Yagnya on the same day and had a lovely Prasad

with many typical vegetarian Kashmiri dishes, the

delicacy Lotusstem, Dumaloo, Kashmiri Paneer

and Rajma, closing with walnuts and Kashmiri

Kheer with saffron flavour. We were made to

remember KP martyrs like Tika Lal Taploo and

Lassa Kaul, who were good leaders and loved by

many ordinary Hindus and Muslims. Yet they were

attacked by the militants and shot dead in their

backs. One Kashmiri Pundit woman, I have been

now told by many, was the first KP attacked and her

body dissected with the carpenter’s saw, but she

was strangely not remembered. We visited the

exhibition showing the many men/women and

children, who were murdered and/or harassed by

the militants.

2.We first visited Purkhoo camp or what has

remained of it. 25 families are still living there,

waiting for a flat in Jagati camp, which is one of the

latest camps built by the Jammu Municipality. We

heard the residents mention so many problems due

to the fake quality of materials used, like cement

with sand.

We met the family of Dileep kumar dhar and Rohin

Raina. Their parents, sisters with children and

married brothers with wives and children were all

living in a one room flat since the last 22 years. The

municipality has stopped providing them with

water and sanitation facilities, because they have

already started destroying the whole place to make

something new and are not bothered about the few

who have to stay on till they get an alternative. It

gives one a feeling about the total disinterest on the

part of the officials, from the state as well as the

central Govt. in the lives of the displaced KP’s, who

have had to live for so long in such inhuman,

congested one-room homes. Keeping in mind that

they lived decently in their houses in Kashmir and

had enough land to sustain them from, one can

understand the anger amongst their youth. Jagati

camp is one of the latest camps.

We went to the Jagati camp the next day. The

condition of the flats, the walls and the so-called

parks was abysmal. Because sand has been used in

place of cement, the walls are disintegrating all

over, though the complex is only 4 months old. The

parks are not parks, but septic tanks covered with

grass here and there. No effluence arrangements

make it unbearable to stay there longer. Many were

complaining that this was a planned attempt on the

part of the local and state govt. to get rid of them.

The residents were saying that Jagati camp is the

biggest example of corruption by bureaucrats in

India and that they want a CBI inquiry be made.

They have been told that though app. 15 lacs per

flat have been allotted by the administration, it is

only 4-5 lacs invested in one flat. There are around

4000 flats, so the amount of corruption can be

envisaged. No electricity for 18 hrs per day, the

sewage system is a fiasco, it is all stinking and soon

many diseases can start. The children can’t play in

the parks.

One Deepak Bhatt, who dared approach the Human

Rights Commission, was telling us, how he is being

harassed by various sources, because of his alleged

involvement in the Amarnath Yatra fiasco last year.

He showed us a copy of his litigation and Suneel

gave some suggestions to him.

Girls and women –even after being well educated

with degrees- can’t take up jobs in the city, app. 40

km away, because of safety reasons, due to non

availability of electricity. It gets dark by the time

they return and then it becomes unsafe for them, as

it is a forlorn place. We visited the school for their

children and were shocked to observe the scarcity

of teachers. Also children are not able to study due

to shortage of light. They were complaining about

having to drink hot water from tanks and this too in

hot season, due to missing electricity.

We saw cow shed like remains of the once Muthi

camp.

Pyarelal Raina, a school teacher, who is also a

leader of the KP’s, explained to us in detail that

Manmohan Singh’s packet for the KP’s is not one,

23


which shows empathy for their situation. Why has

the govt. put issues concerning stay and

employment together? The KP’s have a right to

their homeland, irrespective of being employed in

valley or not. He said the KP’s did not run away due

to employment problems, then why is the Govt.

putting such conditions on them? Why should they

have to accept employment alternatives provided

by the Govt. this is particularly problematic in case

of young unmarried women, who are offered jobs

in unsafe places, where cases of militant attacks

have been reported. Again the fear of rape was

evident.

He pointed at the efficient and appropriate help

offered to KP’s by Mr. Jagmohan, during his tenure

as the governor of J&K. Jagmohan is seen as

someone who really brought relief for them. I

thought of the anti- BJP and anti Jagmohan news in

India during his tenure. I feel our secularist friends

in India are too quick to label anything in favor of

Hindus as an RSS, BJP or Shivsena work. The KP’s

are happy with anyone, who offers them a durable

solution and one in which their safety is assured.

It is worth noting here what Sunil told us, that Mr.

Modi has offered free education for girls in his state

and KP girls have taken advantage of this fact and

many joined and passed from engineering colleges

in Gujarat and have good jobs in different Indian

states now.

3.Next we met the Yakjay Jammu youth group

initiated by Ashima Kaul and Pradeep Dutta. It was

a pleasure meeting these youngsters from Doda,

Poonch, Jammu and Ladhak. Ashima was out of

station and so Pradeep introduced the group, telling

us that some people from J&K got together, first

with children, later only youth and wanted to work

on transformation and information issues. For

example people were informed about funds from

the central govt. provided for them. They used

theater as a means of communication. When

Pradeep mentioned that too many Human Rights

groups are only adding fuel to fire, Suneel

mentioned that Human Rights concerns have to be

dealt with between the Govt. and the public and not

others. I think he was referring to the intervention

of too many human rights groups from abroad.

Yakjay ideology seems to be to look inside and first

understand your own self and then go out to create

peace around you. Create positive images around.

Yousuf, the young Muslim guy from Doda said he

wants to help bring the various regions in J&K

together, people from Jammu don’t know anything

about those from Poonch or Doda or Ladhak etc.

and he even mentioned that he later wants to

sensitize the political leaders in his area on such

issues.

Dorje from Ladhak told us a bit about his region

and the fact that they suffer because they are cut off

from the main cities of J&K. the Ladhak Hill

Council is a good example of autonomy within the

Indian borders.

Sunandhini Sharma from Jammu told us about the

difficulties she had to be able to attend the Yakjay

meet in Delhi; her parents were worried about her

safety. She managed to convince her parents that

she can handle life and she was very happy about

how much she learnt about each other in the group,

particularly those women and men from far off

regions. She and many others are law students.

After talking about the gender issue, one young

man from the group even asked me to assist him in

getting to literature on gender issues, because in his

law course study he wants to take up this issue as a

specialization.

4.When I reached Srinagar the next day, I decided

to stay in a hotel room near the Dal lake boulevard,

instead of going to the residence of my niece Titli.

Her whole family, starting with father in law, Mr.

Vishen, her husband Suneel, brother in law, Vijay

as well as herself is into teaching and educational

issues. She is the Principal of the Nund Rishi

College of education as well as of Walden School.

According to Indian rules one is not supposed to

disturb a girl’s in-laws family and so I enjoyed the

freedom to do things according to my own

priorities, staying in guesthouses and hotels. I did

24


spend 1-2 days with them later on.

One evening I got to know from the family

members that their first school building, Cassette

school, was totally burnt and even the big library

was burnt by the militants, but they put in all sorts

of efforts to start the school again as well as rebuilt

the library. In between Titli with mother in law, did

leave their house for a year or so, though the father

in law, Mr. Vishen did stay on and had to undergo

horrible suffering (ironing of his legs by the

militants!) but soon the family reunited and are now

running not only 2 schools but a number of

Colleges too. They have built boys and girl’s

hostels in their old (my great-aunt’s home) and new

homes resp. and students from Rajasthan and other

places in India get degrees from their educational

institutions.

Mr. Vishen told me that it was actually a KP, Ram

Chander Kak, who was the first one to ask for

Azadi from the Indian govt. Sheikh Abdullah

wanted J&K to be with India. He also mentioned

that since Pakistan never took back its forces,

China intruded, the refugees from across the border

never returned, the UN resolution could never be

applied. Also he said that the president of UNO,

Ban Kin Moon has taken the stand last year that

since the last assembly and Panchayat elections

were well visited (over 80%), the matter of

plebiscite is treated as already closed.

However the model of development for Kashmir

for the Vishens seemed different from that of mine.

I was telling them all the negativities of the present

globalization all over India, my appreciation of my

rural lifestyle, no big roads and no such

dependency on cash as these days to be seen in

cities of India. Though I was being opposed by the

Vishen family members, most of the men later on

showed romantic appreciation for my rural

lifestyle, but I am sure it is not meant seriously.

They too will never visit me in the village. One

young girl Rachana, who graduated from Titli’s

college is staying with them, because she is an

orphan and so was offered to stay with them.

Rachana told us that in Himachal Pradesh, where

she comes from; there is a village, called Malana

near Kullu district, which is totally autonomous. I

too know of a village in UP (name I am forgetting),

which has its own currency too and has a totally

autonomous way of living. But this is not what the

separatists want either. I have invited Rachana to

come and stay with me for some time.

Mr. Vijay, who runs a computer college, said that

the central Govt. has offered them scholarships for

SC students, but because the Muslims do not want

to accept caste (by saying it is contradictory to

Islam), he cannot avail of these. This is harming the

poor Muslims in the valley, the sweeper class the

most. He says that the upper caste Muslims avail of

all the benefits and do not care about the situation of

the Sheikhs (which when used in the beginning of a

Muslim name is an indication, that he is upper caste

but when used as the last part of a name, it means an

SC caste). There are lots of sweepers and

shoemakers to be seen on the roads in Srinagar and

Vijay was feeling sorry that not one child of their

caste has been able to avail of the educational

facilities, which he can provide them with the help

of the funds from the Indian Govt. Another

interesting fact Mr. Vishen informed me about was

that the sex-ratio has gone considerably down in the

valley. He is of the impression that it is due to the

KP’s not producing as many children as their

Muslim brothers and sisters.

Continued in the next issue.................

25


“In so far as it shows a way out of the crisis of our time, New Humanism is a social philosophy.

But as such, it is deduced from a general philosophy of nature, including the world of matter and

the world of mind. Its metaphysics is physical- realist, and its cosmology is mechanistic.

Conceptual thought and sense perceptions are harmonised in its epistemology. It merges

psychology into physiology, and relates the latter to physics through chemistry.” —M.N. Roy

Responses to the M.N. RoyCentenary Memorial Lecture Video

delivered by the GermanPhilosopher, Late Prof. Agehananda

Bharti(uploaded on the RH Web Portal:

http://www.theradicalhumanist.com/index.php

?option=com_radical&controller=article&Item

id=56&cid=416&task=single)

I

Respected Madam,

I thank you for the

October-11 editorial of the

R.H. It is fully realistic,

reflecting ‘pessimism of

intellect’. There are other

editorials of yours that

show, ‘optimism of will’. In

these hard days, no one can

do better.

I cannot amply thank you for the speech and the

article sent by you. As my computer failed to serve

the purpose, I had to go to a cyber café to get them. I

listened to the speech which is an exciting and

informative one. I shall have to go to the cyber café

again because the café closed after giving me the

video version of the speech. I shall write to you

after reading the article.,

Agehananda Bharati’s lecture highlights the

differences between philosophy and Darsan with a

passing reference to Anwikshiki. He is right to say

that Darsan is not philosophy. I agree with his

higher estimation of Dasgupta in comparison with

the eminent philosopher Radha Krishnan. His

explanation of the fallibility principle and his

questioner’s doubts about its applicability to

modern science can be appreciated unequivocally.

He is right in denying ‘philosophy’ stature to the

Upanishads. P. Edgerton, a leading philosopher of

the U.S, puts them under the rubric ‘Magic’.

Saibaba whose name cropped up in his speech and

discussions is a powerful magician and

philanthropist. The presence of eminent scientists

in his camp show that modern sciences, flaunting

the uncertainty principle, are vulnerable to

superstitious concepts because relativity and

pluralism reign supreme in their Wuthering heights

of thought. More scientific discoveries may lead to

better results.

Indian Gurus using scientific terms to explain the

glory of Hindu theology are justly criticized by

Bharatiji. What I cannot stomach is his cavalierly

conventional approach to Anwikshiki India’s

greatest gift to human civilization is Anwikshiki.

Anwikshiki is a product of a gather’s society.

Compared to Charvak, Socrates is a superstitious

(Russell), statusquo - supporting philosopher of a

slave- keeping society Charvak, the lone

philosopher of a gatherer’s society is, contrary to

Bharati opinion of his being a writer of only six

existing verses, lives is many pages of the original

Mahabharata ‘Jaya’. There are Lokayatic verses

(slokas) in the Mahabharata that strongly condemn

the Vedic priests and astrologers. Bharatiji’s

remarks on Yogic meditation which he calls

scientific are acceptable. But the real grandeur of

Yoga lies in its non-scientific unique value aspect

(YAMA), which is illustrated in the Gita- saying

“Yoga and Samkhya are the same”. Euro-centric

thinking that dichotomizes mind and matter (Even

Marx is not free from it) is repudiated in ancient

Samkhya (mind and matter make a composite

whole — ASTADHA - PRIUKRUTI — GITA). To

call Charvak hedonistic is the height of

Madhwacharyan Adwaitic hatred. Madhwacharya

forgot that in Charvak’s days, the most coveted

food item was not ghee but the tender meat of a calf.

Yagnabalkya was craving for it. (The Vedic Age-

Habib). A perspectival shift of attitude of the

scholars only can do justice to Lokayat. Lokayata

was Anwikshiki’s popular visage. To understand

Anwikshiki’s great stature, we have to peruse

Arthasastra Anwikshiki dominated India’s thought

horizon till 100 B. C. (Radha Krishanan). The first

26


B.P. Rath

millennium BC was the most fertile period of

India’s freely contending thought -systems.

Bharatiji’s lecture stimulated my mind. His critical

altitude and his explanation of the therapeutic

effect of Darsana and Yoga are illuminating.

I thank you for sending me this speech.

With preformed regard,

Sincerely yours,

—Bhagwat Prashad

[email protected]

II

Dear Rekha,

From what I could listen to

of Agehananda’s talk I had

the impression that he

seems to limit the use of the

terminology “philosophy”

to analysis of our use of

language in Wittgenstein

and more recent

contributions in that

domain. I agree that “darshan” is quite different

from that. But, we all know, that the terms

“philosophy” and “philosopher” are used

concerning all that preceeds srtictly language

analysis. Pre-Socratics, Plato (writing about

images on the wall of cave), Kant asserting “Moral

Law” as a categorical imperative, even, say,

Bentham, Mill and others wtiting about good

orgaznization of human societies are all considered

as “philosophers”. They were not analysing our

user of words, but talking about (whay they

considered to be) essential for understanding

existence, individual and social. Indians started

their exchange with European “philosophy” long

before Wittgenstein and others started writing

about use of language. Even the Arabs, in the

Middle Age, borrowed the term “philosophy”

calling it “Falsifa” or something like it (I do not

remember exactly at the moment). All this is very

well known.

So saying imperiously to Indians that you use the

word “philosophy” for “darshan” because you are

ignorant is strange. I am, personally, interestd in the

analytical aspect rather than “noble and profound”

flights of fancy and peremptory assertions about

immortal soul, the Creator and so on. I do

appreciate Buddhist Logic (Dignaga, Dharmakirti ,

Sri Harsha,....). But all that is different from

asserting that the word “Philosophy” is relevant

only to recent school of analysis of use of language.

—Amitabha Chakrabarti

[email protected]

27


Amitabha Chakrabarti

“ New Humanism bases ethics on rationalism, and traces the roots of reason in the orderliness of

nature and harmony of the physical Universe.

By tracing will and reason, emotion and intelligence, to their common biological origin, New

Humanism recopnciles the romantic doctrine of revolution that man makes history, with the

rationslist notion of orderly social progress. History being the record of human endeavour, and

man being an integral part of the law-governed Universe, history is not a chiotic conglomeration

of fortuitous events. Social evolution is a determined process.

But New Humanism rejects Economic Determinism, which is deduced from a wrong

interpretation of the materialist philosophy.

Human will is the motive force of social evolution. It is, indeed, the most powrrful determining

factor of history. Otherwise, there would be no place for revolutions in a rationally determined

process of social evolution. A revolution is acceleration in the tempo of the evolutionary process,

brought about by the will of a minority of men. But human will, as well as ideas, can seldom be

referred directly to economic incentives.” —M.N. Roy

IRHM Members’ Section:

[Mr. Mahi Pal Singh is the President of IndianRadical Humanist Association (IRHA) of theDelhi Unit and National Secretary of Peoples’Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), C-105, D.D.A.Flats, Sindhora kalan, Delhi-110 [email protected]]

PUCL: Its History of Struggle inFighting the Structures

Continued from the previous issue.........

Anti-democratic Draconian Laws in the

Garb of Public Order Laws: In the

name of bringing under control various terrorist

and disruptive activities, the state of India has

brought about various legislations and Acts ever

since the country got independence in 1947. While

it is true that various groups in different parts of the

country took to arms or indulged in

unconstitutional methods to press their demands,

the methods adopted by the state to bring them into

the mainstream have also been dubious. While

nobody having a faith in the rule of law can and

should support the use of arms to press any

demands, however legitimate they might be, it is

also equally true that a serious attempt has never

been made to understand their problems, or to find

out the compelling reasons which might have made

them take to arms against the state. Poor, deprived

people who had hoped to get a better deal at the

hands of local rulers after attaining independence

from foreign rulers, felt neglected and cheated

when nothing was done to improve their conditions

and they continued to suffer from starvation and

disease. Their appeals of SOS continued to go

unheeded and unheard and when they tried to

organize themselves into a movement to force the

powers that be to listen to their voices they got

bullets in reply. When out of desperation they took

to arms, they got Maintenance of Internal Security

Act (MISA), Terrorist and Disruptive Activities

(Prevention) Act (TADA), National Security Act

(NSA), Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act

(AFSPA) and Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA).

While it is true that all these special Acts came into

being with the purported intention of bringing

under control only those few who were thought to

be uncontrollable otherwise, and that too for a

limited time and purpose, the fact remains that all

such people could well have been brought under

control under the ordinary criminal law, under

sections 121 to 130, 153A, 294 and 295 of IPC.

Another fact that cannot be contradicted is that all

of them have invariably been used for a much

longer period than they were originally planned to

exist for. And the most dangerous common factor

amongst them is that all of them have been used

against the most innocent people to deprive them of

their life and liberty, when these hapless people

have tried to voice their grievances and that too for

excruciatingly long periods. Those in power, to

subvert democracy, which they professed to

protect, have misused all of them. All of them have

been used ruthlessly against the people they were

supposed to protect, to silence the voice of dissent,

to crush the right to demonstrate against injustice

and to decimate political opposition. For example,

TADA, which came into existence a decade after

the imposition of Emergency in June 1975,

following the assassination of Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi which in turn was followed by a

ruthless collective massacre of the members of the

Sikh community, is still considered by the Sikh

community as an Act which was brought into force

as a measure of continuing vengeance against

28


Mahi Pal Singh

Punjab. It was later extended to Kashmir, Andhra

Pradesh, Assam, and LTTE Tamils in Tamil Nadu

and against Muslims after the demolition of Babri

Masjid. This Act has been perhaps the most

criticized law ever since independence. It was also

one of the most ‘lawless’ laws along with the

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and N.S.A. It

gave wide powers to the police to arrest and to

detain people without trial under its custody for

periods, which could run up to one year and

confessions made before a senior police officer

were admissible as evidence before the court of

law. The Act thus made a mockery of civil liberties

and the fundamental rights of the people as laid

down in the Constitution of India, and in fact, of

democracy itself.

The following statistics prove beyond any doubt

how this law was misused against the so-called

‘terrorists’: “This law was abused in almost every

state for silencing activists and political opponents.

According to the NHRC 165 men above the age of

75 years, 160 women, and 43 children below the

age of 15 years were detained under this Act until

the end of 1994, and the oldest detainee was an 83

years old woman in Gujarat,” (‘Open Letter to the

Prime Minister for the Repeal of TADA’ by K.G.

Kannabiran – PUCL Bulletin, May, 1995.) Within

a short period of its passage by the Parliament,

POTA also achieved the same notoriety, which was

earlier enjoyed by TADA, and the list of those

arrested under it in a short period in Chhattisgarh

alone read like the list given above. Its misuse to

silence the opposition is exemplified by the

detention of Vaiko, a prominent opposition leader

in Tamil Nadu, by J. Jaylalita’s government, and

his release by the POTA court under the directions

of the Supreme Court, as the charges framed

against him were not found tenable under the

POTA. The very fact that of the 76,166 persons

arrested under the TADA till 1995, when the Act

was allowed to lapse, only 843 (that is only 1.11 per

cent) were convicted, as per Union Home

Ministry’s own statistics, is enough to show how

widely and wildly the Act was misused to deprive

people of their right to life and liberty by various

governments. After 26/11 of the year 2008 when

Mumbai came under the terror attack by terrorists

sent from across the border killing more than a

hundred people and injuring about 400 at several

prominent places, the Central government came out

with a new avatar of the POTA in the garb of

Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act

[UAPA] which has the same kind of draconian

Sections as the POTA, particularly Sections 38, 39

and 40 as they lay the onus of proving ‘not guilty’

on the accused which is against the very tenet of

justice: ‘innocent till proved guilty’. This Act has

also been used so far against innocent persons or

those human rights activists who raise the issues of

the most deprived sections of our society,

especially the tribal people of Chhattisgarh,

Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra

Pradesh where the government has waged a war

against them in the name of fighting the Maoists

because that is a very convenient way of doing

away with them and silencing the voices which go

against the interests of the political class for which

awarding mining contracts in these mineral rich

regions has been a source of big corruption for

which it has gained unprecedented notoriety in

recent years. While PUCL strongly opposes this

model of exclusive development, it supports and

demands inclusive development in which the tribal

owners of the land and resources are equal partners

in development and the whole process is

transparent and corruption free.

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, a Tool

to Subvert Democracy in the Northeastern States:

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act [AFPSA]

which has been in force for fifty two years since

1958 is in clear violation of the letter and spirit of

the Constitution and has led to an undeclared

Emergency and Martial law in the North-Eastern

states of the country. The AFSPA has been

responsible for the untold misery, death, rape and

torture and the denial of civil and political rights to

the people of Nagaland, Manipur and Assam.

Extra-judicial killings have become the order of the

29


day there and people are denied their civil and

political rights because the armed forces there

enjoy unfettered powers over areas declared as

‘disturbed area’ prohibiting the assembly of five or

more people. The citizen is wholly dependent upon

the whimsical and subjective satisfaction of a

warrant officer or a non-commissioned officer who

becomes the ultimate officer to define “order” and

determines the steps to be taken to maintain

“order”. Under Section 4(a) of the Act if the

concerned officer is of the opinion that it is

necessary to maintain public order, after giving

such due warning as he may consider necessary

“fire upon, or use such force, even to the causing of

death,” and under sub-section (c) arrest any person

without warrant who has, or is likely to commit a

cognizable offence; and under sub-section (d)

enter, and search without warrant any premises to

make such arrest.” Article 21 of the Indian

Constitution guarantees the right to life to all

people. It reads, “No person shall be deprived of his

life or personal liberty except according to

procedure established by law.” Judicial

interpretation that “procedure established by law”

means a “fair, just and reasonable law” has been

part of Indian jurisprudence since the 1978 case of

Maneka Gandhi. This decision overrules the 1950

A.K. Gopalan case, which had found that any law

enacted by Parliament, met the requirement of

“procedure established by law”. Under section 4(a)

of the AFSPA, which grants armed forces

personnel the power to shoot to kill, the

constitutional right to life is violated. This law is

not fair, just or reasonable because it allows the

armed forces to use an excessive amount of force.

Justice requires that the use of force be justified by

a need for self-defense and a minimum level of

proportionality. As pointed out by the UN Human

Rights Commission, since “assembly” is not

defined, it could well be a lawful assembly, such as

a family gathering, and since “weapon” is not

defined it could include a stone. This shows how

wide the interpretation of the offences may be,

illustrating that the use of force is disproportionate

and irrational. Explaining the AFSPA bill in the

Lok Sabha in 1958, the Union Home Minister had

stated that the Act was subject to the provisions of

the Constitution and the Cr.P.C. He said, “These

persons (military personnel) have the authority to

act only within the limits that have been prescribed

generally in the Cr.P.C. or in the Constitution.” If

this is the case, then why was the AFSPA not

drafted to say “use of minimum force” as done in

the Cr.P.C.? If the government truly means to have

the armed forces comply with criminal procedure,

than the AFSPA should have a specific clause

making this compliance mandatory. Further it

should also train the armed forces in this procedure.

Sections 130 and 131 of Chapter X of the Cr.P.C.

sets out the conditions under which the armed

forces may be called in to disperse an assembly.

These two sections have several safeguards, which

are lacking in the Act. Under section 130, the armed

forces officers are to follow the directives of the

Magistrate and use as little force as necessary in

doing so. Under Section 131, when no Executive

Magistrate can be contacted, the armed forces may

disperse the assembly but if it becomes possible to

contact an Executive Magistrate at any point, the

armed forces must do so. Section 131 only gives the

armed forces the power to arrest and confine.

Moreover, it is only commissioned or gazetted

officers who may give the command to disperse

such an assembly, whereas in the AFSPA even

non-commissioned officers are given this power.

The AFSPA grants wider powers than the Cr.P.C.

for dispersal of an assembly. Moreover, dispersal

of assemblies under Chapter X of the Cr.P.C. is

slightly more justifiable than dispersal under

Section 4(a) of the AFSPA. Sections 129-131 refer

to the unlawful assemblies as ones which

“manifestly endanger” public security. Under the

AFSPA the assembly is only classified as

“unlawful” leaving open the possibility that even

peaceful assemblies can be dispersed by use of

force. However, the worst part of it all is that to take

action under Section 4(a) of the Act the officer

needs no permission from a superior and is not

30


answerable to anyone. Under Section 197 of the

Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) no court can

take cognizance of an offence alleged to have been

committed by a public servant or member of the

Armed Forces while acting or purporting to act in

the discharge of his official duty except with the

previous sanction of the central or state government

whereas the permission of the central government

has to be obtained to prosecute a military officer

under Section 7 of the Armed Forces (Special

Powers) Act, which practically means that people

have no right to approach the court and launch

prosecution for atrocities committed by any such

officer. Even various commissions of enquiry

appointed by the government have found security

forces guilty of gross human rights violations but in

most of the cases the guilty officials have not been

prosecuted for the offences committed by them.

Several incidents show how the Border Security

Force (BSF) and army personnel abuse their

powers in the North East. In April 1995, a villager

in West Tripura was riding near a border outpost

when a soldier asked him to stop. The villager did

not stop and the soldier shot him dead. Even more

grotesque were the killings in Kohima on 5 March

1995. The Rashtriya Rifles (National Rifles)

mistook the sound of a tyre burst from their own

convoy as a bomb attack and began firing

indiscriminately in the town. The Assam Rifles and

the CRPF who were camped two kilometers away

heard the gunshots and also began firing.

The firing lasted for more than one hour, resulting

in the death of seven innocent civilians. 22 persons

were also seriously injured. Among those killed

were two girls aged three and a half and eight years

old. The injured also included 7 minors. Mortars

were used even though using mortars in a civilian

area is prohibited even under army rules. In

Manipur, where AFSPA was extended 33 years ago

in the name of fighting militancy, successive

governments have retained it and there have been

complaints of military excesses from the people. A

30 years old woman, Thangjam Manorama, was

arrested on 11 July 2004 and allegedly gang raped

and killed by 17 Assam Rifles personnel. Students

supported by many NGOs and human rights

organizations there have been agitating for action

against the guilty as well as for the repeal of

AFSPA which has become a tool in the hands of

rifle wielding criminals to perpetrate such crimes.

A Judicial Enquiry Commission headed by C.

Upendra, the District and Sessions Court judge was

instituted which submitted its report long ago but

the Assam Rifles moved the Gauhati High Court

challenging the legality of the Commission because

Section 5 of the AFSPA says that the State

government cannot prosecute the personnel of the

armed forces without a prior permission from the

Union government. The shows the highhanded

impunity enjoyed by the personnel of the armed

forces even against the most horrible kind of human

rights violation. The saving grace, however, came

on 31 August 2010 when the High Court directed

the Manipur government that it was at liberty to act

on the report of the C. Upendra Judicial Inquiry

Commission. However, it was a lone case in which

the Judicial Commission was established and such

Commissions are not ordered in all such cases. As a

result, most of the cases, even of the gravest nature

of human rights violation, go unreported,

un-enquired and unpunished. In the wake of more

than a hundred agitating young men having been

killed in police and para-military forces’ firing in

the last one month in Kashmir, now even the Chief

Minister of the State, Omar Abdullah, has

demanded amendment in AFSPA or its partial

withdrawal from the State on 8 September 2010.

Continued in the next issue.............................

31


“New Humanism lays emphasis on the basic fact of history that man is the maker of his

world—man as a thinking being , and he can only be so as an individual. The brain is the

instrument of thought, and is individually owned. It cannot be possessed collectively. Revolutions

are heralded by iconoclastic ideas conceived by gifted individuals” M.N. Roy

Teachers’ & Research Scholars’ Section:

Changing Trends inIndo-Nepal Relations

Relations between India

and Nepal have always

been close and have reflected the

historical, geographical, culture

and linguistic links between the

two nations. An open border of

more than 1800 Km. epitomizes this special

relationship which also manifests in the close and

friendly relations at the government level. The

crossing of open borders by the people on both

sides has not only influenced each other’s history,

culture and tradition but also has had an impact on

the political, economic and strategic relations

between the two countries.

The signing of the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and

Friendship in 1900 established the framework for

the unique ties between the two countries. The

treaty provided for national treatment for matters

related to entry of citizens from both sides and

business. Both share a unique relationship. Nepal

was being ruled by the Rana oligarchy till 1980.

When there was a revolution in which the Nepalese

people and king Tribhuwan participated

succeeding in overthrowing the Ranas and bringing

democracy to the country king Tribhuwan fled to

India and the Indian government supported the

democratic forces in Nepal. Had it not been for the

support from India, it would have been difficult for

the democratic forces in Nepal to succeed in ending

the despotic regime. On 13 March 1955 following

king Tribhuvan’s death King Mahindra occupied

the throne.

This pattern of relations continued till king

Mahindra’s accession to the throne in March 1955.

Unlike King Tribhuwan he did not own his position

to Indian support and wanted a free hand in foreign

policy matters such as diplomatic relations with

China in 1960 and tried to assert its independence

and sovereignty in matters of National

Development also. King Mahendra was very

successful in the realm of foreign affairs as Nepal

was able to assert its independent identity and

reduce its dependence on India. Nepal had

established diplomatic relations with many other

countries, too. During that interval, political

dynamics in Nepal also influenced the making of its

foreign policy with India.

There have been frequent changes in the political

system in Nepal from the rule of the Ranas to the

monarchy, to the Panchayat-democracy and

constitutional-democracy and in every political

change the rulers have looked towards those out of

power with suspicion. Such as when king

Mahendra faced opposition from pre-democracy

political parties like the Nepali Congress and the

Communists, he apprehended Indian support to

them to strangle his monarchy. King Mahendra

tried to diversify relations with extra regional

countries and tried to maintain a distance from

India.

Internal and international compulsions forced that

king Virendra, who succeeded his deceased father

in Jan. 1972, to pursue anti-Indianism with

undiminished vigour. But at the conference of

Non-aligned countries in Algiers in Sep. 1973 king

Virendra propounded the impracticable theory of

equal closeness of Nepal with both India and

China.

In 1975 king Bijendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

proposed that Nepal be recognized internationally

as a zone of peace. The most important component

of this proposal was that Nepal would conduct its

relations with all countries, especially the

neighbouring countries, on the premises of equality

and respect for each other’s sovereignty and

independence.

Nepal should have also remembered that

sometimes, as in the case of the trade and transit

treaties of 1978 India abandoned its long-held view

point to accommodate Nepal’s the right of transit

that was sacrosanct of Nepal, almost a symbol of its


32

Pravesh Kumari

independence. This was not to be mixed up with

issues of official trade and unofficial trade, the

latter often compensating for the lack of balance in

the former. In 1978 India signed two separate

treaties on trade, as also a third one on control of

unlawful trade. Nepal was visibly happy.

In 1988 when the two treaties were up for renewal

Nepal’s refusal to accommodate India’s wishes on

the transit treaty caused India to call for a single

trade and transit treaty. Thereafter, Nepal took a

hard line position that led to a serious crisis in India

Nepal relations. Nepal had purchased anti-aircraft

guns and assault rifles from China in 1988. This

was regarded by India as ‘Provocative’ and a

contravention of 1950 treaty. On 23 March 1989

the treaties of trade and transit lapsed. India

declared a blockade of goods to Nepal after delays

in renewing trade and transit between the two

countries. This caused hardship to the people.

In 1989, a new government, led by Janata Dal came

to power in India. A number of leaders of Janata

Dal were socialists and had class links with leaders

of democratic group of Nepal. Even during

opposition to the monarchy in 1989, socialists, like

Chandrashekhar and communist leaders from India

were present in Kathmandu to extend their support

to the democrats. However, they have to be

differentiated from the official stand taken by the

government of India. The popular movement,

against the Panchayat system gathered momentum

and the king had to dismantle the party-less system

and had to transfer sovereignty to Parliament in

1990.

A democratic government of Prime Minister K.P.

Bhattarai consisting of the Nepali Congress and the

Communist Party of Nepal – United Marxist

Leninist (C.P.N. (UML) took control of power. The

democratic government was responsible in steering

the country towards a radically changed world

polity devoid of clear cut cold war politics and a

defined foreign policy in situations where the

security was threatened from within. The in-stream

government of K.P. Bhattarai declared it would

improve relations with India on a priority basis.

The Nepalese perspective favourably responded to

India and the special security relationship between

New Delhi and Kathmandu was re-established

during the June 1990 New Delhi meeting of Nepal

Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and

Indian Prime Minister V.P. Singh.

Nepal’s multi-party democratic elections were first

held in May 1991, the Nepali Congress Party

(N.C.) led by G.P. Koirala won this election with a

clear majority. He gave primacy to developing

relations with the neighbouring countries. His visit

to India, has first ever visit abroad as a Prime

Minister, from Dec. 5 to 10, 1991 was not only

fruitful in defining relations with India but was also

successful in concluding two separate treaties on

trade and transit for 5 and 7 years respectively and

another economic agreement designed to accord

Nepal additional economic benefits. India also

reduced the domestic content and Labour

requirement on Nepalese goods from 65 to 50

percent to provide duty free access to India.

Prime Minister Man Mohan Adhikari during his

visit in India in April 1995 insisted on a major

review of the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty. In

the face of benign statements by his Indian hosts

relating to the treaty, Adhikari sought greater

economic independence for his landlocked nation.

However, his tenure was short-lived. The

government was ousted from power through a

no-confidence motion and the Nepali congress with

the support of the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party and

Nepal Sadhbhavana Party come to power under the

leadership of Sher Bahadur Deuba.

In mid Feb. 1997 Nepal’s Prime Minister, Sher

Bahadur Deuba’s visit to New Delhi and meeting

with Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao

brought the major achievement of finalizing the

Mahakali treaty and electric power trade treaty with

India. It was a significant step towards improving

Nepal’s balance of trade with India. The Mahakali

agreement this was a significant step in developing

positive mutual relations because now both

33


countries could meet any shortage in power from

Pancheshwar. Also both the countries had freedom

to enter into an agreement with a third party to

generate resources for exploiting power. By

finalizing the Mahakali treaty and the electric

power trade treaty India took a significant step to

improve Nepal’s balance of trade with India.

The hijacking of an Indian airlines aircraft from

Kathmandu airport and its landing in Kandahar

airport in Taliban ruled Afghanistan was to make

profound changes in India-Nepal relationship.

The beginning of the new millennium also marked

two events, which were to affect Nepal’s foreign

policy profoundly. The first occurred on June 1,

2001 when crown prince Dipendra went on a

shooting spree assassinating members of the royal

family including king Bijendra and queen

Aishwarya before shooting himself. After his death

two days later the king’s surviving brother

Gyanendra was proclaimed to the throne as Nepal

Naresh. The second was growth in Maoist

insurgency in the country. On Ist July 2001 Prime

Minister Girija Prasad Koirala stepped down amid

fears of continuing instability and his government’s

failure to deal with the growing Maoist insurgency.

He was replaced by HC Leader Sher Bhadur

Deuba. In Oct. 2002, King Gyanendra dismissed

Deuba and consolidated his own power for the first

time. From the year 2002 to 2005 the king chose

and subsequently dismissed three Prime Ministers;

finally dismissing Deuba, he proclaimed a state of

emergency for the second time and took over as an

absolute ruler on 1st Feb. 2005. Political leaders,

media personnel, intellectuals, human rights’

activists and student leaders were under house

arrest/detention. India reiterated that the challenges

faced by Nepal could be addressed effectively only

on the basis of national consensus. In this context

India called for a return to democratic processes at

the earliest. India also called for immediate release

of all arrested political leaders, media, personnel,

intellectuals and human rights’ activists. India

continued to support all efforts for the restoration of

political stability and economic prosperity in

Nepal. It was critical of the king’s actions. But the

king overlooked suggestions of India. Following

the Feb. 2005 Royal coup the government of India

showed its annoyance. Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh refused to participate in Dhaka SAARC

summit to be held a few days later, because he did

not want to meet king Gyanendra. And therefore,

after 2005, after king Gyanendra took over,

Nepalese relations with India soured.

After the restoration of democracy in 2008,

Prachanda became the Prime Minister of Nepal. He

spoke about the diminishing of bilateral relation

between two countries. During his first official visit

to New Delhi on 19th Sept. 2008 both sides noted

that the multi-faced and deep-rooted relationship

between the two countries needed further

consolidation and expansion in a forward looking

manner to better reflect the current realities. It was

in this context that the two Prime Ministers agreed

to review adjust and update the 1950 treaty of peace

and friendship and other agreements while giving

due recognition to the special features of the

bilateral relationship. It was also decided that India

would provide a credit line of up to 150 crore

rupees to Nepal to ensure uninterrupted supplies of

petroleum products, as well as lift its bans on the

export of rice, wheat, maize, sugar and sucrose for

quantities agreed with Nepal. India would also

provide 20 crore as immediate flood relief. In

return, Nepal will take measure for the promotion

of investor friendly, enabling business environment

to encourage Indian investments in Nepal.

Furthermore a three-tier mechanism at the

ministerial, secretarial and technical levels will be

built to push forward discussion on the

development resources between the two countries

was also decided. Politically India, acknowledged a

willingness to promote efforts towards peace in

Nepal. India external affairs minister Pranab

Mukherjee promised the Nepal Prime Minister

Prachanda that he would extend all possible help

for peace and development.

In 2009 Maoist government of Nepal formed a new

coalition government. Madhav Kumar Nepal was

34


elected the Prime Minister of Nepal. But he soon

resigned due the political differences. Prime

Minister continued to lead the government in the

form of a care taker for over seven month - May

2009 to Feb. 2011. Amid political instability in

Nepal Jhalanath Khanal was elected 34th Prime

Minister of Nepal in Feb. 2011.

In January 2011 visit to Nepal, Indian foreign

secretary Nirupma Rao met with leaders of all the

main political parties, including the Maoists. It was

reported that she asked Maoist Leader Prachanda

about the Maoists’ anti-India stand and that she was

told the Maoist believed that it was time to look at

certain historical issues like treaties in a new

manner. Some Nepalese viewed the treaty as giving

India a disproportionate say in Nepalese affairs.

Just how far the Maoist desire to re-form the 1950

treaty will go in the C.P.N. U.M.L. government

remains to be seen.

Jhalanath Khanal resigned on 14th August 2011.

Nepal’s parliament elected a Maoist leader,

Baburam Bhattari as Prime Minister. Nepal

Parliament chose for the forth time in three year a

new Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is the

second Maoist Prime Minister after Pushpa Kamal

Dahal Prachanda. He, in his four days’ visit to India

in Oct. 2011, his first foreign trip as Prime Minister

signed two agreements, as a major achievement.

One was on 250 million Line of Credit for Nepal

and another long awaited bilateral investment

promotion and protection agreement (BIPAA). As

is well known, the loan is highly concessional as

Nepal would have to return it to the Indian

government in 20 years. The rate of interests on this

loan is as low 1.75 percent per year. In fact, during

the visit of Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav to

India in Feb. 2010 India had agreed to provide this

facility to Nepal but did not materialize as a formal

signing of the agreement could not be done. In a

key concession Kathmandu finally relented to

address to security worries of Indian investors. The

fact entails granting compensation to investors

whose assets suffer losses due to war, armed

conflict or in a state of national emergency, a long

standing Indian demand. Bhattarai described his

visit to India as successful and stressed that it had

opened a new chapter in the bilateral relationship.

Now Baburam Bhattarai faces major challenges,

people are eager to know what kind of relations he

will develop with the neighbouring country India,

whether he will follow Prachand who has been

continuously accused of maintaining good

relations with China over India. It seems that

Bhattarai is walking on a tight rope. One needs to

wait and watch to see what will be the choice of

Baburam Bhattarai.

References: Indian – Foreign Relations,

1947-2007, Routledge Taylor 8 Francis Group,

New Delhi, 2011.

Sanasam, Sandhyarani Devi – Indian nepal

Relations – Historical, Culture and Political

Perspective, VIJ Book India Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi)

2011.

Ramesh Trivedi, India’s Relations with How

Neighbours, Usha Book, Delhi 2008.

http://Publishedforsholar.WorldPress.com/2006/1

2/18 INDIA-% E2%/80%/93-Nepal Relations/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics of Nepal

Bhasin, A.S. Documents on Nepal’s Relations with

India and China 1949-66, Academic Book 1979.

Dixit (J.N.) External Affairs.cross Border

Relations, Rali Book 2003.

http://globaledgeMSU.edu/countries/Nepal/Histor

y

India’s is Boddhas Birth Chandni Nepal funes.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?Newsid+122

2726.

http://News/xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/11/co

ntent_ 10061787.htm

Times of India, 29 August, Hindi Hindustan 29

August.

Internal Conflict in Nepal Transnational

Consequences editor, V.R. Raghavan.

Times of India, Hindustan Times, 2 Oct. 2011.

[Dr. Pravesh Kumari is a PDF (UGC), Dept. of

Political Science, C.C.S. University, Meerut.]

35


Book Review Section:

[Ms. Dipavali Sen has been a student of Delhi

School of Economics and Gokhale Institute of

Politics and Economics (Pune). She has taught at

Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, and

various colleges of Delhi University. She is, at

present, teaching at Sri Guru Gobind Singh

College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is a

prolific writer and has written creative pieces and

articles for children as well as adults, both in

English and Bengali. [email protected]]

India’s Capital – A CenturyAfter

[DELHI City of Rainbow Dreams, by Nita

Berry, published in 2010 by Snab Publishers Pvt

Ltd, New Delhi, distributed by Nita Mehta Books,

Illustration, Cover Design and Book Design by

‘flying trees’, printed in Malaysia, hard cover,

20”x16”, pp 95, price Rs 650.]

Rainbow colours being seven in number,

this book on the seven cities of Delhi is

most appropriately titled, especially since Delhi has

such a colourful past, with imperial dreams that

sometimes came true and sometimes got smashed

to smithereens.

The author, Nita Berry, is a “homegrown

Delhiwallah”, though she now resides in Gurgaon.

She is a noted writer of fiction and non-fiction for

children, and has won the prestigious Shankar’s

Medal for her book The Story of Time brought out

by the Children’s Boot Trust (CBT). She is also

editor, freelance journalist, and Executive

Committee member of the Association of Writers

and Illustrators (AWIC) and has been a member of

the Textbook Development Committee of the

National Council of Education, Research and

Training (NCERT).

She unfolds in simple yet mellifluous language the

story of Delhi in its various phases. She begins by

saying:

“They called it Khandavaprastha, or the city of

ruins. Desolate and overgrown, it was a settlement

long forgotten – a veritable ghost city, occupied

only by birds and beasts, and very likely a hideout

for thieves” (p11).

This is what Dhritarashtra had apportioned to the

fatherless sons of his younger brother. This is what

Delhi has at its base. As Nita Berry says at the end,

“...it is probably the world’s oldest capital city” (p

90). It is thus a fascinating blend of the old and the

new, with a skyline of ancient monuments and

modern high-rise buildings.

How did it evolve to this stage? That is what Nita

Berry narrates, taking us through the reigns of

Prithviraj, Tughlak, Shahjahan, George V and

beyond.

The book opens with a gloriously illustrated

double-page Map of Delhi showing its seven cities.

There is a short prologue, followed by:

(1)Before the Dawn of History, (2) Dillika – The

First City,(3)The Second City – Siri is born, (3) A

Glimpse of Tughlakabad – the Third City, (4)

Refuge of the World- Jahanpanah, the Fourth City,

(5) Building the Fifth City – Firozabad, (6) Delhi’s

Darkest Days, (7) New Beginnings at Sher Shahi -

The Sixth City, (8) The Splendour of the Seventh

City – Shahjahanabad, (9) Lutyen’s New Delhi – A

Modern Capital.

There is a historical running through the accounts

of the seven cities, and evocative photographs and

pen-and-inch sketches in colour add a new

36


Dipavali Sen

dimension to Nita Berry’s text.

The book ends with a brief Epilogue-about New

Delhi Today, and a short Glossary.

The phenomenon of Imperialsm has left its mark on

Delhi. The British Empire at its zenith decides that

the capital of their most precious colony should be

shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. 1911-12 is the

centenary of that momentous event, and thus the

occasion of the publication of several books on

Delhi as a city. Compared to Calcutta, Delhi has a

shorter history as the capital of British India. In fact

it can be argued that it was a mistake on the part of

the Empire to shift the capital. Bengal was where

the East India Company had won its first territorial

foothold. The Permanent Settlement and the rise of

the zamindari system had steadied that foothold.

With the emergence of the ‘babu’s or the educated

Bengalis, the imperialistic foundations had become

quite unshakeable. In spite of the rise of

Nationalism and its violent manifestations, perhaps

the British would have done better if they had stuck

to old, familiar Calcutta rather than create a ‘New’

Delhi.

But history did not happen that way. Imperialist

rule gifted India with a ‘modern’ capital. It was in a

British-constructed building that the President of

India resides.

Connought Place has been renamed Rajiv Chowk,

but the imperialistic stamp remains. The

Commonwealth Games only carry on that

imperialist tradition.

But under the layers of recent history, the ancient

layers still lie. This book reminds us of that, and

connects Delhi today with the Delhi of

Mahabharata times.

37


Useful information regarding the Indian Renaissance Institute All India Study Camp to be held

on 31 December 2011 and 1 January 2012

Venue: Hotel Sagnik, Murshidabad, West Bengal, (Astabal more, Lalbagh, Near State Bank of India, Lalbagh Branch) How to

reach there:Murshidabad, which is about 190 km from Kolkata, could be reached by a 4/5-30 hours journey by train. The

schedules are: Trains from Sealdah to Murshidabad, a) 53175 Lalgola Passenger (departure 12-30, arrival 17-50 provides

second class and non-ac first class), b) 13103 Bhagirathi Express (departure 18-25, arrival 22-05, provides second class and

non-ac and ac chair car), c) 53181 Lalgola Passenger, (departure.23-05, arrival 3-55, provides non AC first class and non AC

second class sleeper, no bed role). Trains from Kolkata to Murshidabad, 13113 Hazarduari Express (departure 6-50, arrival

11-20, provides AC and non AC chair cars). Trains from Murshidabad to Sealdah, a) 53178 Lalgola Passenger (departure 9-25,

arrival 15-15), b) 13104 Bhagirathi Express (departure 6-20, arrival 10-25), c) 53172 Lalgola Passenger, (departure. 22-30,

arrival 4-30).Trains from Murshidabad to Kolkata, 13114 Hazarduari Express (departure 15-40, arrival 21-25).Participants are

advised to check the train schedules. Those who are willing to travel by road might consult the taxi services available at

airport/railway station. Registration fee: Rs 300, Rs 150 (for students and whole-time social workers). Registration fee will

provide meals and snacks from the night of 30 December 2011 to the morning of 2 January 2012 and conference

materials.Accommodation: Charges to be paid by the participants according to the tariff of Hotel Sagnik. Accommodation

preferably sharing basis should be booked by the participants through the organizing committee by sending the necessary

charges, which are as follows (Rs / room/ day). Double bedded 450, three bedded 550, AC double bedded 700, AC three bedded.

950, eight bedded dormitory. 1200. Check in/out time 8 a.m. Participants are advised to come on 30 December 2010 and leave in

the morning of 2 January 2011. Those who are willing to extend the stay are advised to intimate beforehand. The session of the

study camp will start at 9-30 a.m. and terminate at 5 p.m. on both the days. There will be public seminars/cultural programmes

on both the days. Advice regarding clothing etc: Murshidabad will be considerably cool during the period and participants are

advised to bring woolen garments.Murshidabad, situated on the bank of the Ganges is the former capital of Nawab of Bengal,

Bihar and Orissa and is famous for silk and bell metal items. There are many historical places around. The district headquarter is

Baharampur (8 km).Contact through e-mail 1) Najimuddin Sk [email protected] 2) Ajit Bhattacharyya

[email protected] 3) Subhankar Ray [email protected] Participants, who want accommodation, are advised

to bring their photo identity cards.

Humanist News Section:

I

Press Release by All India Forum For

Right To Education (AIF-RTE)

[issued at the end of a 4-day visit of the AIF-RTE

team to the Jammu University campus earlier this

week at the invitation of the Progressive Students

Association (PSA)]

The 3-member team of the ALL INDIA

FORUM FOR RIGHT TO

EDUCATION (AIF-RTE) drawn from Madhya

Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi on a visit to

Jammu University campus earlier this week

participated in a Seminar on “New Recruitment

Policy, Education and Globalisation” organized by

the Progressive Students Association (PSA). After

holding wide-ranging discussions in the city and

visiting schools in the surrounding rural areas, the

AIF-RTE team expresses its deep shock at the

anti-Constitutional, anti-youth and anti-education

character of the New Recruitment Policy recently

declared by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir.

The state government’s decision to deny regular

pay scales to the new recruits in various

non-gazetted cadres w.e.f. November 1, 2011 shall

amount to 5 to 6-fold lower salaries than the present

ones. Expectedly, in a state where the government

employment constitutes the major source of

livelihood for educated youth, the government is

facing increasing popular resistance from various

sections of students and youth.

The new policy violates the established

Constitutional principle of ‘equal wages for equal

work’ under Article 14 and 15 (1) of the

Constitution. Further, the Table of fixed monthly

salaries issued by the state government reveals that

the new recruits under the first two pay bands shall

be paid less than even the Minimum Wages notified

by the government itself. This clearly violates the

Minimum Wages Act and also Articles 41 (Right to

Work) and 43 (Living Wages with decent standard

of life, leisure and social & cultural opportunities)

read in conjunction with Article 21 (Right to Life

with dignity).

That renders the New Recruitment Policy

anti-education also is the fact that it will

significantly downgrade the emoluments of the

teaching and non-teaching staff as well at both

school and college-university levels, thereby

demotivating qualified youth from joining

educational services. In this sense, the new policy

extends the World Bank-promoted ongoing

frivolous Rahabar-e-Talim (Para Teachers)

scheme across all educational levels which is

bound to worsen the quality of teaching in

increasingly discredited government institutions.

Consequently, the pace of privatization and

commercialization of education shall further

accelerate, as mandated by the World Bank.

Clearly, the aforesaid recruitment policy is

designed to promote profiteering of the upcoming

corporate sector by decreasing the bargaining

power of the state’s youth by a factor of almost 5 to

6-fold. This will be in accordance with the World

Bank-dictate under its Structural Adjustment

Programme imposed on Indian economy leading to

further impoverishment, inequality and

discrimination in the state.

The AIF-RTE team is equally disturbed at seeing

how the state government is blatantly pushing the

corporate agenda of crass commercialization in

higher education by initiating a series of

self-financing courses even in public-funded

colleges and universities, including Jammu

University. In its paper entitled, ‘Achievements of

Higher Education Department for 2009-10’, the

state government admits that in order to “boost the

private sector 74 NOCs in respect of MBA, MCA,

BCA, BBA, PGDCA courses have been issued to

various Societies/ Trusts”. This implies that the

youth from low-income groups will be denied

equal opportunities to access higher education and

thus be excluded from participation in the state’s

economy.

We also deplore the flimsy alibi offered by Hon’ble

Chief Minister that the New Recruitment Policy


38

will enable his government to offer jobs to more

people, while camouflaging his real agenda of

decreasing the role of the government sector in

favour of the corporate sector. Is the Hon’ble Chief

Minister expecting the youth to accept such

demeaning fixed monthly salaries which are lower

than the Minimum Wages? The hidden agenda of

the policy is to force the educated youth to shift to

the profit-hungry corporate sector with 5 to 6-fold

reduced bargaining power! This is precisely why

the state government has conducted repeated

rounds of arrests of the students and youth

protesting its aforesaid policy, slapped false

charges on them and unleashed a regime of

repression. To make matters worse, during our stay

in Jammu earlier this week, a group of lumpen

youth aligned with the ruling coalition physically

assaulted Progressive Students Association (PSA)

members conducting silent protest at the university

campus, while the university authorities looked

away.

During its visit to rural schools, we were dismayed

to note the lackadaisical quality of teaching and low

levels of achievements in various subjects,

especially languages, science and mathematics,

apart from dismal the state of laboratories and

libraries. We further noted that less than 10% of the

children entering Class I are able to cross Class XII;

this excludes those who never enter schools at all

like those of the Bakharwal and other nomadic

tribes. Thus more than 90% of the children are

denied access to higher education.

The AIF-RTE team, therefore, demands from the

Government of Jammu & Kashmir that,

1. The New Recruitment Policy is withdrawn

unconditionally forthwith and is replaced by a New

Employment and Livelihood Policy in accordance

with the Constitution.

2. A New Education Policy is instituted such that

all children, including those of the nomadic tribes

(e.g. Bakharwals), are guaranteed free education of

equitable quality up to Class XII and enabled to

have equal opportunity to access higher education

courses under Articles 14 and 15 (1) along with

social justice under Article 16 of the Constitution.

3. A fully public-funded Common School System

based on Neighbourhood schools, governed in a

decentralized, participative and democratic mode,

is instituted within a time-bound frame.

4. The present policy of pushing self-financing

courses is replaced by a new policy of promoting

fully public-funded advanced technical and

vocational courses such that even the poorest of the

state’s youth can move forward.

The ruthless repression unleashed on the students

and youth, protesting against the New Recruitment

Policy and demanding a responsible public-funded

education system of equitable quality, is stopped

forthwith and their civil liberties and democratic

rights restored under Articles 19 (1) and 21 of the

Constitution.

—Dr. Anil Sadgopal, Bhopal, Member, Presidium,

All India Forum for Right to Education, & former

Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Delhi

[email protected]

Sh. Trepan Singh Chauhan, Member, National

Executive, All India Forum for Right to Education,

& Leader, Chetna Andolan, Uttarakhand

Ms. Rakhi Gupta, Delhi Shiksha Adhikar Manch,

Delhi

Board of Advisers: Prof. Ramakant Agnihotri, Prof.

Wasi Ahmed, Dr. P.M. Bhargava, Dr. Vashanti V.

Devi, Prof. Sudarshan Iyengar, Dr. G.G.Parikh,

Prof. N.D. Patil, Prof. K. Chakradhar Rao, Dr.B.D.

Sharma, Dr. Banwari Lal Sharma, Sri S.P. Shukla,

Sri Shatrughan, P.D. Singh, Sri Bhai Vaidya, Prof.

Rooprekha Verma

Presidium: Prof. Meher Engineer, Sri Prabhakar

Arade, Prof G. Hargopal, Sri Kedar Nath Pandey,

Ms Madhu Prasad, Prof Anil Sadgopal, Sri Sunil.

Secretariat: Sri D. Ramesh Patnaik; Ms Guddi

S.L.; Dr. Sarwat Ali; Dr. Shaheen Ansari; Ms Geeta

Athreya; Sri Trepan Singh Chauhan; Ms Simantini

Dhuru; Sri Ajit Jha; Dr. Radhika Menon; Dr. V.N.

Sharma.

39


II

Rationalist-Humanist, Mr Murahari Rao

Kotapati is no more

Dear Rekha ji

This morning Mr Murahari Rao Kotapati,

rationalist-Humanist died in Hyderabad at the age

of 79. He was in the movement since 4 decades. He

worked for the eradication of child labor. He

developed seeds and propagated healthy seeds for

peasants.

He toured USA and Europe and participated in

Humanist study camps.

He was a philanthropist who financed several

rationalist-humanist publications in Telugu.

He is survived by his wife, three daughters and one

son. His daughter Chandralatha is a popular

humanist writer.

—Innaiah Narisetti

[Mr Murahari Rao is in the middle, rationalist

Mr Narra Kotaiah on the right, Mr Innaiah

Narisetti on the left]

III

News from Baloch Human Rights Council:

Remembering Mir Gul Khan Naseer, ‘The

Poet of Balochistan’, 14 May 1914 – 6

December 1983

Baloch Human Rights Council is organizing a

memorial gathering in memory of Mir Gul Khan

Naseer on Sunday 11

December 2011 at the

University of .

The memorial meeting

is to pay tributes to great

nationalist poet and

political leader of

Balochistan. One of

pioneer revolutionary

and nationalist poet of

Balochistan, Mir Gul

Khan Naseer is

considered to be among

the founding fathers of

contemporary Baloch national struggle in Pakistan.

As a leader of Kalat State National Party (KSNP)

and National Awami Party (NAP), he was the close

associate of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Nawab khair

Bakhsh Marri, Mir Gous Bakhsh Bizanjo and

Sardar Ataullah Mengal. His literacy contribution

includes many books on the history and politics of

Balochistan.

BHRC (UK) requests all Baloch and Balochi

loving persons to join us in paying rich tributes to

revolutionary poet of Balochistan.

Event information:

Venue: Room 2B (2nd Floor), University of

London Union Building, Mallet Street, London

WC1E 7HY

Date and time: Sunday 11 December 2011 (2.00-

6.00 PM)

Nearest Tube Stations: Russell Square, Euston

Square.

For more news and detail of this pr pls visit:

http://balochistanhcr.blogspot.com

www.bhrc.tk

Issued by: Samad Baloch, General Secretary,

Baloch Human Rights Council (UK), London, 19

December 2011

40



IRI - All India Study Camp at Murshidabad

Dear Friends, If you are planning to participate in the IRI All-India Study Camp to be held on 31

December 2011 and 1 January 2012 at Murshidabad you are requested to kindly fill the following blank

Registration Form and send it to us along with your remittance in the form of a bank draft or A/C Payee

Cheque so as to reach us within 30 November 2011. Registration fee and accommodation charges are

given in the earlier announcement on page no. 8 of this Nov. 2011, issue. With best regards,

Ajit Bhattacharyya, President, Organizing Committee, Najimuddin Sk, Secretary, Organizing

Committee

Registration Format for Participants of the IRI All India Study Camp

1. Name (in block letters)

2. Full postal address and e-mail identity (if any)

3. Whether accommodation required yes/no

4. Amount remitted (cash/cheque/draft no.)

A) Registration

B) Accommodation charges

C) Other charges (if any)

Total Rs.

Dated Signature

Note Bank draft/ account payee cheque should be drawn in favour of ‘Indian Radical Humanist

Association’. For outstation cheques add Rs 50 as service charge. Draft/cheque along with Registration

form duly filled should be either hand delivered to Indian Radical Humanist Association, West Bengal

Unit,15 Bankim Chatterjee Street (second floor), Kolkata 700 073 (see below) or by registered

post/courier to Sri Subhankar Ray 13 Regent Estate, Kolkata 700 092. Participants might directly

deposit the amount to the account of Indian Radical Humanist Association through any State Bank of

India branch having core banking facility (the account numbered 10959204035 is at State Bank of India

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