----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Rickshaw pullers,
labourers go missing - IANS
At 11:49 AM -0500 5/24/05, Rajen Barua wrote:
We can go
on debating on semantics for days. Let us not do that.
*** I agree. But WHAT semantics are you alluding to? It has all the
trappings of a red-herring to me.
First
precondition for someone to be a Dhwd, he/she will have to have
enough to eat without working.
Assamese
are typically called whose 'akalw nai, bhoralw nai' jati, and that is why
they are Dhwd.
Dhwds are
not poor. Assamese are xom.bhranto dhwds.
*** Is that an astutely researched and acutely observed anthropological
discovery, or is it a self-evident truth, or is it parroting of
meaningless
stereotyping by ignorant people who are too lazy to exercise their
intellectual abilities to learn about real issues?
Now here is
the contradiction. If Assamese have enough to eat without working, What is
then Assam's problem? What Assamese are complaining of? Why they are
complaining of jobs?
*** Whoever suggested the "--If Assamese
have enough to eat without working," hypothesis? Is it a proposition
that one could expect from a person who has even a bare amount of reasoning
abilities ?
It is however all about fabricating conditions or dreaming up assumptions
to prove a pre-conceived and convoluted assertion.
Are they
complaining because others are working from their waste land and trying
to survive and in the process are becoming richer than the
Assamese.
Are
Assamese trying to say, you Orias, you Biharis, you Bangladesis, you starve
to death in your own land. Don't you come to my waste land and try to
survive.
*** Are they? Two hundred years back the Assamese had a lot of land the
British considered 'waste land', because the 'ignorant' natives did not bring
under cultivation. Do you really lack the ability to separate that
issue from today's unemployment in Assam, that you found necessary to mix the
two up together to make the argument you did?
Don't you even consider how that reflects on your reasoning
abilities?
If some
Marwaris, Biharis, Bangladesis are exploiting the Asamese, they
are exploiting by following manner:
Twmare barir bah gaj
Take-ni korisw khorisa
Twmake besi dhan dwn loisw
Kothatw mon korisa.
Now we all
know the problem. Let us not dwell on it. Question is what is the
solution:
*** From what you describe above, if you are suggesting YOU know
the problem, then I must say that *I* don't belong in your milieu of
"we".
My solution
is two fold.
1) Know the
reality, know the problem as noted above, and analyse others. Self criticize
as necessary.
*** That is a profound recommendation no doubt. Know the reality, like
Rajen does. Know the problem as Rajen lays out above. Call the Assamese lazy
if you have to, or other assorted terms of endearment and/or tough love, and
voila--one half of the problem is resolved!
2) Revive
the Assamese people from bottom up. Eastblish NGOs. Inspire and create new
leaders. etc etc
*** Revive the people from the bottom up? What bottom? Those in the
lowest rungs of society in terms of ? Economics, education, morality, faith,
all of the preceding, what? And HOW does one do that? Does Rajen have the
appropriate 'mantra's that could be recited with a few sprinkles of Xonjeevoni
paani ( sacred water) , with a dash of NGO 'mkordhwoj' ( panacea/ cure-all)
after you ordered in a few 'leaders' from Delhi?
Oh my gosh! If a high-school student from Jokaisuk wrote this up he would
fail.
And we are seeing this from someone with your capabilities Rajen?
Your
solution seems to be like:
1) Assamese
are not Dhwds. Don't criticize the poor Assamese. The problem is somewhere
else.
*** Is that a SOLUTION prescription Rajen?
2) It is
center's duty to control the borders to start with. GOI has completly
failed. What Assamese do inside Assam's border is Assam's
problem.
*** Again is that how you perceive solutions to be?
3) To solve
Assam's problem, change the system at the top. Because not only GOI has
failed, but our main problem is also that there is no accountability at
the top. Changing the system will restore
accountability.
*** What is this 'system at the top' thingie? If there is a system at the
top, is there one at the bottom and another in the middle, which might be
different from the one at the top?
Yes, indeed lack of accountability in govt. is a very serious problem. Do
you NOT agree with that? Does it not matter as far as your prescriptions are
concerned?
Has GoI NOT failed in discharging its duties in your estimation? And if
so how so?
The above are a big part of the PROBLEM STATEMENT, but it still is NOT a
solution, or is it in your language?
Changing the system does not automatically restore accountability. That
is a pretty absurd conclusion you make. Is that the best you could imagine on
how changing the system or reforming it means to you? Or are you
phrasing it that way to create the impression that reforms are either an
unnecessary or a harebrained idea? If the latter is what it is, as
most people would read it as, because few if any in Assam Net is that dumb,
then what do you think these folks are thinking about your arguments
?
Would they view it as the considered views of a well experienced
thinking
person dedicated to doing well for Assam?
4) Snatch
Assam from GOI if necessary and become independent because that will
definitely restore our accountability at the top. and
Assamese will be able to live happily ever after.
*** Yes indeed. If GoI is unable to undertake the reforms, Assam will
have to do it by itself. As I always maintained, if GoI relents on its grips
on controls, perhaps Assam could introduce the changes and the reforms as a
part of the union. But if not it will have to do what it can to wrest those
controls off the Center.
Will the Assamese live happily ever after? I am not into predicting such
outcomes, unlike those determinists who seem to know all about what is good
for Assam, except thewir solutions have not made any difference so far. But
certainly it won't be any worse than it is now under Indian rule.
Read Sanjib Baruah's book (if someone has the courage to
read) to know the actual problem etc etc
*** Funny thing is that it would indeed go a long way. However I must
qualify that with a disclaimer: It depends on the ability to read and
comprehend ordinary English. Some people get very confused and cannot
comprehend anything that do not validate their pre-conceived notions.
(BTW I will
order the book if available now and try to have the courage to read.
I admire Baruah for what he is doing. Hope he will be able
to tell me something new.)
*** I won't hold my breath , if recent experiences are any guide.
Correct me
if I err on my evaluation.
*** Naaah, how could you err?
Rajen
----- Original Message -----
From: Chan
Mahanta
To: Rajen
Barua ; mridul bhuyan ;
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 10:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Rickshaw pullers, labourers go
missing - IANS
Rajen:
I just wrote a response, but I did not post it. Because I kept
wondering if you are serious or if this your sense of satire. But you are
a very literate person, much more than most of us here. So this could not
be satire.
Could it be humor then? I know not all of us are endowed with
a sense of humor. Therefore sometimes our attempts at it, come out
smelling like you know what? Is
that what it is?
Or is it a display of a sense of deep frustration, leading to
'bere-saale-kwbwa' exercises like this?
BTW, the British did not bring the Central Indian bonded labor
to the tea gardens because the Oxomiyas were lazy. It is one
of the most ignorant perceptions I have ever seen, very unbecoming coming
from a person like yourself who has a demonstrated command over historical
knowledge. But looks like your knowledge of history also suffers from that
desi-disability, an absence of the critical/analytical component. But just
so you know, it was because:
1:
The Assamese peasantry had plenty of land to cultivate and
live
on. They had no need to serve as bonded laborers of the British
colonial masters.
2:
The British colonial settlement policies, which were designed
to
settle vast tracts of un-used "waste" land of
Assam.
If you have the courage, read Durable Disorder. Sanjib
Baruah's explanations will open your eyes and perhaps even the mind :-) to
the realities. In Chapter Three he deals with British Land Resources
policies, which addresses these issues.
I was completely unaware of the many details until about three
years back, when Baruah was kind enough to share with me a copy of his
pre-publication paper on these matter. I was aware of bits of the puzzle,
from accounts of my own ancestors,and neighbors where I grew up, even
though I did not know how everything fit together. Baruah's researches
brought everything together, making the picture understandable. I recall
writing to him at that time that it was explosive knowledge.
c
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