Article 371- J- : Expectations of the people

Article 371- J- :  Expectations of the people

Affirmative action to protect the interests of Hyderabad Karnataka region has resulted in an Amendment to the Article 371-J of the Indian Constitution. It seems to be the first step towards the emancipation of the area that seemed to be perpetually backward. The underlying principle behind the Amendment is that the central and state governments should take equal responsibility for the development of this backward region.

Like many things in public discourse, the amendment seems to be an issue that is much talked about without being understood clearly.

The amendment is a complex issue with several undertones. But on the surface, it hopes to achieve three things- equitable distribution of resources between all regions of the state, fill gaps in human resource development and infuse more funds to the backward region from the union and state governments.

The most important of course is uniform development of human resource. This should be achieved by providing regional reservation in education and employment. It should address the problem of vacancies in government departments. Finally, it should make sure the region gets some public investment in vital areas like education, health, and employment generation.

So what do the people expect? They want good education and jobs for their children. They want the state government to focus on the backward district and ensure good governance. They also want some development schemes and welfare programs to address the problem of wealth disparity. This could be done by making it easier for more people to create wealth, coupled with progressive taxation.

A time tested method of ensuring equal opportunity in education and employment is by scheduling reserved quotas. The Constitution was amended only to create an exception to the rule of equality and to allow such protective discrimination.
This time, the determining identity would be geographical and not social.
The government needs to fix a clear and transparent domicile policy to let people benefit from the categorization. Second, no government order has specified the source, format or extent of additional funding to the region. The union government needs to clarify this. And soon.

A glaring mistake of the Amendment is that the benefits of reservation are limited only to the region. They do not extend to the state or other parts of India. This is not so in the Telangana model. Though the state government has formulated a rule to provide a pan –Karnataka quota of 8 per cent reservation to Hyderabad Karnataka residents, some have argued this would not stand scrutiny in a court of law. Ideally, the government should have created a Constitutionally valid 20 per cent state quota and 80 per cent regional quota for HK residents. By this, for example, they could get 80 per cent of seats in a college in the region and 20 per cent of the seats in a college outside HK districts. The 20 per cent is equal to the region’s share in the state’s population. This seems to have given a go by.

The second is the argument that Bellary district that was part of British India, need not have been clubbed with the Nizam districts of HK region. It did not suffer from the historical backwardness that others did, without doubt. Equating an unequal with the equal is to continue inequality, to quote from the Mandal commission report. Since there are no sub regional quotas, youth from Bellary where the quality of education is higher, are likely to out beat those from other districts. This remains a real threat.

A doubt expressed by proponents of decentralization is whether the dependence on the central government would go against principle of decentralization and weaken the federal structure. The government should implement the 371-J provisions without scope to centralization of power or authority.

Another upsetting argument is that the Amendment is likely to make HK region a landlocked demographical island, reducing the exchange of people, ideas or practices with other parts of the state. Demands by the state government employees for the creation of a sub state cadre point to such a possibility. If that were to happen, the medicine could turn out to be more fatal than the disease. This is best avoided.

Finally, at a philosophical plane, it may all be about the attitude.

Just after independence, we were warned by David Mc Clelland who studied human behaviour that success or failure is in the mind. Dr Mc Clelland who conducted experiments in neighbouring Andhra concluded that societies that promotes the need for achievement or entrepreneurship, tend to do better than others. In his books Need for Achievement and Achieving society, the American Psychologist urged us to sow the seeds of enterprise among our youth.

If there are no focused and time bound programmes to do this, other welfare or development programmes could achieve little. The governments in Bangalore and New Delhi should take this up at a mission mode. Making each one a job creator seems to do more good to us that all other ideas, currently being discussed.


Paper written for a seminar by Hampi Kannada University, Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries and Prajnya Kanoonu Salaha Samiti, Gulbarga.

By Rishikesh Bahadur Desai, Reporter, The Hindu

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Reinventing Secularism

Reinventing Secularism 

I wrote this for a recent seminar

Good morning everyone

Firstly, I thank the organizers for having thought of such a subject for the seminar.

These are trying times and we need more such efforts. Forces that want to disrupt harmony are speaking in voices so loud that it could tear out our ear drums. If we don’t speak in whispers at least, we have no right to dream of a just society. As they say, if you don’t participate, you have no right to complain- whether it is elections or debates on social issues.

We will consider the definitions first and then look at how these principles work. Later, we shall examine the religion- secularism debate.

Well then, what is secularism?  Contrary to public opinion, the term does not relate just to religion. It is a very broad term that encompasses several rights and privileges that make us human. Simply put, to be secular is putting your faith in equality while communalism is to believe in power play. A secular person realizes that all human beings are born equal and discrimination is man -made. A communal individual, however, believes that might is right and injustice arising out of prejudice or propaganda is justified.

By expansion, therefore, secularism means equal rights for human beings of all castes and classes and women and minorities. It means a society where the mainstream groups do not discriminate against marginalized social, economic, political and religious groups or individuals.

If this sounds academic, then let us look at these examples that deal with the three levels of discrimination- caste, class and gender.

Caste in Iron Moulds

The first is the idea that communalism is the extension of our deep rooted caste feelings. This is an offshoot of territorialism or exclusivity. One illustration can be found in events in Karnataka and elsewhere where youth from deprived communities like Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes (SC/STs) or Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have assaulted Muslims or other minorities and damaged their places of worship.

The perpetrators of such violence don’t seem to realize that they have been victims of caste based discrimination for thousands of years. Therefore, discrimination that is born out of caste extends to religion, without the individual realizing it. The solution probably lies in Psychology and it would probably help if the social and psychological issues are tackled together.

An interesting phenomenon related to this is minorities tending to side with the oppressors.

Here is something to illustrate this point. In a recent case of caste violence in a north Karnataka village, some OBC youth beat up members of the Dalit colony. The Dalit youth suffered social boycott for over a month. The upper caste land lords refused to hire men and women from the Mahar community as agriculture labourers. In all these events, including the assault, the upper caste youth were supported by some local Muslim youth.

It took several peace committee meetings and two rounds of counseling by leaders of a Muslim organization, did they realize that what they were doing was not fair.

Lack of Class

I keep saying India’s problem is not just `caste’ or `class’. It is CLASTE. I had a friend whose father was a bus conductor. Adversity proved a challenge to my friend who worked hard and passed the IAS examination. He married a rich man’s daughter. One day, he gave me a lecture about how Indians were lazy and incapable of moving up the socio-economic ladder. My reply was something like this: - ``You are exactly right. It is like daughters of bus drivers don’t have the vision or the courage to marry sons of bus conductors who get into the IAS’’. It took him some time to appreciate the joke.

Is It A Man’s World Anymore?

Another thing I fail to understand is why so many women tend to support Hindutva forces. ( It is a different matter that man has never succeeded in understanding women.)  But then, it is intriguing why victims of harassment end up supporting the oppressor. You can see examples in Mangalore where right wing vigilante groups beat up girls in a pub and a home stay and where Hindu girls and Muslims boys routinely get beaten up for talking to each other. However, in those areas, women turn in large numbers in rallies organized by right wing groups like the Bajrang Dal, VHP or the BJP. This is even true of programmes supported by all -male clubs like the RSS.

So,

1. It is not difficult to see that discrimination on the basis of caste, class or gender is ingrained in us.
2. Even the victims of oppression are not free from this. This is what hurts me. It is the biggest piece of cognitive dissonance for me in understanding discrimination and deprivation.

We will discuss the second point first.

My questions are simple

1. Whether the victims fail to understand the designs of the oppressors at all?
2. Is it ignorance or lack of awareness of their political and human rights that makes them do so?
3. Or is it fear? Are they so afraid of the oppressor and his power that they have no real alternative?
4. Or do they do it knowingly?

To Live And Let Die

It is here that we come to the important concept of `Patriarchal Bargain’. This means people tend to exploit an existing system and benefit from it, without bothering to try and change it despite knowing fully well that it is unjust.

It is more of a strategy, by ambitious individuals who manipulate the system to one’s best advantage, but leave the system unaffected and intact, with all its faults. You see that in a greedy businessmen who thinks ``What is in it for me? I don’t care what it does to others’’.

We have met such people. It is just that we don’t that what they are engaged in is called a `Patriarchal Bargain’. From the nice guy next door who pays lesser stamp duty on the site he recently bought by producing a certificate of under valuation to the Hollywood actress who shoots a nude music video as it brings money, without worrying about what her feminist friends will say about it – they are all benefiting from Patriarchal Bargain. The son of the bus conductor who became an IAS officer, but did not consider marrying a bus driver’s daughter, lies somewhere in between.

Your neighbour who bought the site defends the under valuation by saying the tax rates are too high. But he has never gone on strike seeking a reduction in taxes. The film star fully understands the concepts of feminism. She is willing to hit the streets for protests against sexual assault by men. But when it comes to her personal life, the lifestyle matters more than ideology.

Social psychologists and political scientists who have examined the issue say proactive efforts at increasing the awareness levels of the victim would help. I am willing to give them a second chance.

What about the oppressor? Here again, increased awareness should help. In a few thousand years, it has made us self respecting human beings from cave men who acted like beasts.

Soul Surfing

Some people tend to confuse religiosity with communalism. A similar argument was made in a case before the Supreme Court that asked the government to stop paying Haj subsidies. The Supreme Court that has acted as our conscience keeper for all these decades, threw out the argument. It upheld the interpretation that secularism is not anti –religion, but a condition where the relationship between man and man is not based on their religious affiliations.

As they say there are two varieties of secularism- that of Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins or that of Mahatma Gandhi and Moulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Ideologically, I might be inclined more towards Darwin and Dawkins, but as I grow older, I have come to highly respect Gandhi and Azad for what they did.

The Life Of Mai

I will end with a story. Nearly a century ago, a girl was born in an upper caste family. She was called Mai. She could not go to school but learnt to read and write. At the age of 12, she was married off to a rich landlord’s son 300 kilometres away from her native village. Typical of his times, her husband was the proverbial young restless rebel. He had had rebelled against the British and went around dreaming and speaking of a revolution.

Mai brought up her six children with almost no help from her husband. She learnt to spin on the Charakha and weave her own sarees. She set up a cooperative bank for women in the village. She kept fasting twice a week to save food for the poor. The woman who had never met or spoken to any person other than those from her own caste, started addressing the untouchables as Harijans. She began feeding them in the backyard of her house before she had lunch.

She had never heard of Darwin or Dawkins. But she had heard of Gandhi.

Mai was my grand mother. A few years ago, at the age of 95, she fell down while working in the kitchen. She died a few hours later.

For decades, she kept growing and changing and adapting. My grand father who kept running away from the British police, came home rarely. But when he came, he told her stories of a Gujarati lawyer in Delhi called Mohandas Gandhi and his friends like Azad Sahab. That resulted in her becoming a large hearted, progressive and kind soul. Interestingly, it was my grandfather who taught me to respect Sanskrit and Urdu equally.

If a deeply religious person like Gandhi could influence a woman who had never seen or heard him, that was because of the power of his faith. I am sure her faith played a role in it too. Millions across the world have undergone a change of heart due to the influence of Prophets, saints and reformers. Most of them were believers. That is why I believe in the great power of religion to make us secular human beings.

A deeply religious non -believer

I keep saying that ``I may not believe in God, but I believe in his fan club’’. I believe in the power of such fan clubs to make this place a better World.

I began by trying to reinvent secularism. But secularism is like a wheel. You might reinvent it several times. You may add spokes, gears or even computerized breaking systems. You could use them to run bigger, better, faster vehicles. But the wheel remains essentially the same. So is secularism. Equality remains the soul of secularism. This is true for all time to come.

I am glad to know that the organizers have invited speakers of all faiths to this Seminar. It is highly laudable. I believe the responsibility to retain cultural diversity and harmony in a society lies primarily with the majority. This is true of India as of everywhere else.

Thank you

Why organise a Kannada sammelana?

Vishwa Kannada Sammelan begins today

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‘The Sammelan is to remind ourselves that life is not as bland as we think it to be'

Colourful celebration: A Pookare display for Vishwa Kannada Sammelan at the District Stadium in Belgaum on Thursday. — Photo: Special Arrangement

What is the essence of the Vishwa Kannada Sammelan? As Belgaum city prepares to host the three-day cultural festival from Friday, there is a need to reflect on the need for such an event and its possible outcomes.

“I think it is to celebrate Kannadatana, or Kannadatva, or all that is associated with being a Kannadiga,'' says Chiranjeev Singh, retired additional chief secretary, who is considered the architect of the first Vishwa Kannada Sammelan in Mysore in 1985. “Just like there is something called Indianness or Panjabiyat, there is Kannadatana. It is a wonderful bundle of history, cultural heritage, art, literature, music and socio-economic progress. It is a mixture of emotion and understanding about our identity. It expands my understanding of the meaning of the Kannada-speaking world, which is not limited by geographical boundaries or time,” Mr. Singh said.

Event of fun

Acclaimed film director Girish Kasaravalli calls it an event of fun and joy. “Holding such an event should definitely contribute to shaping our identity as a linguistic and cultural group. The feeling that we are all one will be strengthened. I don't expect anything creative to come out of it. But then, I surely regard it as a celebration for all those whose lives are touched by the language or culture of this State. It should lead to harmony and love among all of us,” Mr. Kasaravalli said.

Full of joy

The Sammelan is to remind ourselves that life is not as bland as we think it to be, says national award winning sculptor Manayya Badiger. “Life is full of joy and colour. We need to pause and celebrate life. The Sammelan will help us in this,” he said.

Theatre and cine personality Mandya Ramesh feels the Sammelan will help foster a common identity of the people who reside in the State and those who stay outside, but are connected to Kannada in some way.

“In these days of changing culture and language, we need a wholesome cultural identity. The Sammelan will help in this. Organising the Sammelan in Belgaum is all the more important as it makes people in the border areas feel that they belong to the mainstream,” he said.

“I am happy that the government is organising a Vishwa Kannada Sammelan. But I would be happier if the government spent as much money and energy on issues faced by people in neglected border taluks affected by poverty, illiteracy and lack of development,” says pro-Kannada agitator Shivasharnappa Wali.

No expectations

However, there are some who don't expect much from the Sammelan. Rangayana director and linguist Lingadevaru Halemane said that he does not expect a positive impact from the event.

“I think it will provide a platform for exhibiting the achievements of the government. People will objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of the government. Intellectuals may discuss about the challenges before Kannada and suggest possible solutions. But I don't believe the government will do anything concrete to implement the recommendations,” he said.

‘No need for the Sammelan'

“I don't think there is any need for such a Sammelan. Its not just me, there are several tribals, poor farmers and labourers who don't see the need,” says writer Abdul Rasheed.

He was among the 70 arrested for protesting against the first Vishwa Kannada Sammelan in Mysore in 1985.

“If you ask me whether we need a Sammelan for the survival of Kannada, I will say no. This was my answer 25 years ago and it has not changed now,” he said.

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The first Vishwa Kannada Sammelan was organised in Mysore in 1985

‘In these days of changing culture and language, we need a wholesome cultural identity'

Squash and Skating in Bidar

Bidar to get squash court, skating rink

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Inspection:Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer and Superintendent of PoliceK. Thiyagarajan speaking during the district stadium committee meeting in Bidar on Wednesday. —Photo: Gopichand T.

: Bidar would get a squash court and a skating rink at the district indoor stadium premises, Deputy Commissioner P.C. Jaffer said on Wednesday.

He was speaking at the district stadium committee meeting here.

A youth empowerment and counselling centre would also be set up by the Department of Youth Services and Sports, he said.

He scrutinised the accounts of expenditure for the last year and said there were several mismatches in the amounts spent by various wings of the Department of Sports and the details submitted to the committee.

He remarked that the balance sheets submitted were not in order and instructed officials to submit audited accounts in the proper format.

He instructed the officials to complete the pending works in the indoor stadium like storm-water drains around the stadium, installing a high-mast lamp and taking up landscaping.

Zilla Panchayat CEO Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Superintendent of Police K. Thiayagarajan, and assistant director of youth services and sports H. Bharashetty were present.

Cashew cultivation in Bidar

Farmer’s determination pays off

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‘We have cashew planted on over 150 acres in the district now’

Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of the Bidar Zilla Panchayat, at a cashew farm in Malchapur of Bidar district.

Vidya Sagar Patil still remembers the reactions of his neighbours when he decided to plant cashew on his family’s land at Malchapur four years ago.

“They thought I was mad. Some were blunt enough to tell me to my face, while others just gave me a weird look. After a while I stopped reasoning it out with them and went about my work,” says the farmer.

Today, Mr. Patil sells his produce in markets across the country. His story has inspired 15 other farmers to convert wasteland into lush cashew fields.

Most of the 200-acre land near the village is used to mine lateritic bricks and no crops are grown there.

Mr. Patil was inspired by a fact he read in a newspaper early on, that cashew grew well in red soil. The land around the village being mostly red laterite, he decided to experiment. With a group of Malchapur residents, he went on a tour to coastal Maharashtra where cashew is grown.

“We also toured cashew-based industries in Goa. We were convinced we could benefit from this move, and brought back a lorry-load of cashew saplings,” the farmer said.

They got the first crop after two years. “We sold half a lorry of cashew kernels to buyers in Maharashtra. Our yield doubled in the third year. We are hoping that our harvest will increase even further this October,” said Prem Sagar Patil, who planted cashew on 3.5 acres.

Outside help

According to him, farmers will be able to get back their investment of around Rs. 1.5 lakh per acre in four years. Resource persons from the College of Horticulture helped them manage the farm.

“We started out by ourselves, but the college helped us out whenever we faced problems,” says Sharanappa Patil, another farmer.

The government is also willing to lend a helping hand, according to Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, zilla panchayat Chief Executive Officer.

“We are considering setting up a processing plant with contribution from farmers,” he told The Hindu .

Requests

The Chief Executive Officer added that he was also examining requests from farmers for watershed development near cashew farms, installation of solar–powered fences and subsidies for sprinklers and micro-irrigation equipment. “We have cashew on over 150 acres in the district now.”

Considering the fact that three of the five taluks in Bidar have red lateritic soil, we will try to expand the crop’s coverage, Mr. Ghosh said.

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Reserve seats in proportion to population

‘Provide reservation in proportion to population’

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A delegation from the Bidar Chamber of Commerce and Industries has urged the State government to provide reservation for people of the Hyderabad Karnataka region in proportion to their population in the State.

“As much as 21 per cent of the population of Karnataka lives in Hyderabad Karnataka districts. Therefore, the quantum of reservation should be 21 per cent, in proportion to their population, B.G. Shetkar, BCCI president, said in a memorandum submitted to the Cabinet subcommitte headed by H.K. Patil, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, in Gulbarga on Monday.

Students from these six districts should be provided reservation in higher education institutions outside the region, he said. According to him, the present provision for reservation is inadequate as it speaks of reservation only within Hyderabad Karnataka districts.

It should instead be based on the Telangana model where students from Telangana get reservation in higher education institutions outside Telangana districts.

He said that a similar pattern should be followed in recruitment also. All posts of the State cadre should have provision of 21 per cent reservation for candidates from Hyderabad Karnataka. Similarly, 79 per cent reservation should be provided to Hyderabad Karnataka candidates in divisional, district and taluk-level cadres, he said

Why rice? Why not Jowar or Ragi?

Why harp on rice alone, why not jowar or ragi?’

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Experts, farmers’ organisations suggest distribution of other foodgrains through PDS

While discussions on the Public Distribution System in the State has centred around providing rice at Re. 1 per kg to BPL families, experts and farmers’ groups said the government should procure wheat, jowar, ragi and minor millets from farmers and distribute them at ration shops.

They also felt it would benefit farmers if the government buys grains directly from farmers at the district-level.

“This is a golden opportunity for the government to help farmers and the common man,” said Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leader Veerbhushan Nandagave. “If the government were to replace the word rice with jowar or ragi, it would save the lives of lakhs of farmers. It would also address the issue of malnutrition,” he said. “We have been urging successive governments to include jowar and ragi in the public distribution system. We had recently sent a memorandum to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to distribute minor millets through ration shops,” he said.

Experts support decentralised procurement and diversification in foodgrains. “Local procurement is a good idea. So is diversification in grain distribution,” said Abdul Aziz, professor emeritus of the Institute of Social and Economic Change. Local procurement makes great economic sense as it reduces the cost of transport and storage. Guarantee of a minimum price by the government would encourage farmers to grow jowar or ragi on larger tracts of land, Prof. Aziz said.

He also argued against diversification for socio-cultural reasons. “The government should not force people who are accustomed to eat a particular grain into switching to other grains,” added Srinivas Kakkilaya, a Mangalore-based physician.

“Successive governments have neglected jowar,” a senior scientist and sorghum breeder with the university of agriculture science, Dharwad, said. “Area under jowar has fallen to 10 lakh hectares from 18 lakh hectares in the last ten years. We have been appealing to the government that this trend can be arrested if they can procure the grain for a minimum of Rs. 15 per kg. Then, more farmers will venture into jowar,” he said.

However, Maruti Manpade, Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha president, said though it was a good idea, it would be difficult to implement. “It is easier to procure rice because paddy is grown on large tracts of land and the processing industry is concentrated in a few towns,” he said.

Politics involved

According to him, procurement is a highly politicised process. “The foodgrain merchants lobby will oppose any move that could reduce its profits. Rice millers and traders are already opposing levy collection. If the government were to try to procure jowar or ragi, the traders are bound to create obstacles. They could also create deliberate shortages and push up prices of these grains, Mr. Manpade said.

Harsha Gupta, Commissioner, Food and Civil Supplies, said the government is examining proposals for local procurement and distribution of grains other than rice.