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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Jodhpur Prison Diary
What did Katrina Kaif tell Salman Khan in the Jodhpur prison?
Katrina: `Just Chill'!
Katrina: `Just Chill'!
Yerwada Prison Diary
Will someone gift Sanjay Dutt a T-shirt that says `WARNING: Please Do Not Shake My Hands'?
If only Sanjay had worn such a T-shirt the prison guards would not be sentenced and jailed.
But if I was Sanjay Dutt I would simply shake hands with the Director General of Police, Maharashtra!
If only Sanjay had worn such a T-shirt the prison guards would not be sentenced and jailed.
But if I was Sanjay Dutt I would simply shake hands with the Director General of Police, Maharashtra!
Friday, August 24, 2007
India-EU Free Trade
“The Indian Parliament and us are sold out”,
says Bihar’s Agriculture Minister.
Ministers outburst at European Union-India Free Trade Workshop
By Manuwant Choudhary
Patna: “Slaves we will become anyhow..what we are doing here is conducting a post-mortem of our very own dead body…this country is doing that job..these people you see here sitting on the dias..are doing that job…those people sitting there in the `Gumbaj’ (round) building..those sold out people…people like me who are sold out…we have come here to sign the missive of death….”, said Bihar’s Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh.
Ironically, his outburst was against the Free Trade Agreement between India and European Union but what shocked everyone was how the minister attacked the very forum that invited him.
The workshop was not to debate Free Trade per se but essentially to discuss and get a feed back from exporters, businessmen and farmers about how India must conduct itself when the Free Trade regime happens.
In a Free Trade regime its been decided to free 90 per cent of the 5,700 items from customs duty. Essentially, free trade means no custom duty at all on any product from either country but here the agreement is to free 90 per cent of the items while 10 per cent will be kept under what is called `Most Sensitive List’. This list the Indian government explains has been kept in order to protect our own sensitive sectors where our production level is high and will suffer if there is an duty-free import.
But it was strange to see that this regional meet for West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand was being organized in Bihar where there are very few exporters if any. And so apart from the speech of the minister there was virtually no feedback from the public, except two persons:
….one said how if milk and milk products are kept under the sensitive list as planned by the government of India then what will happen to the milk sugar that’s used as a base for Homoeopathy medicines which are consumed mostly by the poor. A 25 kilo bag of milk sugar that cost Rs.750 some time back costs Rs.8,500 now and only because the three Indian factories making them have shut down long before the Free Trade Agreement for other reasons. A custom duty on milk sugar would make this even more expensive.
And the second spoke of maize, “If maize seeds are put under `sensitive’ list it will mean a custom duty on high yielding maize seeds although Indian farmers need those seeds as there is a maize shortfall in the country.”
Having got few fedbacks the minister did some face-saving and said that the Indian government must have got feedback from traders in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh so Bihar's opinion on such matters will be the same as Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, "After all we are Indians."
Having attended this meet one wondered how these bureaucrats and politicians were in charge of deciding customs duty on a 100 per cent products for the past 60 years and now I fully comprehend how and why India did go bankrupt.
I cannot say of other items but if any then Bihar’s Agriculture Minister deserves to be on the `Most Sensitive List’.
says Bihar’s Agriculture Minister.
Ministers outburst at European Union-India Free Trade Workshop
By Manuwant Choudhary
Patna: “Slaves we will become anyhow..what we are doing here is conducting a post-mortem of our very own dead body…this country is doing that job..these people you see here sitting on the dias..are doing that job…those people sitting there in the `Gumbaj’ (round) building..those sold out people…people like me who are sold out…we have come here to sign the missive of death….”, said Bihar’s Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh.
Ironically, his outburst was against the Free Trade Agreement between India and European Union but what shocked everyone was how the minister attacked the very forum that invited him.
The workshop was not to debate Free Trade per se but essentially to discuss and get a feed back from exporters, businessmen and farmers about how India must conduct itself when the Free Trade regime happens.
In a Free Trade regime its been decided to free 90 per cent of the 5,700 items from customs duty. Essentially, free trade means no custom duty at all on any product from either country but here the agreement is to free 90 per cent of the items while 10 per cent will be kept under what is called `Most Sensitive List’. This list the Indian government explains has been kept in order to protect our own sensitive sectors where our production level is high and will suffer if there is an duty-free import.
But it was strange to see that this regional meet for West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand was being organized in Bihar where there are very few exporters if any. And so apart from the speech of the minister there was virtually no feedback from the public, except two persons:
….one said how if milk and milk products are kept under the sensitive list as planned by the government of India then what will happen to the milk sugar that’s used as a base for Homoeopathy medicines which are consumed mostly by the poor. A 25 kilo bag of milk sugar that cost Rs.750 some time back costs Rs.8,500 now and only because the three Indian factories making them have shut down long before the Free Trade Agreement for other reasons. A custom duty on milk sugar would make this even more expensive.
And the second spoke of maize, “If maize seeds are put under `sensitive’ list it will mean a custom duty on high yielding maize seeds although Indian farmers need those seeds as there is a maize shortfall in the country.”
Having got few fedbacks the minister did some face-saving and said that the Indian government must have got feedback from traders in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh so Bihar's opinion on such matters will be the same as Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, "After all we are Indians."
Having attended this meet one wondered how these bureaucrats and politicians were in charge of deciding customs duty on a 100 per cent products for the past 60 years and now I fully comprehend how and why India did go bankrupt.
I cannot say of other items but if any then Bihar’s Agriculture Minister deserves to be on the `Most Sensitive List’.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Nepal Crisis
I'M NEPALI TOO
Even as Nepal announces elections and political parties still debate on what to do with their King and Country the real issues remain unaddressed - among them on how the continuing political violence is destroying the livlihood of ordinary Nepalese and the Madhesi issue cofronting Nepal.
Prashant Jha - a journalist from Nepal - who has worked with magazines like Himal, Tehelka and was recently with the International Crisis Group, and now a freelance journalist, gives a first person account on what it means to be a Madhesi in todays Nepal.
This is not a saga of victimhood. To think of it in those terms would be an inaccurate representation of my life. I was born into an upper-class Kathmandu family. My parents are well ensconced in the capital's professional and social circuit. I went to good schools here, moved to India for higher education, got a job in Delhi with a Nepal-based magazine, and have rarely been made to feel like an outsider, at least publicly.
But things are never quite that simple. My forefathers on both sides are from Bihar, where we still have deep family links. My paternal grandfather settled in Rajbiraj, became a Nepali citizen six decades ago, and made the great leap to Kathmandu as it was getting out of the Rana rut in the 50s. I speak a mix of Hindi, English, and Maithili at home, in that order. My spoken Nepali is heavily interspersed with English and Hindi words. Reading the national language is a struggle and I don't plan to attempt writing in it anytime soon.
Language is a more substantive marker of distinction than we often acknowledge. In school, anticipating the move to India for further education, I opted for Hindi over Nepali. In class six, the significance of that hit home. While eating lunch, a friend said, in a mix of seriousness and jest, "You are a dhoti". When I discovered that the term—definitely derogatory—was associated with madhesis, who in turn were equated with Indians, I tried hard to run away from my identity. I hung around with Kathmandu kids, called the other Indians in school 'dhoti', and rationalised studying Hindi by saying it was what my parents wanted.
But I couldn't run too far. The differences were too many: we went vegetarian during Dushera as Kathmandu feasted on meat; we didn't do tika; Tihar was the one-day Diwali for me. My father, short and on the darker side, made it a point to wear kurta-pyjama. It was a dress I took to later and that, with the accented Nepali and the surname, often provoked the remark that we don't look Nepali. Telling people constantly that you are indeed a Nepali citizen is not pleasant. It's taken me time to come to terms with my identity. My liberal education and understanding of how the homogenising tendency works in society, and a sense of security, no doubt helped by the present political discourse of inclusiveness, allows me to be candid about my background. It gives me the confidence to give the brush off to those who question my 'Nepaliness'. In the last few years, I have reported occasionally on Nepal politics, which also gives me an added sense of citizenship and belonging.
My story is not representative. My family migrated from south of the border, while others' ancestors have been in the tarai for centuries. I was comfortable in English, the language of power, and moved out, which together allowed me to escape the handicap of not being Nepali enough for the self-appointed guardians of nationalism in the Valley. Besides some taunts and subtle insinuations, I was never deprived of opportunity. But spare a thought for the person who speaks only Maithili, Awadhi, Bhojpuri or, at best, Hindi, who lives, in the tarai, with the stigma of not 'being Nepali', has cultural practices distinct from the mid-hill mainstream, does not have access to the power structure, has memories of being mercilessly exploited through history, and whose identity brings discrimination and deprivation even today. Don't blame them for being alienated from the system. Understand the anger. Empathise with the bitterness.
A columnist in a style reminiscent of national integration Panchayat textbooks, carped against the 'divisiveness' sparked by politicians, and asserted that he was a 'Nepali first'. Whatever that means. How about creating conditions for those down south to have the comfort of saying that?
Even as Nepal announces elections and political parties still debate on what to do with their King and Country the real issues remain unaddressed - among them on how the continuing political violence is destroying the livlihood of ordinary Nepalese and the Madhesi issue cofronting Nepal.
Prashant Jha - a journalist from Nepal - who has worked with magazines like Himal, Tehelka and was recently with the International Crisis Group, and now a freelance journalist, gives a first person account on what it means to be a Madhesi in todays Nepal.
This is not a saga of victimhood. To think of it in those terms would be an inaccurate representation of my life. I was born into an upper-class Kathmandu family. My parents are well ensconced in the capital's professional and social circuit. I went to good schools here, moved to India for higher education, got a job in Delhi with a Nepal-based magazine, and have rarely been made to feel like an outsider, at least publicly.
But things are never quite that simple. My forefathers on both sides are from Bihar, where we still have deep family links. My paternal grandfather settled in Rajbiraj, became a Nepali citizen six decades ago, and made the great leap to Kathmandu as it was getting out of the Rana rut in the 50s. I speak a mix of Hindi, English, and Maithili at home, in that order. My spoken Nepali is heavily interspersed with English and Hindi words. Reading the national language is a struggle and I don't plan to attempt writing in it anytime soon.
Language is a more substantive marker of distinction than we often acknowledge. In school, anticipating the move to India for further education, I opted for Hindi over Nepali. In class six, the significance of that hit home. While eating lunch, a friend said, in a mix of seriousness and jest, "You are a dhoti". When I discovered that the term—definitely derogatory—was associated with madhesis, who in turn were equated with Indians, I tried hard to run away from my identity. I hung around with Kathmandu kids, called the other Indians in school 'dhoti', and rationalised studying Hindi by saying it was what my parents wanted.
But I couldn't run too far. The differences were too many: we went vegetarian during Dushera as Kathmandu feasted on meat; we didn't do tika; Tihar was the one-day Diwali for me. My father, short and on the darker side, made it a point to wear kurta-pyjama. It was a dress I took to later and that, with the accented Nepali and the surname, often provoked the remark that we don't look Nepali. Telling people constantly that you are indeed a Nepali citizen is not pleasant. It's taken me time to come to terms with my identity. My liberal education and understanding of how the homogenising tendency works in society, and a sense of security, no doubt helped by the present political discourse of inclusiveness, allows me to be candid about my background. It gives me the confidence to give the brush off to those who question my 'Nepaliness'. In the last few years, I have reported occasionally on Nepal politics, which also gives me an added sense of citizenship and belonging.
My story is not representative. My family migrated from south of the border, while others' ancestors have been in the tarai for centuries. I was comfortable in English, the language of power, and moved out, which together allowed me to escape the handicap of not being Nepali enough for the self-appointed guardians of nationalism in the Valley. Besides some taunts and subtle insinuations, I was never deprived of opportunity. But spare a thought for the person who speaks only Maithili, Awadhi, Bhojpuri or, at best, Hindi, who lives, in the tarai, with the stigma of not 'being Nepali', has cultural practices distinct from the mid-hill mainstream, does not have access to the power structure, has memories of being mercilessly exploited through history, and whose identity brings discrimination and deprivation even today. Don't blame them for being alienated from the system. Understand the anger. Empathise with the bitterness.
A columnist in a style reminiscent of national integration Panchayat textbooks, carped against the 'divisiveness' sparked by politicians, and asserted that he was a 'Nepali first'. Whatever that means. How about creating conditions for those down south to have the comfort of saying that?
Monday, August 20, 2007
8 DIE IN FLOODED BIHAR
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CHIEF MINISTER OF BIHAR
Dear Chief Minister,
I write this open letter in the hope that you take urgent steps to help people with food, clean drinking water and medicines in flooded Bihar.
Our colleague photojournalist Vikram Kumar reports from Darbhanga that 8 persons, which includes 6 children and 2 women, have died from dysentry and viral fever in just two villages Hasanpura and Jaafra, 14 km from Darbhanga on the Sonki road. 35 children are in the Darbhanga Medical College Hospital, while most primary health centres are full with children being on drip. Lack of clean drinking water is the prime reason for such disease and death. Shockingly, halozen tablets which are the quickest way to clean water in such situations is simply not available even in the primary health centres.
When flood waters recede and people try to get on with their lives often they become victims of snakebites but anti-venom is also not available.
You could verify these reports at your own level but we would like to point that the people in flooded Bihar need help, even new areas are being flooded and your officers simply do not help people purely because the area has not been `declared' flood hit.
Flooded Bihar needs more doctors as well.
People need food, urgently, not affidavits in a High Court. This issue is not about scoring points, or denial or helicopter surveys, its about how efficiently your government can reach those that need help most urgently.
I have personally covered the Bihar floods for almost five years and know that the people of our state are very patient and courageous and take all calamity to be god-sent. The minimum we can do is provide relief until the water recedes and people return home.
Yours Sincerely,
Manuwant Choudhary
Dear Chief Minister,
I write this open letter in the hope that you take urgent steps to help people with food, clean drinking water and medicines in flooded Bihar.
Our colleague photojournalist Vikram Kumar reports from Darbhanga that 8 persons, which includes 6 children and 2 women, have died from dysentry and viral fever in just two villages Hasanpura and Jaafra, 14 km from Darbhanga on the Sonki road. 35 children are in the Darbhanga Medical College Hospital, while most primary health centres are full with children being on drip. Lack of clean drinking water is the prime reason for such disease and death. Shockingly, halozen tablets which are the quickest way to clean water in such situations is simply not available even in the primary health centres.
When flood waters recede and people try to get on with their lives often they become victims of snakebites but anti-venom is also not available.
You could verify these reports at your own level but we would like to point that the people in flooded Bihar need help, even new areas are being flooded and your officers simply do not help people purely because the area has not been `declared' flood hit.
Flooded Bihar needs more doctors as well.
People need food, urgently, not affidavits in a High Court. This issue is not about scoring points, or denial or helicopter surveys, its about how efficiently your government can reach those that need help most urgently.
I have personally covered the Bihar floods for almost five years and know that the people of our state are very patient and courageous and take all calamity to be god-sent. The minimum we can do is provide relief until the water recedes and people return home.
Yours Sincerely,
Manuwant Choudhary
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Bihar Flood Victims Hungry
HUNGRY FLOOD VICTIMS BLOCK BIHAR’S HIGHWAYS
By Manuwant Choudhary
Hunger forces flood victims in Bihar to block national highways leading to the capital Bihar, perhaps their only way to get their voices heard.
This is a first hand report of the plight of Bihar’s flood victims as fresh areas are flooded.
I was driving from my home in north Bihar to Patna and I personally witnessed eight road blockades within ten kilometers from Muzaffarpur to village Turkey, and initially there was no sign of the local police or administration.
Protestors said there was no way I would get to Patna today and being a journalist one is not used to taking a safe route I decided come what may I might as well experience not so much the misery of the flood victims but at least that of a traveler in flooded Bihar.
In todays Bihar the only way to get the government into action is not to call the politician or the police but the media and considering I myself was a TV reporter my first instinct was that this is national news and so I got the flash on all the news channels.
In 40 minutes a local Senior Divisional Officer accompanied by policemen arrived and got on with his job to clear the road.
He succeeded in clearing the first blockade within 5 minutes but then there was another blockade, then another, then another…
Hundreds of women blocked the road at the fifth blockade..”Water is in our homes, cattle have been washed away..where do we live? Straw homes have been destroyed…we do not have anything left to eat,” said Sakli Devi of village Madhaul.
Said Shivji Singh to the Muzaffarpur SDO, “If we did not block the roads..you sahibs will not have come but I understand even you have come because its your job. You must have got a telephone call from the chief minister. Where were you for five days? For five days these people have had nothing to eat.”
On assurances of food another road block was cleared but at the sixth road block it was a nightmare as even cellphone signals were weak and there was no sign of any police…just angry mobs..even children carrying thick sticks and threatening private vehicles.
And one agitator suddenly takes a decision that all those going to pray to Shiva on a pilgrimage be given right of way…so suddenly shouts of “Bol Bum” filled the air as vehicles forced their way out. A few Maruti 800s and autos were physically lifted aside to make way for the Bol Bum vehicles. And every time a Bol Bum vehicle found their passage out of the jam they would thank Shiva together amidst shouts.
It felt like jungle raj (Rule of the Jungle)
But Shiva helped us too and finally the lone SDO arrived and began talks in ernest.
Barely half a km from this we could see even Shiva fails when it comes to floods…the Bol Bum vehicles were stuck in yet another blockade – the eigth one and no these protestors were more angry – they knew no God, only hunger.
I spotted a dhaba (highway eatery) and took my chance…had a good meal and joined the blockade again.
Even a heavy downpour did not deter the protestors. It felt like being on a road on the Arabian sea.
Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar says a 100 kilo foodgrains is being given to each flood victim but at least in Muzaffarpur there is no sign of his governance.
A ten km route took me more than 6 hours to cross but for once my patience did not run out.
By Manuwant Choudhary
Hunger forces flood victims in Bihar to block national highways leading to the capital Bihar, perhaps their only way to get their voices heard.
This is a first hand report of the plight of Bihar’s flood victims as fresh areas are flooded.
I was driving from my home in north Bihar to Patna and I personally witnessed eight road blockades within ten kilometers from Muzaffarpur to village Turkey, and initially there was no sign of the local police or administration.
Protestors said there was no way I would get to Patna today and being a journalist one is not used to taking a safe route I decided come what may I might as well experience not so much the misery of the flood victims but at least that of a traveler in flooded Bihar.
In todays Bihar the only way to get the government into action is not to call the politician or the police but the media and considering I myself was a TV reporter my first instinct was that this is national news and so I got the flash on all the news channels.
In 40 minutes a local Senior Divisional Officer accompanied by policemen arrived and got on with his job to clear the road.
He succeeded in clearing the first blockade within 5 minutes but then there was another blockade, then another, then another…
Hundreds of women blocked the road at the fifth blockade..”Water is in our homes, cattle have been washed away..where do we live? Straw homes have been destroyed…we do not have anything left to eat,” said Sakli Devi of village Madhaul.
Said Shivji Singh to the Muzaffarpur SDO, “If we did not block the roads..you sahibs will not have come but I understand even you have come because its your job. You must have got a telephone call from the chief minister. Where were you for five days? For five days these people have had nothing to eat.”
On assurances of food another road block was cleared but at the sixth road block it was a nightmare as even cellphone signals were weak and there was no sign of any police…just angry mobs..even children carrying thick sticks and threatening private vehicles.
And one agitator suddenly takes a decision that all those going to pray to Shiva on a pilgrimage be given right of way…so suddenly shouts of “Bol Bum” filled the air as vehicles forced their way out. A few Maruti 800s and autos were physically lifted aside to make way for the Bol Bum vehicles. And every time a Bol Bum vehicle found their passage out of the jam they would thank Shiva together amidst shouts.
It felt like jungle raj (Rule of the Jungle)
But Shiva helped us too and finally the lone SDO arrived and began talks in ernest.
Barely half a km from this we could see even Shiva fails when it comes to floods…the Bol Bum vehicles were stuck in yet another blockade – the eigth one and no these protestors were more angry – they knew no God, only hunger.
I spotted a dhaba (highway eatery) and took my chance…had a good meal and joined the blockade again.
Even a heavy downpour did not deter the protestors. It felt like being on a road on the Arabian sea.
Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar says a 100 kilo foodgrains is being given to each flood victim but at least in Muzaffarpur there is no sign of his governance.
A ten km route took me more than 6 hours to cross but for once my patience did not run out.
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