Schooled In Rebellion, An Imperilled Generation

In Bastar’s dark interiors, the Naxals are running schools for children, teaching them to be wary of the government.

0n 29 December last year, joint forces comprising the CRPF and state police busted a Naxal training camp during a combing  operation in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, 450 km to the south of Chhattisgarh’s capital city Raipur. INN visited Jappemarka  village where the encounter had taken place and found that besides training camps, the Naxals were also running schools for  children in the densely forested region.

It takes a two-day trek through forest trails, after crossing the Bailadila hills — known for the National Mineral Development  Corporation’s iron ore mines and forming the border between Dantewada and Bijapur districts — to reach this village. In a  small clearing amid the woods just outside the village, a group of children greet INN with shouts of “Lal Salaam”, reminding  us that we are in Naxal country. They are students of an Ashram Shala (residential school) run by the Naxals for 30-odd  children from the nearby half-a-dozen villages.

Then the children sing a song in Gondi, the local tribal language. The song is on “the importance of education in making a  revolution”, we are told. This is a region where the Naxals have set up what they call the Janatana Sarkar, or “people’s  government”.

Motiram, a student at the Jappemarka Ashram Shala, says he wants to become a teacher in a Naxal school. Motiram doesn’t  know the national anthem, but he knows how to hide if the police suddenly show up. But his ‘teacher’ Sukhlal, who was  once a member of a Naxal dalam (armed squad), claims the children are not trained in warfare. “They are only given general  physical education like in government- run schools,” he says. “After the Salwa Judum (an anti-Naxal campaign) started, the  government has closed down all schools in this area. As the villages here are believed to be Naxal-dominated, these children  cannot go to schools elsewhere. The Naxal-run schools are their only means of getting education.”

The children are taught from textbooks prepared in Gondi by the ‘education department’ of the Janatana Sarkar, besides the  same Hindi textbooks that are used in government schools in Chhattisgarh. Even the school uniform is similar.

Besides Sukhlal, the Jappemarka school has one more teacher and two cooks, who are paid Rs 1,000 every month. The  school offers education till Class V. So what will the children do after that? “They can work for the Janatana Sarkar, teach in  the Naxal-run schools or become village healthcare workers,” says Sukhlal, who studied till Class V at the government school  at Mirtur, 10 km away. The exact locations of the Naxal-run schools are kept secret from ‘outsiders’ as top Naxal leaders visit  them occasionally.

When the police raided Jappemarka village on 29 December last year, Sonu, a ‘Class III student’ at the Ashram, hailing from  nearby Bechapal village, could not flee into the forests with the others. He says the police thrashed him and let him go only  after he said he studied in the government school at Mirtur. Though the Ashram Shala was set on fire during the raid, the  children say it is being rebuilt again at another “secret” location.

During the two-day trek to Jappemarka, INN was accompanied by Mohan, the commander of the Bhansi local guerrilla  squad. Mohan was a Class V student at the Mirtur government school in 2005 when Salwa Judum started operations in the  area. He says atrocities by the Judum forced him to join the Naxals. Mohan showed us several spots where pressure bombs  and booby traps had been planted. On receiving information of police presence, the pressure bombs are wired and the  wooden covers removed from the trap holes.

Life in these villages is not easy. The villagers often have to spend the nights in the forests to evade police raids. Ramesh, a  resident of Udepal village, says the monsoon months are the most difficult, when the tribals cannot even light a fire to ward  off wild animals.

In Udepal, INN also met Dashru Mandavi, who says he once aspired to become a government officer. In 2005, after  completing his primary education from Mirtur, he enrolled in the government-run residential school at Gangalur for further  studies.

Salwa Judum was at its height at the time. One evening, some armed policemen from Gangalur police station came to the  school, asked him if he was the dada (Naxal) from Udepal, and then took him away. Later in the night, Dashru told the guard  at the police station that he wanted to use the toilet and managed to slip away. The police came to Udepal looking for him,  but he had already escaped into the nearby forests.

Dashru says he has not joined the Naxals, but one of his brothers, Sukuram, was shot dead in Udepal in 2006, and two years  later, three more of his brothers were arrested. Two of them, Misra Ram and Mangu, died in custody, Dashru alleges, while  the third, Bugra, is still in the jail. Dashru claims the police did not even hand over Mangu’s body to the family.

Mahendra Karma, a senior leader of the Congress who is known as the founder of the Salwa Judum, told INN in Dantewada  that if the police have indeed destroyed the Naxal-run school in Jappemarka, it was the right thing to do. “The Naxals have  destroyed hundreds of government schools.”

BEYOND CHHT'GARH, NAXALS REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

Ever since last week’s massacre in Chhattisgarh, elements of the intelligentsia have launched ferocious search for The Root Cause of violent Maoism—the Holy Grail of India’s left-liberal discourse on terrorism.  It’s been claimed, again and again, that the conflict is being fuelled by the predatory intrusion of the Indian state into the adivasi heartland—through state terrorism, the dispossession of their land, and the impoverishment of peoples by neo-liberalism.

Chhattisgarh: Naxal Threat Looms Over II-Phase Of Polls

By Mithilesh Mishra | Raipur

Naxal experts believe that allowing security forces and polling parties inside the 'danger zone' is a strategic trap laid by Maoists. As Chhattisgarh prepares for the second phase of polls on 19 November, the police headquarters is gearing up to face the Naxal threat in constituencies that have recently come under attack. 

The Election Commission and the local police are also trying to ensure safety of the paramilitary force and polling parties returning after the first phase of elections. Although the police managed to ensure smooth polling in 18 constituencies during the first phase, the Naxals launched an attack at Pankhajur the next day.

Cong Bribed Journos In Chhattisgarh, Offers 50k For Favour

By Mithilesh Mishra | Raipur

After the Congress rout in Assembly polls in the four heartland states, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi spoke about reforming the party in ways that cannot be imagined. He could well start his mission from Chhattisgarh. During the election campaign as well as in the days before votes were counted and results declared, the state unit of the Congress offered cash "gifts" ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 to about 100 journalists based in Raipur saying it was from the "party election fund".

The INN Live reporter was among those offered the cash, on December 6, two days before the results. The novel, if not unprecedented, move was not a clandestine operation but one that was apparently fully approved by the party. It was handled by a new media cell set up just before the elections to "manage journalists", at a time the media, the Election Commission and political parties have been grappling with the problem of paid news.

Smaller States Will Address Governance Problems: Guha On Telengana

Advocates for separate states in India are often dismissed as nation breakers who are looking to partition the country for political gains. But have we been ignoring the aspect of state formation which allows for better administration of people who may not be receiving sufficient representation politically?
 
In a highly readable editorial in the Hindu, writer-historian Ramchandra Guha points out that the demand for formation of a separate state of Andhra Pradesh made as far back as 1914, only to be opposed; it was made again in 1952 by veteran Congressman Potti Sriramulu, rejected initially and then quickly formed once he died.
 
The historian points out that much like the debate against Telangana presently, the Madras presidency has strongly opposed the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1914 and Nehru in 1952 arguing that the partition of the existing states could only hamper the progress of the new state.
 
However, arguing in favour of the formation of Telangana and other smaller states, Guha writes: After 65 testing years of independence, there need no longer be any fear about the unity of India. The country is not about to Balkanise, nor is it about to become a dictatorship. The real problems in India today have to do with the quality of governance. Smaller states may be one way to address this problem.
 
A study by India Today also reveals that economically, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana wouldn’t collapse if they are set up and in fact the GDP growth in both regions is almost equal. As Firspost pointed out earlier, the status of Hyderabad may be a stumbling block but the formation of a new state might not be as violent as opponents to it may suggest.
 
Guha’s argument in favour of forming smaller states has perhaps been borne out by the formation of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh from bigger states which has allowed better administration of areas that were hitherto ignored by a big brother state government.
 
None of the states’ economies floundered despite naysayers and while Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand may continue to battle insurgency movements in the form of Naxalism, it was something the states inherited from the parent states. If anything the partitions have helped the states create separate policy based on local realities and even in implementation of central government schemes like the PDS, Chhattisgarh is help up as an example where the system can work in favour of the poor.
 
The states haven’t sparked off separatist movements nor have they hurt the national fabric of the country. If anything they have allowed people living in those states to have a political voice that is more audible and isn’t lost in the din of a bigger state.
 
Advocates for new states, like a separate Gorkhaland and Vidarbha, are bound to be enthused by the formation of a Telangana and it will only bolster their argument, possibly making their voices louder. Is it time to start listening to them rather than dismissing them outright? Or is it wrong to dismiss the linguistic formation of states as an “oh so 50′s attitude” too quickly?

INDIAN POLITICAL SCENARIO: THE WOLF AT THE DOOR!

By Rajinder Puri / Delhi

Remember that ancient tale about the boy who cried wolf? False alarms of an approaching wolf lulled society into ignoring the wolf when it really came. In India the word ‘Emergency’ has acquired a dirty connotation. Indira Gandhi’s fraudulent imposition of dictatorship in the name of emergency justified by leveling totally false allegations against Jayaprakash Narain brought this about. Much later Indira Gandhi acknowledged her error publicly in a speech delivered at Ram Lila Ground in Delhi. But the damage had been done.

Now in public perception no real emergency can ever exist. But consider the current situation.

Why Gujarat Isn’t The Financially Perfect State In India?

Many claims that Gujarat is the financially perfect state. But reality differs. 

On top of the list of India’s financially best managed states is an unlikely winner—Chhattisgarh, an underdeveloped but resource-rich state that has outperformed some of the country’s most industrialised provinces.

“The relatively new and small mineral-rich state in the eastern part of the country—Chhattisgarh—stands out as the financially most well-managed state in India, because of a revenue surplus budget and low interest payment burden,” said a research report by securities firm, Nomura, which analysed budgets of 18 states in India.

Telangana History: Congress Will Win But TRS May Lose?

By Sanjay Singh / INN Bureau

After initial belligerence, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has made a complete about turn over the creation of a separate Telengana state. Reddy seem to be doing what Lalu Prasad Yadav did 13 years ago when then NDA government decided to bifurcate Bihar and carve out Jharkhand. “Over my dead body”, a defiant Lalu  then said but soon allowed a resolution for the creation of Jharkhand to be moved in the Bihar assembly and also have it passed.

Reddy is doing the same after threatening to resign over the “destructive decision”, he now wants to abide by the party high command decision and “move on”.

HOW AIR FORCE KILLED 'DRONE WARS' IN CHHATTISGARH?

By M H Ahssan / Raipur

India’s super-secret drone war over the Maoist corridor is stalling because air force pilots have shot down plans to be relocated in the region citing lifestyle concerns, intelligence sources have told INN. Twelve Israeli-made Searcher tactical drones committed to intelligence gathering over the violence-torn Chhattisgarh-Orissa border — part of an $220 million fleet — have been operating at the extremities of their range from a base near Hyderabad, leaving them little time to hover over their targets.

Opinion: Why is Telangana Getting Provisional Assembly?

By Syed Amin Jafri (Guest Writer)

How long will the formation of Telangana state take under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill? When will Assembly elections be held? Will Assembly polls coincide with Lok Sabha elections or held separately? Will Telangana and residuary state of AP have simultaneous Assembly polls or go their separate ways? What are the earlier precedents? These are the questions plaguing the political parties and leaders on both sides of the regional divide.
   
The most recent instance of formation of new states — Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh — dates back to the year 2000. Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2000 was passed by Lok Sabha on July 31 and Rajya Sabha on August 9, 2000.

Election 2013: BJP Wins, Congress Routed & AAP Debuts

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

DANCE OF DEMOCRACY  The verdict of the Assembly elections in four states – Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh – has sparked a wave of fresh enthusiasm in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp, which has already been riding high after the declaration of Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Not only did the party retain its governments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it also snatched away power from the Congress party in Delhi and Rajasthan. While it sweeped Rajasthan, winning 162 seats, the BJP managed to emerge as the the single largest party in Delhi with 33 seats, two short of the half-way mark.

Assembly Elections - Time to Retrospect

By M H Ahssan & Kajol Singh

Although the outcome of the Assembly polls is being described as a 3-2 victory for the Congress, it is actually a two-all draw since Mizoram’s results do not have much influence on national politics. Even then, the Congress can be said to have its nose ahead since the BJP’s earlier string of victories seems to have come to an end.

After its successes in Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, the BJP had seemingly convinced itself that it had acquired an unstoppable momentum on the road to Delhi. But, now it is bound to have a rethink, for the tide appears to have turned, even if partially. However, that is not the only reason for the sadness that was noticeable in its New Delhi office on Monday evening. What may have concerned the BJP more is the belief that it may have lost its terror card, which apparently gave it a permanent edge over the Congress.

By accusing the latter of being soft on terror in order to preserve its minority vote bank, the BJP evidently thought that it had an irrefutable argument to influence the voters. But what has proved this assessment wrong is the Delhi election results because the elections took place the day after the horrendous terrorist attack on Mumbai. Yet, the ease with which the Congress swept the polls showed that the tragedy had virtually no impact on the electorate. Even the Congress seemed to have been taken aback by this response, for it had believed that terrorism, coupled with inflation, would spell disaster for it.

If the voters thought otherwise, it was apparently because they looked upon these as passing phases with no long-term effect. Not only would prices come down, as they have already started to do, but the very insanity of the jihadis would lead them to their doom. They were also probably not too pleased by the BJP’s propensity to make political capital out of such tragedies.

The BJP is apparently worried that such an interpretation of its motives will not leave any cards in its hands for the next big test the general election.

The other indication from the voters relates to their interest in development. The reason why Sheila Dikshit, Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Raman Singh won in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is that their almost exclusive focus was on the bijli-sadak-pani factor. If politicians get this message, it will mark an end of divisive politics.

Results of five states that went to election over the past few weeks have surprised many observers. Congress has won Delhi and Mizoram decisively and inching towards the half-way mark in Rajasthan. BJP on the other hand has managed to retain Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Delhi
Bucking anti-incumbency factor in Indian elections once is quite an achievement and doing it twice is extraodinary. Sheila Dixit has been able to do just that. Her opponent, Vijay Malhotra, currently a BJP MP from South Delhi parliamentary seat was not able to enthuse the base or adapt to the changing demographics in Delhi. Delhi that went to polls just three days after Mumbai attacks seemed to suggest that even in assembly elections local factors play a bigger role. It also seemed to rebut BJP’s allegation that Congress is soft on terrorism.

Rajasthan
After the Meena Gujjar agitation earlier this year, it was very difficult for Vasundhara Raje to dig herself out of the hole and win the elections. Her performance, though credible will leave BJP with a big headache where it has to defend 21 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming general elections. Ashok Gehlot, has led his party to victory again and he will be able to cobble up a coalition with independents to form a government.

Madhya Pradesh
The central Indian state has had three chief ministers in five years. It was Uma Bharati who won a decisive victory against the Congress in 2003 but resigned from the post due to her role in the Hubli-Idgah controversy. Her place was taken by Babulal Gaur who was then replaced by a much younger Shivraj Chauhan. It is to his credit that he had been able to win the state again despite Uma Bharati contesting elections as a separate entity and a much powerful Bahujan Samaj Party.

Chhattisgarh
Raman Singh has managed to win a narrow victory in a very close fight in this small state. Ajit Jogi, who was caught on tape after last assembly elections bargaining with opposition MLAs, led the challenge this time too and lost.

Mizoram
The tiny northeastern state brought Congress back to power after 10 years with the ruling Mizo National Front losing by a big margin. BJP hardly has any presence in the state.

Some quick thoughts on the results:
Good governance matters. It might not matter every time but it still pays to perform and then go asking for votes.
Terrorism is a national issue and these assembly elections might not exactly be a referendum on policy positions of either Congress of BJP.
Caste politics still pays in India but it might not be a winning proposition anymore. It increasingly is providing little dividends at high risk.
The results are like a hung parliament. Everyone can claim victory.
Mayawati can be the next Prime Minister of India. I can’t believe I just wrote it.

Another Critique Of Modi Growth Model Goes Nowhere

An important project for intellectuals in India these days is debunking the Gujarat growth story. Since many “secularists” dislike Narendra Modi, it has become important to deny him what he claims as one of his achievements: the state’s fast-paced growth.

While it is nobody’s case that every achievement of Gujarat should be attributed to Modi’s leadership or even his tenure, the efforts by many to punch holes in his story are sometimes pathetic. You don’t improve your case against what Modi may have done wrong in 2002 by rubbishing what he may have done right at other times.

More often than not, the holes punched in the Gujarat story are bizarre because they are forced. They are also illogical: if Gujarat’s growth is not the result of Modi’s work, which is what his critics want to claim, you can’t in all fairness attribute all of Gujarat’s failures to Modi either. The argument cuts both ways.

Another debunking of the “Modi miracle” has been attempted by Arvind Subramanian in Business Standard. He says the Modi model fails on a key governance standard: the metric of the state’s own tax revenues (OTR) as a share of state GDP.

Quoting research by Utsav Kumar of the Asian Development Bank, the author says that Modi’s Gujarat does not pass the “smell test” of high or stable OTR-to-state GDP. While traditionally well-governed states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have maintained stable or rising OTR-to-GDP ratios, the average figure for Gujarat has declined, from 7.84 percent to 6.65 percent of GDP between 1990-99 and 2006-11.

The drop is large, but predates Modi. During Modi’s tenure, the drop has been from 6.93 percent to 6.65 percent.  If anything, he may have arrested the rate of fall in the second half of his tenure.

In contrast, the comparative figures for Karnataka (8.98 percent to 9.57 percent), Tamil Nadu (8.93 percent to 8.54 percent), and Andhra Pradesh (6.78 percent to 7.73 percent) were either stable or better over the two decades.

While Karnataka and Andhra show a rise, Tamil Nadu was stable in the 1990s, but reported a drop that was more or less similar to Gujarat’s during the last decade (8.8 percent to 8.54 percent – a drop of 0.26 percent from 2000-2005 to 2006-11 against Gujarat’s 0.28 percent).

Subramanian also notes that states which have recently been mentioned in the same breath as Gujarat on growth and improved governance – Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh – have managed to improve significantly on this ratio. Bihar’s figures are 4.30 percent and 4.61 percent (hardly earth-shattering); Chhattisgarh’s 7.32 percent is excellent (the earlier figures were not available); and Odisha’s improvement significant (4.65 percent and 5.63 percent).

What ties these three states’ OTR performance together is political stability.

That’s the answer to Subramanian when he asks: “In the tax collection data, why can one see a Raman Singh effect, a Nitish Kumar effect, a Naveen Patnaik effect, but not a Narendra Modi effect?”

Gujarat, on the other hand, saw a degree of political instability in the late 1990s and early 2000s – remember the Keshubhai-Vaghela political fight – till Modi came to power.

To assess Subramanian’s criticism, we have to examine his assumption that over the long term one would expect taxes as a share of GDP to rise as incomes and growth rise. However, this assumption can be flawed depending on the circumstances of each state, and also the development model adopted.

If you have adopted a private sector-led growth model, where the big investments are in infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing (as in the case of Gujarat), taxes may not rise in proportion to state GDP. Infrastructure investments (in ports, new cities, roads, power and rural water bodies) are typically long-gestation projects which may boost growth well ahead of tax revenues. For example, Gujarat’s investments in infrastructure will start paying off once the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor takes off, but the failures relate to slow progress upstream and downstream of Gujarat – in Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Agriculture, where Gujarat has seen a major spike, pays no taxes. Infrastructure such as ports will yield higher customs revenues as trade increases, but these go to the centre and do not accrue directly to the state (so, little rise in own tax revenues). The big investors in the state – Reliance, Essar and the automobile companies – have been lured in with huge tax incentives. The assumption is that they will generate more business and jobs than revenues for the exchequer in the initial stages. They will yield revenues only after their tax-free status ends.

Given this model of development, one would expect growth to precede revenue growth in Gujarat. And this is what may be happening. But we will have to suspend judgment on this for a few more years to check if it really does happen.

In contrast, Chhattisgarh’s revenues depend on mining, while the growth of states such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has been led as much by services such as software as manufacturing and agriculture.  One should thus expect a different revenue-to-GDP skew in such cases. Services are, by definition, highly profitable, unlike infrastructure. Highly profitable service industries employing lakhs create local spends that boost OTR.

The real fallacy of the analysis lies in the fundamental assumption itself: that states should be judged not by growth or other parameters, but by revenues. While over the long term the correlation between economic activity and tax revenues may be positive, it may not be so if a state consciously seeks to give itself a more recessed role, by remaining more an enabler than a spender.

The downside of excess state spending can be seen at the centre today, where high fiscal and current account deficits have together brought growth itself down.

Another state that fares equally badly as Gujarat is Kerala – which is supposed to excel on human development indicators. Between 1990-99 and 2006-11, Kerala’s OTR-to-GDP ratio fell from 8.86 to 7.83 percent, a sharp one-percent drop, despite high growth rates driven by private spending.

Subramanian conveniently forgets to make this comparison, since Kerala-Gujarat comparisons are often otherwise made on social indicators to show Gujarat in bad light.

Both Kerala and Gujarat, for reasons that may be peculiar to them, have seen GDP growth but not high tax revenues shares in GDP.

More important is this truism: a ratio rises or falls not only on the basis of the numerator (taxes), but the denominator (GDP). If GDP is growing fine, the ratio will fall even if tax revenues are rising, but more slowly. As a metric, more is not necessarily better when it comes to taxes. What matters is the outcome – growth and equity. In fact, one can invert the OTR-GDP ratio to GDP-OTR to prove that Gujarat is growing faster on a lower government spend, and thus government is more efficient.

Perhaps worried that he may have made too big a point about tax revenues, Subramanian debunks his own argument partially and admits that “this might be a very misleading, even unfair, assessment,” since “Modi could argue – consistent with his right-of-centre ideology – that …he should be celebrated for delivering dream outcomes…”. These outcomes being small government and efficient government.

That is precisely the point. Modi’s critic has effectively demolished his own argument.

Voters Defy Predictions

By M H Ahssan

The Congress party’s surprisingly good showing in India's state assembly elections has not only given the party a boost ahead of general elections next spring, but also provides useful pointers for political parties charting their strategies for the upcoming showdown. Voters have sent out a clear signal that they are not impressed by parties hoping to derive the maximum political mileage from terrorist attacks.

The Congress, which heads the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, went into the assembly elections on the back foot, having to defend its rather poor performance in tackling terrorism and controlling fuel and commodity prices. However, it was able to hold on to Delhi for the third time in a row, wrest control of Rajasthan in northwestern India from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and come to power with an impressive two-thirds majority in the northeastern state of Mizoram, after a decade in the political wilderness there.

The BJP retained control over Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in central India, while the results for the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has completed four rounds of voting and has another three to go, will be known at the end of December. No date has been set for the national polls, but they must be held by May, when the current government’s term expires.

The assembly elections are important for several reasons. They have been described as the "semi-final" ahead of the general elections, and the results will help parties determine their electoral platforms for the big vote.

Congress' results are a reversal of its electoral fortunes in recent years. Since it came to power in May 2004, Congress has lost 16 out of 25 assembly elections. It has not won a single large state since 2005; and the few victories it has managed were in small states such as Goa and Puducherry.

That jinx has now been broken, and what seemed like a terminal slide for the Congress has been arrested. The victories in the polls will give it much needed confidence ahead of the general elections. And allies that might have been thinking of abandoning it ahead of the national vote for its poor electoral performance could now decide to stick with the party.

More importantly, the election results show the BJP’s harping on about the terror issue and its cynical exploitation of public alarm over the November 26 terrorist attacks in Mumbai did not work.

Of the states which went to the polls recently, only Chhattisgarh had finished voting before the attacks on Mumbai. Madhya Pradesh voted on November 27 and Delhi two days later. Polling in Mizoram and Rajasthan was held on December 2 and 4, respectively.

India has been hit by a nationwide wave of terrorist attacks in recent months, and the BJP has often accused the government of being "soft on terrorism". This campaign turned shriller following the Mumbai attacks, after which the BJP issued a blood-red, front-page advertisement in the Hindustan Times, an English daily with a very large readership, ahead of the Delhi polls reading: "Brutal Terror Strikes at Will. Weak Government Unwilling and Incapable. Fight Terror. Vote BJP." It also put up hoardings in cities and sent out text messages to hundreds of thousands of voters, blaming the Congress for the attacks.

At a time when public anger with the government’s repeated failure to protect ordinary civilians from terrorism has assumed serious proportions, it was widely believed that the terrorist attacks, especially the ones in Mumbai, would favor the BJP. Analysts predicted and politicians felt voters would succumb to the BJP's fear-mongering.

Both Delhi and Rajasthani have suffered brutal terrorist attacks, and although they have a sizeable population sympathetic to the BJP’s Hindutva (Hindu supremacist) ideology, the BJP’s tough talk on terrorism did not pay off electorally. Its divisive campaign, while likely to have struck a chord in many, did not get it the number of votes it needed to win Delhi.

The BJP is not the first party to have used terrorist attacks and the fear they generate to win elections. In 1984, when prime minister Indira Gandhi was gunned down by Sikh terrorists, the Congress launched a virulent election campaign that portrayed Sikhs in general as terrorists. Advertisements and hoardings spoke of the threat they posed to national security. “Your neighbor could be a terrorist," said advertisements, which had pictures of turbaned Sikhs. The campaign worked. The Congress won with a landslide majority.

More recently, the Republicans and US President George W Bush played on American fears of terrorist attacks in the 2004 presidential election. That campaign worked too and Bush was elected for a second term.

But the Indian voters, often dismissed as illiterate and ill-informed, did not allow the BJP’s campaign to determine their electoral choices.The election result indicates that voters are unwilling to pin the blame for India’s vulnerability to terrorism on one party alone and that they are uneasy with politicizing terrorism.

The issue of credible governance was more important for voters. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi voters returned incumbent governments to power, the BJP in the first two, where welfare programs for farmers and women played a role in keeping voters on its side, and the Congress in Delhi. In Rajasthan and Mizoram, voters endorsed the opposition Congress over incumbents.

What are the lessons that parties can draw from the polls? For the BJP, the election results should serve as a reminder that its divisive politics will not work. As for the Congress, there is a danger that it could draw the wrong lessons from the verdict and go back to its lethargic approach to tacking terrorism. But it needs to see the writing on the wall. Voters are not unconcerned about terrorism, but they also expect good governance, which includes responding adequately to development issues as well as internal security needs.

The semi-final contest is effectively a draw between India's two main parties, the Congress and the BJP, with voters putting both parties on notice. The party that draws the right lessons from the "semi-final" will hold the advantage going into the general election.

However, both parties will have to tread cautiously in drawing lessons from the assembly elections, as the factors influencing them in general elections are quite different, as previous elections have indicated. The assembly elections provide pointers that politicians and analysts will pounce on to make grand predictions for the general election, but past elections show the need for caution. Six months is a long time in politics and the mood of voters can change dramatically.

India is too large a country and too complex a democracy for politicians and analysts to make easy predictions. What the election underscores yet again is that both would do well to approach the Indian voter with more humility.

Counterfeit Drugs Menace: Why Chhattisgarh Sterilisation Tragedy May Happen Again?

With a recent drug sample report confirming the presence of rat poison in medicines administered to Chhattisgarh’s hapless tubectomy victims, it is yet another wake-up call for India to address the threats posed by its $4.25-billion fake drugs market.

In January this year, Dr R K Gupta was honoured by the Government of Chhattisgarh for performing 50,000 laparoscopic tubectomies. 10 months later, he was arrested under charges of causing death by negligence in the same procedure he was once lauded for. On 10 November, Gupta defied government medical protocol and conducted 83 laparoscopic tubectomies in just five hours in a mass sterilisation camp organised by the Government of Chhattisgarh. This fateful stint left 13 women dead and many others battling for their lives.

Now, It's Time For Interospection, Political Calculations And Strategical Moves For All Political Parties In India

By Sonia Rathod | INN Live

INDEPTH ANALYSIS  The results, while anticipated, have clearly shaken up the Congress. But the history of elections in the four States shows no direct correlation can be drawn between victory in the latest round and a general election.

In the end, one result eclipsed all others as the curtain came down on what can easily be called the most watched set of Assembly elections in recent years. The verdict was out on Sunday for the first four of the five States that went to the polls through November-December — Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.

Systematic Welfare Policies, Electoral Outcomes In India

By Zoya Hasan (Guest Writer)

INSIGHT REPORT There is no disparagement of subsidies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh because those who attack the social welfare policies of the Congress regard them as examples of good governance by a party of the Right.

Three propositions dominate explanations of the Congress party’s rout, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s impressive victory and the Aam Aadmi Party’s stunning success in Delhi in the recent Assembly elections.

Telangana Movement Enters in a Decisive Phase

With support for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh gaining momentum across the broad political spectrum, it is no longer a question of if but when the Telangana region would be carved out into a separate entity as the 29th state of the Indian Union.

Forces led by the BJP, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Nava Telangana Party (NTP) and others have pulled the rug from under the Congress, which won the elections in 2004 by promising a separate state for the people of Telangana. Now that the opposition parties led by the BJP have jumped on the ‘separate Telangana’ bandwagon, the TDP made a u-turn after opposing the movement all along, leaving the Congress-led UPA in the lurch.

Even the left parties and those representing the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) have veered round to the ‘separate Telangana’ movement which, they hope, would augur well for the future of people in that region, which was exploited by the state leadership on the economic, educational and employment fronts.

The shift in the political landscape of the state has upped the ante against the Congress, which finds itself in a bind. If it goes along with Majlis Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM), which wants the Congress to oppose the ‘separate Telangana’ campaign, it risks losing vote during next year’s elections. On the other hand, if it chooses to go with the flow, it could alienate the Muslims. Although the TDP has counseled its ally to back the Telangana movement, the Congress leadership continues to dither for the time being. However, according to all available indications, it is a matter of time before the Congress High Command would give its green light to the movement.


There is a rationale behind all this political drama that is being played out, .both at the Centre and in the state capital. Andhra Pradesh goes to the polls towards the middle of next year, at a time when the Rajasekhara Reddy government is hamstrung by an anti-incumbency factor. Briefing the Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the situation facing his party, the chief minister is said to have stressed that an assembly resolution endorsing the proposal for the creation of Telangana could help neutralise this anti-incumbency sentiment.

With the TDP’s about-turn on the Telangana issue, the Congress is wilting under enormous pressure to oppose the move. On top of this, Chandrababu Naidu is seeking electoral alliance with K Chandrasekhara Rao of TRS in the Telangana region. The ruling party thus finds itself vulnerable to the ebb and flow of the political tide sweeping across the state.


TDP’s change in its political stance came about when Chandrasekhara Rao left the TDP in 2001 and spearheaded the movement for Telangana under the banner of his own political party, Telangana Rashtra Samiti. Secondly, both the leaders were facing serious threat to their political survival. While the TDP was plagued by defections to the new party of popular film star Chiranjeevi, Chandrasekhara Rao’s position became vulnerable in the wake of a serious threat posed by "Nava Telangana Praja Party” launched by T Devender Goud, the former senior leader of TDP.

Explaining its aims and objectives, Goud said his party will strive for the formation of Telangana state, for which action will be taken both at the political and street levels through agitations. "The party will take up the problems and issues of all sections of society, including the Dalits, tribal and Muslims", he pointed out. Goud, who had resigned from TDP on June 23 this year, said he was forced to launch his new outfit as the Congress and TDP were stonewalling over support to Telangana and its people.

These developments forced the hands of TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu in reaching out to CPM, CPI and TRS leaders for their support to his party's decision to back the demand for a separate Telangana state. Naidu's move is politically significant as the CPM, the CPI and the TRS are in the process of forging an alliance against the Congress and the BJP in the Assembly elections likely to be held in February 2009. "I spoke to the CPI and the CPM leaders as also with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader K Chandrasekhar Rao. I briefed them about our five-member core committee's recommendations on Telangana and that we are favouring separate Telangana," Naidu said, mapping out his campaign strategy.

Against this background comes the statement of MIM president and other Hyderabad State Muslim leaders who feel that by agreeing to the creation of the new state of Telangana, the Congress would be playing into the hands of the BJP, which has been advocating the Telangana cause ardently.


As things stand, MIM has very little space for political maneuvering given the fact that the TRS, a one-time ally of the Congress, ordered four of its MPs to resign in an act of brinkmanship to keep the heat on the UPA. The move coincided with similar resignations tendered by 16TRS MLAs and its three MLCs from the Andhra Legislative Assembly and Council respectively. TRS wants the Telangana region to be carved out into a separate state—a pledge to which the Congress had committed itself in the 2004 state assembly elections.

It took this line of action when the Congress failed to heed its ultimatum given earlier setting March 6 this year as the deadline for the bifurcation of the state.TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao said the party will also launch a door- to- door campaign to explain the mass the betrayal by the Congress.


However, MIM, Jamaat-e-Islami and other Muslim organizations have distanced themselves from the Telangana movement due to their apprehension that Muslims may not get a fair deal under the new dispensation. They are also upset over being side-tracked during the ongoing political wheeling and dealing concerning the Telangana issue.

To quote MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi who spelled out his party’s stand on this issue, “It is not that we are opposed to Telangana per se. If a new state is formed, the tally of seats of our party in elections will go up. But we have to first ensure the safety and welfare of Muslims and other things such as the future of Urdu language. Whether these will be safe in Telangana is the issue.’’


As an indicator of the shape of things to come, Owaisi cited the recent Vatoli incident when a family of six Muslims was hacked to death in a Telangana village. "That is why the BJP is so keen on a new state of Telangana," some Muslim leaders argue.

The same concern had exercised their minds when Muslims voted in strength against the BJP during the Legislative Assembly elections held in Karnataka in May this year. Although the BJP swept the polls and formed a government by engineering defections from the Congress, the status of Muslim representation in the BJP government remained unchanged—a Muslim minister in charge of Awqaf and minority affairs plus some political patronage here and there.


As a sop for the next year’s elections, they have been given some concessions in terms of education and employment opportunities. Furthermore, infrastructural facilities, such as laying new pipelines for water supply or replacing the leaky ones in some Muslim-dominated areas, were put in place with an eye on the upcoming elections. So the bottom line has remained the same. Whether it is the Congress or the BJP at the helm of affairs, some ad hoc cosmetic measures could always be expected as part of their strategy to tap into the Muslim vote bank.

Under these circumstances, continued Muslim opposition to the formation of a separate Telangana state would not be in the interest of Muslims, as it could provide ammunition to the BJP to further isolate the community. As the situation stands, almost all the political parties are now in favour of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, with the Congress expected to come on board anytime during the run-up to the elections. Surely, Muslims would not like to be seen as the lone dissenters, even though they have taken a principled stand.

As MP Asaduddin Owaisi put it, the BJP would emerge stronger if a separate Telangana State was created. “The so-called secular parties cannot match the BJP after creation of Telangana State. The future of Dalits, weaker sections and minorities would be bleak in separate Telangana,” he pointed out.

Yet, the fact remains that the conflict has assumed a caste dimension, with other backward classes (OBCs) seeking to use the Telangana card to consolidate their political base across the state. This game of one-upmanship is part of their ploy to out-manoeuvre the politically powerful Reddys and Kammas who dominate the political apparatus of the state in spite of their small numbers.


Although TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao is a higher caste Velama, the banner of Telangana across party lines has been hoisted both by OBCs and Scheduled Caste leaders. Even the Nizamabad Congress MP Madhu Yaski Goud, an OBC, berated the AP government for its soft-pedaling over the formation of Telangana.

Sarvey Satyanarayana, Congress MP from Siddipet and an SC leader, also spoke in a similar vein, while. other OBC Congress MPs like Anjan Kumar Yadav from Secunderabad are orchestrating their move to jump on to the Telangana bandwagon. Even Andhra Congress chief Keshava Rao seems ready to toe the same line.


Another point that should be noted is that .BJP has mobilized Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in its campaign for the creation of Telangana state. "The party is organising a massive rally of Narendra Modi in Telangana in December. The dates are yet to be finalised," said party leader Venkaiah Naidu in a chat with newsmen recently. Modi has already proved his mettle by winning the Nano small car project for his state amid fierce competition from Andhra Pradesh and other states after the Tatas decided to pull out of West Bengal last month in the wake of stiff opposition from Mamta Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

Already, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani sounded upbeat recently when he told a massive rally during an electioneering campaign in Hyderabad that the people were now looking forward to the BJP for the creation of the Telangana state. To this end, Modi has been roped in for his pro-development image. Advani also pledged on the same occasion that the saffron party, if voted to power, would expedite the process of Telangana formation within 100 days.


In this context, actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi took the plunge with the launch of his Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) that, he said, would support the formation of separate Telangana State. "It is for the Central government to take a decision on creation of Telangana State. If it comes up with such a proposal, our party will not be an obstacle at any cost," he observed.

"I know the people of this region are overwhelmingly in favour of a separate state. I respect your feelings. If you are convinced that creation of a separate state will ensure rapid development, I am with you," Chiranjeevi said, emphasizing social justice as the main plank of his political platform.

Chirnjeevi observed: “It will be a party for backward classes, farmers, workers, women and youth. The party will work for development, modernisation and industrial revolution. Its goal will be 'santosh' and 'ananda' (contentment and happiness)," he said, adding: "I know your problems, pains and sufferings and will always stand by you. Let us strive for achieving it." Muslim parties should factor in these political equations while formulating their stand.

They also need to come up with a reformist agenda that recognizes the importance of English as the medium of instruction in schools run by them. Even Malayalis, who are so passionate about their mother tongue, are admitting their children to English-medium schools in order to give them a competitive edge in the employment market.


By focusing on Urdu, Muslim parties will no doubt firm up their political base in the community. But they will also be playing into the hands of parties with a vested interest to keep them educationally backward. No wonder, the late Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao had promptly accepted Muslim demand for the formation of an Urdu university in Hyderabad during his term of office.

He saw in it a double-edged weapon that could kill two birds with one shot: win the Muslim vote for the Congress and also keep them on the bottom rungs of the ladder of national development. It was a strategic move that harks us back to the time of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, whose far-sightedness inspired the launch of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 which was later upgraded into the full-fledged Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. So while there can be no argument over the need to promote Urdu, study of English should also be prioritized in the schools’ curricula.


The campaign for a separate Telangana state recalls a similar struggle during the 1990's when the late Chandulal Chadrakar set up a political forum, the Chhattisgarh Rajya Nirman Manch, to spearhead the drive for the formation of Chhattisgarh from 16 districts of Madhya Pradesh. The campaign, which was propped up by major political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, gained momentum as it coincided with other separatist movements for Uttarkhand and Jharkhand during 1998-99.

During that year, the BJP-led Union Government drafted a bill for the constitution of a separate state of Chhattisgarh. The draft bill was sent to the Madhya Pradesh assembly, which unanimously approved it in 1998, with some modifications. Thus, Chhattisgarh came into being as the 26th state of the Indian Union on November 1, 2000 by the force of circumstances that also triggered the birth of Uttarkhand carved out of Himachal Pradesh as the 27th state on November 9 and Jharkhand out of southern Bihar as the 28th state on November 15 during the same year. The BJP, which has installed its own candidates in Uttarkhand and Chhattisgarh as chief ministers, sees in Telangana a similar opportunity to don the mantle of leadership. No wonder, it has mobilized its political heavy weights to boost its fortunes in the polls.

The Telangana movement shares with these three states a common factor—under-development resulting from the exploitation of its economic and natural resources. As P.L.Vishweshwer Rao, Professor and Head, Department of Communication & Journalism, Osmania University, notes in his article: “No movement, no struggle has ever started from the top: from intellectuals, thinkers, political and other leaders, elected representatives and so on. Inevitably, the struggles begin from people - the people give expression to their suffering because it is they who are victims of status quo. The long-dormant hope in the people of Telangana was awakened with the announcement as statehood for Uttarakhand by the then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Within a year it has gathered so much strength that politicians, realizing its potential have jumped on to its bandwagon”.

He elaborates that the Telangana region has the lowest literacy rate and minimal educational infrastructure in the state. As many as eight districts of Telangana out of 10 (including Hyderabad) figure among the most backward educationally. “Mahbubnagar has the lowest literacy rate, both among males (40.8 per cent) and females(18 percent). The entire Telangana, except Hyderabad city and Ranga Reddy Urban areas which are in Hyderabad, has lagged behind educationally. Not a single mandal of Telangana has the national literacy rate of 52.19 percent.”

It is against this background that that a move is under way to prevent the exploitation of Telangana-based college managements by their counterparts from coastal districts. Hundreds of colleges belonging to Telangana managements have reportedly crashed in the competition. For this reason, TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has warned that colleges run by non-Telangana managements would be banned in separate Telangana.

In fact, the birth of Maoism in Telangana, is said to be partly an offshoot of exploitation by people from the Andhra region, some of whom obtained fake degree certificates to corner jobs in Hyderabad. They also used these tricks to remain entrenched in government positions which, in turn, armed them with decision making powers.

On the economic front, they exploited its rich mineral resources as well as the Krishna and Godavari rivers that are the major sources of irrigation for the entire state. Andhra farmers reportedly went even further by cultivating water-intensive crops depleting its water resources. They also preferred cash to food crops to boost their own income while jacking up food prices as a result of these misplaced priorities.

For these reasons, Telangana has been ranked among the most under-developed regions in the country with all its nine districts, excluding Hyderabad, designated “backward” by the Centre. These districts now receive special assistance from the Central government’s Backward Regions Grant Fund. Under these circumstances, the people of Telangana and its parties see statehood as the only viable route to development.

One of the strong points of Telangana is its IT industry which gained prominence during the tenure of the former TDP Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu. Thanks to its highly skilled manpower base, Hyderabad carved out a niche for itself as India’s second Silicon Valley after Bangalore with its IT and IT- enabled services, pharmaceuticals and entertainment industries. It should leverage its strength in these sectors to create more job opportunities for the people and stimulate economic development to a new pitch.

It is a tribute to Telangana that IT bellwether Infosys of Bangalore has embarked on the construction of its second campus, spread over 447 acres, at Pocharam, near Hyderabad, with a total investment of Rs 1,250 crores. The ground -breaking ceremony of the Infosys SEZ campus was held at Pocharam village in the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district.

Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Ltd. N R Narayana Murthy has said that their decision to locate the project there was taken in view of the high infrastructure facilities in Hyderabad to make it a premier IT destination.

The Infosys campus at Pocharam is expected to accommodate over 25,000 employees and will be completed over a period of 10 years under a three-phase plan. Work is in progress on the first phase, scheduled to be completed in a three-year period, with a seating capacity of 10,000 employees. The initial investment will amount to Rs 600 crore. Telangana can be justifiably proud of its track record in the IT sector as it looks forward to its future as a separate state.

The 'Deep Crisis' In The 'Great Indian Education Bazaar'!

From asking students to resolve matters through ‘other means’ to convincing naive aspirants with false promises, private educational institutions have earned themselves the adage of ‘scamsters’.

Anil Sadagopal, a well-known educationist calls it the ‘Kumbhakarna-like sleep’. Even after years and years of hoarse chants from activists, policy-makers, children, youth and adults — quality education that is supposed to be a fundamental right to all, is still a dream in India. It is perhaps for this very reason that Sadagopal had demanded the Indian state to wake up from its slumber.

Is BJP 'Politically Scared' in Chhattisgarh Elections 2013?

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

How  things change! The hoarding tells the story. The BJP came up with a huge hoarding barely a 100 metres from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh’s official residence soon after the elections were announced. Phir Raman, Phir Kamal (Again Raman, again BJP) went its simple baseline, and the man himself conveyed its essence with a big, confident smile. 

The hoarding announced the self-belief of a party and the man who has ruled Chhattisgarh for ten years. Raman was the one-man army set to make mincemeat of his opposition once again.