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NEW DELHI SATURDAY17 MARCH 2012

VOLUME 9

I S S U E

11FREE.FAIR.FEARLESS

BY ASHOK MALIK P30

NRHM SCAM CAG Report Points to the Maya Malady P10

Society&Lifestyle Pradip Krishen onTaming the Desert P50Why Prof GD Agrawal is fasting to death for the Ganga P22

MV RAMANA ‘Our Overconfidence on Nuclear Safety is Alarming’ P26

VERDICT 2012

There has been a spate of rapes in West Bengal recently.Will the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to shutdown bars early help in curtailing crimes against women?

It is a welcome step. It will certainly help bring down thecrime rate. the longer the youngsters drink, the more theyare prone to lose their balance.

Kolkata was always seen as a culturally vibrant city withan active club life where many live bands have performed andevolved. Won’t this send the wrong signal?Nobody is stopping any cultural interaction. In fact, under

the Mamata Banerjee government, we have had many cultural exchanges with various countries. What we are basically asking is to close down clubs and restaurants bymidnight so that the police and the administration canwork more effectively.

As a young girl, I remember, we used to go out on ourown without fear. that was in the late 1970s. When I grewup, the state changed completely. the law and order situa-tion deteriorated under the Left Front rule. We would hearstories about how the then cM (Buddhadeb Bhattacharya)organised his own personal outing at Nandan theatre. thepolice would ensure that no information about the cM’sactivities was revealed to the outside world. In more thantwo decades, the crime rate has increased in Bengal. therewere no jobs. Liquor shops were opened till late night.Unemployed youth were drawn to illegal activities.

But would just closing down bars early be a solution?If you ask me, I feel a lot of the fault also lies in the kindof programmes we see on television. Films at least have acensor Board, but channels are showing whatever theywant. While 60 percent of the state lives in villages, theprogrammes are all about vulgar display of wealth. theseare completely unrealistic. how does a young man or awoman acquire this wealth without engaging in criminalactivities? they get enticed by what they see on television.

Even Governor MK Narayanan said, ‘Bengal used to beone of the safest places in the country.’ Was he makinga political statement?I’m sure he must be referring to the days of (former chiefminister) Bidhan chandra Roy. things completely changedafter the Left parties came to power.

But it is not just the law and order situation. There has beena spate of political killings as well. What happened to theTrinamool’s promise of a different kind of governance?Mamata Banerjee and the tMc don’t have a magic wand. Weare trying to slowly bring about change. these things taketime. I will give you an example of a party worker who waskilled a few years ago. I have been taking care of his family.his seven-year-old son would stay away from political activities. Just a few days ago, he attended a political rallywith his mother. When I asked his mother what happened,she replied that he wants to avenge his father’s death. Justimagine what is going on in the mind of this seven-year-oldchild. We have to slowly change this culture.

The CPM has also protested against harassment of its partyworkers by the police. Is the TMC being vindictive?the Left Front has ruled WestBengal for more than twodecades. Bengalis have alwaysbeen emotional but the cultureof violence was brought in bythe communist parties. this issomething Mamata Banerjeehas been trying to change.

The TMCdoesn’t have

a magic wandto stop violence’

Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidartells KUNAL MAJUMDER why shutting barsearly will reduce crime in West Bengal

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VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11; MARCH 11-17, 2012, RELEASED ON MARCH 9, 2012; NUMBER OF PAGES INCLUDING COVER: 70FOR ENQUIRIES & COMPLAINTS CALL - DELHI - 011 3249 4466 | MUMBAI - 022 3204 7766 | BENGALURU - 080 3297 4466 or E-MAIL - RESPONSE@TEHELKA.COM

EDITOR Tarun J TejpalMANAGING EDITOR Shoma ChaudhuryDEPUTY EDITOR Ramesh SharmaEDITOR, INVESTIGATIONS Ashish KhetanCONTRIBUTING EDITOR Ashok MalikSENIOR EDITOR Manjula LalCOPY EDITOR Srikanth SASSISTANT EDITORS Rana Ayyub (MUMBAI)Kaushik Kashyap SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS

Revati Laul, Brijesh Pandey,Rohini Mohan, SunainaKumar (MUMBAI), Riyaz Wani (SRINAGAR),Virendra Nath Bhatt (LUCKNOW)PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENTS

Tusha Mittal, Ratnadip Choudhury (GUWAHATI)CHIEF OF BUREAU

Jeemon Jacob (SOUTH)SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS KunalMajumder, Imran Khan (BENGALURU)CORRESPONDENTS Nishita Jha, Baba Umar, Avalok Langer, Sai Manish, G Vishnu, Shonali Ghosal,Janani Ganesan, Prakhar JainASST COPY EDITORS Anamika Chatterjee,Shone Satheesh BabuSUB-EDITOR Aradhna WalEDITOR’S OFFICE Ritu Sud (91.9810572889)MANAGING EDITOR’S OFFICE

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Shailendra Pandey PHOTOGRAPHERS Garima Jain,Vijay Pandey, Tarun Sehrawat,Pintu Pradhan (KOLKATA)SENIOR PHOTO COORDINATOR Deepak JhaWEB EDITORS Karuna John, Jugal ModyWEB DEVELOPER Lal Singh, RammurtiMNGR-PRODUCTION Piyush Srivastava SYSTEMS HEAD Prawal Srivastava TEAM SYSTEMS Manoj Kumar, PankajKumar, Arun Sehrawat, Nihar Ranjan,Bhumesh Kshetrimayum

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SATURDAY 17.3.2012

ONWWW.TEHELKA.COM

TAXING TIMES Tax on capital gain isanti-growth as itrestricts the growth ofinfrastructure andnew investments inthe Indian economyBY RK JAIN

~ 9 ~

PROS & CONS PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA

Justice Katju does not helpthe cause of protecting scribes

by overstating his case

~ 14 ~

NEW TACTICS AVALOK LANGER

Globalisation has pushedNaga rebels to reassess their

goal of sovereignty

~ 22 ~

HOLY PENANCE MANOJ RAWAT

Away from the spotlight, aformer IIT professor is fastingto death to save the Ganga

With Mayawati out of power, will the NRHMscam probe be taken to its logical conclusion?

UTTAR PRADESH | ABHISHEK BHALLA

10

BUDGET

MEGA PROJECTS Delhi hopes to attractinvestments worth 70,000 crore with its

industrial park inBaprola and serviceshub in Ranikhera BY BINNY SHARMA

INDUSTRY

STRESS TEST India must feelashamed that itsdraconian medicaleducation systemhas claimed amedico’s life at aIIms

BY SUSHIL BHAN

EDUCATION

PHOTO: PRAMOD ADHIKARI

COVER PHOTO: AP

TEHELKA 17 MARCH 20126

They need not and should not obey unlawfulorders. if sanjiv bhatt were true and sincere,he could have objected then and there or informed the media. if modi is responsiblefor Gujarat riots, then nehru is accountablefor the communal riots during partition.

S RAGHUNATHA PRABHU, on email

UNHAPPY VIBESRefer to ‘Creating Happiness, CertainlyNot In Puri’, by Jay Mazoomdaar, 3 March.

Jay mazoomdaar reveals Vedanta’s doublestandards on its publicity campaign. Verywell-written article. although, it was shock-ing to see the same ad in that very issue ofTehelka. on what basis does Tehelka chooseits ads? how do we, as serious readers ofyour magazine, continue to trust in your freeand fair journalism, when you take moneyfrom the very companies and their mediacampaigns that you criticise?

NITHYA SIVAN, on email

EXPEDITING QUERYRefer to ‘Has Curiosity Killed the RTICat?’ by Janani Ganesan, 25 February.

as a corporate lawyer in mumbai who blogsabout legal issues as a hobby, i’d like to sharea few things. once information is refused bythe officer and the appellate authority, approaching the state or central informationcommission is very helpful. i interned withRajasthan state information Commission,and have seen hundreds of orders beingchurned out every day, requiring disclosureof information. in my opinion, one should beprepared to look at the files in the office/ -department concerned — that is where the

POINT TAKENRefer to ‘Two Men and a Vote’, by ShomaChaudhury, 3 March.

i enjoyed reading your piece on akhilesh andRahul. my own guess is that the bsp will getmore seats. but that was not the point of thearticle. What was, was superbly put.

MADHAV NALAPAT, on email

ACTION-REACTION?Refer to ‘What the Amicus really told theSupreme Court: Prosecute Modi’ byAshish Khetan, 25 February.

Your over-enthusiasm to get modi prose-cuted will be a futile exercise. one wouldexpect the same enthusiasm on your part toinvestigate the Godhra sabarmati expresscarnage. if there was no Godhra incident,there would not have been 2002 anti-muslim massacre. even if modi had asked topermit the venting of people’s anger, thatdoes not mean he incited violence. Theanger of people in a democracy is ventedthrough protest marchs, dharnas, hungerstrikes, hartals etc. if people indulged in vi-olence, it is the duty of the police to curb it.

Your cover reveals the determination of the victims tofight for justice. The SC should have given the copy ofthe SIT report to Zakia Jafri, for transparency’s sake. Canthe Gujarat 2002 stigma change? It depends entirely onModi — if he brings about changes so that the affectedpeople are rehabilitated, physically and mentally.

JACOB SAHAYAM, on email

The Fight forJustice is onin Modi Land

• PLEASE SEND IN YOUR FEEDBACK TO LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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AIR SAFETYBOUQUETS&BRICKBATS

best of the information is found anyway. onecommon trick to make them provide you information quickly is to add to the query:“Please give details of all pending complaint,inquiries, disciplinary proceedings againstofficers in the department/ office.” This usually makes the babus want to work harderat satisfying the information seeker.

RAMANUJ MUKHERJEE, on emaIl

OFF THE HOOK?Refer to ‘Lord Juggernaut Calling Delhi’,by Ashok Malik, 3 March.

It is really sad and disgusting to read the article on naveen Patnaik in TeHelKa. TeHelKa

itself has reported critically on Posco,Vedanta etc and now to see this article almost glorifying Patnaik is sad. The articlestarts with: “no scandal. no charges ofnepotism. naveen Patnaik has turned odishaaround without any baggage.” Really? Whatabout the continuing atrocities heaped onthe people in the Posco area by the Patnaik-led government? about Kalinganagar, aboutVedanta, about Kandhamal? Is this not scan-dalous? and a photo caption in the articlesays: “Tribal protests over Posco and Vedantahave posed problems, but the cm feels theseprojects are good for the state’s economy inthe long run.” looks like TeHelKa is going theTimes of India way!

VINAY SREENIVASA, on emaIl

MIND BENDINGRefer to ‘Love Language or Hate Speech’,by Lawrence Liang, 3 March.

Highly thought-provoking, nuanced andphilosophical. I warmly congratulate you.

H PATTABHIRAMA SOMAYAJI, on emaIl

WILD INSPIRATIONRefer to ‘A Time to Cull’, by Jay Ma-zoomdaar, 25 February.

Read you piece on TeHelKa and I was thrilledto read your insights about how wild animalsare causing mayhem in cropland, turningfarmers against the animal conservation. Iknow that to balance this, we’ll need strongpractical solutions. Unfortunately, I’m arookie when it comes to wildlife and otherrelated topics. Your views have really peppedme up and inspired me to read more aboutthe wild beauties of nature and write mean-ingful articles.

PUSHPENDRA PANDYA, on emaIl

HATE LABSRefer to ‘Hindutva Lab 2.0’, by RanaAyyub, 25 February.

Thank you and congratulations for your ar-ticle! It narrates how dangerous Hindutvaforces in Karnataka and in India have be-come. They use educational institutions andtextbooks to propagate communal ideolo-gies in the minds of students, thus buildingthe next generation of Hindutva activists.They have already created division betweenHindus and other minorities in coastal andmalenadu Karnataka. attacks on minoritieshave become usual news, and cases arebooked on the victims instead of culprits.

ELYAS MUHAMMAD THUMBE, on emaIl

I’m deeply saddened to learn about the latestbaseless, fictitious cover story on Karnataka.It is alright to have differing opinions basedon ideologies. What is unacceptable is therecycling of excreta and vomitus of yellowjournalism of Karnataka. TeHelKa, the nameused to evoke respect, due to its investigativejournalism, is now reduced to news recy-cling. a good story was killed by figments ofimagination, interviews with people of du-bious character and background.

KIRAN, on emaIl

FALL GUY POLITICSRefer to ‘The Case Against the AG’, byAshish Khetan, 11 February.

The piece on the ag’s role in the 2g scam is asuperb piece of investigative journalism. Ifeel the sg should have been extra cautiousbefore expressing his opinion. aer all, thecriminal is always more alert than the lawyer.I do agree that the cbI’s investigation is notfoolproof. It is clear the cbI wants to shieldthe ag but in doing so, is inevitably creatingan escape route for a Raja. Raja’s argumentis simple: he followed the sg’s advice. Theentire correspondence, showing Raja violat-ing many existing norms and usingdeceptive methods, has entangled many officials to give an impression that he’s notthe only one involved in the scam. as the lawis being selectively applied to favour a fewinfluential, one can foresee the outcome —Raja will be free not because he is not guilty,but becausethe cbI wantsto protectsome in-volved in thescam.

LAWRENCE,

on emaIl

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YENYESKEYBRAND

PAPER BAG MACHINEPAPER CUP MACHINE

SINCE 1985Phone: 0422-2402225

E-Mail: info@yenyeskey.comweb: www.yenyeskey.com

TEHELKA’S campaign againstcorruption has won it anotheraward! Endorsing our commitmentto exposing the rot in the system,the Sitaram Jindal Foundation hashonoured TEHELKA with the SR Jindal Prize for Crusade againstCorruption. The award wasinstituted to encourage and inspirethose engaged in the eradication ofcorruption, and promotion of moralvalues, patriotism and nationalintegration without motive ofpersonal gain, social or politicalmileage. The prize, which carries acash amount of 10 lakh, waspresented by Sri Sri Ravi Shankarto Editor-in-Chief Tarun J Tejpalon 23 February 2012, at the Durbar

Hall, Taj Palace,New Delhi. Othershonoured includedformer President

APJ Abdul Kalam and formerKarnataka Lokayukta SantoshHegde for their contributions in thefields of science and technology andsocial development respectively.

• Dr SR Jindal,Tarun Tejpal, Sri SriRavi Shankar andAsha Khaitan

AWARD FOR EXPOSING CORRUPTIONACCOLADE

TEHELKA 17 MARCH 20128

JAMMU

Ranish Hangloo, 23COMMUNITY RADIO ACTIVIST

For a community in exile, culture is theonly living remnant of life back home. On5 december 2011, the Valley made waveswith the launch of radio Sharda, a radiochannel for the displaced Kashmiri Panditcommunity. It was founded and fundedby the ngO Pir Panchal. “aer what hap-pened in 1985, we lost link with our cul-ture,” says ranish hangloo, founderdirector of radio Sharda. “Kashmiri Pan-dits have a very strong and distinct cul-ture and history, but none of the youngKashmiris can now speak their mothertongue. this is an initiative to reconnectwith that past.” For a place that wasbere of movie halls, theatres, or even anFm radio station till 2006, the station has14 hours of programming a day and ap-peals to both old-timers and the young.“Our primary target are the Kashmiri migrants of Jammu. but we have shows in Kashmiri, dogri, Ladakhi, gojri andbhaderwahi, etc,” says hangloo. rJ navmiKaul is the 19-year-old medical student-cum-radio jockey who brings the youthappeal to radio Sharda. For the job, shehad to refine her almost-forgotten Kash-miri. “a lot of people my age ask me ifthey can also get such a chance! Showsthat the Kashmiri youth still want to beassociated with their culture,” she says.

BY KOSHTUB VOHRA

Radio Shardaworks to preserveculture and provideentertainment’

INSPIRATIONSHANGLOO can be reached at

+91 9796242335

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