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Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan hold Swaraj Samwad

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Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

Dissident AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a news confrence at Press Club in New Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT Photo)

New Delhi: The convention of rebel AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan began this morning with volunteers from across the country terming it a day of “new beginning” even as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party warned of action against those attending the event.

Yadav and Bhushan had announced their decision of holding the dialogue, ‘Swaraj Samwad’, to discuss the future course of action after their expulsion from AAP’s top echelons, triggering speculations of floating a new party.

Before the session began at around 10 a.m, Yadav told reporters “I am sure we would witness something new here”.

“It’s a day of new beginning. AAP Constitution gives an ordinary member of the party, the freedom of expression which no other party gives and if the workers are using that freedom I am sure the party would respect it. I am not sure if the party has changed its own constitution,” he said.

At the convention, key leaders who were seen on stage include the four expelled members from AAP’s National Executive–Yadav, Bhushan, Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha–Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar and several Lok Sabha candidates from various states.

“Our party is new. Different people have different opinions on discipline. I believe that today’s meeting is in line with the ideals of our party,” Pushkar said.

One hour into the meeting, an audio message of Admiral L Ramdas’s, who was recently removed from the post of party’s internal Lokpal, was played out from the stage.

In the message Ramdas said that a samwad cannot be seen as an “anti party activity” and that people must be allowed to speak in a democracy.

“I don’t belong to any particular faction of AAP. For me there is just one AAP…the party’s principle and image has been hurt most in the strong arm tactics that have been used and we have miserably failed as a party which was formed on the principles of swaraj,” he said adding his apology for not being present in the meeting that is underway in Gurgaon.

In a veiled threat, senior party leader Sanjay Singh said AAP’s all-powerful Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and its National Executive (NE) would decide the next move in this regard after the meeting.

“Swaraj Samwad is not a party function. The PAC and NE will decide on what action needs to be taken after the meeting,” Singh said.

(Agencies)

21 couple participate in 'thali' removal festival convened by Dravidar Kazhagam

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thali-removal

Chennai: Anticipating legal intervention the Dravidar Kazhagam preponed its thali removal festival by three hours against the scheduled time of 10 am.

As many as 21 couples participated in the programme convened at Periyar Thidal wherein the women discarded the thalis and pledged to lead a life of gender equality.

It may be recalled that when Dravidar Kazhagam had announced that they would conduct the thali removal festival the police had imposed ban on the event stating that it would disrupt the law and order situation. Many Hindu organisations and religious leaders too had expressed their opposition about the event. However, a division bench of the Madras High Court comprising of Justices Satish K. Agnihotri and M. Venugopal had granted an interim stay on a single judge’s order, which quashed the police ban on Tuesday, April 14.

Dravidar Kazhagam had gone ahead with the event on Tuesday and when the police communicated the stay order issued by the division bench all the functionaries were asked to disperse peacefully.

(Agencies)

Blackwater guard sentenced to life in prison for role in notorious 2007 massacre of Iraqi civilians

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Three other former Iraq military contractors receive 30-year prison terms

This combination made from file photo shows convicted former Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. (Photo: AP)

This combination made from file photo shows convicted former Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. (Photo: AP)

by Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth on Monday sentenced former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison for his role in a 2007 attack on Iraqi civilians, which left 14 dead and wounded 17 others.

The Associated Press reports that the three other Blackwater employees—Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard—were sentenced to 30 years and one day each on charges that included manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and using firearms while committing a felony.

Earlier:

Four former Blackwater guards face sentencing Monday for their role in the deaths of 14 Iraqi civilians during a 2007 massacre called “Baghdad’s bloody Sunday.”

The men, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough, and Nicholas Slatten, were convicted in October 2014 after years of legal battles. “Slatten faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for first-degree murder before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth,” the Washington Post reports; the other three men face the possibility of dozens of years behind bars.

While defense lawyers have argued that the men were acting in self-defense, federal prosecutors wrote that the men’s “crimes here were so horrendous—the massacre and maiming of innocents so heinous—that they outweigh any factors that the defendants may argue form a basis for leniency.”

In an interview with Democracy Now! last year, Jeremy Scahill, author of the bestsellingBlackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, described the deadly traffic square shooting that left 17 people killed:

[Blackwater guards] were responding—they were a unit called Raven 23. They were the elite Praetorian Guard of the U.S. occupation. They were guarding Paul Bremer, who was the original sort of proconsul in Iraq, the “viceroy,” as he liked to call himself. They were responding to an incident that had occurred on the opposite end of Baghdad from where their base was located. They roll out. They end up hitting a crowded intersection at Nisour Square. What often would happen in Iraq is that mercenary contractors would start throwing frozen water bottles at cars, trying to force them off the street, and then eventually escalate up to shooting at vehicles. These guys basically tried to take over this traffic circle, the Blackwater guys, so that they could speed around and continue on to their destination.

A small white car with a young Iraqi medical student and his mother didn’t stop fast enough for the Blackwater convoy, and they decided to escalate it all the way up to assassinating those individuals. And I say “assassinating,” because they shot to kill these people, and then they blew their car up. And then, that started this massive shooting spree that went on for—it was sustained for minutes. And at the end of it, 17 Iraqis were killed, including a nine-year-old boy named Ali Kinani, whose story we’ve told on the show before, and some 20 others were wounded in the attacks. And it was—you know, it became known as Baghdad’s “Bloody Sunday.”

And Blackwater… in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, said that they had been fired upon. They had their allies in the media. A senior producer at CNN was quick to get on TV and say, “Oh, no, no, this wasn’t a massacre. You know, this was a firefight, and Blackwater was shot at.” Clearly, this jury saw what the Iraqi eyewitnesses have always contended, and that is that this was an unprovoked massacre of Iraqi civilians, none of whom were posing a threat, except not stopping fast enough for the mercenaries helping to occupy their country.

As Common Dreams previously reported, “the incident became a flashpoint of outrage over the atrocities that U.S. forces—particularly mercenaries—inflict on occupied civilian populations in Iraq.”

The Post reports Monday: “Defendants said that the case is the first in which the U.S. government prosecuted its own security contractors for the firearms violation, which involve weapons given them by the government to do their jobs in a war zone.”

Scahill wrote following the guilty convictions that they marked yet another instance in which high-ranking individuals failed to be the targets for accountability.

“Just as with the systematic torture at Abu Ghraib, it is only the low level foot-soldiers of Blackwater that are being held accountable. [Blackwater founder Erik] Prince and other top Blackwater executives continue to reap profits from the mercenary and private intelligence industries.

“None of the U.S. officials from the Bush and Obama administrations who unleashed Blackwater and other mercenary forces across the globe are being forced to answer for their role in creating the conditions for the Nisour Square shootings and other deadly incidents involving private contractors,” Scahill wrote.

#NetNeutrality: Flipkart walks away from Airtel Zero platform

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net-neutrality

New Delhi/Bengaluru: E-commerce giant Flipkart on Tuesday said it is “walking away” from the platform Airtel Zero and is committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

“We at Flipkart have always strongly believed in the concept of net neutrality, for we exist because of the Internet,” a statement issued by the e-commerce company said.

“We will be walking away from the ongoing discussions with Airtel for their platform Airtel Zero. We will be committing ourselves to the larger cause of net neutrality in India. We will be internally discussing over the next few days, the details of actions we will take to support the cause,” the statement added.

Bharti Airtel recently launched Airtel Zero, an open marketing platform that will allow customers to access mobile applications at zero data charges.

Flipkart stated that over the past few days, there has been a great amount of debate, “both internally and externally, on the topic of zero rating, and we have a deeper understanding of the implications”.

In a series of tweets, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal said he was all for #Net Neutrality.

“I spend time/money helping start-ups in India. I will never support things which suffocate innovation,” Bansal claimed in a tweet.

Observing that zero rated apps for limited time were not against net neutrality, Bansal said such apps could not be sustained for long as costs and competition were very high.

“Zero rating only reduces data costs for users. Fears of a telecom big brother emerging are unfounded. Choice wins. Always,” Bansal tweeted.

Following criticism by twitterati of its proposal to tie-up with Airtel, Flipkart said it was committed to the larger cause of net neutrality.

The company also said it will be working towards ensuring that the spirit of net neutrality is upheld and applied equally to all companies in India irrespective of the size or the service being offered and there is absolutely no discrimination.

Net neutrality means that governments and internet service providers should treat all data on the internet equally – therefore, not charging users, content, platform, site, application or mode of communication differentially.

Amid a huge hue and cry in social media over net neutrality, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Monday that a panel examining the issue will submit its report by the second week of May to help the government take a comprehensive decision on the contentious issue.

The entire process of a committee of experts going into the pros and cons of the issue will benefit the government in making comprehensive decisions, he said.

“This is the reason we are doing it independent of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India),” Prasad added. The six-member panel, which will conduct the study and submit its report, has been set up the department of telecommunications (DoT).

In March, telecom regulator TRAI released a paper inviting comments from users and companies on how over-the-top services should be regulated in the country.

It has asked stakeholders to send suggestions by April 24 and counter-arguments by May 8.

Congress leader Ajay Maken also said that his party supports net neutrality and Internet freedom must not be compromised.

N. Chandramouli, chief executive officer, Trust Research Advisory, publishers of the Brand Trust Report, said: “From a brand point of view we can already see it is impacting and hampering the equation with telecom brands such as Airtel, decided in December 2014 that they would charge more for calls made through services like Skype and Viber, but had to roll back the decision after outrage on social networks.”

(IANS)

From the pages of Dr. Ambedkar's Mook Nayak

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The following is the first editorial (translated from Marathi) written by Babasaheb Ambedkar for the very first issue of Mook Nayak published in January 1920! This translation was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kolhapur. Translated by Dr. B.R. Kamble.

Dr. Ambedkar addressing a conference at Ambedkar Bhawan, Delhi, 20 May 1951.

Dr. Ambedkar addressing a conference at Ambedkar Bhawan, Delhi, 20 May 1951.

Mumbai, Saturday 31st January 1920 [Issue No.1].

If anyone throws his glance on the Indian physical and social world as a spectator he will undoubtedly find this country a home of glaring inequality. Despite the blessings of nature and the things produced in abundance the growing inequality of poverty is so much in existence among the Indian masses that it can be easily noticed by anybody even in his unmindfulness. But no sooner he notices the inequality of poverty among the masses he does not fail to notice the social inequality that exists among the people and this inequality is like the elder sister of the former making the younger one ashamed of it.

Inequality that exists among Indians is of many forms. Inequality due to physical differences and also due to racial differences which is quite common everywhere is also found here. Black-White, tall-dwarf, straight nosed and snub-nosed.Arya- Anarya, Gon=Knod, Yavani-Dravid, Arab, Irani etc. are the differences that surface clearly in some places and though not as clearly defined but they exist in other places in latent form and in some other places in stable form. Religious inequality exists in more severe form than physical and racial inequality. The quarrels and struggles emerging out of religious inequality in several instances go to the extent of blood shedding. No doubt that Hindu, Parsi, Yahudi, Musalman, Chrisitan etc. stand as the walls of religious inequality but more than this if we see with our own subtle eyes the existing inequality among the Hindus we find its form much beyond our imagination and also worth condemning.

The Mang, the Brahmin, the Shenvi, the Maratha, the Mahar, the Chambhar, the Kayastha, the Parsi, the Kori, the Vaishya etc. are the different castes that exist in Hinduism and these are mentioned as this is a Mahar, this is a Brahmin etc.

One need not tell the Hindus how caste feelings among them are more deep-rooted than the feelings of religious oneness. If a European is asked who is he? On his answer that he is an Englishman, a German, a French or and Italian we are satisfied. But this is not so with the Hindus. If one says that I am a Hindu, no one will be satisfied. He must reveal his caste. This means to reveal their humanity the Hindus have to reveal their inequality at every step.

This inequality among the Hindus is as incomparable as it is hateful. Mutual dealing among the Hindus based on their inequality does not suit the character of Hinduism. It is clear that the castes that exist in Hinduism are inspired by the feelings of high and low. Hindus society is just like a tower which has several stories without a ladder or entrance. The man who is born in the lower storey cannot enter the upper story however worthy he may be and the man who is born in the upper storey cannot be driven out into the lower storey however unworthy he may be.

This means it is clear that the feelings of inequality among the castes are not based on the merit or demerit of individuals. The man born in a high caste, however unmeritorious he may be is always regarded as high whereas the man born in a low caste, however meritorious he may be, must always remain low. Another thing is that due to the prohibition of inter-dining and inter-caste marriages each caste has remained aloof from the growth of mutual intimate love. Even if the question of their mutual intimacy is kept aside they are also not free in their mutual dealing even in external matters. Some people’s dealing is only up to their doors. Some castes are regarded as untouchables which means that their touch pollutes other castes. Because of this notion of pollution the untouchables rarely come in contact with other castes. The alienation produced by the absence of inter-dining and inter caste marriages has fostered the feelings of touchables and untouchables so much that these touchable and untouchable castes, though a part of the Hindu society, are in reality living in worlds apart.

Because of this existing Hindu social system the Hindus form in them the three social classes namely the Brahmins, non-brahmins and the depressed classes. Similarly, if attention is paid to the effects that this inequality has produced it will be seen that it has produced different effects on different castes. Of course the Brahmins who are the highest in social grade feel that they are gods on earth. Therefore, this inequality is advantageous to these gods on earth who think that all other castes are born only to serve them. Therefore, by their self-created privileges they are enjoying the fruits of their social position exacting the services of all other castes. If they have any work to their credit, it is only the collection of knowledge and the writing of religious scriptures. But scriptures are full of contradictions and inconsistencies in matters of thought and practice. The writers of these scriptures seem to have been under the influence of intoxication while writing these works otherwise they would not have tied the high thinking and bad practices together. Because on one hand the philosophies in their scriptures preach that both living and non-living are the forms of the same god but on the other hand there is seen an extraordinary inequality in their practices. This is not a sign of them being in their senses.

Right or wrong these Shastras have made enormous impact on the minds of the innocent masses. That the masses are worshipping their enemies as gods on earth, who will accept this? It is easy to understand why the masses have clung to the harmful slavish religious practices worshipping their enemies as their benefactors.

The Brahmins, thinking that if the masses are kept ignorant they can be driven out to any direction, have kept the knowledge confined to them alone making it as their sole monopoly, and the masses thinking that this is their own real religion are following it. There are enough examples of Brahmins during their rule punishing those non-brahmins who inspite of the Brahmins warning that acquiring the scriptural knowledge is not their profession, tried to acquire that knowledge either openly or secretly.

It is clear that in the absence of authority and knowledge non-brahmins remained backward and their progress was arrested but at least poverty was not their lot. Because it was not difficult for them to earn their livelihood throughagriculture, by trade and commerce or by state services. But the effect of social inequality on the people called untouchables has been devastating. The vast masses of untouchables are undoubtedly sunk deep into the confluence of feebleness (helplessness), poverty and ignorance.

Meanness produced by their slavery with which they have been used to for many years is keeping them backward. They think that the wretched condition in which they are placed is their lot and it is god ordained. This thinking can be removed from their mind only by imparting knowledge (education) to them. But the costly education is a purchasable commodity and the untouchables because of their poverty are unable to purchase it and even if few of them are able to purchase it they are not allowed to enter the schools because the stigma of untouchablilty is permanently attached to them.

The stigma of untouchability has restricted their freedom of profession and therefore, their efforts to remove their poverty are not fructifying. In professions like trade and commerce they are very rarely found. As they can find no place to try for their fortune they are constrained to remain as manual labourers. Seeing these untouchables, nay the out-castes, who are living in wretched conditions, the 33 crores of gods but again these are Hindu gods, at least Allah maybe be taking pity of them. Even the people other than the Hindus will also condemn these out-castes because even when their whole humanity has been deprived of them they are not rising against their suppression. They are not human beings, they are just insects.

There are people even among the untouchable communities who say that the untouchables are sandwiched from all corners and there is no way out to escape from their existing insect like living. The untouchables have no knowledge (education) because they are poor and they are powerless because they have no knowledge. This is a correct logic but it should not be forgotten that it reduces the importance of those who are fighting against the practice of untouchability. The real humanity lies in breaking the barriers. It is a good sign that the sense of humanity (self-respect) is growing among the untouchable communities. Because of the evil practices in Hinduism the crores of high caste people who are irrational, obstinate and are not even god fearing are treating our people as untouchables. As long as these people treating us as untouchables are there, our people are bound to remain in a miserable condition. It is a happy augury that our people have realized this whole social dilemma.

The untouchable communities have also realized that now the upper caste Hindus taking advantage of their easy access to the British Government in India misrepresent the case of the untouchables to the Government. The untouchable communities have demanded that since casteism and caste hatred prevail in this country in highest degree in practice, for the realisation of genuine Swarajya (self-rule) the untouchables must have a share in country’s political power through their independently (separately) chosen representatives. Therefore, the untouchables have complained to the government over the stand taken by the upper caste Hindus who in their stand have opposed the demand made by the untouchable communities. The untouchables have now understood the tactics of caste Hindus who by gaining political power, it is likely, would use that power to perpetuate the social inequality. This agitation of the untouchables against the design of the caste Hindus is a sign of growing awakening among the untouchables.

There is no better source than the newspaper to suggest the remedy against the injustice that is being done to our people at present and will be done in future, and also to discus the ways and means for our progress in future. If we throw even a cursory glance over the newspapers that are published in Bombay Presidency it will be found that many among these papers take care in protecting the interest only of some (upper) castes. And these have no interest in caring for the interest of other castes. Not only this but sometimes they go against the interest of other castes. Our warning to these newspapers is that if any one caste remains degraded it will have it shocking effects on other castes too. Society is like a boat. Suppose a sailor in the boat, with the intent of causing some damage to other sailors or for making fun of them to see that they are frightened, strikes a hole in others’compartment because of his destructive mentality, the result will be that along with other sailors he will also sink sooner or later. Similarly, a caste which makes other castes suffer will also undoubtedly suffer directly or indirectly. Newspapers, therefore, interested in their own selfish interests should not follow the examples of a clever fool who deceives others and protects his own interests.

Fortunately, there are some newspapers, which appreciate the rationality of our argument. The papers like Din-Mitra, Jagruk, Deccan Rayat, Vijayi Maratha, Dnyan-Prakash, Subodh-Patrika etc. often discuss the problems of the untouchables in their columns. But it is also clear that these papers are occupied with the problems of non-brahmins, whose population is big enough in number. Therefore, devoting sufficient space for untoucahbles problems is not possible for them. Anybody will admit that there is a need of an independent newspaper to discuss especially the problems arising out of the miserable condition of the so-called untouchables. This newspaper is born to meet this need.

To devote to the discussion mainly on untouchables’ problems the newspaper such has Somwamshiya Mitra, Hindu Nagarik and Vittal Vidvamsak, were born but hey did not live long. The paper Bahishkrit Bharat is somehow continuing with difficulty. I end this matter with assurance that if the subscribers extend their proper co-operation the paper Mook Nayak will courageously work for the great cause of our people to show them the right path and their experience will show them that our assurance was not wrong.

This English translation by Dr. B.R. Kamble was first published in July 2010 by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Research Institute in Social Growth, Kohlapur.

Report: At least 2,000 women abducted by Boko Haram

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Amnesty International says many of those captured in Nigeria since start of 2014 are forced into sexual slavery.

The abduction of 276 girls in Chibok one year ago sparked global outrage [Reuters]

The abduction of 276 girls in Chibok one year ago sparked global outrage [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Boko Haram have abducted at least 2,000 women and girls since the start of 2014, according to rights group Amnesty International.

A report published by the organisation on Wednesday says many of those captured have been forced into sexual slavery and trained to fight for the group.

The group based its findings on nearly 200 witness accounts, including with 28 people who escaped from the armed group, which recently had a pledge of allegiance accepted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“The evidence presented in this shocking report, one year after the horrific abduction of the Chibok girls, underlines the scale and depravity of Boko Haram’s methods,”  said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s secretary general.

The publication of the report coincides with the one-year anniversary of the mass abduction by Boko Haram of hundreds of school girls from the northeastern town of Chibok. The abduction of the 276 girls sparked global outrage, and 219 are still held by the group, the others managing to escape.

Amnesty says more that 5,500 civilians have been killed by the group, which has also forcibly conscripted men and young boys to take up arms in its war against the Nigerian government and other neighbouring countries.

“Men and women, boys and girls, Christians and Muslims, have been killed, abducted and brutalised by Boko Haram during a reign of terror which has affected millions,” Shetty said.

The group has implemented a harsh interpretation of Islamic law in the areas that it holds, and witnesses spoken to by Amnesty recount seeing the group carry out stonings and lashes.

Nigeria’s President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on Monday vowed to make every effort to free the girls abducted a year ago, but admitted it was not clear whether they would ever be found.

“We do not know if the Chibok girls can be rescued. Their whereabouts remain unknown. As much as I wish to, I cannot promise that we can find them,” he said in a statement.

Easy win for Sunrisers over Royal Challengers

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david-warner

Bengaluru: Skipper David Warner blasted a 27-ball 57 (6×4, 4×6) to help Sunrisers Hyderabad notch their first success in two outings with an eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League T20 tournament here on Monday.

Warner and fellow-opener Shikhar Dhawan (50 not out, 42b, 4×6, 2×4) put on 82 runs in 7.2 overs as Sunrisers hunted down RCB’s total of 166 all out, posting 172 for two in 17.2 overs.

Dhawan played a mature innings as he along with Lokesh Rahul (44, 28b, 4×4, 1×6) added 78 runs for the unfinished third wicket to carry Sunrisers over the finish line in style.

Warner thus justified his decision of opting to field on winning the toss on a damp night following heavy rains in the evening. Fortunately, the rains stayed away, but the large partisan crowd was left disappointed by RCB’s limp performance.

Warner’s power-packed innings took much the pressure off the chase as the visitors took control while Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers turned increasingly disheartened as Sunrisers made light of the target.

The closest that RCB came to checking the chase was when leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal removed Warner, who was trapped leg-before and Kane Williamson (5), stumped by Dinesh Karthik, but Dhawan dropped anchor to guide Sunrisers home.

Earlier, RCB promised a lot but delivered little as their frontline batsmen, openers Chris Gayle (21, 16b, 3×4, 1×6) and Kohli (41, 37b, 4×4, 2×6), and AB de Villiers (46, 28b, 5×4, 2×6) failed to build on good starts.

Once the Sunrisers got rid of Gayle who chanced his arms once too often, it was a gradual downhill ride for the home team although Kohli and de Villiers raised visions of a big total.

Sunrisers kept their composure to strike telling blows at vital moments with Boult claiming three wickets in the 19th over and fellow-seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking two in the 20th to peg RCB after Ravi Bopara, the former England star, had removed Kohli and Mandeep Singh off consecutive deliveries, in the 12th over.

RCB never quite recovered from these body blows to crash to their first defeat in two outings while the Sunrisers, who played better cricket, emerged deserving winners.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 166 all out in 19.5 overs (Chris Gayle 21, Virat Kohli 41, AB de Villiers 46, Trent Boult 3 for 36, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 30, Ravi Bopara 2 for 31) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 172 for 2 (David Warner 57, Shikhar Dhawan 50 not out, Lokesh Rahul 44 not out, Yuzvendra Chahal 2 for 28) by 8 wickets.

(IANS)

Government notifies new law on judges' appointment

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Supreme Court India

New Delhi: Government on Monday brought into force a controversial law to appoint members to the higher judiciary, two days before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court hears a clutch of petitions challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

The notification bringing into effect from on Monday the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act along with a Constitutional Amendment Act (99th Amendment Act) to give constitutional status to the new body was issued by Department of Justice in the Law Ministry.

A bunch of petitions moved by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA), Bar Association of India and some individual lawyers challenging NJAC and the Constitition amendment will come up for hearing before the Constitution Bench on Wednesday.

Functionaries in the Law Ministry said with the notification, technically the collegium system has come to an end. But, at the same time, they said the new body may take some time to come into into being.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now have to call Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, to nominate two eminent persons to the NJAC.

The NJAC will have to ratify the rules governing its functioning in the first meetings before they are notified. The draft rules are ready with the government.

Under the collegium system, which came into existence in 1993 after a Supreme Court judgement, five top judges of the apex court recommend transfer and elevation of judges to Supreme Court and 24 High Courts.

The government can return the recommendation to the collegium under this system. But it has to accept the recommendation if it is reiterated by the collegium.

The collegium system had come under fire for lacking transparency by politicians and some eminent jurists, who contended that judges appointing judges without any say of the Executive has led to complaints of nepotisim and favouritism.

But successive CJIs have defended the system saying it has stood the test of time and was working without any hitches.

On April 7, a Supreme Court bench while referring the matter to a larger bench had refused to stay the implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had last week said the government would like to have a “united show” in running the new body to recommend appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and High Court judges with the judiciary as it will be headed by the Chief Justice of India.

He said from nominating two eminent persons to the NJAC to ratifying the rules, the CJI has an important role.

NJAC was signed into an Act by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 31, 2014.

According to the new Article 124 A inserted in the Constitution, two eminent persons will be nominated to the Commission as members by the committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha or where there is no such LoP, then the leader of single largest Opposition party.

One of the eminent persons will be nominated from among the persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities or women.

The eminent persons will be nominated for a period of three years and will not be eligible for renomination.

The NJAC will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. Two senior-most apex court judges, the two eminent persons and the Law Minister will be the members of the high-level panel. Secretary, Justice in the Law Ministry will be the convenor of the NJAC.

President Mukherjee’s signing the two bills into a law paved the way for the scrapping of the 20-year-old collegium system.

Once new system comes into place, the task of selecting and transferring Supreme Court and high court judges will finally shift from the collegium to a committee headed by the Chief Justice of India.

The NJAC Act provides for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice and other judges of the 24 high courts.

The Constitutional Amendment Act grants constitutional status to the composition of the proposed commission. It was done following demands by jurists and judges who felt that without a constitutional status, the composition could be altered by a future government by an ordinary legislation.

A government bungalow at Mathura Road here has already been earmarked for NJAC and there are plans to appoint initial staff from the existing strength of the three departments — Legal Affairs, Legislative and Justice — of the Law Ministry.

An earlier attempt by the then BJP government in 2003 to scrap the collegium system had failed. The then Law Minister Arun Jaitley had moved a bill in this regard but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

(PTI)

Haryana govt to give Cabinet Minister status to Ramdev

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Baba Ramdev

Chandigarh: The Haryana government today decided to give “status equivalent to Cabinet Minister” to Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda.

“Ramdev, Brand Ambassador for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in Haryana, will be given status equivalent to Cabinet Minister,” Haryana’s Health and Sports Minister, Anil Vij tweeted today.

Vij had earlier said a herbal forest would be developed in the state where plants of thousands of species of ayurvedic herbs would be grown under the supervision of Ramdev.

The emphasis on yoga and ayurveda would lead to an amalgamation of tradition and modernity and inclusion of yoga in the school syllabus would turn Haryana into a model state based on Indian values and traditions, Vij had said.

Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana’s schools for which ‘yogshalas’ will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the state under the guidance of Ramdev, he said.

Notably, last month, Haryana Assembly had witnessed uproarious scenes as the BJP government came under sharp attack from opposition Congress for allegedly “going out of way to please Ramdev by making him the brand ambassador” for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in the state.

(PTI)

Remembering Babasaheb: Dr. Ambedkar and The Annihilation of Caste

by

ambedkar

by Sukumaran C. V.

There is no code of laws more infamous regarding social rights than the Laws of Manu. Any instance from anywhere of social injustice must pale before it. Why have the mass of people tolerated the social evils to which they have been subjected? There have been social revolutions in other countries of the world. Why have there not been social revolutions in India is a question which has incessantly troubled me. There is only one answer and it is that the lower classes of Hindus have been completely disabled for direct action on account of this wretched system of Chaturvarnya.—B. R. Ambedkar.

April 14th 2015 is the 125th birthday of Ambedkar, the man who was the greatest crusader against the inhuman caste system of India, the man who sincerely wished to annihilate the monster called caste. I have often and again felt that, in the history of the whole humankind, the two most draconian human ‘inventions’ are the slavery that was prevalent in the U.S. and the caste system of India. As slavery was abolished and it doesn’t exist now, caste system of India is the only draconian human invention that exists today.

It was while I was in the 9th standard I happened to know about Ambedkar. The Malayalam Supplementary Reader for class 9th was a short biography of Ambedkar and the portion which described that the people who belong to Ambedkar’s caste have had to wear a small pot around their neck to spit in order not to defile the path they walk on by spiting on the path really disturbed me. And when I hear that even today there are people in our country who are not allowed to drink tea in glasses and tea shops reserve coconut shells for them, I am not only disturbed but also ashamed!

In his ‘Annihilation of Caste’ which was published in 1936, Ambedkar said: “…turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

Still, nearly 80 years after, we have not been able to kill the monster and the monster continues to kill and maim and insult the people. Even in Kerala, the most ‘educated’ and the most ‘progressed’ state, people subscribe to caste prejudices and bias. The ‘forward’ class colleagues of a government department head, the day after his retirement, applied cow-dung water inside his cabin and on the chair he used to sit to ‘purify’ them as he belonged to a scheduled caste! It happened in Kerala four years ago. Mentally it happens every day. The ‘forward’ caste people who are down in the official hierarchy of the government civil service machinery, are irritated when their superior belongs to SC/ST category. Even OBCs join hands with the ‘forward’ class in sharing this prejudice.

One of my Dalit friends recently told me that he didn’t vote for the Dalit candidate who was fielded by the Left in the 2014 Loksabha election. The Dalit candidate, who won, is a highly qualified one and the Constituency in which he was fielded was one that was reserved for SCs. My friend’s question is: Why does even the Left field well qualified SC candidates in the reservation seats? Why can’t even the so called progressive parties field educated and qualified SC/STs in the general seats and make them win?

The irony is that even those who are supposed to fight the monster called caste don’t want to kill it. The question Ambedkar asked 80 years ago—‘Can you have economic reform without first bringing about a reform of the social order?’—is still relevant, but conveniently forgotten by every political party.

In the following words of Ambedkar, we can see the reason why secular democracy failed in this country and the religious fundamentalism of RSS and BJP thrives: “Why do millionaires in India obey penniless Sadhus and Fakirs? Why do millions of paupers in India sell their trifling trinkets which constitute their only wealth and go to Benares and Mecca? That, religion is the source of power is illustrated by the history of India where the priest holds a sway over the common man often greater than the magistrate and where everything, even such things as strikes and elections, so easily take a religious turn and can so easily be given a religious twist.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

The struggle against caste has not come forward even a step further from where Ambedkar has led it. After Ambedkar nobody is as serious and dedicated as he has been in annihilating the caste system, the most draconian social set up in the world. Therefore caste and caste bias still thrive in our country and the humans and humanity fail.

And the most pathetic development in our country today is the competition between Congress which has never tried to annihilate the caste system and the BJP which doesn’t even dare to question caste system, to ‘own’ Ambedkar in relation with his 125th birth anniversary! Both the BJP and Congress should do justice to Ambedkar’s legacy if they can assimilate his spirit against caste system which still drags India back as far as social progress and equality are concerned. How can the Congress ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘every Congressman who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter II)

And how can the BJP ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘the Hindus criticize the Mohammadans for having spread their religion by the use of their sword. …But really speaking who is better and more worthy of our respect—the Mohammadans and Christians who attempted to thrust down the throats of unwilling persons what they regarded as necessary for their salvation or the Hindu who would not spread the light, who would endeavour to keep others in darkness? I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel, the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter IX)

Both the BJP and Congress don’t want the Ambedkar who fought the most draconian system in the world—the caste system. Both want Ambedkar as bait to garner Dalit votes. They want to ‘own’ the form of Ambedkar sans the spirit. They know full well that the spirit of Ambedkar will annihilate the very base and foundation of such parties— religion and caste.

As Ambedkar says, ‘…Hindu Society is a myth. The name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the Mohammedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves. It doesn’t occur in any Sanskrit work prior to the Mohammedan invasion. …Hindu society as such does not exist. It is only a collection of castes. … Castes don’t even form a federation. A caste has no feeling that it is affiliated to other castes except when there is a Hindu-Muslim riot.’ (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter VI). The BJP used this ‘feeling of affiliation’ in the Gujarat riots, in the Muzafarnagar riots and in almost all communal riots. People who are in the bottom of caste hierarchy are turned against the Muslims and both the caste oppression and religious fundamentalism which don’t allow the people to annihilate castes and religions thrive oppressing the very people who help religious fundamentalism to grow and rule the country. (Minority fundamentalism, the other side of the same coin, and the so called ‘secular’ politics of the Congress and other parties for whom secularism has always been a meaningless word only to catch the votes of the minorities, provided sufficient fuels for the majority fundamentalism to spread over the country and swallow the entire nation.)

Caste oppression in India is as worst as the European slave trade and the slavery prevalent in the United States. We can only read with horror the details about the slave trade of the people who were ‘burdened’ with the duty of ‘civilising’ the world. Howard Zinn writes in ‘A People’s History of the United States’:

“The conditions of capture and sale were crushing affirmations to the black African of his helplessness in the face of superior force. The marches to the cost, sometimes for 1,000 miles, with people shackled around the neck, under whip and gun, were death marches, in which two of every five blacks died. On the cost they were kept in cages until they were picked and sold. …Then they were packed aboard the slave ships, in spaces not much bigger than coffins, chained together in the dark, wet slime of the ship’s bottom, choking in the stench of their own excrement….The height, sometimes, between decks was only eighteen inches; so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides, the elevation being less than the breadth of their shoulders; and here they are usually chained to the decks by the neck and legs.”

This cruelty and meanness towards the humans by the humans was abolished, but in India the oppression and discrimination in the name of caste still continue and when will we the Indians be free from the oppressive and denigrating caste system which applies cow-dung water to ‘purify’ the official seat of an educated human being on account of his ‘lower’ caste origin? Will Ambedkar’s 200th birth anniversary see an India in which caste is annihilated totally?

Sukumaran C. V is a former JNU student now working as clerk in the Kerala State Government service. Emai: lscvsuku@gmail.com

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