Thursday, August 19, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
India needs new politics
India is adrift. Worrisomely adrift. This is not because of any widespread social unrest or destabilising economic problems. Discontent in society there certainly is. Grievances due to the country’s unbalanced economic growth there certainly are and they are mounting. But the lack of direction is primarily due to the stagnant state of Indian politics. There is no soaring sense of purpose, fresh vitality and inspirational energy visible in any segment of the political spectrum, including in the two main national parties — Congress and BJP. Making matters worse for the country is their growing mutual antagonism, which is set to create a storm in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Discussing the state of regional parties is unnecessary in this context because, significant though they are in their respective states, they do not critically determine the health of national politics. Discussing the state of the two communist parties is also not pertinent here. Their national footprint and influence have both shrunk enormously, mainly due to the fossilisation of their ideology. Their future looks bleaker than the present. The socialist movement, once a persuasive voice and a powerful factor in Indian politics, has all but vanished. Can there be a sadder commentary on its disappearance than the near-total absence of a suitable commemoration, in 2010, of the birth centenary of its greatest leader, Dr Rammanohar Lohia? How effortlessly we have forgotten one of the most original political thinkers in independent India.
What is truly worrisome is the state of the two national parties. Outwardly all seems well with the Congress and the government it heads. UPA II is stable. Dr Manmohan Singh has become the third longest occupant of the office of Prime Minister. Not a small achievement. It is also a tribute to the quickly acquired political expertise of Sonia Gandhi. Her authority is unlikely to be challenged by anybody within her own party, something which was not true even in the case of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However, in spite of all these pluses, the calm in the Congress and its government is suggestive of stagnation, not the strength, self-confidence and sagacity needed to take the nation forward, rapidly and in the right direction.
Efforts of UPA II to normalise relations with Pakistan are leading nowhere, mainly because of India’s overdependence on American mediators. Pakistan’s shrewd rulers are trying to strike their own anti-India bargain with the US, stuck as the latter is with its needless and hopeless military occupation of Afghanistan. India’s gains in normalising the situation in the Kashmir valley, which were the outcome of the farsighted efforts of both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Singh (in UPA I), have been largely frittered away by UPA II due to inattention. There is lack of consensus within the Congress and the government on how to deal with the menace of Maoism. And there is no big and enthusiasm-creating action to walk the government’s laudable talk on inclusive development. This cannot be done, as ample examples from history caution us, merely by launching yet another poverty alleviation programme by spending thousands of crores of rupees. What is needed is firm and sustained action against corruption, inefficiency, unaccountability and bureaucratic insensitivity, which are responsible for the abysmal failure of most government-funded anti-poverty schemes. Besides distorting India’s development, corruption is also poisoning the very lifeblood of India’s democratic institutions, including the judiciary. Sadly, there is no real and credible outrage over corruption in Political India. The BJP’s recent conduct in Karnataka and Jharkhand shows that it has no energy or intent left to retrieve what was once its biggest USP: its attempts at probity in public life.
There is a dichotomy today between India’s stagnant politics and vibrant society. The vibrancy and vitality are most visible in India’s young population — not only the rich but also the poor, not only in urban areas but also in villages. However, the political and governance establishment seems woefully unresponsive to their aspirations and ambitions. This is evident from the fact that no political party is articulating the agenda of thorough-going political and governance reforms, without which all talk of “inclusive development”, “social justice”, “education and health for all”, “zero tolerance towards terrorism and Maoism”, etc. are meaningless. The only party that is talking about political reforms, with specific ideas, is Lok Satta in Andhra Pradesh, led by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan. It is still small and struggling, but nevertheless a ray of hope.
India today needs not just new leadership, but new morality-based politics. This new politics will have to discard old habits of conduct and old ways of thinking, which have compelled even the good people in our parties to become prisoners of myopic and sectional considerations. It should muster the courage and understanding needed to fight corruption, and thereby reinvigorate all the institutions of democratic governance. It must eschew misuse of government agencies for partisan ends. It should also be committed to creating national consensus on all major national challenges, including the two inherited from history — disputes with Pakistan and China — which are sapping India’s energies and hindering its rise in Asia and the world.
Is new politics possible? Remember, stagnation is always an invitation to start new attempts.
Courtesy: Indian Express
Discussing the state of regional parties is unnecessary in this context because, significant though they are in their respective states, they do not critically determine the health of national politics. Discussing the state of the two communist parties is also not pertinent here. Their national footprint and influence have both shrunk enormously, mainly due to the fossilisation of their ideology. Their future looks bleaker than the present. The socialist movement, once a persuasive voice and a powerful factor in Indian politics, has all but vanished. Can there be a sadder commentary on its disappearance than the near-total absence of a suitable commemoration, in 2010, of the birth centenary of its greatest leader, Dr Rammanohar Lohia? How effortlessly we have forgotten one of the most original political thinkers in independent India.
What is truly worrisome is the state of the two national parties. Outwardly all seems well with the Congress and the government it heads. UPA II is stable. Dr Manmohan Singh has become the third longest occupant of the office of Prime Minister. Not a small achievement. It is also a tribute to the quickly acquired political expertise of Sonia Gandhi. Her authority is unlikely to be challenged by anybody within her own party, something which was not true even in the case of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. However, in spite of all these pluses, the calm in the Congress and its government is suggestive of stagnation, not the strength, self-confidence and sagacity needed to take the nation forward, rapidly and in the right direction.
Efforts of UPA II to normalise relations with Pakistan are leading nowhere, mainly because of India’s overdependence on American mediators. Pakistan’s shrewd rulers are trying to strike their own anti-India bargain with the US, stuck as the latter is with its needless and hopeless military occupation of Afghanistan. India’s gains in normalising the situation in the Kashmir valley, which were the outcome of the farsighted efforts of both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr Singh (in UPA I), have been largely frittered away by UPA II due to inattention. There is lack of consensus within the Congress and the government on how to deal with the menace of Maoism. And there is no big and enthusiasm-creating action to walk the government’s laudable talk on inclusive development. This cannot be done, as ample examples from history caution us, merely by launching yet another poverty alleviation programme by spending thousands of crores of rupees. What is needed is firm and sustained action against corruption, inefficiency, unaccountability and bureaucratic insensitivity, which are responsible for the abysmal failure of most government-funded anti-poverty schemes. Besides distorting India’s development, corruption is also poisoning the very lifeblood of India’s democratic institutions, including the judiciary. Sadly, there is no real and credible outrage over corruption in Political India. The BJP’s recent conduct in Karnataka and Jharkhand shows that it has no energy or intent left to retrieve what was once its biggest USP: its attempts at probity in public life.
There is a dichotomy today between India’s stagnant politics and vibrant society. The vibrancy and vitality are most visible in India’s young population — not only the rich but also the poor, not only in urban areas but also in villages. However, the political and governance establishment seems woefully unresponsive to their aspirations and ambitions. This is evident from the fact that no political party is articulating the agenda of thorough-going political and governance reforms, without which all talk of “inclusive development”, “social justice”, “education and health for all”, “zero tolerance towards terrorism and Maoism”, etc. are meaningless. The only party that is talking about political reforms, with specific ideas, is Lok Satta in Andhra Pradesh, led by Dr Jayaprakash Narayan. It is still small and struggling, but nevertheless a ray of hope.
India today needs not just new leadership, but new morality-based politics. This new politics will have to discard old habits of conduct and old ways of thinking, which have compelled even the good people in our parties to become prisoners of myopic and sectional considerations. It should muster the courage and understanding needed to fight corruption, and thereby reinvigorate all the institutions of democratic governance. It must eschew misuse of government agencies for partisan ends. It should also be committed to creating national consensus on all major national challenges, including the two inherited from history — disputes with Pakistan and China — which are sapping India’s energies and hindering its rise in Asia and the world.
Is new politics possible? Remember, stagnation is always an invitation to start new attempts.
Courtesy: Indian Express
Thursday, August 5, 2010
FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
LADENGE! JITENGE! WE WILL FIGHT! WE WILL WIN!!
3rd Announcement for the
FOURTH
NATIONAL CONVENTION
ON
THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
6-8 AUGUST, 2010,
Venue: Meera Bhawan, Rourkela, Orissa
Dear friends,
The Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign1 invites you and your organization to the fourth National Convention on the Right to Food and Work, to be held in Orissa from 6-8 August 2010.
This convention, convened by the Right to Food Campaign, is extremely significant in the current context where the Government on the one hand is increasingly eroding people’s control over their livelihoods and resources while on the other, promising to enact a National Food Security Act that guarantees food security for all. With spiraling food prices and widespread drought experienced across the country last year, pushing people further into hunger and poverty, the principle of universality in food entitlements must be established in an urgent manner. The draft National Food Security Act proposed by the government, in fact falls far short of any such guarantee and even erodes entitlements that already exist.
The right to food for all can only be realised if water, land and forests are not diverted from food production and people's control over these resources is safeguarded. The Government has to be forced to make a commitment that nobody goes to sleep hungry. Further, with such high levels of malnutrition as in India, food security must be understood to mean “nutritional” security and not just access to cheap food grains.
It is in this backdrop that we want to discuss issues related to the question of people's right to food that are of concern to our campaign.
The Convention will be held over three days and will be a mix of plenary sessions and parallel workshops. The discussions on the first day will focus on issues related to determinants of food security and hunger. The second day will focus on the National Food Security Act, entitlements and government schemes. On the last day we have a plenary on addressing the issue of access to the Right to food in areas of Conflict including in areas where struggles against displacement are taking place. The Convention will end with a Rally and public meeting. Please find and attached the detailed programme.
Pre Conference Preparation: Please consider organising meetings, workshops and conventions at the district/state level on these issues in advance of the national convention. This would facilitate better involvement of local groups and grassroots organisations at the national convention. Participating organisations are also invited to bring their campaign material (e.g. reports, posters, exhibitions, etc.) for circulation or display at the Orissa convention.
Parallel Workshops and Stalls/Exhibitions: The organizing committee in Orissa is planning on having some exhibitions on issues such as children’s right to food, foods of the forest, sustainable agriculture and so on. In case you are interested in putting up a stall or exhibition, please let us know by the 26th of July, so that necessary arrangements can be made.
There is also a proposal to set up a stall with local foods from different areas, for instance the Karnataka campaign will display some “ragi” recipes. Please let us know if you would be able to contribute to this.
Below is a list of workshops that have been finalized until now. In case, you have any suggestions for other workshops and are willing to co-ordinate workshops on other issues, please let us know by the 26thof July. The programme committee will review all such suggestions and see if they can be included.
Venue: The venue is Meera Bhawan, opposite Rourkela Railway Station, Rourkela, Orissa. The place of stay for participants would be Amar Bhawan, which is 100 meters away from Rourkela Railway station. The meeting venue (Plenary meeting / Large meeting) which is Meera Bhawan which is around 50 meters away from railway station and same distance from Amar Bhawan.
Registration Fee: All participants would be expected to pay Rs. 50 per day making it a fee of Rs. 150 per participant for the conference registration. This would take care of lodging, boarding and the conference kit for the participants.
Donation: The campaign also welcomes any other donations that you can send will be most helpful. All participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements. Kindly book your tickets well in advance. And kindly intimate us about your participation as it will help us plan for the convention.
We request you to share news of this convention within your organization and with other interested organizations/
National Campaign Contacts: The Right to Food Campaign secretariat at 011-2649 9563. mobile: 9560923178 (Deepika) righttofood@gmail.com , check the campaign website (www.righttofoodindia.
Orissa Contact Persons:
Convenor of the Orissa Organising committee of Fourth National Convention: Mr. Prafulla Samantary "Prafulla Samantara" <psamantary@rediffmail.com>
Coordinator Working group of Organising Committee: Bidyut Mohanty bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com, Phone: +91-9437025326;
Rourkela Organiser: Mr. Abul Kalam Azad, Email: disharkl@yahoo.co.in, Phone: +91-9437049329.
URGENT: Please send confirmations of participation to righttofood@gmail.com, bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com and disharkl@yahoo.co.in
Looking forward to meeting all of you at Rourkela, Orissa!!!
In solidarity,
Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign
We are,
Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women), Anuradha Talwar (New Trade Union Initiative), Arun Gupta& Radha Holla (Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India), Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey (National People’s Movement of India), Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations), Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information), Asha Mishra and Vinod Raina (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network), Kavita Srivastava (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Mira Shiva and Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), Paul Diwakar (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights), Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers), Jean Dreze (Former support group and Allahabad University), V.B.Rawat (Former support group and Social Development Foundation)
For more information, please contact
Kavita Srivastava (0141-2594131 or 09351562965),
Dipa Sinha (09650434777)
Deepika (9560923178)
Sejal Parikh (09560266167)
Mr. Abul Kalam Azad (9437049329)
Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign
C/o PHRN
5 A, Jungi House,
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.
India
Website: www.righttofoodindia.org
Email: righttofood@gmail.com
Phone - 91 -11 -2649 9563
FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
LADENGE! JITENGE! WE WILL FIGHT! WE WILL WIN!!
3rd Announcement for the
FOURTH
NATIONAL CONVENTION
ON
THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK
6-8 AUGUST, 2010,
Venue: Meera Bhawan, Rourkela, Orissa
Dear friends,
The Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign1 invites you and your organization to the fourth National Convention on the Right to Food and Work, to be held in Orissa from 6-8 August 2010.
This convention, convened by the Right to Food Campaign, is extremely significant in the current context where the Government on the one hand is increasingly eroding people’s control over their livelihoods and resources while on the other, promising to enact a National Food Security Act that guarantees food security for all. With spiraling food prices and widespread drought experienced across the country last year, pushing people further into hunger and poverty, the principle of universality in food entitlements must be established in an urgent manner. The draft National Food Security Act proposed by the government, in fact falls far short of any such guarantee and even erodes entitlements that already exist.
The right to food for all can only be realised if water, land and forests are not diverted from food production and people's control over these resources is safeguarded. The Government has to be forced to make a commitment that nobody goes to sleep hungry. Further, with such high levels of malnutrition as in India, food security must be understood to mean “nutritional” security and not just access to cheap food grains.
It is in this backdrop that we want to discuss issues related to the question of people's right to food that are of concern to our campaign.
The Convention will be held over three days and will be a mix of plenary sessions and parallel workshops. The discussions on the first day will focus on issues related to determinants of food security and hunger. The second day will focus on the National Food Security Act, entitlements and government schemes. On the last day we have a plenary on addressing the issue of access to the Right to food in areas of Conflict including in areas where struggles against displacement are taking place. The Convention will end with a Rally and public meeting. Please find and attached the detailed programme.
Pre Conference Preparation: Please consider organising meetings, workshops and conventions at the district/state level on these issues in advance of the national convention. This would facilitate better involvement of local groups and grassroots organisations at the national convention. Participating organisations are also invited to bring their campaign material (e.g. reports, posters, exhibitions, etc.) for circulation or display at the Orissa convention.
Parallel Workshops and Stalls/Exhibitions: The organizing committee in Orissa is planning on having some exhibitions on issues such as children’s right to food, foods of the forest, sustainable agriculture and so on. In case you are interested in putting up a stall or exhibition, please let us know by the 26th of July, so that necessary arrangements can be made.
There is also a proposal to set up a stall with local foods from different areas, for instance the Karnataka campaign will display some “ragi” recipes. Please let us know if you would be able to contribute to this.
Below is a list of workshops that have been finalized until now. In case, you have any suggestions for other workshops and are willing to co-ordinate workshops on other issues, please let us know by the 26thof July. The programme committee will review all such suggestions and see if they can be included.
Venue: The venue is Meera Bhawan, opposite Rourkela Railway Station, Rourkela, Orissa. The place of stay for participants would be Amar Bhawan, which is 100 meters away from Rourkela Railway station. The meeting venue (Plenary meeting / Large meeting) which is Meera Bhawan which is around 50 meters away from railway station and same distance from Amar Bhawan.
Registration Fee: All participants would be expected to pay Rs. 50 per day making it a fee of Rs. 150 per participant for the conference registration. This would take care of lodging, boarding and the conference kit for the participants.
Donation: The campaign also welcomes any other donations that you can send will be most helpful. All participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements. Kindly book your tickets well in advance. And kindly intimate us about your participation as it will help us plan for the convention.
We request you to share news of this convention within your organization and with other interested organizations/
National Campaign Contacts: The Right to Food Campaign secretariat at 011-2649 9563. mobile: 9560923178 (Deepika) righttofood@gmail.com , check the campaign website (www.righttofoodindia.
Orissa Contact Persons:
Convenor of the Orissa Organising committee of Fourth National Convention: Mr. Prafulla Samantary "Prafulla Samantara" <psamantary@rediffmail.com>
Coordinator Working group of Organising Committee: Bidyut Mohanty bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com, Phone: +91-9437025326;
Rourkela Organiser: Mr. Abul Kalam Azad, Email: disharkl@yahoo.co.in, Phone: +91-9437049329.
URGENT: Please send confirmations of participation to righttofood@gmail.com, bidyut.mohanty@gmail.com and disharkl@yahoo.co.in
Looking forward to meeting all of you at Rourkela, Orissa!!!
In solidarity,
Steering group of the Right to Food Campaign
We are,
Annie Raja (National Federation for Indian Women), Anuradha Talwar (New Trade Union Initiative), Arun Gupta& Radha Holla (Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India), Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey (National People’s Movement of India), Ashok Bharti (National Conference of Dalit Organizations), Anjali Bhardwaj, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information), Asha Mishra and Vinod Raina (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Colin Gonsalves (Human Rights Law Network), Kavita Srivastava (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), Mira Shiva and Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), Paul Diwakar (National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights), Subhash Bhatnagar (National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector workers), Jean Dreze (Former support group and Allahabad University), V.B.Rawat (Former support group and Social Development Foundation)
For more information, please contact
Kavita Srivastava (0141-2594131 or 09351562965),
Dipa Sinha (09650434777)
Deepika (9560923178)
Sejal Parikh (09560266167)
Mr. Abul Kalam Azad (9437049329)
Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign
C/o PHRN
5 A, Jungi House,
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.
India
Website: www.righttofoodindia.org
Email: righttofood@gmail.com
Phone - 91 -11 -2649 9563
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