[chhattisgarh-net] Digest Number 1979

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:58:50 -0700

Title: chhattisgarh-net

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1.

Ban on Charandas Chor: Chhattisgarh Governments Cultural Fascism

Posted by: "CGNet" cgnet...@gmail.com

Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:50 pm (PDT)



Ban on Charandas Chor: Chhattisgarh Governments Cultural Fascism

- Pranay Krishna, Liberation, September, 2009.

True to its character, the Chhattisgarh Government on July 8 banned Habib
Tanvirs internationally reputed play Charandas Chor, which had been running
since 1974. This play, based on a Rajasthani folk tale, was written by Vijaydan
Detha, and was initially called Phitrati Chor. Habib Tanvir, in the process of
adapting the play to suit the Chhattisgarhi language, culture and dramatic and
musical traditions, introduced considerable changes in the script and
dramatisation.

Charandas Chor is a contemporary classic in many ways. A petty thief makes four
pledges to his guru  that he will never eat out of a gold plate; never sit on
an elephant in a procession in his own honour; never become a king; and never
marry a princess (pledges he thinks are far too unlikely ever to be tested). His
guru imposes a fifth pledge – that he will never tell a lie. He eventually
loses his life upholding these five pledges. Charandas knows all the ploys to
cheat the laws and the system. He makes the powerful the target of his thieving.
Charandas Chor, through its main character, playfully exposes the double
standards of the power-structure, dominant classes and society. A thief turns
out to be more true, honest and just than the establishment.

It is true that this play is based on folk tales and not on contemporary
struggles in Chhattisgarh. Why, then, do those in power feel so threatened by
this play? This play was first performed in 1974 when there was not even a
remote possibility of the formation of a Chhattisgarh state. Neither could the
footfalls of todays movements in Chhattisgarh be heard then. The play was
translated and performed in innumerable languages in the country and abroad. In
1975, Shyam Benegal made a film based on this play. The quality of a classic is
such that is conveys meanings far beyond its literal words. Reaching across its
immediate words, its characters and its time and place, it becomes relevant in
entirely new contexts and eras. Why do the Mahabharat’s contradictions become
relevant time and again in different eras and contexts? And of course, Charandas
Chor, in the hands of Habib sahib, became entirely a part of Chhattisgarhi folk
culture. Could it be that
after the formation of the Chhattisgarh state, the play has begun to resonate
with the character of the power-structure which is waging war against the
adivasi people in favour of the corporations that are intent on looting the
natural resources of the state, and jailing those like Dr. Binayak Sen, who dare
protest? Is this play, by any chance, giving voice to the anti-establishment
values and aspirations buried in the subconscious of readers and audience? Could
it be that this play, thanks to its classicality, has in an entirely unexpected
way, begun to reflect the ongoing war between Chhattisgarhs rulers and its
people? With the ban on the play, it is inevitable for all these questions to be
asked.

Those who believe the Chhattisgarh governments assertion that the ban has
been imposed in the light of Satnami guru Baldas objections are naive. One
should recall how some years ago an organisation calling itself the Dalit
Sanstha burnt copies of Premchands Rangbhumi. Most Dalit writers condemned
this act and exposed that it was sponsored by the Sangh Parivar. Manipulating
religious and caste identities as a pretext for repression and violence is a
well-known tactic of the Sangh and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). It is notable
that the Satnami community and its representatives never had any objection to
this play before 2004, though it had been played for four decades and most of
its actors were in fact from the Satnami community.

The Chhattisgarh Government is playing a devious double game. Through the
‘Pramod Verma Memorial Conference, it recently gathered a range of
progressive and democratic cultural personalities on the same platform as the
Chief Minister and Minister for Culture. Then, within a month of this event, it
imposed a ban on Charandas Chor. The letter written by Satnami guru Baldas
against the play was prior to the Memorial Conference, and the Government had
clearly made up its mind to ban the play well before the Conference. But that
event had the immediate utility of putting many of those voices which would
naturally protest the ban, on the defensive, and of undermining the credibility
of their protest.

Attacks on Habib Tanvirs plays by the Sangh-BJP are nothing new. Even in his
lifetime he faced such assaults bravely. There are many versions of the ban
announcement in the media. One claim is that the play has not been banned –
the book has been banned from being read during the 'Book reading week' in
schools (3-9 August), while according to other versions the book as well as
staging of the play has been banned. The Chhattisgarh Government is yet to offer
any clarification. However, whatever be the nature of ban, there can be no
excuse or explanation except that the ban is part and parcel of the RSS-BJP’s
agenda of cultural nationalism, which Habib Tanvir himself called “another
name for fascism.

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2.

A very Indian insurgency : The Guardian article on Naxalites

Posted by: "Shubhranshu Choudhary" s...@cgnet.in

Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:53 pm (PDT)



A very Indian insurgency

The greatest militant threat facing India comes not from the Islamists who
attacked Mumbai but Naxalite Maoist rebels
Mustafa Qadri <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/mustafaqadri>
guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Wednesday 16 September 2009
09.00 BST

Last November's fedayeen-style attacks on
Mumbai<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/mumbai-terror-attacks>may have
reminded the world that India was not immune to terrorism. But few
outside the subcontinent are aware that the greatest source of militancy in
this diverse country comes not from Islamists but Maoists.

Insurgencies by Naxalites <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite> (named
after Naxalbari, a town in West Bengal where rural peasants took up arms
against oppressive local landowners in 1967) have proliferated over a vast
beltway stretching from the forests of Bengal in the north to Kerala in the
south.

Astonishingly, there is believed to be a Naxalite presence in one-third of
the Indian landmass, or 16 of India's 28 states. Authorities estimate that
one-fifth of the nation's forests are under Naxalite control.

In comparison, at the beginning of this year the Taliban in neighbouring
Pakistan was believed to control a maximum of
11%<http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=174334>of the
country, all in the North-West Frontier province and Federally
Administered Tribal Area along the border with Afghanistan. Little wonder,
then, that the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, recently dubbed the
Maoist rebels <http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=311> the "single
biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country".

In contrast, the Economist derided
them<http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7799247>as
"an outmoded ideology" that is "out of keeping with the modern India
of
soaring growth, Bollywood dreams and call-centres".

Such typecasting – of India's apparent economic dream and the seemingly
luddite rebellion opposed to it – is as much a part of the problem as the
violence that has embroiled rural India. Vast economic and social
disparities between rich and poor persist here despite, and indeed because
of, the economic boom of recent times. Although the Indian constitution
outlaws the caste system, it still causes much discrimination with, in the
words of University of Westminster's Radha
D'Souza<http://westminster.academia.edu/RadhaDSouza>,
the poorest facing "routine everyday violence" by the police.

India's controversial special economic zones, like those in China and other
developing nations, have also played a role, causing massive dislocations of
communities in the name of giant hydro, mineral or logging projects that
benefit powerful local and multinational businesses.

The Naxalites are a product of these traumas. Like the Taliban in
neighbouring Pakistan, they capitalise on the latest experiences of
generations-old corruption, harassment and nepotism and promise stability,
an equitable share of wealth and quick, if brutal, justice.

They are particularly popular among the poorest communities, especially in
rural areas such as the remote
forests<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/may/09/india.randeepramesh>of
resource-rich Chhattisgarh where Aboriginal tribespeople have been
forcibly "relocated" to make way for mining companies hungry for the iron
ore buried under their feet.

Authorities have facilitated relocations like this – even the communist-led
government of West Bengal that championed land reforms for the poorest in
the late 1970s stands accused of removing peasants to make way for a
Tata<http://www.tata.com/>car factory.

The Naxalites are often the only ones standing up for the dispossessed.
Leaders like Koteswar Rao (known as Kishanji) claim their overall
aim<http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&issueid=111&id=57786&Itemid=1&sectionid=114>is
to "liberate" the poorest and transform India into a socialist state
along the lines of Maoist communism.

Such rhetoric marks the Naxalites out as true insurgents. Like a fledgling
state, the rebels administer justice in "people's courts", and raise "taxes"
from families and businesses in areas under their influence. Indian
authorities say the largest Naxal network, the Communist party of India
(Maoist), raised 10bn rupees
<http://www.boloji.com/opinion/0549.htm>(£125m) in "taxation" in 2007.

But the Naxalites are far from a united force. Regional rivalries – most
broadly split among different political and militant factions – have
occasionally led to bloody internecine conflict. As a result, Naxal
allegiances typically vary from village to village in every region they are
present.

Some Naxal rebels have been guilty of committing wanton atrocities that
their critics say prove they are not about liberation but to intimidate
ordinary villagers into joining their ranks. During election periods, for
instance, Naxalites have threatened to cut off voters'
hands<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/india-election-naxals>.
Naxalites are openly hostile to parliamentary politics – they view
mainstream communist parties such as those of West Bengal and Kerala states
as enemies of India's underclasses.

Others, such as the anthropologist George
Kunnath<http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content%7Edb=all%7Econtent=a747725298>,
speak of the movement's positive contributions – the emancipation of
indentured "schedule caste" labourers who are otherwise condemned to
generations of de facto slavery, greater social equality between men and
women, and their promotion of education for all.

Whether or not the positives outweigh the negatives, the government has
itself been guilty of excesses.

In Chhattisgarh, government security forces and a vigilante militia known as
the Salwa Judum – ostensibly created to protect people against Naxal rebels
– have been implicated in
atrocities<http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/04/26/india-draconian-response-naxalite-violence>like
extra-judicial killings and forcible
evictions<http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/07/13/india-end-state-support-vigilantes>that
have exacerbated the conflict. According to Amnesty International,
villagers who complain of police or paramilitary abuse are branded Naxalites
to silence them.

Compounding matters, the Indian government looks to be escalating its
military presence in affected regions and especially in Chhattisgarh. Since
July, it has deployed hundreds of soldiers along with air and paramilitary
forces <http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/28naxal.htm> to combat the
Naxalites in Chhattisgarh who, in turn, have murdered scores of police
personnel.

To his credit, Singh acknowledges that the Naxalite rebellions are at least
in part a consequence of decades-old alienation of the poorest owing to
discrimination, poverty and harassment. Yet there are no clear signals that
the rhetoric is being matched with economic and social policies capable of
bridging the social and economic divides between rich and poor. Without that
divide there would be no Naxalites.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/16/naxalite-rebels-india
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3.

World Bank concerned over India's energy preferences

Posted by: "Shubhranshu Choudhary" s...@cgnet.in

Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 pm (PDT)



WB concerned over India's energy preferences

India's coal based power generation system will only add to the global
warming and it should move to greener technologies, World Bank says

Published on 9/16/2009 12:26:49 PM

*New Delhi:* India's thrust on producing electricity from coal has become a matter of concern for the World Bank which urged the country to move to
greener ways to generate power and reduce global warming.

Increasing access to energy and other services using high-carbon
technologies will produce more greenhouse gases and will add to global
warming, a World Bank report warned.

In its World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change, the
Bank noted that 1.6 billion people in the developing world lack access to
electricity. In India alone, more than 400 million people do not have
electricity.

"India faces tremendous challenges in substantially altering its emissions
path given its relatively efficient economy and limited endowment of clean
energy resources and for carbon storage sites," the report says.

"India relies heavily on coal, which accounts for 53 per cent of its
commercial energy supply. Large potential exists, however, for improving
energy efficiency and reducing transmission and distribution losses."

The report finds that existing low-carbon technologies and best practices
could reduce energy consumption significantly, saving money as well. For
example, it is possible to cut energy consumption in industry and the power
sector by 20-30 per cent, helping reduce carbon footprints without
sacrificing growth, reports IANS.

In addition, many changes required to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
also deliver significant benefits in environmental sustainability, public
health, energy security, and financial savings. Avoided deforestation, for
instance, preserves watersheds and protects biodiversity, while forests can
effectively serve as a carbon sink.

With costs of renewable energy declining over the past two decades, wind,
geothermal, and hydropower are already or nearly cost-competitive with
fossil fuels, the report says.

Thanks to innovation and technology diffusion, wind is now powering the
first stages of what could become an energy revolution. And although most
installed wind capacity is in Europe and the US, the pattern is shifting,
the report says.

In 2008, India and China each installed more wind capacity than any other
country except the US and together they host nearly 20 per cent of the
world's capacity.

Solving the climate problem requires a transformation of the world's energy
systems in the coming decades, according to the report. Research and
development investments on the order of US $100-700 billion annually will be
needed — a major increase from the modest US $13 billion a year of public
funds and US $40-60 billion a year of private funds currently invested.

Developing countries, particularly the poorest and most exposed, will need
assistance in adapting to the changing climate, the report says.

"Climate finance must be greatly expanded, since current funding levels fall
far short of foreseeable needs” the report says.

"Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), managed by the World Bank and implemented
jointly with regional developing banks, offer one opportunity for leveraging
support from advanced countries, since these funds can buy-down the costs of
low-carbon technologies in developing countries."

"Developing countries face 75-80 per cent of the potential damage from
climate change. They urgently need help to prepare for drought, floods, and
rising sea levels. They also need to intensify agricultural productivity,
contain malnutrition and disease, and build climate-resilient
infrastructure," World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President
Development Economics Justin Lin said.

http://www.igovernment.in/site/WB-concerned-over-Indias-energy-preferences/
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