Elaan March-June 2011

8/4/2019 Elaan March-June 2011

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ISSUE NO.: 2-3. MARCH-JUNE2VOLUME: 1

E V E N T

M A Y D A Y C E L E B R A T I O N S

The Clarion Cal

JAN SANGHARSH KA

MARCHING TOWARDSA PARADIGM SHIFTMARCHING TOWARDSA PARADIGM SHIFT

1st of May is celebrated every year as the

International Workers' Day to remember theHaymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886,when the police fired on workers during ageneral strike for the eight hour workday,killing several demonstrators. Though theInternational Workers' Day has gotassociated with the demand of eight hoursworking day, the significance of the May Dayis far beyond that demand. The realsignificance of the May Day lies in the classnature of the movement that united theworkers of the world.

We are now 125 years ahead from that day.Even the revolutionary takeover of the statepower by the Russian working class in 1917and the success of long march of theChinese peasants and workers alliance in1949, overthrow of the imperialist backedGovernment of Batista in Cuba in 1959 andthe successful campaign of the VietnameseCommunist Party in early 70's are things ofpast. The working people are once againchained by the neo-colonial forces. In the eraof Globalization, environment and theworking people at large are perhaps facing

the most ruthless and unethical exploitatioby the Global capital.

Criminalization, Communalization andCorruption are the key words ofGovernance today the world over. Theleaders are busy marketing their false imagand selling masks! Corrupt is fightingcorruption to derail the real struggles. Thecommon man ofcourse is the worst victim

In the wake of these onslaughts, workingclass will have to adapt new strategies. Thefront to struggle against the home grownbourgeoisies and that of the Trans and

Multinational corporations, patronized by the so called democratic governments, willhave to broaden. The toiling masses from

walks of life be it a peasant whose land habeen appropriated by the Government in tname of development and industrializatiounderpaid/underemployed IT orEngineering graduate or the students whoare victim of profiteering by themushrooming self financed institutions. Tstruggle has to be taken to another phase militancy as petition and protest doesn't seto work anymore.

Hundreds of NSM, JSM, GFTU and GMS activists marching through theAshram Road in Ahmedabad

CRANTI performing street play Bhrashtachar ko Roko at the event


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March-June 2E D I T O R I A L

E D I T O R I A L

The Clarion Cal

2

THE RED FACED

COMMUNIST

What is so unusual for a communist to bered? It is after all the color that history hasassigned for the advanced vanguard partyof the proletariat.

So why is Buddhadev shy of his red face??He absented himself from the politburomeeting of CPM at Delhi and a senior leaderhad to be sent to Kolkata to pacify him. As agood communist he should have knownthat you cannot run a capitalist shop under ared flag for too long. True, the results ofelection declared on 13th May was indeedembarrassing by any count. Left Front gotjust 62 as compared to 226 seats won byTrinamul+. Even the weak Congress gotmore seats than CPM. Trinamul's Ma, Mati

and Mamata were of course far ahead.. After a considerable period of sulking,

JAN SANGHARSH KA

If Anna can do it, Baba Ramdev can do itbetter. The question ofcourse is doing

what better? Do they want to lead thefight against the corruption or convert thefight into a farce? When a crorepati baba

alights from a Chartered Jet to be receivedby four swooning Ministers of the CentralGovernment, even the intention of thedeclared goal is a suspect. Add to this theprompt support announced by the well fedGadkari, the fat BJP president to the oneday hunger strike by Baba, makes theentire exercise appear as a well rehearseddrama to scuttle the fight against the blackmoney. When over 30 crores of ourcountry-men go hungry every day, ourleaders have made a virtue out of this

national misery to exemplify their greatsacrifice for the nation. The one day fastundertaken by the Baba on 4th June 2011along with his thousands of followers atRamlila maidan however crosses all limitsof hypocrisy. Over five thousand fans andair-coolers were pressed into service tokeep the satyaghrahis cool under the vasttent that covered the maidan. Crores werespent to keep a few thousand followerscomfortably hungry for a day! Anna is of

Buddhadev did show up in a publimeeting on 31st May, 2011 at Kolkata. Thfirst thing he said was that CPM will bkeeping a watch over her GovernmenMarxism teaches us that it is the class thakeeps a tab on Governance of itrepresentative political party. MrBhattacharjee appears to have usurped throle of the capitalist class to keep a tab o Trinamul! His party has apparentcompletely forgotten that it had chosen thparliamentary path to usher in Socialismand not to supervise the status-quo of thbourgeois parliamentary system. The lonstint in the Government has changed thparty which wanted to change the system The Ambanis and Adanis have anothe

option now. The republican-democrat paiMaa-Mati-Manoosh-Marxists

course waiting for 30th June, 2011 to do hisbit by going hungry. If these two leaders keepgoing on with their competitive hunger-strikes, we may end up solving the food-problem rather than eliminate corruption.

Black money or the wealth earned bcorruption is an integral part of thcapitalist wealth, being that part of thsurplus which is accumulated by a privatperson without the sanction of law

Generation and accumulation of Blacmoney can never be stopped withoueliminating corrupt practices within thsociety both in the public and privatsector. From the top most Industrialistto the smallest constable, millions opeople are generating black money everminute of the day. In fact most of the landealings, building and estate business runon black money. It is a parallel economof the country and it may be easy toverthrow the rule of capitalism bu

impossible to liquidate the rule of blacmoney within the existing system. May b

Anna or Ramdev should go on amarabhuk hartaal demanding the nonpayment of minimum wages under thlaw for the eight and half hours workinday to be made into a cognizable offencpunishable by five years jail term. They withen find out the bitter truth about thmenace they have declared to shadowfight.

BABABLACK SHEEP


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March-June 2011

The Clarion Call

Corruption in India is morecommon than common cold.Chances are that you will face itmore often than you sneeze. Themassive spontaneous supportextended to Anna Hazare's call tofight corruption reflects the pent-up anger of people. Thus, theobjective of the bill should be toempower people to fightcorruption rather than create astatutory 'superman' to knock outcorruption. Despite the goodintentions of the protagonists ofthe Jan Lokpal Bill, the proposedlaw fails to address the mainpurpose for which the law hasbeen drafted.

The most fundamental weaknessof the bill is that it has joined twoissues together; public grievanceand corruption by the publicservant. Section 8 of the LokpalBill says that the Lokpal shall beresponsible for receiving

complaints of omission orcommission, misconduct by agovernment servant, people'sgrievances, complaints fromwhistle-blowers and alsocomplaints against the staff ofLokpal. The over-centralised JanLokpal Bill is most likely to endup like any other non effectivelyimplemented law meant toredress the grievances of thepeople since within a shortduration, millions of application

would be filed under this law,making it impossible for theLokpal institution sitting in Delhito handle even a few.

Another contradiction of theproposed law is that, while itpromises to send a corruptperson to jail, it fails to proposecorrective machinery to try thecorrupt and punish the guilty.Let's understand that any actionagainst a criminal offence,

A R T I C L E

including corruption, has fourparts complaint to initiateaction, investigation machinery toframe charge sheet, prosecutionthat prosecutes guilty and trialcourt that punishes guilty. TheJan Lokpal has bypassed the lastpart and has borrowed the entirejudicial machinery from thePrevention of Corruption Act. Itis pertinent to remember that the

Jan Lokpal Bill was proposedprimarily because the machineryof the existing laws has failed tobook the corrupt.

On behalf of Jan SangharshManch (JSM), a paper waspresented during a discussionorganized by India againstCorruption seminar inAhmedabad. The paper suggestedthe appropriate amendments tothe existing Prevention of

WHY I DO NOT CHEER WITH ANNATO FIGHT CORRUPTION EFFECTIVELY, WE NEED TO EMPOWER THE LOK (PEOPLE) AND NOT THE LOKPA

JAN SANGHARSH

Pravin Mishra

Corruption Act to make it acomplete code itself. In case suchamendments are made, no superlaw like Jan Lokpal will berequired. On the contrary,through this amendment, anordinary citizen can initiate actionagainst anybody, including primeminister, and expect a reasonablechance of putting the guiltybehind the bars. The central

theme of the law suggested byJSM is to empower the commonman rather than creating asuperman called Lokpal.

It suggests the formation of anti-corruption investigation bureau inevery state under the supervisionof the chief justices of therespective states and create amechanism of keeping a check onthe special judge who tries thecase. The proposal uses the

widespread judicial mechanismand also the existing policepersonnel to create country-winetwork. The focus is to enhanthe chance of conviction bykeeping check and balance atevery step.

The Lokpal law can generate afew crore cases in a very shorttime, chocking all the functionof the institution. I am afraid, even a small fraction of ourpopulation decides to pen dowtheir grievances once in a monit will consume hundreds of toof paper every month.Considering one tone of officepaper uses 24 trees, this may eaup a good chunk of country'sgreen cover. But the primeconcern remains, what are theinfrastructural requirements torun the Lokpal institute? And cit handle so many grievances?

A minimum estimate points outhe requirement of about 12,00'honest' man-power. Now, thattask! We don't find 500 honestpersons to run our muchcelebrated democracy, I wondeby what kind of process we'llunearth these thousands ofhighly educated and honestpeople? Every year, their salariand perks will consume half thtotal money spent in the CWGfail to estimate the astronomica

amounts required for the physiinfrastructure. Now that makesme think, how smart it is to selthe house to catch a thief?

With so many unansweredquestions and unclearcircumstances, I wonder if thecheerleaders of the Anna carnimay have to practice to dance tthe songIsmein bill ka kyakasoor!Soon after the bill ispassed.

ANNA CARNIVAL AT JANTAR MANTAR


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The Clarion CalJAN SANGHARSH KA

Section - 2

Existing Provision

2. Definitions: In this Act, unless the contextotherwise requires, -

Suggested Amendment

Add: Section 2(a)(a)- (ACIB) Anti Corruption

Investigation Bureau The investigation agencyto be constituted by Centre/State Governmentunder section 17.

Section - 2C

Existing Provision

"Public Servant" means:

Suggested Amendment

Add: 2C(xiii): Chairman, MD, members ofboard, executive director, manager of anycompany registered under the Company's Actincluding a banking company and any registeredpublic trust or society which receives foreignfund under FCRA.

Section - 3

Existing Provision

3(1) The Central Government or the StateGovernment may, by notification in the officialGazette, appoint as many Special Judges as maybe necessary for such area or

Suggested Amendment

Amend Section 3(1) - The Central Governmentor the State Government may on therecommendation of the High Court of the State

Section - 3

Existing Provision

3(1)(a) Any offence punishable under this Act;and..

Suggested Amendment

Add 3(1)C - Offences as defined u/s 410 to 424of IPC and offence u/s 22 of the Minimum WageAct, 1948

Section - 3

Existing Provision

(2) A person shall not be qualified forappointment as a special Judge under this Actunless he is or has been a Sessions Judge or anAdditional Session Judge or an Assistant SessionJudge under the Code of Criminal Procedure1973 (2 of 1974).

Suggested Amendment

Add: 3(3): No special Judge shall be transferredwithout the permission of the High Court.

Add 3(4) In case there is any complaintregarding the integrity of the Special Judge or forany other reasons stipulated in section 407 ofCr.P.C. that would disqualify the Judge fromtrying any case under this Act, any person canfile an application under section 407 of theCr.P.C. before the High Court for transferring thecase to be tried by any other Special Judge in theState or file an application u/s 406 before the

Supreme Court for the case being transferred toanother Special Judge in any other State.

Section - 4(4)

Existing Provision

4(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in theCode of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a specialJudge shall, as far as practicable, hold the trial ofan offence on day-to-day basis.

Suggested Amendment

Amend Section 4(4) Notwithstanding anythingcontained in the Code of Criminal Procedure,1973, a special Judge shall, as far as practicable,hold the trial of an offence on day-to-day basis andcomplete the trial within a period of one year.

Section - 5(1)

Existing Provision

5. Procedure and powers of special Judge.

Amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 proposed by Jan Sangharsh Man(1) A special Judge may take cognizance ofoffences without the accused being committed tohim for trial and, in trying the accused persons,shall follow the procedure prescribed by the Codeof Criminal Procedure, 1973, for the trial ofwarrant cases by Magistrates.

Suggested Amendment

Delete original section 5(1) and substitute by

two new sections 5(1)(a) and 5(1) (b):

5(1)(a) A special Judge may take cognizance ofany offence under this Act on the basis of anycomplaint that may be filed by any person andshall take any of the following steps:

(i) Order to ACIB to conduct an investigation intothe complaint and file a report within 3 months ofthe passing of the said order.

(ii) May defer the passing of an order forinvestigation by ACIB u/s (i)and conductpreliminary investigation to ascertain a primafacie case in one months time. In case the court issatisfied that prima facie case has been made out,court shall order ACIB to conduct theinvestigation as above.

(iii) Reject the complaint if no prima facie case ismade out.

(iv) A special shall follow the procedureprescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure,1973, for the trial of warrant cases byMagistrates.

5(1) (b) (i) The ACIB, while conductinginvestigation u/s 5(a)(i) shall have the samepowers and follow the same procedure asprovided in Chapter XII of the Cr.P.C. 1973 andshall take into consideration all informationand/or evidence that may be furnished by thecomplainant during the course of investigation.

(ii) The ACIB shall submit its report to specialJudge within 3 months and the provisions ofsection 169, 170 to 173 of Cr.P.C. shall apply tosuch reports and further investigation if any,under Section 173(8) or Cr.P.C.

(iii) The case shall be presented by a Specialprosecutor to be appointed by the High Court ofthe State .

(iv) The complainant shall be treated as party tothe proceedings before the special Judge andshall be permitted to assist the Special publicprosecutor of the trial.

Section - 5

Existing Provision

5. Procedure and powers of special Judge

Suggested Amendment

Add New Section 5(7) - In addition to powersconferred under the Chapter VII of the Cr.P.C.,the special judge shall have the power at anystage of the proceeding, to seize and confiscateany amount and/or any property that is disclosedto and have been created by any act or omissionwhich is an offence under the Act irrespective ofwhether such amounts/property is in the custodyof any person who is not an accused.

Section - 7

Existing Provision

7. Public servant taking gratification other

than legal remuneration in respect of an

official act.

Suggested Amendment

Minimum punishment to be enhanced to two

years and maximum punishment to be

enhanced to ten years.

Section - 8

Existing Provision

8. Taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or

illegal means, to influence public servant.

Whoever accepts, or obtains, or agrees to accept,or attempts to obtain, front any person, forhimself or for any other person, any gratificationwhatever as a motive or reward for inducing, by

corrupt or illegal means, any public servant,

whether named or otherwise, to do or to forbearto do any official act, or in the exercise of theofficial functions of such public servant to showfavour or disfavour to any person, or to render orsuch public servant to show favor or disfavor toany person, or to render or attempt to render anyservice or disservice to any person with theCentral Government or any State Government orParliament or the Legislature of any State or withany local authority, corporation or Governmentcompany referred to in Clause (c) of Section 2, orwith any public servant, whether named orotherwise, shall be punishable with imprisonmentfor a term which shall be not less than six monthsbut which may extend to five years and shall alsobe liable to fine.

Suggested Amendment

Renumber old (8) as 8(1). Add New 8(2) and

8(3):

8(2) Whosoever, irrespective of whether he/she isa public servant offers illegal gratification to anypublic servant or induces a public servant tocommit any offence as defined in section 7, 8 or 9by offering any illegal gratification or does anyact that abets or influences the public servant iscommitting the offence u/s 7,8 and 9, shall be

punishable in the same manner as the publicservant for committing the offence u/s 7,8 and 9.

8(3) Whosoever, irrespective of whether he/she isa public servant or not commits any of theoffenses as defined u/s 410 to 424 of IPC inrelation to any public property to cause loss to thenation shall be punishable with imprisonmentwith of two years imprisonment and up to a termof 10 years

8(4) Whosoever, irrespective of whether he/she isa public servant or not commits any offence u/s22 of the Minimum Wage Act, 1948 shall bepunished with a minimum sentence of one yearwhich may be extended to five years in case ofthe second offence.

Section - 11

Existing Provision

11. Public servant obtaining valuable thing,

without consideration from person concerned

in proceeding or business transacted by suchpublic servant.

Suggested Amendment

Amend Section 11 to enhance Minimum

punishment to two years and maximum

punishment to be enhanced to ten years.

Section - 13

Existing Provision

13(2) Any public servant who commits criminalmisconduct shall be punishable withimprisonment for a term which shall be not lessthan one year but which may extend to sevenyears and shall also be liable to fine.

Suggested Amendment

Add New Section 13 (3) :

13(3) In addition to the punishment under section13(2)

of this Act, the special judge may order theremoval of the public servant from thepost/position held by him/her after giving dueopportunity of hearing

Section - 17

Existing Provision

17. Persons authorized to investigate.

Suggested Amendment

Original section 17 to be deleted and

substituted by Section 17(1) to Section 17(4):

17 (1) The State Government or the CentralGovernment as the case may be shall constitute aSpecial investigation Cell for every State/ UnionTerritory to be called the Anti-CorruptionInvestigation Bureau (ACIB) to be headed by aPolice Officer of the rank of DGP/Add. DGP andshall have such number of subordinate officers ofthe rank of IGP, DIG, SP, IP and PSI that may be

prescribed under the rules to be framed by the

Chief Justice of the High Courts of respectivestates.

17(2) The appointments shall be by way ofdeputation from outside the respective StatePolice/ Union Territory cadre and every memof ACIB shall be appointed with the previous

approval of the respective Chief Justice of thHigh Court

17(3) No officer of the ACIB shall be transfeor removed or suspended except with the prioapproval of the Chief Justice.

17(4) Any person can file complaint against tInvestigation officer or the Supervising Officthe ACIB of the case whenever the officers fapreserve the integrity of the investigation in amanner and such a complaint can be madedirectly to the Chief Justice of HC in theadministrative side by the complainant. The Con receiving such complaint shall expediousldecide such complaint after giving due noticethe concerned officer.

17(5) After hearing the complaint the CJ caneither remove the concerned officer as theinvestigating /supervising officer of the case shall pass any order repatriating the officer tooriginal post and further order appropriatedisciplinary action for any misconduct commby the officer in connection with the investigof the case.

Section - 19(1) and 19(2)

Existing Provision

19. Previous sanction necessary for

prosecution.

(1) No court shall take cognizance of an offepunishable under Sections 7, 10, 11, 13 and 1alleged to have been committed by a publicservant, except with the previous sanction, -

(a) In the case of a person who is employed iconnection with the affairs of the Union and not removable from his office save by or withsanction of the Central Government, of thatGovernment;

(b) In the case of a person who is employed iconnection with the affairs of a State and is n

removable from his office save by or with thesanction of the State Government, of thatGovernment;

(c) In the case of any other person, of theauthority competent to remove him from hisoffice.

(2) Where for any reason whatsoever any douarises as to whether the previous sanction asrequired under sub-section (1) should be givethe Central Government or the State Governmor any other authority, such sanction shall begiven by that Government or authority whichwould have been competent to remove the puservant from his office at the time when theoffence was alleged to have been committed.

Suggested Amendment

Original Section 19(1) and (2) to be deleted

and substituted by the new section 19(1) an

19(2):

19(1) The special court shall not take anycognizance of any complaint under the Actagainst any judicial officer below the rank of High Court judge without the previous sanctiof Chief Justice of the respective High Courtwill be open to the complainant and/or ACIBmake the application for the sanction forprosecution of the accused to the CJ of the Hand in case the application is not decided witmonths time, the sanction would be deemed thave been granted.

19(2) The Special Court shall not take cognizanany complaint under the Act against the judge oHigh Court or Supreme Court without the priorsanction of the Chief Justice of India. It will be to the complainant and/or ACIB to make theapplication for the sanction for prosecution of thaccused to the CJ of the SC and in case theapplication is not decided within 3 months timesanction would be deemed to have been granted

D O C U M E N T March-June 2


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The Clarion Call

A R T I C L E

JAN SANGHARSH

Mustafa Bin Kasem was a simplebut very popular man inSwarupnagar, a small town in thenorth 24 Paraganas of WestBengal. For two decades since1991, Kasem was the CPM MLAfrom that area and he was one ofthe very few CPM leaders whohad braved the Trinamul hurricanein 2011. He had won from theNorth Basirhat constituency as hisSwarupnagar seat was declared asa reserved seat this time.

The same man jumped to hisdeath on 29th May, 2011. Hismangled body was found on theterrace of the canteen of the MLAhostel in Kolkata. Reportedly, hehad jumped from the fifth floor ofthe hostel where he had his room.A suicide note was found from hisroom which had just two lineswritten:

Farewell to the world. Both mykidneys have failed. There is no

hope of recovery. I am thereforeleaving.

Kasem was 74 when he died. On25th May, Kasem had evenattended the oath taking ceremonyof the West Bengal assembly. Hisbrother said that Kasem hadrealized that he could no longerwork for the people and thereforehe chose this tragic end

A veteran communist and a longterm member of CPM choosing

the path of suicide after decadesof devoted work for the promisedrevolution, tells the story of theterminal ailment that has grippedCPM. The party was born innineteen sixties by adopting themilitant revolutionary line afterfiercely denouncing of theKhrushchevite line of peacefulcoexistence, is indeed in deaththroes

The parliamentary path tosocialism as touted by

DEATH OF A COMMUNIST

Khrushchev, the then leader of theCommunist Party of Soviet Union(CPSU) was stoutly opposed by agroup of leaders of the erstwhileCPI in the mid-sixties that split theparty in two factions. The newfaction led by Namboodripad and

Jyoti Basu, two young militantMarxists, gave hopes to thestruggling masses for arevolutionary alternative. Theenthusiasm of the people isreflected in the massive supportCPM received in throwing out therotten Congress regime in WestBengal in 1977.

34 years later, Mustafa Bin Kasem,one of their diehard members,

couldn't bear the dictates' of theparty any longer and chose to dieinstead of allowing his personalpopularity to float an otherwisesinking party. In another notefound from his room, the namesof four important CPM membersof 24 Paraganas were scribbled.One of them was Twarit Topedar.He said that Kasem had seriouslyobjected to contesting the electionthis time as he was very ill. BimanBasu, the President of the West

Bengal CPM said that the partyhad to decide on candidates on thebasis of their chances of winningand therefore Kasem was directedto contest! Basu however statedthat he did not know about theserious illness of Kasem

The State President of WestBengal CPM may not have knownabout the illness of Kasem beforepushing him to contest in thebourgeois assembly, but as thePresident of the State party, did heknow about the decease CPM hadcontracted while participating inthe same bourgeois system for 34long years? Perhaps the decline hadset in even earlier.

When Naxalbari erupted in 1969,CPM took no lessons from thehistorical event. Dubbing it as anultra-left deviation, the left-frontGovernment stamped it out of

West Bengal using their brute statepower. That was the real historicalblunder (not the decision to denythe PM's post to Joytibabu whichsaved them from further ridicule!).Charu Mazumdar and hiscomrades were advocating the

revolutionary takeover of the laby the land-less on the basis of semi-feudal, semi-colonial thesisIf they were wrong, it wasnecessary to defeat their linepolitically and ideologically rathethan force it to go underground

The consequences are there for to see. The Maoist, a far more

virulent mutant has come back thaunt CPM. Trinamul Congressgot all the support from them todecimate CPM.

On the land question, CPMbelieved it had done a great job distributing the land to the tilleras per the extant laws. True, thepeasantry was empowered but oin a bourgeois sense. They becamthe vested interests in the ruralBengal without having anyprogressive political ideology.Having no independent programfor industrial development, CPMadopted the global capitalistmechanism to develop the indus

in West Bengal. Thus when theCPM Government startedacquiring land for handing overthe same to the big industrialhouses, the anti-CPM forces ledMamta Banerjee fully exploitedthis action as the anti-peasant linof CPM. The rural base collapslike a house of cards. Singur,Nandigram and lalgarh spoke ththe ballot.

So much for the parliamentaryroad to socialism. If we countfrom 1969, it is 42 years sinceNaxalbari. The age when humanstart wearing reading glasses inordinary course. The left leadersof all hues desperately need thereading glasses to read what is

written on the wall.

Masses won't tolerate arroganceand deceptions anymore. Let gopeople like Kasem come togethand rebuild the movement rathethan jump off the horizon.

Mukul Sinha

March-June 2011

A veteran communist

and a long term

member of CPM

choosing the path of

suicide after decades

of devoted work for the

promised revolution,tells the story of the

terminal ailment that

has gripped CPMMustafa Bin Kasem

THE AILING CPM


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P H O T O F E A T U R E

The Clarion Cal

6

JAN SANGHARSH KA

THE BROKEN LIFELINE OF GUJARAT

Gangad-Begwa chokdi

Valthera Roopgarh Road

Gangad-Begwa chokdi Gangad-Begwa chokdi Keshargarh

Roopgarh RoadGangad Kothpetashakha

KothpetashakhaBhavanpura

Narmada irrigation system was claimed to be most advanced water management system reaching waters to remotest GujarIn reality, all minor, sub-minor and dhoriya canals have collapsed in the Talukas of Bavla, Sanad and Dholka which falls und

the command areas of Narmada! Team ELAAN traveled to many villages in these talukas. This is what they saw...

March-June 2


7/8

The Clarion CallJAN SANGHARSH

The farmers of Gujarat are

waiting for last four decades fortheir dream to be realized. Amidst

the loud drum beats of `Swarnim

Gujarat', they are waiting for the

waters of Narmada to reach their

fields through canals worth Rs.29

crores.

Many of the existing canals are

either buried or damaged without

even receiving a drop of water.

When Narmada Project was

conceived before four decades, it

was regarded as the `Lifeline ofGujarat'. It was farmers dream for

last four decades to receive

Narmada water in their agriculture

fields of course with reasonablecharge. What do they see today?

Narmada water is being sold to

industrial houses just at Rs.10 for

ten thousand liters.

Over and above, the condition of

existing canals is very much

dilapidated. The breaches on side

walls at many places have forced

the water to cross the borders. In

the year 2002, the canals were

broken at eight places. Two large

breaches were formed in 2003. 18villages were submerged due to

breaking of side walls of branch

canal in 2004. The breach at

Sujatpur canal created havoc in

2008. Several minor canals inDholka, Bavla and Sanand towns

are existing merely as skeletons.

While the agriculture suffers for

the want of water, pushing the

farmers into the jaws of debts, the

land mafias prompted by

industrial houses having signed

MOUs at Vibrant Summits, are

waiting for the opportunity to

grab the poor farmers land. It is

indeed a conspiracy to force the

farmers to give up their land toindustries. The target of the

government is to acquire one lac

hectares of land by the end of

2020 for the benefit of various

industrial projects. Obviously, tState would resort to all sorts o

tactics to force the farmers to

surrender their land.

Nobody knows where Rs.29

thousand crores earmarked for

Narmada canals maintenance h

gone. Now the State has allocat

further amount of Rs.40 thous

crores for Narmada project. Tim

has come for the farmers to ho

the government accountable fo

Rs.29 thousand crores alreadyspent and demand proper

maintenance of the canals.

O P I N I O N

attempts were made to burn downthe tent at the Ramleela maidan.

That tear gas shells weredeliberately exploded inside thetent to asphyxiate the satyagrahis.

Women were mercilessly beatenand manhandled. That except forthe Congress, all other spiritual,social and political parties weresupporting him. Whatever be themerit of his allegations, the policeaction against the unarmedprotesters was disgusting andcondemnable.

The Babas utterances are howeverbecoming more political by the dayand sharply anti-Congress. Theentire sangh parivar which were

waiting in the wings till 4th June,

2011, came out in full contingentto protest against the barbaricattack of the UPA Governmentand Lalkrishna Advani comparedthe police action with the

Jalianwala attack. Gadakari declareda 24 hours protest dharna atRajghat with Advani spending thenight under the sky! The eventsthat unfolded from the morning of4th June onwards, apparentlyfollowed the script that the thinktanks of the opposition forces mayhave scripted when they had caughtRaja cheating in the 2G scam.

Earlier, the CWG scam had alreadyset the agenda for the opposition.

And then came the 2G scam. TheCAG report was leaked to the

media in mid-November of 201that indicted the telecom MinistRaja squarely for indulging infavoritism and costing thegovernment Rs. 1.76 lakh croresgiving away 2G Spectrum in 200

at bargain basement prices toinexperienced new players. Raja

was forced to resign and that setthe opposition ship sailing. BJPblocked the Loksabha for theentire session with the demand

JPC but gained very little outsid

The enormity of the fraudcommitted by the UPA telecomminister would have been sufficito bring a Government down buthere was a snag. The ministerbelonged to an independent

coalition partner DMK and theopposition could not dig out anydirect material to link the CongrPrime Minister with the scam.Under the natural laws of gravitthe benefits of the uncovering othe DMK scam trickled down to

AIDMK which won the Tamilnelections.

There was perhaps yet anotherissue that was irking the BJP forquite some time. The Congress

THE PARODY OF ERRORSEven with his Yogic powers,Ramdev could not have guessedthat the Government which hadsent its four senior Ministers to

woo him just a few days before,would be sending a huge

contingent of police in the weehours of 5th June to throw himout of Delhi. A very shaken anddisheveled Baba tried to escape thepolice in lady's clothes butcouldn't. He was picked up andflown out of Delhi and depositedin his own lair; the Patanjali

Ashram at Haridwar.

Congress however is known forsuch flip-flops. Bhidranwale wasfirst pampered and then shot. Rajivopened the doors of the disputed

Ramjambhoomi-Babri Masjidpremises to appease the Babas andthen fought them for the rest ofhis life. History keeps repeating.

The second time it is said it repeatsas a tragedy; does it repeat thethird time as a parody?!

Ramdev held a press conferenceat Hardirwar on 6th June in his

Ashram where he made severalprovocative allegations: He allegedthat the Government hadconspired to kill him. That three

Mukul Sinha

...contd. pa

THE BROKEN LIFELINE OF GUJARAT

F E A T U R EMarch-June 2011

Jignesh Mevani

Digvijay Singh Kapil SibalMidnight swoop at Ramlila Maidan


8/8

The Clarion Ca

O P I N I O N

www.nsm.org.inelaanmonthly.blogspot.com

JAN SANGHARSH KA

Published by: New Socialist Movement 206 Maharana PratapComplex, Near VS Hospital, Ellisbridge, Ahmedabad 380 006, Gujarat,India, Phone: +91-79-2657 7280. e-mail: [email protected]

Nirjhari Sinha, Rajesh Mankad, Pravin MishraEditorial Board :

L E F T A L I G N M E N T

party had successfully collected theleaders of several NGOs andconstituted the National Advisory

Committee under the directleadership of Sonia Gandhi. TheNAC was made the vehicle to draftand deliver the apparently pro-people statutes and legal redressalsto the people at large and makesuch populist laws and policies thehallmark of the Congress rule. TheRight of Information Act perhapsis their most successful plunge.

This piece of law not only receivedthe applause from all quarters ofthe society but it also gave rise to a

new breed of activists- the RTIactivists. Apart from the NGOactivists who were already with theCongress, thousands of groupshave mushroomed under the RTIbanner in the free space of the'civil society'. The Congress partydiligently cultivates such groups toform a network to counter thesangh parivar network. It may be

mentioned in the pass, that it hasalready given birth to severalMagsaysay award winners which inhas become the Nobel prize ofthe 'civil society'.

It is rumored that when the CWGscam and the 2G scam-stormbroke over the UPA Government,the redrafting of the Lokayukt Bill

pending since long years wasmooted by Congress as a damagecontrol measure to deflect thecriticism emanating from the 2Gscam. The old bill was put underthe scalpels of the NAC forappropriate surgery. This effortobviously unnerved the oppositionas they realized that the Congress

would run away with the moral

platform if they could come outwith a popular law againstcorruption. BJP itself had very fewcredible leaders that could attractthe masses and give voice to therising anger of the people againstcorruption. The solution camefrom a different quarter.

On November 14th, 2010 nearly

10,000 people assembled at theParliament Street Police Station forregistering a complaint regardingcorruption in the CommonwealthGames led by certain celebrities.

Those eminent personalities whowere present included SwamiRamdev, Kiran Bedi, ArvindKejriwal, Swami Agnivesh, AnnaHazare etc. BJP and its think tankincluding people likeGovindacharya then recognized thepotential of the non-congresssections in the civil society. The '

India Against Corruption'corruption was born.

On December 1st, 2010, a PressConference was held in New Delhi,in which a comprehensive Anti-corruption Bill, Jan Lokpal Bill,

was released. A memorandumsigned by ShriShri Ravishankar,Mallika Sarabhai, Kiran Bedi,

Arvind Kejriwal, Swami Agnivesh,Sunita Godara, Arch Bishop

Vincent M Concessao, DevindraSharma, Maulana Mufti Shamoom

Kashmi,Pradeep Gupta,Kamalkant Jasawal, BB Lal, GopalK Aggarwal and SK Tijarawala onbehalf of Swami Ramdev on theletterhead of India AgainstCorruption was sent to the PrimeMinister. Interestingly, AnnaHazare was not one of thesignatories.

On February 26, Anna wrote to thePM for setting up a joint draftingcommittee. He mentioned aboutgoing on an indefinite fast in that

letter. On April 5, 2011, Anna son an indefinite fast; nearly 500people sat with him. On 8th ApGovernment agreed to form a jocommittee to draft the Bill and

with the full help of the media,

Anna's movement became anational movement. The campaagainst corruption was dangerouassuming the color and characteof a genuine people's movemenagainst graft. The calculation ofthe opposition had gone wrong three counts. Firstly, somewheredown the line, Baba Ramdev wadropped and Anna became the sleader of the movement. Second

Anna had no politics. He in factthe Modi Government on the

rebound after having praised itearlier. Thirdly, the people hadstarted debating on the Jan Lokpbill rather than on the corruptpractices of the UPA Governm

The entire exercise of theopposition to steal the thunderfrom NAC had not only failed bboomeranged.

The entry of Ramdev hadtherefore become inevitable. If CWG and the 2G scams could ndestabilize the Government,

nothing could. The peoples' angagainst corruption was meant tolasered against the UPA. It was nmeant to become the focus offraming a new law against graft.Ram temple and Hindutva slogahad long stopped giving politicadividends and the opposition wacounting on the movement led bIndia Against Corruption to ktwo birds with one stone. To mNAC ineffective and discredit thUPA Government. Instead, theyhad almost scored a self goal wi

Anna's wayward shooting; Sibbaand Co. have given them anothechance. Will the opposition nowachieve their goal or the country have a genuine anti-corruption la

The opposition would be hopingthat there new slogan ofJai ShriRamdevwould yield better dividenthan their originalJai Shri Ram. Whave to wait and watch.

...contd from page 7

March-June 2

THE PARODY OF ERRORS

Ill get Black Money! Ill get Corruption!

I have got both !!!

Elaan March-June 2011

Documents

Transcript of Elaan March-June 2011