Saturday, December 29, 2007

Merry Christmas! But not so merry for Christians of Orissa

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Right to Freedom of Religion
Article 25 of the Constitution: Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.-(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.
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25th December, 2007: A forgettable Christmas for the Christians of Orissa.
A note on the incredulous sequence of events leading to the carnage on Christmas day and the day after. Also, a lession for the subaltern.
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Even before the spectacular success of Narendra Modi in Gujrat had sunk in and even as the common man in various parts of the country was beginning to look forward to the BJP as an alternative for providing a clean and efficient government, disturbing reports of churches and convents being burnt in Orissa are coming in.

All the goodwill which the BJP appeared to have gained in the last five years has been undone, yet again, by this act of hooliganism. Thus reinforcing the belief that BJP and its more fundamentalist elements have only one agenda – that of spreading a politics of hatred.

For the benefit of those who have missed the episode, let me outline the sequence of events based on media reports. The striking feature of the chain of incidents is their immaculate timing and the clinical planning and execution.

December 24, 2007: Mysteriously, Swami Laxminanda Saraswati gets attacked on Christmas eve. Swami himself claims that the attack was engineered by the Congress MP since the attack occurred in his village.

But, for some reason, the VHP and other fundamentalist organizations decide that Christians must pay for the attack and hence as a response they instantaneously call a bandh on the Christmas Day!

They take care to appropriately time the bandh call from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon, knowing fully well that Church services are held for Christmas during those times. Then the carnage follows converting a day which is celebrated globally as a day of peace and joy into a day of horror and grief. In the course of the day several churches are torched, one life is lost and several people are injured.

As if the violence on Christmas day was not enough, passions are flared up on Wednesday, the day after Christmas, and more churches and houses succumb to the fundamentalist mobs amidst claims that temples were vandalized on Tuesday night.

To ensure that mob vandalism continues unabated, road blockades are installed and even telecommunication lines are snapped.


While I condemn such senseless acts of violence, what concerns me more is the profile of the people involved in such clashes.

Invariably, it is the ill educated, easily impressionable, and economically backward people who become a party as well as victim of such clashes. More often than not, majority of them would be from the Schedule Caste or Tribe or other subaltern sections, though the people instigating those clashes may be from upper classes / castes.

Therefore, the question that goes a begging is who are the people who get injured and killed in such clashes?

Obviously, it is the people belonging to the weaker sections of the society.

Whether the acts are being committed in the name of religion or ethnicity is immaterial. What should be realized is that the people belonging to the subaltern class are getting exploited and are by being misled by the upper castes/classes into committing heinous crimes on fellow subaltern brethren.
Therefore, next time you feel instigated to indulge in such violent behavior, watch out! Who is controlling your mind? And is such violence worth it? Even in God’s name?

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse

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For the benefit of the uninitiated: BJP stands for Bhartya Janata Party and VHP stands for Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
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“Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.”
– Luke 23: 32-34, The Bible.
Wish You a Happy & Peaceful 2008

Response to comments on my previous blog and this one

Having returned from a short vacation I feel rejuvenated to write more. In this blog I will try to clarify some of the comments/querries that have appeared in response to my blogs.

As regards the question - who is opposing ST status for the adivasis, if it was meant to be one, I have already discussed in my earlier blogs. But I may mention here that there appears to be a tacit endorsement of the opposition by some non ST people through some umbrella organizations.

As regards the decreasing share in the ST pie, it is for the government to do the adjustments in the quota between various categories. If not, despite the decrease, the pie needs to be shared between various tribal groups. This would empower the marginalized adivasis of Assam with the same benefits that are available to other STs in Assam. Conferring ST status will also enable them to contest elections in reserved constituencies.

The Gurjar claim for ST status is different from the claims of adivasis of Assam. To the best of my knowledge, while Gurjars are not a recognized tribal group any where in the country, the adivasis of Assam are recognized tribal groups in Jharkhand, Bengal, and Orissa.

As pointed out by Mr. Alok, ‘class difference’ within the tribal groups is evident but it is not unique to the tribes. Class difference is a generic phenomenon and is evident even in the so called communist countries. This class difference may partly be attributed to the different level of development of the states in which the tribal population is distributed. However, what concerns me more is the indifference that exists among the “upper class” within the tribes towards their less fortunate brethren. Perhaps, the distributed and detached upbringing of this class of tribals is partly responsible for this apathy.

Regarding Meenas cornering 30% of the Civil Services, I think it is a matter of personal choice. The ‘upper class’ among the Jharkhandi tribals are the ones whose development is generally missionaries led. To this set of second or third generation educated tribals a government job is increasingly becoming a taboo – not worth the effort; thanks to the widening gap in the remuneration between the private sector and the government sector. This is the generation which does not bother much about reservation and ST status. That also partly explains their indifference towards the less fortunate tribals. The argument that this class of tribals is snatching away opportunities at colleges and institutes from less fortunate brethren is true but unfair because the same applies to all categories including the General Category; such is the nature of competition.

Personally, I am not averse to the idea of an income criterion for all categories. But there is a caveat; the employers have to be more equitable and just in recruiting staff. There is evidence of caste & religion based discrimination in recruitments (See S Thorat & P Attewell’s article published in Economic and Political Weekly of 13-19 October, 2007)

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Does the country need another militant outfit?

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Today, if Adivasis are taking up arms, it is the government that is responsible for it.
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If media reports about the involvement of an Adivasi outfit in the December 13 bomb blast of Rajdhani Express is true, it spells bad news for the state as well as the Adivasis of Assam and other places where Jharkhandi tribes exist. It will add another undesirable chapter to militancy in this country.

Today, if Adivasis have resorted to taking up arms it is because they have been betrayed by successive governments of Assam. Ever since the first batch of adivasis was brought to Assam during the British rule the community has been an exploited and neglected lot.

One can understand the pre-independence exploitation and neglect by the colonial masters, but how can one excuse the continual exploitation and neglect of a community that has contributed so much for the economic prosperity of Assam, after independence. Today, the adivasis form the lowest strata of Assamese society.

Ethnic affinity knows no boundaries and that has been amply demonstrated umpteen number of times in the past. The very recent one being the sharp reaction of Tamils to the tough handling of Tamil demonstrators in Malaysia by the local authorities. In a country like India where political boundaries were drawn arbitrarily rendering people of one ethnicity divided between several states, the affinity is even stronger. Therefore, this Adivasi miltant outfit’s arrival, which was much publicized by the local media, can potentially distort peace in all the states where Adivasis exist.

Already, this nation has bled enough. Do we need another militant outfit to inflict wounds at this great country of ancient people and cultures?

It is imperative for the governments in Assam and the Centre to recognize the danger and concede the justified demands of Adivasis.

While it is true that the term Adivasi encapsulates within itself a conglomeration of Jharkhandi tribes, the fact is that the Adivasi community of Jharkhandi descent is essentially one ethnic block and shares a common dialect ‘Sadri’ though there may be minor variations in their culture. It should also be noted that though the state of Jharkhand was created recently, the Jharkhand movement itself dates back to the pre-independence era.

Some of them who are opposing the grant of ST status for Adivasis on the premise that it “would adversely affect the status of the state’s indigenous people and would contribute towards further deterioration of their socio-political and economic condition”, seem to go by the premise that the “well being of a community is only possible by domination of another”. Such flawed logic is untenable. Also, perhaps, the indiginity clause itself needs some reconsideration.

On the one hand these opponents talk about integration of the Adivasis with the Assamese society while on the other they want to deny them their basic citizenship rights. Ironically, they refer to the Adivasis, quite ignominiously, as Tea Tribes but they do not want the government to grant them Scheduled Tribe status.

If the governments decide not to grant ST status with full citizenship rights to the Adivasis of Assam, it would be akin to propagating apartheid rule, something that has almost vanished from the face of this earth, but is so reminiscent of the obnoxious colonial past. It would be an anachronism in an age when migrant people of Indian origin have grown to the level of heads of state in several countries.

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse
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My sincere apologies if I have hurt anybody’s sentiments unintentionally.
Please pass it on to all Jharkhandi groups and other adivasi friends.
Wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy & prosperous New Year.
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Response to comments:

1. As regards the question - who is opposing ST status for the adivasis, if it was meant to be one, I have already discussed in my earlier blogs. But I may mention here that there appears to be a tacit endorsement of the opposition by some non ST people through some umbrella organizations.
2. As regards the decreasing share in the ST pie, it is for the government to do the adjustments in the quota between various categories. If not, despite the decrease, the pie needs to be shared between various tribal groups. This would empower the marginalized adivasis of Assam with the same benefits that are available to other STs in Assam. Conferring ST status will also enable them to contest elections in reserved constituencies.
3. The Gurjar claim for ST status is different from the claims of adivasis of Assam. To the best of my knowledge, while Gurjars are not a recognized tribal group any where in the country, the adivasis of Assam are recognized tribal groups in Jharkhand, Bengal, and Orissa.
4. As pointed out by Mr. Alok, ‘class difference’ within the tribal groups is evident but it is not unique to the tribes. Class difference is a generic phenomenon and is evident even in the so called communist countries. This class difference may partly be attributed to the different level of development of the states in which the tribal population is distributed. However, what concerns me more is the indifference that exists among the “upper class” within the tribes towards their less fortunate brethren. Perhaps, the distributed and detached upbringing of this class of tribals is partly responsible for this apathy.
5. Regarding Meenas cornering 30% of the Civil Services, I think it is a matter of personal choice. The ‘upper class’ among the Jharkhandi tribals are the ones whose development is generally missionaries led. To this set of second or third generation educated tribals a government job is increasingly becoming a taboo – not worth the effort; thanks to the widening gap in the remuneration between the private sector and the government sector. This is the generation which does not bother much about reservation and ST status. That also partly explains their indifference towards the less fortunate tribals. The argument that this class of tribals is snatching away opportunities at colleges and institutes from less fortunate brethren is true but unfair because the same applies to all categories including the General Category; such is the nature of competition.
6. Personally, I am not averse to the idea of an income criterion for all categories. But there is a caveat; the employers have to be more equitable and just in recruiting staff. There is evidence of caste & religion based discrimination in recruitments (See S Thorat & P Attewell’s article published in Economic and Political Weekly of 13-19 October, 2007)

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Who’s ST? And who isn’t?

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Post Beltola. It is time to review the debate over ST status for Adivasis of Assam.
Adivasis are among the most underprivileged groups of Assam. According to a study by North Eastern Social Research Centre 60 percent of girls and 35 percent of boys in the age group of 6-14 are out of school. Only 4 percent study beyond class VII.
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While different tribal groups of Assam seem to be moving towards a head on collision over the grant of ST status to some underprivileged groups, it would be worthwhile to examine the arguments that are being put forward by those opposing ST status for Adivasis.

One argument that has been put forward is that the Adivasis have ‘lost their tribal characteristics’. Well, if this argument was to be applied impartially, probably all the indigenous tribal groups of North East and perhaps other parts of India (including the Tribal Affairs minister, Mr. Kyndia himself), would loose their ST status. The tribal people of the North East region are more modern (westernized) than any average Indian. This is not to suggest that the tribal groups of rest of India are not influenced by the west. They are, but not as much as the tribal groups of the North East.

Another argument that has been put forward is that the Adivasis are not an indigenous tribe. To this end, according to a report in the media, some indigenous leaders of Assam claim that even Bodos are not considered ST in the Karbi Anglong region. Now, that is very strange because the migrant Adivasis settled in the tea belt of North Bengal are recognized as Scheduled Tribes. Why this anomaly? Aren’t Assam and Bengal governed by the same constitution?

Another question that arises is: How long does a recognized tribal group of another region need to settle in a place to become indigenous? Isn’t 150 years long enough? Certainly, it is, if one were to consider the ST status accorded to the adivasi settlers of North Bengal.

Probably, the determining tests for ST status themselves are flawed, borrowed as they are from colonial knowledge. Sanjib Baruah rightly points out the dangers of depending on colonial knowledge for classification of different tribal groups for consideration of Scheduled Tribe and sixth schedule status (see his article in the editorial page of The Telegraph (Guwahati edition) dated 11th December 2007). Perhaps, it is time we applied our knowledge to make better sense of the people and redefine the rules to determine who deserves ST status and who does not.

Initially, I did not expect the kind opposition that the Adivasis of Assam are now facing. Here is a situation where the most underprivileged people of the state are fighting for their justified demands and the people opposing them are their more privileged fellow tribals stirred by the selfish interests of some politicians whose sole objective is to cling on to power at any cost. What a spectacle it must be for the other sections of the society to watch different tribal groups fight each other?

Sadly, even after 60 years of independence we are exhibiting the same kind of behaviour from which we sought to be free through our freedom struggle.

Manoj Tirkey
http://manojtirkey.blogspot.com/ - POLEMICS - Diversity of views
http://edzucate.blogspot.com/ - ACADEMIA - An academic discourse
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My sincere apologies to anybody whose sentiments I may have hurt unintentionally. It wasn’t my intention to do so. My objective is to tickle some grey cells into thinking differently.
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