Category Archives: National Issues

AISA’s Intiatives on all National Issues are documented here…

Protest Demonstration against Gorakhpur tragedy

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Protest demonstration was organised against the death of over 60 children in BRD hospital in Gorakhpur, constituency of the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The oxygen supply was cut by the supplier since the dues were not paid by the hospital administration. As a result of this criminal negligence, over 60 new born lives were lost .

The protest demonstration was called by CPI(ML) Liberation, AISA, AICCTU and AIPWA at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The citizens and students of Delhi gathered to express their anger against this failing government and system. The demands of  resignation of Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and health minister Siddharth Nath Singh were raised. The overhauling of the government health sector by increased budget and developed infrastructure was the other demand.

See More : Public Meeting : War Tank in Universities

Countrywide Protests by AISA against discontinuation of Bi-annual NET examination

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AISA protested against the UGC and MHRD for reducing the scope of NET-JRF examination drastically by holding the NET exam once instead of twice a year and reducing the number of students qualifying NET from present 15% to a meagre 6%. AISA held protest demonstrations in different Indian cities namely Patiala, Chandigarh, Delhi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Ara, Darbhanga and Kolkata.

Today AISA protested in front of UGC head office in New Delhi. AISA demanded that the chairperson of UGC should come and talk with the student directly.  Delhi police threatened the protestors as per their usual style. But the protestors held their ground. It forced UGC to send an additional secretary to come and talk with protestors. The questions that are asked to the UGC representative are

a) What happened to the June-July NET exam?

b) Why do the number of NET qualifying students being decreased from 15% to 6 % ?

c) Why did the UGC take the decisions without a proper notification?

d) Do the number of JRFs also being decreased?

The additional secretary  quite naively told that June-July NET exam will happen but it is being postponed slightly.It is in common knowledge that notification for November exam is already out. The second question is answerd in a vague manner where she claimed in effect number of NET qualifying students will increase. She told that the issue of conduction of exams are not being discussed with UGC and it is under the purview of MHRD and CBSE. She told that no final decision has been taken on conduction of bi-annual NET examination. See the video here.

AISA demanded that a proper notification should be published on the UGC website clarifying the confusions around bi-annual NET and the 6% cap within 1 week. AISA resolved to go on a bigger agitation after looking into UGC’s clarification.

See Also: Letter of AISA activist Nitin from jail.

 

MHRD-UGC’s New Assaults Ahead

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June-July 2017 NET Skipped! NET to be Conducted Only Once a Year!

Biannual NET-JRF Exam Scuttled in a Clandestine Manner!

Cap for NET Qualification Reduced from 15% to 6%!

Possible Scuttling of Reservation!  Number of Junior Research Fellowships (JRFs) to Drastically Reduce!

 

In a clandestine manner the scope of NET and JRF qualification is being drastically reduced by the UGC and MHRD. Each year lakhs of students, from all over, work hard to prepare and sit for the NET as it is a decisive threshold in determining the eligibility for teaching position of Assistant Professor in Indian universities and colleges and also for obtaining JRF for pursuing higher research. But now, there seems to be a break in the practice of conducting NET twice in a year. CBSE had earlier expressed its unwillingness to conduct the NET exam twice a year as has been so far. After a protest from the student community, the UGC released a press statement saying that the CBSE has been asked to conduct NET exam in July 2017. But to our utter shock, the notification published by CBSE dated 6th June declares that NET exam will be held on 19th November 2017. That means the NET exam scheduled for July2017 is being effectively skipped. It is extremely unfortunate that the UGC after releasing press statements of conducting July NET has now withdrawn from accountability. The entire student community and lakhs of future aspirants have been betrayed.

In this context, we have also been informed of the alarming move by the UGC towards reducing the number of students qualifying in a Net exam. It has been reported in news papers that the UGC has decided to reduce the cap of students qualifying for NET to 6%. Till the NET exam conducted in January, 2017, 15% of the eligible students were issued NET qualification.

Qualifying NET exam merely confers eligibility to apply for the post for Assistant Professor. And those who qualify the JRF as well become eligible for Junior Research Fellowships (JRFs) only if they manage to get admitted to any UGC recognized research program in universities/institutions. In other words, NET and the JRF do not automatically guarantee either appointment in teaching posts or receiving fellowship. NET-JRF is merely a qualifying examination and the candidates have to go through further examination/interviews at respective institutions/universities to get appointment as faculty or admitted as research students. Why then the UGC is trying to reduce the number of NET qualifying students? Indeed, UGC has no explanation or accountability of this arbitrary trimming down. On the contrary, the move will gravely scuttle the opportunities of the students trying for teaching profession or aspiring to pursue higher research.

  • Firstly, this restrictive 6% cap will deny thousands of students the opportunity of even applying for the posts of Assistant Professors.
  • Secondly, it appears that the dual move of scuttling biannual exam and the 6% cap are being implemented to cut-down the number of Junior Research Fellowships in a clandestine manner. As the JRF forms only a fraction of the number of NET qualification, with much less number of students qualifying for NET every year, the number of Junior Research Fellowship will also decrease. It is becoming clear that UGC’s latest moves are nothing but yet another attempt to impose FELLOWSHIP-CUT in higher education in a surreptitious manner.

We have seen how the UGC have earlier tried to cut down Non-NET fellowships in 2015 and then imposed the restrictive cap of student-supervisor ratio through the 5 May 2016 UGC notification to restrict admission to post graduate research.

  • Thirdly, with the 2nd June 2017 UGC notification that proposes to make NET qualification a mandatory criterion for enrollment in PhD in category-3 universities (a major chunk of the colleges/ universities in our country come under this category), this 6% cap and scuttling of biannual exam are bound to further shrink the scope of research for hundreds of students.
  • Fourthly, it is not even clear to the student community as to how the reservation policy and the provision for relaxation in eligibility for SC/ST, OBC and PH/VH students would be applicable with this restriction of 6%.

We demand

  1. Immediate restoration of the Biannual Cycle of UGC NET exam – it must be ensured that the NET exam is held twice a year as per the existing norm. Since the current notification for the next NET exam has been declared for November 17th, the schedule for the July exam must be declared without any further ambiguous declarations and statements.
  2. The UGC must come out with a clear official notification published in its website and in mass media confirming the biannual NET as enough tricks have been played to shirk responsibility of conducting the exam as per norms.
  3. The UGC must also guarantee that the number of Junior Research Fellowships (JRFs) is not reduced. A clearly stated notification issued by the UGC must come in this regard as well.
  4. Revoke the restrictive 6% cap for qualifying the UGC NET. Expand rather than reduce the scope and opportunity of the number of students trying for teaching profession or aspiring to pursue higher research.                         

 

See Also : JNUSU statement on the events of 143rd Academic council meeting and notice raj of the administration

ABVP Riots in the Capital While Police Remains Mere Observer!

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Demand Punishment of the ABVP Goons and Suspension of Police Officers who Let Day-Long violence Happen!

Reclaim DU and the City from Fascist Hooliganism!

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Hundreds of students gathered to protest against disruption of a seminar in Ramjas college by ABVP goons. JNU student Umar Khalid was supposed to present a paper in the seminar. The ABVP which manufactured the crackdown in JNU last in year in February, vandalised the seminar by an open show of hooliganism. In front of police presence stones were thrown by ABVP goons at the seminar hall causing severe safety threat to the students and teachers present at the seminar. All these were done in front of Delhi Police at the spot who allowed the vandalism to happen through their intended inaction.
The next day, on 22nd February, hundreds of students gathered at Ramjas College for a peaceful protest march from Ramjas to Maurice Nagar Police station demanding action against ABVP hooliganism. What unfolded on 22nd as well was once again a public show of Delhi Police’s collusion with the ABVP in letting a reign of terror and violence spread over North Campus for several hours. ABVP goons surrounded  and attacked the students who gathered for protest inside Ramjas College. They then started attacking protesters from different colleges of Delhi outside Ramjas as well. While the large number of protesters continued demanding arrest of ABVP goons, ABVP hooligans were let free by Delhi Police to attack the protesters. Along with physical violence on Protesters, ABVP pelted sharp stones at protesters several times. Several students and teachers got severely injured due to stone pelting and violence by ABVP. Several of them were taken to the hospital.
The protesters marched to Maurice Nagar Police station and filed complaint with the police. In spite of video footages, MLC reports, written complaints, the police hasn’t registered any FIR yet. The police itself was witness to ABVP’s hooliganism the entire day. However, it continues to refuse  to initiate even the initial action and filing of FIR yet.
What is most shameful is that the Maurice Nagar Police force which did NOTHING to stop ABVP’s rioting the entire day unleashed brutal lathi charge on Protesters who were present in front of Maurice Nagar Police station demanding filling of FIR. The ABVP goons who were roaming free till then and were present near the police station colluded with the Delhi Police in beating up the students further. Several students who were at their way back from the protest were attacked by ABVP when they were alone. One AISA activist got severely injured when she was attacked by a group of ABVP activists in a bus.

It is necessary to emphasise that it is not the number or support of common students on ABVP’s side, but their collusion with state machinery such as the Delhi Police that emboldened their day long hooliganism and violence. The police’s role on 21st and 22nd February has proved beyond any shade of doubt that the Delhi Police is acting as the political organ of the BJP government in power.
*The police which regularly records all protests in the city is now clamming that they do not have any video footage of the incident. Several protesters and journalists have captured ABVP’s violence. But the police has till now denied to make these the basis of FIR, let alone their own eye witness account of the riot.

* In spite of severe head and body injuries faced by protesters no FIR against ABVP has been filed till now.
* The police which arranges several platoons of forces to arrest, detain and lathi charge protesters demanding justice in the city didn’t send extra force in DU to control the riot by ABVP.
* The police which did NOTHING to stop ABVP Hooliganism the entire day, brutally beat up students who were sitting peacefully in front of Maurice Nagar Police station demanding FIR.
Friends, last year February as well the Sangh and its student wing used the media and the police to unleash Crackdown on JNU and spread terror in the national capital. JNUSU President was beaten up at the Patiala House Court premises. But it was the immense unity and mobilisation of the students, teachers and citizens of Delhi that we reclaimed our city and universities from Fascist take over. Let us unite and fight back against the reign of terror and violence by ABVP. Let us hold hands and demand
* Immediate FIR and arrest of the ABVP goons who rioted in DU on 21st and 22nd.
* Suspension of police officers at Maurice Nagar for blatant inaction in stopping the riot and violence.
* Accountability of Delhi Police Commissioner in the entire episode. When goons took over the city’s streets and university, why wasn’t necessary force deployed to stop it? Why wasn’t the Delhi Police active in stopping the violence?

It is only through a powerful unity of the democracy and justice loving forces that we can defeat the political Nexus of the fascist goons and the police machinery. Let us unite and fight back.

AISA Statement – Against Bombay HC’s Bail to the Killers of Mohsin Citing His Muslim Identity as ‘Provocation’!

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Bombay High Court

Bombay High Court

 

SHAME!

Bombay HC Grants Bail to the Killers of Mohsin: Shamelessly Citing His Muslim Identity as ‘Provocation’!

 

Just after the BJP victory in Lok Sabha elections, in June 2014, a young Muslim IT professional Mohsin Sadiq Shaikh was brutally beaten to death on a Pune street by the Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) mob wielding hockey sticks and stones. In a case of premeditated communal hate crime, Mohsin was targeted for the markers of his Muslim identity beard, skull cap and Pathani suit as he was on his way back from offering evening prayers at a mosque. After the brutal violence and killing of Mohsin, members of the HRS gang even shamefully exchanged a jeering message on their mobile phones that read pahili wicket padli (the first wicket has fallen) after BJPs victory. Now the Bombay High Court has shamelessly granted bail to three of the 21 arrested in the Mohsin murder case. In her January 12 order, Justice Mridula Bhatkar shockingly observed that the fault of the deceased was that he belonged to another religion. I consider this factor in favour of the applicants/accused. More-over, it appears that in the name of the religion, they (the accused) were provoked and have committed the murder. The bail order in the Mohsin case chillingly reminds us of several such travesties in justice. These judgments are no different from the society issuing moralized suggestions such as appropriate clothing for women to avoid rape and in cases of racist violence and attack on people from the north-east, police forces blaming their smelly food habits as reason enough for provocation! It is in similar justifications like this issued by the judiciary and state machinery, where the very existence of marginality becomes a ‘provocation’ for violence. AISA expresses deep shock and condemnation at the absurd bail order and observation by the Bombay High Court and its utter failure to deliver justice to the victim of minority hate-crime and demands strictest punishment against the HRS culprits. The saffron right-wing has always indulged in a vicious communal propaganda and tried to shape the mainstream political and media discourse against religious minorities with constant mischievous references to love jihad, pink revolution, ‘illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and Pak terrorists.

The shocking observations by the Bombay High Court order has the danger of conferring “legal” sanctity to communal prejudice and violence that is being sought to be normalised in the country. It is high time that we reassert that country must be governed by Constitutional morality, Constitutional rights and Constitutional principles and not by majoritarian prejudice. The Supreme Court must take suo motto cognizance of the shocking Bombay High Court observations and annul the order. In these dark times we must intensify our collective struggles against this grave injustice and resist this communal commonsense.

Stop Intimidation and Targeting Voices of Dissent in Kerala!

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Hold the Kerala Government Accountable for Encounter Killings, use of Black Laws Like the UAPA, Wanton Arrests and Crackdown on Democratic Space!

 

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The way the Kerala police has been involved since last month in encounter killings, arrests and framing of charges on political activists clearly transcends the boundary of merely maintainglaw and order in the state and indicates of a ceratin tactics of intimidation of political opponents to the ruling LDF government in the state.

On Nov 24th two maoist leaders were gunned down in the Karulayi forests in Nilambur, Kerala. The police as usual has come out with the version of self defence and cross fire as an explanation to the encounter killings. In spite of wide range demand of a judicial enquiry into the killings, the Kerala Government is trying to evade impartial judicial probe into the case by ordering a magisterial enquiry which will remain vulnerable to administrative manupulations.

In the aftermath of the killings, Rajeesh Kollakandi, who helped in releasing the body of the assasinated maoist leader, has been suspended from his government job in the technical education department of the state. In addition to it, UAPA cases have been framed on him.

Kamal C. Chavara, a novelist,  was arrested under sedition law after the BJP’s youth wing Yuva Morcha had complained to the police against him charging him of insulting the National Anthem based on one of his Facebook posts. The Kerala police acted promptly and had arrested K.C. Chavara.

The first instance of arrest by the police for not standing up during national anthem in film screening came from Kerala when the more than prompt Kerala Police arrested six people who participated in the International Film Festival in Kerala.

A human rights activist Nadir was arrested under UAPA  after he went to meet Kamal C Chavara the previous day, although his name does not appear in any FIR.  Nadeer has been released after a day’s interrogation. The Kerala Police is trying to create the bogey of maoist link in Nadir’s case. Nadir was picked up by the police as unnamed accused in an FIR where six people have been mentioned under charges of UAPA.

The CPI-M in a statement in the context of K.C. Chavara’s arrest has said that it is against the use of sedition law.  But this statement does not suffice to address the issue of intimidation of political voices and crackdown on freedom of expression. The arrests that has been done on the pretext of ‘insulting the national anthem’, even if sedition is not used, indicate towards succumbing to sentiments fanned by the right-wing forces in Kerala. The random use of UAPA and arrests of political activists under UAPA also raises concern over curbing of democratic space and the process of natural justice in Kerala. Black laws like the UAPA were introduced by the Congress Government to legalise unjust state actions on muslims and political activists. These laws are used to subvert the basic principles of  natural justice where the burden to prove inncocence lies on the accused in stead of it being otherwise.

Statements by the CPI-M or the SFI that they are against the use of sedition law carry very little weight as long as the state police, working under the command of LDF govt, continue to surrender before rightwing jingoism or is used to intimidate and silence political opinions in Kerala.

Fearless Freedom vs. Patriarchal ‘Protection’ -That’s What The December 16 Movement Stood For : Kavita Krishnan

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The movement that followed the 16 December 2012 gangrape and murder was remarkable because it demanded protection for women’s fearless freedom – the freedom to roam and loiter ‘just like that’ – yun hi; the freedom from Khap Panchayats and moral policers; freedom from parents and brothers who seek to control who they can love and marry. That movement was remarkable because it summarily rejected and expressed defiant contempt for restrictions on their freedoms imposed by hostels, by homes, by anyone in the name of ‘safety’.

So I feel sad when journalists frame today’s question as ‘what has changed thanks to the new rape law?’ That question can be asked and we’ve answered it often. But while some changes in the law were progressive, the question cannot be reduced to changes in the law alone. The question should be, what has changed since then in our commitment to protect women’s freedoms, to promote respect for women’s rights to autonomy in their own lives, to recognize sexual violence as an assault primarily on women’s autonomy rather than their honour and respectability?
The answer is that small changes have indeed taken place. We have had courts convict in rape cases, recognizing that the hurt was done to the survivor’s autonomy. We have had a change in the recommended protocol for medical examination of rape survivors, that makes it clear that doctors cannot and must not pass judgement on whether or not rape occurred because that is a matter for legal, not medical judgement.


The chapter on sexual violence in the textbook that’s the Bible of Forensic Medicine in India  has undergone a complete and welcome transformation, getting rid of sexist and homophobic teachings and instead foregrounding medical care for the survivor of sexual assault. 

But do sexual assault or rape or harassment complainants have it easier? Justice and dignity for the complainant is still the exception. Victim shaming and blaming is still the norm, injustice is still the norm. Defending those accused of such crimes by painting the rape law or sexual harassment law as draconian still has plenty of acceptability, painting those accused or convicted of such offences as the real victims still happens, while feminist support for the victim is painted as support for a draconian rape law. Such attitudes have as much traction amongst the defenders of an Asaram as they do amongst the defenders of a Tejpal. Within progressive organizations and among activists on the Left, we have faced the fact that those who raise slogans against sexual assault or victim blaming are not, by that token, incapable of committing assault or indulging in victim blaming. We can’t leave the struggle for accountability and against sexist attitudes and practices, outside the door of progressive groups, like footwear outside our homes. The anti rape movement of 2012 stressed the need to bring the struggle home into our own lives and workplaces and homes, not take the easy route of telling ourselves the problem lies elsewhere with ‘others.’
Meanwhile, the political assault on women’s autonomy has intensified. Organisations enjoying patronage and protection of those in power at the Centre are busy abducting 100s of women who have loved or married outside caste and faith, and claiming to have ‘rescued’ them from ‘love jehad.
In the Beti Bachao campaigns – the same slogan is used in the BJP Government’s campaign against sex selection and the RSS campaign against love jehad, the emphasis is on the ‘rescue’ of girls and women. Rescue from whom? Rescue from their own autonomy, back to a regime of sarkari and familial surveillance. Feminist talk of women’s autonomy is mocked as Western, as against RSS talk of ‘familyism’. The cry for freedom even from familial control and surveillance that girls raised in 2012 is denigrated.
Even the AAP Government in Delhi has remained within the patriarchal ‘protection politics’ of CCTV surveillance rather than a clear commitment to protect women’s autonomy. It hasn’t expanded safe public transport in Delhi which was well within its power to do.
In 2012 and since, we saw strong assertions of the rights and dignity of LGBTQI people. But the Supreme Court itself has dealt a blow to this agenda by upholding Section 377.
I’m asked sometimes if freedom and  autonomy and the right to loiter are slogans only for the ‘elite’ women. I retort that it’s elitist to assume that the poor, working class and oppressed caste women do not deserve or need autonomy! Women’s freedom and autonomy must be at the heart of the struggle to annihilate caste. It must be at the heart of the struggles of the working class for liberation. Ideologies of ‘culture’ and ‘family’ and ‘safety’ are invoked to discipline and control women workers in India – those workers can fight back and resist and organise only if they assert their autonomy and freedom in every sphere from home to streets to work. The right of workers to rest and leisure was at the heart of the historic working class campaign for an 8-hour day – it would be elitist to declare that working class or Dalit women do not or should not demand the right to loiter for pleasure and leisure as urban middle class women do. The right to loiter in this context is a demand for azaadi from the burden of domestic labour that women, not men are asked to bear, and also azaadi from the gendered discipline to which women are subjected at factories and other workplaces.
The heartening and encouraging thing is that all around us, we can see brilliant, glorious new movements by women asserting their autonomy and demanding rights. The Pinjra Tod movement in Delhi, women tea garden workers in Munnar and garment and sanitation workers in Bengaluru, and so many other movements have lifted our spirits and kept the flame of hope burning for a new politics that asserts women’s autonomy and deals a body blow to the moral policers, the victim blamers. Salaam to all the fighters for women’s freedom! If you’re in Delhi tonight, you might like to join students and women in a march from JNU’s Ganga Dhaba to Munirka bus stop at 9 pm tonight. 

First published on India Resist

Massive Protests against Amendments to CNT and SPT Acts in Jharkhand!

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Raghuvar Hatao, Jharkhand Bachao!!

 

 

On 23rd November, in a notorious anti people policy decision, Raghuvar Das-led Bharatiya Janta Party government in Jharkhand had amended the land tenancy laws governing predominantly Adivasi regions to allow use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. After this shameless pronouncement of amendments of CNT and SPT Acts, thousands came out on the streets in protest in different parts of Jharkhand braving massive police repression. 

The Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act was enacted in 1908 after the heroic revolt led by Birsa Munda. The law restricts the sale of tribal land to non-Adivasis in 16 of Jharkhand’s 24 districts in central and western region. On the other hand, Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Act enacted in 1876 had been passed following the valiant Santhal rebellion in 1855 against feudal land tenure systems of the colonial government. The 1876 Act prohibits sale of Adivasi land to non-adivasis in Santhal Pargana region along Jharkhand’s border with Bengal.

Earlier in June, the BJP government had passed an ordinance to make the changes, but this ordinance is still pending with the President. The government now desperately amended the laws by introducing a Bill on last Friday. The government shamelessly introduced and passed the Bill in merely three minutes without permitting any discussion!

The very existence of adivasis and original inhabitants of Jharkhand is in jeopardy under this BJP government which has time and again made policies to ensure that corporate companies get full control over the forests, land, and minerals of Jharkhand. The amendment of CNT and SPT acts is another notorious step in this direction.  But the people of Jharkhand have given the resounding call of “Raghuvar Hatao, Jharkhand Bachao” (“Remove Raghuvar, Save Jharkhand”) to intensify the fight against the ruling Government.

AISA stands in rock solid solidarity with the struggling people of Jharkhand in their fight against state sponsored corporate land grab, dispossessing and displacing adivasis!

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Probe Malappuram Killings, Punish the Perpetrators!

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STOP the Ominous Trend of State-Backed Fake Encounters and

Extrajudicial Killings in the Name of Fighting ‘Maoism’!!

AISA Statement regarding the Malappuram Killings 

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AISA expresses deep concern over the gruesome killings of two Maoist” leaders, Devraj and Ajitha, who were gunned down in the Karulayi forests of Nilambur, Malappuram, Kerala last Thursday. There are many disquieting questions about this alleged encounter.  No police personnel were injured in the encounter and the victim’s bodies were not shown to the media even after more than 24 hours.  Further in the postmortem report, it was revealed that there were around 19 bullet shot wounds in the bodies of the killed “Maoists”, while a Madhyamam report said that both Devaraj and Ajitha were physically unwell and even didn’t have the capacity to run when the police arrived.

A month back, on 24th October, in an uncannily similar way, 39 people (reportedly 28 Maoists and 11 adivasi villagers) were killed in Malkangiri.  A Greyhound commando who lost his life in this episode reportedly died of drowning, and another is injured, but there are no other major casualties on the side of the paramilitary forces. This also has raised serious questions and doubts.

The Supreme Court has issued detailed guidelines on encounter killings, mandating mandatory registration of FIRs and investigation by an independent agency in every case of encounter death. We must collectively raise our voice against the menace of extrajudicial killings by different governments, from Malkangiri to Malappuram, in the name of fighting Maoism.

AISA demands that there must be a time-bound Court-monitored judicial probe into Malappuram killings! Such fake encounters and extra-judicial killings are a travesty of the law of the land and are a threat to democracy. The state government and the state machinery should be held accountable, and the perpetrators of the fake encounter must be punished! 

 

 

Demonetization: जनता त्रस्त राजा मस्त !

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Demonetization:

500 और 1000 का नोट बंद करके काला धन खत्म करने का दावा जनता के साथ

क्रूर छलावा से अधिक कुछ नहीं!

8 नवम्बर को प्रधनमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी ने अचानक टीवी पर यह घोषणा की कि 500 और 1000 के नोट अब प्रयोग में नहीं रहेंगे। इसकी जगह अब 500 और 2000 के नये नोट जारी किये जायेंगे। मोदी का दावा है कि इससे काले धन और नकली नोट पर शिकंजा कसा जा रहा है।

अगर इस फैसले पर थोड़ा भी ध्यान दिया जाए तो ये दावे महज़ छलावे से अध्कि कुछ नहीं है। दूसरी ओर, इससे आम जनता खासतौर पर गरीब, महिला, छोटे विक्रेता, रेहड़ी-पटरी वाले, दिहाड़ी मजदूर, रिक्शा चालक और दूसरे असंगठित क्षेत्रों में काम करने वाले लोगों के लिए भारी समस्याएं पैदा हो रही हैं। कई लोगों का रोज़गार ख़तम हो गया है, खाने-पीने का सामान और आवागमन के लिए भी पैसे नहीं हैं। इन सब की भारी कीमत के बावजूद भी काले धन को पकड़ा नहीं जा सकेगा।

क्यों नोटबंदी  की यह नीति काले धन के खिलाफ कुछ नहीं कर सकती-

  1. आज की तारीख़ में यह जानी-मानी बात है कि 90 प्रतिशत काले धन नकदी के रूप में नहीं होता, न ही वो बोरी में भर के बिस्तर के नीचे पड़ा रहता है। इसके बजाय यह सोना, रियल स्टेट में निवेश, स्विस बैंक तथा विदेशी मुद्रा के रूप में रखा जाता है, और इसी तरह के कई गोरखधंधों से काले धन को बढ़ाया जाता है। याद कीजिए मोदी ने चुनाव से पहले खुद बोला था कि 90 प्रतिशत काला धन विदेशों में रखा गया है, जिसको वे वापस लायेंगे और 15 लाख रुपये सभी के अकाउंट में डाले जायेंगे। लेकिन आज तक मोदी सरकार ने काली संपत्ति के उस क्षेत्र को छुआ भी नहीं। उल्टे विदेश में धन भेजने के रास्ते को और भी आसान बना दिया। मोदी सरकार ने एलआरएस (लिबेरालाइज्ड रेमिंटेंस स्कीम) के तहत विदेश में धन भेजने की अधिकतम 75 हज़ार डॉलर की सीमा को बढ़ाकर 250 हज़ार डॉलर कर दी। इस नये ‘सुधार’ का फ़ायदा उठाते हुए इस वर्ष विदेश में 30,000 हज़ार करोड़ रुपये भेजे गये, जो कि पिछले सालों की तिगुना है।
  2. बहुत से राजनेता पहले से ही बात को जानते थे कि 500 और 1000 के नोट बंद हो जायेंगे और 2000 के नोट जारी होंगे। इसी साल 1 अप्रैल में गुजरात के एक समाचार-पत्र में तथा 8 अप्रैल को टाइम्स ऑपफ इंडिया में यह ख़बर छपी कि 500 और 1000 के नोट बंद किए जा सकते हैं। इस प्रकार की ख़बरें और भी कुछ अख़बारों में आयी थीं। स्वयं आरबीआई के आंकड़े कहते हैं कि सितंबर 2016 में बैंकों में जमा होने वाले पैसों में रिकॉर्ड उछाल आया है जिसका वृद्धि दर 5 प्रतिशत है। पिछले तीन महीनों में बैंकों में 5 लाख करोड़ से अधिक पैसे जमा किए गए हैं। भेद खुल जाने के बाद वित्तमंत्री अरूण जेटली ने कहा कि यह पैसा 7वां वेतन आयोग के बाद लोगों को मिले अतिरिक्त पैसे हैं। जबकि इस वेतन आयोग में अतिरिक्त पैसा महज़ 34 हज़ार करोड़ रुपये ही है। सब जानते हैं कि भाजपा की पश्चिम बंगाल इकाई के खाते में 3 करोड़ रुपये मोदी के नोटबंदी की घोषणा के कुछ घंटों पहले जमा कराया गया। मामला बिल्कुल साफ है कि मोदी सरकार ने बड़े कार्पोरेट्स और राजनीतिक रूप से अपने करीबी लोगों और काले धनखोरों को पहले ही आगाह कर दिया था।
  3. कुछ महीनों पहले, जब पनामा पेपर्स ने खुलासा हुआ तो बहुत सारे उद्योगपति, अभिनेता और औद्योगिक घराने अपने काले धन को सफेद बनाने के लिए गैर कानूनी व्यावसायिक गतिविध्यिों में संलिप्त पाए गए। वैसे अनेक रास्ते और चोर दरवाज़े को सरकार ने उनके लिए आज भी खोल के रखा हुआ है।
  4. मंदिरों में दान देने की कोई अधिकतम सीमा निर्धारित ही नहीं है, इसलिए काला धन इन मंदिरों को दान के रूप में दिया जा सकता है और वे मंदिर पुराने नोटों को बड़ी आसानी से नए नोटों में बदल देंगे और अपना कमीशन लेकर उस दान करने वाले को फिर उसका पैसा वापस कर सकते हैं।
  5. हाल में सरकार ने ‘एंटी करप्शन एक्ट’ में बदलाव लाकर इस प्रावधन को जोड़ दिया है कि सीबीआई अब बगैर सरकारी आदेश के किसी भी सरकारी अधिकारी पर भ्रष्टाचार के मामलों की जांच नहीं कर सकती। अर्थात् सरकार से राजनीतिक संपर्क बनाए रखने वाले और उसकी चमचागिरी करने वाले भ्रष्ट अधिकारियों पर अब कार्रवाई नहीं की जा सकती। वे बिना किसी डर के अपने काले धन को बना और बचा सकते हैं।
  6. आज जब 2000 के नोट को प्रचलन में लाया गया है तो इससे क्या काले धन का संग्रह और अधिक आसान नहीं हो जाएगा!
  7. साथियों, यह काला धन बनता कहां से है? इसकी गंगोत्री क्या है? दरअसल मोदी सरकार (और इससे पहले की कांग्रेस सरकार) जिस प्रकार देश के प्राकृतिक संसाधनों को कौड़ी के दाम पर अडानी-अंबानी जैसे कॉर्पोरेट्स को खरबों का मुनाफा कमाने को देती है, नीतियों को बड़े कॉपोरेट्स के हित में बनाया और बदला जाता है, कॉर्पोरेट्स को टैक्स में लाखों करोड़ों की छूट दी जाती है – ये ही हैं काला धन बनने का मुख्य श्रोत। उन्हीं नीतियों पर चलते हुए अगर सरकार काला धन ख़त्म करने की बात करती है तो यह चुनावी जुमला और छलावा से अधिक कुछ नहीं है!

 

असल में निशाना किसे बनाया जा रहा है इस नोटबंदी का-

  1. चुनाव से पूर्व स्वयं नरेंद्र मोदी ने अपने भाषणों में कई बार यह बात कही कि देश का पैसा काला धन के रूप में विदेश में जमा है। सरकार बनाने के बाद वे इसे देश में लायेंगे और हर नागरिक के खाते में 15 लाख रुपये डाले जायेंगे। लेकिन आज उन्हें कौन-सी ऐसी दिव्यदृष्टि मिल गई है कि उन्हें सारा काला धन गरीब जनता, छोटे व्यापारी और महिलाओं-बुजुर्गों की जमा पूंजी में ही दिखने लगा है! दरअसल सरकार ने काले धन को न लाने की इच्छा और इसपर जनता के दबाव और गुस्से को ‘रिलीज’ करने की धूर्त साजि़श रचकर इस नोटबंदी का सहारा लिया है। आज देश की मेहनतकश आबादी अपने सारे काम को छोड़कर बैंकों और एटीएम के सामने लाइन में खड़े होने को मजबूर हैं, जबकि लूट का पैसा सहेजे काले धन वाले इत्मीनान के साथ बैठे हैं।
  2. अर्थव्यवस्था की कुल मुद्रा का 86%, 500 और 1000 के नोटों के रूप में है। देश की वयस्क जनसंख्या की आधी से अधिक आबादी के पास अपना बैंक खाता नहीं है। ऊपर से बहुत तो ऐसे हैं जो अपने खाते का प्रयोग ही नहीं करते। ऐसे में बूढ़े लोग, महिलाएं जिन्होंने बहुत परिश्रम से अपने गाढ़े दिनों के लिए बचत किये थे, वे प्रताड़ना के शिकार हो रहे हैं। दूरदराज और गांव के लोगों को समझ में नहीं आ रहा है कि वे क्या करें, ख़ासकर किसान इस फैसले की तबाही को झेल रहे हैं। पूरे देश में हाहाकार मचा हुआ है। इस नोटबंदी के चलते अब तक 25 लोगों की मौत हो चुकी है। मोदी साहब जिस नोटबंदी को ‘सर्जिकल स्ट्राईक’ कह रहे हैं क्या इसका निशाना अपने ही देश के गरीब-मेहनतकश लोगों को नहीं बना दिया गया है! मंच पर प्रकट मोदी का दुख घडि़याली प्रवृत्ति का है और जिसे वे जनता द्वारा कष्ट उठाना कह रहे हैं वह लोगों की जान गंवाना हो गया है!
  3. जापान में अपने भाषण के दौरान प्रधनमंत्री मोदी ने नोटबंदी के चलते देश में रूक जा रही शादियों पर व्यंग्य कसा। जबकि कर्नाटक के चर्चित खनन माफिया और भाजपा के पूर्व मंत्री रहे जनार्दन रेड्डी (रेड्डी बंधुओं में से एक) की पुत्री की शादी में कोई कमी नहीं हुई। 50,000 अतिथियों का इंतजाम, 25 हेलीपैड की व्यवस्था और तकरीबन 500 करोड़ का कुल खर्च! किस एटीएम और बैंक की लाइन में लगे थे बेल्लारी बंधु? कहा जा रहा है कि ये पैसा तो उनके चेक के द्वारा निकाला गया था। जी! चेक तो उनलोगों के पास भी है जो दिन भर लाइन में खड़े होकर 4000 की रकम ही निकाल पाते हैं। बहुत साफ है कि इस नोटबंदी से काले धनखोरों को कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ा है।

 

तब यह सबकुछ किसलिए?

  1. 500 और 1000 का नोट बंद करके 2000 का नोट जारी होने से खुल्ला पैसे की कमी के कारण छोटे लेन-देन में बहुत समस्या आ रही है। इस तरह की मात्रा का लेन-देन सिर्फ ‘मॉल’ जैसी बड़ी दुकानों में ही संभव हो पायेगा। यह योजना अर्थव्यवस्था को नकदी विहीन अर्थव्यवस्था की ओर ले जाएगी। इससे बड़े मील मालिकों, बहुराष्ट्रीय व्यापारियों, बड़े खाद्य व्यापारियों तथा रेस्तरां मालिकों को ही फायदा मिलेगा जो नगदी विहीन भुगतान स्वीकार कर सकते हैं।
  2. मोदी ने नोटबंदी के बाद ऑनलाइन पेमेंट के लिए ‘पेटीएम’ (PayTM) जैसी कंपनी को बड़े पैमाने पर प्रचारित किया। इस कंपनी के सबसे अधिक शेयर चीन के ‘अलीबाबा’ कंपनी के पास है। हाल में मोदी भक्तों द्वारा चीनी सामानों का बहिष्कार कर देशभक्ति निभाने के मंसूबे को भी ‘साहेब’ ने धक्का पहुँचाया है ! ख़ैर! यह प्रकरण इस मायने में दिलचस्प है कि छः महीने पहले आरबीआई ने भी इसी प्रकार का ‘सिंगल विन्डो ऑनलाइन पेमेंट’ के लिए अपना ऐप लॉन्च किया है तब देश के प्रधनमंत्री नोटबंदी की आड़ में किसी निजी कंपनी को किस साहस के साथ प्रचारित कर रहे हैं!
  3. इस नए नियम से अब तक बैंकों में दो लाख करोड़ रु से अधिक की राशि जमा हो चुकी है और जिसकी निकासी के लिए सरकार ने पचास दिनों का समय मांगा है। ये पचास दिन जनता के कष्ट के लिए काफी हो न हो, बड़े कॉर्पोरेट्स के लिए ये काफी है। इन धन्नासेठों ने सरकारी खजाने से पैसे चूसकर उन्हें लगभग खाली कर दिया था। बैंकों पर NPA (नॉन परफॉर्मिंग एसेट), अर्थात् बैंकों से लिए गए उधर को वापस नहीं करने की स्थिति का दबाव बढ़ते जाने से अब बैंकों की ऐसी स्थिति नहीं रह गई थी कि वह बड़े कार्पोरेट्स को और अधिक कर्ज दे सके। इस नोटबंदी ने देश की जनता को अपने सारे पैसे बैंक में जमा कर देने को मजबूर कर दिया। अब इस नई हरियाली को चरने का मौका सरकार उन्हें मुहैया करवायेगी। संभव है हमारी इस जमा पूंजी को डकार कर एकाध और माल्या उड़न-छू हो जाए।
  4. 16 नवंबर को ही एसबीआई ने 63 बड़े पूंजीपतियों के कर्ज को माफ कर देने की घोषणा कर दी जिससे 7,000 करोड़ रुपये सदा के लिए इन डिफॉल्टर्स की तिजोरी में छोड़ दिए गए। इसमें विजय माल्या का 1200 करोड़ रुपया भी माफ हो गया। ग़रीब जनता के पैसे को बैंक में रखवाकर उन्हें अडानियों-अंबानियों और माल्याओं में वितरण करने का ‘देशभक्त’ पैंतरा है नोटबंदी का यह फरमान!

 

साथियों, भाजपा द्वारा गरीब जनता की गाढ़ी कमाई पर किये गए हमले और अर्थव्यवस्था में पैदा की गयी भारी अराजकता के खिलाफ एकजुट होकर लड़ना ही हमारे सामने एकमात्र विकल्प है। अपने चुनावी वायदों के हर मोर्चे पर असफल मोदी सरकार के इस नये पाखंड का हर स्तर पर पर्दाफाश किया जाना चाहिए।