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Excerpt from a fiction : Two Years Eight Months and Twen-ty-Eight Nights

..terrorism was always of particular attraction to male individuals who were either virgins or unable to find sexual partners

...When lonely hopeless young men were provided

with loving...sexual partners, they lost interest...in suicide belts, bombs and virgins of

heaven and preferred to live - Salman Rushdie

! ! ......................

I am a farmer..andI am seeding paddy in the heavensFew people are saying.Idiot!! Can you seed paddy in the heavens? I reply..Idiots!!If you can seed God on earth.I can seed paddy in heav-ensNow, only one will hap-pen..Either God will be removed from the earth.Or.Paddy will be seeded in the heavens!!!!

--Continued on page 2

A calendar in rememberance of disappeared persons was re-leased by APDP, which contains couplets from the family.I tremble with fear that I may die;And the angst of heart will not go away.My pleasant faced and comely beloved,

O my friend has he not come? (Rasul Mir)--------O my sorrow, my Yusuf!And Yaqubs eyes turned gray with suppressed grief.And his sons said, You always remem-ber Yusuf.This will kill you or make you sick

Yaqub replied, Certainly I complain of my sorrow and grief to God only.----How can I spend my journey in the scorching sun?Spread the shade of my beloveds re-membrance upon my headOur existence is our resistance!

-Continued on page 4

KASHMIR : Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)

Amit SaurabhM.Phil Student in IIT BombayDo you know of any person around you, who moves around in a torn shirt and a torn pant. Lugging about two polythene bags, containing the bare minimum of items required for survival, reciting his own rev-olutionary poetry, actively participating in students movements, spreading knowledge and staying on campus?This is a glimpse of Ramashankar Yadav for you, who would later become vidrohi. When I was asked to

write about him, the first thought that struck my mind was, how am I to write about someone, a per-son who never conformed to a pattern and who re-mained a rebel, his entire life. Someone who was a poet but never wrote anything on paper, someone who hardly had a title to his poems, someone who was a revolutionary in his own existence. How am I to write?Ramashankar vidrohi joined JNU in 1980 as a stu-dent, from the very beginning of his life he actively participated in left student politics, and was rusti-cated in 1983 during a students movement. Since then he stayed and struggled in and on JNU campus for more than two decades. He died on 8th December 2015, and even during his last days, he was actively participating in occupy UGC movement.Vidrohi was the poet of the masses, who, in his po-ems, always raised the issues of the day to day strug-gles of the common man. He questioned, almost all the social, political patterns around us, and that was the beauty of his words, although he is famously cited as a left poet but in his writings, he even criticized the Left. Ramashankar vidrohi was not only a poet but also was a philosopher of life. He was highly influenced by Gandhi, but this side of his life, is not much high-lighted. In his own words, My life began with Gandhi I want to tell you that Gandhi never lied to anyone, people lied to him and used him. That is vidrohi for you. I vidrohi would have followed a pattern, I am sure he would have become one of the celebrated po-ets of this country, but his purpose was never that. His only purpose was to keep the fire in you awake!!

RAMASHANKAR YADAV VIDROHI

A translated poem

Pages : 16 | January 2016

Mumbai | English | Monthly

www.thesabha.org 2January 2016

Quotes from the documentary: Mein Tumhara Kavi Hoon

When its a poem you want to record then we must begin with poetry. What is poetry? Its the farmers field. Its the poets child. Its your fathers assets. Your mothers cooking. I have a hard time giving my poems a name so most of my poems are nameless. Who takes my poems for their own, may name them as they like. Tagore has this great line about modernism. true modernism is freedom of thought and independence of mind So I got it. But you know, after all Im an Artist. So I interpret it my way that True modernity is fearlessness of consciousness.Now if you show me in a jungle, Vidrohi would look like a prisoner of romanticism wandering all his life in the jungle. As if wandering in the jungle is revolution! Labour alone is not radi-calism. To divert labour is also revolutionary.Oh its a troublesome life, a struggle but a wonderful one. Because its not like I have limited myself to this I am everywhere any-

where. Im there too, in the world. Neither less savage than anyone, nor less urbane.Well if a great man does a grand thing, wheres the miracle, eh? If a limited man, does a grand thing, now, thats something to talk about. So you must reveal not just Vidrodhis grandeur but also his insignificance.

Most stuff, no matter how fine will not last af-ter June. It rots in the rain, which is the point. Next year, someone will give new stuff. There will be other blankets, other shirts. Everything rots, dissolves, disappears and yet people keep giving. It might seem as if Vidrohis life is ut-terly anarchic. But in fact no life is more dis-ciplined than mine. I follow a strict discipline with diligence, with beauty. An international discipline. Im a man of international thought my man. Its not like this way and that way, a little of this a little of that. No. Say one thing to you and another to the queen, thats mean-ingless. Whether you see me here or there or

at large in the world. You will find the same words, the same colour, the same shades, and the same style.The search for creativity, poetry with pain, thats the beauty of romanticism. Pain ex-ceeds itself thus becoming the tonic, thats what I am demonstrating. Midful of the poet Ghalibs injunctions! If you whip a man for twenty years and stop in the twenty oneth year, he will crave the whip, for it has become his companion.Im trying to demarcate some understanding. And also shooting in the dark, hoping Ill find my mark. No matter if this saga of pain contin-ues, but let not the pain become the solution.When I write poems, I have an audience that I am addressing. This is my aesthetic I believe these poems are more of speaking out, than reading. So I imagine a mass, a public. And I strive to speak in the language that rings true for them. Not one that alienates them.

Continued from page 1...

If you hear my sins, you will be filled with regret. If you know my intentions, with courage. Sir, Ive just come to tell you. That the day of reckoning, is nearly here. I really dont know if God knows, But the people will know, what the deal is. There will be no trial, nor debates. This will be an old feud, passed down from Eden. My friends, come out of your houses into the are-na. Only the staunchest in battle will carry the day. He will be both the sheltered and the refuge, Who has, all his life, been weighed by oppressions. There is no God, nor child of God. The story is Mans,Man will stand up for himself. I have no belief in saving and saviours.I have no need to believe, anyone stands above me.-------------------------------I wont tell you. Because it might give you a fright. That a tiger sleeps in the front pocket of my shirt. But have no fear, I have trained it so well. That look! A tiger sleeps in my front pocket and you never realized, its a tiger. But a tiger or two, In your front pocket, Helps in reciting of poems. But Ill share a secret. Since Im reciting poetry amongst friends, One tiger in the pocket is enough. But when Im among enemies,Reciting poems all alone, I make sure to keep two tigers in my pocket. Then I wear, that red shirt youve praised before. The one with two pockets in front. So I keep reciting poems, And the tigers dont sleep, They puff on beedis, Emanating rings of smoke.-------------------------Its an excellent tree. Friends, my grandmother was a tree of humanity, Of which I am one leaf. She isnt dead, Shes just gone for a swim,In one of those ponds at Mohenjodaro. Her sari is drying on the last step.

She has lost her key, there, somewhere. Shes searching for it ceaselessly. I see shes sowing gram in the Himalayas. Tethering my cow to Everests peak. I want to clap in joy. But whats this? Theres mustard growing on my palms. I want to call out to her, But yoghurt has set over my lips. I can see my grandmother,Flowing away in a river of yoghurt. I want to catch her, but I cant. I want to call to her, but I cant. And my body starts to tremble like a leaf. Which might fall any moment, Which is just about to fall.---------------------------My people,My friends, Get up and break, The walls that wont let fresh air in. That keep fresh water out, And fresh thought out. Dont let the walls scare you, Nah, spirits dont reside in walls. And dont be scared of trees, because no, ghosts dont live in them. Oh and dont be scared of temples, gods dont in-habit them. And listen up. The day you get it, That a brick is just a brick, And a stone, is just a stone, Then youll be the king of your hill. ---------------------------Some may apply to Queen Victoria brand eyeliner or Sadhvi Rithambara brand eye-wash. But kohl made of pure ghee was only Nur Miyans forte. At least my grandmother swore by it. Whenever Nur Miyan arrived, my grandmother never failed to buy his kohl. Just a slim line of his kohl in her eyes, and they turned compact like clouds, swirled within like the Ganga and Yamuna. The old wom-ans eyes grew limpid, as the sea, into which, we children, glancing saw it all, gleaming. Oh how she heaped blessings on Nur Miyan, its his kohl, said grandma. Makes me prance like a girl, puts thread in my needle, and Id feel like crying out, Granny! Youre the doe-eyed maiden. Sukanya to

Nur Miyans sage Chavan. He is your Hippocrates, whose herbs heal your eyes. Your eyes arent eyes but witnesses, and his kohl offerings for the gods. And then this Nur Miyan went away to Pa-kistan. Whyever did he leave for Pakistan? They say, because he had no one here. But were we no one to Nur Miyan? Wasnt he ours? Then why did he leave for Pakistan, without telling us and our grandmother? Why did Nur Miyan go away to Pakistan? My grandmothers life ended. She re-turned to the banks whence she came. She had married across the river, and was cremated on the other side. When I cast her ashes into the river, I felt as if the river wasnt a river, but my grand-mothers eyes, and the ashes werent ashes but Nur Miyans kohl and for the last time, I put his kohl in my grandmothers eyes.--------------------------He asks for his share, oh you! The poor labourer asks for a cake, this time. He asks for a smoke and some snuff. A coffee or tea. Thats enough. Oh and a cup and a plate and a snack to go with it. Maybe an omelette. Oh and Mr. Overseer, I ask for a fair rate. I am a poet. Ill get to it. Whats the rush? One day, Ill catch the policeman and the priest. And pres-ent them in a court of women, and debar all the courts besides that.--------------------------Yes I know all about it, your lineage, and your sta-tus. But when the moment arrives, youll be miss-ing in action. As for me, dear one, I will search for no cover. Because theres no head on my shoul-ders. But that theres a bomb. A kick from our blis-tered feet, can dislodge the ground beneath yours, and the veins in your calloused fists, can turn your gentle skies to blood, and when one day, from earth to sky, standing end to end, we rend from it will emerge neither Kashyap nor Narsimha.Here! Come recognize me ... I am the friend you lost, you love you hate you envy but the only friend you have its me!------------------------These are days of spring, let us lose our heads. Let us fight for our rights. God, to hell with your world. Let us plant a new world of our own. Where people can live speak hear and endure like human beings.------------------------I say to them You babblers! If god can take root on earth. Then crops can grow in the skies.------------------------I demand neither reward, nor acknowledgement. I demand neither alms nor donations. I stand at the crossroads and demand loudly.

Poems

Transcribed by Pradeep PillaiStudent of Media and Cultural Studies, TISS, Mumbai

3 www.thesabha.orgJanuary 2016 University

Cut.In, the annual students film festival (2015) of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, School of Media and Cultural Studies (SMCS) celebrated its 8th year, with exuberance and zest. Young and fresh in its outlook, this year the festival received close to 119 entries, from students of diploma, graduate and post graduate programs, from renowned institu-tions such as FTII, SRFTII, NID, TISS, Sophia College, L V Prasad Film & TV Academy, Srishti School of Art Design & Technology. Nearly 33 films covering a large and diverse range of topics were showcased during the 2 day (21st-22nd Dec15) event.This year, the eminent jury members, were K. P. Jayasankar (Dean, SMCS), Anjali Monteiro (pro-fessor, SMCS) and Renu Sawant. Jayasankar and Monteiro, distinguished filmmakers, are recipients of national and international awards, for their tre-mendous contribution to documentary filmmaking. Along with them, the third jury member was Renu Sawant, an F.T.I.I alumni. She was awarded the pres-tigious Golden Lotus Award (non-feature film) for Best Direction at the 62nd National Awards 2015, for her short film Aaranyak, and is currently pursu-ing a T.I.S.S fellowship.The film festival was inaugurated by Anne Ruther-ford a senior lecturer in cinema studies at the School of Humanities and Com-munication Arts, University of Western Sydney. Rutherford emphasized, the im-portance of ones freedom of expression. Equally, she pointed out that no one else can understand and then use this kind of platform better than students. They must grab this opportunity to showcase their talents, as well as to use the freedom to express, through making a fiction or a documentary as their very first step to-wards becoming a film maker. She fur-ther described these kind of film festivals as an open space and added a tendency of cutting down the voices or the medi-um of showing, has grown tremendously. But, through Cut.In (and similar student festivals), metaphorically the point will be reinvented, where the students will use, every single option to literally cut-in, will contribute to fill the open spaces and will revive the language of cinema in every passing year to make it bold and assertive.The following are a few highlights from the festival. The film Madarsa, explores the Madarsa system of education in In-dia by interviewing Maulavis working at such institutions (Ahmedabad, Gujarat) and other scholars researching about Islamic educa-tion according to the filmmaker, Mustaqeem Khan. The feel-good film Mishri depicts two differently abled individuals and their day to day life activi-ties. In Shifting Tides, Ahmedbhai and Ismailbhais journey is shown, as one of the last few remaining Unt Maldharis (nomadic camel pastoralists), con-tinuing their forefathers business as the caretakers of the Kharai camels (the only breed of camels that can swim.) The Filmmaker also added While mak-ing a documentary, I understand that the best thing comes when we dont force and we let it, come nat-urally, be it in terms of shot, or coping up with the bad weather, or getting over adversities.The film Alpajeevi is a comparative analysis of the home and livelihood of the Garian community and the royal families (those who used to be the origi-nal inhabitants of this place, but presently, are no more.) The Garians are the illegal workers and watchful protectors of that no-mans land claimed Naomi Shah, the film maker. Another delightful watch was the film This is the moment by Ritvick Sharad. The film was not only a series of interviews about Amrish Puris journey from a character actor

to stardom, as represented effortlessly, but was also about his love for his craft. The filmmaker men-tioned, I visualized it differently. But once I started, this whole idea has developed into something new, and has flown in such a way that I and my whole team were happy about the final outcome of the movie. In the film 8 rooms and 9 Doors, the cre-matorium, people associated with this line of work, their surroundings, the community and their life-style, were the topics that caught hold of the film-makers lens. The filmmaker Gireesh, talking about his film, added I did face a lot of challenges, the au-thorities of crematorium and the hospitals (where the entire shoot had to be done) were not okay with my concept and thus did not allow me to shoot on day 1. It was after my departments intervention that I managed to get into the morgue and finish my shoot, timely. The second year Master students of SMCS, T.I.S.S, produced a series of five films entitled, A Roof of Ones Own (Ek Chhat ki Talaash Mein). The series explores the issue of housing and shelter in Mum-bai. The five films cover a range of themes, including the housing and real estate bubble, the marginaliza-tion of the Adivasis who live in Aarey Milk Colo-

ny, the struggles of those who live in slums and in transit housing, the other side of redevelopment, the lives of those who make their home on Chow-patty beach and the experiences of transgendered people in search of shelter. The films premiered during the second day of the film festival. The themes that we chose earlier, all dealt with a form of erasure something that is forgotten or swept under the carpet. Housing is not exactly a point of erasure but in the conversation about real estate and investment, we can often forget that it also a question of livelihood and survival, says documen-tary film-maker Anjali Monteiro. Through these films, the student directors wanted to convey that: Housing as a theme is something thats very inclu-sive but it can also be used to explore exclusion.The fiction section had its set of gems and jewels. Be it the film Jalasayanam, which portrayed the beautiful art of storytelling without any words, spo-ken. Or the mesmerizing black and white film Ka-makshi, weaving a conversation, by capturing the sounds of the wind and thus creating a void. Films such as Chitradham, wherein the essence of the film was summed up in the line, killing of dreams

is the ugliest of all, to light and metaphorical sto-ry telling in the film Kahani, to the very realistic and hard hitting film Sadabahar Brass Band, to dark and enthralling film Seek and Hide, and last but not least the films Mangal and Kotha were simple and sweet with an unique touch of humor to it. In E-thill, the young director, from Manipur, demonstrated his years of growing up, in a turbu-lent Manipur. His dilemma and helplessness, in an ocean of persisting problems. As per the director, Manohar Kshetrimayum, he felt, somehow, over the years, the way Manipur has been projected in the news, only the bad thing has stayed with peo-ple, but through this film one can now know that we can also chill and have fun, do our stuff and play. But I, as a filmmaker, also wanted to show that one cannot escape from the turmoil or the reality, even if he wanted to. Thus I felt, it is my responsibility to represent a glimpse of my hometown through this movie.It is through such film festivals, that passions re-main burning. A student filmmaker, can make films, thinking beyond its success or failure, pour their love, blood, sweat and an indomitable spirit into their films. Professor Jayasankar added this fes-tival is all about being fearless, giving yourself that space to think and much needed freedom to express, where we can see the work and collaborations of young, spirited talents. In the closing address, Jahnu Baruah,

(Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, National award winning, Assamese filmmaker) also pointed out certain issues, that even young film makers were worried about. Baruah said, Take your films to the larg-er audience, this generation filmmak-ers need to know how to connect with the young generation. Those, who dont have access to these kind of films. Ba-ruah also mentioned the governments negligence towards documentary films, which, instead of showing, they left as it is inside cupboards, not even bothered to acknowledge. Baruah added This kind of film festivals aspire and inspire new film makers to create a system, where cinema is a fluid flexible medium, and can bind the humans of the same city (those who are unaware of the kinds of existing problems in their neighbors life, or of those living in the same area, city, state, country) as well as a magic machine, as having a certain language of its own, and will be respected with a proper approach.

One student filmmaker, Satindar Singh Bedi, (Di-rector of Kamakshi) mentioned government can take up an initiative where a free page or an entire online film archive will be dedicated for the stu-dents. Where all the final year diploma and degree projects will be uploaded and can be viewed eas-ily by the students across the nation as well as by the other communities. Thus the skill enhancement and the film culture can be built, and certain exist-ing issues, that other persons are unaware of, can be addressed.Anjali, congratulated every student who had partic-ipated, associated with their films by saying: the freedom of presenting realities and telling the tales through a large range of short films and documen-taries has made a straight way into our hearts, as always. Theres (where) this film festival succeeds. The 8th Cut.In film festival has seen the coming to-gether of a new age of young minds and can hereby proudly claim, that a brilliant set of filmmakers are in the making.

But into each life some rain must fall. Im thankful that JNU lets me live here. I dont need a room, or anything, No strutting, no postures. Else you can die in the battle of the steps. There are steps everywhere. Stairways to cars, to clothes, to degrees, to notes. And theres no place to sit on those stairs for the likes of me. - Ramshankar Yadav Vidrohi

Cut.in Student Film Festival (2015)Basundhra Banerjee

Student of Diploma in Community Media in TISS, Mumbai

In the closing address, Jahnu Baruah, (Pad-ma Shri, Padma Bhushan, National award win-ning, Assamese filmmaker) also pointed out certain issues, that even young film makers were worried about. Baruah said, Take your films to the larger audience, this generation filmmakers need to know how to connect with the young generation. Those, who dont have access to these kind of films. In the closing address, Jahnu Baruah, (Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, National award winning, Assamese filmmaker) also pointed out certain issues, that even young film makers were worried about. Baruah said, Take your films to the larger audience, this generation filmmakers need to know how to connect with the young generation. Those, who dont have access to these kind of films.

India www.thesabha.org 4

January 2016

I say nothing to no one, nor react to anyone, My reason? I know the nature of Indian society: its a bastard society. Which neither rewards nor punishes the poet. I mean whats Taslima Nasreen written, That I havent? I dont get it. Like, say ... first I will die, then O mighty India will die I mean Ive insulted the national anthem! Ive made these bug-gers eat dust, but theyre such bastards, they ignore you and so, you are neutralised. It disappoints you on the outside but it strengthens you on the inside. To think boss, Ive become so terrible, so terrifying, that for these people, Im Untouchable and so it goes, so far. - Ramshankar Yadav Vidrohi

On 28th December, near Bandra Collectors office, people of Akh-il Bharatiya Matang Sangh demonstrated with a peaceful protest rally. The Mang or Matang (Minimadig in Gujarat and Rajasthan) community is an Indian caste, historically oppressed by forced association to low-status or ritually impure professions such as village mu- sicians, cattle castrators, leath-er curers, midwives, hangmen, undertakers, and criminals. Persons from this caste are one of the most suppressed and neglected in the state.Their demands were against the backdrop of what happened on 20th of Decem-ber15 in Nagpur. 1) A separate 8% reservation quota for their community (within the SC quota) and this was the reason for their protest in Nagpur.2) On 20th December, People of Matang Samaj went to Nagpur (in Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnaviss election rally). They were protesting peace-fully; but their demonstration was broken into fragments by the police force without any specific reason, as claimed by the people of Matang Samaj. 3) The Police not only beat them ruthlessly; but also slapped charges against them. They are demanding, the state police to take back the charges.4) The authority or the administration must provide upto Rs.5 lakhs to the people who were seriously injured during the demonstration - demanded the people of Matang Samaj. At around 11 o clock in the morning on of 28th December, a group of 40 to 50 people gathered in front of Bandra Collectors office and started demonstrating their objection and demands through Marathi songs, poetry and some slogans of Annabhau Sathe (A freedom fighter who belonged to this particular caste), Bheem Rao ji and Lahu ji for their fundamental rights to equality and access to basic amenities .Some of the demonstrators held a yellow coloured flags, with an emblem - Jai bheemji or Jai Lahuji. They were barricaded and encircled by 10 police officers. They were also dislocated from their earlier position by the police and were pushed into a corner while they tried to fight and claim their rights.

The Demonstrators came from different parts of Maharashtra - Latur, Amrava-ti, Ratnagiri, Aurangabad etc. A protestor, Mr.Ram Gate, from Latur, anguished, said even after so many years of independence, we are not able to have proper education. Even worse, ones who are having education are not eligible for the jobs . Mr.Sanjay Pankhmore, from Amravati added Even if we are having qual-ified people in our community, the reserved jobs are availed by the relatively creamy from SC people. Whether it is higher caste or higher SC, they always do the segregation and discrimination, so where will we go?This is the reason why they have come here to demonstrate and bring it forth to the Maharashtra State Government and also to the Central government.The collector showed reluctance each time he was approached. He was ap-proached at least thrice till 2.30 p.m., but all in vain. A lady claimed we were and still are not taken seriously by the state gov-ernment. Its a high time for the govt. to make us a part of this society, rather than making them invisible; so this 8% of reservation is an initiative in its own, where among other Schedule Castes (like Chamaar, Mahar, Mang e.t.c), we will also be counted .A group of people among the protesters stated that the upper class people do mock them or tease them as uneducated or low valued men, and whenever they approach them for providing education or job, the upper caste people (includ-ing upper castes of SC) simply discourage them, they are being told that reading and learning is not meant for them; what will they do to be educated? We are still neglected in every way. This has to stop. We will fight for our rights till the end said a young protester. Recently, Anjali Pawar, a govt. official, has taken their demands to the State Ministry. The Matang Samaj people will continue their protest. On 20th of Jan-uary,2016 they will again protest in a rally from Azad Maidan to the Mantralaya, Mumbai. Let their protest or rather heartfelt requests be taken forward to the Central Government.

International Human Rights Day is observed around the globe today on December 10. On this occasion, the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) pays tribute to thousands of the disappeared of Jammu and Kashmir. Around 8,000 to 10,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989 when the freedom movement turned into an armed struggle against the Indian rule. This tribute is a re-minder to the fact that we have to keep struggling until justice is not delivered. In addition, while pay-ing tribute we reiterate that memory and resistance is our weapon to fight against power. As a repository of individual stories of loss and grief, APDP is creating a collective biography of struggle as its members meet and gather the 10th every month in a public space as an act of remembering, commemorating and grieving. Return our disap-peared children is our collective chant. APDP con-tinues its struggle to demand justice and account-ability and to end impunity in Jammu and Kashmir. APDP demands an acknowledgement from the Indian state that they have committed the crimes against humanity, which will be an important step forward to get an assurance for its non-repetition and for prosecuting those who are guilty. Enforced Disappearance has been declared as a crime against humanity, that violates multiple rights of the victim and his/her family. The families are subjected to mental and physical agony while looking for their kin and that very well amounts to torture. The rights that are violated as a result in-clude Right to life and liberty, Right to Justice, Right

to Know, Right to Reparations, Right to Family Life, Right to be recognised as a person before law, Right not to be subjected to torture, Right to Security. As there is no information from the Indian authorities about the disappeared, this results in excruciating agony to the kin of the victims in management of the land and property and raises legal complexities around inheritance rights. The members of the APDP have spent much in de-termining the whereabouts of our disappeared kin, but to no avail. Our family life has got adversely af-fected and in some cases even beyond repair. Yet, we continue searching for our children in the hope that one day our disappeared will come back. One such parent, Mr. Abdul Ahad Bhat whose son was disappeared on 22-6-1991 bears testimony to the agony of our struggle. His disappeared son Farooq Ahmad Bhat was a 10th class student at the time of his disappearance. He also used to assist his father in running a shop. On the fateful day, at about 6 p.m. he was picked up from the shop by BSF (Boarder Security Force), 102 Battalion of the Indian Army in presence of his father, bystanders and other neigh-bours in the locality. The disappeared person was engaged at the time of his disappearance and his would be in-laws waited for 4 years and gave full emotional and psychological support to the family but eventually got their daughter married off else-where. The testimonial of the Mr. Abdul Ahad re-veals that the legal struggle is endless and bears no fruit. As he narrates: There was a complete denial on part of the detaining authorities of having taken my son. In addition, there was a denial to lodge an

FIR. Instead, the police registered an FIR on the be-hest of the BSF against my disappeared son under anti-terror provisions, as well as under attempt to kill provision of the Penal Code. The cases I filed against the disappearance of my son in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and the Jammu and Kashmirs State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) proved to be futile. Despite the High Court orders to release my son, the BSF did not honour the orders but instead claimed not to have detained my son at all and consequently, the whereabouts of my son remain unknown even after 24 years. I also filed a complaint at SHRC where the judge told me that it would be a futile exercise to pursue this case and advised to take ex-gratia relief and employment un-der SRO-43 instead. Nevertheless, I still hope and pray that one day my son will come home. APDP has been consistently appealing to the inter-national community to act as pressure groups upon the Indian state to take note of the situation and take corrective measures to render justice. APDP has also keenly followed and participated in the meetings of the UPR (Universal Periodic Review), under the auspices of the United Nations for imple-menting measures that would replace impunity by accountability and criminalize such acts perpetrat-ed by the state in situations of armed conflict. In commemoration of the day, APDP is releasing post-cards and the calendar for year 2016. The thinking that has gone into the making and design of these is to keep the memory of our loved ones alive.

Power Hierarchy

Matangs agitation for 8% reservation within Schedule Caste

KASHMIR : Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP)

Basundhra BanerjeeStudent of Diploma in Community Media in TISS, Mumbai

APDP

India 5 www.thesabha.org

January 2016

Uttrakhands Ghashiyari: Chetna AndolanOn January 6th, Chetna Andolan held a mass public meeting and competition to celebrate the ghashiyaris - the grass collectors of rural Uttarakhand. In every struggle for justice in the State, these women have been at the fore-front. They have fought to protect the forests and environment of the State; to defend their homes against displace-ment; and for the dignity and autonomy of their communities. Yet today they, and the forests they so deeply under-stand, cherish and fight for, stand ig-nored, neglected and repressed. The meeting was in Kotiyada, Chami-yala, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. In order to celebrate and highlight the ghashiyaris skills, a best ecologist award was presented at the event to the most skilled ghashiyari. For the last month, village level competitions have been held in 112 gram panchayats (en-compassing more than 200 villages) to identify 30 finalists who will compete in the final competition on the 6th. The winner receives a silver crown worth Rs. one lakh; the first runner up, one worth Rs. 51,000; and the second run-ner up one worth Rs. 21,000. All ex-penses for the programme and awards are being borne from local contribu-tions and donations.

Azad Maidan : Villagers from Amravati A group of villagers from Bichhoo Tekdi, a major town in Amravati, gathered to protest in Azad Maidan on 28th December, 2015. For the last 40 years, the villagers of Bichhoo Tekdi are deprived of their basic necessities and rights. They do not even have their property cards and thus they cant even have the authority to sell their property or land. Their demands were to pro-vide: water and sanitation facilities, to increase the pension for the widows, destitutes and disabled.

Azad Maidan : Lendi Dam affected people28th December, 2015, Mumbai :People affected by construction of the Lendi Dam, marched in protest, for five days,from Palghar district to Azad Maidan in Mumbai. The damn was constructed not only without the permission of the indigenous people but also without legal formalities and compensation. Mrs. Rajni Pandhre (President) and Mr.Jaanu Bhore (Vice President), of the Lendi Baandgrasth Sangarsh Samiti along with the villag-ers gathered at Azad Maidan to meet and put forth their issues to the govern-ment authorities.The Demands of the Protestors - 1) To take legal action against the officers responsible for the illegal construction of the dam and without holding a public hearing.2) To charge the conractor for snatching their source of living/income by coercion and other unfair means 3) The farmers should be com-pensated along with interest, for the income that would be generated from the land for the last 10 years.4) All the farmers should be compensated at the same rate.

5th January 2016, Chhattisgarh : The distressed villagers and the members of the Mehnatkash Maz-door Unity Committee rallied in the Tamnar Block of the coal - rich Raigarh district (in Chhattisgarh). Their rally was a a part of the Coal Satyagraha a pro-test for community rights over their resources.

The 5th of January 2016, marks the seventh year of their protest, beginning on 5th of January 2008, when villagers from eighteen villag- es came to showcase their protest against the public hearing. However in-spite of protests on a large scale, the public hearing continued. And this resulted in an- gry protests by a large number of villagers present at the venue. How-ever, the police taking due advantage of the situation lathi charged the protestors and also booked them with charges. The Jindals injured scores of people in this public hearing. Violence, against the residents and activists oppos-ing JSPL project dampened the mo-rale of the people. Ramesh Aggarw-al, an activist, was shot.

On 2nd October, 2015, Mahatma Gandhis birth an-niversary, over 5000 villagers of the coal mining af-fected communities in Raigarh district, shared their stories and walked from Gare to the banks of the Kelo River to claim their rights over the coal under their lands. For the last four years, people of Gare village have been organising the Koyla Satyagraha.

The controversial public hearing was held for a second time on September 25, 2013 after the National Green Tribunal rejected the first public hearing held on Jan-uary 5, 2008. The tribunal rejected the findings of the hearing on the grounds that the hearing should have been held at the project site itself or near it. However, in the second hearing the arguments and contentions of the people were no different from that at the first.

Notably, in a path breaking judgement, the supreme court has decleared that, there is nothing in law which declares that all mineral wealth sub soil rights vest in the State, on the other hand, the ownership of sub-soil/mineral wealth should normally follow the ownership of land, unless the owner of the land is de-prived of the same by some valid process (para 57 of judgement). The court further says the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 only regulates mining activity and not divesting any owner of a mine of his proprietary rights. Referring to laws concerning mining of coal such as Coking Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 and Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957 which are very much applicable to Jharkhand, the Supreme Court says they contain express provi-sions for acquisition of mines or rights in or over the land from which coal is obtainable (para 54).

The satyagraha is organised by Mehnatkash Maz-door Unity Committee (MMUC) and the Jan Chet-na Manch (JCM). The Koyla Satyagraha in Gare is known as a model for all other states especially for the ones who are facing a similar problem of losing their land and natural resources right. This movement is now spreading worldwide. It is a community based movement and was started by the people the of Gare themselves. Although JCM has been a great support in terms of organising and sensitizing the people about their rights over their land and the resources under their land and this has prepared them to be or-ganised and voice their land rights.

In Sarasmal (Raigarh District) a victim of the Jindal open coal mining, almost every household had to give their land for the same. Many have sold willingly

but most of the land has been acquired force-fully. The com-pensation given to them is very little and inad-equate, hence leaving them now struggling for their liveli-hoods. The com-munity leader, Mr. Kanhai Ram

Patel says we are fighting for fair compensation but have failed measurably because company has power and money to fight back. The only power we have is the paper, the law which becomes the instrument to fight and we have started by filing case in the High Court against them. This has resulted in getting fair compensations to some but many are still hoping and fighting for their rights.

The Mehnatkash Mazdoor Unity Committee have es- tablished their own company Gare Power Production Company Limited (GTPC). The aim of these villagers is to protect their beautiful land that their ancestors have preserved and protected with great difficulty. If they loose their land they will be heavily impacted and will in the process also become landless. And this is why they are asking that their land remain the way it is and if the government feels that coal is essential for the nations development, then the villagers should be given min- ing rights. They propose that the vil-lagers will extract coal, knowing best how to preserve their own lands. This will lead to development of their own villages, and the government will be paid royal-ties and so the nation will also benefit. The poor peo-ple in the village will also grow and move forward.

While the villagers are still consistently fighting for their land rights and fair compensation, on February 19, 2015 Naveen Jindals Jindal Power Ltd won the block Gare Palma IV/ 2&3, beating Adani Power, Anil Ambani Groups Reliance Geothermal, GMR and others. And the State governments earned close to Rs.75,000 crore from the bids on the 15 blocks sold so far, along with around Rs.10,000 crore in royalty.

Community RightsGarey Coal Satyagraha in Chattisgarh

The 5th of January 2016, marks the seventh year of their protest, beginning on 5th of January 2008, when villagers from eighteen villag- es came to showcase their protest against the public hearing. However inspite of protests on a large scale, the public hear-ing continued. And this resulted in an- gry protests by a large number of villagers pres-ent at the venue. However, the police taking due advantage of the situation lathi charged the protestors and also booked them with charges.

Jyotirmayee MhetreAlumni of R.A Poddar College of Commerce, Mumbai

www.thesabha.org 6January 2016

India

Subsequent to the advent of the New Economic Pol-icy adopted in 1990s, the government of India has portrayed industrialisation as the only weapon to overcome poverty in the country. A similar stance has been used for the resource rich Odisha, where the state government has been involved in the pro-cess of land acquisition since the early 90s. This mineral rich state has almost 60% of Indias known bauxite reserve, 25% of coal, 98% of chromite, 28% of iron ore, 92% of nickel ore, and 28% of manga-nese reserves. Most of these reserves are embed-ded under the dense forests and robust mountains inhabited mostly by tribal communities. Industries, roads, townships can be set up only by uprooting the occupants of this resource rich land. Every such endeavour of the government, has faced resistance from the people. The stronger the resistance, the greater is the repression of the government. One such instance, was the police firing at Kalinganagar on 2nd January 2006 which led to the death of twenty tribal people and one police constable. The resistance of KalinganagarThe Sukinda and Danagadi blocks of Jajpur district of Odisha, are together referred as Kalinganagar by the Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odi-sha (IDCO), which aims to make this area a hub of steel production. The conceptualisation of this idea dates back to the early 90s. The IDCO began acquir-ing land in 1992. About 40 memo-randum of understandings (MoUs) were signed with private companies to set up steel manufacturing plants in the area. One of these MoUs was signed with Tata Steel in 2004, to set up a 6 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) steel plant in Ka-linganagar. The estimated worth of this plant is Rs. 154000/- million or approx. US$2.3 billion at current ex-change rates. Land Acquisition The government acquired 13,000 acres of land for the purpose of developing an industrial corridor in Jajpur district, Odisha. The gov-ernment acquired land from the cultivators by paying them a compensation of Rs. 15,000/- to 30,000/- per acre. This compensation was paid only to those who had a patta on the land. In addition to those who did not have a patta on the land; share croppers were also not given any com-pensation.In spite of the long history of displacement, the state of Odisha had no rehabilitation and resettle-ment policy until 2006. In the absence of such poli-cy, the resettlement of the displaced people is guid-ed by project specific administrative circulars. The irony of the process, was the fact that, the land was grabbed for private players, but it was not made obligatory for the companies to provide displaced people with jobs. Run Up to the Main EventAttempts to begin the construction of the Tata Steel Plant on 5th May 2005 was prevented by the pro-tests of the local tribal who refused to vacate their lands, until their demands regarding resettlement and rehabilitation were met. On 2nd January the Tata employees along with the local administration began the process of levelling the land and construction of a boundary wall where the factory was to come up. Around 300-400 trib-al people gathered at the site of construction, to prevent the construction. Some of them were even carrying traditional weapons like bow and arrows. On the other hand the Superintendent of Police had placed 10 platoons (a platoon typically consists of 15 to 30 personnel) to oversee the process. In an attempt to prevent the construction, the protesters tried to enter the restricted area. In order to scare the protesters the police fired stun shells. This led to the death of 14 people and another 6 succumbed to injuries in the hospital. One police constable was

also killed in this process.Cinema of ResistanceIn an era of commercial cinema which focuses on target rating point (TRP) and money than on con-tent; Cinema of Resistance is a wave of change. The festival was started in 2006, by the cultural activists of Jan Sanskriti Manch, filmmakers and journalists in Gorakhpur. The underlining objective of this fes-tival, is to provide a platform to initiate dialogue on actual people centric issues, by presenting movies, based on real life issues of the common people. The movies showcased under their banner are based on movements, such as violations of democratic rights of citizens in Kashmir and Northeast under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), trib-al land grab by multinational corporations, killings of innocent civilians by the state machinery, hun-ger deaths of peasants and unreported struggles of those without voices. Since its inception, cinema of resistance has strengthened its presence across the nation. It is run solely on the sundry donations from its sup-porters. This movement has grown on the shoul-ders of like-minded people who devote their time and labour, for the cause. From Uttar Pradesh, its seat of origin, the movement has expanded to Mad-hya Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttrakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Driven by the cause and placing their support be-

hind the movement, Saurabh, Aditi, Ankur and Vin-ita have taken up the task, of bringing a chapter of cinema of resistance, to audiences in Mumbai. On the occasion of tenth anniversary of the Kalinga-nagar firing and peoples movements against Tata Steel and the Government of Odishsa, Cinema of Resistance began its Mumbai chapter. To commem-orate the occasion, a series of 7 short documen-tary films based on the Kalinganagar firing were screened for a group of interested individuals fol-lowed by a discussion. The following are the selected movies that were screened on 2nd January 2016:

Shot Dead or DevelopmentA one minute long movie directed by Surya Shankar Dash provides a background to the 2001 Kashipur and Kalinganagar movements where Adivasi were killed for resisting mining. It is an animated movie that presents land grabbing for mining as the rea-son behind these two movements. The illustrations used in the clip are in Idital, a form of Saura Adivasi art, and the music is from the Koya and Bonda Ad-ivasi. Repression DiaryThose resisting the mining activities by corporate entities in Kalinganagar were subjected to untold misery and violence. The Repression Diary provides an account of one such fateful event in 2010 when the state machinery unleashed para-military troops on the protesting Adivasi. This video is important not only on the account of the violence it presents but also because of the fact that it is created by the inhabitants of the land. Raghu as introduced at the beginning of the film is an active member of

the Bisthapan Birodhi Jan Mancha and also the one behind the camera. It provides a vivid scene, which depicts the police brutality that the people had to face in order to protect their land. Lament of the NiyamrajaThis video captures the late- leader of the Dongria Kondh, Dambu Prasaka singing a song on Niyam-raja, the king of forest. The song describes the de-pendency of the tribals on the sustenance of the Niyamgiri forest, for their existence. A linkage is established between the mountains, vegetation, rivers, livestock and the Adivasi, who rely on each other in order to survive. The Niyamgiri hills re-plenishes itself with rain water and releases this water as streams and waterfalls, throughout the year. Because of the mining, large portions of the hills are cut, and as a result of which, the rivers dry up during the summer season. This has affected the ecological balance of the Niyamgiri forests.DhinkiThis short clip focusses on the coastal villages in Odisha against Indians biggest foreign direct in-vestment (FDI), by POSCO, a multinational steel making company. Dhinki or the husking pedal, is an important part of rural life in Odisha, where it is worshipped by women, on each and every festival. The paddy which is dehusked through the Dhinki, is considered to be healthier, than the paddy dehusked using a mechanized machine. In order to revive the use of Dhinki a number of self-help groups have come up. The process stands for

two things: self-sustenance and the supremacy of traditional over modern practices. Big Fat Brutal LieThe film begins with the Chief Minister of Odisha making a statement that he believes in peaceful industrialisation. The other picture brought about in the clip is police officials beating up protest-ing Adivasi. The strength of this video is that both these events happened simul-taneously. Thus presenting the stark contrast between what is being said and done by the state.

The Human ZooThis film is based on a fair Arts and Craft of Prim-itive Tribal Communities conducted every year on 26th January by the Schedule Caste and Schedule tribe Research and Training Institute. Apart from tribal art and food; tribal people are also displayed. This practise was a regular affair until this film came out. It was only subsequent to the release of this video that this process was stopped.The Displacement ColonyA few smiles make our day is a billboard by Ve-danta, just outside a colony of displaced people. The violation of rights does not stop at forcibly acquir-ing land. The process of resettlement and rehabili-tation is equally unjust. This film talks about some of the features of such resettlement colonies. The houses allotted are small, with very little or no ven-tilation facilities, poor drainage, institutions such as schools and hospitals are inaccessible. The only space which is left, is for the construction of such amenities and institutions. The director has used sarcasm to convey his message. All the above mentioned movies talk about different tribal issues. However, they all underline that fact that the state has turned a blind eye towards them. After the screening, the session broke into discus-sion on the various themes brought forth in the movies. For some it was difficult to acknowledge the stark difference between their social milieu and that of the tribal. For the others, it was just the tip of the iceberg as a lot of incidents go unreported in such regulated areas.

Additti MunshiStudent of M.A in Social Work in Children and Family, TISS, Mumbai

Cinema of Resistance, Mumbai Chapter begins

www.thesabha.orgJanuary 2016

7South Asia

History reveals that the state of Sri Lanka has a poor record in delivering justice to its minorities. With this be-ing the status quo, in September 24, 2015, the UNHRC in Geneva passed a resolution with reference to war crimes to put in place a domestic mechanism to bring to truth, justice, and reconciliation. This resolution was passed after the release of the OISL report which accused the Liber-ation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a militant separatist organization, the Sri Lankan security forces, and the other militant organizations for com-mitting grave human rights violations during the last phase of the civil war that ended on May, 2009. Today, the most important question is that does Sri Lankan state (or the dominant Sinhalese Buddhist majori-ty) have the political will to bring out truth and deliver justice to its Tamil minorities on war crimes and crimes against humanity? Sri Lanka had established 32 commis-sions to inquire various issues such as arbitrary executions and disappear-ances. The outcomes of most of these commissions have been debatable. For example, the state did not publish the findings of most of these commis-sions, the perpetrators continue to avail impunity from the justice sys-tem, and the interference of the Ex-ecutive within the Judiciary has been consistent. With this history, on September 24, 2015, a resolution was passed by the UNHCR in Geneva. This resolu-tion was passed with the support of the recently elected Sri Lankan gov-ernment and was aimed to initiate a domestic inquiry process (with the involvement of the experts from the Commonwealth countries) to bring accountability and evolve political solution. This resolution was passed based on the findings of the Office of High Commission for Human Rights Inves-tigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) report. The report accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a mil-itant separatist organization, the Sri Lankan security forces, and the other militant organizations for committing grave human rights violations during the last phase of civil war. It highlights the systemic nature of the crimes committed by the Sri Lankan security forces with sheer.For the international community, the human rights defenders, and the Tam-il minorities, it took six long years af-ter the end of the militant struggle to bring the state of Sri Lanka on a table to discuss accountability and political solution for the Tamils. End of warThe last phase of war created 282,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and at one juncture, this entire Tamil population was caged inside a camp named Manik Farm. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General had stated that condition of this camp was worse than anything hed seen in Goma and Darfur. Rape and disappearance were rampant. The international communities had no wish to watch or hear the crisis of the Tamils. They sulkily accepted the discourse of the Sri Lankan state, Zero Civilian Casualties, although they know it was a blatant lie. A leaked

embassy cable stated that in the last phase of the carnage, about 7,000 to 17,000 Tamils went missing or pre-sumably dead. The estimate of the UN varies between 40,000 to 70,000 people. From the side of the victims, a Tamil Catholic Bishop estimates the death toll as 146,678 people. He ar-rived at this figure based on a popu-lation statistics. The state did not care to enumerate the deaths. However, it challenges the figures put forward by various sources.The Channel 4 disclosuresThe Channel 4 documentary, The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, shook the world by disclosing the scenes of the final weeks of the militant struggle. The Tamil civilians were caught in be-tween the LTTE and the security forc-es. Few civilians were killed by the LTTE to prevent them from moving out of war zone. The LTTE believed that they could bargain with the in-ternational community for ceasefire by showing the presence of civilian population but the reality turned the opposite. A vast majority of Tamil ci-

vilians were killed by the Sri Lankan forces through their indiscriminate shelling.International pressureMany international countries and human rights defenders alleged that both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan forces have committed war crimes. In continuation, an internal report pre-pared by the UN accepted that it had failed in its mandate of protecting the civilians in the final months of war.Continuous international pressure made the President, Rajapaksa, to establish an internal inquiry com-mission, the Lessons Learnt and Rec-onciliation Commission (LLRC), in May 2010. The Sri Lankan state used this commission as the trump card to stonewall international investi-gations. The outcomes of this report were not to an acceptable interna-tional standard.On March 27, 2014, the U.S. spon-sored resolution against Sri Lanka was tabled in the UN session in Ge-neva. It called for an international in-vestigation into alleged war crimes in the final stage of the islands civil war which ended in 2009.Change of guard The Presidential election of 2015 was a watershed moment in the history of Sri Lanka. Maithripala Sirisena, a SLFP parliamentarian, defected from his party with his supporters and stood as a common opposition candidate challenging his former leader Mahin-da Rajapakse. The latter was defeated with the support of the Tamil and the Muslim minorities. There are reports that Chandrika Kumaratunga, the for-mer President of Sri Lanka, played a major role in convincing Sirisena to contest against Rajapakse. It is be-lieved that Sirisena had help from not just opposition politicians such as Ranil Wickremesinghe but also from India and the U.S. The reason for this involvement was Rajapakses pro-Chinese policies.

In continuation, the new regime worked diligently convincing the international community that they would work towards accountability and justice mechanism. There have been some visible changes in the ground such as the passage of the 19th amendment to limit the power of the executive Presidency, civilian governors for Northern and Eastern provinces, and freedom of press. In reciprocation and with the request from Sirisena, the UNHRC deferred the release of its international investi-gation report by six months to set the domestic political arena in order. In an interesting twist to the tale, Ma-hinda Rajapakse has been given a new life in politics and nominated as the candidate of the UPFA (United Peo-ples Freedom Alliance) in the general election of Sri Lanka on August, 2015. The election result clearly divulged the aspirations of the people. The is-land was divided into three zones, the UNP took the hill and the wet zones of the central region, the Tamil Nation-al Alliance (TNA) took the northern

region, and the SLFP took the bot-tom and the dry zones. The UNP won the race by a narrow margin and the mission to bring back Mahinda [Ra-japakse] faced a setback not a com-plete defeat. Before the UN resolution on 2015The U.S. has started constructing the narrative of progress in Sri Lanka since the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, to Sri Lanka in May, 2015. In continuation, the U.S. Assis-tant Secretary of State, Nisha Biswal, made her visit to Sri Lanka in August, 2015, and promised that they would support the Sri Lankan Governments position for a credible domestic ac-countability mechanism. The release of the OISL report made the world know the gravity of the suf-ferings that the Tamils have endured during the last phase of armed con-flict. Some of the crucial allegations in the report were that the Sri Lank-an security forces have executed sur-rendered LTTE members unlawfully; there were arbitrary arrests and de-tentions by the security forces which often resulted in disappearance; sex-ual violence, rape, and torture were perpetuated as methods of warfare by the security forces; the LTTE was involved in abduction and forced re-cruitment of children and adults.It should be highlighted here that be-fore tabling the resolution, there was marathon horse-trading between the high profile officials of Sri Lanka and the international power centers. At the end, Colombo was able to obtain some leverages, the totem of hybrid court was removed and was replaced by a Sri Lankan Judicial Mechanism with a Special Counsel that would en-compass Commonwealth and other foreign judges defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and investi-gators.The propaganda of the regime has been that the mechanism will be

purely domestic. The regime speaks one language in the international arena and another within Sri Lanka. At the other side of the spectrum, the right wing Sinhalese nationalists poke the present regime as a stooge of the America since it supported the passage of a resolution on war crimes and crimes against humanity. The road never travelled beforeThe regime had proposed for a four-tiered structure for accountability mechanism. They are as follows: a Commission for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation, to be established in consultation with South Africa; an Office of Missing Persons, set up by statute and in line with internation-ally-accepted standards; what he termed a Judicial Mechanism with a Special Counsel; and an Office of Reparations. In a recent interview, Chandrika Ku-maratunga, the former President and the head of the reconciliation unit, have stated that the war crimes court would start functioning from end of December, 2015, or at the latest by early January, 2016 and that the ju-dicial mechanism would be domestic and international experts may only give technical assistance; and only line of command will be tested before the court and not individual soldiers. Gray areasOne side, the state of Sri Lanka talks about justice mechanism and recon-ciliation with Tamils. However, on the other side, the Northern and the Eastern provinces continue to be un-der heavy militarization even after six years of civil war. In Mullaitivu, there is a military base in every ten minutes of journey. If we look at the budget of Sri Lanka, still a large chunk of budget is been spent on defence sector. Iron-ically, the Sri Lankan security forces have also started involving in numer-ous business ventures in the Tamil homelands such as parks, shopping arcades and cricket stadiums to ho-tels, restaurants, a veterinary clinic, a beauty salon and even a cruise ship. This move removes clearer demarca-tion between civil and defence spaces and increases surveillance.Since independence, Sri Lankan ma-jority has been following the footsteps of the Israel in colonizing the lands of the minority communities. For exam-ple, a recent report reveals that about 11,710 acres of private lands [are] still under the control of Sri Lankan security forces in the Northern prov-inces. Over 200 Tamil political prisoners went on a hunger strike in the begin-ning of November, 2015. Tamils be-lieve that there are at least 300 Tamil political prisoners across Sri Lanka and they are arrested under the Pre-vention of Terrorism Act. Though the court had granted bail to 32 prison-ers, recently, the bail condition was lopsided. The Human Rights Com-mission of Sri Lankan, lately, called the Attorney General and asked the state to release of those held in de-tention or remand for a long period of time without charges and against whom there is no credible evidence. Further, it asked the Attorney General to look into and review the cases that are solely based on confessions made to police officers, cases where there is no credible evidence exist and for cas-es which are relatively minor.

Srilanka: The road to Truth, Justice and ReconciliationPrabhakar Jayaprakash

Phd. Student at TISS, Mumbai

The international communities had no wish to watch or hear the crisis of the Tamils. They sulkily accepted the discourse of the Sri Lank-an state, Zero Civilian Casualties, although they know it was a blatant lie.

www.thesabha.org8January 2016

Shared Silence A Need for Un-Confident Friends

On Ravish Kumars NDTV India in the prime time show after Bihars state election results were outmost senior reporters, belonging to the upper castes, were discussing the nukaad exit poll and how it could have gotten the results wrong. One of the hypothesis proposed was that most respondents in the field, who spoke on camera, also belonged to the higher castes. It was also contended that the reason the respondents were overwhelmingly of the up-per castes is because only they have the confidence to speak up. The upper caste interviewees had quick answers and retorts for the reporters questions and that the vehement confidence with which they replied led the reporters own logic and reasoning to take a back seat. The show also suggested that this might be the very reason why the exit poll data was so far off the mark. This led me to think about the opinions I normally hear from the people around me. I realized that the opinions I heard the most came from confident people who were always ready to speak without even being spoken to. Could this mean that the exit polls in my head, those taken to measure everyday occurrences, could also be skewed? If all the opinions I was getting all the time came from only a certain type of people confident did it mean that I too was presented with a slightly lop-sided view of the world? This has made me have begin fearing confidence and confident friends. And so, lately, I have been looking for people who are not confident. I am also looking to be friends with them. Un-confident friends.It is not easy to find them. They dont speak until and unless they have been given a space a space of shared silence. And what follows is a long con-versation, without jargons, without pretence, without smileys, or the inane abbreviations of social media. A conversation with real words and sentences, not one where two words replace the whole paragraph and is understood by the digital extroverts only.Nowadays, even the BEST buses in Mumbai remind me confidently with the FIIT-JEE advertisement on their red bodies that only IIT is success. Initially, she did not use to tell or try to sell me anything. We had a relationship just the two of us. A relationship of shared silence. She was plain, utilitarian and necessary. Just going around and doing her work, just like me. We used to speak to each other, but we never forced or imposed anything on each other. Other than the very public space of a BEST bus, I also encounter several such people in my networks. They are very confident and speak above my much-needed shared silence. They belong to many ideologies: the Sangh, the Left or the Ambedkarites. Their confidence scares me. I cannot compete with their confidence, and I am afraid that this confidence will get to me. It is a contagious disease. And the only cure may be silence a shared one.We are becoming lazy with words. Ideas to be put into writing are tedious and boring, but shouting over each others voices is not. We are competing with each other to be the most confident and successful, never dreaming of collaborating to share that momentary space of silence.-----------------------------------------------------------

Colors of Cage and PromFor the first time, Tata Institute of Social Sciences campus, Mumbai, host-ed a prom night. The event was organized by the students union on 23rd December 2015. The color scheme for the costumes was red & black. It was organised with proper prior permission, on a ghostly abandoned bas-ket ball court, which has not been functional because of lack of funds to repair the baskets. The event, with its aura of romantic lights and blessed with photogenic couples, witnessed a large turnout of students and was deemed a success for the organizers. Students, who normally dont even brush for class, took time to dress up and orchestrate their attires for the special prom night.Last year in February, another event was organised, which was canceled in the last minute. The reasons given were varied, beginning with the absence of permission for the space by the student organizers and then labeling the event as un-academic according to articles published in newspaper daily Mumbai Mirror.The event was a talk by Arun Ferreira, a civil right activist. He was due to recite excerpts from his work, Colors of the Cage, which describes his four and a half years in prison, awaiting trial under 11 charges of Naxal-ism and sedition. Ferreira was acquitted of all these charges in 2014. Last month, he joined the ranks of criminal lawyers in Mumbai, after complet-ing his degree from Siddharth Law College. He is now working with advo-cate Suresh Rajeshwar. Along with Rajeshwar, he is now part of the Indian Association of Peoples Lawyers (IAPL) and Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR). The book chronicles his jail time and lists his inhumane treatment. Fer-reira was beaten black and blue. And, now as he dons the black advocates coat, it must surely come tinged with the red of blood. . Ferreira writes in his prison memoir Colors of Cage:

To make me more amenable to their demands, they stretched out my body completely, using an updated version of the medieval torture technique of drawing (though there was no quartering). My arms were tied to a window grill high above the ground while two policemen stood on my outstretched thighs to keep me pinned to the floor. This was calculated to cause maximum pain without leaving visible injuries. Despite these precautions, my ears start-ed to bleed and my jaws began to swell.Who decides which reds and blacks are academic and which are other-wise? Is it the students or the administration? It seems that as long as the event is politically apathetic, it is approved. The only events unquestioned are the ones which do not rock the political boat. And these events can take place in an academic space with or without the governments influ-ence. A gathering can itself act as bridge between academic and non-academic spaces. It all depends on whether it is the hormonal excitement of a prom or the intellectual stimulation of a talk. But this maun hormone, gets ex-cited only to please the status quo. It seems all we have left is to choose between the red, of anger, passion, love, torture and the black of the cos-tumes whether for prom or for the courts.

The students agitating against the scraping of Non net fellowships, fund cuts, increased privatization of higher education assem-bled at the gates of MHRD to question the governments indecision regarding the non net fellowships today. Even after 85 days of protest the MHRD has not provided any answers to the questions raised by students till now. During the last demonstration by students on 9th of December, the students were brutally lathi charged and many were severely injured. By appointing a review committee to give recommendations regarding the non net fellowships, the matter was further pushed behind the curtain as the committee did not have a single student representative. The review committee which intends to narrow down the number of student who benefit from the fellowship through implementing a criteria mechanism has been criticized by students in the past. The review committee was supposed to submit its recommenda-tions regarding the fellowships by mid De-cember and till now the students await any communication /decision from the Ministry.A delegation of students went to meet the MHRD minister Smriti Irani but due to her

unavailability, the director of UGC, Amit Shukla, Vinaysheel Oberoi, Education Secre-tary and Ishita Ray, Joint Secretary met the students.The delegation asked them for a specific time by which the report will be out, but the ministry has again denied any specific date. Continuing its false assurances the only concrete thing that has come across clearly, is that the Ministry will be implementing a criteria citing unavailability of funds.The students were told that, the report has been delayed because they are taking re-sponse from students all over the country. Although tragically the students protesting at UGC have not been asked for their feed-backs even once.It was also questioned about there being no student representa-tion and they responded by saying, that the committee would take care of everything.The coordination committee Delhi will be holding a meeting to decide future course of action and a response to this attitude of government. The students recognize that the issue is being diluted and delayed and the struggle of #OccupyUGC will continue in one form or other till their demands are met.

Editorial

Fact Finding Five Dalit Research Scholars of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) have been socially boy-cotted for the last many days by the university administration for standing against unilateral action taken against them in the campus. The re-search scholars have been barred from entering hostels, administration building and other com-mon places in groups and are not permitted to participate in students union elections, availing mess and library facilities, or participating in any protest regarding their case.Sequence of Events 3rd August, 2015 : Ambedkar Students Asso-ciation (ASA), a scheduled caste students union were informed that Mr.Susheel Kumar, President of Akhil Bharthiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an imate of the University, posted defamatory and disparaging comments in Facebook. The mem-bers of ASA asked the ABVP President to with-draw the comments. Upon their deliberation Su-sheel Kumar submitted his apology letter to the members of ASA in the presence of the security officer, on duty, and several other students.4th August, 2015 : Early in the morning, Mr.Susheel Kumar was admitted to a hospital and lodged a complaint stating that the students be-longing to ASA have beaten him. The police of Ga-chibowli, summoned PhD scholars D. Prasanth, Ch. Seshaiah, V Sunkanna, V Rohit and D Vijay Kumar to the Police Station and were sent back after seeking their explanation. However,the aggrieved scheduled caste students also com-plained over Mr. Susheel Kumar on 04/08/2015 at Gachibowli Police Station, but no action was taken. Meanwhile, high ranked BJP leaders trespassed into the University and staged a dharna demand-ing the University authorities to take action over the ASA students. During this dharna one Mr Rama Chandar Rao BJP MLC forcibly entered into the V. Cs chamber and insisted for the sus-pension of the ASA students. The University au-thorities sought the report of the Security officer who was physically present during the alleged incident. The said security officer fairly narrat-ed the said incident and affirmed that there was discussion about bad comments in facebook and that Mr. Susheel Kumar initially denied that it was posted by him but later confessed and apol-ogized. The report did not include any incident of beating or use of force by ASA scholars on Mr. Susheel Kumar. 12/08/2015 : Despite the clear statement, the university further constituted a committee - Ex-

tended Proctorial Committee . The said report, also stated that there was no evidence of beating Mr. Susheel Kumar from any one and that it was established that Mr. Susheel Kumar had posted objectionable comments in the facebook. The said committee submitted its report recom-mending that both the clashing parties should be warned. However, the BJP leaders including Bandaru Dat-tatreya, a Central Minister sought the interven-tion of Union Government MHRD department to influence the University authorities. Later, in response to MHRD, the University au-thorities have ordered for continued enquiry by the proctorial committee, obviously, to revise its report and recommend action on scholars of Ambedkar Students Association. Accordingly, the continued proctorial committee gave a report desired by the authorities in which it found that Mr. Susheel Kumar was abused, manhandled, beaten, forced to write (sic) apology letter.How did the committee which affirmed that there was no assault in its earlier report now found that Mr. Susheel Kumar was assaulted? What was the new evidence? The committee states that it examined Mr. Susheel Kumar and two other witness whose names are kept con-fidential which led it to believe that Mr. Susheel Kumar was manhandled etc. Likewise, the committee which earlier recom-mended warning to Mr. Susheel Kumar and the other students for their respective wrongs, now doesnt mention about the facebook post-ing but recommends suspension of 5 scholars of Ambedkar Students Association. Just within a week of this continued enquiry report, there were suspension orders suspending 5 SC PhD scholars. The sequence of events, the BJP leaders holding dharna against the authorities for not taking action, the ministers letter accusing the University for not taking action, the decision to continue the closed enquiry, the revised report, the recommendation to suspend and suspen-sion, all very clearly point out that the University acted at the behest of ruling political party. Despite the fact that none of the scholars of ASA HCU, the university on 16th December passed orders taking action against the students. The or-der clearly stating that the students should com-ply with the final decision taken by the University, based on the recommendation of the committee, is a one sided order as there is no action against the ABVP student for the defamatory comments posted on facebook.

Source : roundtableindia.co.in

Banned and Boycotted Research Scholars of Hyderabad Central University

Follow Up#OccupyUGC: Jaari Hai, Jaari rahega!Press release by Students of the movement

Alternatives 9 www.thesabha.org

January 2016

Did you know that Himachal Pradesh has 220 terms for snow? Separate words depending on when, where and how it falls. I looked incredulous-ly at the speaker as he continued.Diversity is the key to lifes evolution and a crucial part of this is the range of languages we have in India, and the range and meaning of terms within each language. According to us, there are at least 850 living languages in India, not dialects, full lan-guages.The speaker was Ganesh Devy, linguist extraordi-naire, and I was at the Adivasi Academy at Tejgadh, near Vadodara, Gujarat. The Academy is a learning institute set up in 1999 by Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, an organization Devy started in 1996. As its name suggests, the core of Bhashas work is on languages, but this includes a whole set of related economic, political, cultural and social aspects.How does Devy know there are 850 languages in India? He told us about what must surely be one of the worlds most extensive cultural exercises, the Peoples Linguistic Survey of India, conducted from 2010 to 2013. This survey documented 780 languages.Why a peoples surveyDevy explains: In the 1961 census, a total of 1652 mother tongues were recorded in India; in 1971, this had come down to 108 simply because all lan-guages with less than 10000 speakers had been clubbed into a generic others category; by 2001, the official figure stands at 122! Of these, only 22 are in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Most other languages are treated as dialects because they dont have a script, but if you think of a language as something that has its own independent grammar, and most of its wordstock governed by that grammar, these so-called dialects are also full languages. For a long time Oriya - a major language - was seen as a dialect of Bangla, and Konkani as a dia-lect of Marathi. In any case even English does not have its own script!There are nearly 500 adivasi languag-es, some like Bhili with over 9.5 million speakers recorded in the 2001 census, some like the languages of the Onge, Greater Andamanese and Sentinelese adivasis of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands with only a few hundred speakers! And the Majhi spoken in Sikkim has barely four or five speakers now. Arunachal Pradesh alone has nearly 90 languages. In fact we documented about 200 languages about which no documentation previously existed outside of the community speaking them.The Peoples Linguistic Survey, involving over 3000 collaborators, has resulted in about 50 volumes in 92 books at various stages of print. Bhashas work on languages and adivasi cultures is now one basis for starting special research centres in 10 central universities and 12 state universities, and commis-sioning related activities in state tribal welfare in-stitutions.But it will take much more governmental and civ-il society action to reverse the slide of hundreds of languages towards either extinction or irreversible damage (Devy uses the term aphasia to denote this silencing of languages), including breaking out of the imposition of dominant languages in schools, re-assertion of the importance of oral transmission, techniques of respectful cross-language communi-cation, and much else.Gujarat, for instance, has 52 languages, of which only 3 - Gujarati, Urdu and Sindhi - are mentioned in the Eighth Schedule, and very few are taught in schools. Kachchhi, an independent language spo-ken by lakhs, is not even recognized!In the corridors of power, says Devy, If every lan-guage is a unique worldview then statistically not more than four per cent of Indian worldviews have been articulated in the Parliament. If in 1961 there were indeed 1600+ languages, it could mean that

several hundred are already gone or at least un-traced. Devy says that 220 languages have definite-ly disappeared in the last 50 years, another 150 could be lost in the next few decades.Why is it important to reverse the erasure of language diversityDevy explains,Languages are repositories of knowledge, of relationships between humans and nature and humans with each other, their loss en-tails the loss of all this. Who knows how important Himachals diverse terms for snow will be to tack-le climate change that is impacting glaciers and snowmelt and precipitation? Or of the thousands of terms for foods and food habits, to the nutritional security of the poor?The language survey is only the latest in a long line of pathbreaking initiatives that Bhasha has under-taken. Over the years it has put together a reposi-tory of tribal arts, with 60000 photographs taken by adivasis themselves; in the same vein of partici-patory or community-led documentation, there are over 90 insider ethnographies of communities be-ing prepared, as also over 3000 adivasi dictionaries and several hundred adivasi folklore volumes are in the process of compilation.Documentation is also taking place of nomadic, coastal, and pastoral communities. At the Adivasi Academy, Naranbhai Rathwa, a local Rathwa adi-vasi who has been with Bhasha almost since it be-gan, and has by now acquired an MA in Sociology, has designed an interactive, live museum (Vacha) that has artefacts, instruments, vessels, art, photos, clothing, and other aspects of adivasi culture from

southern Gujarat and elsewhere.Vacha and near to it, Lakhara (an artists studio), have become the locus of several exciting events in-cluding adivasi music and art festivals.As Naranbhai explains: Vacha is a forum and a platform for expression of adivasi creativity, pro-viding intellectual space for adivasis interested in documenting social practices, and creating dynam-ic displays of adivasi expressions, both artistic and cultural, a laboratoryor rather a curatory-- for contemporary ethnic, anthropological and artistic studies carried out from the perspective of adivasis themselves. It is conceptualized as a unique Muse-um of Voice.Bhashas cultural centre for nomadic communities located in Ahmedabad has created a Museum of Hope in the midst of what was previously the pris-on settlement for the Chhara tribe, and a Himlok museum at Kyelang in Himachal Pradesh, at 11000 feet altitude, for revitalizing the Himalayan memo-ry-scape.The learning spaceThe Academy also houses a clinic for basic health-care, where the first thing that is advised is to take no medicine and let the body heal, but there is readiness for also offering cures using various health systems. At a nominal medical insurance fee of Rs. 200 per year, every adivasi of the area is enti-tled to free services at the clinic.In another corner of the Academys campus is Vas-ant Shala, learning centre for young children, where over the years 20000 kids have done their first few years of learning.This institution has no standard medium of instruc-

tion, the teachers are supposed to learn any mother tongue that a child comes with, teaching and learn-ing happens in multiple languages, and there are no grades with various age groups studying together.The Academy also catered to college-going adiva-si youth from 2000 to 2012, providing a diploma course in normal studies like engineering and computers and the like, while also learning adivasi studies, practical skills and other aspects enabling them to retain roots in their own cultures and ecol-ogies.It is after Bhasha was invited to collaborate with various UGC institutions that these courses were modified as orientation courses in multi-lingual education and folklore studies.Faculty for both the school and the college have not been only formally trained academics, but also vil-lage experts like Mansignh Rathwa, a Pithora paint-er who has never attended a school. A library in the campus contains over 30000 volumes and 185 journals, in multiple languages. But in all the pro-grammes, great emphasis is given to oral learning, performing arts, and other non-written forms, re-specting that adivasis have for millennia used such diverse mediums of expression and knowledge transmission.Producing certificates of formal degrees is not a requirement for recruitment at the Academy, and whoever desires to join it is allowed to do the work they like to do. But their performance is regularly assessed by their peers. Given all this, it is not sur-prising that the Academy is recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.The latest addition to the Academy campus is the

Bhasha Van (Language forest), where samples and information about each of the 780 languages Bhasha has docu-mented will be available in recordings for visitors to listen to. So far 70 languag-es have been placed under 70 trees, each identified with an attractive plaque (tied rather than nailed to the tree!), and vis-itors are provided headsets to listen to them.Bhashas missionAt the heart of Bhashas work is a deep commitment to freedom and indepen-dence, including that of speech and ex-

pression. At Bhashas office in Vadodara where Devy, his wife Surekha Dalvi and colleagues Kan-jibhai Patel and Sonalbehn Baxi welcomed us, I noticed a bewildering array of trophies and award citations from various parts of the world. It is but natural that work of this order is awarded.Notably, though, Devy recently returned his Sahitya Academy award as part of the growing number of writers, artists, scientists, academics and others who are doing this to express concern and anxiety over the shrinking space for free expression and growing intolerance towards difference of opinion and the growing atmosphere of communal hatred and intolerance that the BJP government is abet-ting.It takes courage to make such a visible gesture when one is based in Gujarat, but Devy has gone even beyond that by organizing, with others like him, journeys into other states to talk about these issues with anyone who is willing to listen. As he says, The great idea of India is based on a profound tolerance for diversity and difference, and anything undermining this is playing with the very founda-tions of the country.My visit to Bhasha and the Adivasi Academy was on the occasion of the meeting of the Core Group of Vikalp Sangam, of which Bhasha is a member. It was appropriate for us to organize it here, given Bhashas multiple roles in stemming the bulldozer of cultural homogenization that has come with co-lonialism first and now economic globalization, and in providing alternatives in learning, cultural spac-es, and other aspects of community life.

Bhasha : The Language of Diversity

Languages are repositories of knowledge, of relationships between humans and nature and humans with each other, their loss en-tails t