"All Community Federation"-A Fool's Paradise!!!

My Letter to The Hindu dated 18-10-2013

The failure of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that political contestation is still articulated and carried out on caste lines. The Dravidian parties are controlled by dominant caste Hindus. The PMK, with its newly consolidated All Community Federation, has been changing colour every now and then, unable to come up with a coherent ideology and a firm organisation.

The Dravidian movement sought to establish a reverse discrimination regime, not an anti-caste, liberal, rational social order. Many OBC groups that constituted the movement were in the forefront of physical intimidation and violence against Dalits and continue to be so. Social mobility of Dalits has created a rift between them and caste Hindus. Status assertion of Dalits vis-à-vis the dominant castes is another reason for the outbreak of caste conflicts and in such conflicts, the local police and the Dravidian parties side with the dominant groups.

The movement failed to develop into a pan non-Brahmin movement and became fragmented because of the exclusion of the lower castes. Since the 1990s, Tamil Nadu has witnessed a spurt of violence against Dalits perpetrated largely by the ‘backward’ castes, which claim victimhood under Brahmins but also turn oppressors of Dalits.

For your reading, The Hindu Report dated 17-10-2013

A new churning in the caste cauldron

Ahead of next year’s elections, Tamil Nadu is witnessing an early mobilisation and an assertion of identity by intermediate groups such as Vanniyars towards reviving their flagging political fortunes

The cyclical shake-up of Tamil politics that accompanies each election seems to have begun early this time. Whilst we may still see parties jumping ship and changing alliances in the immediate run-up to the polls, there has been a lot of jostling for position already. Following a recent meeting of the ‘All Community Federation,’ for example, The Hindu reported one leader as saying that “constituents of the Federation would never ever support the Dravidian parties as it was because of their rule that casteism continued to survive in some form in Tamil Nadu.” The irony of a collection of caste-based parties pointing the finger of blame at others was clearly lost on P.T. Arasakumar, leader of the National Forward Bloc. Likewise, the claim to represent “all communities” by a front that has been running a campaign against inter-caste marriages and seeking amendments to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, is laughable. At least, it would be laughable if it did not have such deleterious consequences for social and community relations in the State.

Politicisation of caste

Once hailed for its progressive anti-caste politics, Tamil Nadu has more recently been associated with the politicisation of caste. In 2006, Vaasanthi— the former editor of India Today’s Tamil edition — observed that “every section of society now clings to its caste label with pride. With a caste-based political party being born every day, each group is in the need of political protection and asserting its identity.”

Several new caste-based parties and fronts have emerged since that statement was made. Were such organisations limited to the symbolic realm and focused upon the rediscovery of caste histories and identities that have been subsumed within the rhetoric of Dravidian politics, they might merit little more than a footnote in discussions of Tamil politics. Unfortunately, the assertion of caste pride is built on an exaggerated sense of superiority and entitlement that views the upward mobility of lower caste groups with alarm.

When 300 Dalit homes were torched in November 2012 following a cross-caste marriage, many analysts were puzzled that such violence should occur in the State that fostered Dravidianism and championed cross-caste and secular weddings. The truth is that the radical edge of Dravidian ideology was blunted even before the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam first took power. Dravidian parties have used a rhetorical emphasis on Tamil nationalism and language to avoid enacting politically sensitive election pledges on land reform, dowry and caste. As Narendra Subramanian’s (1999) book Ethnicity and Populist Mobilization makes clear, the Dravidian parties revolved around a cluster of socially dominant castes. It has taken the emergence of caste based parties to open up Tamil politics to new categories. Thevar and Vanniyar parties succeeded in wresting concessions from the state. They have also ensured caste-based representation regardless of which party wins an election because both the DMK and the All-India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are acutely sensitive to caste when selecting candidates. Despite the rise of Dalit parties, however, the continuing under-representation of Dalit politicians in Cabinets and ministry portfolios questions the pluralism of the Dravidian parties.

Despite this, Dravidian parties still secure cross-caste support and Tamil nationalism retains the capacity to unite competing caste parties. Both the DMK and the AIADMK are adept at keeping different castes on board through a variety of material and symbolic means. Whilst the perception that the Dalit vote is split may mean less attention is focused on them, the rise of autonomous Dalit parties has led others to pay lip service (at least) to their concerns. Jayalalithaa, thus, recently, clamped down on the Pattali Makkal Katchi following Dalit-Vanniyar clashes and also spoke up in favour of Dalit Christians. Through judicious interventions of this nature and through wider welfare programmes, the Dravidian parties have successfully managed to act as catch-all parties. Caste concerns, thus, must be repeatedly politicised by those wishing to make electoral capital out of them. We would argue that this is what we are witnessing in the current mobilisation of intermediate castes.

Escape from patronage

Several factors feed into the emergence of the All Community Federation. The first issue is the long-running sore for intermediate castes that is the Prevention of Atrocities Act. Whilst conviction rates remain pitifully low, the existence of the Act and the provisions within it have served to curb some of the worst excesses of the dominant castes. Worst still, from their perspective, the Act has emboldened subordinate groups to fight back and mobilise against forms of domination. In this process they have been aided by a number of government initiatives that have reduced the dependency of lower castes: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the public distribution system. For all the flaws in the functioning of the MGNREGA — many documented in this paper — Dalits have seized on the opportunity to work for the government rather than relying upon the seasonal occupation provided by landlords. When allied to the provision of free or cheap rice (albeit sometimes of poor quality), Dalit households have been able to escape long-term patterns of domination and patronage.

Operating in parallel to the above are patterns of migration to cities, other States or other countries. All have dramatically undercut the dominance of the intermediate castes and challenged their self-image as benevolent overlords. Faced by a decline in their authority, intermediate castes across the State have resorted to counter-mobilisation built on a narrative of ‘reverse-casteism’. Such groups, in other words, rally members by accusing Dalits of misusing the PoA Act, receiving preferential treatment, and instigating cross-caste marriages. This last point in particular is important. Numerous studies (see for example the May 4, 2013 issue of Economic and Political Weekly) note how caste and patriarchy are intertwined through the concept of ‘honour.’ Given the importance of chastity and endogamy to the maintenance of caste boundaries, such ‘honour’ hinges on the behaviour of women. Caste honour, here, depends on the ability of caste men to protect and control caste women.

Honour, we should note, is also a relational concept that requires ‘others’ against whom a group may be compared. The ‘others’ for intermediate castes are not Brahmins whose dominance inspired the non-Brahmin movement in the early part of the 20th Century, but the Dalit castes who have hitherto propped up the caste hierarchy. What has happened in the past few years, we would argue, is that the combination of factors serving to reduce the dependency of Dalits has engendered a crisis of masculinity amongst intermediate caste men that finds its expression in the campaigns against (the very small number of) cross-caste marriages. In other words, the mobilisation by intermediate castes led by Dr. Ramadoss is geared towards the consolidation of caste interests rather than their dissolution. Whilst they are right to emphasise that Dravidianism has failed to tackle casteism, we should not be fooled by the name they have adopted. The ‘All Community Federation’ is not an attempt to revive the radical anti-caste ideology of Periyar so much as an attempt to revive the flagging fortunes of once-dominant castes.

Bicycle ban is sheer non-sense!!!

My Letter to The Hindu dated 08-10-2013

The cycle is the symbol of the working class as most of those who use it are daily wage earners, security guards, milk vendors, newspaper hawkers, marginal farmers and vegetable vendors who can’t afford public transport. The West Bengal government’s move is absurd. Many European nations are struggling to make cycling more popular with movements like ‘back-to- bicycle.’ The charge that bicycles slow down traffic is baseless.

For your reading, The Hindu Editorial dated 07-10-2013

The prohibition imposed on bicycle riding and use of non-motorised transport in 174 designated roads of Kolkata during most hours of the workday or round-the-clock is undemocratic, environmentally retrograde and out of sync with modern urban transport planning. At a time when global cities are thinking beyond the car and popularising shared bicycle systems, the law enforcement machinery in West Bengal’s capital has chosen to go the opposite way, in order to create more space for powered vehicles. The police order on bicycles and non-motorised vehicles has inflicted misery and financial pain on tens of thousands of workers who use this humble mode of transport to go about their job. Many are involved in the delivery of essential articles such as milk, letters and medicines. They do not add to the already unsustainable fuel import bill and cause no pollution. West Bengal has 11.47 million households with bicycles as per Census 2011, second only to Uttar Pradesh, where the figure is nearly double. The impact of the ‘ban’ in Kolkata is therefore bound to be staggering, more so as urban households form almost a fourth of these families. The outrage in the community over the intolerant decision and the protests calling for its revocation are fully justified.

The move to effectively banish the bicycle from large parts of ‘Calcutta’ is particularly ironic, since Asansol was the home of Sen-Raleigh, among the iconic brands of bicycles made in post-independence India. Bicycles as a mainstream transport option are under threat today, as it is difficult and risky to ride them in crowded cities. This is reflected in the dip in the number of urban households that have one by four percentage points, to 41.9 per cent, compared to a decade ago. The National Urban Transport Policy has made little headway in addressing the concerns of cyclists and pedestrians. The urban planning record stands in contrast to what is happening in the developed countries, and even emerging nations in Latin America. Curitiba in Brazil, for instance, is creating a microgrid of roads for bicycle connectivity, to benefit workers. New York, with a history of ‘class conflicts’ in allocation of road space, has struck a blow for cyclists with the launch of a bike-sharing programme. Regrettably, none of these progressive models seems to appeal to Indian policymakers, who promote car use to the exclusion of other modes. Even the settled legal principle of ‘polluter pays’ has been ignored in Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress government must remember that there is powerful symbolism associated with the bicycle worldwide, as a vehicle of freedom from tyranny. It should stop oppressing those who impose no costs on the city and perform an economic function in the greenest manner possible.

Stop stereotyping Muslims!

The secular and democratic claims of India will be exposed as hollow if Muslims wrongly implicated in criminal/terror cases are not rendered full justice. In most of the cases, police does not follow the Supreme Court guidelines in picking up Muslim youths. The Supreme Court guidelines on arrest say that within 8-12 hours of making any arrests the police must inform the family of the person concerned about his arrest and the location where she/he has been kept by the police. These arrests were also in violation of the UN's International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, of which India is a signatory. Police implicate them in dozen of cases in one go and after a long span of time the accused prove their innocence. Sadly, they continue to lead a life of ignominy even after their acquittal.

The government should evolve a mechanism to decipher between reliable and concocted evidences and cases in which innocent Muslims are kept under detention for years without being charge-sheeted should be dispensed immediately. In its overly dramatic reporting, the media also comes out with insensitive and irresponsible reports peppered with inaccuracies. Media should realize its duty to save the dying credibility of journalism and hope to restore public faith in it. Every time there is a blast or riot, Muslims are falsely implicated and are branded anti-national.  In cases where the court has held that evidence has been concocted or misrepresented by the investigating agencies to implicate innocents, action must be taken against those responsible. The governments-Central or the concerned State- must issue an apology for the grievous loss of dignity and livelihood that innocents have suffered on account of the false charges foisted upon them. All police officers who have engaged in torture, illegal detentions, forced custodial confessions and fabricated evidence should be suspended, booked and tried under the law. The recommendation of the National Commission for Minorities that the compensation amount be recovered from the salaries of the policemen responsible for falsely implicating the young men should be implemented. Can one be compensated for the physical, mental and social torture that one was subjected to and for the hardships faced in jail? Government should go one step ahead and provide them government jobs according to their eligibility. This is an issue which the Government and the larger polity cannot afford to ignore.

For your reading, The Hindu Editorial dated 20-09-2013

Compensating victims 

After appearing to have encroached on matters within the realm of the executive, the Andhra Pradesh High Court did well to recall an earlier order that struck down the award of compensation to 70 Muslim young men who were wrongly arrested in connection with the 2007 Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast case. The court seems to have realised that such awards are not expressly prohibited by law, and that the government needed no particular “legal basis” for paying compensation to citizens who have been the unfortunate victims of wrongful arrest and torture in criminal cases. Neither the fact of their arrest nor the proof of their innocence was in dispute. The actual perpetrators of the blasts had since been identified and were on trial. The withdrawal of the compensation was thus bad in law and effectively subverted the ends of justice. Admittedly, the court’s initial objection was technical: the victims, it said, were free to file a civil case for compensation. While it is true that mere acquittal or discharge from a case does not entitle an arrested person to compensation, this was not merely a case where the prosecution had failed to prove its charges in a court of law. It was not just that the guilt of the men was not proven, but also that their innocence was now established beyond doubt. When the State is free to compensate victims of accidents and natural calamities, why can it not do the same for those who have suffered injustice at the hands of its own police force? In the past, courts too have intervened to provide compensation to victims of State violence.

But the larger issue of accountability of police officials responsible for the wrongful arrest and torture of the innocent Muslim young men remains. Justice demands that the police officers who unthinkingly put innocent young men through such a harrowing time be made answerable. Torture is illegal and policemen who use cruel and unusual methods of interrogation must be prosecuted. The speed with which the police arrested Muslim men when the perpetrators of the blast were Hindutva sympathisers shows how deeply ingrained the automatic association of Muslims with terrorism is among law-enforcers. The award of compensation was just one small step toward correcting this and sensitising the police force, sections of which are vulnerable to communalisation. Indeed, the National Commission for Minorities had recommended that the compensation amount be recovered from the salaries of the policemen responsible for falsely implicating the young men. The A.P. government’s decision to award compensation must be established as a healthy precedent, and police officers who use torture to extract ‘confessions’ should be made to face civil and criminal liability.

Will this shame end?

My Letter to The Hindu dated 14-09-2013

Despite unrelenting efforts by voluntary organisations and laws to eradicate the practice, lifting human excreta with hands is still a reality in our nation. As early as 2007, the annual report of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed serious concern over the deplorable conditions of manual scavengers in India. It is heartening to learn that manual scavenging will soon come to an end. As manual scavenging is an offshoot of untouchability, persons or institutions that employ manual scavengers should be booked under the SC, ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. Corporations must be made accountable and prosecuted for their failure to eliminate manual scavenging. The implementation of the law should include rehabilitation of manual scavengers. They should be trained for other livelihood options, given subsidy and concessional loans.

For your reading, The Hindu Editorial dated 13-09-2013

After long years of inaction, even a small step forward can appear as a lot. With Parliament passing the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, India appears to have at least acknowledged the continued existence of manual scavenging, including within government-run bodies. The law is a vast improvement on the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act of 1993, which saw no conviction in its 20-year history despite the widespread prevalence of the abominable practice. This time the focus is equally on rehabilitation of manual scavengers as on prohibition of the practice and punishment of the employers. Manual scavenging will continue so long as there are men and women poor and helpless enough to take it up. Without rehabilitation of those engaged in this dehumanising labour, manual scavenging will find ways to hide from the law, no matter how stringent the penal provisions for the employers. The new law recognises the problem as not just one of dry latrines, but as one of dealing with human waste. Irrespective of the nature of the latrines, manual scavengers have to work in extremely unhygienic conditions that put their health at serious risk.

Another improvement in the current legislation is the acknowledgment that local and railway authorities have been employers of manual scavengers. One reason the stringent provisions of the earlier law did not take effect was that the main violators of the law included government authorities. Local bodies trying to clear blocked sewer lines or the railways trying to clean soiled tracks at stations and toilets in trains have done little to introduce mechanisation. The current legislation sees protective gear and safety precautions for the workers as an alternative to mechanisation. For the purposes of the Act, those using protective gear and devices as may be notified by the Central government would not come under the definition of a “manual scavenger”. Verily, this is an escape clause for local and railway authorities to continue to deploy workers in manual scavenging. Even the present legislation would not have come about without the intervention of the judiciary. The Supreme Court has now asked the Centre and the States to provide a detailed list of manual scavengers who have been rehabilitated so far. Actually, funds allotted for their rehabilitation have been mostly unspent. The determination of the Centre and the States to rid India of manual scavenging can be gauged only from the results achieved on the ground, and not from the nature of the laws passed in Parliament.