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Archives for 2015

Karnataka: Congress leader Janardhan Poojary takes on Modi govt over ‘anti-farmer’ land ordinance

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B-Janardhana-Poojary

Mangaluru: Criticizing the Narendra Modi-led NDA government for passing the latest ordinance to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, former union minister and veteran Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary said that the BJP government was set on ruining the nation’s economy and lives of farmers by bringing the ordinance.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said that the former UPA government had brought an amendment to the Land Acquisition Act to prevent farmers from committing suicide. About 75 percent of people in the country, including farmers, live in rural areas. All the provisions in the ordinance related to rehabilitation and compensation are anti-farmer, he lashed against the NDA government for the ordinance which would harm the interests of the farmers.

Mr Poojary also criticised the Labour ordinance passed by the union government for depriving lakhs of labourers of benefits from the industries they worked for. The government is more keen on protecting the interests of the corporates. The BJP government will face a setback if they choose to go against the interests of the people, he warned, adding that the Congress had also suffered defeat when they failed in doing so.

He said it was the responsibility of Prime Minister to protect the interests of the people. There is a need for the BJP to contemplate on delivering the promises made by the party in its manifesto, he said.

When asked about the launch of a new Hindutva organisation formed by a Congress member in Puttur, Mr Poojary said that the organisation went against the secular principles of Congress party. Such activities can be called anti-party, he added.

Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi joins BJP, likely to contest against Kejriwal

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Kiran Bedi

New Delhi: Former IPS officer and anti-corruption activist Kiran Bedi on Thursday joined the BJP at a function held at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.

Praising Bedi for her role as an IPS officer, BJP chief Amit Shah said: “I welcome her on behalf of the party and I believe that her joining the party will strengthen the Delhi unit especially ahead of the polls.”

Shah also announced that Bedi would contest the elections but stopped short of announcing her as the CM candidate saying it was the parliamentary board that decides the CM.

“Leave it to the parliamentary board, let them decide who will be the CM,” he said.

Along with Bedi, ex-AAP leader Shazia Ilmi as well as former Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Prada are also expected to join the party today.

While Jaya Prada in an interview to a news channel confirmed that she is in talks with the party, Shazia Ilmi sought time before taking a final decision.

Shazia Ilmi, however, made it clear that she will campaign against AAP and will work “to expose AAP for what it is.”

A Golf Course on a Floating Man-Made Island

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At the Coeur d’Alene Resort golf course in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA, the 14th hole is located in a most unusual spot–it resides on a floating platform in the nearby lake. Golfers are ferried to the man-made island aboard a wooden motorboat. And because the platform floats, it can be moved around the lake to alter the layout of the course. According to the resort, thousands of golf balls that fail to make the 14th green are fished out of the lake each year.

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photos via Coeur d’Alene Resort

via Bless This Stuff, Coudal

France arrests a comedian for his Facebook comments, showing the sham of the west’s “free speech” celebration

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Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images

Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images

by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept

Forty-eight hours after hosting a massive march under the banner of free expression, France opened a criminal investigation of a controversial French comedian for a Facebook post he wrote about the Charlie Hebdo attack, and then this morning, arrested him for that post on charges of “defending terrorism.” The comedian, Dieudonné (above), previously sought elective office in France on what he called an “anti-Zionist” platform, has had his show banned by numerous government officials in cities throughout France, and has been criminally prosecuted several times before for expressing ideas banned in that country.

The apparently criminal viewpoint he posted on Facebook declared: “Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly.” Investigators concluded that this was intended to mock the “Je Suis Charlie” slogan and express support for the perpetrator of the Paris supermarket killings (whose last name was “Coulibaly”). Expressing that opinion is evidently a crime in the Republic of Liberté, which prides itself on a line of 20th Century intellectuals – from Sartre and Genet to Foucault and Derrida – whose hallmark was leaving no orthodoxy or convention unmolested, no matter how sacred.

Since that glorious “free speech” march, France has reportedly opened 54 criminal cases for “condoning terrorism.” AP reported this morning that “France ordered prosecutors around the country to crack down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism.”

As pernicious as this arrest and related “crackdown” on some speech obviously is, it provides a critical value: namely, it underscores the utter scam that was this week’s celebration of free speech in the west. The day before the Charlie Hebdo attack, I coincidentally documented the multiple cases in the west – including in the U.S. – where Muslims have been prosecuted and even imprisoned for their political speech. Vanishingly few of this week’s bold free expression mavens have ever uttered a peep of protest about any of those cases – either before the Charlie Hebdo attack or since. That’s because “free speech,” in the hands of many westerners, actually means: it is vital that the ideas I like be protected, and the right to offend groups I dislike be cherished; anything else is fair game.

It is certainly true that many of Dieudonné’s views and statements are noxious, although he and his supporters insist that they are “satire” and all in good humor. In that regard, the controversy they provoke is similar to the now-much-beloved Charlie Hebdo cartoons (one French leftist insists the cartoonists were mocking rather than adopting racism and bigotry, but Olivier Cyran, a former writer at the magazine who resigned in 2001, wrote a powerful 2013 letter with ample documentation condemning Charlie Hebdo for descending in the post-9/11 era into full-scale, obsessive anti-Muslim bigotry).

Despite the obvious threat to free speech posed by this arrest, it is inconceivable that any mainstream western media figures would start tweeting “#JeSuisDieudonné” or would upload photographs of themselves performing his ugly Nazi-evoking arm gesture in “solidarity” with his free speech rights. That’s true even if he were murdered for his ideas rather than “merely” arrested and prosecuted for them. That’s because last week’s celebration of the Hebdo cartoonists (well beyond mourning their horrifically unjust murders) was at least as much about approval for their anti-Muslim messages as it was about the free speech rights that were invoked in their support – at least as much.

The vast bulk of the stirring “free speech” tributes over the last week have been little more than an attempt to protect and venerate speech that degrades disfavored groups while rendering off-limits speech that does the same to favored groups, all deceitfully masquerading as lofty principles of liberty. In response to my article containing anti-Jewish cartoons on Monday – which I posted to demonstrate the utter selectivity and inauthenticity of this newfound adoration of offensive speech – I was subjected to endless contortions justifying why anti-Muslim speech is perfectly great and noble while anti-Jewish speech is hideously offensive and evil (the most frequently invoked distinction – “Jews are a race/ethnicity while Muslims aren’t” – would come as a huge surprise to the world’s Asian, black, Latino and white Jews, as well as to those who identify as “Muslim” as part of their cultural identity even though they don’t pray five times a day). As always: it’s free speech if it involves ideas I like or attacks groups I dislike, but it’s something different when I’m the one who is offended.

Think about the “defending terrorism” criminal offense for which Dieudonné has been arrested. Should it really be a criminal offense – causing someone to be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned – to say something along these lines: western countries like France have been bringing violence for so long to Muslims in their countries that I now believe it’s justifiable to bring violence to France as a means of making them stop? If you want “terrorism defenses” like that to be criminally prosecuted (as opposed to societally shunned), how about those who justify, cheer for and glorify the invasion and destruction of Iraq, with its “Shock and Awe” slogan signifying an intent to terrorize the civilian population into submission and its monstrous tactics in Fallujah? Or how about the psychotic calls from a Fox News host, when discussing Muslims radicals, to “kill them ALL.” Why is one view permissible and the other criminally barred – other than because the force of law is being used to control political discourse and one form of terrorism (violence in the Muslim world) is done by, rather than to, the west?

For those interested, my comprehensive argument against all “hate speech” laws and other attempts to exploit the law to police political discourse is here. That essay, notably, was written to denounce a proposal by a French minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, to force Twitter to work with the French government to delete tweets which officials like this minister (and future unknown ministers) deem “hateful.” France is about as legitimate a symbol of free expression as Charlie Hebdo, which fired one of its writers in 2009 for a single supposedly anti-Semitic sentence in the midst of publishing an orgy of anti-Muslim (not just anti-Islam) content. This week’s celebration of France – and the gaggle of tyrannical leaders who joined it – had little to do with free speech and much to do with suppressing ideas they dislike while venerating ideas they prefer.

Perhaps the most intellectually corrupted figure in this regard is, unsurprisingly, France’s most celebrated (and easily the world’s most overrated) public intellectual, the philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. He demands criminal suppression of anything smacking of anti-Jewish views (he called for Dieudonné’s shows to be banned (“I don’t understand why anyone even sees the need for debate”) and supported the 2009 firing of the Charlie Hebdo writer for a speech offense against Jews), while shamelessly parading around all last week as the Churchillian champion of free expression when it comes to anti-Muslim cartoons.

But that, inevitably, is precisely the goal, and the effect, of laws that criminalize certain ideas and those who support such laws: to codify a system where the views they like are sanctified and the groups to which they belong protected. The views and groups they most dislike – and only them – are fair game for oppression and degradation.

The arrest of this French comedian so soon after the epic Paris free speech march underscores this point more powerfully than anything I could have written about the selectivity and fraud of this week’s “free speech” parade. It also shows – yet again – why those who want to criminalize the ideas they most dislike are at least as dangerous and tyrannical as the ideas they target: at least.

Critics decry 'hypocrisy' of world leaders' photo op in Paris

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Many of those who marched for free speech are leaders of oppressive governments, say journalists

Many of the world leaders who attended Sunday's march for free press have poor records on the issue in their own countries, critics say. (Photo: EPA)

Many of the world leaders who attended Sunday’s march for free press have poor records on the issue in their own countries, critics say. (Photo: EPA)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

On Sunday, an estimated 3.7 million people marched throughout France in the wake of last Wednesday’s shooting at the offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The march, which called for unity and free speech, drew a crowd of one million in Paris—the largest in that city’s history.

However, as investigative journalist and The Intercept co-founder Jeremy Scahill said in an interview Monday with Democracy Now!, the event lost some of its power given the presence of several world leaders who run oppressive governments in their own countries. “[T]his is sort of a circus of hypocrisy when it comes to all of those world leaders who were marching at the front of it,” Scahill said. “[E]very single one of those heads of state or representatives of governments there have waged their own wars against journalists.”

Among them, Scahill noted, was UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who ordered The Guardian to destroy the hard drives that held the files leaked in 2013 by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. And Cameron was joined by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu, whose regime has “kidnapped, abducted, jailed journalists” reporting on Palestine, Scahill said.

“[T]hen you have… General [Abdel Fattal al] Sisi, the dictator of Egypt, who apparently is showing his solidarity for press freedom by continuing to preside over the imprisonment of multiple Al Jazeera journalists whose only crime was doing actual journalism and scores of other Egyptian journalists that never get mentioned in the news media,” Scahill continued.

Scahill’s criticisms followed similar remarks made Sunday by Daniel Wickham, a British journalist and activist. In a series of messages posted to Twitter on Sunday, Wickham laid out those leaders’ own poor records against journalists in their home countries, even as other news sources praised them as “staunch defenders” of free press.

The Independent also noted that the image of those 40-odd heads of state linking arms and marching through the streets of Paris in what the New York Times called a show of “unity in outrage” was actually a coordinated photo op, taken on an empty street away from the million-strong crowd.

“[T]he front line of leaders was followed by just over a dozen rows other dignitaries and officials – after which there was a large security presence maintaining a significant gap with the throngs of other marchers,” theIndependent reported. “The measure was presumably taken for security reasons – but political commentators have suggested that it raises doubts as to whether the leaders were really part of the march at all.”

Reporters Without Borders also condemned the presence of those leaders at the march.

“On what grounds are representatives of regimes that are predators of press freedom coming to Paris to pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo, a publication that has always defended the most radical concept of freedom of expression?” the organization said in a statement on Sunday.

RWB added, “Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the presence of leaders from countries where journalists and bloggers are systematically persecuted such as Egypt (which is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in RWB’s press freedom index), Russia (148th), Turkey (154th) and United Arab Emirates (118th).”

Charlie Hebdo founder says slain editor 'dragged' team to their deaths

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A founding member of Charlie Hebdo says slain editor Stéphane Charbonnier “dragged” team to their deaths by “overdoing” provocative cartoons

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by Henry Samuel, The Telegraph

One of the founding members of Charlie Hebdo has accused its slain editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, or Charb, of “dragging the team” to their deaths by releasing increasingly provocative cartoons, as five million copies of the “survivors’ edition” went on sale.

Henri Roussel, 80, who contributed to the first issue of the satirical weekly in 1970, wrote to the murdered editor, saying: “I really hold it against you.”

In this week’s Left-leaning magazine Nouvel Obs, Mr Roussel, who publishes under the pen name Delfeil de Ton, wrote: “I know it’s not done”, but proceeds to criticise the former “boss” of the magazine.

Calling Charb an “amazing lad”, he said he was also a stubborn “block head”.

“What made him feel the need to drag the team into overdoing it,” he said, referring to Charb’s decision to post a Prophet Mohammed character on the magazine’s front page in 2011. Soon afterwards, the magazine’s offices were burned down by unknown arsonists.

Delfeil adds: “He shouldn’t have done it, but Charb did it again a year later, in September 2012.”

The accusation sparked a furious reaction from Richard Malka, Charlie Hebdo’s lawyer for the past 22 years, who sent an angry message to Mathieu Pigasse, one of the owners of Nouvel Obs and Le Monde.

“Charb has not yet even been buried and Obs finds nothing better to do that to publish a polemical and venomous piece on him.

“The other day, the editor of Nouvel Obs, Matthieu Croissandeau, couldn’t shed enough tears to say he would continue the fight. I didn’t know he meant it this way. I refuse to allow myself to be invaded by bad thoughts, but my disappointment is immense.”

Matthieu Croissandeau, Nouvel Obs’ editor, said: “We received this text and after a debate I decided to publish it in an edition on freedom of expression, it would have seemed to me worrisome to have censored his voice, even if it is discordant. Particularly as this is the voice of one of the pioneers of the gang.”

This is not the first time Delfeil has disagreed with the modern Charlie, accusing Charb’s predecessor of turning it into a Zionist and Islamophobic organ.

That was after Philippe Val, the previous editor, fired one of its historic figures, Maurice Sine, for publishing a cartoon on the marriage of Nicolas Sarkozy’s son, Jean, to a Jewish retailing heiress, which he considered anti-Semitic.

Delfeil said he would not say anymore on recent events. “I have refused to speak to the TV and radio, to everyone. I kept my message for Obs, and I am not prepared to open this subject again,” he said.

Human Rights groups condemn the "arbitrary & illegal prevention of Greenpeace campaigner’s visit to London"

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Priya Pillai, Campaigner Greenpeace India.

Priya Pillai, Campaigner Greenpeace India.

New Delhi: The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has criticised the immigration officials for refusing to allow Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai to fly to London. It described their action as “arbitrary, highhanded and illegal.”

In a statement on January 13, PUCL said she had a valid business visa and all her travel papers were in order. There was thus no acceptable reason for preventing her from travelling to London as she was neither a convicted person nor was there any judicial restraint order prohibiting her travel abroad.

“PUCL strongly condemns the arbitrary, highhanded and illegal action of the immigration officials of the Government of India at the New Delhi airport refusing to permit Ms. Priya Pillai, senior Campaigner of Greenpeace, to board her flight to London on 11th January, 2015. Worse still was the vindictive act of the immigration officials stamping Ms. Priya Pillai’s passport as `OFFLOADED’ thereby effectively ensuring that she cannot leave India until and unless the Government of India revokes the unannounced ban on her travel.

Ms. Priya had valid business visa and all her travel papers were in order. There is thus no acceptable reason for preventing Ms. Priya from travelling to London as she is neither a convicted person nor is there any judicial restraint order prohibiting her travel abroad.

The Peoples Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) stated, “what is ominous is that the Home Ministry has purportedly stated that there is “no rule which allows restraining a citizen from travelling abroad….(because) he/she would express views in conflict with government’s policies.” (TOI, 13/01/2015)]. So if this is the case who ordered the ‘lookout circular’, and at whose behest? These are questions which remain unanswered. If, as the news reports suggest, that the ‘lookout circular’ was issued by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) which has no executive authority to issue them, or by the Foreigners division of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) without the knowledge of the Home Secretary then, this action against Ms. Pillai who had a valid visa shows how arbitrariness has come to define the working of agencies and divisions of MHA, tasked with ‘internal security’.”

Both the organisations demanded that the Government of India immediately revoke its decision to ban foreign travel by Ms. Priya Pillai, strike out the stamp in her passport of being “Off loaded” thereby enabling her to travel abroad if all her travel papers are in order.

They also called upon the Government of India to stop “hounding and targeting rights activists for coercive or police action and instead create a conducive, non-adversarial, intimidation-free environment enabling people to share, discuss and debate in a democratic spirit crucial issues of development projects and programmes.”

The Ministry of Home Affairs has reportedly stated that they had no information about any travel restrictions on Ms. Pillai, while the immigration officials said they were acting on orders from the Government of India. PUCL said it was unlikely that such a drastic decision would be taken without instructions from the highest level.

Congress attacks government on recommendation of RSS men for history panel

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“Three RSS men on the ICHR. Hope India’s new history book does not stretch back to when Brahmin Sadhus had pet dinosaurs,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said on Twitter. Photo: M. Srinath

“Three RSS men on the ICHR. Hope India’s new history book does not stretch back to when Brahmin Sadhus had pet dinosaurs,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said on Twitter. Photo: M. Srinath

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday took a dig at the NDA government over reports that ICHR chief Sudershan Rao has recommended three historians with RSS background for its next panel saying he hopes that history books in future will not say that “Brahmin Sadhus had pet dinosaurs”.

“Three RSS men on the ICHR. Hope India’s new history book does not stretch back to when Brahmin Sadhus had pet dinosaurs,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said on Twitter. Reports had it that with the term of Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) current panel ending on December 22 last year, Rao has recommended among 18 panelists, three historians who are office bearers of RSS’s Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana (ABISY).

These ABISY historians are Narayan Rao, national vice president of the Sangh history wing, Ishwar Sharan Vishwakarma, all-India general secretary, and Nikhilesh Guha, head of the Bengal chapter, the report said. The HRD ministry is the final clearance authority for ICHR appointments. The recommendations of the ICHR are with the ministry, the report had said.

In his other tweets also, Singhvi had taken potshots at the government.

“BJP sent a show cause notice to Sakshi Maharaj but he won’t respond till 3 more are sent. Meanwhile he is itching to make 3 more statements,” Singhvi said reacting to the notice sent to the BJP MP by his party President Amit Shah. He also took a dig at Swachch Bharat Campaign of the government.

“Wl modiji propose Obama as an ambassador for swach Bharat. That Wl certainly not clean Bharat bt generate much desired adequate publicity,” he said.

(PTI)

Promoting Prejudice, Poisoning Minds – Parivar’s intrusions into education

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oct 2014, claimed that the Mahabharat’s story of Karna, who was "not born of his mother’s womb", was evidence of the fact that “genetic science” was prevalent at the time in India. In this file photo he is seen addressing the inaugural function of 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Oct 2014, claimed that the Mahabharat’s story of Karna, who was “not born of his mother’s womb”, was evidence of the fact that “genetic science” was prevalent at the time in India. In this file photo he is seen addressing the inaugural function of 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai.

by Praful Bidwai

If there’s one thing that the 102nd Indian Science Congress, held in Mumbai, will be remembered for, it’s the outrageous claims made at it about the achievements of science in ancient India, including the assertion that Indians between 7000 and 6000 BC knew how to make airplanes that could undertake “interplanetary travel”, and fly backwards and sideways, as well as forwards!

Similarly, Indians had invented differential calculus, knew about viruses and developed advanced techniques of plastic surgery—well before anyone else. These claims confuse mythology with science, concoct history, and are based on pure fantasies of insecure ultra-nationalists who assert that ancient India’s accomplishments in the arts or sciences put even the modern era to shame.

The claim about airplanes was demolished 40 years ago by Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore aeronautical engineers in scientific journals. Yet, such claims are now made with brazen confidence. This speaks to the power of example, one set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, no less, when he cited the mythical figures of Ganesha and Karna as proof that Indians knew about genetics, in-vitro fertilisation and complex surgery thousands of years ago!

Such self-glorification and myth-making can only make India the laughing stock of the world, but is an integral part of the Sangh Parivar’s distinct self-identity and obscurantist agenda. Its impact is now becoming visible in the Parivar’s Long March through the Institutions of the State.

Led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and enabled by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government, Parivar activists are reshaping, changing, and subverting institutions, especially in education and culture. Their aim is to influence their working to reflect the Sangh’s specific brand of “cultural nationalism” by promoting Hindutva icons, engineering long-term changes in programmes and priorities, and making key appointments of personnel who will loyally execute such changes.

The imposition of observing Christmas Day as “good governance” day on Central educational institutions—including thousands of schools, 45 Central universities, the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)—was only one step in that direction.

The latest move is the award of National Research Professorships to Sangh sympathisers: Kannada novelist SL Bhyrappa, Mumbai-based economics lecturer Ashok Modak and Hindi journalist/writer Suryakant Bali. Such Professorships were held in the past by physicists CV Raman and Satyendranath Bose, musician Ravi Shankar, writer Mahashweta Devi and sociologist Andre Beteille.

Bhyrappa is an accomplished and successful novelist, but he controversially accuses Tipu Sultan of being a religious fanatic! According to former BJP functionary Sudheendra Kulkarni, who doesn’t hide his pro-Sangh bias, Bhyrappa nurtures a “fevered hatred of Indian Muslims”. Modak isn’t a distinguished scholar. And Bali’s claim to academic distinction is unknown, but the launch of his last book was attended by human resource development minister Smriti Irani and RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal. Both Bhyrappa and Bali had endorsed Mr Modi as PM-candidate.

The larger Sangh agenda includes substantive changes both in the content of education and appointments in prestigious institutions. Ms Irani has announced that the government will soon formulate a whole new education policy. It has appointed pro-Hindutva or pro-BJP individuals to head the apex-level Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), the renowned Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) at Shimla, and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), established in 1916.

This sends out an unmistakable signal about the shape of things to come in other Central universities including Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), some of the IITs and IIMs, and the Central Board of Secondary Education, among other institutions where new appointments to top posts or councils/governing bodies are due soon.

An even stronger signal emanates from the manner in which Parvin Sinclair, the upright and independent-minded director of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), was ousted more than two years before her term ended, aborting at the last stage the improvement and updating of the National Curriculum Framework-2005, which she had initiated.

The NCF was itself the product of a long, broad consultative process of “de-saffronisation”, which led to the production of NCERT’s widely acclaimed, secular-liberal, pedagogically vastly superior, school textbooks, adopted by many state textbook boards and schools.

On May 22, even before Mr Modi was sworn in, the RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas run by Dinanath Batra (he, of book-pulping fame) demanded a “total” overhaul of the education system and rewriting of textbooks so they inculcate “patriotism”, reflect “Indian tradition, social consciousness… and spiritualism”, and help build a “strong and vibrant India”.

Mr Batra insisted that Ms Irani reconstitute the NCERT. When Dr Sinclair refused to toe Ms Irani’s line on the NCF and other issues, she was reportedly falsely charged with financial irregularities, not allowed to defend herself fully, and asked to resign.

Another recent Irani casualty is IIT-Delhi director RK Sheogaonkar who resigned in protest against her blatant interference in the institute’s affairs. The faculty has strongly supported Dr Sheogaonkar.

There has been no similar purge in other institutions so far. But the government has used three other methods to favour the Parivar: appointing RSS functionaries or sympathisers to high academic positions although they manifestly lack scholarly competence, leave alone distinction; nominating mediocrities who are BJP fellow-travellers to major institutions; and co-opting appointees of the previous regime by striking questionable deals with them which benefit the Parivar.

The appointment of Girish Chandra Tripathi as BHU vice-chancellor, a post held earlier by luminaries like S Radhakrishnan and Acharya Narendra Dev, falls in the first category. Mr Tripathi, a longstanding hardcore prant (province)-level RSS official, was earlier a professor of economics at Allahabad university. But going by a google-scholar search and other available biographical entries, he has published no books or papers, at least recently.

According to a former colleague of his, Mr Tripathi “probably never taught a full 50-minute class”. But he has shrewdly played Uttar Pradesh-style Brahmin politics as a loyalist and understudy of Giridhar Malaviya, Madan Mohan Malaviya’s manipulative pro-RSS grandson and a former judge.

Mr Malaviya famously nominated Mr Modi as the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Varanasi. He also headed the search-cum-selection committee that recommended Mr Tripathi, his own acolyte, for the VC’s post—a blatant conflict of interest!

The appointment of Y Sudershan Rao, a singularly undistinguished historian close to a spiritual guru (who mediated with the RSS-BJP on his behalf), as ICHR chairman is a similar, if somewhat less sordid, story. Prof Rao rails against Western and Marxist scholars and defends the caste system. He wants to prove the historicity of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

Prof Rao emphasises the relevance of the Puranas: “The ICHR has to play a catalyst role in taking to people their history” through the epics. According to distinguished historian Romila Thapar, Prof Rao fails to distinguish between epics and historical texts. He has published no articles on the epics, or on Ayodhya as Rama’s birthplace, in peer-reviewed journals.

One of Prof Rao’s first actions was to invite a Belgium-based, rabidly pro-Hindutva scholar, SN Balagangadhara, to deliver the Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture on November 11 (available at ichr.ac.in). Balagangadhara drew serious criticism from distinguished historians like Rajan Gurukkal.

The nomination by the MHRD of Chandrakala Padia as the chairperson of IIAS-Shimla, and by the foreign ministry of Kavita Sharma as the president of South Asian University, belong to the second category. Dr Padia, who comes from Varanasi, does have some published work, but its quality is not commensurate with her position at IIAS. Ms Sharma was director of the India International Centre, Delhi and earlier principal of Hindu College, but can claim little academic accomplishment.

Third, the Parivar has cut deals with various UPA appointees, who have turned pro-BJP-RSS, including University Grants Commission chairman Ved Prakash and Delhi university VC Dinesh Singh. They both attended a lunch hosted by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Delhi on October 12. Mr Prakash in anxious to continue in his post till 2017 despite vigilance and other inquiries against him.

Dr Singh’s favourite, but mindless, scheme (Four-Year Undergraduate Programme) was recently shot down by Ms Irani. Sensing the wind, he capitulated. He now plays Bhumihar-cum-Parivar politics and recently made more than 20 questionable appointments in university departments, according to teachers. He has also provided a platform to senior RSS functionaries on the campus, including Indresh Kumar and Krishna Gopal.

A dark presence behind some of these appointments and related decisions is said to be MHRD’s officer on special duty Sanjay Kachroo, who has worked with several corporate houses, including Reliance, and had access to secret MHRD files even before he received intelligence clearance.

With such players in key positions, the Parivar is intruding into education—probably with nasty communal consequences. A future article will discuss its interference in the field of culture.

Praful Bidwai is a journalist, social science researcher and activist on issues of human rights, the environment, global justice and peace. He received the Sean MacBride International Peace Prize, 2000 of International Peace Bureau, Geneva and London, one of the world’s oldest peace organisations.

Seven die of swine flu in Rajasthan, 19 test positive

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Representational Image. Photo: REUTERS/Arko Datta

Representational Image. Photo: REUTERS/Arko Datta

Jaipur: Seven people have died and 19 tested positive for swine flu in Rajasthan this year, forcing the state government to put its health department on alert, an official said Wednesday.

The deaths have been reported from Banswara, Barmer, Tonk, Kota and Jaipur areas, while the positive cases have been reported from Jaipur, Sikar, Tonk, Kota among other districts, an official told IANS.

“We have decided to do a survey of at least 50 houses near the house where a positive case of swine flu has been reported,” a senior medical department official said.

“We are requesting all the patients suffering from cold, fever, cough or running nose to come to hospital for a check-up. We do not want to take any chances,” he added.

The official said that after the sudden spurt in swine flu cases since the beginning of this year, the state health department has been geared to face any eventuality.

Health Minister Rajendra Rathore has directed all district hospitals to collect samples of suspected swine flu patients and send them to government-run medical colleges for tests.

Health officials have also been asked to keep stock of medicines used for the treatment of H1N1 influenza.

(IANS)

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