The wages of protest

The wages of protest
Arundhati Dhuru & Dr Sandeep Pandey

[Published in THE HINDU, 5 April 2009]

While the RTI Act and the audit provisions of NREGA enable ordinary people to demand accountability from governments, it doesn’t always work like that on the ground. There have been several cases recently in U.P., where the demand for rights by workers has been met with violence…

The political ruling class has decided to deal with the demands being raised by workers for their legal rights strongly.

The advent of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) were a breakthrough in Indian democracy. They provided the openings in a system which was opaque, insensitive and impersonal to the common citizens of this country. The ruling elite which was not prepared to be answerable to people at all had to relent. They realised that, after all, they are functioning in a democracy which is created in the name of the people. People began asking questions under the RTI Act and started conducting social audits under NREGA, which were revolutionary ideas given the kind of system we have inherited from the British and given the mindset bureaucracy develops when it is entrenched in this system. People did achieve success using the RTI and the social audit provision and a definite empowerment was taking place.

However, it looks as if it’s been decided that enough is enough. People could be allowed the luxury of only so much transparency and accountability. They could not transgress the limit beyond which the unquestioned supremacy of the ruling elites stood to be challenged. The initial fear in their minds towards these pro-people laws has vanished and now they are dealing with people demanding their basic rights under these Acts with vengeance. They have decided to quell every voice which raises questions about their highhandedness with utmost contempt and violence if necessary. The administrative machinery, which is supposed to be responsible for implementing these laws, is being used by the people’s representatives with impunity.

Plenty of discrepancies

In the Dumri Village Panchayat of Kasya Block of Kushinagar district of U.P., what started as an investigation into the discrepancies in Below Poverty Line survey, on a complaint made by some villagers, turned into a full fledged investigation into bungling in development funds which came through the Panchayat. Discrepancies were observed by an Assistant Commissioner in the Rural Development Department in the housing schemes for poor as well as NREGA. Advocate Udaybhan Yadav, who was instrumental in getting this investigation done, was threatened by the Gram Pradhan Dinesh Verma and his men. On February 28, 2009, when the men of Gram Pradhan were beating a dalit labourer Parasuram, who was vocal in questioning the fake muster roll in which wages were withdrawn in his name whereas he had not even worked under NREGA, Udaybhan intervened. He was also beaten up. A dalit, Kapil Dev, receiving patronage from the Pradhan, registered a FIR against Udaybhan and a case under (Prevention of) Atrocities against S.C./S.T. Act was filed. Under political pressure, Udaybhan and his father Hari Yadav were arrested on March 9. Parasuram’s brother Ram Bharat and father Jaikaran were also arrested but released later.

Fight for wages

In the village Panchayat Aira Kake Mau of Bharawan Block of Hardoi District, workers had assembled on January 14, 2009, at the door of the Gram Pradhan as previously agreed, to seek their unpaid wages. The husband of the Gram Pradhan, Ghanshyam, who runs the show here on behalf of his wife, first tried to threaten the labourers. The police arrived when the situation became tense. When the workers wanted to file complaints against the Gram Pradhan for violation of their rights under the NREGA, Ghanshyam ordered his men to rain lathis on the labourers and social activists present there in support of the workers in the presence of the Station House Officer and the police of Atrauli Police Station. One dalit labourer, Medai, and a social activist, Ram Bharose, sustained injuries on the head. Although a case was filed against Ghanshyam, in spite of repeated applications to various authorities by dalit labourers who were present at the site of incident, (Prevention of) Atrocities against S.C./S.T. Act has not been used against Ghanshyam and no action has thus far been taken against him.

In Kopaganj Block of Mau district, labourers from the villages Devkali, Bishunpur, Purana Kopa and Jairamgarh, mostly women and dalit, had assembled at the office of the Block Officer, merely eight km from the district headquarters, to demand wages due for the last six months. One of the labourers was called inside the office for dialogue and beaten up by those inside. The labourers were furious. The Block Development Officer, Ram Dular and an employee, Sanjiv Singh, had to bear the brunt of the anger. Some women also got hurt in this scuffle. Full wages have still not been paid and nobody involved in beating the worker has been punished.

In the village Panchayat Rura of Kasmanda Block of District Sitapur, a pond deepening work was in progress on February 28, 2009. Some women labourers wandered off to drink water from a hand pump. The hand pump belonged to a powerful person from the locality, Madan Dixit, popularly know as Madan Muni in this area. The women had to face obscene comments. When the male members of the families wanted to register their protest against these obscene remarks, they were beaten up. When the workers reached the police station to file a case against their tormentors, Madan Muni was already there. The workers wanted to register a case under the (Prevention of) atrocities against the S.C./S.T. Act. The police asked them to come next morning in an attempt to arrive at a compromise. When the workers were unmoved from their demand the next day, two men and two women labourers were beaten by the police inside the police station. premises. With the help of social organisations of the area a case was finally registered against Madan Muni under the (Prevention of) atrocities against the S.C./S.T. Act but no action has been taken against the police personnel who were involved in beating the workers.

Underpaid

In the Cholapur Block of District Varanasi, about 200 workers belonging to Dhaurahra, Saryan and Munari were not paid their wages for about a month for deepening a pond in Saryan G.P. The Junior Engineer had measured the work and calculated payment of wages at the rate of Rs. 39.80 per day. The workers were not satisfied as for similar work in Dhaurahra G.P. workers were paid the minimum wages of Rs. 100 per day. On February 26, 2009, the Village Development Officer gave in writing that all workers would be paid at the rate of Rs. 100 per day on March 3, 2009. When the workers assembled on March 5, at the Block Office, the BDO was absent. On the advice of a Block employee they decided to block the Varanasi-Azamgarh Highway. The SHO of Cholapur P.S. arrived and the workers were lathi-charged quite mercilessly. About 50 people including approximately 10 women were badly hurt. Heerawati, who was pregnant, was also hurt. The SHO took 20 people and 50 bicycles with him to the police station and the workers were released on personal bonds. When asked as to what action he would take against the VDO for violating the legal rights of workers under NREGA by not paying the wages, the SHO said he was merely following the orders from the higher ups. He refused to reveal the name of the officer who had ordered lathi charge. The next day, wages at the rate of Rs. 42 per day were transferred into the accounts of the labourers.

The repression of workers is now emerging as a trend. The political ruling class has decided to deal with the demands being raised by workers for their legal rights strongly. The workers will be punished. The ruling elites realise that these demands ultimately will lead to a clamour for a more equitable society and wider and deeper participation of workers in the decision making process in our democracy. They do not want to give away this power easily. The above-mentioned incidents also indicate that the workers are now getting better organised than before. NREGA has at least helped achieve that. We hope that the problems of workers will be resolved within the constitutional framework peacefully and will lead to further democratisation of society and government.

Arundhati Dhuru & Dr Sandeep Pandey

[Arundhati Dhuru is a national convener of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), and an Adviser to Supreme Court Commissioner on Right to Food. She is noted for her frontline leadership of the anti-dam movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan) and has extensive experience of working on people's issues across India. Email: arundhatidhuru@yahoo.co.uk]

[Dr Sandeep Pandey is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, member of National Presidium, People's Politics Front (PPF), heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com. Website: www.citizen-news.org]

[Published in THE HINDU, 5 April 2009]

The wages of protest

The wages of protest
Arundhati Dhuru & Dr Sandeep Pandey

[Published in THE HINDU, 5 April 2009]

While the RTI Act and the audit provisions of NREGA enable ordinary people to demand accountability from governments, it doesn’t always work like that on the ground. There have been several cases recently in U.P., where the demand for rights by workers has been met with violence…

The political ruling class has decided to deal with the demands being raised by workers for their legal rights strongly.

The advent of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) were a breakthrough in Indian democracy. They provided the openings in a system which was opaque, insensitive and impersonal to the common citizens of this country. The ruling elite which was not prepared to be answerable to people at all had to relent. They realised that, after all, they are functioning in a democracy which is created in the name of the people. People began asking questions under the RTI Act and started conducting social audits under NREGA, which were revolutionary ideas given the kind of system we have inherited from the British and given the mindset bureaucracy develops when it is entrenched in this system. People did achieve success using the RTI and the social audit provision and a definite empowerment was taking place.

However, it looks as if it’s been decided that enough is enough. People could be allowed the luxury of only so much transparency and accountability. They could not transgress the limit beyond which the unquestioned supremacy of the ruling elites stood to be challenged. The initial fear in their minds towards these pro-people laws has vanished and now they are dealing with people demanding their basic rights under these Acts with vengeance. They have decided to quell every voice which raises questions about their highhandedness with utmost contempt and violence if necessary. The administrative machinery, which is supposed to be responsible for implementing these laws, is being used by the people’s representatives with impunity.

Plenty of discrepancies

In the Dumri Village Panchayat of Kasya Block of Kushinagar district of U.P., what started as an investigation into the discrepancies in Below Poverty Line survey, on a complaint made by some villagers, turned into a full fledged investigation into bungling in development funds which came through the Panchayat. Discrepancies were observed by an Assistant Commissioner in the Rural Development Department in the housing schemes for poor as well as NREGA. Advocate Udaybhan Yadav, who was instrumental in getting this investigation done, was threatened by the Gram Pradhan Dinesh Verma and his men. On February 28, 2009, when the men of Gram Pradhan were beating a dalit labourer Parasuram, who was vocal in questioning the fake muster roll in which wages were withdrawn in his name whereas he had not even worked under NREGA, Udaybhan intervened. He was also beaten up. A dalit, Kapil Dev, receiving patronage from the Pradhan, registered a FIR against Udaybhan and a case under (Prevention of) Atrocities against S.C./S.T. Act was filed. Under political pressure, Udaybhan and his father Hari Yadav were arrested on March 9. Parasuram’s brother Ram Bharat and father Jaikaran were also arrested but released later.

Fight for wages

In the village Panchayat Aira Kake Mau of Bharawan Block of Hardoi District, workers had assembled on January 14, 2009, at the door of the Gram Pradhan as previously agreed, to seek their unpaid wages. The husband of the Gram Pradhan, Ghanshyam, who runs the show here on behalf of his wife, first tried to threaten the labourers. The police arrived when the situation became tense. When the workers wanted to file complaints against the Gram Pradhan for violation of their rights under the NREGA, Ghanshyam ordered his men to rain lathis on the labourers and social activists present there in support of the workers in the presence of the Station House Officer and the police of Atrauli Police Station. One dalit labourer, Medai, and a social activist, Ram Bharose, sustained injuries on the head. Although a case was filed against Ghanshyam, in spite of repeated applications to various authorities by dalit labourers who were present at the site of incident, (Prevention of) Atrocities against S.C./S.T. Act has not been used against Ghanshyam and no action has thus far been taken against him.

In Kopaganj Block of Mau district, labourers from the villages Devkali, Bishunpur, Purana Kopa and Jairamgarh, mostly women and dalit, had assembled at the office of the Block Officer, merely eight km from the district headquarters, to demand wages due for the last six months. One of the labourers was called inside the office for dialogue and beaten up by those inside. The labourers were furious. The Block Development Officer, Ram Dular and an employee, Sanjiv Singh, had to bear the brunt of the anger. Some women also got hurt in this scuffle. Full wages have still not been paid and nobody involved in beating the worker has been punished.

In the village Panchayat Rura of Kasmanda Block of District Sitapur, a pond deepening work was in progress on February 28, 2009. Some women labourers wandered off to drink water from a hand pump. The hand pump belonged to a powerful person from the locality, Madan Dixit, popularly know as Madan Muni in this area. The women had to face obscene comments. When the male members of the families wanted to register their protest against these obscene remarks, they were beaten up. When the workers reached the police station to file a case against their tormentors, Madan Muni was already there. The workers wanted to register a case under the (Prevention of) atrocities against the S.C./S.T. Act. The police asked them to come next morning in an attempt to arrive at a compromise. When the workers were unmoved from their demand the next day, two men and two women labourers were beaten by the police inside the police station. premises. With the help of social organisations of the area a case was finally registered against Madan Muni under the (Prevention of) atrocities against the S.C./S.T. Act but no action has been taken against the police personnel who were involved in beating the workers.

Underpaid

In the Cholapur Block of District Varanasi, about 200 workers belonging to Dhaurahra, Saryan and Munari were not paid their wages for about a month for deepening a pond in Saryan G.P. The Junior Engineer had measured the work and calculated payment of wages at the rate of Rs. 39.80 per day. The workers were not satisfied as for similar work in Dhaurahra G.P. workers were paid the minimum wages of Rs. 100 per day. On February 26, 2009, the Village Development Officer gave in writing that all workers would be paid at the rate of Rs. 100 per day on March 3, 2009. When the workers assembled on March 5, at the Block Office, the BDO was absent. On the advice of a Block employee they decided to block the Varanasi-Azamgarh Highway. The SHO of Cholapur P.S. arrived and the workers were lathi-charged quite mercilessly. About 50 people including approximately 10 women were badly hurt. Heerawati, who was pregnant, was also hurt. The SHO took 20 people and 50 bicycles with him to the police station and the workers were released on personal bonds. When asked as to what action he would take against the VDO for violating the legal rights of workers under NREGA by not paying the wages, the SHO said he was merely following the orders from the higher ups. He refused to reveal the name of the officer who had ordered lathi charge. The next day, wages at the rate of Rs. 42 per day were transferred into the accounts of the labourers.

The repression of workers is now emerging as a trend. The political ruling class has decided to deal with the demands being raised by workers for their legal rights strongly. The workers will be punished. The ruling elites realise that these demands ultimately will lead to a clamour for a more equitable society and wider and deeper participation of workers in the decision making process in our democracy. They do not want to give away this power easily. The above-mentioned incidents also indicate that the workers are now getting better organised than before. NREGA has at least helped achieve that. We hope that the problems of workers will be resolved within the constitutional framework peacefully and will lead to further democratisation of society and government.

Arundhati Dhuru & Dr Sandeep Pandey

[Arundhati Dhuru is a national convener of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), and an Adviser to Supreme Court Commissioner on Right to Food. She is noted for her frontline leadership of the anti-dam movement (Narmada Bachao Andolan) and has extensive experience of working on people's issues across India. Email: arundhatidhuru@yahoo.co.uk]

[Dr Sandeep Pandey is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, member of National Presidium, People's Politics Front (PPF), heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com. Website: www.citizen-news.org]

[Published in THE HINDU, 5 April 2009]

Diagnosing the doctor

Diagnosing the doctor

[Published in THE TEHELKA, 3 April 2009]

Dr. Manmohan Singh has survived a full five year term in office as PM, which itself is an achievement in the post-Indira Gandhi era of coalition politics. It is a different matter that he jettisoned a more respectable and ideologically sound support from the Left Front in exchange for an opportunistic support from the Samajwadi Party on the issue of Indo-US Nuclear Deal when he was facing a confidence motion in Parliament last year. For him the Deal was a prestige issue and defending it he was his most assertive self, a rare sight, even launching a frontal attack on L.K. Advani for his role in supervising the Babri Masjid demolition.

Dr. Manmohan Singh will be remembered as the harbinger of neo-liberal economic policies of liberalization- privatization-globalization in this country first as Finance Secretary, then as Finance Minister and finally as the PM. However, it is ironical that towards the end of his term as PM he is abdicating his responsibility towards the desired results of these policies, even though his Party is desperately trying to project these policies as success by launching the ‘Jai Ho’ campaign. But isn’t ‘Jai Ho’ just another name for ‘India Shining?’ Actually, he gave indications of his shaking confidence in these policies in two meetings of CII, much before the global recession set in abroad and Satyam happened at home, by making utterances which scandalized the corporate barons of this country. He suggested that CEOs must consider placing voluntary ceilings on their salaries. He said that the gap between the rich and poor would produce social unrest. He said that for an unemployed youth a 9% growth rate didn’t mean anything. He added that CEOs must not treat their wealth for personal consumption only but should consider using it for general good of society. He invoked the much forgotten ‘trusteeship principle’ of Mahatma Gandhi, which probably no politician in independent India has ever mentioned. Now, these thoughts would make a very sound policy if the objective was to create a humane and equitable society instead of elevating the growth rate. But coming from Manmohan Singh, these appeared out of place. He probably didn’t take them seriously either. It was more of a frustration on account of his inability to control farmer suicides in spite of maintaining a very good growth rate of the overall economy. His abovementioned statements go against the basic training that he has got as an economist and probably his colleagues Montek Singh Ahluwalia and P. Chidambram, who were with him in implementing the LPG policies, wouldn’t endorse these utopian ideas. Nevertheless, any economist would agree that the effect of neo-liberal policies has been the widening gap between the rich and poor. In fact, before the Mumbai attack, Manmohan Singh has said more than once that naxalism is a bigger threat to India than terrorism.

Dr. Manmohan Singh failed to prevent the spread of either naxalism or terrorism. His government’s policy of using brute force to crush these forces has produced backlash. Irom Sharmila continues to fast in her ninth year in custody at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Imphal demanding the repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. She came to New Delhi in 2006 but there was no positive response from the government. The government doesn’t know how to deal with people who take up arms and it doesn’t know how to deal with the most imaginable form of peaceful protest. It goofs up by keeping Dr. Binayak Sen in jail as a naxalite sympathizer, without any concrete evidence against him and denying him bail. On the other hand convicted persons like Navjot Singh Sidhu, Shibu Soren and Sanjay Dutt have no problem in pursuing their political goals.

By continuing to support the American policy of war against terror in addition to the economic policies of LPG, Manmohan Singh has helped the difference between the BJP and Congress Party disappear. The post-Mumbai response of the government appeared to be to deny the plank of terrorism to BJP in the forthcoming elections. Its tough stand against the civilian Pakistani government forced the Pakistani politicians to retract from their initial cooperative response and stalled the Indo-Pak peace process, an area in which Manmohan Singh probably made the most significant contribution along with Musharraf. The resumption of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service in 2005 and opening of various trade routes produced a thaw in relationship. We also learn that the two governments were on the verge of a solution on Kashmir which was arrived at taking into confidence the Hurriyat. Manmohan Singh was able to achieve so much, as no PM in the past, possibly because his heart ruled over the traditional bureaucratic-military thinking in this matter. This is also probably the only area where he took decisions as an ordinary human being, his family affected by partition like that of Musharraf, instead of as a modern trained expert.

But he has compromised India ’s sovereignty by signing the Indo-US nuclear deal. His own planning commission doesn’t think that nuclear energy has a future. He was an ardent supporter of renewable sources of energy, like any right thinking individual, until he got invited to Washington DC in 2005. He became ambitious by the encouragement received from George Bush and possibly saw India ’s destiny as a great world power in this cooperation. By agreeing to become the junior military ally of the US and Israel , he reversed the policy of Nehru-Shashtri-Indira-Rajiv of maintaining a respectable distance from the US and being the leader of Non-Aligned Movement. Eager to sign the deal with US, he lost out not only on Iran but also on Myanmar . India was hoping that by stopping to support the cause of Aung San Sui Kyi, Myanmar might consider giving its gas to it. This would have made it easier for it to turn down the Iranian offer and hence please the US . In the end Myanmar gave its gas to China and India lost face on the issue of support to pro-democracy movement in Myanmar . Manmohan Singh has demolished the peace loving sovereign supporter of the people of third world image of India and made it the target of Islamic fundamentalists. His government couldn’t control the terrorist incidents in the country and his police continued to implicate innocent Muslim youth thereby producing further alienation among Muslims. The Batla House encounter will remain a blot on his government, on which in spite of widespread demands for a judicial enquiry, including from within his own Party, ultimately nothing happened. It was his bad luck that just when the Maharashtra ATS was beginning to unravel the Hindu terror network, attack on Mumbai took place, which compounded matters further.

The coming generations of democratic India will remember the Manmohan Singh government for RTIA and NREGA, two of the most pro-people Acts legislated so far in independent India . Sonia Gandhi probably deserves the credit for these more than the PM. Manmohan Singh was supportive of the attempts to scuttle the RTI Act in the name of making amendments until Sonia Gandhi intervened again. But these two Acts will have the same transformative effect on governance as probably the implementation of Mandal Commission report had had on the politics of this country, even though presently the bureaucracy, the judiciary and the ruling class with vested interests are working overtime to kill the spirit of these Acts. The RTI and the social audit provision in NREGA have opened a window for the common citizen where she can participate in the democratic system rather than merely be a voter once in five years and a mute spectator in between two elections.

Dr Sandeep Pandey

(The author is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, member of National Presidium, People's Politics Front (PPF), heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com. Website: www.citizen-news.org)

Published in THE TEHELKA, 3 April 2009

Diagnosing the doctor

Diagnosing the doctor

[Published in THE TEHELKA, 3 April 2009]

Dr. Manmohan Singh has survived a full five year term in office as PM, which itself is an achievement in the post-Indira Gandhi era of coalition politics. It is a different matter that he jettisoned a more respectable and ideologically sound support from the Left Front in exchange for an opportunistic support from the Samajwadi Party on the issue of Indo-US Nuclear Deal when he was facing a confidence motion in Parliament last year. For him the Deal was a prestige issue and defending it he was his most assertive self, a rare sight, even launching a frontal attack on L.K. Advani for his role in supervising the Babri Masjid demolition.

Dr. Manmohan Singh will be remembered as the harbinger of neo-liberal economic policies of liberalization- privatization-globalization in this country first as Finance Secretary, then as Finance Minister and finally as the PM. However, it is ironical that towards the end of his term as PM he is abdicating his responsibility towards the desired results of these policies, even though his Party is desperately trying to project these policies as success by launching the ‘Jai Ho’ campaign. But isn’t ‘Jai Ho’ just another name for ‘India Shining?’ Actually, he gave indications of his shaking confidence in these policies in two meetings of CII, much before the global recession set in abroad and Satyam happened at home, by making utterances which scandalized the corporate barons of this country. He suggested that CEOs must consider placing voluntary ceilings on their salaries. He said that the gap between the rich and poor would produce social unrest. He said that for an unemployed youth a 9% growth rate didn’t mean anything. He added that CEOs must not treat their wealth for personal consumption only but should consider using it for general good of society. He invoked the much forgotten ‘trusteeship principle’ of Mahatma Gandhi, which probably no politician in independent India has ever mentioned. Now, these thoughts would make a very sound policy if the objective was to create a humane and equitable society instead of elevating the growth rate. But coming from Manmohan Singh, these appeared out of place. He probably didn’t take them seriously either. It was more of a frustration on account of his inability to control farmer suicides in spite of maintaining a very good growth rate of the overall economy. His abovementioned statements go against the basic training that he has got as an economist and probably his colleagues Montek Singh Ahluwalia and P. Chidambram, who were with him in implementing the LPG policies, wouldn’t endorse these utopian ideas. Nevertheless, any economist would agree that the effect of neo-liberal policies has been the widening gap between the rich and poor. In fact, before the Mumbai attack, Manmohan Singh has said more than once that naxalism is a bigger threat to India than terrorism.

Dr. Manmohan Singh failed to prevent the spread of either naxalism or terrorism. His government’s policy of using brute force to crush these forces has produced backlash. Irom Sharmila continues to fast in her ninth year in custody at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Imphal demanding the repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act. She came to New Delhi in 2006 but there was no positive response from the government. The government doesn’t know how to deal with people who take up arms and it doesn’t know how to deal with the most imaginable form of peaceful protest. It goofs up by keeping Dr. Binayak Sen in jail as a naxalite sympathizer, without any concrete evidence against him and denying him bail. On the other hand convicted persons like Navjot Singh Sidhu, Shibu Soren and Sanjay Dutt have no problem in pursuing their political goals.

By continuing to support the American policy of war against terror in addition to the economic policies of LPG, Manmohan Singh has helped the difference between the BJP and Congress Party disappear. The post-Mumbai response of the government appeared to be to deny the plank of terrorism to BJP in the forthcoming elections. Its tough stand against the civilian Pakistani government forced the Pakistani politicians to retract from their initial cooperative response and stalled the Indo-Pak peace process, an area in which Manmohan Singh probably made the most significant contribution along with Musharraf. The resumption of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service in 2005 and opening of various trade routes produced a thaw in relationship. We also learn that the two governments were on the verge of a solution on Kashmir which was arrived at taking into confidence the Hurriyat. Manmohan Singh was able to achieve so much, as no PM in the past, possibly because his heart ruled over the traditional bureaucratic-military thinking in this matter. This is also probably the only area where he took decisions as an ordinary human being, his family affected by partition like that of Musharraf, instead of as a modern trained expert.

But he has compromised India ’s sovereignty by signing the Indo-US nuclear deal. His own planning commission doesn’t think that nuclear energy has a future. He was an ardent supporter of renewable sources of energy, like any right thinking individual, until he got invited to Washington DC in 2005. He became ambitious by the encouragement received from George Bush and possibly saw India ’s destiny as a great world power in this cooperation. By agreeing to become the junior military ally of the US and Israel , he reversed the policy of Nehru-Shashtri-Indira-Rajiv of maintaining a respectable distance from the US and being the leader of Non-Aligned Movement. Eager to sign the deal with US, he lost out not only on Iran but also on Myanmar . India was hoping that by stopping to support the cause of Aung San Sui Kyi, Myanmar might consider giving its gas to it. This would have made it easier for it to turn down the Iranian offer and hence please the US . In the end Myanmar gave its gas to China and India lost face on the issue of support to pro-democracy movement in Myanmar . Manmohan Singh has demolished the peace loving sovereign supporter of the people of third world image of India and made it the target of Islamic fundamentalists. His government couldn’t control the terrorist incidents in the country and his police continued to implicate innocent Muslim youth thereby producing further alienation among Muslims. The Batla House encounter will remain a blot on his government, on which in spite of widespread demands for a judicial enquiry, including from within his own Party, ultimately nothing happened. It was his bad luck that just when the Maharashtra ATS was beginning to unravel the Hindu terror network, attack on Mumbai took place, which compounded matters further.

The coming generations of democratic India will remember the Manmohan Singh government for RTIA and NREGA, two of the most pro-people Acts legislated so far in independent India . Sonia Gandhi probably deserves the credit for these more than the PM. Manmohan Singh was supportive of the attempts to scuttle the RTI Act in the name of making amendments until Sonia Gandhi intervened again. But these two Acts will have the same transformative effect on governance as probably the implementation of Mandal Commission report had had on the politics of this country, even though presently the bureaucracy, the judiciary and the ruling class with vested interests are working overtime to kill the spirit of these Acts. The RTI and the social audit provision in NREGA have opened a window for the common citizen where she can participate in the democratic system rather than merely be a voter once in five years and a mute spectator in between two elections.

Dr Sandeep Pandey

(The author is a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) for emergent leadership, member of National Presidium, People's Politics Front (PPF), heads the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) and did his PhD from University of California, Berkeley in control theory which is applicable in missile technology. He taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur before devoting his life to strengthening people's movements in early 1990s. He can be contacted at: ashaashram@yahoo.com. Website: www.citizen-news.org)

Published in THE TEHELKA, 3 April 2009

Will IMF deliver G-20's booster for world economy?

Will IMF deliver G-20's booster for world economy?

Earlier this week the Group of Twenty leaders announced a USD 1.1 trillion booster-dose into the world economy by the end of 2010 through multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, in July 2008, analysts from Cambridge and Yale Universities had reported that tuberculosis (TB) in countries with IMF loans rose sharply.

The strict conditions on IMF loans were blamed for thousands of extra TB deaths in Eastern Europe, and former Soviet republics. A UK TB charity backed the Public Library of Science (PLoS) study findings - but the IMF had firmly rejected them, as per a BBC news (July 2008).

David Stuckler from Cambridge University had said to BBC in July 2008 that "If we really want to create sustainable economic growth, we need first to ensure that we have taken care of people's most basic health needs."

Most alarming was when the levels of drug-resistant TB shot up in eastern Europe and former soviet union.

The BBC news further said that "in recent years, it [IMF] has offered assistance to 21 countries in the region, in the form of loans offered in exchange for the meeting of strict economic targets. The researchers claimed it was efforts to meet these targets that were undermining the fight against TB by drawing funding away from public health."

Most striking was the analysis in BBC news that "without the IMF loans, they suggested, rates would have fallen by up to 10%, meaning at least 100,000 extra deaths. Countries which accepted IMF loans averaged an 8% fall in government spending, a 7% drop in the number of doctors per head of population, and a fall in a method of TB treatment called "directly observed therapy", which is recommended by the World Health Organisation."

It is not surprising that healthcare doesn’t get the mandate at forums like G-20 in the manner in which it should. Before the G-20 began, there was a growing public movement globally to put pressure on G-20 countries to put a currency transaction levy of 0.005% to raise dedicated resources for funding health programmes. This currency transaction levy of 0.005% can potentially generate USD 30-40 billion a year.

It is vital to understand the health funding in these times of global economic meltdown. The single largest donor of AIDS, TB and Malaria programmes globally - the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) has just 37.5% of its estimated budget for 2009-2010. The donor countries haven’t kept their promises to fund the 'Fund'. The GFATM projected budget for 2009-2010 was USD 8 billion and it just has USD 3 billion in its kitty, falling short of USD 5 billion.

The donor countries that haven’t kept their promises include the United States of America that is also the biggest defaulter. It is not that US doesn’t have money, it gave about the same amount it owed to GFATM to Merrill Lynch as bail out money. It gave hundreds of times more to other private banks as bail out money. The banks distributed this amount amongst themselves as 'holiday bonuses'.

Another example comes from one of the most severely TB-HIV hard-hit regions - Africa. Despite of African governments declaring TB as an emergency, Africa as a region, faces the largest funding gap of USD 10.7 billion to fully implement the Global Plan to Stop TB by 2015.

The countries in Africa had achieved a milestone by endorsing the African Union Abuja pledge of allocating 15% of national budgets to health but they have bitterly failed to act on this pledge. Only Botswana has kept the promise of allocating 15% of the national budget to health, the rest of the countries in Africa need to keep their promises.

As per a report of the World Bank and Stop TB Partnership (December 2007), high-burden TB countries are likely to recover 9-15 times of their investment in TB control. This report indicates that the economic cost of not treating TB to Africa between 2006 and 2015 would be USD 519 billion while TB can be controlled with USD 20 billion in the same period.

It is clear that despite evidence, health is not perceived as a smart investment. Possibly imposing currency transaction levy of 0.005% can generate a pool of dedicated financial resources to strengthen health systems globally.

It is high time to be clear on what kind of a development we want for the world - a model which serves the capital interests of corporations or a model which serves the most basic needs for all, including that of healthcare?

One good analysis which further highlights this debate is from India. The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gave indications of his shaking confidence in neo-liberal economic policies of liberalization- privatization-globalization in India in two meetings of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). "He suggested that CEOs must consider placing voluntary ceilings on their salaries. He said that the gap between the rich and poor would produce social unrest. He said that for an unemployed youth a 9% growth rate didn’t mean anything. He added that CEOs must not treat their wealth for personal consumption only but should consider using it for general good of society. He invoked the much forgotten ‘trusteeship principle’ of Mahatma Gandhi, which probably no politician in independent India has ever mentioned. Now, these thoughts would make a very sound policy if the objective was to create a humane and equitable society instead of elevating the growth rate" said Dr Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) and a National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) leader.

Are G-20 leaders listening?

- Bobby Ramakant

Will IMF deliver G-20's booster for world economy?

Will IMF deliver G-20's booster for world economy?

Earlier this week the Group of Twenty leaders announced a USD 1.1 trillion booster-dose into the world economy by the end of 2010 through multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, in July 2008, analysts from Cambridge and Yale Universities had reported that tuberculosis (TB) in countries with IMF loans rose sharply.

The strict conditions on IMF loans were blamed for thousands of extra TB deaths in Eastern Europe, and former Soviet republics. A UK TB charity backed the Public Library of Science (PLoS) study findings - but the IMF had firmly rejected them, as per a BBC news (July 2008).

David Stuckler from Cambridge University had said to BBC in July 2008 that "If we really want to create sustainable economic growth, we need first to ensure that we have taken care of people's most basic health needs."

Most alarming was when the levels of drug-resistant TB shot up in eastern Europe and former soviet union.

The BBC news further said that "in recent years, it [IMF] has offered assistance to 21 countries in the region, in the form of loans offered in exchange for the meeting of strict economic targets. The researchers claimed it was efforts to meet these targets that were undermining the fight against TB by drawing funding away from public health."

Most striking was the analysis in BBC news that "without the IMF loans, they suggested, rates would have fallen by up to 10%, meaning at least 100,000 extra deaths. Countries which accepted IMF loans averaged an 8% fall in government spending, a 7% drop in the number of doctors per head of population, and a fall in a method of TB treatment called "directly observed therapy", which is recommended by the World Health Organisation."

It is not surprising that healthcare doesn’t get the mandate at forums like G-20 in the manner in which it should. Before the G-20 began, there was a growing public movement globally to put pressure on G-20 countries to put a currency transaction levy of 0.005% to raise dedicated resources for funding health programmes. This currency transaction levy of 0.005% can potentially generate USD 30-40 billion a year.

It is vital to understand the health funding in these times of global economic meltdown. The single largest donor of AIDS, TB and Malaria programmes globally - the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) has just 37.5% of its estimated budget for 2009-2010. The donor countries haven’t kept their promises to fund the 'Fund'. The GFATM projected budget for 2009-2010 was USD 8 billion and it just has USD 3 billion in its kitty, falling short of USD 5 billion.

The donor countries that haven’t kept their promises include the United States of America that is also the biggest defaulter. It is not that US doesn’t have money, it gave about the same amount it owed to GFATM to Merrill Lynch as bail out money. It gave hundreds of times more to other private banks as bail out money. The banks distributed this amount amongst themselves as 'holiday bonuses'.

Another example comes from one of the most severely TB-HIV hard-hit regions - Africa. Despite of African governments declaring TB as an emergency, Africa as a region, faces the largest funding gap of USD 10.7 billion to fully implement the Global Plan to Stop TB by 2015.

The countries in Africa had achieved a milestone by endorsing the African Union Abuja pledge of allocating 15% of national budgets to health but they have bitterly failed to act on this pledge. Only Botswana has kept the promise of allocating 15% of the national budget to health, the rest of the countries in Africa need to keep their promises.

As per a report of the World Bank and Stop TB Partnership (December 2007), high-burden TB countries are likely to recover 9-15 times of their investment in TB control. This report indicates that the economic cost of not treating TB to Africa between 2006 and 2015 would be USD 519 billion while TB can be controlled with USD 20 billion in the same period.

It is clear that despite evidence, health is not perceived as a smart investment. Possibly imposing currency transaction levy of 0.005% can generate a pool of dedicated financial resources to strengthen health systems globally.

It is high time to be clear on what kind of a development we want for the world - a model which serves the capital interests of corporations or a model which serves the most basic needs for all, including that of healthcare?

One good analysis which further highlights this debate is from India. The Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gave indications of his shaking confidence in neo-liberal economic policies of liberalization- privatization-globalization in India in two meetings of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). "He suggested that CEOs must consider placing voluntary ceilings on their salaries. He said that the gap between the rich and poor would produce social unrest. He said that for an unemployed youth a 9% growth rate didn’t mean anything. He added that CEOs must not treat their wealth for personal consumption only but should consider using it for general good of society. He invoked the much forgotten ‘trusteeship principle’ of Mahatma Gandhi, which probably no politician in independent India has ever mentioned. Now, these thoughts would make a very sound policy if the objective was to create a humane and equitable society instead of elevating the growth rate" said Dr Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (2002) and a National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) leader.

Are G-20 leaders listening?

- Bobby Ramakant

Activists reject capitalist, communal, criminal and corrupt politics

Activists reject capitalist, communal, criminal and corrupt politics

The activists have launched a 'chunaav par nazar' abhiyaan to reject politics which is based on capitalism, communalism, caste, corruption or criminalization.

The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) has launched this 'chunaav par nazar' abhiyaan to mobilize public opinion to increase transparency and accountability in the forthcoming 15th Lok Sabha elections in India.

Election dates for the 15th Lok Sabha have been announced and there is again a huge challenge before us to ensure that the real issues of people are buried by political rhetoric. All the existing and newly forming political fronts, if anything, have a most striking similarity with amoebas - whether it is the 1st Front or the 4th Front. It is impossible for people to grasp where a front stands either on issues or vis-à-vis other parties/fronts, whether they are independent fronts or fronts within fronts! Whatever little difference did exist between so-called 'communal and secular' parties or 'capitalist and socialist' parties is visibly diminishing day-by-day.

It is, therefore, highly important, for us, people's movements and organizations to raise basic and burning issues on the one hand as well as enable an opportunity to link up local and regional issues and struggles with the national.

During the Meeting of the National Conveners of NAPM held at Nagpur on the 1st and 2nd March, we had discussed our role during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. We decided to organize the preparatory meetings at the earliest, as the poll dates are nearing and this process must be taken forward on a war-footing. The following key issues are being discusses during the state meet:

- Compliance with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for candidates and political parties as defined by the Election Commission of India.

- Analyse the records of the present member of parliaments (MPs) by trying to identify MPs with criminal record, involvement in corrupt practices, involvement with casteist and communal organizations, working as the frontman of any corporate or builder group and bring these facts into the public domain.

- Monitoring the existing property of candidates, income, the number of vehicles, amounts spent on literature, campaign material, advertising and other propaganda.

- Group/ State Unit should prepare the list of general malpractices during elections such as distribution of cash, kind, liquor, booth capturing, delivering communal/ casteist speeches, rigging of votes, making false promises or allurements etc. It may be re-stressed that after announcement of elections, no declaration of new schemes can be made by the state/ central Government ministries or politicians.

- Use the right to information Act (RTI) extensively to find out how many complaints were received during the last Assembly/ Parliamentary elections and the action taken on the complaints.

- Prepare a format to make complaints to the Returning Officer of the Lok Sabha constituency: Election Observer, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Member-in-charge of the State from the Election Commission of India, Delhi and also the Superintendent of Police of the District

- Bring together a state level Committee to observe elections and distribute work amongst the Committee.

- You may send a list of the NAPM Election Observers (from each state) to the Election Commission of India along with a letter to the State Election Commission for associating these persons in the election monitoring process to ensure free and fair elections. A delegation of the NAPM (State) Election Monitoring Committee can meet the SEC and maintain regular communication with him.

Methodology during the pro-people election watch campaign:
-----------

i. Details of the announced candidates of various political parties must be compiled.

ii. Fixing up of a date with the candidates for open discussion with the electorate (Try to call the candidate for a public meeting in the area). Obtain the oral and written commitment of candidates on specific laws and policies/issues.

iii. Prepare few people with questions about the common problems issues and problems like: displacement and rehabilitation, social security to unorganized sector workers, right to housing, water, unemployment, need for health services, schools, public rationing, better public transport, commitment to ban liquor etc.

iv. Prepare a list of speakers who will address the gathering on behalf of NAPM after the Q&A Session is over with candidates.

v. We request people's groups in the state to send us a brief summary of national as well as local/ regional issues that must highlighted during the campaign at the meeting in your area, along with soft copies of the manifestos of the parties contesting elections there.

vi. Prepare a note for need of the various electoral reforms on behalf of NAPM state unit. Nationally, identify at least 10-15 candidates / black list them to demonstrate what kind of politics we reject. (Politicians like Kamal Nath, LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sharad Pawar and others are to be questioned – add to the names please)

vii. NAPM has its People's Resolve, which is more or less the NAPM manifesto which needs to be publicized and presented during our aforesaid programmes and meetings. Any of you can propose or add anything specific to the Manifesto and use it in the meetings / dialogues. Please do send your suggestions to the below mentioned emails.

'chunaav par nazar' yatra

At least one major city / capital is planned to be covered in different states, which shall include a meeting with representatives of people's organizations, a press conference and a public meeting.

We also propose to organize a travelling poster exhibition and also have documents already prepared by Election Watch plus comparative analysis of party manifestoes (2004 and 2009) along with a People's Manifesto by NAPM. The posters would also contain data on various unlawful and unethical antecedents of candidates/ parties.

We will have with us at different places, former Advisor to the Election Commission of India, Shri K. Jagannatha Rao, along with mass-based people's representatives, thinkers and conscience-keepers such as you to address the mass gathering of people and also the press, which certainly create a positive impact.

Justice (Retd.) Rajinder Sacher, Trilochan Sastry, Association for Democratic Reforms, Sharad Chadra Behar, Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Prof. Ramdayal Munda, Senior adivasi rights activists, Former Vice Chancellor, Birsa Munda University, Ranchi ,Meher Engineer (West Bengal) President, Indian Social Science Academy,Prof. Amit Bhaduri, Economist and supporter of people's movements, Ulka Mahajan, Sarvahara Jan Andolan and NAPM , Arvind Kejriwal, Right to Information Activist, Parivartan, Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha, Medha Patkar, National Convenor, NAPM and some other Convenors and Members of NAPM have confirmed their presence at different places. Other special invites are yet to finalize.

It would undoubtedly strengthen the process if you can join this effort from one or two places at least and raise the people's agenda before the elections. It would also greatly help, if you can in whatever way, try to mobilize resources for the campaign, which would include travel expenses, amounts for stationery and poster material etc.

Attached with this Note is a tentative schedule of the list of cities / places to be covered in the coming few weeks of April before the Phase I of the Lok Sabha Elections. We look forward to your support and involvement.

Anand Mazgaonkar: anandpss@gmail.com; napmindia@gmail.com
Medha Patkar: phone - 09423965153 (nba.medha@gmail.com)