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‘Anti-terror laws should be scrapped’: Arun Ferreira

Activist, alleged Naxal Arun Ferreira feels that special laws like POTA and charges like sedition should be done away with.
by Nidhi Qazi

He was jailed for four years on charges of being a Naxal operative, then released after no substantial evidence emerged to give credence to the charges against him. Arun Ferreira, who admitted to having Naxal literature in his possession, speaks freely about his prison experiences, and is forthcoming with his views on the Government’s anti-terror laws and the way it treats its prisoners, among other thing.

“Arrests have become a trend, an unhealthy one for our democracy,” Arun said as a guest speaker for the workshop ‘State, Displacement and Naxalism: Is the Republic under siege?’  organised by St Xavier Institute of Social Research. Speaking on the topic, Arun gave his opinions and narrated his experiences to explain how the development paradigm of India is class-ridden. “Development has diverse interpretations in a society comprising classes with antagonistic class interests,” he said.

He also spoke about the “lop-sided development” that has been taking place since independence. He said, “The State, ruled by the most powerful, economically-dominant class also becomes the politically-dominant class and thus acquires a new means of exploiting the oppressed classes. Thus, development serves its (powerful) class interests.”

More importantly, he pointed out the response of the State in the case of people’s struggle against development that harms the greater majority, through examples he gave on special laws to the state of our prisons, to human rights violation, to the response of the State.

“Special laws like POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activities) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UA(P)A] are unnecessary. They are meant to victimise people and activists and thus suppress voices,” Arun said. Banning organisations, arresting people on charges such as sedition and using special laws show “the State’s intolerance for dissent,” he added.

Prison anecdotes

Arun was released from jail last year, after serving four years. During the talk, he had several experiences – both torture-related and otherwise – to share. Since he has always been an avid cartoonist, he drew a lot of cartoons while being incarcerated, which mirrored the reality around him in prison, while also maintaining a personal diary.

He spoke of punishments inside prison and how prison authorities behaved with inmates. “They used to beat us on the soles of our feet. That is deliberate done, as beating the soles doesn’t leave behind marks. Thus we don’t have any evidence to put in front of the Court,” he said.

He mentioned a few ways in which he was tortured, such as when ice would be put in his underwear, or when he would be given solitary confinement in the anda barrack for a year. “Maharashtra is the only State in the country where undertrials are forced to wear uniforms. In other places, these are meant for the convicted only,” he informed.

He also said that he was kept in company with death-row convicts, as the State saw him as a “security threat”. He said, “One of the pretexts on which I was arrested was the literature on Naxalism in my possession.”

Speaking on what goes on inside prisons, he said, “They are overcrowded, they violate human rights and of late, they are seeing an increase in the number of political prisoners.” He referred to the most recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, alleging that it underreported the number of prison deaths. “In reality, inmates are injected on the way to hospital and then they are declared dead-on-arrival (DOA), thus signaling death outside the prison, and thus projecting no prison death,” he said. He also added that high walls of the prison were a strategic move to prevent the noise of jailers’ beatings from going out of the prison.

On Naxalism

On the issue of Naxalism being a security threat, Arun said, “I do not think Naxalism is a threat to the Indian people. In fact, Naxals have stood up to resist mega-projects and potential displacement of tribals. However, it is definitely a challenge to the pro-corporate development accompanied with MoUs for mineral extraction and SEZs. It is the question for the State to decide on whose side they choose to stand. If it is with the corporates, as it seems to be, then they would be viewed as a threat.”

He was also of the view that “laws cannot be seen as the only solution to combat an insurgency. There has to be a drastic change in the development model currently pursued by the State. Only such socio-economic and political solutions can bring about a lasting change to eliminate the need for the people to take up to insurgency.” Further, “as a first step, I feel that the present special anti-terror laws such as UA(P)A or AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Protection Act) should be immediately scrapped,” he said.

(Feature image courtesy rediff.com)

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Rural journalism goes Web 2.0

The Khabar Lahariya newspaper, born in the Hindi hinterland and run entirely by women, launched its website in Mumbai yesterday.
by Nidhi Qazi

What happens when a group of 40 women journalists come to the city for the launch of online edition of their newspaper Khabar Lahariya? A platform full of experiences, energy and enthusiasm opens up for discussion.

Wednesday witnessed women empowerment when the all-women’s team of the publication travelled from the districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Mumbai. From impact journalism to personal histories and journeys, they all had something to say.

Take the case of Meera, Editor of the paper, and who hails from Banda district, UP. She narrated how she is now at ease with the big machine that is the computer. In her own words, “I never thought I could operate this machine. In fact, I always used to think that something would go wrong if I touch it. But that fear is gone. We use computers to search for information, making pages and what not.”

For the uninitiated, Khabar Lahariya is a weekly newspaper produced by women from the marginalised sections of society. It is the brainchild of Nirantar, an organisation that works towards empowering women through education.

Launched in 2002 in Chitrakoot district of UP, the newspaper has expanded to Bihar and today runs six editions. The editions are from five districts of UP – Chitrakoot, Banda, Lucknow and Benares and Sitamarhi district in Bihar. The newspaper is published in regional languages such as Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundeli, Bajjika and Hindustani. With a readership of 80,000, the paper has its presence in 600 villages and sells for Rs 2.

With its print edition well in place, what made the newspaper launch online despite the fact that villages don’t have easy Internet accessibility? “The idea behind the online edition is to not just spread the newspaper, but the phenomenon that Khabar Lahariya is,” said Meera. “Apart from visibility, the online edition will also provide information on various rural developments and news which the mainstream media doesn’t report much,” she adds.

Khabar Lahariya uses social media marketing as a major tool. From Facebook to Twitter, they use it all. And all this is managed by the women themselves. The reporters are given an ICT workshop which includes training in the use of the Internet.

The newspaper depends mainly on funding from such sources as the Dorabji Tata Trust and UN Democracy and Equity Fund, though a sustainable model is what they aim for in the long run. Their margin for advertising revenue is low and they also get funded through the various awards they win.

As for the recruitment of staff, the team gives out ads. “The prospective reporters are selected after a formal interview process. We then train them for a week in writing, editing, video-making, photography and page-making,” says Kavita, who joined the paper in 2002.

Short stories

For Shanti, one of the paper’s oldest reporters and who has been associated with the publication since its inception, “It’s a privilege to have travelled so far when all others from my community (she belongs to the Kol tribe of UP) haven’t even dreamed about it.” She also takes pride in the impact the paper’s stories have made. “Our efforts for three months resulted in the suspension of a police officer who refused to entertain us ‘women’ in the case of violence against a woman,” informs Shanti. It is this attitude of ‘How can women be journalists?’ that bothers people around, she adds.

Susheela, a Benares-based reporter, talks about personal issues. “My mother-in-law didn’t approve when I decided to work in 2012. She boycotted us and eventually I, my husband, three kids and husband’s grandmother had to leave our family house. But mother-in-law imposed a condition that if I give her Rs.3,000 every month, she would accept us back in the house. I refused.” For Susheela, her husband has been a big support.

For many, reporting gives a chance to explore and experience all that is around them. From MNREGA payment issues, pension hassles to civic problems, women’s issues and success stories, these women report it all.

Khabar Lahariya is now live on www.khabarlahariya.org.

(Pictures courtesy Nidhi Qazi)

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Deal with it

How about a library for slum children?

Artist Sharmila Samant’s ‘Nidus’, a mobile library for slum children, will provide free books for those who can’t buy them.
by Nidhi Qazi

Sharmila Samant is truly a people’s artist, and a very humble one, to boot. In fact, she refused to share pictures of herself, asking us instead to focus on her current project – she is building ‘Nidus’, a mobile library in Annabhau Sathe Nagar, a slum area in Mankhurd.

Sharmila is an artist who got involved with the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao (GBGB) Andolan in 2005. At the time, the last thing she had thought was that her association would last so long; not only has it lasted till date, and with several projects to her credit, she is back to doing what she does best – making people’s lives better through the arts.

And now, Nidus, The Mobile Library is waiting to start.

Nidus – the word literally means ‘seed’, but Sharmila’s plan is to make it a seed of learning – will serve the children living in the slum and “will operationalise as soon as possible,” says Sharmila. “I am in talks with the inhabitants of the area and they have been receptive to the idea. The kids of the volunteers of the GBGB Andolan have also welcomed the idea of a mobile library van as they do feel the need for a library.”

How did she come up with the idea? “The problem is that BMC school kids get free books till Class 10, but once they are through, they have to buy books. Now that for most is not affordable, so we have kids dropping out of academics. Identifying this gap, I thought of starting a library which would stock books – both academic and non-academic,” she says.

The mobile library will run inside a van and will be full of windows and displays. Sharmila is also involving other artists in her brainstorming for the design of the mobile library. She has started getting books for the library, most of them being contributed by the people she networks with. The books will be for academic purpose and leisure reading.

“A mobile library is a beautiful means of sharing of knowledge which transports and then transforms people,” adds Sharmila. Looking for funding, she is also in search of a team to run the initiative. In her words, she needs both – insiders, i.e. community people as they can provide proper need-based analysis, and outsiders as they can provide resources and help to implement the idea effectively.

Sharmila adds, “There has been a lot of emphasis on roti, kapda and makaan but what about shiksha? Had education been given due focus, the former three essentials could have been easy to acquire.”

The ultimate success of this initiative is its closing down, feels the artist. “I want that one day, the kids of the area should take control of this library and eventually it should close down. That day I will feel I have succeeded.”

Prior to this, Sharmila has designed the very innovative ‘bag desk’, which is a bag-desk: it is a  bag that unfolds into a desk for the classroom, and a charpoy at home.

“The proceeds received from Busan Biennale helped me manufacture the product I had designed.  Around 45 such bag desks were made and distributed to the students free of cost,” says Sharmila. Busan Biennale is an international arts festival intended to present contemporary art in a more accessible way to the general public.

The bag desk also had adjustable legs of aluminium, which could be adjusted according to the seating a student took; i.e. from low floor to a height. Are students using these desks still? “From what I heard, many parents sold the aluminum legs of the product to as that would have fetched them good money,” says Sharmila.

Her other project was the ‘well lamp’ in 2010, which she successfully sold at the Kala Ghoda Festival and used the proceeds to address the problem of lack of fresh water. She helped people dug up four wells and the water thus generated could be used for daily chores. “The initiative came at a time when politicians were busy wooing the vote bank. Thus the positive outcome of the initiative was that the BMC came up with as many as 150 taps for the people to use. Our project ended its utility, paving the way for better drinking conditions for the community,” says Sharmila.

To help Sharmila with her mobile library project for the children of Annabhau Nagar Slum, send us an email at editor@themetrognome.in and we’ll ask Sharmila to contact you.

(Pictures courtesy Sharmila Samant. Featured image is a file picture)

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Event

An enCounter between art and the city

Nidhi Qazi catches up with Hong Kong-based artist Clara Cheung, who creates electricity using plastic bottles, metal waste and seawater.

Artist Clara Cheung from Hong Kong sees Mumbai’s sea water, used plastic bottles and metal waste as an opportunity. And how? She uses them all to unleash the Energy of Sea- the theme for her installation work at this year’s edition of enCounters.

I catch Clara in action at Bandra’s Carter Road promenade, a hotspot for various cultural activities the city hosts. From setting up the panel for her installation to getting down to work all details, Clara is all smiles. “My work tests the idea of how sea water of Mumbai can be used to generate electricity and help people.” ‘Best of waste’ is a known practice internationally, and Clara’s work is a case in point. She uses plastic bottles, seawater, aluminium cans and copper wires to generate electricity.

A standing panel is hung with plastic bottles cut in the shape of a bowl, and painted. The copper wires and aluminium waste from the cans have been fixed inside the cups, which are filled with saline seawater from the sea. With the forces of physics and chemistry backing them, the cups emit a faint and feeble glow, thanks to the electricity produced in the tiny bulbs attached to the copper wires.

“The amount of electricity is not great but it still gives us hope that we can find alternatives all around us. We can use the existing resources and wastes to construct something that is needed,” says Clara. A curator with the C&G Artpartments, Clara is in Mumbai for the fourth edition of enCounters.

Celebrating art in the public spaces, Powerplay enCounters is a platform that brings artists closer to common people. “We want to create a connection between art, the people and their problems,” says Claudio, co-founder, ArtOxygen – the organisation behind this project.

Claudio adds, “Such events don’t aim at producing immediate outcomes. We use arts to generate curiosity among people. Through aesthetics, we want to trigger people to question their lives, surroundings, environment. They should not be satisfied with anything and everything around them.”

The week long event closes on Sunday, January 20. A collaboration of ArtOxygen and Asia Art Projects, enCounters is a Mumbai-based the art initiative. Its previous themes in the three editions were Identities, Water and Land.

During the week, various artists from India and abroad displayed their works with the theme of Energy as the backdrop. The event had a number of workshops and interactive sessions to help artists connect with the people. One such event was the floor painting by artist Wai lun Chung whose objective was to make people think from other perspectives, apart from the obvious ones.

(Pictures courtesy Nidhi Qazi)

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It’s a Mirakle!

This courier company employs hearing and speech impaired persons, thus giving them a good shot at building a stable future.
by Nidhi Qazi

It’s a pleasant morning. Mumbai is in its usual busy mode – office-goers rushing to their respective workplaces, food vendors  serving breakfast, taxiwallahs ferrying people to work, youngsters chirping at kiosks. A lot of early morning energy that the city bustles with is at display. Amidst all this, there is another place that’s as busy – the office of Mirakle Couriers.

Cut to its Churchgate branch office and one finds all the employees busy sorting couriers, Googling destinations for delivery. These are employees busy making their lives meaningful and busy building their lives by overcoming their physical weakness: hearing impairment.

Started in 2010 with just one employee, Mirakle Couriers today employs around 44 hearing and speech-impaired adults in its centres at Andheri and Churchgate. While men are allocated areas for delivering in Mumbai, women look after the sorting, data entry and record-keeping. Although there is no qualification needed, the company looks for those with a basic understanding of English.

I meet Rinku, a young chap who hails from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, who is in his late 20s. Rinku’s designated area of delivery is Nariman Point. So I set off with him on his rounds.

The moment we step out of the office, he uses sign language to explain the surrounding areas. After his explanation, I now know the LIC building, the Air India office, Nariman Point, Fort city, the various public parks, prominent office buildings, and other landmarks. In between, I offer him a pen and paper when I’m unable to understand certain things, but he makes it a point to not use the proffered materials. Instead, he tries and succeeds in expressing his point using sign language.

We reach our first destination. The receptionist and Rinku exchange smiles. The former accepts the package from Rinku, and we move to the next destination. Rinku walks swiftly, and it becomes difficult to keep pace with him. I take a deep breath and follow him. “You like Mumbai?” I ask, and Rinku nods an excited ‘yes’, explaining, “I can’t go back to my village. There is nothing to look forward to there.”

The company follows Indian sign language for all its daily transactions, ranging from pick-up, sorting according to pin codes, and delivery. The management and operations are also sign language-based.

An arts graduate, Rinku works with Mirakle six days a week. How has Mirakle changed his life? He smilingly replies, “I am confident now. I feel good about what I am doing.”

From there, we walk to some more places in the Nariman Point area, amid the hustle bustle, amid the sound of silence between Rinku and me. “When do you plan to get married?” I ask, and he chuckles. Using the signs which spell out ‘love’, he expresses, “When I find love.”

We reach some more destinations with ease. At one point, Rinku gets stuck, but only to find help in the Google Maps. He takes out his mobile phone and finds the directions to an office where he has to deliver the last courier.

Done with all the deliveries, we now head back to the office. And it’s time to say goodbye to Rinku and his colleagues.

What about the competition in the market when big players like Blue Dart, DHL exist? “We do have a very strong competition,” says Nimesh Pawar, Operations Manager, Churchgate branch. In fact not all is hunky dory when it comes to dispelling clients’ cynicism towards deaf and mute. “People do doubt if deaf people can deliver on time; whether they can deliver at all,” he adds.

But all this cynicism is countered and myths are broken as Mirakle does what it really stands for – Delivering Possibilities.

(Picture courtesy Nidhi Qazi)

 

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‘Don’t snatch our shelter’

A woman whose home has been demolished often, tells a story of constant battle with the authorities and endless devastation.
by Nidhi Qazi

Mankhurd: The year was 2004. Susheela Patel, a resident of Sathe Nagar, Mankhurd, lost her house. “Our slums were called illegal and one day, without any prior notice, they were demolished,” she said.

Ambedkar Ground: The year is 2013. The Ground was the starting point of a two-day road march which ended at Azad Maidan yesterday. The Ground bustled with the energetic sloganeering of more than a 100 protestors including slum dwellers, students and activists.

Susheela is high on energy too, as she continues to battle it out with the authorities who come, demolish homes, and go. The only difference is that this time, she is not alone. Susheela is part of a larger agitation called the ‘Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao’ Andolan (GBGB) under the aegis of the National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM).

Dressed in a sari, hair neatly plaited, the 40-something Susheela greets me with a smile, holds out her hand in an excited handshake and tells me her story with all the enthusiasm and grit of a seasoned activist. “In the last one decade, our houses have been demolished more than thrice. They (the demolitions) continue to devastate us. This is despite the repeated requests to give us notice,” she says. A part of the movement since 2004, Susheela has been there, seen that. “We are always under the fear of demolition. They (the authorities) don’t even bother to listen to us. They throw away our belongings, too.”

Susheela’s problem points to a bigger issue which the city is currently engulfed in: the State-builder nexus. Activists openly allege that Mumbai is one of the hubs of corruption perpetrated under the garb of infrastructure development projects. “The big players of this nexus include MHADA (Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority), MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority), Adarsh housing, Hiranandani group, developers in areas like Golibar, Sion-Koliwada. A number of irregularities happen in the name of slum eviction drives and slum rehabilitation projects,” a housing activist says.

The Andolan has started a renewed agitation called ‘Mumbai Ke Gareebon Ki Nayi Jung’ which began on Tuesday, the first day of this year. Susheela is one of the members at the front. “We not only want freedom from the ever-lurking fear of our houses getting demolished any time, we want the Rajeev Awas Yojana to be implemented,” she says. The scheme has already been approved from the Delhi government, but the Maharashtra government is still sitting on it, informs Susheela.

The Andolan has raised these issues along with other peoples’ organisations in Mumbai, and demanded Rajeev Awas Yojana (RAY) as self-development towards right to shelter. However, it is the builders-politicians nexus, with bureaucrats and police force to support, that is preventing RAY from being implemented.

The area near Mankhurd is home to a large number of rag pickers who earn their livelihood from the Shivaji Nagar dumping ground. Because of the everyday fear of slum eviction, people like Susheela, many a days have to miss work (rag picking) and thus their livelihood suffers. “Most of the people here are daily wage earners but are not able to earn a decent living thanks to these authorities,” she alleges. The livelihood problem apart, the children’s education suffers, too. “We have to start from scratch; from collecting material for a new house, to building it. In all this, our children suffer.”

She breaks away for a while to join small clusters of women to help them raise a voice. While everyone assembled there is equally angry and agitated, people like Susheela help them channelise their distress during protests like these. I watch as Susheela rushes to a group of volunteers, helping them with simple logistics such as microphone arrangement, banners and placards.

Moving away after helping others, she then barges into another cluster of people surrounding activist Medha Patkar. They both whisper to each other, and Susheela comes away.

She greets me again with the same enthusiasm and chats awhile before concluding, “We don’t want big buildings. We don’t want anything. But don’t snatch our shelter. Just assure us a simple, decent life which is free of fear.”

(Pictures courtesy Nidhi Qazi)

 

 

 

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