When will governments erase mafia writ on governance?

The question is not who silenced upright civil servant Durga Shakti Nagpal. The questions are: should a civil servant take on the sand mafia illegally quarrying away rivers right under the police's nose? Should she have ordered razing of a mosque wall illegally built on village land in an era of divisive politics when there is a competitive political clamour to protect even alleged illegal acts of minority communities in the name of secularism? It is very difficult to pinpoint when mafia began to influence governance. Initially, they operated clandestinely without bothering commoners as they got their pie easily after satisfying greedy politicians, bureaucrats and police. 

But years of comfortable existence in protected environs multiplied their breed as they diversified operations. Now, they have spilled on to the road. In full public view, they loot the public of their legitimate due, the exchequer of taxpayers' money and the earth of its vitals. The sign of their operations was first read by Rajiv Gandhi. On a visit to Odisha's Kalahandi, one of the most impoverished districts in India, the then PM in 1985 actually expressed helplessness when he said for every one rupee sent to the common man, only 17 paise reached him. 

A quarter century later in October 2009, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told a seminar that a plan panel study on Public Distribution System (through which highly subsidized food grain is distributed to the poor) found that only 16 paise out of a rupee reached the targeted population. Who took away the colossal amount of money that was spent on paper between 1985 and 2009? In this year's budget, the earmarked amounts are: NREGA Rs 33,000 crore, PM Gramin Sadak Yojana Rs 21,700 crore, mid-day meal scheme Rs 13,215 crore, Integrated Child Development Scheme 17,700 crore, Backward Region Grants Fund Rs 11,500 crore. 

So, if one considers the calculations by Rajiv and Ahluwalia, would it mean 85% of these funds too will end up in the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats, police, contractors and the mafia? Does the question sound preposterous? And one would also wonder what could be its link with the shunting out of Durga Nagpal? 

On July 9, 1993, the P V Narasimha Rao government had set up a committee under then home secretary N N Vohra to "take stock of all information about the activities and links of mafia organizations/elements, for further action". With inputs from Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, and the heads of the CBI, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Vohra produced an explosive 100-page report on October 5, 1993. It was immediately kept under wraps. Huge public pressure reflected through people's representatives forced the government to table it in Parliament on August 1, 1995. 

How could someone running the country remain silent after reading the Vohra report? Some excerpts: "There has been a rapid spread and growth of criminal gangs, armed senas, drug mafias, smuggling gangs, drug peddlers and economic lobbies in the country which have, over the years, developed an extensive network of contacts with bureaucrats/ government functionaries at the local levels, politicians, media persons and strategically located individuals in the non-state sector. Some of these syndicates also have international linkages, including foreign intelligence agencies."  

(Download here: http://www.indiapolicy.org/clearinghouse/anti-corruption.html )

"In certain states like Bihar, Haryana and UP, these gangs enjoy the patronage of local level politicians, cutting across party lines and the protection of governmental functionaries. Some political leaders become the leaders of these gangs, armed senas and over the years get themselves elected to local bodies, state assemblies and the national Parliament. Resultantly, such elements have acquired considerable political clout seriously jeopardizing the smooth functioning of the administration and the safety of life and property of the common man causing a sense of despair and alienation among the people." 

"The big smuggling syndicates having international linkages have spread into and infected the various economic and financial activities, including hawala transactions, circulation of black money and operations of a vicious parallel economy causing serious damage to the economic fibre of the country. These syndicates have acquired substantial financial and muscle power and social respectability and have successfully corrupted the government machinery at all levels and yield enough influence to make the task of investigating and prosecuting agencies extremely difficult; even the members of the judicial system have not escaped the embrace of the mafia." 

"Certain elements of the mafia have shifted to narcotics, drugs and weapon smuggling and established narco-terrorism networks especially in the states of J&K, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The cost of contesting elections has thrown the politician into the lap of these elements and led to a grave compromise by officials of the preventive/detective systems. The virus has spread to almost all the centres in the country, the coastal and the border states have been particularly affected." 

With no tangible action taken on the ground to decimate the mafia in every sector and corroding governance like termites, there is little hope of the rupee reaching the poor and honest civil servants getting a pat on their back. Well, one would ask - If the mafia is getting all pervasive, will there be a time when the country will need no politician, bureaucrat or police? http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow1/21608175.cms

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Wakf board panel defends suspended IAS officer Durga Nagpal // Sand mining ravages farmland in villages

Durga also targeted by land sharks: Wakf panel
GREATER NOIDA: A minority panel claiming allegiance to the Wakf Board in Dankaur of Gautam Budh Nagar district has written to theUP chief minister, apart from the Union home ministry, that suspended SDM Durga Sakthi Nagpal was not just a victim of the cunning acts of the sand mafia but also of land-grabbers. Kadir Khan Jayaswal, secretary of the Hazrat Syed Bhureshah Committee, has written that the officer was suspended when local mafia misrepresented facts to the CM that there was communal tension in the area. 

The committee has demanded that the CM immediately re-instate Nagpal. In the letter (a copy of which is with TOI) committee members have threatened they would sit on an indefinite strike in front of the collectorate in Surajpur if their demand is not met. Heaping praises upon the suspended officer, the committee has written that Nagpal is an honest, judicious and impartial officer. It has also been mentioned in the letter that local residents are extremely pleased with the official for the service she has rendered to uplift the region. Members of the committee said that in a similar issue in another village, the land mafia had allegedly encroached upon portions of an 8 bigha graveyard. "Several complaints were made by the committee and locals to the district administration and the police, but they did not pay any heed," said Jayaswal.

http://timecity/noida/Durga-also-targeted-by-land-sharks-Wakf panel/articleshow/21610912.cmssofindia.indiatimes.com/

Sand mining ravages farmland in villages

NOIDA/GREATER NOIDA: Sand mafia in Gautam Budh Nagar have not just destroyed the floodplains along the Yamuna and Hindon rivers but also ravaged fertile land belonging to local farmers making them useless for agriculture. According to locals, this has led to shortage of vegetables ending in skyrocketing prices. Local residents are scared that now that the government has "got Durga Sakthi Nagpal out of the way", who will save them from the mafia which was back in business. "Noida, which was self-reliant on vegetables, now has to depend on the Azadpur sabzi mandi in Delhi," said Dushyant Nagar, a farmer leader. 

TOI visited a few villages where lands have reportedly been left useless after the mining. Villagers also said that on opposing the mafia they have faced attacks and threats to their lives. They alleged that the police and administration have so far ignored their repeated pleas for help. "The mafia resorts to violence in the dead of night whenever they face resistance to their illegal activities. We have witnessed many shootouts. They even beat up locals who complain to the police," said Vikram, a resident of Garhi Smastipur, a hub for illegal sand mining. 

"We were relieved when Durga Sakthi Nagpal went after the sand mafia. We need more honest officers like her," said Mohamed Zaheed from Nangli Bazidpur village.  Land owners also said that besides illegally excavating sand, the mafia also dug up earth from their plots. A look at the vast area behind several high-rises under construction between Sectors 151 and 155, a 2 sq km stretch from the service lane of the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway till the Yamuna, has been left pockmarked with deep craters as earth had been removed. Every village in the vicinity has the same story to tell. Some poor farmers have also started working for the mafia. 

Any opposition to illegal dredging is stopped with force. The recent murder of crusader Paleram Chauhan, a resident of Raipur village of Sector 126, proves this. Referring to his father's documents against brazen mining around his village, Paleram's son Ravinder Chauhan said his father had approached the Allahabad high court, the UP chief minister and local administration but to no avail.  In Greater Noida, illegal dredging is being carried out in Ghabara, Kambakshpur, Faleda, Tekpur, Jaganpur, among other areas. Even in these places, residents narrated incidents of attacks and physical abuse by the sand mining mafia on people opposing them. 

Recently a group of villagers had to face illegal activity in Roja Yakubpur of Greater Noida. When they protested, shots were fired at them. Though many preferred to remain silent, a few reflected on Nagpal's determination to clamp down on the offenders. "Because of the nexus between the officials, cops and mafia, our lives are at stake," said Ved Pal Singh, a villager.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/Sand-mining-ravages-farmland-in-villages/articleshow/21610892.cms

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Burma - Preachers of Hate

ON THE MORNING OF 21 MARCH, an armed mob led by men dressed in the burgundy robes of Buddhist monks surrounded a building in the township of Mingalar Zayon, in the city of Meiktila in central Burma, also known as Myanmar. Inside were around 80 Muslims who had taken shelter there the previous day, fearing for their lives after the town witnessed an eruption of violence. Thousands of Buddhists gathered on a road overlooking the township, watching the swelling mob.

Trouble had begun in the city on the morning of 20 March, with a heated squabble between a Buddhist woman and a Muslim gold shop owner. In retaliation, later that day four Muslim men killed a Buddhist monk as he rode through a traffic intersection. As word of the killing spread, Buddhist mobs gathered and torched Muslim homes and shops. On hearing the news of unrest in his town, 72-year-old Win Htein, one of the most prominent members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), had rushed back on 20 March from the country’s capital Naypyidaw, where he sits in the lower house of parliament. On the morning of 21 March, when Win reached the building, at around 7.30 am, he found the crowd already out of control, slaughtering the Muslims who had sought shelter inside. “Each time a Muslim was killed, the crowd cheered and applauded,” he recounted. “The mob dragged people and killed them with swords and bamboo sticks. During the half hour I stayed there, seven people were killed before my eyes. I couldn’t do anything, they wouldn’t listen!” Twenty Muslims were killed by the mob on that morning, Win said, and the police did nothing to stop the slaughter. In all, the clashes in Meiktila over those days claimed more than 40 lives.

When I visited Meiktila at the end of June, three months after the violence, I found that entire quarters of the city had been destroyed. In their place were fields of blackened ruins and wastelands of metal and rubble over which towered burnt trees. The city’s mosques remained closed, and around 12,000 displaced people still lived in five refugee camps under police protection. When I visited one of these camps, police prevented me from entering, and even forbade refugees from talking to me through the fence; the atmosphere was that of a prison.

In the township of Thayagone, in Meiktila, I met Khin Maung Taint, a Muslim trader, in the shady backyard of a wooden house. “At night, we sleep terribly,” said Khin. “We are wondering when they will be coming. It is dark, it is scary. Our ear pays attention to every little noise.” After the attacks, he and his neighbours cut holes in the fences separating their houses so that, in case of fresh violence, people could flee through them, without having to risk their lives on the roads. Each night, some 15 men patrolled the township to protect the residents. Khin was distraught that he and other Muslims have lost their sense of security and belonging. “We are Burmese,” he said. “My grandfather and my grandmother were Burmese, and our religion is Islam.”

Apart from their lives, the livelihoods of Muslims in Meiktila are also under threat. With the city’s Buddhists choosing to boycott Muslim businesses since the clashes, Khin’s neighbour Soe Myint, a truck driver, has been out of work for three months, with no one hiring him to transport goods. “The Buddhists in Meiktila represent the overwhelming majority, what can I do?” he said. “We never had a problem with the Buddhists before,” said Zaw Win Shein, a Muslim businessman, who was also present with Khin and Soe. “We were eating together, living together. We are cousins.”

Earlier this year, however, anti-Muslim propaganda, whose origins are unclear, began to spread through the city. Win Htein recalled coming across a DVD depicting Muslims in the Rakhine state—which was racked by violence last year—carrying swords, and a pamphlet urging Muslims to resign from the NLD. Simultaneously, stickers bearing the number “969” above the lion capital of Emperor Ashoka appeared in the streets: on moto-taxis, shop windows, betel nut carts. The image is a symbol of a growing Buddhist movement—the number 969 refers to the 9 virtues of the Buddha, the 6 virtues of dhamma and the 9 virtues of the sangha. While the movement claims to be a return to Buddhist roots, it is widely accused of being a vehicle of religious hatred and brainwashing.

The most prominent face associated with the 969 movement is that of the 45-year-old monk Ashin Wirathu—bald-headed, docile, and almost childlike in appearance. I met the saffron-robed Wirathu in the second week of June at the student’s hall of the Masoeyein monastery in Mandalay, the ancient royal capital, where he teaches. The walls, painted turquoise, were covered with portraits of Wirathu himself, posters of Buddha, and an image of Aung San Suu Kyi and her father, Aung San. Wirathu spoke from a sofa, while we sat on the floor in front of him; he would fiddle with his phone when my translator was giving me his answers. “Muslims are fundamentally bad,” he said in his calm, soft voice. “Mohammed allows them to kill any creature. Islam is a religion of thieves. They do not want peace.” The monk’s racist rants are available on YouTube and social websites, where they have garnered thousands of views.

Wirathu, who has been a monk since he was a teenager, first attracted attention for his speeches in 1997, when he began advocating a ban on interfaith marriage. In 2003, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in jail by the military junta for inciting anti-Muslim hatred. In 2010, as part of the sweeping reforms that the country underwent, a number of political prisoners were released, Wirathu among them. He is now free to travel, speak and hold rallies. “Muslims write the 786 sign in front of their shops so that customers can avoid buying from Buddhist businesses. That is why I call for Buddhists to boycott them, and I’m hated for that,” he said. (‘786’ is a numerological reference to the first verse of the Quran, and is often used to help Muslims find halal food.) When I asked him if he was afraid of going back to prison for his speeches, Wirathu said: “The one thing that scares me more than prison is the sharia.” read more:

http://caravanmagazine.in/letters/burma-preachers-hate

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Can love be a force for political change?

Is there any scientific basis for believing that love can be a force for change in politics and economics? An interview with one of the world’s leading authorities on positive psychology and the value of “micro-moments of connection.”

Can love be a positive force for change in the public sphere as well as in our private lives? If not, Transformation is in trouble: openDemocracy’s new section has staked its future on demonstrating that radical changes are possible in politics and economics when approached in a spirit of human connection and solidarity. 

At first glance, there’s an obvious problem with this thesis: can we really “love our enemies,” or even our friends and colleagues who we don’t know very well? Is there any scientific basis for believing that love can stretch beyond the boundaries of our intimate relationships? What do the latest developments in human biology and psychology have to say? 

Barbara Frederickson is better qualified than most other people to answer these questions. A professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a leading figure in the burgeoning “positive psychology” movement, her new book is titled Love 2.0: how our supreme emotion affects everything we feel, think, do and become. In it, Frederickson tries to show that love for others - all others - can be consciously cultivated and applied in every sphere of life.

Positive psychology has been criticized for ignoring the structural factors that underpin discrimination and inequality, and for over-emphasizing the power of individuals to shape their own horizons. But Frederickson doesn’t see any conflict between accentuating the positive in our own lives and extending our concern to other people. Quite the opposite: she sees positive emotions, empathy and love (or what she calls “micro-moments of connection”) as points along the same continuum that can be strengthened by using exercises like “loving kindness meditation.” Try the exercise that’s described in a separate article on Transformation today and make your own mind up.

Despite this conviction, the index to her book doesn’t contain a single reference to poverty or inequality, war or violence, race or sexuality. It’s a curious omission if love really does “affect everything that we do.” Love is everywhere perhaps, except where it’s most needed. Yet she also concludes that “expanding the pool of moments in which people feel safe” is one of love’s preconditions, so economic and political systems that guarantee human safety and security are essential. To find out more about this puzzle, I spoke to Barbara Frederickson.

ME: You debunk the common understanding of love as romantic attachment, and explain it instead in terms of positive emotions that our bodies can understand, experience and develop beyond our friends and families. But are positive emotions really the same thing as love?

BF: Love is both positive emotions and larger than the self. We typically think in western culture of emotions as belonging to a person - being confined to one person’s brain, mind or skin. Here I’m arguing that actually people co-experience emotions, especially positive ones, and when they do, that’s when they are reminded in an experiential way that they are part of something larger than themselves, that they share a human connection, whether it’s with a person they know well or a stranger. It’s where we experience our common humanity.

The roots of my work come from evolutionary psychology, so I’m trying to describe experiences that are often called out as ineffable, spiritual or transcendent and say well actually, these are products of our emotions. They are what we experience when we connect, a positive emotion that’s rolling through two brains and bodies at once. It’s a powerful, uplifting feeling and it turns out to be extraordinarily healthy. But the benefits accrue not just to one person’s health but to the health of communities, and that is where it connects really well to your idea of social transformation.

ME: By describing love in this way, isn’t there a danger that we will cut ourselves off from negative emotions such as anger and a sense of injustice that are essential to social struggle? 

BF: No, I don’t think so. From an emotions perspective I like to tell people that no emotion is meant to last forever, not even the ones that feel good. So the fact that we can understand love better doesn’t mean that we won’t have experiences of anger or outrage or sadness. Negative emotions are essential for flourishing and creativity and resilience... read more:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/michael-edwards/%E2%80%9Clove-20%E2%80%9D-conversation-with-barbara-frederickson

What we are reading (links):

What is Transformational Change?'

The Love that Does Justice

NGOs, Social Change and the Transformation of Human Relationships

The Tree of Contemplative Practices

Thick Problems and Thin Solutions

The Hidden Leaf Foundation's useful reading list on transformation

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The 50 most perfectly timed photos ever!

 See more: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/03/most-perfectly-timed-photos-ever/

and - http://twistedsifter.com/2012/12/top-100-pictures-of-the-day-2012/

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Zero-hours contract workers - the new reserve army of labour?

there is an early 19th-century feel to zero-hour contracts. It is as though Britain has gone back to the future, returned to an age where the employer had the whip hand and where the rights that workers enjoyed under the feudal system had been removed.

It is a pity Karl Marx was not around last week to comment on the news that 90% of the workers at Sports Direct are on zero-hours contracts. The author of the Communist Manifesto would also have had plenty to say about the news that the official estimates of those working in this form of casualised labour had shot up by 25%. It would have amused him to hear that even Buckingham Palace – the very symbol of the ruling class – had got in on the act.

It is safe to say Marx would have cavilled with those who see zero-hour contracts as an expression of Britain's economic strength, a demonstration of flexible labour markets in action. He would have thought "reserve army of labour" a better description of conditions in which workers were expected to be permanently on call for an employer.

The Office for National Statistics said last week that 250,000 people were now on zero-hour contracts – a 25% increase on its previous estimates but still small in relation to the 30 million people employed in the UK. The estimate is, however, disputed by some labour market experts who point out that more than 300,000 care workers are on such contracts. What is certain is that the total is on a steep upward curve; it may be as high as one million and growing.

Bodies representing employers say zero-hour contracts should be welcomed since without them unemployment would be even higher. Better, they say, that people should be working 20 hours one week and no hours at all the next rather than be on the dole.

Seen in this light, Vince Cable – who is conducting a review of the contracts – should be thinking of further deregulation of the labour market rather than contemplating measures that might reduce this "flexibility". He could, for instance, repeal the 1874 Factory Act that banned children under 10 from working in a manufacturing plant. He could rethink the 1847 10-hour Act that said children should not work for more than 10 hours a day. He could be really bold and say that Parliament erred in 1841 when it voted in favour of the Mines Act that prevented a child under 10 from working underground in a pit. Because, let's face it, all this legislation represented regulation of the labour market that made it less "flexible".

It's only fair to say that some employees are content to be on zero-hour contracts. Some students, for example, want to combine work with study and are willing to turn up when summoned. That's also true of older workers topping up their pensions with a bit of irregular, part-time work... read more:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/economics-blog/2013/aug/04/zero-hours-contract-workers-reserve-army-labour

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Suzanne Moore - Twitter boycott is my small symbolic gesture against online misogyny

Right now it is possible to threaten to kill and rape women without fear of the consequences. Twitter must wake up

A conversation has begun that is a long way from over. Women – the majority of social media users – should not be subject to rape and death threats. And yes thanks, I know the difference between disagreement and a description of dismemberment. We want the company hosting these threats to be less lackadaisical and able to respond faster. We provide the content and can it take it elsewhere. There are other platforms out there and Twitter has felt past its peak for a while anyway.

The perception that this is merely the concern of some self-important newspaper columnists who will collectively flounce depriving everyone else of their wit and wisdom is one I understand. Simply though, this idea wouldn't have any legs if all kinds of people were not disgusted when online misogyny is made visible.

Plus, as protests go it's about as easy as it gets. You have to NOT do something instead of doing it! If you don't want to be silent then tweet Simone De Beauvoir all day and shout back at the abusers (troll is not the right word). All is fine.

There have been previous discussions about misogyny online but this has hit a nerve. We watched a week of Twitter dithering and the police making the right noises but unable to achieve much. What has been eye-opening is the outpouring of hostility to the very notion of a boycott. The ongoing discussions about the technical difficulties abound and the essential complicated ones about free speech will continue. But what remains is the simple and essential fact: right now it possible to threaten rape and kill women online without any consequences. Behaviour can and does change. When Lord McAlpine successfully sued prominent tweeters for libel, Twitter woke up a bit.

The past week has opened a can of worms. Some of the worms get off on each other. This strange goon squad of sub-Clarksons, bedroom anarchists, useful idiots and hardcore woman haters gives most of us the creeps and they will be slithering about on Sunday.

In cyberspace, as in the real world, they will not prevail. Join us or don't. The boycott has already worked. Because Twitter, the company, is nervy and watching its back. Hello? That's how it feels when strangers abuse you en masse. Personal apologies to high-profile women feel nothing but patronising. A 24-hour boycott has made us talk much more openly about what could happen, what is happening. That's all. Funny chaps us women? Because once we start talking, we won't stop.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/04/twitter-boycott-gesture-online-misogyny

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