The Wrongs of Right Wing - BBC Report and my Quick Comments

Following is the link to BBC report of Ring Wing (BJP/Sri Rama Sena/Bhajarangdal/RSS) vandalism in Mangalore and other parts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7880377.stm Click here for the link.

Some quick notes (If time permits will produce a well-researched academic article here)
1. The recent developments in Mangalore have thrown up interesting observations for me.
a. There is a strong support base for the right wing recent vandalism in Mangalore both among the grown ups and the young.

b. The opposition has been from the open but small vocal individuals.

c. Unlike post-Godhra carnage and post-Babri Masjid demolition, the incidents in Mangalore - attack on churches, nunnery, unprovocated but hand-in-glove police brutality inside several churches, inhuman and illegal detainment and treatment of BV Sitaram editor of Karavali Ale daily, the multiple cases filed on him in different police stations across Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, the mute response of both Christians and Muslims to such injustice to individuals, attack on Muslim residential areas with police support in Ullal and other parts of the districts, the brutal attack on young girls in a pub by taking law into their hands and thereby becoming a parallel state-system, the numerous attacks on boys and girls from different religious communities while in interaction - have not been theorized. I am yet to come across any serious articles in EPW or similar journals on these issues. The silence of social science and humanities scholars across India and aboard is really conspicuous. The academic responses to Rajkumar abduction, protest against Fire, and Water, Beauty Pageant in Bangalore were far quicker- written within weeks.

d. The response of the BJP-led state government has been one of constantly trying to twist the tales to take political mileage of every sort or politicise it further to attack the other political parties - Congress and Left in particular.

e. Catholic church which preaches love-discourse towards others which is distinct from the 'tolerance-discourse' put forth by the right wing, has over a decade and a half has never seen social violence as an issue to be engaged with, but has only responded when the attacks are particularly focused on its institutions marked by buildings only.

f. A very concerned response has overwhelmingly come from a lot of non-christian and non-Muslim citizens.

g. The Muslim and Christian communities in Mangalore have hardly made any investment in building intellectuals among its members - may be because they did not want to get the established systems threatened. Because of this, they do not even have a language to respond to the violence - other than one of counter violence.

h. The media because of its flawed idea of 'balancing views' and 'objectivity' plays into the hands of the right wing.

i. Lack of good ethics on the part of the media has led the right wing to zero down on those who oppose right wing views in the media to be attacked both physically and through media.

j. I think post-babri Masjid Media has not really learnt how to respond to the rise of right wing in India.

k. We still do not know how to change the terms of the debate of right wing, esp in the case of Mangalore.

l. The corporate leaders like Narayana Murthy have not seen it as a moral responsibility to rise to the occasion. But, they had a lot to say in support of neoliberalism.

m. The right wing-led nation discourse has eroded the moral and ethical stand among the TV-IT families.

n. In Bangalore, curiously, a lot of part-time activists who participated in many protests and meeting related to Tibet and such issues have been withdrawing from mailing lists of NGOs and other socially conscious groups because, now it is not about sth out there but about us. They cannot digest the ruling right wing criticized in Karnataka. My follow up of those opting out of such lists shows that all of them belong to upper castes and work in the corporate sector in Bangalore.

o. The real estate boom in Mangalore has a close link to the rise of recent violence of right wing in Mangalore as most of those arrested and accused in recent attacks have real estate agencies.

p. The 'caste' as it is practiced and its hierarchic manifestation in Mangalore is seen in the groups involved in the violence too. While the RSS has largely been a upper caste male organisation, The Bhajarang Dal caters to men of slightly lower castes/communities/social groups in the higheracrhy. Those castes and 'Hindu' /communities/social groups which are denied membership in both right wing groups have formed Sri Rama Sene. In Ramayana, Sri Rama Sene was the name for the army of Monkeys. One can now see how within right wing social meanings of hierarchy based on birth are played out and Right wing is not one undivided house, although their ideological origins seem to similar.

q. There has been a constant attempt to see judiciary, executive and the legislature as systems out there independent of what is happening in Mangalore. But I think we need to see that they are very much part of these developments. Minus their coming together these incidents cannot happen. In other words the state itself is communal.

r. Within the Catholic church the 'charismatic' movements perhaps have done the most damage when it comes to building socially conscious people within the religion-group. The religion came to be constructed as the ultimate site of resolution of all social, economic, political, and personal issues. This then led to creating an apolitical subjects, who would now not believe in social intervention. (This is partly an insight I am borrowing the conversation I had with William da Silva two years ago)

Gender and Culture Class

The next Gender and Culture Class is on Thursday at 4pm

Out of Town

I am out of town from today till 8 Feb.

II British Literture Mid-semester Portion and Question Paper model

Mid-semester Portion
Poetry: all poems upto and including 'Second Coming'
Novel: Hard Times and Animal Farm
Drama: No drama (Hope my sweet JPEng students will forgive me for this!)

Question Paper Model

BA MID-SEMESTER EXAMINATION JAN /FEB 2009

II SEMESTER

Code: OEN 231 Max.Marks: 50

Sub: Optional English / British Literature Duration: 2 Hrs

Section A (Short Notes)

I Answer ANY FOUR of the following in about 150 words attempting at least two from the Novel. (4x5=20)

(Ten questions are given)

Section B (Essay-Type Answers)

II. Answer ANY TWO of the following in about 250-300 words: (2x15=30)

(Five questions are given)


Type of Questions
1. Poetry and novel questions will be around techniques, characterization, style, and loction of the texts in their historical period.


All the best.
(Posted on request by Abey and IJPEng through Aishwarya)

Slumdog Millionaire

Saw Slumdog Millionaire last night. Some quick observations

• The film captures the interlinked complex social history of Bombay, Bombay slums, Bombay's economy, Bombay cinema of the last two decades in a way I have not seen before.
• The narrative style is unseen in this part of the world.
• Use of music and music in itself has a lot think over
• Editing students can feast over techniques
• I was particularly happy to see the acting of Irfan Khan whose acting skills and professionalism I have always admired.
• The film is out-and-out androcentric with no visible attempts of departure.
• My die hard fan-friends of Dark Knight are taking out their anger of not seeing it on Oscar noms on Slumdog Millionaire

(Pictures are taken from Roger Ebert review and Foxsearch.)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Nobel Lecture - Notes for III PSEng & FEP

1. The Nobel Lecture
2. Wiki on Alexander Solzhenitsyn
3. Another version of the speech in Nobel Prize website
4. Nobel Prize website on Alexander Solzhenitsyn
5. An analysis of his lecture along with his work August 1914

Note I: The spirit of Munich perhaps refers to the activities of The White Rose - A non- resistant movement of a few university students under Nazi Germany. For details click here. However, I am not too sure I am right.

Note II:
1. If you come across any other interesting site which analysis the Nobel lecture, please email it to me. Will post the link in this post.
2. If you have any specific questions please post them here. One of your classmates or I will respond.

Look Back In Anger-Notes

1. Study Guide From E-Notes
2. The Literary Encyclopedia
3. Article1
4. Article2
5. Detailed Summary Of Each Act
6. Study Guide From Answer.Com
7. Analysis1
8. John Osborne
9. Essay1
10. Themes

National Conference on New Areas of Research in the ELT

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NEW AREAS OF RESEARCH IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE AND TEACHING: CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES.
(3rd & 4th March 2009)

The Department of English, Maulana Azad National Urdu University is hosting its first National Conference on 3rd and 4th March 2009. The theme of the Conference is New Areas of Research in the English Language and Teaching: Challenges and Perspectives.

The Conference
The conferences and seminars that are commonly held in ELT all around the world undoubtedly help advance methods and techniques to teach English in native or non-native context. However, in this conference the endeavour will be to discover the untrammelled and new areas of research in both the English Language and Teaching, which is why this is just not an ELT conference but an EL&T conference. The themes and sub themes of this conference succinctly mirror the objectives of conducting it (on top of academic necessity and research activism). It is positively held that the conference shall be effectively helpful to research scholars and supervisors who are looking out for
new fields and disciplines to proactively carry out their study and make some contributions to the fields of language and teaching.

Theme
New Areas of Research in the English Language & Teaching: Challenges and Perspectives

Sub Themes
1) Teaching English to the Urdu Speakers: Challenges
2) Comparative Study of Urdu and English phonetics/ phonology/
morphology/syntax
3) Computational Linguistics and English
4) Machine Translation
5) New Methodology for the Second Language Research
7) Translation as Research Method
8) Culture as a Teaching Tool in the Language Classroom
9) CALL
10) Guided Research in Second Language Teaching
11) English and Call Centers
12) Neutral English
13) The Use of Technology in the Teaching of English
14) Variations in English Pronunciation- Implications for the Classroom
15) SMS Language
16) Theory and Methodology in the Classroom
17) New Methodology for Research in English Language Teaching
18) New/Creative Techniques of Teaching Poetry/Play/Novel to the Students
of MA in English

Call for Papers
English Teachers, Scholars, Researchers can present the papers on any topic related with the sub-themes. The candidates who wish to present their papers are required to submit the abstract electronically at englishseminar1@gmail.com in about 250 words before 30th January 2009. On 2nd February 2009 they would be informed about the acceptance or rejection of the paper. In case of acceptance, the candidates are required to electronically submit the full paper at englishseminar1@gmail.com by 20th February. The papers will be published if accepted in MAJELL’s second issue. No paper should exceed 2000 words. The candidates are required to bring along with them in the Conference at least four sets and a soft copy of their paper. The paper must be written in MLA style sheet.

Please send your application form with a DD or cheque of Rs. 200 payable to:
Professor Amina Kishore
Head, Department of English,
Maulana Azad National Urdu University Gachibowli, Hyderabad

No TA/DA will be provided.
Closing date for receipt of application: 15the February 2009.
Registration can be done electronically at englishseminar1@gmail.com

'India's Shame' - Notes by Nitya Druve

Following is the presentation notes on Perspective IV Semester lesson 'India's Shame an essay by Annie Zaidi. The presentation was made for II year JPEng class by Nitya Druve in December 2008.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

INDIA’S SHAME

Annie Zaidi

Notes by Nitya Druve, II JPEng

‘India’s Shame’ is an investigative article by Frontline reporter Annie Zaidi about manual scavenging. It reveals the hardships faced by scavengers, the measures taken to improve their situation and just how ‘effective’ the government has been in dealing with the issue of manual scavenging.

To gain some perspective on this lesson, we must first familiarize ourselves with certain terms:

MANUAL SCAVENGING-is the manual removal of excreta from public and private dry (non-flush) latrines.

• Manual scavengers may also be engaged in underground sewage work, disposal of dead animals or cleaning faeces from the railway systems.
• The practice of manual scavenging started in Europe in 1214, when the first public toilets appeared.
• It was introduced during British rule in India in the late 19^th century, when municipalities were organized.
• It still exists in parts of India and is performed almost exclusively by Dalits (95% of scavengers are Dalits).
• 33% of the population uses dry latrines and another 33% do not have toilets in their houses leaving them to defecate in open spaces.

THE EMPLOYMENT OF MANUAL SCAVENGERS AND CONSTRUCTION OF DRY LATRINES (PROHIBITION) ACT 1993-entails punishment of up to 1 year imprisonment or a fine of Rs.2000 or both, for the employment and /or construction of dry latrines.

· All the Union Territories and States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal have adopted this Act.

· In its 15 years of existence, there has not been a single prosecution, despite the fact that an estimated13 lakh people continue to manually remove excreta.

SAFAI KARAMCHARI ANDOLAN (SKA) – is an Andhra Pradesh based group dedicated to the cause of manual scavengers.

• It was started in 1986
• It is headed by Bezwada Wilson (who belongs to a backward community himself) and S.R. Sankaran, an IAS officer.
• It conducts surveys, files petitions, works with scavengers, creates and spreads awareness about the plight of manual scavengers.

Let’s start with the lesson:

Ø ‘SHAMEFUL’, ‘DEGRADING’ and ‘DISGUSTING’ are just some of the words the writer uses to describe manual scavenging. It is a practice which de-humanizes not only the scavenger but the person employing him/her.

Ø Some States (like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland) refuse to even acknowledge the existence of manual scavengers despite evidence to the contrary.

Ø When such is the attitude of the government, the problem becomes difficult to solve as there is no acknowledgement of the problem in the first place.

Capital Falsehood

It comes as a shock that a city as forward and prosperous as Delhi has manual scavengers but the fact remains that they do exist and in a pitiable condition at that: Take the accounts of Meena (Pg.281, 3^rd para) and Sharada (Pg.282, 2^nd and 3rd para).

Moving from Delhi to Gujarat, an emerging industrial State, about which Ratan Tata once said, “If you are not in Gujarat, you’re stupid.” It is one of the most vibrant States where progress is quick but even it is not free from the menace of manual scavenging. There exists in Gujarat, according to the Navsarjan Trust, 55,000 scavengers.

Though Haryana has declared itself ‘scavenger-free’, we come across Bhagwati (Pg.283, 2nd para) and Bala (Pg.283, 3rd para).Punjab, where the Green Revolution took place is the last place one would expect to find manual scavenging. From denying the existence of manual scavengers, Punjab has acknowledged the presence of 500 odd scavengers---- a grossly underestimated number.

The Railways are the biggest culprits. The construction of the railway tracks using ‘sleepers’ (wooden planks) creates an uneven surface. Therefore when excreta is dropped by the open discharge system of passenger bogies, it cannot be washed away instead it must be cleaned manually.

It is ironic that a department of the government is not only violating but is the biggest violator of the Act. The Railways claim that there is a lack of money or that “various technologies shall be tried out.” Neither have they set a deadline for themselves nor have they taken any action. None of the Railway Ministers so far have allocated funds in the Railway Budget to implement the Act.

Challenges Ahead

Ø Section 17(2) of the Act stipulates that no prosecution for any offence under the Act shall be instituted except by or with the previous sanction of the executive authority. In many cases the executive authority is the violator of the Act and it makes no sense to make its sanction mandatory for prosecution.

Ø The government set up the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis and the National Safai Karamchari Financing and Development, both of which failed to produce the desired result.

Ø The National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers (Pg.283, 5th para) too failed because of a misappropriation of funds to the tune of 600 crores.

Ø Sanitation is a State subject and the Centre can do little about it.

Ø It is not a ‘vote issue’ therefore is not of much importance to the government or the public.

Ø Health concerns: Majority of the scavengers fall prey to anaemia, diarrhea and vomiting. Quite a few suffer from skin and respiratory diseases. Continued exposure to septic tanks and open gutters makes them more vulnerable to malaria, dengue and so on.

Ø Manual scavenging also takes a toll on their psychological well-being----they feel helpless, have a lowered sense of self-worth and are unhappy with their profession. Thus it is not surprising to note that a huge number of manual scavengers suffer from alcoholism.

At the end of the article, the only solution indicated to end scavenging is the destruction of all existing dry latrines. It is not as simple as that. The commissions or organizations set by the government should be given more power to take appropriate action. Apart from putting pressure on the State governments to take action and training scavengers in alternate professions, what can be done is

The MEG (Minimum Employment Guarantee) scheme can be introduced, whereby a person is guaranteed 10 months employment in a year.

A twin-pit latrine system can be introduced. It consists of a simple toilet, which empties into a composting pit. When the sewage has composted, it is used as fertilizer, removing the need for manual collection and disposal.

The government should convert all existing dry latrines into low-cost flush latrines.

It should be noted that the above mentioned are a means to an end and not the end itself.