From eye at ranadasgupta.com  Mon Jan  1 14:56:22 2007
From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta)
Date: Mon, 01 Jan 2007 14:56:22 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] History of photography in colonial India
Message-ID: <4598D3BE.4000402@ranadasgupta.com>

i've just scanned this essay which several conversations in Sarai have 
brought to mind.  "Pioneers of Indian Photography" by John Falconer (2001).

http://www.ranadasgupta.com/notes.asp?note_id=73

it's a fairly standard historical overview of (mainly british) 
photography in india in the 19th century but it will be useful for those 
thinking about the nature of visuality in the british colonial project.

the great sense of uncertainty with regard to the indian landscape, and 
the role that photography played in taming it.  the notion of landscape 
and architecture as the repository of "soul", accessible to the camera's 
objective gaze.  the funding and patronage systems by which a 
photographic record was built up.  etc.

and, incidentally, the great lack of research on photography by indians 
during this same period.

enjoy.

R

-- 
Rana Dasgupta
www.ranadasgupta.com


From m.prabha_kar at yahoo.co.in  Mon Jan  1 12:47:03 2007
From: m.prabha_kar at yahoo.co.in (mprabhakar prabhakar)
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 07:17:03 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] A Positive Hope and Thought for well being of all.
Message-ID: <48507.98493.qm@web7811.mail.in.yahoo.com>

Sir / Madame, 


        NEW YEAR GREETINGS, 

        HAPPY NEW YEAR: 2007!

May the New Year: 2007 See/Usher in End to Poverty, Illiteracy, Joblessness, Malnutrition, Discrimination! 

May the New Year: 2007 Give Wisdom to UPA's GOI to Allocate 6% of GDP for Education from 2007! 

May the New Year: 2007 Bring Stronger Public-Funded Higher Education System!
   
  May the New Year: 2007 Render justice to all those affected of unjust discrimination!

May the New Year: 2007 Bring Lot of Happiness to You, Your Family and to the People of the World!

With Love, Regards, Greetings! 

                                                M.Prabhakar, 
                                                
                                                Lecturer
                                                

 Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger. Download Now! http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php
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From shuddha at sarai.net  Tue Jan  2 14:08:58 2007
From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:08:58 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] The Ghost of the Middle Ground 1
Message-ID: <459A1A22.1040009@sarai.net>

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year. I presume that many of us would be following the ongoing 
media circus with regard to the death sentence on Mohammad Afzal Guru. 
Here is a text that I have been working on for some time. It is long, so 
I have broken it up into a series of postings, rather than inflicting 
you with one mammoth post.

I would be happy to have comments and criticisms on this text, and would 
be grateful if anyone could point out any errors and/or discrepancies.

Looking forward to a better year in 2007,

Warm Regards

Shuddha

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

The Ghost of the Middle Ground
Uncertainty, Ambiguity and the Media Response to Efforts to Secure a 
Commutation of the Death Penalty for Mohammad Afzal Guru and An Enquiry 
into the Events of December 13

Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Januray 1, 2007

'Now is the Winter of Our Discontent made Summer by the Pleasing Light 
of Television'

At the beginning of each new year, it is customary to take stock of what 
has happened in the last 365 days, and reflect on options for the 
future. I don't want to speak for the entire year (let's leave the year 
end newspaper and magazine supplements and the TV round-ups to do that). 
But I do want to look at this bleak now, the ongoing "winter of our 
discontent", especially as it has played out on that hallowed and late, 
lamented entity called the 'middle ground'.

This 'middle ground' is a territory currently under the occupation of 
large bastions of the mainstream media in India. It was on the parched 
soil of the 'middle ground'  that the beast called public opinion was so 
eagerly sought to be beaten into shape (or pulp, depending on your point 
of view) in a daily gladiatorial during the course of the last few 
months. While this has always been the case, it did come into especially 
sharp focus ever since the question of the execution of Mohammad Afzal 
Guru came back on to what is sometimes called the 'national agenda' in 
late September - early October 2006. What began during our brief autumn 
rapidly gathered momentum as winter set in.

The thick fog that descends on Delhi with the onset of deep winter is a 
time where plots are laid 'in deadly hate', and 'dangerous inductions, 
drunken prophecies, libels and dreams' are aired by means of strategems 
that have every reason to be called 'subtle, false, and treacherous'. 
Had William Shakespeare been writing a draft of Richard the Third in 
Delhi during an early twenty first century winter, he might have set the 
bleak iambs of the opening soliloquy in a television studio, and made 
the actor speaking them wear the pressed suits of a certain variety of 
senior journalist or news anchor, or the uniform or distinguished 
plain-clothes attire usually to be found adorning the person of an 
operative of the special cell of the Delhi police, or the Intelligence 
Bureau. Perhaps there might even be some actors who could essay both 
roles (a certain kind ofjournalist and intelligence operative) with 
practised ease, because there is so little left nowadays, to distinguish 
between the two functions. Call it what you will, embodied intelligence, 
or embedded journalism.

 From the snuff-porn footage of the last minutes of a hated dictator's 
life, even as a noose is placed on his head, to unexamined admissions of 
torture on prime time, to lengthy extracts from a confession made under 
duress in police custody - our television sets and newspapers have 
brought home to us in the last few weeks - almost daily offerings from a 
bitter harvest made up of desparate attempts to manage and manipulate 
our perception of the times we live in. It makes me wonder whether it is 
the opaque nature of winter fog in Delhi that makes mirages, 
smoke-screens and other optical distortions so natural a part of our 
current media landscape? The more you watch it, the more the news from 
Delhi seems to resemble the city's weather report. Everything seems a 
little foggy. You can't quite make out what you see. And there are lots 
of fatal accidents.

There is undoubtedly a customary chill in the portents of December in 
Delhi. In December 2000, the absurd theatre of the now almost forgotten 
attack on the Red Fort was built on the foundations of a bizarre script. 
The plot featured a corpse that had undergone a post-mortem identity 
crisis (the dead Kashmiri 'terrorist' called 'Abu Shamal' turned out to 
be a migrant youth from Western Uttar Pradesh). A harvest of mobile 
phone numbers found miraculously at the scene of the crime written on a 
slip of paper instantly delivered suspects. An unexplained connection in 
the form of a link between the prime suspect, 'Ashfaq', a Pakistani 
illegal immigrant, (currently awaiting, like Mohammad Afzal Guru, the 
execution of a death sentence in Tihar Prison) and a man called Nain 
Singh, who happens to work  as a field officer with the Research and 
Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat (and in whose house 'Ashfaq' 
stayed for months)lingered on like an obstinate ghost. In addition there 
were other now familiar props like identity cards and computers.

[For a thorough, and excellently researched report on the 'Red Fort 
Case', and the many resonances between it and the 'Parliament Attack 
Case' see 'An Unfair Verdict: A Critique of the Red Fort Attack 
Judgement' published by the Peoples Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR) on 
December 22, 2006. A press release summarizing the main points of this 
report is available at www.pudr.org]

On 13 December 2001, in the now celebrated 'Parliament Attack' case, 
(and in the course of what followed in the last five years) we once 
again had an attack on a landmark in Delhi laden with symbolic 
significance, dead men with mixed up identities, identity cards, mobile 
phone numbers and anomalous call records, discrepancies between 
confessions made in police custody and statements made under section 313 
of the Criminal Procedure Code (like in the Red Fort case), the strange 
appearance and apparent involvement of people like Davinder Singh of the 
STF in Jammu & Kashmir, who are part of the security and intelligence 
agencies (once again, like Nain SIngh, the RAW operative in the Red Fort 
case) and a man (Mohammad Afzal) waiting to know in prison if he will hang.

Like a tarted up Hindi movie sequel broadcast to boost TRP ratings, 
December 2001 could almost be a re-make of the December 2000, that 
played once again on our TV sets in December 2006. I am writing this 
lengthy text, because I feel the need to find a handle with which I can 
get a grip on the way in which images and fragments of processed reality 
from large sections of media holds our imagination and our consciousness 
hostage.  I am trying and understand what makes the fog of news that 
emanates from Delhi in December smell so acrid, taste so bitter, each time.

Complexity and its Discontents

Most readers of this text would be familiar with the fact that efforts 
to stall and commute Mohammad Afzal Guru's impending execution (which 
have gathered a great deal of momentum over the past three months) have 
met with a variety of different responses. On the one hand more than two 
thousand people have signed a total of at least three online petitions 
in favour of the commutation of the death sentence. Dharnas, 
demonstrations and public meetings have been held in Delhi, in Kashmir 
and elsewhere in support of Afzal Guru. A curative petition arguing that 
Afzal did not have access to adequate legal representation at the 
crucial trial court stage has been filed in the Supreme Court on 
December 13 this year. Numerous texts and articles have been written in 
defence of the efforts to secure a commutation of the death sentence. 
They have been published in print in newspapers, magazines and journals 
and circulated online, on lists, blogs and webpages.

Even a book like '13 December- A Reader: The Strange Case of the Attack 
on the Indian Parliament' (recently published by Penguin India) needs to 
be seen as part, and only a part of the dispersed and disparate efforts 
by very different kinds of people (from different walks of life, and 
with different viewpoints and ideologies) to ensure that a gross 
violation of justice not be allowed to happen in the name of what the 
Supreme Court in its judgement on the case has called the 'collective 
conscience of society'.

If anything, the kind of questioning voices that might have been muted 
earlier  but are now beginning to make themselves heard clearly, should 
make us sit up and take notice of what is evident to any one who is 
observant. Clearly, the "collective conscience of society" at least with 
regard to Mohammad Afzal Guru's fate is a fractured entity. And even if 
those of us who speak in his favour are a minority today (although our 
numbers are steadily growing) it is presumptuous on anyone's part, be 
they commentators in the media, politicians or even a bench of the 
Supreme Court's, to assume that there is a unanimous consensus in our 
society on the question of whether or not, Mohammad Afzal Guru, or 
indeed anyone at all, should be hanged to death.

On the other hand, we have seen a virulent flood of sms messages 
broadcast live on television that has occasionally voiced demands which 
go to the extent of saying that  not only Afzal but all those speaking 
in his favour be also summarily executed in public. We have had the 
Bharatiya Janata Party organizing 'Hang Afzal' rallies in Delhi and 
elsewhere. We have had former intelligence agents, politicians and 
journalists of several descriptions twisting and turning themselves 
around to make vitriolic statements and non-statements about the issue, 
the spawning of several anti-Afzal blogs and webpages, the All India 
Anti Terrorist Front orchestrating the return of the medals awarded to 
the families of the security personnel who died on 13 December 2001, and 
the carefully calibrated continuation, through a series of planted 
stories, of the media trial of Mohammad Afzal Guru on television news 
channels.

In what follows, I will try and analyse and comment on a variety of 
different responses to the efforts to have Afzal Guru's sentence 
commuted. This is not an exhaustive or comprehensive attempt to index 
and analyse all that has been written and spoken, but I hope to give a 
reasonably thorough picture of the directions that the responses have 
taken. If nothing else, they point to a rich and variegated picture of 
how the media, and the means of communication have become a space where 
a nervous and cornered apparatus of power is doing all it can to create 
a smokescreen.

On Watching Television, Carefully

Unfortunately, the more it tries to work the smoke machine, the more it 
makes itself visible to our eyes. I am by no means the only person this 
is apparent to. A lot of people like me are constructing detailed 
personal archives of the spin doctoring that is going on in print and on 
screen.  We are reading newspapers with a tooth comb, browsing websites, 
recording television programmes, and we are beginning to recognize 
patterns, traces, tell tale signs. Each word, each image, each soundbyte 
is being carefully weighed and scrutinized, and often found wanting. In 
fact the intensity of high voltage media attention has not been able to 
generate a consensus, despite great efforts. This should surprise those 
media mandarins who believe that their 'whatever it takes' methods (to 
quote the tiresome CNN-IBN slogan) will automatically rally everyone 
around them. What they are getting instead is sustained, systematic 
attention from a number of patient, diligent and critical viewers. 
Sometimes that little spike in a TRP rating, or a readership survey is 
the worst news that a media mandarin can have. They might have been 
better off if less people took them as seriously, read and watched them 
as carefully as is being done now. Nothing that is published or 
broadcast today will go unnoticed. Besides which, there is the 
inconvenient fact that public memory is getting perversely long these 
days. Nothing that was published or broadcast a month or so ago, or five 
years ago will go forgotten. The media are being watched. Very carefully.

'Extremism' and 'Moderation'

But the issues at stake in all of this are much larger and more serious 
than who scores how many points against which newspaper and media 
channel. Criticism and counter criticism are good things. Those of us 
who have been chipping away at the edifice of the received wisdom on 
December 13 welcome the scrutiny and the criticism that we have received 
from large sections of the mainstream press. The fact that the views of 
those who question the verdict of death penalty for Mohammad Afzal, or 
call for an enquiry into December 13, or who speak against Capital 
Punishment as such, are increasingly difficult to ignore is definitely a 
good thing. But a careful examination of the response to these views 
suggests that the respondents are not interested in taking on the 
substance of what is being said in the book ('December 13: A Reader' 
)and other allied materials but that instead they insist, (without 
evidence) that those who call for an enquiry into the events of December 
13 only have the axe of an outrageously 'extremist' agenda to grind. 
This has been equated, variously with the 'evacuation' and even the 
'assassination' of the 'middle ground' of reasonable opinion and behaviour.

This charge needs to be addressed seriously, and in what follows, I will 
attempt to examine the rhetoric that insists that those who have called 
for a re-examination of December 13 have somehow an 'extremist' agenda. 
But before I do that, it is wise to remember that one of the most 
effective strategies of dissimulation is to paint one's adversaries as 
'extreme'. This automatically suggests that those calling others 
'extremists' are the very soul and substance of moderation. Thus, those 
who have expressed discomfiture at the irrevocable finality of the death 
penalty are  labelled 'extremists', while those howling for blood can 
claim for themselves the high moral ground of 'moderation'. Those asking 
for answers to a set of unresolved questions are accused of 'frightening 
intolerance' (Barkha Dutt, 'Death of the Middle Ground' Hindustan 
Times), and of being 'closed to debate', (CNN IBN while those who insist 
that the debate on the official version of December 13 stands closed, 
arrogate to themselves the soul of complexity and sophisticated ambiguity.

Never mind the fact that the goal-posts of Barkha Dutt's middle ground 
have shifted twice with breathtaking speed as autumn turned to winter. 
The first time was when she moved from a spirited defence of capital 
punishment against those called terrorists three days before Mohammad 
Afzal was originally supposed to hang (in 'Battle For Life', October 17, 
2006) to a plea that Afzal's life be spared, (in 'Warning, Handle With 
Care' on November 10, 2006) not because of any change in her perception 
of his crime, (for which she still demanded the 'harshest punishment 
possible'), but because commutation could ensure that Kashmir would not 
go up in flames. The second time the middle ground moved for her was 
when she leapfrogged from a homily on the virtue of moderation, respect 
for ambiguity and the necessity for the media to situate itself within 
shades of grey (in 'Death of the Middle Ground', December 17, 2006 ) to 
a triumphant celebration of bias and subjectivity (in 'Subject to the 
Truth', December 23, 2006 ). In fact the middle ground moved so often 
and so quickly in these thirty six odd days (from October 17 to December 
23) that Barkha Dutt almost became a televised blur.

[See, the following, in their order of publication, as given below, to 
follow the trajectory of this whirlwind

1. 'Battle for Life', October 17, 2006
     http://www.ndtv.com/columns/showcolumns.asp?id=1061
2. 'Warning, Handle with Care' Third Eye, Hindustan Times, November 10, 2006
3. 'Death of the Middle Ground', Third Eye, Hindustan Times, December 
17, 2006
4. 'Subject to the Truth', Hindustan Times, December 23, 2006
      http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1877176,00300006.htm ]

Lonely at NDTV?

A lesser mortal like me would be tempted to see a streak of cynical 
opportunism if not an absurd lack of consistency in the meandering logic 
of Barkha Dutt and others like her. However, since I have no access to 
the rarified atmosphere of ethical uncertainty that currently prevails 
in broadcast television, I would be the first person to plead guilty to 
the charge of having little or no understanding of the immense 
complexities that beset those who occupy the higher altitudes of broken 
news. Would it be asking for too much though, if we were to demand that 
when media luminaries like Ms. Dutt, who command a great deal of 
influence with the great Indian middle class, go so wrong in their own 
estimation as to subsequently do a one hundred and eighty degree 
volte-face from some aspects (from 'kill the terrorist' to 'no, don't 
kill the terrorist', 'long live shades of grey' to 'shades of grey be 
damned, three cheers for subjectivity') of their publicly stated 
position, they also take us, their readers and viewers into confidence, 
and apologize for the consequences of their previous pronouncements. 
Just an occasional 'sorry ji, galti ho gayi, I should not have asked for 
people to be hanged so easily', said or written in public, might suffice 
as evidence of the sincerity of her rapid transformations. We, the 
people, will be content with that. Without that apology however, the 
corner of the 'middle ground' that Barkha Dutt says she represents seems 
way too ethically deficient to sustain anyone other than the likes of 
her. Until this is done, we can only commiserate, at a distance, with 
what must be the unbearable loneliness of   having to take 
'unequivocally unpopular' positions while having to work at NDTV.

(contd. in next posting)


From shuddha at sarai.net  Tue Jan  2 14:10:47 2007
From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:10:47 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] The Ghost of the Middle Ground 2
Message-ID: <459A1A8F.2000609@sarai.net>

(contd. from previous posting)

The middle and lower depths of the middle ground

If Barkha Dutt occupies the high, sophisticated end of the 'middle 
ground', others, such as Sudheendra Kulkarni, Suhel Seth, Tavleen Singh, 
Sandhya Jain occupy the middle and lower depths of what is wont to 
describe itself as 'reasonable behaviour'. These ladies and gentlemen 
have spent a lot of their time and energy venting their sorrow and their 
anger in different publications and fora (Indian Express, Asian Age, 
Pioneer, CNN-IBN) in response to the publication of '13 December: A Reader'.

The Pioneer (13,12,2006) for instance, in a report on the book release 
of '13 December : A Reader' likened the views of those associated with 
this book to the recent holocaust deniers in Iran (notwithstanding my 
stated position, for instance, as being totally opposed to what I think 
is the crypto-fascist, and anti-semitic character of the current 
Islamist regime in Iran, whose defence by sections of the Indian left I 
find completely cynical and hypocritical).

Tavleen Singh ('Arundhati's Gimmick, Asian Age, 23 December 2006) 
grudgingly admits that there may be a point in ensuring that Mohammad 
Afzal need not hang, though she doesn't tell us why she is 'convinced 
that he is not the mastermind or even one of the main plotters of 
December 13'. In the same breath, she wants Arundhati Roy and her 
colleagues who have contributed to 'December 13: A Reader' deported for 
saying the same thing. The only difference between her position and that 
of Arundhati or of the other contributors to the book is that we are 
also asking a set of questions that Tavleen Singh finds 'outrageous', 
'sick' and 'vicious'. If, like Tavleen Singh, we admit that Mohammad 
Afzal is not likely to be the mastermind of December 13, we have to ask 
why there is such an effort being made to show that he is - to forge, 
hide and manufacture evidence, and to stonewall the demand for an 
enquiry. Our suspicions about the nature of the involvement of agencies 
of the state, and the consequent 13 questions, do not emerge from 
anything other than the suspicious way these agenices have been working 
overtime to manufacture an account of December 13 that is so ridden with 
holes and inconsistencies.

In other words, if we have doubts about Mohammad Afzal's role, it is 
only natural for us to have doubts about the motivations of those who 
have been busy trying to write the script of that role over the last 
five years. Why then should our asking questions about the nature of 
that role lead to a demand for our deportation? Is it only because the 
asking of the questions once again focuses attention on the kind of area 
that Tavleen Singh, and others like her want us to look away from. Let 
me return Tavleen Singh the favour of a suspicion about motives. Does 
she have an agenda to distract attention away from the nature of our 
questions? If so, we would like to know why?

The people who have spoken against Afzal Guru's death penalty have been 
called conspiracy theorists (notwithstanding the fact that the judgement 
of the courts in the case actually build upon and rely to a large extent 
on an elaborate conspiracy theory, and base their indictment of Afzal, 
circumstantially, and indirectly, through the charge of conspiracy, to 
the effect that he is as culpable as those who actually attacked 
Parliament on December 13, 2001). So our asking of a set of reasonable 
questions is 'conspiracy theory', whereas the court's heavy handed 
reliance on a theory of conspiracy is infallible objective justice.

Kehar Singh Revisited

Commentators such as Sudheendra Kulkarni have taken us (whom he too 
calls 'extremists') to task for daring to suggest a parallel between the 
fates of Mohammad Afzal and Kehar Singh.

[See 'If December 13th Was'nt an Act of Terror, what was it?' by 
Sudheendra Kulkarni, Indian Express, December 17, 2006
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/18739.html ]

His argument is that some of us are not just content to criticize the 
dispensation that was around when his leaders (Messrs. Vajpayee, Advani 
& Co.) were in power, but actually have the temerity to suggest that 
even the trial of those accused of conspiring to assasinate Indira 
Gandhi, was in fact, to a large extent, a 'show-trial'. Kulkarni is 
right, a reference to Kehar Singh's hanging in tandem with the 
controversy around Afzal Guru, indicts the Congress regime in that case, 
just as the circumstances of December 13 indict the BJP led NDA

Sudheendra Kulkarni's actual intent is to spin the issue around an NDA 
versus UPA axis. But we are clear that this is not an NDA versus UPA 
game for us. Most of those who are involved in publicly taking positions 
on the matter of Afzal Guru's execution are willing to be made to play 
that game. Perhaps this causes some discomfort to those who, like 
Sudheendra Kulkarni, would like to see this issue played out on a purely 
'anti-NDA, anti BJP' pitch. Sorry gentlemen, we are not interested. The 
game you offer us is a very boring one. We are not so obsessed with the 
depleting fortunes of a political tendency that is as morally bankrupt 
and bereft of ideas as the BJP that we feel the need to try and cosy up 
to its opposite number in order to carry the day. We have neither the 
need nor the desire to become tools in the hands of the current ruling 
party or their parliamentary allies in order simply to discredit their 
predecessors.

We are interested simply in talking about the structural issues that 
have been revealed by the December 13 trial. These structural issues 
have to do with the nature of the judicial process and the manner in 
which the so called 'war against terrorism' is being played out, 
regardless of who happens to be at the helm of affairs. They are not 
about whether one likes or does not like the BJP or the Congress or the 
so called Parliamentary Left, or even about how the the matter of 
Afzal's sentence plays out in the context of the forthcoming UP elections.

I do think that the retention of capital punishment in any society 
allows for systemic distortions that express themselves in moments of 
crisis through crystallizations of the demand that someone or the other 
be 'sacrificed' in order to restore the public perception of the 
vitality of a morally bankrupt state. I do not think our courts, or any 
courts anywhere, are infallible, and I think that the so called 
'collective conscience of society' that the courts gesture towards while 
mandating someone's death are flimsy, provisional constructs that are 
vulnerable to pressures and anxieties of various kinds, not least of 
which include those emanating from large sections of the mainstream media.

For the benefit of Sudheendra Kulkarni, the positions taken in the book 
are not actually as extreme as he wishes them to be seen to be. At least 
with regard to the reference to Kehar Singh, we happen to be in moderate 
and respectable company. Even Justice M. L. Tarkunde, a respected jurist 
and former judge of the Bombay High Court (whom no one can in any right 
frame of mind accuse of 'extremism') is on record for having said that 
"The evidence against him (Kehar Singh) was so meagre that it would not 
support, as the saying goes, the hanging of even a dog." Those who might 
doubt my word on this matter are advised to refer to an Amnesty 
International report titled 'India: The Death Penalty' published by AI 
(London) in October 1989 (AI Index ASA 20/13/89) where this statement is 
cited in print. I am merely saying that I hope we as a society are 
spared the predicament of having to condone once again, (in the case of 
Afzal) the hanging of someone, against whom the evidence was so meagure 
that it would not be in a postion to support even the hanging of a dog.

'A Clique of Liberal Leftists'

We have been called, 'a clique of liberal leftists with no constituency 
beyond the seminar halls of Delhi and Mumbai', by the pioneer columnist 
Sandhya Jain on a TV channel (CNN-IBN) in a report that subtly endorses 
this point of view. Earlier, on October 5, CNN-IBN had reported that in 
the matter of the argument against the death sentence for Afzal Guru, 
the 'entire nation' was on one side, and a handful of NGO's, writers and 
activists were on another. How the 'entire nation' got together and 
informed CNN IBN of its decision on the matter is not something that the 
channel has told us as yet.

This is the same channel whose senior editorial staff had spent several 
hours entreating some of us, on the 12th of December, to appear 
exclusively on their channel, or to 'dignify television with our 
presence', in order to recompense for their complicity in airing a 
clearly spin-doctored, so-called fragment of 'hidden camera' footage (to 
which I will turn to later). I suppose had we all agreed to play the 
part that was being scripted for us in the great ratings war between 
CNN-IBN and NDTV, then we would have suddenly transformed ourselves from 
a 'clique that has no constituency beyond the seminar halls of Delhi' to 
a 'clique that has no constituency beyond the television studios of a 
pair of punch and judy news channels'.

In the midst of all this noise we must remember, however, that what is 
at stake here is someone's life, and also, importantly, an attempt to 
demand a rigourus and honest account of what exactly transpired  on 
December 13, 2001, and why South Asia was taken to the brink of war. 
These are serious questions, and must be looked at seriously, not with 
the nudge-nudge-wink-wink frivolity of a charmed circle of commentators, 
publicists and intelligence agents whose consensus on matters of what is 
called 'national security' is produced in the backrooms of Delhi's media 
circus.

I might add here, that notwithstanding whether or not I think Afzal was 
denied his constitutionally guaranteed right to an adequate legal 
defence (and I do think he was denied that) my objection to capital 
punishment is not solely to do with my dissatisfaction with the 
judgement or with the merits of the prosecution's arguments in the case 
of Mohammad Afzal Guru.

On Capital Punishment

For the benefit of anyone who might think otherwise, I am just as 
opposed to the sentence of capital punishment that has recently been 
awarded to ACP Tyagi (formerly with the Delhi Police) for his role in a 
death that took place in police custody.

Here, I think that the facts of the case clearly bear out the position 
that ACP Tyagi is indeed the primary culprit, and I do believe that 
anyone responsible for a death in police custody ought to be punished 
severely. Similarly, I have every reason to believe that Saddam Hussain 
was a tyrant and a cold blooded mass-murderer, but that does not mean 
that I agree with his recent execution, or the disgustingly voyeuristic 
manner in which it has been exhibited international as well as Indian media

My condemnation of custodian death, murder, or political genocide need 
not, and indeed does not  translate into a desire to see ACP Tyagi, 
Sanotsh Singh (accused in the Priayadarshini Mattoo case) or Saddam 
Hussain hang. This is because I do not think that any good, whether 
preventive, deterrent, moral, ethical or compensatory can come from 
deliberately taking a human life, even when the accused stands convicted 
for a crime as heinous as custodial death. I am willing to argue this 
out, but that is a separate argument which I am sure needs to be pursued 
on another occasion - purely on the question of whether or not we should 
as a society retain capital punishment. It would have been far better 
had Saddam Hussain remained alive, and possibly had to atone for his 
deeds in lifelong detention, preferably in the exclusive company of 
other distinguished mass murderers like George Bush and Tony Blair. That 
might have been a step towards justice in Iraq.

I mention this here only to say that my opposition to the death penalty 
for Mohammad Afzal is  based not only on my reasoned belief that he did 
not have an adequate legal defence at the trial court stage, but also 
because I would oppose it even if he were in fact given the benefit of 
the due process of a fair trial. Because I oppose capital punishment on 
principle.

The Courage of Sabrina Lall

This is important, because, contrary to Barkha Dutt's charge that some 
of us have abandoned the terrain of ambiguity, I would actually like to 
insist that the ground I happen to occupy requires me on occasion to 
defend the right to life of  even those, such as ACP Tyagi, or Saddam 
Hussein, or Dara Singh, whose actions I personally consider abohorrent. 
And that this defence is not constructed along 'pragmatic' or 'tactical' 
lines.

As far as the execution of Afzal is concerned, I am not interested in 
offering a consideration of whether or not Kashmir would go up in flames 
as reasons for the commutation of a death sentence (though others, such 
as A.G.Noorani have advanced this argument with commendable 
sophistication). I have to say that on this point, and on this point 
alone, I agree with Soli Sorabjee (who said in an NDTV panel discussion 
that he happens to be anti death penalty generally, but is pro death 
penalty, under the given circumstances, for Afzal - an exact mirror of 
Barkha Dutt who happens to be pro-death penalty generally, but has now 
discovered belatedly the virtue of an anti-death penalty position 
customized to Afzal). I agree with Sorabjee that saying "don't hang 
Afzal because Kashmir will go up in flames" is not unlike saying "don't 
punish those guilty for the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat because 
Gujarat will go up in flames".

If we demand punishment, we must be prepared to do so regardless of 
local context, otherwise there would be no such thing as 'equality 
before the law'. However, my reasons for arguing against the death 
penalty have nothing to do with tactical or pragmatic considerations. I 
am not saying that Afzal should not be hanged because otherwise Kashmir 
would go up in flames, just as I am not saying ACP Tyagi should not be 
hanged because this would sorely demoralize the Delhi Police which often 
uses third degree methods in police stations, or that Saddam Hussein 
should have been excused from his appointment with his hangmen so as to 
re-assure future tyrants and mass murderers.

I take comfort, in these bloodthirsty times, when SMS messages calling 
for public executions are broadcast live on television, from the 
sagacity and maturity that has been demonstrated by Sabrina Lall, the 
bereaved sister of the murdered Jessica Lall who has made a public 
statement to the effect that she did not desire the death penalty for 
Manu Sharma, her sister's murderer, because she does not believe that 
his death would do anything to ameliorate her grief, and because she is 
satisfied knowing that Manu Sharma has to suffer long years of 
confinement, which in her view is a much greater punishment than death. 
She goes on to say that the sentence of death punished only the family 
and friends of the accused, not the accused himself, for his suffering 
actually ends with death.

[See, "Life in Jail for Manu Sharma" by Tanu Sharma and Krishnadas 
Rajagopal, Indian Express, December 21, 2006, 
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/19058.html and 'I want Manu Sharma to 
Suffer' by Shubha Shetty Saha, DNA, December 10 at 
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1070152]

Regardless of the view that anyone of us takes on Mohammad Afzal's exact 
role in the events of December 13, 2001, I wish that we could all have 
the wisdom and the courage to display even a degree of the maturity and 
compassion that I think is contained in Sabrina Lall's response to the 
verdict handed down to her sister's murderer.

I hope that those who have spent a lot of their time, intelligence, 
emotions and energy on television and print on the unrelated destinies 
of  Mohammad Afzal and Jessica Lall in recent days might learn something 
from Sabrina Lall's compassion and intelligence. There still might be 
some hope for  the integrity and credibility of large sections of the 
mainstream media if that were to be the case. I hope they take some time 
now to listen, think and reflect on where we all have come today. And I 
hope, for their sakes, that Mohammad Afzal lives.

Who Else Wants Afzal Dead?

Actually, the consequentialist argument (the one based on 'what will or 
will not happen if Afzal dies'  theory)  leads to some very strange 
bedfellows. if you examine the news carefully, you will find that it 
isn't just the BJP and M.S. Bitta of the All India Anti Terrorist Front 
who want Afzal dead as quickly as possible. There are reports of  a 
number of jehadi groups in Kashmir, who have in fact demanded that Afzal 
not be spared, precisely because this would mean that Kashmir would go 
up in flames.

I quote here from a report available on the NDTV website - 'Afzal Must 
be Hanged, Say Kashmiri Groups' by Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Fayaz Bukhari 
which says

"...In a statement issued in Kashmir on October 2, Khalid Javed, 
commander of Al-Umar Mujahideen said Afzal's hanging would actually 
provide a fillip to the Kashmiri cause.Apart from the Hizbul Mujahideen, 
Al-Umar is the only entirely Kashmiri group and is led by Mustaq Ahmed 
Zargar, exchanged for IC-814 hostages.The same day, the 
Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen said that by not pleading for mercy himself, Afzal 
has become a hero to Kashmiri youth. Those pleading for mercy on his 
behalf should leave Kashmir.On October 13, a lesser-known group, the 
Yalgar-e-Ali, said in a statement that Afzal should be left to his fate. 
His martyrdom would serve the cause of Kashmir."

[See 'Afzal Must be Hanged. Say Kashmiri Groups' by Sudhi Ranjan Sen and 
Fayaz Bukhari, NDTV, October 26m 2006 - http://www.ndtv.com]

It these reports are accurate, then we have to take note of the fact 
that it appears that as far as the desirability of Afzal's execution is 
concerned , there is a remarkable concordance in the views of the 
Supreme Court judgement on December 13, the BJP, the All India Anti 
Terrorist Front, the special cell of the Delhi Police and Kashmiri 
militant outfits such as Al Umar, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and the 
Yalgar-e-Ali. Perhaps they should all get together and form what would 
be a genuinely bipartisan 'All India and J&K Committee for the 
Expeditious Execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru'.

This implies that I am acutely aware (as I am sure those of my 
colleagues who have deliberated on the issue of Afzal's destiny with 
seriousness also are) of the fact that none of us finds ourselves in a 
zone where the categories of guilt, innocence, justice and consequence 
are clear cut and self evident. One can say that a person one does not 
believe to be innocent has had no oppportunity to avail of the 
constitutionally guaranteed right of an adequate legal defence and that 
this is in itself a serious miscarriage of justice. One can also say 
that a person who has had a fair trial still should not be hanged, 
because that too would, in a fundamental  ethical sense, be a 
miscarriage of justice. Because there can be no greater  premeditated 
violence than the premeditated violence of a judicially mandated death 
sentence, which tells the accused the time and date of his execution, 
and then leaves him captive to await the hour of his death. If 
premeditated, cold blooded murder is the reason why a death penalty is 
awarded, then how can we recompense for the premeditated, cold blooded 
murder that is the death penalty?

Uncertainty and Ambiguity

The conceptual space where one can say these things is a zone of acute 
blurs, uncertainties and ambiguities, where one has to hone one's 
ethical intelligence and moral sensibilities against situations that do 
not in fact deliver themselves in terms that promise neat, resolved 
answers and the kind of sound-bytes that can be processed on 'breaking 
news' , with 'whatever it takes' on '24X7' news television.

And yet, we have seen large sections of the mainstream media, and 
responsible media figures leave no stone unturned in their attempt to 
give their readers and viewers the impression that our efforts were 
actually aimed at an erasure and an elision of all that was ambiguous, 
complex and uncertain.

Had channels such as NDTV, which were present in large numbers at the 
the public release of '13 December : A Reader' reported what was said on 
that occasion with a degree of integrity and good faith, their viewers, 
(and the readers of Barkha Dutt's column - 'The Third Eye' -  in the 
Hindustan Times and on the NDTV website) would have known that some of 
us did actually speak about ambiguities and uncertainties, and 
contrasted them with what we called the 'terrible clarity and precision' 
of the death penalty. It is instructive to think a little about what was 
actually said that day. NIrmalangshu Mukherjee, a professor of 
philosophy at Delhi university, and one of the contributors to '13 
December: A Reade' opened the proceedings by talking about '13 December' 
as a problem of knowledge. He talked about the fact that "we know that 
we do not know" what happened on December 13.

The substance of my own brief statement on that occasion was actually an 
appeal to the mainstream media to the effect that they only display a 
degree of reticence and restraint commensurate to the complexities, 
ambiguities and uncertainties involved in reporting issues like December 
13. One of the things I asked for was due consideration of the modest 
plea that the word 'alleged' always be used as a prefix to the word 
'terrorist' in any report that highlights, in the wake of December 13, 
yet another successful 'anti-terrorist' operation of the Delhi Police. 
if anyone wants to check on what was actually said on that occasion, 
rather than rely on what 'The Third Eye' thinks was said on that 
occasion,  all they need to do is to watch the videos of the statements 
that were made which are now available for public viewing on Youtube. 
The quality of the soundtrack, unlike phone interceptions made by the 
special cell of the Delhi police is quite clear, and you can actually 
hear what is being said.

[ See http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=00iram for links to video 
recordings of all the statements made and the discussions that occured 
on the occasion of the public release of '13 December: A Reader']

I am listing this Youtube.com url to clear the air about exactly what 
was said or not said on the book release of '13 December:A Reader'. As 
for what has been written in that book, all you need to do, is to buy 
it, or borrow it and read it to figure out for yourself whether or not 
the authors are a bunch of intolerant, extremist individuals who are 
'closed to debate' or whether they are a group of individuals asking a 
set of important questions with a desire to open, rather than close the 
debate around December 13.

(contd. in next posting)


From shuddha at sarai.net  Tue Jan  2 14:12:46 2007
From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:12:46 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Ghost of the Middle Ground 3
Message-ID: <459A1B06.5080201@sarai.net>

(contd. from previous posting)

Considering the words Innocence and Guilt

Several amongst us who have thought about this issue at length any with 
seriousness, neither SAR Geelani, nor Nandita Haksar, nor Indira 
Jaisingh, nor Mihir Srivastava, nor Arundhati Roy, nor Nirmalangshu 
Mukherjee, nor Nirmala Deshpande, nor myself, have ever stated that we 
believe that Mohammad Afzal is 'innocent'. Nor have we spoken about his 
'guilt'. Afzal himself has talked at length about the extent of his 
involvement in his statement given to the court under section 313 of the 
Criminal Procedure Code (as distinct from the statements extracted from 
him in police custody which are in any case inadmissible as evidence 
under the Evidence Act, and do not even meet the requirements that were 
thought necessary under POTA). We do not find it necessary to contradict 
something that Afzal himself has said about the nature and extent of his 
own culpability. We are simply asking whether the the culpability is of 
a nature that enables a court to indict Afzal alone, and also whether it 
is adequate, beyond even a grain of doubt, to necessitate a sentence of 
death, especially when Afzal was not represented by a lawyer and when he 
was not given the opportunity to cross examine the majority of the 
witnesses who appeared against him in the trial court.. Neither of these 
requires us to believe in, or to make statements about the non-issue of 
Afzal's so called innocence.

Some of us have made statements (and for quite some time now) that 
reflect our conviction (borne out by the acquital) that SAR Geelani was 
innocent. Our statements about the purported guilt or innocence of 
Mohammad Afzal have been made in public fora, (if and when they have 
been made) and they are easily retrievable and read. Mohammad Afzal Guru 
is not SAR Geelani, and our conviction about Geelani's innocence cannot 
be automatically translated into a statement about Afzal Guru's 
innocence that most of us have never made, without sleight of hand, 
misrepresentation, or an unforgivable laxity in terms of what is called 
a 'fact check' in the media business.

In fact it does not require us to declare that a man is innocent in 
order to demand that an assessment of his guilt necessarily include a 
consideration of who else may be wholly or in part share responsibility, 
along with him, for the substance of his intentions and actions.

Guilt and Association

Even the court's verdict of Afzal's part in the 'conspiracy of December 
13' is actually built on this logic.

[See http://openarchive.in/judis/27092.htm for the full text of the 
Supreme Court verdict on the 13 December Case, sentencing Mohammad Afzal 
to death]

The mobile phones found on the bodies of the dead "terrorists" indicated 
that they knew Afzal. Afzal knew about what they were going to do, he 
even helped them do it. Ergo, Afzal is a terrorist. Even if, and 
especially if, we accept this line of argument, we have to take this 
line of thinking to its logical conclusion. If one of the terrorists who 
knew Afzal (the man called Mohammad) also knew, according to Afzal, 
personnel serving with the STF, then that makes it necessary for us to 
investigate whether or not the said STF functionaries were or were not 
party to what is being called this 'conspiracy'. Afzal says they were. 
Afzal says he knew Mohammad. The court (and the majority of media 
commentators so far) accepts the second statement, but not the first, 
thereby refusing to carry their own argument to its own logical conclusion.

  If Afzal is guilty, then a consideration of his guilt has to establish 
whether or not the others he names, particularly STF officials like 
Dravinder Singh (and others whom Dravinder Singh may be acting on the 
orders of) are also quilty of induced or threatened him to act in the 
way that he did.

Only once the exact chain of culpability is established  (who told whom 
to take which person to which place to do what) can the guilt and 
consequently, just and adequate punishment, be apportioned in a manner 
that is not arbitrary. If Afzal is alone in this, then justice would 
require that the punishment be his alone. If he is not alone, then 
everything changes. If it is established that he was made to do what he 
did under pressure or threat, then we get a different picture 
altogether. Until this is conclusively decided one way or the other, all 
judgements about guilt or innocence , should, in the fitness of things, 
have been held in abeyance. Those of us who have spoken in favour of 
Afzal's right to live have never said that Afzal is innocent, and we 
have also never said that he is guilty. We have never speculated, like 
the media at large has delighted in doing, on the quantum of his 
innocence or guilt.

If what Afzal is saying about the involvement of the STF is true then 
one of the things that is also likely to change is the meaning of the 
term 'terrorism' as it has been deployed in this case. If what Afzal is 
saying is true, then the word 'terrorism' would have to include in its 
ambit actions done by agents of the state ostensibly against itself, in 
the pursuit of complex tactical and strategic objectives. In other words 
we would have to come to an understanding that 'terrorism' and 'state 
terrorism', at least in this case, have been seen to be synonyms of each 
other. Until a satisfactory conclusion regarding this matter is reached, 
the automatic conflation of Afzal's purported guilt with his identity as 
a 'terrorist', is only so much loose talk.

The majority of the media is unwilling to say that Afzal is innocent, 
but they are more than willing to say that he is unqualifiedly guilty of 
aiding and abetting 'terrorism'.  In fact it has gone to great lengths 
in the last few months to try and establish the credibility of this 
position.

Rather than harp on the non-issue of Afzal's 'innocence', most of us 
have asked whether the circumstantial evidence that has been 
demonstrated in court would be sufficient, even in an ordinary criminal 
trial to hang a man, and whether a man can be hanged to death after it 
has been demonstrated that he did not have an adequate legal defence. We 
are not debating Afzal's guilt, we are questioning whether he is 'guilty 
as charged', and this is an important distinction. Consequently, we have 
consistently demanded that we, and everyone else in this country has a 
right to know to what degree Mohammad Afzal was acting under orders, the 
source of which, seem to point in several directions at once, including 
in some instances the security apparatus of the state.

Until such time that these questions are comprehensively and 
exhaustively investigated, the attempt to hang Mohammad Afzal and to 
stall a possible enquiry into the events of December 13, has to be read 
as an attempt to hurriedly ensure that the truth remains obscured.

The Ground We Stand On

We have stood our 'ground' in this argument without consideration as to 
where our positions could be placed in the three step ('middle', 
'higher' or 'lower') guide to 'ethics made easy' as seen on TV. We have 
attempted to stay consistent to a reasoned scepticism (that has grown 
over time) about an official version that is patently plagued with 
inconsistencies. In fact, we have tried to think this through without 
giving way to motivations that have to do with the 'emotional and 
psychological satisfactions' that come from quick and easy answers.

The thought that the answers to  the enigma that is 13 December may lie 
in places far more shocking than a simple, 'do-it-yourself' 'terrorist' 
conspiracy can account for is as disturbing to us as it is to those who 
accuse us of 'extremism'. We derive no comfort or smug satisfaction from 
knowing that people have been tortured, or from suspecting that people 
working within the intelligence apparatus and the security establishment 
may have been playing a dangerous game which is only just beginning to 
come to light. What disturbs us even more is the fact that so much of 
the media and large sections of the political class in this country are 
in a state of total denial, and are unwilling to countenance any 
reasonable doubts of all that is disturbing about December 13.

The Ghost of the Middle Ground

This 'middle ground' in the case of December 13, that is so sure of 
itself in the face of so much that cries out to be explained can only be 
a ghost. It died a quiet death long ago, the day that so much of the 
media started pushing police hand outs as 'news', it died again on the 
day that no one from the mainstream media thought it fit to apologize 
for the way in which they had printed and broadcast lies about SAR 
Geelani, it has died a third time in this winter of our discontent. It 
is the ghost of this middle ground, a hungry, bloodthirsty spectre, 
lingering on years after the event, that we can see flicker and 
beckoning at us through the fog of newsprint and pixels. The factories 
that manufacture consent in this country today are haunted and possesed 
by this ghost. The next time you see an anchor spin 13 December for you 
on TV, or read a commentator make what they claim is a 'balanced' 
assessment of the case on print, you should take care to notice the 
rigour mortis in his or her style.

This brings me finally, to a consideration of the two 'specials' that I 
have seen in the past few weeks on CNN IBN and NDTV India, which 
promised sensational revelations to their viewers with regard to the 
role that Mohammad Afzal Guru played in the events of 13 December 2001. 
Let us take each of these in turn.

Decoding 'Decoding Afzal'

On November 27, CNN IBN aired a 'sensational' exclusive - a hidden 
camera sting operation, in which Davinder Singh, STF officer, and 
Afzal's brother - Aijaz speaks at length about the fact that Afzal was a 
dreaded Jaish e Mohammad terrorist, and in fact close to none other than 
the late and legendary Ghazi Baba. Davinder Singh admits to have 
tortured Afzal, at great length, on more than one occasion, but then 
says he let him go. He denies that he ever introduced him to anyone at 
the STF camp who then turned up, a few months later, as a dead body in 
the precincts of the Parliament.

[See 'Decoding Afzal: Truth is out there' a CNN-IBN 'Investigation' by 
Siddharth Gautam, broadcast on November 27, 2006 - 
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/decoding-afzal-truth-is-out-there/27156-3.html ]

What I find interesting here is the necessity to stage this as a 'hidden 
camera' confessional. Why do I talk about the 'staging' of the so called 
'hidden camera' segment? Davinder Singh talks extensively to a person 
who is outside the frame, to his right. The camera is filming to his 
left. Evidently, there are at least two other people in the room. In 
other words, we are asked to believe that two people have entered a 
space where a responsible officer of the most dreaded counter insurgency 
unit in India is meeting them, without being body searched for concealed 
weapons, or without their 'hidden camera' being detected.

The two (or more) people then proceed to have a lengthy conversation 
with Davinder Singh,  over a cup of tea, where Davinder Singh admits to 
a few crucial things, such as the fact that he knew Afzal, and that he 
had in fact tortured him, months before the Parliament attack happened.

The Performative Epistemology of a Staged Sting Operation

  So, a certain degree of calibrated disclosure occurs. One of the 
brothers, Hilal,  in another segment of this episode, says that he was 
arrested with Afzal, but no laptop, on which so much depended, was 
seized. So a degraded piece of evidence, on which so much of the 
'circumstantial evidence' was based in the trials, is thrown out of the 
window. Incidentally, the name of Hilal never figured in the 
prosecution's arguments. But, another brother says, Afzal was a 
terrorist. And so does Davinder Singh. And this must be true, because 
they said this, on 'hidden camera'. And the 'hidden camera' like 'narco 
analysis' and 'truth serums' only produces truth in the gospel according 
to CNN IBN, because those filmed on 'hidden cameras' do not know, 
ostensibly, that they are being filmed, so they reveal everything.

Thus, one way of coating a testimony with the sheen of truth is to 
present it as if it were harvested by  a hidden camera. If we were to 
the reasons why a functionary of the repressive apparatus of the state 
might actually want to expose their 'vulnerability' in what is dressed 
up (incompetently) to look like an encounter with a 'hidden camera', we 
would not have to look much further.

I find this episode remarkable for its performativity. A torturer meets 
a journalist (or at least two people with a hidden camera, a cameraman, 
and the other off camera presence the torturer adddresses) admits to 
some surprising facts, (which were not investigated for these five long 
years) denies a few crucial ones. The aura of truth around the denial 
actually consists of the fact that there is a counterweighted admitted 
to some pretty surprising stuff in the first place, and that too, 
ostensibly without the knowledge of the people involved. Stealth meets 
stealth and produces a convenient set of 'truths'. So, no more need of 
circumstantial evidence, inconvenient laptops, and mobile phones, we 
have it from the horses mouth. Afzal says he was tortured, blackmailed 
and forced to take some people to Delhi by the STF operatives, and these 
men later stormed operative. The key STF operative, and Afzal's brother, 
who also admits to have known the same STF operative, admit that he was 
tortured, extensively, but deny the rest. Calibrated disclosure, 
credibility and variety. When the 'deep state' encounters a crisis, as I 
believe it has done with the 13 December case, it reveals some of its 
depths, a few unofficial secrets act, only to ensure that our momentary 
disorientation as a result of these revelation actually prevents us from 
looking any further. The murky waters part momentarily, only to close 
even more decisively after. The deep state just gets a few fathoms 
deeper. Somewhere at the edge of the frame while Aijaz, the elder 
brother sings his piece, we sometimes get a glimpse of a shadowy face. 
It might be interesting to get some information on who this person is, 
and what they are doing while a hidden camera is filming a 'top secret 
sting' in an undisclosed location.

(contd. in next posting)


From shuddha at sarai.net  Tue Jan  2 14:15:10 2007
From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2007 14:15:10 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Ghost of the Middle Ground 4
Message-ID: <459A1B96.7020704@sarai.net>

(contd. from previous posting, this is the last in this series)

Marionettes and Puppetteers

In their all too hasty celebration of their investigative prowess, the 
mandarins at CNN IBN have exposed themselves more than they might have 
wanted to. They have demonstrated that sometimes when you do 'whatever 
it takes' to break the neck of the news, the hands that aid you to do 
the breaking also tie you down to an unwritten contract that makes you 
do their bidding. And so, the hands that make an offer for an 
'exclusive' tape that a TRP hungry channel cannot refuse, also tie the 
channel down (knowingly or unknowingly) into becoming their mouthpiece. 
The channel executives think that they have just pulled off a coup, not 
realising, or not willing to realize that it is in fact they who have 
been used for purposes that are far beyond their ken. But the 
marionettes who 'break the news' on the channels and their invisible, or 
barely visible, puppeteers forget that this shadow play is too full of 
all kinds of odd traces and patterns,  (I say barely visible because 
nowadays one sees distinguished gentlemen from the intelligence 
community making their discreet presence felt with a degree of 
regularity on television panel discussions on the 13 December issue) 
Perhaps none of them take into account the fact that some of us might be 
able to read a lot more into camera positions, angles and the 
orientation of subjects within the frame than they might have calculated 
for. Time for critical media studies and film analysis to be made a part 
of the education of the intelligence professional.

The Theatre of Confession

What is true for the CNN-IBN exclusive is sadly true also for the NDTV 
India 'vishesh' (special) report that was aired on the 16th and 17th of 
December for around one and a half hours. The smugness of the anchor 
Abhisaar Sharma on being able to air footage taken in police custody of 
a five year old confession that was disallowed in court as evidence, is 
beyond belief. Nothing that Afzal says in this recording, as he tries to 
blink to shield his eyes from the glare of strong lights that we see 
reflected in his spectacle frames, is new information. This is the 
substance of the police charge sheet with regard to Afzal, and we have 
seen much of this dramatized before, on Zee News.

[ See 'Parliament Plotter Statement Released' , an exclusive report by 
Neeta Sharma on the NDTV website at
http://ndtv.com/template/template.asp 
fromtimeline=true&id=98054&callid=1&template=Parliamentattack ]

However, there is still something especially repellent about the 
exhibition of a coerced confession. See it had the same chilling quality 
on me as I have had whenever I have read accounts of Bukharin's 
'confession' at the climax of his show trial in Stalin's Soviet Union 
The squinting to avoid the glare of lights is a telling detail. Afzal 
does not use his hands to shield his eyes, but keeps moving his head in 
a nervous manner to avoid the glare. The frame reveals only his chest 
and head in a mid close up. One wonders what happenned to his hands, 
were they tied, or handcuffed? Are we to view this disgusting exhibition 
of a person in confinement as a credible testament by any stretch of 
imagination? The report does indicate that Afzal went back on this 
statement, and that this was not allowed as evidence in court, but the 
time taken to deliver this information is a fraction of the footage 
given over to the exhaustive details of the confession, and their 
repetition, in order to emphasize certain key points.

Perhaps the most cogent analysis of this footage comes from N.D. 
Pancholi, an advocate who is currently acting in the capacity of the 
legal counsel for Mohammad Afzal. His letter to the NDTV Managing 
Editor, dated 26 December makes for compelling reading, and I reproduce 
a substantial part of this text here.

[See http://www.sacw.net/free/pancholitoNDTV.html for the full text of 
this letter]

-------------------------------
Excerpt from the Letter of N.D. Pancholi to The Managing Editor, NDTV, 
26/12/2006

Sub: Your repeated news bulletins on Hindi channel on 16th & 17th 
December, 2006 displaying Afzal’s statement video-taped by the Special 
Cell of Delhi Police when AFZAL was in police custody.

This is with reference to your aforesaid news reports repeatedly 
telecast in the news bulletins on your Hindi channel on 16th and 17th 
December, 2006, wherein your reporters claimed to have got exclusive 
possession of a video tape in which Mohd. Afzal Guru, who is facing the 
death sentence in the Parliament attack case, is shown making 
self-incriminatory statements.

Around 3 PM on 16th December, 2006, when I was in the High Court, I 
received a phone call from one of your reporters, Ms. Sunetra Chaudhary, 
asking whether I had seen the news about Afzal on NDTV. I expressed my 
ignorance. She told me that the police had given NDTV the video tape of 
a statement given by Afzal in police custody and that the said tape was 
being broadcast by NDTV. I told her that any statement given by an 
accused in police custody has no value and is inadmissible in law and 
that the alleged confession of Afzal made in police custody had been 
rejected by the Supreme Court. I also told her that media conference 
organized by the police in December 2001, in which Afzal was shown 
admitting to his involvement in the Parliament attack, was also strongly 
disapproved of by the High Court and the police were reprimanded for 
having conducted such an unlawful exercise. But she said that the said 
tape was not of the media conference but of the statement which Afzal 
had given to the police at the time of interrogation -- and which NDTV 
has brought out for the first time. I told her that before producing 
Afzal in the media conference he was several times made to rehearse his 
statement as tailored by the police, and that the said tape must be a 
recording of one such rehearsal. She told me that she would send a 
reporter to me to get my comments. She also requested me to provide her 
with a copy of the statement made by Afzal in the Court under Section 
313 Criminal Procedure Code, which she said she would juxtapose along 
with his recorded statement in the news. She also told me that Ms. 
Barkha Dutt had sent her a copy of the letter written by Afzal to Shri 
Sushil Kumar, Senior Advocate, who had argued his case in the Supreme 
Court, and if the "313 statement” of Afzal was not available with me, 
she would use the contents of the said letter in the news bulletins. She 
also asked me to see, on the news bulletins, the tape which was being 
repeatedly shown by NDTV.

I came home and saw the news bulletins. An NDTV reporter also came to my 
residence at about 5.30 PM and recorded my statement, both in Hindi and 
in English. My statement was to this effect:

"The statement in the tape is a tutored rehearsal which Afzal was 
coerced to make under threat and after torture, that such statements in 
police custody have no value, that the High Court had reprimanded the 
police for organizing a media conference where Afzal made 
self-incriminatory statements, that the Supreme Court had also rejected 
his so-called confession made in police custody, that the police had 
never produced such a tape during the trial, that it was the defence 
lawyers who had had the tape of the media conference of Afzal produced 
in the Court to show how the conference was organized and manipulated 
under the dictation of the ACP Rajbir Singh."

However, my aforesaid comments were not broadcast. All that was shown 
was a small part of my statement, in a manner which distorted my stand, 
while the tape was repeatedly telecast. The reporter said: "Advocate 
says that the tape was not produced by the police in the court". All of 
my other aforesaid comments were suppressed by your reporter. It was 
obvious that your reporter, by producing only that small part of my 
statement in a manner which removed it from its context, wanted to 
convey to your viewers that non-production of the tape was only a minor 
negligent act, a small mistake on the part of the police -- which 
mistake was being rectified by your "investigative journalism" for the 
sake of those who wanted the prompt hanging of Afzal.

The display of the tape was followed by suggestive comments by your 
reporter such as, "You have seen the tape. See how natural, how 
truthful, how fluent his statement appears!" ".Who can believe that such 
statement can be given under torture?" The news was captioned "Afzal Ke 
Badalte Hue Bayaan (Changing statements of Afzal)". In a discussion of 
the tape your anchor declared, "If such a statement of Afzal was made 
under coercion, then he must be a good actor."

In the morning news of 17th December, 2006, I saw that the families of 
security men killed during the attack on Parliament had been brought on 
the programme and, after showing the tape to them, your reporter asked 
their opinion about the hanging of Afzal. Their expected reply was duly 
telecast. Your reporters stationed in some cities were shown gathering 
the opinion of the public about the hanging of Afzal in the light of the 
tape telecast by NDTV. These telecasts were repeated many times during 
the day and viewers were asked to send SMS messages to NDTV.

I met Afzal in jail on 20th December, 2006 and told him about the tape 
and the repeated performance of NDTV. He was amused. He told me that 
there was not one such tape but several, as before producing him at the 
media conference the police had forced him to rehearse his "Bayaanâ" 
(statement) five or six times. Before that he had been brutally tortured 
for about two days. Urine was forced into his mouth. He was given 
repeated beatings. Once he was kept completely naked throughout the day, 
and on that day one of the public witnesses who was to give evidence 
against him later in the Court also participated in the beating. He was 
also hung by ropes. The next day he was given a written statement and 
was made to rehearse it five or six times. Rajbir Singh, ACP, instructed 
him,"Iske Aage Nahin Batana, Iske Peechhe Nahin Batana (Do not add 
anything to or remove anything from this statement)". Afzal was told 
that his brother Hilal was in the custody of the STF in Kashmir and that 
if he wanted the safety of his brother and family, he should speak in 
the media conference on the lines of the "Bayaan" tailor-made by the 
police. Each rehearsal was video-recorded.

However, the portion in the "Bayaan" relating to co-accused S.A.R. 
Geelani created a problem. The police wanted Afzal to implicate Geelani 
in his statement before the media, which Afzal found himself unable to 
do. He faltered at the Geelani point in each rehearsal. So ACP Rajbir 
Singh instructed that he should keep silent if the issue of Geelani 
cropped up in the media conference. But a deviation occurred when a 
reporter asked Afzal about the involvement of Geelani in the attack. 
Afzal replied that Geelani was innocent. This angered Rajbir Singh, who 
shouted at Afzal ordering him not to say anything about Geelani. Rajbir 
Singh also requested the media persons to delete this part of the 
statement while presenting it to the public. By and large, the media 
obliged the police in a truly nationalistic spirit.

But the media conference ultimately misfired. There was an unintentional 
leak by the "Times of India", and after a couple of months the TV 
channel "Aaj Tak" telecast the complete conference -- without realizing 
that this would be to the detriment of the police case. The defence 
lawyers of Geelani were quick to pounce upon such lapses of the media 
and had the entire video tape of the conference produced in the court. 
Shams Tahir of "Aaj Tak" was summoned on behalf of the defence lawyers 
to give true account of what happened in the conference, and his 
evidence earned for the police a strong reprimand from the High Court 
for organizing the media conference. It also contributed to the 
acquittal of Geelani.

I am narrating these facts in detail as your reporters seem to be 
ignorant of various salient features of the Parliament Attack Case.Your 
repeated news bulletins over two days reduced the issue of the hanging 
of Afzal and his Mercy Petition pending with the President to a very 
simplistic solution "Show repeatedly the video tape (an unlawful piece 
of evidence) of the alleged confession of Afzal recorded in police 
custody as breaking news, convince the viewers that it has brought out 
the ultimate truth, ask them to send SMS messages to NDTV conveying 
their opinions about the "˜Phansi" (hanging) of Afzal, and then pour out 
the "˜collective opinion" gathered in this manner to pave the way for 
the prompt hanging of Afzal."What a simple, quick solution of an issue 
involving the life and death of a citizen!

...I have taken the consent of Afzal before writing this letter to you, 
and on his behalf I request you to faithfully present his side also to 
your viewers, without any suppression or distortion.

I hope that the above contentions on behalf of Afzal, on facts and law 
both, will be truthfully presented by you to your viewers to enable them 
to make a responsible judgement on the issue.

N.D.Pancholi
Counsel for Mohd. Afzal, lodged in solitary
confinement in the High Security Ward of
Jail No.3 of Tihar, Delhi.

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


Needless to say, NDTV, neither in the form of NDTV24X7 nor as NDTV-India 
has thought it necessary as of now to produce or air any  programme that 
truthfully presents the 'above contentions...on facts and law both'. Nor 
has it thought it necessary to apologize to its viewership, which it has 
insulted with this gratuitous exhibition of something that was not even 
accepted as evidence in court.

A Dead Man's Identity Crisis

But the material of the 'confession' merits scrutiny even on its own 
right. Once again, we find that it is the breathless over-enthusiasm of 
the rhetorical flourishes that undermines the credibility of this sordid 
episode of attempted opinion management on prime time television. A 
great deal is made of the fact that Afzal 'identifies' one of the slain 
'terrorists' who is named Mohammad as Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias 'Burger', 
who slit a passenger's throat during the hijacking of the IC-814 Indian 
Airlines plane from Kathmandu to Kandahar. The 'dead Mohammad' equals 
'Burger' theory was an important part of the Delhi Police version during 
the early days after December 13.

The CBI, which had filed the charge sheet when the Hijacking took place, 
naturally took an interest in ascertaining whether or not the "dead 
Mohammad = Burger" theory had any basis. In fact, on December 19, 2002, 
CBI officials stated that samples of handwriting found on the body would 
be compared with those that the CBI knew were taken from Burger, 
further, photographs of the dead body were being sent to the Central 
Forensic Science Laboratory for Electronic Skull Imaging tests.

We know that by the 14th of January, 2002, the CBI had completely 
rubbished the "dead Mohammad = Burger" theory. Here is an extract from a 
story tiled "The Ham Burger-Did Delhi Police sleuths jump the gun with 
the wrong one?" by Davinder Kumar, datelined 14th January 2002, which 
was published on page 12 of the Outlook issue of January 21, 2002

"After a week of action and frequent media briefings following the 12/13 
strike, silence has gripped the investigation agenices, particularly the 
Delhi Police. The initial euphoria of having cracked the case within 72 
hours has now made way for discernible restraint. Suddenly, no one in 
the Delhi Police wants to crow about the progress of the investigations.

What has come as a blow to the Delhi Police investigations is the CBI 
rubbishing the claim that Mohammad - the man who led the fidayeen attack 
on Parliament-was the 'Burger' of the IC814 hijack two years ago. The 
CBI, which is investigating the Kandahar case, has written to the Union 
home ministry dismissing this claim as baseless.

CBI officials dismiss the assertion that the terrorist killed in the 
Parliament attack was Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias 'Burger'. The investigating 
agency reached this conclusion after a team of experts from the Central 
Forensic Science Laboratory were called in to ascertain the identity of 
Mohammad whose body, along with the bodies of other members of the 
fidayeen squad, is kept preserved at Delhi's Lady Hardinge Medical 
College mortuary. "

In fact, the CBI website to this date hosts a 'wanted' notice (Interpol 
notice control number A - 563/6-2000) for Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias Burger 
at http://cbi.nic.in/qazi.htm

So if we have more than reasonable grounds to believe that the "dead 
Mohammad = Burger" part of the testimony is a fabrication, on what 
grounds must we accept that anything else that Afzal says in this tape 
is true. As stated earlier, Afzal entirely repudiated the contents of 
this confession in the statement he made under section 313 of the 
Criminal Procedure Code to a magistrate, which is in fact something that 
is admissible as evidence in court because it dose not carry with it the 
baggage of being obtained in police custody.

"But Life Goes On"

What, if anything can explain the desparation that drives elements 
within the police apparatus to offer a false testimony to a premier news 
channel, and what can justify that TV channel's airing it. Barkha Dutt, 
in the concluding paragraph of "Death of the Middle Ground" had stated.

"But life goes on. As I write this, NDTV has received a CD of Afzal’s 
so-called confession to the police; a “confession”, he later said, that 
was induced by torture, and then retracted. We spent hours debating what 
the fairest way to use the contents of the CD was, and finally, decided 
that we would use his “confession” only in juxtaposition with the 
statement he finally submitted in court. The idea was to highlight the 
many ambiguities and contradictions of the case."

A completely quantitative analysis of the amount of screen time lavished 
on the confession seen in proportion to the amount of screen time given 
over to the qualifying statement that Afzal made in court is adequate to 
demonstrate the token nature of this so called 'fair' juxtaposition. And 
one of the key contradictions in the case, which the report conveniently 
omits to mention is that the man known to us as "dead Mohammad" is not 
"Burger".

I can understand what made Mohammad Afzal sing, what made him into a 
horrible and sad caricature of Sceherazade, who had to tell a thousand 
and one stories to save her neck and the neck of her sister from the 
executioner's sword in the frame story of the Arabian Nights. It is not 
necessarily a brave thing to have done, (though Afzal was brave when he 
said to the media in the other 'confession' footage, that SAR Geelani 
was innocent). But how many of us would be brave when faced with 
torture, and naked threats to the safety of our immediate families. 
Afzal sang as he was told to sing, as many of us would, given the same 
circumstances. We would do this to survive, perhaps to get out of it all 
with a sliver of dignity and sanity intact.  Afzal's conduct falls in 
this regard falls squarely within the pale of what any human being might 
have done, and it is for this reason that confessions in police custody 
are not admissible as evidence in a criminal trial.

We can understand what made Afzal do what he did, but how do we explain 
NDTV's conduct, and the preposterous suggestion that the airing of this 
contaminated fabrication was the result of hours of debating what would 
be the 'fairest' thing to do under the circumstances. I can only marvel 
at the debating skills on offer in NDTV offices which enable otherwise 
intelligent people to rationalize and justify to themselves the act of 
stooping so low in front of the dirt dished out to them by the shadowy 
operatives who crawl out of the crevices in the underbelly of the 
intelligence apparatus.

Neeta Sharma and The Strange Case of Stationary CCTV Cameras

The story concludes with the only substantive response to have emerged 
from the media to any of the 13 questions presented by Arundhati Roy in 
her introduction to '13 December, A Reader'. This is the answer to the 
question about whether there were five, or six men who attacked 
parliament and whether this can be deduced by looking at the 
surveillance video of the precincts of parliament that day.

[ See 'Parliament Attack: Questions Raised over CCTV Footage' by Neeta 
Sharma on the NDTV website at 
http://ndtv.com/template/template.asp?fromtimeline=true&id=20971&callid=0&template=Parliamentattack]

In this episode, the answer takes the form of an extended playing of 
split screen surveillance camera footage of the white ambassador car 
travelling towards, and then entering parliament, and some shots of the 
occupants of the car (we see four of them) running about. The 
correspondent who has been part of the team which put together this 
story, Neeta Sharma, says, as we see this footage, that the question of 
the 'sixth man' cannot be answered by the CCTV footage simply because 
the CCTV cameras are fixed, immobile and cannot take in the spot where 
the car stopped, and the occupants alighted.

Firstly, it is reasonable to expect that there are not one, but several 
CCTV cameras in the vicinity of the parliament, that between them, 
comprehensively cover the space. Secondly, even, as the correspondent 
offers us her 'immobile' camera theory on the commentary, we can see the 
frame moving, as the camera pans, tilts, zooms, exactly as CCTV cameras 
are programmed to do. So much for the immobility of the CCTV camera.

But the curious details of the production of this story do not end here. 
Neeta Sharma, the key correspondent in this story is the same person, 
who in her earlier avatar as a reporter for the Hindustan Times, wrote 
some of the patently planted stories about SAR Geelani and 13 December 
(with a 'script' identical to the one that has been rehashed exactly 
five years later in the NDTV India Report)

[ See 'Case Cracked: Jaish behind Attack' The Hindustan Times, Dec 16, 
2001 by Neeta Sharma and Arun Joshi, and 'Pak Uses Fanatics to Spread 
Terror in India' a six column piece by Neeta Sharma on December 21, 2006 
in the Hindustan Times, which puts out a series of fabrications about 
SAR Geelani. See also, 'The Media and December 13' an analysis of 
reporting on December 13 by Nirmalangshu Mukherji at 
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=6332 ]

She also wrote patently planted stories, again in the Hindustan Times, 
about  Ifitkhar Geelani, the journalist framed in a false case under the 
Official Secrets Act.

[ See 'Iftikar Geelani Admits ISI Link' by Neeta Sharma, Hindustan 
Times, June 11, 2002. This text, which Ifitkar Geelani has called the 
'mother of all mischievous reports about me' is still available online 
at 
http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2002/kashmir20020610f.html. ]

Neeta Sharma is clearly one of the select club of journalists in Delhi 
who has a  long and distinguished history of association with the 
'information management' wings of the intelligence and law enforcement 
agencies that come out to play with the media on certain occasions.

Her re-appearance as one of the architects of the NDTV India's telecast 
of Afzal's confession in custody is itself something that needs to be 
decoded with care. How did the channel allow a reporter with a known 
track record of fabrication in the same case to fashion yet another 
incompetently put together tissue of lies. I wonder how many hours of 
honest debate must have gone into this decision. Were the senior 
management of NDTV aware, are they aware that their correspondent has a 
track record when it comes to planting stories. Are they managerially so 
incompetent that they do not look at a person's professional history 
when they take them on, or do they choose to look the other way, 
calculating instead the benefits of the informal intimacy between 
'intelligence' and 'journalism' that such individuals bring with them to 
the organizations they join.

Blowback

In the end, this is not just about the individual who happens to be 
Neeta Sharma, or any other individuals, or about CNN-IBN or NDTV India 
or NDTV 24X7 or even the shenanigans of any other news channels . This 
is about a cornered beast that is the nexus between sections of the 
media, elements in law enforcement and intelligence, the political class 
and the judiciary flailing and making mistakes, reacting in uncontrolled 
nervousness and fear to the possibility that the house of cards that is 
the official story of December 13 might come crashing down. It is this 
panic that is causing the kind of hysterical programming that we are 
witnessing on television. Some people have a lot to lose if we keep 
asking questions about December 13, and they will do 'whatever it takes' 
to confuse the issue. I cannot see any other rational explaination for 
the manner in which a lot of the skeletons are crawling one by one out 
of the December 13 closet.

Sometimes, the methods used for 'crisis management' create their own 
blowback effect. The methods of our intelligence apparatus, and the 
collective enigma that we have begun calling the 'Deep State' in India 
are an indication of what happens when the attempt to control 
perceptions starts spinning out of control. The more they do this, the 
more they expose themselves.

Voices of the 'Deep State'

There are voices that emanate from within the depths of the 'Deep State' 
  that seem to point in exactly this direction. Only yesterday, (31 
December, 2006) Ajit Doval, former director of the Intelligence Bureau, 
wrote an article in the Hindustan Times on a page that was headlined. 
'Terror or Order'. Perhaps it would have been more apposite if the 
headline had been 'Terror and Order'. In his text, titled, 'Intelligence 
- Brave New World - Transform not Reform' Doval writes -

"the modern state operates under a complex regimen of national and 
international laws, media gaze and vigilant public opinion, which limit 
its power. When the state’s objectives are not met by the legitimate 
instrumentalities, it is tempted to use covert action. This leads to use 
of intelligence not only as a knowledge provider for policy formulation 
but also as a deniable tool of policy execution."

Notice the key phrase, 'deniable tool of policy execution'. Remember 
this is not me offering a conspiracy theory, it is a recently retired 
director of the Intelligence Bureau, intimately involved incidentally, 
with the investigations of 13 December, who is talking about the 
necessity of deniable tools of policy. What does 'deniabilty' mean other 
than the erection of masquerades ? What conclusions can we draw from 
this tacit admission that the state does things that it finds necessary 
to deny.

The Street Theatre of Terror

This is about as sophisticated as the theory of the practice commonly 
known as the 'fake encounter' in india gets. We find another reflection 
of this theory in another remarkable text, published, once again, in 
Hindustan Times, on June 28, 2006, written by Manoj Joshi, Editor 
(views) Hindustan Times, while he was a member of the National Security 
Council Advisory Board, an apex body that advises the ministry of home 
affairs on matters relevant to internal security. This text, which 
offers an analysis of the 'attack' in May on the RSS headquarters in 
Nagpur is called 'The Bigger Picture - Terror’s street theatre'.

Manoj Joshi begins by asking -

"Was the Nagpur encounter of June 1 that led to the killing of three 
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba ter rorists staged? All the signs seem to suggest that 
it was: a terrorist ‘strike’ at 4 a.m., an hour of the day in a small 
town when any movement occasions suspicion; a gunbattle with no 
eyewitnesses in which all the bad guys get killed and the only bullets 
to hit the police strike their bulletproof vests; terrorists’ grenades 
fail to explode and their bodies are removed before the media arrive; 
finally, a diary providing their names and addresses is fortuitously found.

As for the media, the less said the better. In sharp contrast to the 
scepticism over the last such major event — the Ansal Plaza incident in 
New Delhi in 2002 — they seemed determined not to see anything that the 
police did not want them to see. The questions that have been raised 
since follow from investigations by a team associated with the People’s 
Union for Civil Liberties and other civil rights groups, led by B.G. 
Kolse-Patil, a retired judge of the Mumbai High Court, and Suresh 
Khairnar. The report has a number of details, including the numbers of 
bullets fired and the angle of their entry into the police vehicles, 
that indicate that the police version of the encounter is not easy to 
believe."

So far so good, but it is here that Joshi's true intent reveals itself 
in a remarkable way. He goes on to offer us a remarkable insight into 
why he thinks that 'staging' terrorist incidents is a valid instrument 
of policy.

Joshi says -  "...Unlike the aim of the factfinding mission, ours is not 
to berate the police or seek a Supreme Court inquiry. It is to draw 
cautionary lessons about the war against terrorism, which looks to be 
getting worse, before it gets better.No tears need to be shed for the 
execution of terrorists...the aim of the execution was to send a macabre 
message to their handlers, and to eliminate ruthless killers whose 
detention could endanger the police personnel who dealt with them, or 
lead to more terrorist actions to secure their release, as in the case 
of the IC814 hijack. There also seems to be another peculiarly Indian 
need for staging such events. When terrorist conspiracies are quietly 
terminated, as indeed many are, people tend to get complacent, and the 
reaction to a major strike can be destabilising. Staging such a grisly 
theatrical is , in a sense, inoculation to reduce the virulence that may 
result from an actual terrorist strike later."

'Grisly Theatricals' and a growing list of questions

Reading these lines in juxtaposition with what we know, and what we do 
know that we do not know - about December 13, 2001 and the Attack on the 
Red Fort in 2000 leads to the drawing of certain unavoidable conclusion. 
It needs now to be proven that these 'grisly theatricals' were not 
staged, were not the kind of 'inoculations' that act as 'deniable 
instruments of policy'.

If those who are speaking loudly today in favour of Afzal's hanging have 
nothing to fear, then they should also not have any difficulty in 
ensuring that at the very least, a thorough enquiry and investigation be 
carried out into the affair of December 13.

If nothing else, it might yield valuable information about who else was 
involved, who actually got Afzal to the place where he is now, so that 
they too may be punished (with him, if that is necessary) for their 
actions. For all we know, we might find that there exist people whose 
culpability with regard to December 13 is far greater than what has so 
far been demonstrated in the case of Mohammad Afzal. If this be true, 
and if we are to take the question of getting to the bottom of what 
happenned, and apportioning blame seriously, then it is imperative that 
stay alive, at least until such time that the investigations are 
satisfactorily concluded. The only conclusion that can be drawn from the 
intensity with which the demand that Afzal be killed, and immediately, 
is that those who are making that demand have reason to be worried about 
what might be revealed in the future, should Afzal stay alive to 
participate in a free and fair trial, and in a rigourous investigation 
of the truth.

Once again, in the absence of a better explaination, we must continue to 
ask why the critics of our position are not responding to the questions 
that we are actually asking and are instead occupied in going about day 
in and day out in the task of constructing a straw man of Afzal's so 
called 'innocence'. A generous explanation would be (and I am willing to 
consider this to be the truth in the case of Barkha Dutt, whose 
analytical skills have never quite had the edge of her enthusiasm) that 
this is being done because those doing it do not have the intelligence, 
patience or diligence to actually consider what we are saying. A less 
generous explanation would be that this is being done with some 
deliberation, so as to confuse and delude the public into believing that 
we, the critics of the official line on December 13 are either naiive 
pro-Kashmiri 'limousine liberals and publicity mongers' who do not know 
have a clue about what we are talking about, or, that we are actually a 
'subversive jehadist conspiracy'.

[The first of these is the Suhel Seth position, as elaborated in the 
Asian Age of December 18 , in 'The Laws of Activism' 
(http://www.asianage.com/presentation/columnisthome/suhel-seth-/the-laws-of-activism.aspx) 
and the second is the Arun Jaitley line, as spelt out on NDTV India on 
December 16th and 17th.]

Either way, both of these arguments do not actually engage with any of 
the points that we are trying to make. In their dismissal lies a careful 
but nervous evasion of the questions that have been raised by  Arundhati 
Roy and by several others who have been arguing against the death 
penalty for Mohammad Afzal.

[See '13 Questions for 13 December' by Arundhati Roy, Published in 
Outlook, December 18, 2006 and posted by me at 
http://www.kafila.org/2006/12/08/13-questions-for-december-13/]

It is of course entirely possible that in the end it is the high pitched 
volume and vituperation of the carefully orchestrated 'Hang Afzal' 
campaign that will carry the day. Alternatively, there could also be the 
possibility that the questions we are raising prompt everyone to think a 
little more for themselves about what they have been told and are being 
told about December 13. The questions are not going away, nor are we. It 
is also possible that the 13 questions give rise to many more, as more 
skeletons begin to crawl from the 13 December closet. We are prepared to 
wait out this winter of our discontent, even as Mohammad Afzal gets 
ready to wait it out in his cell in Tihar Jail.

END
-------------------------

Thank you for your patience for reading through to the end of a long 
text. Apologies for the lenght. But there was a lot that needed to be 
covered.
----------------------------


From vidyashah at hotmail.com  Wed Jan  3 09:06:35 2007
From: vidyashah at hotmail.com (vidya shah)
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 03:36:35 +0000
Subject: [Reader-list] RTI and the Distant Dream of Women's Empowerment
Message-ID: <BAY132-F11C5F693B9D17AAD77C19ABEB90@phx.gbl>

This is an account of a friend who has been trying to use the RTI 
effectively. Not so easy after all.
Vidya

IGNOU, RTI and the Distant Dream of Women's Empowerment

Rahul

Analysis of the latest data made available by the Indira Gandhi National 
Open University, New Delhi (IGNOU) in response to an application made under 
the Right to Information Act reveals that the average number of female 
students freshly enrolled each year in the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree 
programme in the seven years from 1996 to 2002 was 17146 which is 65% of the 
total. Among these the average number from the Scheduled Castes (SC) was 
1903 (11.1%) and the average number from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) was 831 
(4.8%). The average number of female students per year over the same period 
who had successfully completed the course and been awarded the BA degree was 
a miniscule 440. Among these the average number from the SC was only 64 and 
the average number from the ST was just 17. Even though the time schedule 
for completion of the course in the distance education format is flexible 
and so it is not possible to directly compare the enrolment and pass 
averages given above nevertheless it can be roughly said that over the 
period under review on an average about 2.6 % of the female students were 
successfully completing the course every year while this statistic for the 
SC is 3.4 % and for the ST it is 2 %.

The most striking feature of this data is that of the considerably fewer 
number of female students passing as compared to male students. Thus in 1996 
even though females constituted 67.1% of those enrolling their proportion in 
those passing out was just 29.5%. Similarly in 2002 while females 
constituted 63.4% of those enrolling their proportion in those passing out 
was just 31.6%. Thus it is quite evident that IGNOU, which is the premier 
institute of distance education in the country, has not quite lived up to 
its self professed mission of " ....knowledge ... dissemination through 
sustainable open and distance learning systems seamlessly accessible to all, 
including the hitherto unreached, from among whom the leaders and innovators 
of tomorrow will emerge."(Italics added for emphasis) (IGNOU website - 
www.ignou.ac.in).

However, not being privy to these dismal statistics in 1998, Subhadra 
Khaperde, impressed by the mission statement of IGNOU, had then enrolled for 
the Bachelor's Degree Programme of the university. She comes from an 
economically very poor dalit marginal farmer family and had had to give up 
her education after somehow passing the higher secondary examination in 1987 
in the third division and start work as an anganwadi worker. She progressed 
to becoming a political activist involving herself in the many battles that 
were fought over land, water and forest rights in Madhya Pradesh before 
concentrating on securing the reproductive health and rights of Bhil adivasi 
women in western Madhya Pradesh from 1995 onwards. After a decade of 
grassroots mobilisation however she found that her initial belief that the 
various enabling provisions of the Constitution and many affirmative laws 
would be implemented if only the people got organised and demanded their 
rights was very naive. She realised that the rule of law promised in the 
Constitution was not only there only on paper but also that the state would 
not tolerate organised attempts by the masses to make it work on the ground. 
This made her feel that she must read up on political theory and practice to 
properly understand this sad conundrum of laws on paper that are never 
implemented. However, the education she had received in school she found was 
wholly inadequate for her to understand the various books that she was plied 
with by other better read activists. So in 1997 she decided to start formal 
studies again by doing a bachelor's degree in Political Science from IGNOU.

Subhadra soon found herself all at sea in the deep waters of the IGNOU 
course material. The problem was compounded by the fact that the texts had 
been originally written in English by the leading Indian scholars in their 
fields and then translated into Hindi. The normal practice for translation 
of arcane technical terms is to break up the English word into its Latin or 
Greek roots and then construct a Hindi word by combining the corresponding 
Sanskrit roots. This artificially created term being a specialised one is 
not found in any of the standard Hindi dictionaries. Moreover since the main 
words are in Sanskrit the sentences constructed with these also use a high 
Sanskritised Hindi, which has little relation to the colloquial Hindi that 
is popularly spoken. Thus making sense of the IGNOU course material for a 
graduate of the government school system is almost as difficult an exercise 
as deciphering the Harappan script. Since this was beyond her capacity 
Subhadra had to engage a tutor to assist her in a big way not only in 
understanding the meaning of the texts but also in doing the assignments 
which too had to be written in high quality Sanskritised Hindi. The crunch 
came in the examinations. The papers were set in such a way that they 
thoroughly tested whether the student had read and assimilated the course 
material properly and wholly. A study of past question papers revealed that 
there is no pattern discernible in the questions asked. So it is very 
difficult to predict the possible questions and prepare accordingly as is 
the custom in most universities in this country. Nor are there any study 
guides as the student base of IGNOU is too small to make their publication 
profitable.

The inevitable result of all this was that in the initial stages Subhadra 
mostly passed her examinations by the skin of her teeth or sometimes failed. 
Even though the tutor prepared the answers for a wide range of questions it 
was just beyond her capacity to cram all of them. So she had to write off 
the cuff answers to questions for which she had not prepared and obviously 
she did not have the proficiency to do so. Sometimes she was failed or given 
poor marks despite writing good answers and there was no redressal even 
after filing for review. The only saving grace is that a student could take 
as many as eight years at that time to pass the three-year course and so 
failed papers could be reappeared for or a lesser number of papers could be 
taken per semester. She gradually passed her papers till only one paper 
remained. This was the foundation course in English. She had already failed 
in this once in the initial stages. She had to spend a whole year learning 
only English and then somehow passed the paper on the strength of an essay 
on a topic, which she had prepared before hand that luckily came in the 
paper.

Once this IGNOU odyssey was over Subhadra began wondering as to how many 
people actually passed the BA examination of IGNOU given the toughness of 
the course and the exacting examination standards. The BA being the most 
basic graduation level course would be opted for mostly by people from a 
disadvantaged background who had like her lost touch with education for a 
long time and wanted to catch up on it. But the fact of the matter is that 
Subhadra had been able to stay the course and become a graduate of IGNOU 
with much difficulty only because she had engaged a tutor to help her 
throughout. Not everyone is so lucky and so she surmised that very few 
people were actually successfully completing the course. She asked around in 
her own city Indore and found that all the people whom she traced had 
dropped out of the course after enrolment having been frustrated by the 
toughness of the course and the examinations. This prompted her to write to 
IGNOU for statistics regarding the pass percentages disaggregated by caste 
category in the BA course over the past decade. There was no reply. The 
research section of IGNOU, which should be analysing the performance of the 
students and evaluating the efficacy of the course, too said that they had 
no data regarding the BA course. She then got some of her journalist friends 
in Delhi to inquire about this and they too got fobbed off with vague 
replies. She then wrote to the Principal Secretary Higher Education of the 
Government of India who is an IAS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre to 
get this information and once again drew a blank.

Finally as a last resort an application was filed with the Public 
Information Officer (PIO) of IGNOU under the Right to Information Act 2005 
for this information. A subordinate of this officer replied and refused the 
information with some vague excuse. A stern letter was then sent to the Vice 
Chancellor who is the Designated Appellate Authority for IGNOU under the RTI 
Act, pointing out that the Public Information Officer was liable for penal 
action for having wilfully obstructed the furnishing of the information that 
had been demanded. This had some effect and the officer sent the data but it 
was complete only for seven years from 1996 to 2002. Repeated reminders 
could not elicit the remaining information from 2003 to 2005 and so a second 
appeal was filed with the Central Information Commission to direct IGNOU to 
furnish the data for the whole decade from 1996 to 2005. After a long wait 
of eight months the appeal finally came up for hearing before the Commission 
on 18th of December. The Information Commissioner instead of taking the 
IGNOU PIO to task for not supplying the complete information and penalising 
him said that since he had given some information the petitioner should not 
be intolerant and should sit with the PIO and sort out the remaining 
differences. The petitioner's argument that enrolment and pass statistics 
are basic information and that the Information Commissioner should order 
IGNOU to put them up compulsorily on their website so that they would have 
to sit up and do something to improve their performance as a result of 
public scrutiny of such a dismal performance cut no ice with the Information 
Commissioner who said that the staff of IGNOU were over worked anyway. The 
petitioner finally left in disgust leaving the IGNOU PIO and the Information 
Commissioner to their mutual backslapping.

This whole sordid scenario indicates that there are a lot of women like 
Subhadra with a poor schooling background and unable to take admission in 
colleges which require regular attendance who are enrolling in IGNOU in the 
fond hope that they will get a BA degree. However, the toughness, nay 
inappropriateness of the course material, the examination papers and their 
strict and even sadistic evaluation coupled with inadequate coaching are 
putting paid to their dreams leading to these women not being able to pass 
out. No wonder then that these statistics regarding pass percentages, that 
are easily made available by most universities, are such a closely guarded 
secret in IGNOU and not readily disclosed to anyone. Not only has IGNOU 
failed to help the underprivileged students who have taken admission in the 
BA degree course to emerge as leaders and innovators of tomorrow but it has 
instead severely dented their self respect by making them into failures. 
This criminal negligence assumes an even more serious hue when we consider 
the fact that an overwhelming two-thirds majority of those aspiring and then 
failing to make something of themselves due to this insensitivity of IGNOU 
are women. What is most galling is that an institution that projects itself 
as the best distance learning university in the world on the strength of the 
performance in its money spinning elite professional courses like 
management, which are availed of by students from a privileged background, 
does not have the honesty to review the continually deteriorating 
performance of its most basic BA degree programme. The attempt to bring some 
transparency into the operation of IGNOU through the RTI Act too has proved 
futile given the tendency of bureaucrats to shield each other. The net 
result is that the empowerment of poor women is destined to remain a distant 
dream.

_________________________________________________________________
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From surovani at hotmail.com  Wed Jan  3 10:40:31 2007
From: surovani at hotmail.com (surovani_hotmail)
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 10:40:31 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] RTI and the Distant Dream of Women's Empowerment
References: <BAY132-F11C5F693B9D17AAD77C19ABEB90@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <BAY130-DAV200BC0FCD3B269FEB4AA5FC4B90@phx.gbl>

Dear all,

If you're not doing something terribly exciting this Saturday evening, do
come for the first screening of my film 'Ayodhya Gatha' at 6.30 at Gulmohar
in the IHC.

It's being screened along with another film (see the formal invite and
synopsis below).

Hope to see you there...
Cheers
Vani



The Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT)
and The British Council

present

AYODHYA GATHA
Director:  Vani Subramanian
Producer: PSBT

&

THE BRIGHTON BOMB
Director/ Producer: Sandy Smith

Shortlisted for Best Historical Documentary, Grierson Awards 2005
(The Grierson Awards recognise the best documentary films from Britain and
abroad.)

Saturday, January 6th, 2006 at 6:30pm
Venue: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre.
Lodhi Road, New Delhi


AYODHYA GATHA (60 mins)

Ayodhya. It's a site of conflict and contestation, a symbol of communal
divide and aspirations. But even as events here have determined the fate of
the nation, what have they, in turn, done to life and living in this small
town?

Today, the streets of Ayodhya seem to have lost touch with the feet of her
residents. Blocked and barricaded, our only access to them is through
memory, the telling of stories, the hearing of tales, the 'gatha' of her
people.

Physically and metaphorically travelling together, the narrator and
residents talk about what it has meant to grow up on streets crowded with
armies of kar sevaks. To feel fervour and the fear on your way to work,
school or play. To live in lanes echoing with the sounds of communal
propaganda.

Ayodhya Gatha weaves together a tapestry of perspectives on how deeply the
politics of hate affect personal, everyday lives, and what it takes to
negotiate your way out of these labyrinths.

How calm is the eye of the storm?



THE BRIGHTON BOMB (60mins)

Marking the 20th anniversary of the IRA's attempt to blow up the cabinet,
this film sought to revisit the tragedy and heroism of the Brighton bombing.
In the process, the team managed to uncover new evidence of security
failings and interviewed people who had never spoken before - from the hotel
chambermaid to Margaret Tebbit. The aim and achievement was to bring in an
audience that remembered and those who were too young at the time to know or
understand what had really happened.


vani subramanian
359 sfs flats
hauz khas
new delhi 110016

tel.: 9891128911 



From surovani at hotmail.com  Wed Jan  3 11:00:04 2007
From: surovani at hotmail.com (surovani_hotmail)
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 11:00:04 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Screening of my film, 'Ayodhya Gatha'
Message-ID: <BAY130-DAV950F0DBA4A08A2CB4D6EBC4B90@phx.gbl>

Dear all,

If you're not doing something terribly exciting this Saturday evening, do
come for the first screening of my film 'Ayodhya Gatha' at 6.30 at Gulmohar
in the IHC.

It's being screened along with another film (see the formal invite and
synopsis below).

Hope to see you there...
Cheers
Vani



The Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT)
and The British Council

present

AYODHYA GATHA
Director:  Vani Subramanian
Producer: PSBT

&

THE BRIGHTON BOMB
Director/ Producer: Sandy Smith

Shortlisted for Best Historical Documentary, Grierson Awards 2005
(The Grierson Awards recognise the best documentary films from Britain and
abroad.)

Saturday, January 6th, 2006 at 6:30pm
Venue: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre.
Lodhi Road, New Delhi


AYODHYA GATHA (60 mins)

Ayodhya. It's a site of conflict and contestation, a symbol of communal
divide and aspirations. But even as events here have determined the fate of
the nation, what have they, in turn, done to life and living in this small
town?

Today, the streets of Ayodhya seem to have lost touch with the feet of her
residents. Blocked and barricaded, our only access to them is through
memory, the telling of stories, the hearing of tales, the 'gatha' of her
people.

Physically and metaphorically travelling together, the narrator and
residents talk about what it has meant to grow up on streets crowded with
armies of kar sevaks. To feel fervour and the fear on your way to work,
school or play. To live in lanes echoing with the sounds of communal
propaganda.

Ayodhya Gatha weaves together a tapestry of perspectives on how deeply the
politics of hate affect personal, everyday lives, and what it takes to
negotiate your way out of these labyrinths.

How calm is the eye of the storm?



THE BRIGHTON BOMB (60mins)

Marking the 20th anniversary of the IRA's attempt to blow up the cabinet,
this film sought to revisit the tragedy and heroism of the Brighton bombing.
In the process, the team managed to uncover new evidence of security
failings and interviewed people who had never spoken before - from the hotel
chambermaid to Margaret Tebbit. The aim and achievement was to bring in an
audience that remembered and those who were too young at the time to know or
understand what had really happened.


vani subramanian
359 sfs flats
hauz khas
new delhi 110016

tel.: 9891128911 



From rana at ranadasgupta.com  Wed Jan  3 13:56:48 2007
From: rana at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta)
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:56:48 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] History of photography in colonial India
In-Reply-To: <805026.382.qm@web32412.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <805026.382.qm@web32412.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <459B68C8.5070308@ranadasgupta.com>

PIONEERS OF INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
by John Falconer

'India presents to us perhaps as fine a field as any single country in
the world. It contains a perfect specimen of all the minute varieties of
Oriental Life; of Oriental Scenery, Oriental nations and Oriental
manners, and it is open to us to explore these peculiarities to the last
degree while enjoying a perfectly European security. There is a deep and
growing interest now felt in Europe in every thing Indian...' (1)


BaileyGuard
Samuel Bourne, "The Bailey Guard Gate, Lucknow", circa 1875


Thus the Rev. Joseph Mullens, in a paper given to the Photographic
Society of Bengal in October 1856, expressed his sense of the
inexhaustible photographic potential of the subcontinent. But while
praising the way in which members of the recently formed photographic
societies of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were 'endeavouring to collect
information and to register experience respecting the peculiarities
which attend the practice of Photography in India,' (2) he detected a
'want of purpose' and organisation among the amateur photographic
community and proceeded to outline a comprehensive scheme of operations
'more complete and more systematic' than had hitherto been attempted.
Little escaped Mullens' notice in this programme: astronomy, botany,
medicine, the criminal courts and the prison service, public works
departments - every branch of science and administration could benefit
from the 'stern fidelity of photography' in furthering knowledge and
'promoting economy and efficiency'. Beyond such practical applications,
he also envisaged the creation of a detailed record of the cultural and
ethnic diversity of the country, its topography, architecture, trades
and types, encompassing in effect, 'every variety of minute and
distinctive detail presented by the country and people around us.' While
Mullens' 'perfectly European security' was to be shattered the following
year in the rebellion which engulfed Northern India, his photographic
predictions proved more durable. In the second half of the nineteenth
century, photographers in India, both amateur and professional, were to
produce the most extensive and artistically distinguished record of the
land and peoples of any country outside the metropolitan centres of
Europe and America.

Mullens' words were to be echoed a decade and half later by the
architectural historian James Burgess who, in the preface to a volume of
views of Gujarat and Rajasthan published in 1874 (3), noted the 'growing
taste ... slowly spreading among Europeans for works illustrative of the
architecture, scenery, races, costumes, etc.,' ofIndia. By this time,
photography had been feeding this appetite for over venty years and had
largely superseded paintings, engraving and lithography as the prime
vehicle of visual information about the subcontinent. Photographic
studios - Indian and European - were by now well-established in the
major cities and surviving albums of prints provide evidence of a
flourishing trade in tourist views of the country and peoples of India.
Much of the achievement of these early years can be credited to the
early pioneers, the majority amateur in the first decades, who laboured,
often in the face of great difficulty, to create a lasting photographic
record of a vast and diverse land.

While the pattern of photography's growth in the Indian subcontinent
broadly kept pace with developments in the wider world, local factors
contributed to the creation of a characteristically Indian body of work:
first, the very immensity of the country and the variety of its peoples
provided, as Mullens had pointed out, a unique source of images. In
addition, the presence of a small European population exercising
political control formed a market for particular types of work which
reflected a vision of the country and its people palatable to Western
sensibilities and preconceptions, Indian photographers added a further
dimension as they adapted the medium to their own cultural requirements.
The development of photography in the subcontinent and the accompanying
influence of these factors can perhaps best be understood if broken down
into a series of convenient, if broad and overlapping chronological
periods, each characterised by the dominance of particular themes in the
work produced.

While there is evidence of photographic activity in India from soon
after the public announcement of the daguerreotype in Paris in August
1839, this does not appear to have taken place on any large scale and
definitely dated early examples are scarce. During the 1840S only
sporadic attempts appear to have been made to establish commercial
photographic studios in the subcontinent, and few of these pioneers
appear to have survived for long, many doubtless succumbing to
disillusion with a medium which, in inexperienced hands, often failed to
live up to early grandiose claims. Photography became more firmly rooted
in the 1850S and while several studios were established then, the decade
was dominated by the amateur photographer, largely preoccupied with the
artistic potential of the medium and unconcerned with commercial
considerations. The mid-1850S in particular saw a remarkable
efflorescence of photographic activity, typified by amateurs working the
paper negative processes, the dissemination of photographic knowledge
through the establishment of photographic societies in the three Indian
presidencies (4), and active government sponsorship of photography. The
finest products of this decade, seen in the work of photographers like
Dr John Murray and Linnaeus Tripe, stand comparison, both aesthetically
and technically, with images produced anywhere in the world in the same
period.

A growing market saw an acceleration in the production of views and
portraits by commercial photographers in the following years. But with
the exception of a few outstanding and intrepid photographers like
Samuel Bourne, the 1860s in general saw a lessening of creative quality
as work became increasingly geared to satisfying a larger and less
critical audience. In the four decades from the early 1860s to the 1890s
the professional reigned supreme, and produced during this period a vast
amount of material which filled the albums of visitors and residents,
but which was only rarely of any outstanding quality. But this
professional hegemony was now challenged by the development of a simpler
photographic technology from the late 1880s which encouraged more and
more people to make their own photographs. Photographers' advertisements
from the 1890s onwards show a growing awareness of this trend, as many
turned to the sale of cameras, films and other supplies, and the
supplying of processing facilities for amateurs. The professional
photographer continued to be in demand for the recording of important
events and for some, postcard production made up for the loss of revenue
from the sale oflandscapes and views. But by the turn of the twentieth
century a new photographic tradition had begun to emerge and by the
close of the First World War only a handful of the old professional
studios remained in business. But for fifty years photography had
illuminated the Indian scene from many differing angles and
perspectives, and in the hands of its more inspired practitioners had
created works of enduring artistic and documentary value.


Benares
Samuel Bourne, "Vishnu Pud and Other Temples near the Burning Gat,
Benares", circa 1865


Artists and Amateurs: the Early Years of Photography in India

While it is unlikely that we will ever know with certainty who took the
first photograph in India, it is clear that the European excitement over
the announcement of the new medium in Europe in the summer of 1839
quickly transferred itself to India: descriptions of the daguerreotype
process (5), sufficiently detailed to make practical experimentation a
possibility, were appearing in the Indian newspapers by the end of the
year (6), and scattered references indicate the existence of
photographic activity from this time on (7). A convincing possible
claimant for the title of the first photographer in India, is Dr (later
Sir) William Brooke O'Shaughnessy (1808-1889) of the Bengal Medical
Service, who as early as October 1839 had clearly been experimenting for
some time with photogenic drawing, using the light-sensitive properties
of gold rather than the more commonly used silver compounds. In a
tantalisingly brief account of a meeting of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal in Calcutta, members' attention was drawn to the 'series of
experiments he had lately made on the art which was exciting so much
attention at home - namely Photogenic Drawing - and his experiments were
all successful (8). O'Shaughnessy clearly redirected his work in the
light of Daguerre's announcement and by early 1840 had mastered the
daguerreotype process (9). On 4 March 1840 several examples of this
'very simple yet very unintelligible' process were shown to members of
the Asiatic Society:

'Several drawings were exhibited to the meeting, of the Esplanade and
other parts of Calcutta which had been taken by him. In one part of the
drawings a black speck was observable to the naked eye, but with a
microscope of great power it would be seen that the speck represented a
kite which was at that moment perched [on] the building - and though so
small, even the wings and tail of the bird could, with a lens be easily
distinguished so minute and yet true to life was the picture ...' (10)

This awed response to photography's apparently magical ability to reveal
the incidental detail of the physical world with a promiscuous
minuteness unavailable to the human eye alone, together with the lack of
a specifically photographic vocabulary to describe the new phenomenon
('drawing' and 'sketch' would be commonly applied to photographic images
for years to come), echo precisely the impact of the daguerreotype in
Europe. A demonstration and explanation of the process at one of the
soirees held by Lord Auckland at Government House, Calcutta in May 1840
attracted further interest (11), but this appears to have waned in
succeeding years as the novelty of the medium wore off.

O'Shaughnessy's work (examples of which have not so far come to light)
is one of the few pointers to photographic activity in India during this
decade: difficulties in obtaining supplies offresh chemicals, the lack
of skilled teachers and the many problems of working in an unforgiving
climate (all of which were to be causes of complaint for the next twenty
years) are no doubt largely responsible for the paucity of surviving
images from the 1840S. However, amateurs clearly continued to work
throughout the decade. Josiah Rowe, for instance, acclaimed by his
contemporaries as 'the oldest photographer in Calcutta' (12) was active
in the early 1840S and continued to take pictures well into the 1860s
(13). A few short-lived professional studios also emerge in the early
1840S (such as P.M. Montairo in Calcutta, who in 1844 was briefly
advertising his willingness to 'take likenesses by the daguerreotype
process' (14), and the occasional image has survived from transient
visitors such as the French customs official Alphonse Itier (1802-1877),
who visited India on his way back from China in 1845. But it was the
first appearance of professional photographers in the commercial
directories at the end of the decade that heralded the arrival of the
commercial operator as a permanent presence in the subcontinent
(although the medium's uneasy lack of defined status is indicated in the
1849 listing of P. Schranzhofer's Calcutta studio - 'Calotipist [sic],
takes photo¬graphic likenesses on paper' - under the heading of
'Artists' (15).)

At the start of the new decade, the work of the German calotypist
Frederick Fiebig starts to blur the distinction between amateur and
professional and also points towards the future dominance of photography
over the other graphic media. Fiebig was active as an artist and
lithographer in Calcutta in the second half of the 1840S, but in about
1849 he took up photography and in the next five years or so produced an
extensive portfolio of calotype views, the majority taken in Calcutta
and its environs, but also including Madras, Ceylon (Sri Lanka),
Mauritius and Cape Town (these last presumably made during the voyage
back to Europe), a complete set of nearly five hundred of which, in the
form of hand-coloured salt prints, was purchased by the East India
Company for £60 in 1856 (16). In an article which appeared during a
visit by Fiebig to Madras in 1852, the writer refers to views of China
and Burma as well as India and states that Fiebig showed him '7 or 800
views of Calcutta and 60 or 70 of Madras, which had been taken with the
greatest accuracy and detail' (17). No views of China and Burma by
Fiebig have come to light and the figure of 800 for his Calcutta work
seems unlikely (18), but the collection represents one of the earliest
extensive photographic records of Calcutta and Madras, the former of
particular interest since, unlike the majority of photographers of the
city, Fiebig did not restrict his activities to the European section of
the city bordering the Maidan. In his correspondence with the Company
Fiebig states that his pictures were taken in his 'leisure time', but
such an investment of effort and material argues a more than amateur
interest in photography, and the account of his visit to Madras wishes
him 'a large sale both in Europe and in India, for the sketches which he
intends to publish' (19).

While the 1850S were to see the permanent establishment of professional
studios, particularly in the larger urban centres of Calcutta and
Bombay, for a further decade photography in the subcontinent was
dominated by amateur efforts. Writing in the mid-1850s, the Bengal Army
surgeon John McCosh (1805-1885), himself a practising photographer whose
images in the National Army Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum
are among the early examples surviving from the subcontinent,
recommended the study of photography to army officers - 'in all its
branches, on paper, on plate glass, and on metallic plates' - as a
satisfying and instructive pursuit, by which 'he may make such a
faithful collection of representations of man and animals, of
architecture and landscape, that would be a welcome contribution to any
museum' (20). Photography's qualities as an instructive pastime,
combining potential for artistic expression with the practical merits of
information gathering, were a constant refrain in the reports of
meetings and exhibitions held by the photographic societies established
in all three presidencies in the middle years of the decade. Bombay was
the first, an inaugural meeting being held in October 1854, at which the
chairman, Captain Harry Barr of the 8th Bombay Native Infantry, outlined
the vast range of subjects available to the photographer, from the
country's 'magnificent scenery - its temples - palaces - shrines' to the
'varied costumes, characters and physiognomies of its millions of
inhabitants', whose peculiarities could only be fully delineated by an
'Art, of which the beauty and utility are only surpassed by its
truthfulness' (21). In addition to their function as a forum for the
exchange of practical photographic information, all three societies
maintained an active programme of exhibitions during the 1850s, which
served to raise public awareness of and familiarity with the medium,
thus laying the foundations for the growth of commercial photography in
the following decade. Meetings of the Photographic Society of Bengal
were well reported in the local press and by 1857, under the patronage
of Lady Canning, it could boast a European and Indian membership of
around 120, the majority of whom were active photographers. In its
exhibition of that year over 460 photographs were on display. Such
activity not only served as a technical and artistic forum for
photographers themselves but also, when the administration became
actively interested in photography as a means of documentation, provided
a conduit between the photographic community and officialdom. Official
encouragement of and tuition in photography from the mid-1850s resulted
in impressive work produced by officers who had taken up photography as
a hobby and also found it professionally useful (22). Almost all the
most distinguished names in Indian photography in the 1850s and 1860s
maintained links with the societies either as members, committee
officials or contributors to exhibitions. The work of probably the most
accomplished amateur photographer in India in the 1850S, Dr John Murray
(1809-1898) of the Bengal Medical Establishment, was seen at the
exhibitions of both the Bengal and Madras societies. He had begun
photographing in about 1849 and in the intervals of a busy career
produced hundreds oflarge-format paper negatives, mainly of the
architecture of Northern India and particularly of the Mughal
architecture of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi. Many of the original
negatives survive in fine condition and demonstrate a very high level of
technical skill, while his magnificent softly toned prints provide an
unparalleled record of these sites (23).


CashmereGate
Eugene Clutterbuck Impey, "The Cashmere Gate, Delhi", 1858


A Record of Conflict: Photography and the Rebellion of 1857

While the upheavals of the Indian 'Mutiny' or Rebellion of 1857-1858 in
Northern India may have overshadowed the concerns of amateur
photography, they inspired a number of photographers (Murray among them)
to record the scenes of these cataclysmic events (24). The most
celebrated of these was the Italian professional Felice Beato - in
partnership with James Robertson in the Middle East at the outbreak of
the rebellion - who arrived in India in February 1858 (25). By this time
the military campaign was largely over and Beato's record was confined
to portraits of the more prominent participants and views of the
buildings whose shattered remains bore the imprint of battle.
Photographic technology would not of course at this date have allowed
the recording of the heat of battle even had he arrived in its midst,
but the fact that the campaign was largely over by the time of his
arrival allowed Beato to tour the centres of action - primarily
Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Delhi - and create an organised series of views.
Unhampered by the exigencies of military movement, this appears to
present a conspectus of the campaign reflected in its material remains.
This seemingly objective record of the topography of war begs a number
of questions, not only about the selection of subjects for inclusion in
what implicitly purports to supply a comprehensive narrative of the
campaign, but in the very authenticity of the images themselves. Modern
research has established beyond reasonable doubt that Beato's celebrated
photograph of the interior courtyard of the Sikan¬darbagh at Lucknow,
strewn with the bones of some of the 2000 Indians killed in its
recapture, was a recreation rather than a record of the event: by the
time of his arrival the area had been cleared of bodies, but in order to
evoke the carnage Beato did not scruple to restore these grim reminders
of battle to the scene (26). A contemporary review of Beato's Lucknow
photographs, twenty-six of which which were shown at the Photographic
Society of London's 1858 exhibition, noted the documentary significance
of these views, but also praised them as vivid records of 'the pictorial
romance of this terrible war' (27). If to the modern eye the historical
importance of these visual documents remains undiminished, the passage
of time has somewhat dissipated the evocative intensity of the images.
But to a news-hungry public for whom these events represented an
intolerable outrage still hot in the memory, such photographs were
steeped with resonance and depth of meaning.

Similar responses attached themselves to the work of other photographers
who, after the suppression of the uprising, used photography to record
the physical imprint of the events of the preceding months. Robert
Tytler, whose wife Harriet had been present throughout the siege of
Delhi, learnt photography in order to help his wife with a panoramic
painting of the palace at Delhi which she was preparing. After receiving
some tuition from both John Murray and Felice Beato, and no doubt
influenced by their work in recording the sites of the Mutiny (28), the
couple produced in the space of six months a collection of over five
hundred large paper negatives, which, when shown to a meeting of the
Photographic Society of Bengal won praise as 'unquestionably the finest
ever exhibited in Calcutta ... [embracing] every scene of the mutiny of
1857, from the cavalry lines at Meerut to the Residency at Lucknow'
(29). Clearly as important in the writer's mind as their aesthetic
qualities were the more immediate associations attached to such
photographs as the 'painfully interesting views of Cawnpore, the Ghaut
at which the boats were attacked; the well; and the side of the house in
which the ladies and children were murdered' (30). Indeed, for the
remainder of the century, the principal sites of the mutiny - the
Residency at Lucknow, the well at Cawnpore, and other scenes
representative either of the triumph of British arms and fortitude or
the deepest Indian perfidy - achieved an iconic status: stock items in
the portfolio of virtually every commercial pho¬tographer which find
their place in the albums of almost every visitor to the subcontinent
well into the twentieth century.


Hooseinabad
Samuel Bourne, "The Gate of the Hooseinabad Bazaar, Lucknow", circa: 1860


'The Great Object, the Preservation and Illustration of the Monuments of
India

'Again, what resources in the hands of an archaeologist, are the views
of buildings in distant countries! The marvels of Athens and of Rome,
the inimitable richness of the monuments ofIndia, the bold architecture
of Egyptian temples, can be kept in his portfolio, not modi¬fied and
disfigured by an untrustworthy pencil, but such as they are in reality
with their beauties, their imperfections, and the marks of destruction
which time has engraved upon them. Photographic prints are mirrors from
which are reflected the banks of the Nile and of the Indus - the
buildings and the landscapes of all the countries through which the
camera has passed' (31).

The British presence in India extended back over two centuries by the
time of photography'S appearance. And following the arrival of the first
English professional artist William Hodges in 1780, a steady stream of
painters and draughtsmen visited India in search of picturesque and
romantic subjects. Of these, the most famous was the artistic
partnership of Thomas and William Daniell, who between 1786 and 1794
travelled the length of the subcontinent sketching the views that were
later published as aquatints in their six volumes of Oriental Scenery.
Accompanying such artistic endeavours were the scholarly investigations
of men like Sir William Jones in the last quarter of the eighteenth
century, who, in laying the foundations for the European study of
India's complex cultural, linguistic and racial history acted as a
bridge between the two worlds. And just as photography was destined to
supersede artists like the Daniells in recording the scenic splendours
of the subcontinent, so it was also to play a significant role in
supporting scholarly investigations in fields such as anthropology,
archaeology and epigraphy.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the recording of
archaeological sites had been left largely in the hands of amateur
enthusiasts and artists, several of whom produced valuable if often
unsystematic collections of drawings and plans. As the significance and
sheer volume of India's surviving monuments became more clearly
apparent, so the East India Company's responsibilities in this area
became more evident and the authorities began to encourage an organised
approach to the investigation and upkeep of important sites and
buildings. In 1847 the Governor¬General was instructed from London to
institute a preliminary programme of listing that would eventually lead
to 'a general, comprehensive, uniform, and effective plan of operations
based on scientific principles', which in turn, it was hoped, would pave
the way towards 'the great object, the preservation and illustration of
the Monuments of'India' (32). This early initiative faltered in
succeeding years, but renewed interest in the monuments of India
coincided with the spread of photography and resulted in an upsurge of
interest in the medium both as a means of artistic expression and as a
documentary tool. One important example of the way in which photography
was used in the task of recording India's architecture and archaeology
illustrates this development clearly.

In response to the 1847 despatch, the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society had formed a commission to list and document the cave temples of
Western India. On the commission's recommendation the Bombay Government
in 1851 sanctioned the employment of the 'portrait and animal painter'
William Armstrong Fallon, 'for the purpose of making accurate copies of
the sculptures of the caves of Elephanta' (33). While Fallon's output
was of high quality, and a number of his paintings were shipped back to
England, it was soon realised that to perform such a massive task
comprehensively would not only be hugely expensive but would make little
impact on the huge number of sites meriting similar treatment. As the
Court of Directors had pointed out in 1847, to illustrate the two dozen
most important cave sites of Western India alone would take a single
artist an estimated thirty-two years (34)! Fallon's contract was
extended several times, but in 1854 the Directors called a halt to this
seemingly endless project and drew attention 'to the use of photography
on ?paper, to expedite and economise the labours of the Cave Committee'.
For such work, it continued, 'we may mention that Captn. Biggs of the
Bombay Artillery, to whom we presented an apparatus for the purpose, has
satisfied us of his competency to undertake photographic works of the
required description.' And in more general terms, the directors
professed themselves keen to encourage 'the study of this useful art in
any of the scientific or educational institutions, under the control or
influence of your government, and we shall be prepared to furnish you
with the requisite apparatus if you find it necessary to procure them
from this country' (35).

Thomas Biggs (1822-1905) of the Bombay Artillery took up his appointment
as architectural photographer in early 1855 and in the course of that
year made over 100 paper negatives of Bijapur, Aihole, Badami and other
sites in Western India. The resulting prints were enthusiastically
reviewed and displayed by his contemporaries in the Photographic Society
of Bombay, but his work was cut short by the army's insistence that he
return to regimental duties. On Biggs' own recommendation, he was
replaced by William Harry Pigou (1818-1858) of the Bombay Medical
Service, who from December 1855 until early 1857 (when he too was
recalled to military duties) continued the photographic documentation of
sites in the Presidency. While the authorities in London had praised
Biggs' work as displaying 'the highest merits as works of art' (36), his
military superiors were more concerned with his availability for duty:
in the cases of both officers, their work was hampered and finally
curtailed by the army's reluctance to release manpower for what it
evidently considered a non-essential activity at a time of staff
shortages for military duties. The work of Biggs and Pigou was not
wasted, however, for a decade later in 1866 a good part of it was made
available through the publication of three books, illustrated with
original photographs, on the architecture of Bijapur, Dharwar and
Ahmadabad, an expensive venture only made possible by the sponsorship of
Indian philanthropists and produced by the London publisher John Murray
(37).

The same documentary concerns intermittently stimulated the Madras
authorities, also attracted by photography's much-vaunted advantages of
'perfect accuracy, small expenditure of time and moderate cost' (38) but
a similarly erratic pattern of enthusiasm succeeded by retrenchment
followed the photographic activities of Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902).
Tripe had acted as official photographer with the government mission to
the Burmese court at Ava in 1855 at the conclusion of the Second
Anglo-Burmese War, and the portfolio of one hundred and twenty
atmospheric views of Burma which resulted led to his appointment as
Madras Presidency Photographer in October 1856. In a remarkable burst of
activity during a tour lasting from December 1857 to April 1858, Tripe
photographed the temple architecture of, among other places, Srirangam,
Tiruchirapally, Thanjavur, Madurai and Pudukottai: the published volumes
of his photographs (39) amply demonstrate an 'ambition to practice
photography for some really useful purpose' (40), and contain some of
the finest examples of nineteenth-century architectural photography. But
as had been found in Bombay, a truly comprehensive record required
greater commitments oftime and money than had at first been anticipated,
and Tripe too fell victim to demands for his return to military duties,
and to the finan¬cial economies of the Governor, Sir Charles Trevelyan,
who considered the employment of a full¬time photographer 'an article of
high luxury ... unsuited to the present state of our finances' (41).

While the work of both Biggs and Tripe was conceived as the production
of a documentary record of architectural monuments, the implicit
underlying motivations and preconceptions which coloured their work also
played a significant part in their photographic vision. In a country the
size ofIndia, personal knowledge of the whole country and its wealth of
remains was clearly beyond the reach of a single scholar. Thus, when the
architectural historian James Fergusson came to publish his 'History of
Indian and eastern architecture' in 1876, he acknowledged that 'for the
purpose of such a work as this ... photography has probably done more
than anything that has been written' (42). But for Fergusson, as for
many another nineteenth-century scholar, the architectural record was
not primarily a matter of aesthetic history, but was, in the absence of
extensive surviving written records, an historical document, 'a great
stone book, in which each tribe and race has written its ?annals and
recorded its faith' (43). And this in turn was of the greatest possible
importance in the colonial context, as a source of information for those
'who wish to know who and what the people are or were, whom we have
undertaken to guide and govern ' (44). Such assumptions inevitably
coloured the approach of those whose task it was to undertake the work
of photographic documentation. Biggs' reports of his activities reveal
both the urgent need for the work of documentation as well as something
of his own character. At one site, the changes which had taken place
since an earlier visit were all too evident, 'the best sculptures having
been taken away, and several of the best temples having disappeared
altogether'. And while he was fully alive to the beauty of many of the
temples, he exhibited a typically Victorian response to the erotic
nature of some of the sculptures he encountered, pointing out that they
afforded 'another proof of the early date at which the morals of India
assumed such a headlong and downward tendency,' and noting that it was
to have been his intention, had he remained longer in the post, 'to have
applied ... for authority to have them effaced wherever I found them' (45).

In Tripe's case, the text accompanying his published photographs
broadened their significance beyond architectural record,
contextualising the images to support a positive message of material
progress under British rule after the upheavals of the Mutiny in
Northern India. Of Tripe's view of the irrigated and cultivated land
surrounding Rayakota Hill, for example, J.A.C. Boswell of the Madras
Civil Service writes in the accompanying letterpress that in the
photograph 'everything speaks in language that cannot be mistaken, that
a brighter day has already dawned in India' (46), while the ruins of the
fort at Palakoddu were a solemn and picturesque reminder 'of the anarchy
which generally prevailed' in earlier periods of Indian history,
compared to 'Christian European Civilisation' which would 'make the
influences of her Government manifest in their social, moral, and
political advancement' (47). Thus photography could be used to point a
moral in two directions simultaneously: backwards to a history of
political decay and economic stagnation, and forwards to an era of
stability and progress under British rule.

After the abolition of Tripe's post, the photographic impetus lapsed for
a decade. In 1867, however, the Government ofIndia returned to the
subject: instructions were again issued, drawing the attention of
officials to 'the desirability of conserving ancient architectural
structures ... and of organizing a system for photographing them'. The
Governor-General was initially of the opinion, no doubt for reasons of
economy, that the employment of professional photographers was an
unnecessary luxury, and that the work could be carried out to suitable
standards by 'competent amateurs' (48). This advice was fortunately
ignored by the governments of Madras and Bombay who in 1867-1868
employed the professional photographer Edmund David Lyon to take a
series of architectural views which retain both their artistic and
documentary importance. As a preliminary step it was resolved in the
following year that in future, every annual administration report should
contain a separate chapter on archaeology (49). Lists of important
structures duly started to come in, but the disappointing response to
the request for photographs indicated that in most outlying districts
the assumed reservoir of amateur talent either did not exist, or the
results were not of sufficiently high quality to serve as archaeological
records (50). In this initiative, photography was seen as one part of a
more detailed programme of documentation, measurement, conservation and
repair (51). To this end the Government of India authorised the
establishment, on an experimental basis, of teams of craftsmen who would
visit specific sites, make measured drawings and plans, take plaster
casts of architectural details and decorations and produce a
comprehensive photographic record. In Bengal, the results of the first
expedition, to the Bhubaneshwar temples in 1868, were disappointing from
the photographic point of view, but in the Bombay Presidency a more
successful trip was made to the Ambernath Temple, where Shivshanker
Narayan produced about thirty-five negatives which still survive.

In 1870, the often uncoordinated efforts to document the historical
architecture of the subcontinent became formalised in the creation of
the Archaeological Survey of India, the official body which continues to
the present day to be responsible for the protection ofIndia's historic
sites. Major-General Alexander Cunningham, the first Director-General,
was fully aware of photography's place as an integral and invaluable
recording tool in the Survey's work, and while professional
photographers had continued to be employed on archaeological work from
time to time, by the I870S it was becoming increasingly common for
archaeologists to undertake their own photographic work. This shift of
emphasis is most clearly seen in Cunningham's remark that he was
'especially anxious to obtain a photographer as assistant' in the
survey, and the subsequent appointment in 1880 of Henry Bailey Wade
Garrick, whose chief recommendation was his photographic skill rather
than his archaeological experience (52). Perhaps the most noteworthy of
this generation of photographer-archaeologists was Henry Cousens, who in
addition to a long and distinguished career with the Archaeological
Survey in Western India, was also a remarkable architectural
photographer, whose images illustrate many of his own published works.
By the time of his retirement in 1910, however, the use of cumbersome
large-format cameras was giving way to more portable equipment and the
elegant and considered compositions of the nineteenth century were
making way for more informal and hastily produced views.


Andaman
Unknown photographer, "Andaman Islanders Fishing", circa 1870


Face to Face: Photographing the Peoples of India

On his appointment to the post of Presidency photographer in 1856,
Linnaeus Tripe had not intended to restrict the subject matter of his
work solely to built structures. In a letter outlining his ?plan of
work, he envisaged the creation of a photographic record that would
encompass not only the architecture of Southern India, the natural
products of the country and its topography, but which would also include
'illustrations of the races under this government, of their customs,
dress, occupations' (53). This ambitious plan never in fact
materialised, and Tripe's work before the abolition of his post is
almost entirely architectural, but such a programme concurred implicitly
with James Fergusson's view of the intimate connection between the
archaeological and ethnographical record. As with architecture, the
peoples ofIndia suggested a natural area for documentation and within a
few years the creation of visual records of the diverse cultural and
racial composition of the subcontinent had become a photographic genre
in it own right. Whether in the service of the rising science of
ethnology, or as the creation of'exotic' souvenirs of the East,
photography of racial types became, alongside architectural photography,
the most important of the 'officially' sponsored uses of the medium.

The value and meaning of such visual records, both as an accurate tool
for comparing different races and as an artistic pursuit, had been
debated since the early days of photography. After a slow start, this
form of documentation was pursued in India with particular energy. When
in 1857 the Bombay photographer Dr Narain Dajee contributed an extensive
series of such portraits to the Photographic Society of Bengal's
exhibition, the organisers noted that 'the castes and costumes of the
natives of the country have not yet received ... that attention which
they deserve, and which they will no doubt in time obtain (54). But by
the time this was written, two Bombay photographers, William Johnson and
William Henderson, had already started to make good the deficit,
contributing a series of studies of the inhabitants of Bombay and
surrounding districts to the monthly publication, The 'Indian amateur's
photographic album' (55), a work issued under the patronage of the
Bombay Photographic Society. Some of these photographs later found more
permanent form in a two-volume work by Johnson who, declaring that
'photographic delineations of the numerous peoples and tribes
frequenting ... Bombay ... have long been desiderata both among students
of geography and ethnography, and the lovers of art,' published 'The
orienta! races and tribes, residents and visitors of Bombay' (2 vols,
London, 1863-1866), containing a series of portraits of racial and caste
groups, using montage techniques to place them against appropriate
backgrounds.

Johnson's book was the first photographically illustrated ethnographical
publication to appear in India. By this time the subject had started to
become a popular one among commercial photographers, catering on the
whole to a European market more interested in exotic studies than
scholarly precision. Yet the late 1850S also saw the growth of this type
of photography in a more explicitly scientific context. The formation of
ethnological societies in Europe in the 1830S and 1840S focussed
attention on the need for reliable information on the races of the world
and many of the controversies of the period had particular relevance to
India, viewed by many researchers as the ?cradle of mankind. The
comparative linguistic analysis of race, previously one of the main
avenues of enquiry, was greatly displaced in these decades by an
increasing emphasis on the physical comparison of racial diversity, so
much so that by 1865 it was recognised that 'the appearance, which can
so well be preserved and conveyed by photographs' (56) was becoming one
of the prime avenues of ethnological investigation.

The application and development of such theories in India is perhaps
most clearly seen in the publishing history of 'The People of India', a
monumental eight-volume work published between 1868 and 1875 and
containing nearly five hundred albumen print copy photographs, pasted in
with detailed descriptions of the subjects largely written by Captain P.
Meadows Taylor. In a memorandum urging the publication of this work in
1863, John William Kaye had written of the value of such photographic
publications, as being able to 'furnish a permanent and more extensively
available record of a most interesting and effective effort on the part
of the Indian Government to extend our knowledge of our fellow subjects
in the east - bringing us so to speak face to face with them' (57).

The preface to the work states that it was originally inspired by the
amateur photographic interests of Lord and Lady Canning, who wished to
make a collection of 'photographic illustrations which might recall to
their memories the peculiarities ofIndian life ... Officers of the
Indian services, who had made themselves acquainted with the principles
and practice of photography, encouraged ?and patronised by the
Governor-General, went forth, and traversed the land in search of
interesting subjects' (58). The number of photographs obtained soon
exceeded the demands of a private collection, 'but Lord Canning felt
that its importance was sufficient to warrant official sanction and
development' and the collection eventually took the form of a published
work.

Using prints made from copy negatives, and produced under the editorship
of John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye of the India Museum in
London, the completed volumes featured the work of some of the most
distinguished amateur photographers working in India at the time. The
majority of the contributors to the volumes were, apart from a few
commercial photographers, generally officers in the civil or military
employment of the government and this in itself indicates some of the
assumptions implicit in the creation of such a work. Among those named
as supplying photographs Willoughby Wallace Hooper, Shepherd and
Robertson, Benjamin Simpson, H.C.B. Tanner, C.C. Taylor and James
Waterhouse are the most prominent.

To the British in India the fullness of such ethnographical compilations
had a clearly political as well as scientific purpose, and the editors'
preface outlining the genesis of the volumes was a hugely oversimplified
account of a project which for the most part took place after Canning's
death in 1862. While the Governor-General and his wife certainly
endorsed the collection of such material and may have initiated it, the
project really dates from the circular issued to provincial
administrations in 1861, soliciting photographs and information on
racial types which were eventually to be sent to the London Exhibition
of 1862 (59). In order to gather this material at short notice, a number
of officers were seconded to photographic duties for periods of up to a
year.

Dr Simpson was granted several periods ofleave to visit and photograph
the hill tribes of northeastern India, and these portraits were among
the eighty photographs which secured him a gold medal at the London
International Exhibition in 1862. In Central India Willoughby Wallace
Hooper of the Madras Cavalry was released from his usual duties to
photograph the tribespeople of Central India, as was James Waterhouse,
who between December 1861 and December 1862 travelled around present day
Madhya Pradesh photographing groups and individuals. Waterhouse's
detailed narrative of his travels supplies a fascinating account of the
peculiar difficulties to which the Indian photographer in the field was
subject (60). In addition to often uncooperative or uncomprehending
subjects, who did not appreciate the necessity to remain still for the
duration of the exposure, Waterhouse had to contend with temperatures
which, besides being personally debilitating, dried his collodion plates
before he could use them and often cracked his negatives if he tried to
print from them in the fierce Indian sun: at Mandleshwar in late May,
for instance, the thermometer in his darkroom registered 92 degrees
Fahrenheit at seven o'clock in the morning. During this trip Waterhouse
estimated that on average he had four failures for every successful
photograph and not uncommonly re-took a portrait up to nine times before
getting a satisfactory negative. Chemical supplies were irregular, while
the rigours of rough travelling damaged his camera (61). Only at Bhopal,
where he remained for most of November, did he achieve wholly
satisfactory results, being received by the Begum with great enthusiasm.
Intensely pro-British, she entered fully into the spirit of the
photographic sessions:

'I used to go up every morning [to the palace] at 6 a.m. and return at
11 or 12, and was taking pictures all the time. I was very successful,
indeed, and took nearly 40 negatives without a failure. The Begum
dressed herself, her daughter, and Madame Doolan [a Christian member of
the Begum's household] in all the fashions of native costume in order
that I might get photographs of the dress of native ladies. At Bhopal I
was received with more civility than at any other place I visited,
except, perhaps, See¬tamhow [Sitamau]. I printed a great many prints
during my stay at Bhopal, as I was in perfect quiet, alone, and
uninterrupted' (62).

Although only a small proportion of the material collected in this way
arrived in time for display, it set in train a much more extensive
official attempt to gather photographs and data in the following years,
an attempt firmly rooted in a sense of a secret and unknown India,
ignorance of which had played a part in the upsurge of violent rebellion
in the previous decade. Knowledge was an aspect of control and the
preface of 'The People of India' hinted at the need for better
understanding and therefore better government of the population after
the upheavals of 1857. Indeed, the letterpress accompanying the
photographs tended to describe and emphasize such factors as political
reliability or social docility as much as physical attributes. John
Forbes Watson, in a paper advocating the systematic compilation of
information about India, also saw the collection of ethnographical
illustrations as a complementary activity to the Archaeological Survey,
and again emphasised both its importance as a means of gaining a 'moral
hold' on the population and the speed with which this work must be
carried out, for, he pointed out, 'no time should be lost in securing
the traces of many tribes now fast disappearing or losing their
distinctive characteristics. This applies mainly to the aboriginal part
of the population, to whom roads and railways and the extension of a
regular Government now makes access possible' (63). Thus, for many
nineteenth-century theorists and researchers, the importance of the
study of ethnology and the creation of photographic records rested both
on its 'true political value' and its 'eventual humanitarian influences'
(64).

This purportedly rigorously 'scientific' application of photography to
ethnographical research is perhaps most fully illustrated in the work of
Maurice Vidal Portman (1860-1935), an administrator in the Andaman
Islands in the closing decade of the century. Inhabited as they were by
natives who had had little contact with either Europeans or the
mainland, the Andaman Islands seemed an ideal laboratory to study man in
what was then considered his most 'savage' state. European contacts
increased with the building of a penal settlement to accommodate those
sentenced after the Indian Mutiny and from the 1860s onwards parties of
Andaman Islanders were often brought across to Calcutta to be shown the
sights, paraded at meetings of the Asiatic Society and photographed for
the benefit of science. Thus the necessarily conflicting aims of the
scientist and the administrator - the one looking for man untainted by
European contact, the latter attempting to incorporate him into the
colonial state as swiftly as possible - were resolved as far as was
possible by the photographer, recording life and customs before they
were irrevocably altered. In 1890 Portman continued in this tradition by
offering to make for the British Museum 'a series of photographs of the
Andaman aborigines, in their different occupations and modes of life ...
so clearly, that with the assistance of the finished articles now in the
British Museum, it would be possible for a European workman to imitate
the mode of work' (65). Portman himself showed a sorrowful awareness of
the fact that such a photographic record was necessary because of the
destructive results of Euro¬pean colonisation - 'the air of the outside
world' which shattered the fragile cultural equilibrium of the islands.
Resigned to the eventual disappearance of a unique race, photography
functioned as both scientific record and memorial.


Darjeeling
Samuel Bourne, "Darjieling", circa 1875


Samuel Bourne in Search of the Picturesque

If officially sponsored photography in the fields of architecture and
ethnology had created an extensive archive of visual information about
the subcontinent, the steadily growing dominance of commercial
photography from the 1860s onwards saw a loss of that freshness of
vision which, married to the wonderful expressiveness and subtlety of
calotype photography, had produced such powerful work for a few short
years (66). In a few cases, however, technical skill and artistic
vision, combined with a vigorous commercial energy, combined to produce
work of comparable stature. Such qualities characterise the work of the
former Nottingham bank clerk Samuel Bourne (1834-1912), whose
well-documented career in India laid the foundations of a not
inconsiderable commercial fortune.

Bourne, who had taken up photography in about 1854, had by the end of
the decade established himself as an amateur photographer of note with a
passion for the landscapes of Britain's wilder country, 'the stupendous
and lofty mountains, the rugged and romantic passes, the lovely and
picturesque valleys', as he characterised their attractions to members
of the Nottingham Photographic Society in 1860 (67). Less than three
years after making this affirmation Bourne abandoned his banking
position in favour of a photographic career in India, a scene of
operations combining the natural beauties of the landscape with an
expanding commercial potential. On his arrival in 1863, Bourne was
pleasantly surprised at the flourishing state of photography, which at
the Madras School of Arts resulted in work comparable to that of many
English professional studios. Calcutta was no less active, and while the
city itself was something of a disappointment, being 'totally devoid of
architectural beauty, and its immediate neighbourhood of pictorial
interest', he found that 'the professional photographers ... appear to
be doing a good stroke of business ... and the amazing wealth of the
place enables artists to realise good prices' (68).

But Bourne did not remain long in Calcutta, before starting on the long
journey up to the hill station of Simla, where by March 1863 he had
formed a partnership with two already established photographers, Howard
(probably the William Howard previously active as a photographer in
Calcutta) and Charles Shepherd, formerly of the firm of Shepherd and
Robertson. Howard soon left, but Bourne & Shepherd were in the space of
a few years to become the most successful firm in the subcontinent,
opening additional studios in Calcutta (1867) and Bombay (1870). Bourne
himself left India in 1870, and was succeeded by Colin Murray
(1840-1884), an equally skilled landscape and architectural
photographer, who managed the business until his death from cholera in
1884. The business remains in existence, if in greatly attenuated form,
up to the present day, thus making it one of the longest surviving
studios in the world (69).

The success of Bourne & Shepherd was not only a product of the technical
skill and commercial acumen of its founders, but relied also on their
ability to present a vision of India that coincided with and reinforced
European notions of the 'exotic' East - a pageant of dramatic
landscapes, noble monuments and romantic ruins, peopled by a wealth of
races from untamed tribes on the northern frontiers to immensely wealthy
princely rulers. In Bourne's own case an impregnable belief in the
civilising power of British rule also directed his ?camera towards those
subjects which emphasised the morally uplifting and educative role of
photography. Thus, while the Mughal architecture of Delhi deserved
photographing for its architectural merits, other subjects, such as the
Kashmir Gate and the Fort ('where so many of our brave countrymen
perished' during the Mutiny) demanded to be recorded as moral and
historical lessons. Bourne's belief in photography as an example of
European technological superiority and as a weapon in the colonial
arsenal is most vividly encapsulated in his pronouncement, with its
conflation of the artistic and the militaristic, that the camera, 'with
its mysterious chamber and mouth of brass, taught the natives of this
country that their conquerors were inventors of other instruments
besides the formidable guns of their artillery, which, though as
suspicious perhaps in appearance, achieved their object with less noise
and smoke.'

In the course of three major photographic expeditions - from Simla to
the lower reaches of the Himalayas in 1863, to Kashmir in 1864 and an
ambitious six-month journey to the source of the Ganges at the Gangotri
Glacier in 1866 - Bourne produced a collection oflandscape views
unsurpassed in technical skill and compositional elegance. But the
beauty of these images was often achieved in spite of the photographer's
response to the landscape, which in the higher reaches of the Himalayas
was one of uneasy awe at Nature's wanton prodigality. Most of Bourne's
photographs were planned, theoretically at least, according to a rigid
conception of the correct components of the 'picturesque', elements
which included a stretch of water, satisfyingly placed foliage and,
ideally, a rustic bridge or other evidence of a human presence. For
Bourne (although he later modified these views) India would never
produce such good landscape photographs as England, simply 'because the
scenery is not so beautiful or so well adapted for the camera' (70).
India seen through the eyes of England seemed untamed, and in Bourne's
photographic writing we are made aware of a constant struggle to manage,
organise and bring order to a landscape - and a country - that seems
altogether too massive and unruly to be contained within the borders of
the camera's ground glass screen. It is tempting to interpret Bourne's
unease with the threatening immensity ofIndia, and the consequent need
to order it within a rigid compositional framework of trees, water and
human figures for scale, as an implicit and telling image of a wider
desire to reinforce imperial control of the subcontinent.

Samuel Bourne himself remained in India for only seven years, but by the
end of the decade the Bourne & Shepherd catalogue contained some two
thousand views from all over the subcontinent. While it was his
Himalayan scenes that most strongly gripped the imaginations of both his
contemporaries and posterity, this work formed only a relatively small
portion of the firm's output. The colonial architecture and topography
ofIndian cities, particularly Calcutta, was thoroughly documented, as
well as indigenous glories - the forts and palaces of Rajasthan, the
Moghul glories of northern India and the great Hindu temple architecture
of the south. The comprehensive nature of this documentation inevitably
inspires comparison with the picturesque tours of the late
eighteenth-century artists like the Daniells. More importantly, it was
to form the model to which the suc¬ceeding generations of commercial
photographers aspired, defining a range of subject matter and a
compositional approach which was assiduously imitated by numerous lesser
photographers. The firm's influence in this respect is difficult to
overestimate. One has only to compare the work of lohn Edward Sache,
himself a photographer of considerable skill who arrived in India
shortly after Bourne and oper¬ated studios in Calcutta, Mussoorie and
Naini Tal in the succeeding decade. Much of Sache's work extends well
beyond the boundaries of flattery and enters the realm of plagiarism in
the precision with which a number of his views imitate Bourne's
photographs. From lesser photographers, such imitation produced flat and
uninteresting work, but in the hands of the more accomplished
photographers both Indian and European who followed in his footsteps
between the I860s and I900S and pro¬duced such an astonishingly detailed
documentation of Indian life and landscape, his example remained an
inspiration.


Gwalior
Lala Deen Dayal, "Teli Mundir, Gwalior Fort", 1882


The Indian Photographer

The story of photography in nineteenth-century India has inevitably been
dominated by Europeans: as an invention of European technology
introduced into India, it was used by Europeans to produce a picture of
the subcontinent pleasing to their preconceptions. Surviving collections
and records have also tended to emphasise the European contribution at
the expense of the Indian. Apart from the few internationally known
figures like Lala Deen Dayal, Indian photographers have as yet received
comparatively little attention: the at present largely secret history of
Indian photography will no doubt emerge more fully in time, as
researchers in the subcontinent start to investigate ?vernacular sources
of information in more detail. As yet only the outlines of the story can
be sketched in. And while such information is often tantalisingly vague,
it does at least indicate that from almost the earliest days, there were
a number of talented practitioners, both amateur and professional, who
made significant contributions to the growth and spread of the medium
and who have not so far been adequately recognised (71).

Evidence of the extent of early Indian involvement in photography is
most clearly seen in the amateur societies, where Indian members were
active in all three Presidencies. In Calcutta, the celebrated scholar,
antiquarian and active amateur photographer Rajendralal Mitra was
appointed Treasurer to the Photographic Society of Bengal in 1857, one
of a number of Bengalis who made an active contribution to the Society.
Among them was Babu Preonath Sett, Treasurer to the Society, who with
the President 'hoped ... to commence the tuition of some native lads in
the processes of photography' (72). This positive start soon received a
setback, however, when Rajendralal Mitra was expelled from the society
for becoming involved in a political controversy relating to the
maltreatment of Indian indigo workers in Bengal. Although he received
some support from European quarters after speaking out publicly against
the behaviour of the estate owners (73), the damage had been done and
after his expulsion most of the Indian members henceforward boycotted
the society.

In Bombay, where the first photographic society in India had been formed
in 1854, a happier situation prevailed. Here too, several distinguished
Indians whose interests extended to photography were among the founder
members. The scholar Dr Bhau Dajee was actively involved in the
society's work, as was the inventor and engineer Ardaseer Cursetjee
(74). But it was Bhau Dajee's brother Dr Narain Dajee who made perhaps
the most important contribution. In addition to the thirty-one portraits
shown at the 1857 exhibition of the Photographic Society of Bengal and
mentioned earlier, he was also a tireless contributor to the Bombay
society's own exhibitions and from the mid-1850S to the 1860s practised
as a professional photographer in addition to his medical duties. Narain
Dajee's work was of sufficiently high quality for him to have applied
for the post of Instructor in Photography at the Elphinstone Institute
when classes were started there in 1855, although in the event the
position was awarded to William H.S. Crawford, a professional
photographer oflonger experience (75).

Such classes were probably one of the few sources of expert tuition in
the first decades of photography in India, and during their generally
short existences taught a number ofIndians the theory and practice of
photography. In Bombay, one of the most noteworthy pupils was Hurrichund
Chintamon, who in 1855 won the annual prize for the best picture and who
had thereafter a long career as a commercial photographer lasting into
the early 1880s. A large collection of his views was selected for
display at the Paris International Exhibition of1867 and he was also one
of the photographic society's most active members. The Bombay classes
offered tuition in a variety of photo?graphic procedures, including
'daguerreotype, wax paper, talbotype and albumenized paper processes'
(76) and were intended to supply a thorough grounding in all aspects of
the medium, both theoretical and practical. But although attendance was
at first good and work was produced that 'would do credit to most
European Amateur Photographers,' sickness and falling numbers eventually
brought about the closure of the classes (77).

In 1856, Dr Alexander Hunter of the Madras School ofIndustrial Arts, was
also petitioning government for a similar class to be set up in his own
institution. The request for a permanent photographer was turned down by
the Madras Government on the grounds oflack of demand and the argument
that the subject did not merit a full-time course since 'a very few
weeks will suffice to teach all that can be learned from an instructor'
(78). It was conceded, however, that Captain Linnaeus Tripe, the newly
appointed Presidency photographer, should spend a few months of each
year giving tuition in the subject in Madras. One photographer trained
at the school, was C. Iyahsawmy, who in addition to working as Tripe's
assistant, had a reputation as an accomplished photographer in his own
right. By 1860, he had been appointed photographer at the Madras School
of Arts and was one of the largest contributors to the Photographic
Society's exhibition in that year. The school in fact continued to train
photographers after the abolition of Tripe's post and despatched a
number of photographers to record the antiquities of Southern India in
succeeding years, including the anonymous Indian photographer who took
the photographs used to illustrate James Wilkinson Breeks' 'An account
of the primitive tribes and monuments of the Nilagiris', published by
the India Museum in London in 1873.

Not all such photographic activity was found in official institutions
and the Reverend Henry Polehampton gives an interesting sketch of the
work of the Indian photographer at Lucknow, Ahmud Ali Khan, in the days
just before the Indian Mutiny. Two albums of portrait work by this
photographer survive, and while the technical quality of the photography
is less than perfect, the prints form a unique record of the inhabitants
of the city, both Indian and European, at a crucial point in its
history. Po le hampton made several visits to Ahmud Ali Khan and
describes him as 'a very gentlemanly man, a Mahommedan, and most
liberal. He won't take anything for his likenesses. He gives you freely
as many as you want, and takes no end of trouble. I have no doubt his
chemicals, &c. must cost him more than £100 per annum, at the least'
(79). Lucknow was later also the base for another Indian photographer,
the municipal engineer Darogha Abbas Ali, who was the author of 'The
Lucknow album' (Calcutta, 1874), a guide to the city containing fifty of
his own photographs, as well as 'An illustrated historical album of the
Rajas and Taaluqdars of Oudh' (Allahabad, 1880).

For many of the ruling families, photography became something of a
fashionable pursuit. Samuel Bourne records that the Raja of Chamba owned
an expensive set of cameras, but was rather more interested in
displaying them to visitors than in taking pictures (80). But several
rulers were ?accomplished photographers, including Ram Singh, the
Maharaja of Jaipur (81) and various members of the ruling family of
Tripura, who had taken up photography in its early days. Several ruling
families, if they did not have the inclination to learn photography
themselves, patronised the medium by employing state photographers. The
Maharaja of Benares, for instance, employed Brajo Gopal Bromochary in
this capacity from the late 1860s. And in Jodhpur, official authority
led to the inclusion of a large and important series of prints by an
anonymous Indian photographer or photographers in one of the volumes of
the census report (82).

Of all Indian photographers, only Lala Deen Dayal has secured
international attention on a scale comparable to Samuel Bourne, and in
many ways their achievements reflect each other's: the establishment of
several successful and fashionable studios, patronage from the highest
quarters of society and the creation of a large body of surviving work
produced to the highest technical standards. Born in 1844, Dayal was
trained as a draughtsman at the Thomason Civil Engineering College at
Roorkee and took up photography in the 1870s (83). One of the keys to
his success was the ready acceptance his work found in European circles,
and this appreciation led to his appointment as architectural
photographer accompanying Sir Lepel Griffin's Central India tour Of1882,
during which he produced a magnificent collection of views of Gwalior,
Khajuraho, Sanchi and other sites (84). The patronage of the Nizam of
Hyderabad was a further assurance of success, and by the turn of the
century, his firm had a stock of views and portraits as extensive as any
in India. In many ways Deen Dayal presents a more varied record ofIndian
life than any European firm was able to do, since he seems to have moved
with ease between several worlds - from the recording of Viceroy's tour
and official durbars to more informal and sympathetic studies ofIndian life.

By the end of the century entries in commercial directories indicate
that Indian photographic firms were as firmly established as European,
and a publication of this period confirms the popularity of photography.
H.M. Ibrahim's Urdu work 'Rahno-ma-i-Photography-yausil-i-musawery' or
'A guide to photography or the rules for taking photographs', was
favourably reviewed on its appearance in 1899 by The Journal of the
Photographic Society of India. The society's reviewer praised 'the most
exhaustive nature' of the book, and its publication testifies to a
growing interest in photography among Indians at both amateur and
commercial levels, an interest confirmed by the writer, who 'says that
every year increasing numbers of the more advanced natives of this
country ... are anxious to learn the art of photography, either as a
profession, or for their own pleasure and this has induced him to
compile a work ?which should find a very large circulation.' Despite the
fact that only a small proportion of native photographers were listed in
contemporary commercial directories, such remarks point to a thriving
photographic market serviced by indigenous operators.

Photography had gained its first secure foothold in the Indian
subcontinent through the dedication of amateurs who, whether in the
course of official duty or through enthusiasm for a cultured and
artistic leisure pursuit, had created a substantial and impressive body
of work. It was on these foundations that the professional photographer
built, producing hundreds of thousands of images of India for a
predominantly European market. These ranged from the inspired to the
mundane, but for three decades demand for such material maintained the
position of the commercial photographer in what was still a difficult
and demanding medium. But a further shift took place as technological
advances in both cameras and chemistry brought photography within the
grasp of almost all and the primacy of the professional was eroded.
Samuel Bourne, soon after his return from India in 1870, had foreseen
this development and bemoaned the abandonment of highquality,
large-format work in favour of smaller and more convenient equipment
which produced 'small scraps fit only for the scrapbook' (85).
Photographic manuals specifically aimed at the amateur in India had
started to appear by 1860 (86) and intermittently thereafter (87); but
the appearance in the mid-i Soos of George Ewing's comprehensive amateur
manual which ran into several editions (88) signals the ending of an age
of photographic experiment and achievement.


Notes

(Primary reference sources cited with the prefix 'IOR' refer to the
India Office Records, housed in the Oriental and India Office
Collections, British Library, London.)

1 Rev. Joseph Mullens, On the applications of photography in India
(Journal of the Photographic Society of Bengal, no. 2, 21 January 1857,
pp. 33-38), p. 33.

2 Idem.

3 James Burgess, Photographs of architecture and scenery in Gujaratand
Rajputana (Bourne and Shepherd, 1874). The volume contains 30
architectural and topograph¬ical views by Colin Murray, who was
responsible for much of the firm's landscape work after Samuel Bourne's
return to England.

4 Amateur photographic societies were formed in Bombay in 1854 and in
Bengal and Madras in 1856.

5 For a brief account of the major technical process in use during the
period under discussion, see pp. 143-44.

6 The Bombay Times, 14, 18, 21 December 1839.

7 By early 1840, for instance, the Friend of India was advertising
imported daguerreotype equipment, and around this time a lithograph,
copied from a daguerreotype, was produced of the Sans Souci Theatre,
Calcutta. The original does not appear to have survived, but the
lithograph is reproduced in Wilmot Corfield, Calcutta faces and places
in pre-camera days, (Calcutta, 191O), P.59.

8 The Calcutta Courier, 3 October 1839; also reported in The Englishman
of 4 October 1839 and The Asiatic Journal, new series vol. 31,
January-April 1840,
pp. 14-15. Frustratingly few technical details of O'Shaughessy's
experiments are supplied, but in this case the photogenic drawings
probably involved using light-sensitive paper to make impressions of
objects (such as leaves or lace) without the use of a camera. Although
the use of a lens in mentioned in the reports, this appears to have been
used to direct light rather than as an image-forming device. I am
grateful to Dr Michael Ware for discussions and information relating to
the early photographic use of gold compounds.

9 By which time word of his researches had filtered back to Europe: see,
for instance the article discussing his work in the Hannoversche Zeitung
of 28 February 1840.

10 The Calcutta Courier, 5 March 1840.

11 Apart from that section of the audience 'who continued conversing in
a tolerably loud tone, while the explanation or lecture was going on.
'The Englishman and Military Chronicle, 4 May 1840.

12 Journal of the Photographic Society of Bengal, no. 2, 21 January
1857, p. 26.

13 Joseph Mullens, op. cit., p. 35, recalls Rowe's daguerreotypes of St
Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, swathed in scaffolding, which would date
these now lost images to the early 1840S. In the course of his
photographic career Rowe became expert successively in the
daguerreotype, the calotype and the wet collodion processes.

14 The Englishman, 6 July 1844.

15 The Bengal and Agra Directory and Annual Register for 1849, p. 336.

16 Miscellaneous letters received, vol. r93, 1856. IOR/E/l/193.

17 Photography in Madras (Illustrated Indian Journal of Arts, February
1852), p. 32.

18 The East India Company purchase, which apparently represents a
complete set of views, contains 259 prints of Calcutta, 61 of Madras, 70
of Ceylon, 41 of Mauritius and 27 of Cape Town. Fiebig's original letter
to the Company states that 'the whole set will comprise about 400 views
and about 50 groups of natives and single figures.'

19 These wishes were apparently never realised. Apart from the sale to
the East India Company, almost no work by Fiebig has come to light and
nothing is known of his life after 1856.

20 John McCosh, Advice to officers in India (London, 1856), p. 7.

21 Journal of the Photographic Society of Bombay, no. 1, January 1855,
pp. 2-3.

22 Photography was taught at the East India Company's college at
Addiscombe from 1855 by the drawing master Aaron Penley. H.M. Vibart,
Addiscombe, its heroes and men of note (London, 1894), p.212.

23 His work was also made known in Europe by the London publisher J.
Hogarth, who issued thirty of these large views in a portfolio entitled
Agra and its vicinity (London, 1858); a second set of views, in a
different format appeared in J.T. Boileau, Picturesque views in the N.W
Provinces of India (London, 1859).

24 And, in the case of one photographer at least, had a more fatal
impact: the daguerreotypisr j.w, Newland was an early casualty of the
uprising, The Bengal Hurkaru and India Gazette (26 May 1857) reporting
that he was killed while travelling between Delhi and Meerut, 'taken
from the dak carriages and mutilated with great barbarity'.

25 For a fuller account of Beato's work in India, see David Harris,
Topography and memory: Felice Beato's photographs of India , 1858-1859
in Vidya Dehejia (ed), India through the lens. Photography 1840-1911
(Washington, 2000), pp. 119-31.

26 John Fraser, Beato's photograph of the interior oJthe Sikandarbagh at
Lucknow (Journal of the Army Historical Research, vol 64, no. 237,
1981), pp. 5r-55.

27 TheJournal oJthe Photographic Society, vol 5, no. 79, 1859, p. 185.

28 From the evidence of the prints, it seems likely that Tytler
accompanied Beato on photographic excursions in Delhi: several of his
views are almost identical in composition to Beato's.

29 The Englishman, 28 May 1859.

30 Idem.

30 Gaston Tissandier (ed. John Thomson), A history and handbook of
photography (znd edition, London, 1878), pp. 318-19.

32 Public Despatches to Bengal, no. 1 of 1847, 27 January 1847,
IOR/L/P&J/3/1021.

33 Proceedings of Financial Department of the Government of India, 4th
April 1851, Board's Collections, V.3687, IOR/F/4/2503.

34 Public Despatches to Bengal, no. 1 of 1847, 27 January
1847,IOR/L/P&J/3/1021.

35 Bombay Public Despatches, 29 December 1854, IOR/E/4/1101 ff.1449-51.
Whether Biggs himself was responsible for first suggesting the use of
photography to the Company is unclear. Over two decades later, in a
letter to the Secretary of State for India dated 3 December 1877, he
writes that it was his presentation of 'a large manuscript volume of
copies of sculptures' to the Court of Directors in 1853, 'which mainly
led to the desire on the part of the government to have the sculptures
and inscriptions copied systematically' (Geographical Home
Correspondence, IOR/L/E/2/I03 item 50). The whereabouts and contents of
this volume have not been discovered.

36 Bombay Public Despatches, 18 February 1857, IOR/E/4/1107 f. 452.

37 Thomas Biggs, Theodore C. Hope and James Fergusson, Architecture at
Ahmadabad, the capital of Gujarat; P.D. Hart, A. Cumming, T. Biggs,
Major Loch, Meadows Taylor and James Fergusson, Architecture at Bijapur,
an ancient Mahomedan capital in the Bombay Presidency; W.H. Pigou,
A.c.B. Neill, T. Biggs, Meadows Taylor and James Fergusson, Architecture
in Dharwar and Mysore. All published by John Murray, London, 1866. The
Ahmadabad volume, a less lavish production than the other two volumes,
contains photographs taken by Biggs in the 1860s rather than the 1850S.
These publications were intended to be the start of a continuing series
of works to be brought out under the guidance of the Committee of
Architectural Antiquities of Western India, but in the event no further
volumes appeared.

38 Fort St George Public Consultations, 11 March 1865. Board's
Collections, IOR/F/4/2725, no. 198064.
39 The volumes were published as follows: Photographic views of Madura;
Photoqraphic views of Poodoocottah; Photographic views of Ryakotta and
other places in the Salem district; Photographic views of Seringham;
Photographic views in Tanjore and Trivady; Photographic views of
Trichinopoly. All published in Madras in 1858.

40 Tripe to Chief Secretary, Madras Government, 1 September 1856.
Board's Collections, IOR/F/4/2725 no. 198065.

41 Fort St George Public Consultations, 15 April 1859, IOR/P/249/69.

42 James Fergusson, History of Indian and eastern architecture (London,
1876), preface.

43 James Fergusson, I1lustrations of various styles of Indian
architecture (London, 1869), p. 6.

44 Ibid, p. 10.

45 Report by Thomas Biggs on photographic tour, dated 4 January 1856,
Board's Collections, IOR/F/4/2665.

46 Text by Boswell in Linnaeus Tripe, Photoqruphic views of Ryakotta and
other places, in the Salem district (Madras, 1858), plate 5.

47 Ibid, plate 8.

48 Bengal Public Proceedings, no. 61 of September 1867, IOR/P/432/3.

49 Bengal Public Proceedings, no. 9 of July 1868, IOR/P/432/4.

50 This proposal was therefore soon modified and by April 1868 the
government was asking H.H. Locke, Principal of the Government School of
Art in Calcutta, to investigate whether Rs, 1000 'will be sufficient to
induce a professional artist to undertake to make photographs of all the
views that might be required in connexion with one set of buildings' .
Bengal Public Proceedings, no. II of July 1868, IOR/P/432/4.

51 A detailed memorandum outlining this scheme for the documentation
ofIndian architecture, and the use of photography within it, was
published by the India Museum at about this time. See John Forbes
Watson, Report on the illustration of the archaic architecture of India,
&c. (London, 1869).

52 India Office Records, Home Proceedings, Surveys, vol. 1501, 1880.

53 Tripe to EA. Murray, Secretary to Governor of Madras, 22 July 1856.
Board's Collections, IOR/F/4/2725 no. 198065.

54 Journal of the Photoqrcphic Society of Bengal, no. 3, 20 May 1857, p. 68.

55 The publication ran for 36 monthly issues between 1856-1859, each
number containing three original prints with descriptive captions.
Johnson and Henderson's contribution, as well topographical and
architectural views, was a series of portrait studies entitled Costumes
and characters of Western India.

56 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, August 1865, p. 148.

57 Memorandum from John Forbes Watson to John William Kaye, dated 18
July 1863, discussing plans for the publication of The People of India;
IOR/L/E/6/37, item 39.

58 Introduction to The People of India.

59 Letter to the Secretary of the Government of Bengal, ?dated 17 June
1861, Bengal Public Proceedings 1861, IOR/P/15/21·

60 See Government ofIndia Foreign Consultations (General), July 1863,
pp. 6-67. IOR/P/205/14.

61 In addition to the rigours of the tour, at its conclusion Waterhouse
estimated that in order to get the 1252 prints sent in (20 copies from
each of about 60 photographs), poor quality paper and other factors made
it necessary to make over 3000 prints. Ibid, p. 37.

62 Ibid, p. 36.

63 John Forbes Watson, 'On the measures required for the efficient
working of the Indian Museum and Library, with suggestions for
thefoundation, in connection with them, of an Indian Institute of
Enquiry, Lecture, and Teaching' (London, 1874), p.26.

64 George Gliddon in L.F.A. Maury, E Pulszky & J.E Meigs, Indigenous
races of the earth (Philadelphia, 1857), P·609·

65 Report on the administration of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ...
for 1893-1894 (Calcutta, 1894, pp.II5-16), IOR/v/10/610.

66 Changing fashions and developments in technical matters also played
their part; paper negatives were being superseded by glass and by the
early 1860s the work of photographers like Murray and Tripe, while still
earning praise, was being dismissed as 'inferior to what might have been
expected of collodion', the latter by 1862 considered superior in terms
of 'clearness, sharpness, and artistic effect'(journal of the Bengal
Photographic Society, vol I, no. 1, 1 May 1862, p.6 and no. 2, 1
September 1862, p. 40).

67 Samuel Bourne, On some of the requisites necessary for the production
of a good photograph, (The Nottingham Athenaeum Society's Magazine,
October 1860), pp. 40-41.

68 Samuel Bourne, Photography in the east (British journal of
Photography, 1 July 1863), p.269.

69 For the most accurate account of Bourne's Indian career, see Gary D.
Sampson, The success of Samuel Bourne in India, (History of Photography,
Winter 1992, pp·336-47)· See also Sampson, Photographer of the
picturesque: Samuel Bourne in Vidia Dehejia (ed), India through the
lens. Photography 1840-1911 (Washington, 2000), pp. 163-75.

70 Samuel Bourne, Photography in the east (British Journal of
Photography, 1 September 1863), P.346.

71 Some attempt to analyse the characteristics of a specifically Indian
response to photography (conceptually unconvincing and factually
unreliable in the view of this writer) is made in Judith Mara Gutman,
Through Indian eyes (New York, 1982). But see also Christopher Pinney,
Camera Indica. The social life of Indian photographs (London, 1997).

?72 Journal of the Photographic Society of Bengal, no. 2, 21 January 1857.

73 See the pamphlet, Address, a member opposing an intended resolution
to expel Rajendralala Mitra for speaking against the indigo planters at
a public meeting (Calcutta, 1857),

74 His obituary in the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers
(1878) describes him as 'foremost in introducing photography and
electro-plating into Bombay'.

75 Correspondence relating to this appointment, and the history of the
classes in general, can be found in Board's Collections, IOR/F/4/2677
no. 181526.

76 ibid.

77 In fact the Elphinstone Institute class had never been intended as a
permanent fixture, since the authorities felt that a school of
photography would in the long run be more appropriately housed in the
soon to be opened Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art. When this was
established the photographer appointed was Narayan Shivshanker, who was
responsible for a good deal of architectural photography in the Bombay
area in succeeding years.

78 Fort St George Public Consultations, 20 May 1856. In Board's
Collections, IOR/F/4/2725 no. 198064

79 E. and T.S. Polehampton (ed.), A memoir, letters and diary of the
Rev. Henry S. Polehampton (London, 1858), p.212.

80 Samuel Bourne, Narrative of a photographic trip to Kashmir (Cashmere)
and adjacent districts (British Journal of Photo,graphy, 2 November
1866), p.524.

81 Ram Singh also employed a T. Murray as court photographer, and it is
unclear how much of the photographic work was produced on his own.

82 Haryal Singh, Report on the census of 1891. Volume II: The castes of
Mar war (Jodhpur, 1894).

83 He may well have been introduced to the medium at the college, since
photography had been taught to Indian students there since 1864, 'to
enable them to show the progress of public works' (Photographic News,
1864), P.59.

84 These were later reproduced as collotypes in Griffin's Famous
monuments of Central India (London, 1886).

85 British Journal of Photography, 1871, P.425.

86 F. Fisk Williams, A guide to the Indian photographer (Calcutta,
1860). An advertisement in the back of this volume refers to a so far
untraced but clearly earlier work, Cowley's Photography in India.

87 John Blees, Photography in Hindostan; or reminiscences of a
travelling photographer (Bombay, 1877).

88 George Ewing, A handbook of photography for amateurs in India
(Calcutta, 1895; second edition, 1909).

-- 
Rana Dasgupta
www.ranadasgupta.com



From shekhar at crit.org.in  Wed Jan  3 15:15:19 2007
From: shekhar at crit.org.in (Shekhar Krishnan)
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 15:15:19 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Mumbai Free Map Workshop, 13-14 January
Message-ID: <1167817520.7208.18.camel@localhost>

Dear All:

We plan to organise an intensive two-day workshop on the use of
geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial web applications
based on Free and Open Source software (FOSS). This public workshop will
be held on SATURDAY 13 JANUARY and SUNDAY 14 JANUARY 2007 at the Homi
Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) in Mumbai. 

The objective will be to teach and guide participants through all the
steps of producing an interactive spatial database and web map using the
OSGeo Toolkit. Through the workshop, participants will build their own
Free Map using a combination of open source software, copyleft maps, and
community information. 

The workshop is based on the Mumbai Free Map project collaboration, and
is co-organised by the Gnowledge Lab at HBCSE, CRIT (Collective Research
Initiatives Trust), the Free Map Collective and MetaCarta Labs. For more
detailed information about the workshop and any updates to the
programme, please visit http://wiki.freemap.in/moin.cgi/HbcseWorkshop
and to browse the Mumbai Free Map please visit http://mumbai.freemap.in 


REGISTRATION

The workshop is free and open to the public. Ideally, participants
should be familiar with the open source software and the Linux operating
system, web client-server architecture, basic database management, and
basic terminal commands -- we hope to cater to different skill sets and
backgrounds. Participants should also have an interest in the use of
OSGeo for their own work and projects.

To register for the workshop, please send an e-mail to
freemapworkshop at crit.org.in with your name, address, and contact
information including phone numbers, and a brief description of your
background and your interest in the workshop. Registration will remain
open until WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY, but please contact us ASAP if you would
like to participate. For more information, please call Shekhar Krishnan
on +91.98200.45529. 


ORGANISERS

Gnowledge Lab
http://www.gnowledge.org

Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE)
http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in

CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust) 
http://www.crit.org.in 

Freemap Collective
http://www.freemap.in

MetaCarta Labs
http://labs.metacarta.com

-- 

Shekhar Krishnan
9, Supriya, 2nd Floor
Plot 709, Parsee Colony Road no.4
Dadar, Mumbai 400014
India

http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar
http://www.heptanesia.net
http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar




From aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in  Wed Jan  3 12:43:08 2007
From: aesthete at mail.jnu.ac.in (Dean School of Arts and Aesthetics)
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:43:08 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Images: sites, displacement, display
Message-ID: <1167808388.89116900aesthete@mail.jnu.ac.in>

The School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU and Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi
cordially invite you to a series of brief talks by

Gerhard Wolf/Hannah Baader/Barbara Wittmann

Sites, displacement and display of images: Padova 1378,  Mexico/Italy 1538, Paris 1860

at 6:30 pm on Monday, 8th January 2007
At Siddhartha Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg 



Gerhard Wolf is Director of the Max Planck Institute's Art History Institute (Kunsthistoriches Institut) in Florence, Italy. His work focusses on aspects of art and visual culture in Italy, from late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period, including a historical anthropology of image and media. This presentation will focus on artistic exchange between Mexico and Italy in the 16th c.

Hannah Baader is a Fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, Max-Planck-Institute. Her earlier work on the significance of male friendship for Renaissance art is now followed by a study on premodern theories of perception. Her presentation will focus on the problem of the place of the images in christian art in the late medieval period.

Barbara Wittmann is research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. She wrote her Ph.D. thesis on Edouard Manet's portraiture and is currently working on a book about the history of children's drawings. Her talk will deal with the development of modernist exhibition practices and its impact on impressionist painting.





_______________________________________________
announcements mailing list
announcements at sarai.net
https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements

From miyaa_mihir at yahoo.com  Mon Jan  1 23:33:07 2007
From: miyaa_mihir at yahoo.com (mihir pandya)
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 10:03:07 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] 2006 year review  part 1 (bollywood)
Message-ID: <280142.34094.qm@web51813.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi comrades,
  Year 2006 coming to end. Year 2006
 the most happening year in my life. The news: - I was turned 21 this year! And this is my first full year in national capital Delhi . As I called the most happening year or as in Mr. Tariq Ali style you called it a ‘street fighting’ year. Or as in our time people called it: - the ‘rang de basanti’ year! I was at the back seat on a fast running motorbike around India gate at 2:30 night. I was there on national TV debating on reservations. And I was there fighting a lost battle for a cause. The DUSU elections.
  But the year review is not about me. It’s about what I enjoyed in this beautiful, happening year. Something common, something not so common.
   
  Best movie of the year (bollywood) :- the year started with “rang de basanti” and finished with “lage raho munnabhai” the 2 most discussed, debated movies of the year. And most of you know that I was there in the front row in these debates. I wrote 3 part review on rang de and currently doing a project work on lage raho in my department as an optional paper. But my vote for ‘THE BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR” goes to a still underrated movie, the unusual one: - “khosla ka ghosla”
   
  Movie of the year: - khosla ka ghosla.
  I watched this strange middle class family drama three times in cinema hall and 2 times on TV/comp. and my strange comment on that, “this is a hard, serious movie. kkg simply did one thing, it puts a mirror on your face.” (ppl who watched this movie understand how strange my comment was.)
  The ultimate Charlie Chaplin said, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close up, but a comedy in long shot” and dibakar banerji’s khosla ka ghosla is a ‘long shot’ of our life. He does that so perfectly because he read the most important book very carefully
 the book of life. The most interesting stories are here if you read carefully. As wise ppl said, “truth is stranger than fiction” this is a film which reminds me my favorite “jaane bhi do yaaron”
  Every camera angle, every background score punch, every reaction was so perfect. Typical Delhi based Punjabi middle class family whose dream was a house in ‘south Delhi’ but slowly you realize that this is only patriarch’s dream. The film is about a hesitated man. Like his friend said, “Complaining type” Mr. khosla (anupam kher) And a super villain kishan khurana (boman irani). The film is special because at the end you find that khurana also has his fears. This is the Third dimension. This is what makes a film ‘movie of the year’. In small roles actors like vinod nagpal, kiran juneja, vinay pathak done wondors. But my man was ranveer shourey as bunty. He demands a special column on him as I do

  And with mentioning kkg I am doing one more thing. I acknowledge Mr. jaideep sahni’s work. Kkg was his brain child. He did the dialog, script, screenplay, creative production. 
  He has a very unique understanding towards what we called our cities. We saw that in ‘bunty aur bubbli’ (he done the script) and now with kkg he shows that again. He catches ‘small town middle class mentality’ at best. So young man
 go ahead, we are watching you!
  This choice affected by one thing. I still not watched ‘omkara’. 
   
  Comedy of the year: - pyaar ke side effects. 
  Finally we have a comedy which don’t demand us to leave our minds home! Rahul bose is my favorite and with ranveer shurey they are better then munnabhai and circuit. Actually as we called this is year of comedy.
   
  Let down of the year: - fanaa.
  After ‘hum-tum’ my acceptations with kunal kohli are higher. And then the news: - kunal is making a movie on Kashmir with kajol-amir first time together. But at the end I had to say that even a movie like gangster is better then fanaa because it says love and faith are the most noble values on earth. Fanaa is a let down on that front. 
   
   
  Good ones from 2006: - dor, taxi no. 9211, kabhi alvida na kahna (yes, this is the best karan johar done yet) Kabul express, don, RDB, lage raho munnabhai, being cyrus, yun hota to kya hota (good movie with a senseless end. Naseer bhai what actually you trying to say?)
   
  Stand out performer of the year: - ranveer shourey.
  As balwant khosla urf bunty in khosla ka ghosla and narayanan iyer urf naanu in pyaar ke side effects. (This includes his hilarious comedy with vinay pathak in “cricket crazy” on espn and “the great Indian comedy show” on star one. Missed his 3rd movie in this year, “mixed doubles”)
  In kkg his hariyanvi accent and attitude did the thing. In pkse he is a notch higher then rahul bose. His sense of humor is an added quality in his acting like rahul bose. What I say about him. People just go and watch him. He is the man from our generation portraying ‘us’ so perfectly. Showing our imperfections so perfectly!
  Runner-ups: - boman irani and arshad warsi.
   
  Term of the year: - Gandhigiri.
  With munnabhai meets mahatma and the much talked term arrived, “gandhigiri” and suddenly all over the place flowers and ‘get well soon’ cards arrived. Now just watch how market captures Gandhi as a saleable product.
  And don’t forget the ‘candle light march’s’ on India gate’ inspired by rang de basanti.
   
  Classic revisited: - do bigha jameen.
  With singur’s backdrop watch bimal roy’s do bigha jameen one more time. In this SEZ time you will find a whole new meaning here. 
   
  
this is something about bollywood. In coming days you will find something like this on TV, music, books etc

  Enjoy 2007

  Happy New Year

  Love you all

  
miHir
   
  ----------------
    Mihir pandya
  M. A. final
  Hindi literature
  Delhi University


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From fred at bytesforall.org  Wed Jan  3 22:33:49 2007
From: fred at bytesforall.org (Frederick Noronha)
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 22:33:49 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Using the Internet to Extend Hegemony: A Study of
	Government Websites in India (Maya Ranganathan and NagaMallika.G)
In-Reply-To: <8ea78e010701021542v2479d18bpdb214b01d73d7c17@mail.gmail.com>
References: <8ea78e010701021542v2479d18bpdb214b01d73d7c17@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <8ea78e010701030903u69b4d50eu23b19ca0b5c6dcdc@mail.gmail.com>

Global Media Journal
Indian Edition

Indian Flag
Vol 1,Issue 2,ISSN 1550-7521


Using the Internet to Extend Hegemony:

A Study of Government Websites in India

By Maya Ranganathan and NagaMallika.G

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which the Internet is employed by the
tech-savvy states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to
establish that despite the technical infrastructure and know how
available, these governments are largely indifferent to the potential
of the medium to further democracy. Instead, these governments employ
the medium much the same way as they employed and still employ the
earlier media of radio and television, totally oblivious to the
potential of the Internet to provide the essential public sphere
necessary for effective functioning of a democracy as envisaged by
Habermas (1989 a,b). This is highlighted through a qualitative
analysis of the official websites of these states, with specific
reference to the element of interactivity. While the paper takes into
account the argument that Internet penetration in India is negligible
and hence can not constitute a public sphere in the true sense of the
term, it also points out that well aware that it is still an elitist
medium, the governments are employing the Internet to extend their
ideologies to the elites both within and outside the country. This is
significant considering that while the All India Radio is perceived as
a rural media, Doordarshan despite its phenomenal coverage, is facing
competition from satellite channels in the cities and towns. In the
circumstances, the Internet is the only medium available to the
governments to disseminate their ideologies. The paper points out that
this is done in the process of conveying information on the states and
their activities.

ICTs and political communication

The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
has given rise to varying projections, especially in the area of
political communication, more particularly in the process of
governance. The world wide web, 1 an important component of ICTs, has
sparked off utopian projections in the area of political
communication.  Looked at in isolation the Net indeed seems to have
the potential to liberate and free the world. In Virtual Reality ,
Howard Rheingold lists the way in which technology is poised to change
reality based purely on the attributes of the technology of the
Internet (1991). 2 In Web studies: Rewiring media studies for the
digital age , David Gauntlett (2000) focuses on the futuristic nature
of the Internet. In the political arena, the web is looked at as a
tool that can bring people together on common grounds, creating new
politics and social relations by its ability to incorporate a whole
range of texts, its ability to transgress physical distances
efficiently, the facility it extends to the user to assume anonymity
and indulge in identity play and the creation of a virtual public
sphere. Tharon W. Howard builds his discussion on electronic
communities on the fact that the technology of the Internet itself
shapes the message (1997). Extending McLuhan's famous maxim 'the
medium is the message', Howard argues that the Internet's attributes
contribute more to "differences in kind" rather than "differences in
degree of efficiency and speed" (1997).

Some of the attributes of the medium are important, especially the
geographical border-transgressing nature of the Net that enables the
bridging of "temporal and spatial 'gaps'" (Baker and Ward, 2002) and
the facility to mask identities, that have sparked utopian projections
in the political field (Kling, 1996; Negroponte, 1998; Rheingold,
1993). It is believed that the Internet would spur more people to
actively participate in the political affairs of the nation. The
Internet is expected to act as a 'public sphere', the absence of which
Jürgen Habermas discussed in The structural transformation of the
public sphere (1989a). Public sphere, as a concept, has been "cast ...
as a sociological concept as well as an inspirational vision of
something better yet to be attained" (Dahlgren, 1995). Although "the
public sphere per se is no guarantee for democracy", the perception of
the role of the Internet in democracy largely rests on its ability to
provide a public sphere (Dahlgren, 2005). Net-based technologies are
expected to create a sophisticated version of the Greek agora , where
citizens interact with one another and enable the state to arrive at a
political consensus on the issues affecting the nation. But what are
largely ignored in the discussion are the social, political and
economic factors that decide the question of access to the medium and
the extent of interactivity. On the other hand, the Net lends itself
to governments of nation-states as a tool of governance, particularly
in the extension of hegemony.

Internet, public sphere and hegemony

The media have always functioned as a tool of extending hegemony, even
in democracies where they are, in principle, outside the control of
the governments. If, on the one hand, the external pressures on the
media and its production procedures 3 have led to the media having to
toe the line of the governments, on the other hand, media personnel,
themselves a product of hegemonisation, have often ended up as tools
of the government in further extending its hegemony. 4 While this has
been the case with media in general, the Internet presents a different
picture because of its unique features, which seem to make it ideally
suited for the propagation of dissension rather than integration.

The two attributes of the Net that lend credence to the above argument
are the ability of the technology to transgress geographical
boundaries with impunity, defying control of the respective
nation-states and the ability to facilitate instant feedback. It is
precisely these attributes that have led to the utopian projections of
the Net in the arena of political communication. The fact that the
technology, at present, can defy control and give voice to all, is
what has made the Net the preferred medium for civil society, minority
groups, and also groups promoting 'unofficial' nationalism in their
struggle to transform themselves into a nation-state. While new
technologies indeed pose a challenge to the power of the nation-state,
the nation-states are not totally powerless in the face of the
electronic communication technologies. Nation-states employ
Internet-based technologies as a tool of power. The fact that
nations-in-the-making seem to have stolen a march over nation-states
in the employment of these technologies to assert their identity
cannot be allowed to deter attention from the way in which the
nation-states are employing electronic communication in binding the
people together and creating a common national identity. However, what
is of interest is that national governments seem to be indifferent to,
if not completely oblivious to the ability of the Net to provide a
public sphere. A recent major study 5 on the employment of Internet
even by an 'informatized' nation as Singapore established that the Net
was perceived more as a tool to reinforce the ideology of the nation
rather than to provide the ideal public sphere (Singhal and Rogers,
2001). Most countries perceive the Net as yet another media tool to
extend hegemony, as an "apparatus of state coercive power" which aims
to secure the consent of those dissenting groups "in anticipation of
moments of crisis of command and direction when spontaneous consent"
does fail (Gramsci, 1996). It is this aspect that this paper draws
attention to in the context of the use of Internet by state
governments in India.

India and the Internet

In India the Internet is perceived as an elitist medium. India
currently has 25 million Internet users, which is expected to grow to
100 million by 2007-08. With such numbers, the reach as well as the
potential of India's Internet market seems huge. According to a
NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) of
India survey conducted at e-biz India in 68 cities and towns in
June-July, 2000, these cities and towns constitute 92 per cent of the
total Internet users in India. Some of the findings of this survey
were as follows:

Table 1. Internet Growth in India (History)

Date


Internet Connections (millions)


Users (millions)

August 15,1995


0.002


0.01

March 31,1996


0.05


0.25

March 31,1997


0.09


0.45

March 31,1998


0.14


0.7

March 31,1999


0.28


1.4

March 31, 2000


0.77


2.8

June 30, 2000


1.04


3.70



(Source: NASSCOM Internet survey, 2000).

Note that 280,000 Internet connections translates to over 800,000
Internet users in India.

Table 2. Internet Growth in India (Projected)

Date


Internet Connections (millions)


Users (millions)

March 31, 2001


1.6


5

March 31, 2002


4


10

March 31, 2003


8


18

December 31, 2003


11


23



(Source: NASSCOM Internet survey, 2000)

These figures add support to the projection of 25 million Internet
users in 2005. However, this number, although huge, depicts a
lop-sided picture with access to Internet being limited to the urban
Indian predominantly. Even those privileged to this access are
hindered often by poor or slow connectivity or frequent breakdowns,
however coming with high and often prohibitive operational costs. The
exorbitant telephone bills that often accompany a dial-up Internet
connection make it a luxury only a few can afford, clearly making it
an elite medium. It is only now that broadband connectivity is being
promoted, promising a cheaper and quicker connectivity option.
However, being in a very nascent stage, its reach once again is in a
few metropolises and its efficacy still in question.

The Government of India, when it first introduced Internet services in
1991, for use of public departments, universities, public and private
research bodies and for non-profit organizations along with commercial
internet services to individuals and organizations, was only following
aggressively the reformist agenda of the telecommunications policy.
This was picked up by a few states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu, among others, with the respective chief ministers who were
eager to usher in a new era of e-commerce and e-governance. However,
the hype associated with the Information and Technology (IT) services
suffered a big blow with the 'dot com boom' ending in huge losses for
many business entrepreneurs and fly-by-night operators who were in it
to make a few fast bucks. Over time, the Internet being offered as a
panacea for all ills in India proved to be a myth, with the promises
of making internet a tool for the development of the nation failing
and the political party leaders who led the governments that spoke the
IT language losing the subsequent elections.

Today, the 25 million Internet users are indeed a small minority in
the entire population of India, but clearly form the elites living in
metros, and comprise entrepreneurs, politicians and policy makers.
Another important section of the Internet users is the Non Resident
Indians (NRIs), who form one of the most influential blocks, both
politically and economically. The NRIs are those peculiar brand of
Indians who although reside outside India, are integrated culturally
and emotionally with everything Indian. Although not physically in
India, they are a powerful influence on the Indian Government in a
variety of ways due to their sheer economic strength. Representatives
of successive governments at the Centre have wooed this section by
meeting and addressing them specifically while on foreign tours, and
providing incentives for financial investments in India. 6 The
Government of India aims to draw the non-resident Indians into its
nation-building activities by attempting to use "coercive power"
across miles (Deutsch, 1953). State governments in India too have
employed the Internet for much the same purpose, to extend hegemony to
elites who have hitherto largely remained indifferent to the
Government media, although the purported aim behind adoption of
electronic governance was to provide a "one-stop, non-stop, efficient,
effective, responsive , and transparent citizen governance" (Katakam,
1999 Emphasis added ).

In principle, there is no media that acts as the official voice of the
Government in India. However, the state-government All India Radio and
Doordarshan are generally perceived as voices of the Government, the
constitution of Prasar Bharati notwithstanding. 7 Although both the
media enjoyed immense popularity at different stages of their
development in the country, today they have lost their position as
prime news sources, particularly in the urban areas, to private radio
and television channels that have proliferated since the opening up of
the skies in 1991. 8 If this is the state of affairs in the realm of
electronic communication, in the case of the print media, which is
also considered to be an elite medium due to the mere 40 per cent
literacy rate in the country, the Government has no official organ
(Singhal and Rogers, 2001). There are newspapers that have been
sympathetic to particular political parties, especially when they have
ascended to power, but seldom has a newspaper acted as the sole voice
of the Government. 9 Thus extending 'coercive power' over the elites,
those who often form an influential lobby in the country, has been
rendered difficult for the Government. It is in this context that the
employment of Internet in India by the Government is to be studied.
Denied of a means to address the elites, the Government has found in
the Internet a tool to take its message unquestioned and uninterrupted
across geographical boundaries. In the process, the Internet has been
stripped of its democratic functions of enabling a public sphere and
has been transformed into a mere tool of propagation of ideologies.
E-governance in India has stopped with 'informatization', provision of
information and networking of Government departments and has not
extended to employing ICTs to further the democratic process (Singhal
and Rogers, 2001). 10 The unique attributes of the Internet such as
reciprocity and instant feedback have been largely ignored and the
medium itself is treated in much the same way as the earlier media –
as a tool to extend hegemony. The following analysis establishes how
the governments of tech-savvy states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu perceive and employ the Internet.

Analyses and discussion

The choice of the three southern states of Andhra Pradesh (AP),
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (TN) has been made on account of the fact
that they have spearheaded the IT revolution in the country. During
the late 1990s AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu set the path on
informatization, i.e., the use of ICTs for socio-economic development
in the state. 11 Bangalore, the capital of the state of Karnataka, has
now grown to be called the Indian Silicon valley. Since 1986 when
Texas Instruments established a computer-aided design centre in the
city, Bangalore has grown to play host to more than 500 high-tech
companies in the world (Singhal and Rogers, 2001). The Tamil Nadu
Government hopes to position the state as a gateway to South Asia on
the strength of its connectivity and infrastructure available to the
information technology industry (The Hindu – BusinessLine, 2005:
online). Based on the lead the three states have taken in the country
on embarking on the path of informatization, we study the websites of
these Governments in the context of public sphere. The focus on public
sphere is to highlight how effective these websites are in serving as
communicative links between citizens and the government. Where the
"representational dimension" is inadequate, it can be concluded that
the potential of the Net is not being tapped and that it is employed
much like the other media (Dahlgren, 2005). A lack of reciprocity and
top-down information dissemination can be taken to mean that the media
is employed to extend hegemony, rather than looked at as a means of
furthering democracy. The qualitative analyses of the three websites
follow "the three main analytical dimensions of the structural, the
representational and the interactional" laid down by Dahlgren (2005).

The structural:

The websites of the three state governments qualify, according to
Dahlgren to be termed versions of e-government. 12 The top-down
character is apparent. Although "information about governmental
administration and services is made available", these websites are not
sites "where the government representatives interact with citizens"
(Dahlgren, 2005). They are at best a compilation of the facts and
figures on various government departments which can be accessed in one
place. The common factor in all the websites is the plethora of
information on the welfare schemes of the respective state
governments. This sets the tone of the websites along with the
predominant images on the homepage of the websites. For instance, the
AP government website features on the left half of the homepage, three
people, two youngsters and one a middle aged person singing and
dancing indicate happiness . On the left of the Karnataka government
homepage is its official insignia, while to its right is a panel of
pictures in a panel depicting its rich history. Interestingly, one of
the pictures is that of Information and Technology (IT)-industry
associated building. The fluttering tricolour on the left in the TN
government website, the picture of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa
presiding over a meeting of foreign dignitaries, the picture of the
Mahabalipuram temples and the verse from saint-poet Tiruvalluvar all
speak of pride and achievements of the state. Thus all the three
websites at the outset clearly convey a pride in the past and present
of the nation leading to a hope for a prosperous future, a
reaffirmation of the nationhood of the people. In the context of the
states in India being divided linguistically, the three states of AP,
Karnataka and TN also refer to the Telugu, Karnataka and Tamil
nations. All these nations are constituents of the Indian
nation-state. However, this is singularly important in the case of TN,
as it was the first state to demand secession in 1962, under the
leadership of C.N.Annadurai and in the light of the fact that the
issue of 'thani tamizhnadu' (separate Tamil nation) has still not been
forsaken.

Hegemony is extended not merely by focussing extensively on the
administrative set-up, but also by dwelling sufficiently on the
history, events, and achievements of the state. This is particularly
clear in the case of the AP government website which has separate
sections titled history, events and achievements. These sections
contain selective information apparently aimed at promoting the image
of the state and government in tune with its current political
ideology. Thus, 'events' contain a list of the Chief Minister's tours
and travel itineraries. The information in 'achievements' revolves
around technological developments, particularly the extension of
Internet services to rural areas. This is particularly significant in
the light of the fact that the former government of Chandrababu Naidu
was overthrown as his policies were believed to be urban-centric. More
interesting is the information contained in the 'news' section. What
constitutes 'news' are the activities of the Chief Minister, for
example, his visit to the malaria hit areas of the state following the
monsoon; the issue of ration cards and a story on the "good"
governance at the Centre. While the former two go in line with the
pro-poor image which the Chief Minister is cultivating, the last story
is predictable considering that the Congress rules the state and at
the Centre. What is important is that the incorporation of these two
stories serves to suppress information on the failures of the
government that was highlighted in all other dailies in dealing with
the outbreak of malaria following the monsoons, thus clearly
indicating selectivity in the presentation of news.

Similarly, the Karnataka website talks of the ancient and the modern
in its welcome message, "welcome to the land of gold, silk, sandalwood
and Silicon". While there is a clear enunciation of the pride in the
nation, the website makes a departure in that it does not provide news
but carries links to dailies from the state, particularly Kannada
dailies. The list of media organisations given in the website is
interesting as one of the leading Kannada dailies, Vijay Karnataka is
missing while even obscure eveningers are mentioned. This could be
owing to the fact that Vijay Karnataka was started by a business man
who was initially in the BJP and who later left the BJP to form his
own regional party. The only other anti-Congress daily in the list is
the Kannada Prabha , a sister concern of The New Indian Express group
of publications which incidentally heads the list. Thus hyperlinks to
these publications provide only a notional objectivity. A rather
unexpected admission in the 'Welcome to Karnataka' section in the
website is that the account of IT development in the state,
particularly Bangalore described as the fastest growing city in Asia
ends with the sentence, "with all these changes one needs to see how
long it will remain the air conditioned city and the pensioner's
paradise". This can be construed as an indication of the government's
awareness of the ills of unbridled expansion in terms of setting up IT
industries. 13

The three departments that find a place in the top left of the TN
government website make a statement on the ideological pressures of
the government. The first is the link to the Tamil Nadu Public Service
Commission (TNPSC) website conveying the importance and desirability
of government services in this age of private enterprise and
globalisation. The second link leads one to the Election Department.
This is particularly significant as the government is currently
battling criticism of allowing malpractices in the inclusion of
electoral rolls for the 2006 elections. The third link is to the
website of the Tamil Virtual University, again important to the
government considering that elections in TN have always involved the
issue of which political party has furthered the interests of the
Tamil language. 14  Clearly then, the state government is employing
its website to answer criticisms and defend its political ideologies.
The only tool that the AIADMK government, known for its leader J.
Jayalalithaa's (also the current chief minister) anti-press sentiments
are Jaya TV , a private TV channel owned by Jayalalithaa's confidants
and Dr Namadhu MGR , a party press organ. Both are clearly perceived
as AIADMK's propaganda organs. The official website of the state thus
provides a means for the government to defend its ideologies without
employing a propaganda organ. It is in this context that the Net seems
to prove useful to state governments.

Representational:

Despite the potential of the Net to further democracy by providing a
public sphere as discussed earlier in the paper, "the mechanisms for
transforming opinion …are highly limited, to say the least" (Dahlgren,
2005). Governments have indeed managed to limit the potential of the
Net. In the process what they provide is a notional public sphere, a
mirage of civil society. Typically, the websites of the three state
governments under study point to the embryonic outlines of civil
society without leading to a full realization (Keane, 2003). By
dwelling on culture, language and geography, these websites help the
citizens of the state to "coalesce internally before they venture out
into the larger public sphere" (Dahlgren, 2005).   The focal point in
all the three websites is the welfare schemes launched by the
respective governments for the welfare of the people. A mirage of
addressing the common man is created by providing some information in
the vernacular. All the three websites incorporate a vernacular
version of the website. However, this must be assessed in the context
of the availability of infrastructure to access the Internet in the
rural areas and also the fact that forms and enquiries are available
only in English. 15  This clearly marks these websites as catering to
the English-knowing, computer savvy elite, who are generally those who
people the cities. Yet, all the websites seek to create an impression
of prosperity for all in the state. Of the three websites, those of AP
and TN are in green, an association with fertility. In the case of the
former, the colour generally associated with Islam, assumes
significance considering that AP has a sizeable section of Muslims and
the state government is currently engaged in wooing the minorities
with five per cent reservation in educational institutions. In the
case of TN, the colour green is known as the favourite colour of Chief
Minister Jayalilathaa. 16

One of the prominent sections in the AP government website is
'emergency' followed by 'citizen help'. The name 'citizen' is
basically a misnomer as it has nothing to do with civic or social
problems for the citizen. The right hand navigation bar contains the
head 'IT promotion'. Given the nature of AP government's interest in
promoting IT, it is very clear that the website targets the elite,
with e-related news. The right hand navigation bar once again contains
all that the government is doing through the use of IT, in relation to
civic and developmental issues. 'AP fact file' contains information on
its formation, and its culture and arts and its festivals. The
interesting part is that it promotes high culture by stating only
Kuchipudi as its main cultural art form, while it gives information on
Telangana festivals under local festivals. The latter has political
significance in that there is a movement to bifurcate the state to
create a separate Telangana state. 'History' talks of the ancient,
medieval and the modern period, up to the post independence period and
ends with the lists of chief ministers and governors who have served
the state. Starting from Megasthenes who visited India between
322-297BC the historical narrations ends with the police action during
the Nizam's time leading to Hyderabad becoming a part of India after
independence. The primary focus is only on the capital city Hyderabad,
while no history of the rest of the state can be seen, again
underscoring the fact that the information is designed for the
city-based elite. The pride of the Telugu language comes right
through. However, it caters only to the historic and sanscritised
Telugu while the local dialects and the border influences are ignored.
Although Urdu also has a very long history of being rich in language
and poetry, it is not really discussed in the website. It is cited as
the language spoken by the Muslims which is not truly doing justice to
Urdu literature and its rich poetry.  Thus despite the attempt to
include all the citizens in the discourse, the AP government website
remains oriented towards the elite.

Although the website of the Karnataka government is in cool blue,
striving for a mix of the modern and the ancient, it follows the
typical order of arranging information on government services. The
left navigation bar contains the index with labels of all the
departments of various ministries. These include news, names of the
officers of the Secretariat, budget speeches, agriculture, village
statistics and general developmental information. The right hand bar
has in bands various government departments, telephone directory, the
state at a glance, tourism and rainfall data, bhoomi (computerisation
of land records) village statistics and e-governance strategy. One can
note a sense of pride in the language of the state as one can see it
has a prominent place on the centre of home page. Similarly, every
English section has a Kannada equivalent. This is of political
significance as, much like in TN, the vernacular assumes prime
importance in political discourse. Current debates in the state centre
on the need to introduce English in the primary schooling system and
the advisability of non-Kannada films to be filmed in the state. The
flagging of the Kannada identity becomes more apparent every time the
state is engaged in a wrangle with neighbouring states for water or
electricity. The state government website 'flags' this identity in a
routine, mundane way (Billig, 1995). The history of the state is
described in a very flowery language, with its mythological and
historical glory through the ages with pictures of temples and forts.
A mention of its traditional art forms also shows its pride in its
regional art forms like Yakshagana. The dance forms that are classical
in nature like Bharatanatyam (which is also the classical dance form
of TN) are mentioned after the sections of local theatre and poetry
perhaps to signify that it does not enjoy an importance equal to that
of local theatre, music or regional art forms.   The primacy of the
state's history and culture is emphasised in the section of culture
which predominantly uses red to indicate auspiciousness further
compounded by the section on Karnataka tourism which again showcases
the 'culture' and 'heritage' of the state with a Kannada poet's quote.

The attempt to juxtapose the antiquity of the nation with the more
recent achievements is apparent in the TN government website too. On
the left of the home page is a photograph of Jayalalithaa addressing a
few white men, obviously a testimony to her efforts to woo foreign
investment to the state, while the saint poet Thiruvalluvar occupies
the right side of the homepage. The incorporation of the Tamil
invocation song, the section on Tamil literature and temples of the
state all work towards underscoring the greatness of the nation. 17
The representational aspect extends to list of IAS officers in the
state with their e-mail IDs. However, the interesting fact is that not
only is it not an exhaustive list but most of them have provided their
private mail IDs. With no hyperlinks provided to these e-mail IDs,
they act merely as information that are made available through other
media.

Interaction

Conspicuous by its absence in these websites is the "paradigmatic
version of the public sphere" (Dahlgren, 2005). There are no diverse
civic forums that provide for the exchange of views among the
citizens. The top down approach of information dissemination followed
by the state governments stop with purveying shared perceptions,  and
goals that are non-negotiable and does not lead to even the emergence
of a "prepolitical or parapolitical domain which airs social and
cultural topics having to do with common interests and/ or collective
identities" (Dahlgren, 2005). Thus, what the websites create is a
notion of interactivity where the feedback link, where it is provided,
indicates a willingness to hear about the website and not about the
policies or its implementation by the governments. Thus, in the AP
government website, 'citizen's charter', which again is of the
government's endeavour for good governance, contains the government's
own view of what is good for the citizen with advice for other states
to follow a model for good governance in all sectors. But once again
it follows a top down approach, with no scope for interactivity.  The
section that contains details of government schemes list the people in
charge, including those who handle complaints, but no provision is
made to make an online complaint. The complaint has to be physically
handed over to the respective 'mandal' office. This reduces the Net to
a mere medium of information. Although information on how many days it
would take to register a complaint and how many to act on it have been
provided, there are no statistics on either the complaints received or
action taken. The whole section then is an electronic version of an
information booklet. Similarly, the discussion forum and a grievance
cell provided for those who register contain no information on how
many have registered and how many grievances have been attended to.
'Publications' include only information on census 2001 and Economic
Survey 2000-2001.   Thus, the purpose of the website is clearly to
provide information about the government that is perhaps ignored or
not dealt with in detail by other media. Although the Karnataka
government incorporates a 'feed back' provision which is connected to
Outlook Express, it again seems notional considering that responses
are not featured and there is no indication as to whether they are
taken into account in the formulation and implementation of government
policies at all. The only feedback that the TN government website
invites is comments and suggestions on the website itself. There is no
corresponding facility in the Tamil version of the website. Considered
in the light of the Habermas' conception of the ideal public sphere
(Jankowski, 2002) and Rafaeli and Sudweeks (1997: online) perception
of interactivity, the websites merely provide a notion of a public
sphere. 18

Conclusion

The analyses and discussion in the previous section leads us to
conclude that in India, even in the states that are actively promoting
IT industries, the perception of the Net does not extend beyond being
a tool of information. This is largely because in India the Net is yet
to grow into a tool of the masses and it currently remains a medium
for the elite. Well aware of this fact, the state governments employ
the medium as a tool to extend hegemony over the elites. In the
process the potential of the medium to provide a public sphere is
ignored. Thus, "the political life on the Net is mostly an extension
of the political life off the Net" (Margolis and Resnick, 2000).  The
way in which the medium is employed by state governments does not
alter the political landscape. Nor does it mobilize masses to
participate in nation-building or even change the ways in which
politics is done. 'E-democracy', at least in the context of India,
makes no effort to involve the people but persists in conveying
political ideologies from the top. The discourse in these websites is
closed. The governments speak from a position of power. Although the
term 'service' is used fairly frequently as in the case of the AP
government website, the concept of service does not include any
participation by the people. The people are perceived as passive
receivers of information. In the light of the fact that those who have
access to the websites are the elites, it can be concluded that state
governments in India perceive the Net as nothing more than a hegemonic
tool to influence the elites who have so far remained outside the area
of its persuasion. It remains to be seen if at least those state
governments who have aggressively latched on to IT as a tool of
development will ever be courageous enough to tap the potential of the
medium to solve the problems of democracy in India.

















About the authors

The authors are faculty members of the Manipal Institute of
Communication. Maya Ranganathan is also honorary research fellow of
the Monash Asia Institute, Australia. A virtual presentation of this
paper was made at the Second International Conference on Technology,
Knowledge and Society held in Hyderabad, India, in December 2005. The
authors thank the anonymous referees for their comments on the paper.

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2002.

Billig, M., Banal Nationalism , Sage, London, New York, 1995.

Dahlgren, P., Television and the Public Sphere: Citizenship, Democracy
and the Media , Sage, London, New Delhi, 1995.

-- 'The Internet, Public Spheres, and Political Communication:
Dispersion and Deliberation', Political Communication , 22, 147-162,
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Gauntlett, D., (ed) Web studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the
Digital Age, Arnold, London, 2000.

Golding & Murdock, 'Culture, Communications, and Political Economy',
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Gramsci.A., Selections from the Prison Notebooks , Orient Longman,
Chennai, 1996.

Gupta, P., ISP Planet – Market Research India's Internet: Ready for
Explosive Growth, http://isp-planet.com/research/India_stats.html ,
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Habermas, J., The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An
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--Theory of Communicative Action, (trans. Thomas McCarthy) Beacon
Press, Boston, 1989.

Hindu-Business  Line, The
http://www.blonnet.com/2002/07/06/stories/2002070601951700.htm ,
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Howard, T.W., A Rhetoric of Electronic Communities , Ablex Publishing
Corporation, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1997.

Jankowski, N.W. 'Creating community with media: history, theories and
scientific investigations' in Handbook of new media: social shaping
and consequences of ICTs , (ed.) Jankowski, N. W. Sage, London, New
Delhi, 34-49, 2002.

Katakam, A., 'Towards E-governance', Frontline ,  pp.78-80, 10 December 1999.

Keane, J., Global Civil Society? Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Kling, R., 'Hopes and Horrors: Technological Utopianism and
Anti-Utopianism in narratives of computerisation' in Hopes and
Horrors: Technological Utopianism and Anti-Utopianism in narratives of
computerization, (ed) Kling, R., Academic Press, Boston. M.A, 40-58,
1996.

Margolis, M., and Resnick, D., Politics as Usual: The Cyberspace
"Revolution" Sage, London, 2000.

Negroponte, N., 'Beyond Digital', Wired , 6, 12, 288, 1998.

New Indian Express, The 'And now, an Exclusive Website for the Indian
Diaspora', http://www.newindpress.com accessed on 22 December, 2000.

Rafaeli, S. and Sudweeks, F. Networked interactivity ,
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol2/issue4/rafaeli.sudweeks.html,
June,2001, 1997.

Ranganathan, M., Nurturing Nations on the Net: An exploration of
Nation-Building on the Internet , PhD dissertation, Monash University,
Australia, 2004.

Rheingold, H., Virtual Reality: the revolutionary technology of
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20-Oct.3, 1997.

1  Also referred to henceforth as the Net.

2  Rheingold also concedes in a sentence that the technology may
however, result in "dystopia or empowerment" depending "in part upon
how people react in different ways to the news that reality might be
an illusion, depending on their personal emotional attachment to their
brand of reality" (1991: 388).

3  We are referring to the concept of 'political economy', which has
emerged as a prominent area of study in the discipline of media
studies. See Golding and Murdoch (1991: 15-32).

4  A good example is the way in which Indian media has been
functioning in unison supporting and furthering the Indian
Government's stance in relation to the Kashmir issue (Singh, 1995:
xii).

5  The study on the use of the Internet in Singapore, which was part
of a PhD thesis submitted to Monash University, Australia, in Oct
2004, established that the Internet provided just a notional public
sphere (Ranganathan, 2004).

6  A typical example of the government initiative in this regard is
the Government of India's website launched in December 2000, with the
express aim of enabling, "non-resident Indians and people of Indian
origin to give their views on subjects ranging from nationality
issues, consular problems, education facilities in India, information
technology, trade and investment to the role played by overseas
Indians in local political matters, legal matters concerning privacy,
copyright and ethics and restructure man, machine and interaction" (
The New Indian Express , 2000, online).

7  The Prasar Bharati Act came into force on September 15, 1997 when a
three-person selection committee  began the task of choosing the
15-member Prasar Bharati Board that "will transform Doordarshan and
All India Radio (AIR) into constituents of an autonomous Broadcasting
Corporation, by liberating it from restrictive government control and
censorship." For more details on Prasar Bharati, see Swami, 1997.

8 According to Singhal and Rogers (2001: 121) although Doordarshan
still has 500 million viewers, compared to 150 million for private
broadcasters, "the private television networks, however, skim off the
urban elite audience…"

9  Certain national English dailies are perceived as supportive of
certain political parties. For instance, the Times of India , the
largest selling multi-edition English newspaper in India is perceived
as pro-Congress, while the Indian Express  is seen as pro-BJP. The
Hindu , yet another major English language daily in the South, despite
its avowed neutral stand has been criticized for being pro-government
at times. The situation is no different in the case of magazines with
a majority of them perceived as holding political party affiliations.

10  Here we make a distinction between information and communication.
The term 'information' is taken to refer to a one-way means of passing
on information, while 'communication' is taken to refer to a
reciprocal exchange.

11  Despite the tremendous success he claimed he had achieved in the
'informatization' of the state, Chandrababu Naidu lost the state
assembly elections in 2004 on the grounds that his policies were
elitist and Hyderabad-centric and did not benefit the rural masses.
This again is a reflection of the general understanding that computers
are an elitist medium in India.

12  The URLs of the three websites are:

AP – http://www.aponline.gov.in/aportal/index.asp   accessed on August 8, 2005

   Karnataka – http://Karnataka.gov.in/index.asp  accessed on August 8, 2005 and

    TN – http://www.tn.gov.in  accessed on August 30, 2005.

The above websites were also regularly accessed thereafter.

13  At the time of writing this paper, Bangalore, the Silicon city is
battling a breakdown of infrastructure following heavy monsoons. It is
seen as a consequence of the city's unbridled growth following it
becoming the favourite destination of IT industries. However, this
finds no special mention in the Karnataka government website.

14  This is also significant looked at in the light of the fact that
the DMK which currently forms the opposition in the TN Assembly but
participates significantly in the coalition government in the Centre
has managed to secure the status of classical language for Tamil in
2004. The present government is forced to make clear that it shares
the DMK's interest in protecting and furthering the Tamil language.

15  For instance, the TN website provides for making Electricity Bill
enquiries online. This provision is in English and there is no such
facility provided in the corresponding link in Tamil, despite general
claims that the language is ideally suited to Internet communication.

16  To a western reader this might seem petty and inconsequential but
Indian political leaders, even those who denounce superstitions and
traditions, are a sentimental lot. They have favourite colours,
numerals, vehicles and venues which they use for all the important
political events. It is commonplace knowledge in TN that Chief
Minister Jayalalithaa prefers green, number nine and uses one
particular vehicle for election campaigns. Opposition DMK leader
M.Karunanidhi, a proclaimed atheist and follower of social reformist
Periyar, dons a yellow shawl and uses the Valluvar Kottam, in Chennai,
which incidentally was built during his reign, for important political
events.

17  The celebration of the 5th century poet's works and life has
become a political expediency in TN. His couplets occupy pride of
place in the TN Assembly, government offices and buses. The DMK while
in power built a 133-ft statue in Kanyakumari, the southern most tip
of the state, a little away from the famed Vivekananda rock. In a
state more remembered for its anti-Hindi agitation in the 60s,
successive governments have been constrained to invoke these images to
appeal to the identity of the people.  It must also be noted that the
ideology of the Dravidian political parties emphasizes an almost
chauvinistic pride in the language.

18  The four dimensions considered by Habermas to define the notion of
public sphere are: equality of success, diversity of opinion,
reciprocity and contribution to the debate (Jankowski, 2002: 43).
Rafaeli and Sudweeks (1997: online) defined interactivity as "the
extent to which messages relate to one another, and especially the
extent to which later messages recount the relatedness of earlier
messages."

--
FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please)
http://fn.goa-india.org  http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com
http://www.goa-india.org http://feeds.goa-india.org/index.php


From aman.am at gmail.com  Fri Jan  5 00:11:25 2007
From: aman.am at gmail.com (Aman Sethi)
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 00:11:25 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
In-Reply-To: <004801c729c3$263668d0$6800a8c0@Tapas>
References: <738077.93258.qm@web31704.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
	<995a19920612270239t6f28d952q218d61ea17661c81@mail.gmail.com>
	<004801c729c3$263668d0$6800a8c0@Tapas>
Message-ID: <995a19920701041041i5b16d2bbsf0105dc2b0920180@mail.gmail.com>

This has got to be the most bizzare response i have recieved in my
life .... am not sure what Tapas's point is, especially the bit about
spinach, fermented soya bean (tofu?) and asoka's india ...

what i am sure about is that i am deeply suspicious of is those who
want others to join them in condeming something or someone -like a
sort of cluster-fuck of condemnation.
And peace be with you too
A.

On 12/27/06, Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com> wrote:
> Peace be with you, Aman, and thank you for sharing that Salon piece.
>
> We, the peaceful fish, cow, fermented soya bean, buffalo, goat, spinach,
> sheep, swine, dog (yes, dog), deer (illegally), pike (illegally), pigeon,
> chicken, larvae (yes, larvae), snail, snake gourd, and maybe snake eaters of
> India, gave ourselves on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, that
> admirable document
> which did not bar us from eating anything or anyone. However, we have never
> mistaken
> liberty for licence, and (hopefully) stooped so low as to feed ducks with
> tubes. We have always killed peaceably, in a humane manner. That is the
> difference between Asoka's India and New Jersey, Garden State of America,
> aka America's armpit on account of the smells emanating from its varied
> chemical factories.
>
> So please join me in condemning those insensitive wannabe-French Americans
> of New York, not to speak of the French themselves - although they are so
> anti-American and so philosophical and so postmodern, maybe even
> postpostmodern - who can be so cruel to ducks for a moment's gastronomic
> pleasure.
>
> Peace!
>
> Tapas
>
> > Personally, i have no beef with either vegetarians or cow eaters, but
> > i would urge those interested to read an Anthony Bourdain interview "I
> > want my foie gras" on salon.com ... you can read it here
> > http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/10/05/ruhlman_bourdain_foie/index.html
> >
> > A.
>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>


From aman.am at gmail.com  Fri Jan  5 00:21:47 2007
From: aman.am at gmail.com (Aman Sethi)
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 00:21:47 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
In-Reply-To: <995a19920701041041i5b16d2bbsf0105dc2b0920180@mail.gmail.com>
References: <738077.93258.qm@web31704.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
	<995a19920612270239t6f28d952q218d61ea17661c81@mail.gmail.com>
	<004801c729c3$263668d0$6800a8c0@Tapas>
	<995a19920701041041i5b16d2bbsf0105dc2b0920180@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <995a19920701041051l701aee58q1c7a0b747ad8fa73@mail.gmail.com>

oops ...
it has just been suggested to me that tapas actually means the
opposite of what i think he does ... in which case i apologise .. :)

Peace be with everyone -

a.

On 1/5/07, Aman Sethi <aman.am at gmail.com> wrote:
> This has got to be the most bizzare response i have recieved in my
> life .... am not sure what Tapas's point is, especially the bit about
> spinach, fermented soya bean (tofu?) and asoka's india ...
>
> what i am sure about is that i am deeply suspicious of is those who
> want others to join them in condeming something or someone -like a
> sort of cluster-fuck of condemnation.
> And peace be with you too
> A.
>
> On 12/27/06, Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com> wrote:
> > Peace be with you, Aman, and thank you for sharing that Salon piece.
> >
> > We, the peaceful fish, cow, fermented soya bean, buffalo, goat, spinach,
> > sheep, swine, dog (yes, dog), deer (illegally), pike (illegally), pigeon,
> > chicken, larvae (yes, larvae), snail, snake gourd, and maybe snake eaters of
> > India, gave ourselves on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, that
> > admirable document
> > which did not bar us from eating anything or anyone. However, we have never
> > mistaken
> > liberty for licence, and (hopefully) stooped so low as to feed ducks with
> > tubes. We have always killed peaceably, in a humane manner. That is the
> > difference between Asoka's India and New Jersey, Garden State of America,
> > aka America's armpit on account of the smells emanating from its varied
> > chemical factories.
> >
> > So please join me in condemning those insensitive wannabe-French Americans
> > of New York, not to speak of the French themselves - although they are so
> > anti-American and so philosophical and so postmodern, maybe even
> > postpostmodern - who can be so cruel to ducks for a moment's gastronomic
> > pleasure.
> >
> > Peace!
> >
> > Tapas
> >
> > > Personally, i have no beef with either vegetarians or cow eaters, but
> > > i would urge those interested to read an Anthony Bourdain interview "I
> > > want my foie gras" on salon.com ... you can read it here
> > > http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/10/05/ruhlman_bourdain_foie/index.html
> > >
> > > A.
> >
> > _________________________________________
> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> > Critiques & Collaborations
> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
> > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> > List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>


From t.ray at vsnl.com  Fri Jan  5 04:48:50 2007
From: t.ray at vsnl.com (Tapas Ray)
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 18:18:50 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
References: <738077.93258.qm@web31704.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <"995a19920612270239
	t6f28d952q218d61ea17661c81"@mail.gmail.com>
	<995a19920701041041i5b16d2bbsf0105dc2b0920180@mail.gmail.com>
	<995a19920701041051l701aee58q1c7a0b747ad8fa73@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <008e01c73056$b1ef01e0$7200a8c0@Tapas>

Let us condemn then you and I
as the sting ray is spread out against the sky
and the turtle is anaesthetised in the kettle ...

(By way of an addendum ... I have seen above creatures sold in Calcutta's 
bazaars, but haven't eaten them myself)


> oops ...
> it has just been suggested to me that tapas actually means the
> opposite of what i think he does ... in which case i apologise .. :)
>
> Peace be with everyone -
>
> a.
>
> On 1/5/07, Aman Sethi <aman.am at gmail.com> wrote:
>> This has got to be the most bizzare response i have recieved in my
>> life .... am not sure what Tapas's point is, especially the bit about
>> spinach, fermented soya bean (tofu?) and asoka's india ...
>>
>> what i am sure about is that i am deeply suspicious of is those who
>> want others to join them in condeming something or someone -like a
>> sort of cluster-fuck of condemnation.
>> And peace be with you too
>> A.
>>
>> On 12/27/06, Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com> wrote:
>> > Peace be with you, Aman, and thank you for sharing that Salon piece.
>> >
>> > We, the peaceful fish, cow, fermented soya bean, buffalo, goat, 
>> > spinach,
>> > sheep, swine, dog (yes, dog), deer (illegally), pike (illegally), 
>> > pigeon,
>> > chicken, larvae (yes, larvae), snail, snake gourd, and maybe snake 
>> > eaters of
>> > India, gave ourselves on the twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, that
>> > admirable document
>> > which did not bar us from eating anything or anyone. However, we have 
>> > never
>> > mistaken
>> > liberty for licence, and (hopefully) stooped so low as to feed ducks 
>> > with
>> > tubes. We have always killed peaceably, in a humane manner. That is the
>> > difference between Asoka's India and New Jersey, Garden State of 
>> > America,
>> > aka America's armpit on account of the smells emanating from its varied
>> > chemical factories.
>> >
>> > So please join me in condemning those insensitive wannabe-French 
>> > Americans
>> > of New York, not to speak of the French themselves - although they are 
>> > so
>> > anti-American and so philosophical and so postmodern, maybe even
>> > postpostmodern - who can be so cruel to ducks for a moment's 
>> > gastronomic
>> > pleasure.
>> >
>> > Peace!
>> >
>> > Tapas
>> >
>> > > Personally, i have no beef with either vegetarians or cow eaters, but
>> > > i would urge those interested to read an Anthony Bourdain interview 
>> > > "I
>> > > want my foie gras" on salon.com ... you can read it here
>> > > http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/10/05/ruhlman_bourdain_foie/index.html
>> > >
>> > > A.
>> >
>> > _________________________________________
>> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> > Critiques & Collaborations
>> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with 
>> > subscribe in the subject header.
>> > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>> > List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with 
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> 



From shveta at sarai.net  Fri Jan  5 09:32:50 2007
From: shveta at sarai.net (shveta at sarai.net)
Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 05:02:50 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] What a Ladies Home Journal foresaw in 1900
Message-ID: <0d7d476671e248eb2ce5b3a7f694ca5c@sarai.net>

Enclosed, an article in Guardian (via Hindu). I was struck by the
prediction in 1900 by a Ladies Home Journal.

>From the article:

"The prize for the best informed predictions must go to the extraordinary
seer-like minds of the writers for a 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal, who
wrote: "Persons and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of
cameras connected electronically with screens at the opposite ends of
circuits, thousands of miles at a span" and "photographs will be
telegraphed from any distance". The internet? They also predicted the rise
of the car, fridges, air-conditioning, zoned traffic and x-rays used in
medicine."

It may be fun to look at popular predictions and controversies around
technology. Maybe we will find more in it than just fear, anxiety and
euphoria.....

best
shveta


Full text:
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/insideit/story/0,,1982006,00.html

Whatever happened to the future?

Past seers gawped into the glitzy future to envisage a hi-tech world. But
how many of them were right?

Michael Fitzpatrick
Thursday January 4, 2007
The Guardian

What could be more futuristic than 2007? But life in the early 21st century
tells us otherwise: no flying cars, no dinners in a pill, and certainly no
cool rocketing off to space cities in the required outfit of the future
(shaved heads and Bacofoil jumpsuits).

We seem to have failed the expectations of the most wild-eyed seers from
the past - futurologists who were for the most part in love with a
supercharged, technologically sexy future where science would free us from
the daily grind for holidays on the moon or underseas. But here we remain,
plodding along somewhere between Orwell and Huxley in a familiar world that
is neither utopia nor dystopia.

Article continues
In our conservative, cost- and safety-conscious, paranoid, post-cold war
world, the big ideas, the truly revolutionary concepts - space tourism,
android domestic help, etc - simply haven't materialised.

What the futurologists did get right, however, were some of the more
prosaic details that define us proto-21st-century-types, such as mobile
phones and digital technologies.

Japan was particularly attuned to where technological development was
heading 47 years ago. About 40% of the 135 advanced technologies predicted
in 1960 to become reality by 2010 by Japan's Science and Technology Agency,
set up by the government to help decide where R&D should go, have actually
done so. And they're not all self-fulfilling prophecies either; most are
non-Japanese inventions.

Accurate predictions

Mobile phones, microwave ovens, artificial insemination, permanent
preservation of sperm, desalination and a voice-activated typewriter able
to turn speech into text are just some of the things on the agency's list,
which included 54 correct predictions.

Heavy investment in areas highlighted by the agency certainly helped their
future realisation, and goes some way to explain why cities like Tokyo are
seen as futuristic while ours - hello, Victorian sewerage and transport
systems - seem backward.

"Britain could have led the world in developing the internet and computer
games if the government had listened to the advice of a former editor of
New Scientist [Nigel Calder] three decades ago," wrote Mick Hamer in New
Scientist in 1994.

Hamer was revisiting predictions made by New Scientist's special issue on
the future in 1964, many of which came true but were ignored by Whitehall.

More forward-thinking than the British, Americans too can tally up some
major hits in past predictions; but anyone reading the New York Times in
1950 might have been seriously misdirected. In "Miracles You'll See In The
Next Fifty Years", its science editor stuck his neck out to predict such
things as "sawdust and wood pulp converted into sugary foods". Lucky
children would be treated to "discarded paper table 'linen' and rayon
underwear bought by chemical factories to be converted into candy."

Past blunders

The New York Times's mistakes, like many wild claims of the same period,
stemmed from extrapolating hot areas of research at the time. When the US
got it right it was during earlier, less developed times. The prize for the
best informed predictions must go to the extraordinary seer-like minds of
the writers for a 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal, who wrote: "Persons
and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of cameras connected
electronically with screens at the opposite ends of circuits, thousands of
miles at a span" and "photographs will be telegraphed from any distance".
The internet? They also predicted the rise of the car, fridges,
air-conditioning, zoned traffic and x-rays used in medicine.

There's no doubt technological divination is a tricky business, says Ian
Pearson, head of BT's Foresight and Futurology Unit, a BT Group think tank.
He has correctly forecast the rise of SMS, the search engine and
interactive digital TV. There have been some misses, too, including virtual
reality, whose allure he vastly overestimated.

"We predicted video-conferencing decades ago but we didn't think it would
be through PCs, but dreamt up huge mahogany affairs instead. We did think
of PCs, but not printers; thinking instead that you'd put a Polaroid
against the screen to take a snap."

Tricky indeed. Below, we've outlined some key areas or modern life where
past fortune-tellers were sure we would or wouldn't make technological
strides. Enjoy reading with perfect 20/20 hindsight; unfortunately the 3D
version isn't available.

Past predictions too often make hilarious reading rather than accurate
forecasts

Transport: come fly with me

In 1940, Henry Ford said: "Mark my word: a combination airplane and
motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come." We are still smiling,
Henry. The flying car stalled long ago, along with a wish list that
included the commercial production of personal jets, helicopters,
hovercrafts and jet cars. There are "skycars" and jet cars still knocking
around laboratories but no commercial carplanes as yet. Pragmatists point
to the air traffic control nightmare if should they start to fill the
skies. One recent development that may take us closer to a personal flying
saucer is from SPR Ltd, a small Havant-based company, which has
successfully tested an experimental engine using patented microwave
technology to convert solar energy directly into thrust - that is, an
engine that could behave like an antigravity machine. The government has
just given a grant to the company to build a prototype, according to New
Scientist. Back in the same magazine in 1964 Professor Ian Fells saw things
very nearly accurately when he talked of fuel cells driving electric
motors. He now admits progress has been slower than he had hoped.

Communications: missed call

Alexander Graham Bell was overmodest when he predicted: "One day there
would be a telephone in every American city". Some Japanese writers were
way ahead of him. A 1901 edition of the Hochi Newspaper predicted, among
other prescient ideas, the invention of wireless telephony (mobile phones),
a technology where Japan still leads the world. The US lags in this sphere,
so maybe it's not surprising to read in Laura Lee's book Bad Predictions
that in 1984, US giant AT&T rejected a free opportunity to enter the mobile
phone market because its forecasts "indicated only 900,000 units would be
sold by 1995".

Computers: slow counting

Although widely foreseen as becoming useful tools, few came to predict what
we might really use PCs for, while very few foresaw the rise of the PC. As
IBM famously said in 1952: "The total market for computers would amount to
around 52 units", only to raise its figures to the (in hindsight) still
ludicrously low figure of 200,000 in the early 1980s. That is about the
number shifted each week. Writing in New Scientist in 1964, Dr Maurice
Wilkes predicted an "international network of computers" and the use of
computers to crack the secrets of the genome, although like many he was a
few years premature with his dates. 1984, he thought, would see this
breakthrough.

Space: not the place

How retro-futuristic those Apollo moonshots seem to us now, and how soon
their foregone evolution - crewed flights into deepest space - petered out,
along with NASA funding for them. Around the time of the moon launches in
the late 1960s, the US's Hudson Institute tried to guess what life would be
like at the end of the century, and typically suggested space colonies and
interstellar travel. Dr Richard van der Riet Woolley, Astronomer Royal and
space adviser to the British government, said in 1956: "Space travel is
utter bilge." The next year Sputnik orbited the Earth.

As it was, the moonshots went beyond anyone's expectations. Space
colonisation hasn't taken off mostly because, as Sir Patrick Moore puts it,
"space is a very dangerous place for ordinary people".



From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com  Fri Jan  5 13:05:12 2007
From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah)
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 13:05:12 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Hindi Newspaper Market Heats Up
Message-ID: <2076f31d0701042335x2bbe7f9bu46ce15647b93a148@mail.gmail.com>

Hindi Newspaper Market Heats Up
By Shuchi Bansal



Jagran Prakshan Limited, publisher of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, has
rolled out its econd newspaper brand, I-next, in Kanpur and Lucknow.
The city-centric, compact-sized daily is targeted at 18 to 35 year
olds, priced at Rs 3, and claims a print run of 50,000 copies in each
city.

Two weeks ago, Rajasthan's leading newspaper Rajasthan Patrika started
Daily News in Jaipur, a Hindi language product with an English brand
name. Patrika's paper is priced at a nominal 50 paise.

Meanwhile, newspaper readers in Agra, an Amar Ujala stronghold, may
soon find an afternoon daily in the city. Ajai Agarwal, the Agra-based
former partner in Amar Ujala (he sold his stake to the Meerut-based
majority owners of the paper recently), is now planning a paper for
the afternoon slot.

In the action-packed Hindi newspaper market, the entrenched players
are starting second brands, while others are expanding through new
editions. There are unconfirmed reports that Dainik Bhaskar too is
looking at a fresh brand for Rajasthan. Its marketing head, Sanjeev
Kotnala, declined comment. But for HT Media's Hindi daily Hindustan, a
second brand is not on the radar just yet.

"We need to consolidate our editions in Meerut, Agra and Kanpur and
then consider entry into MP and Rajasthan," says Amit Garg, HT Media's
business head for the vernacular segment.

Some six months ago, Rajasthan Patrika had ventured into Madhya
Pradesh, via Indore, with an evening newspaper titled News Today. In
the same city, Dainik Bhaskar took control recently of an afternoon
paper called Prabhat Kiran.

For Jagran and Patrika, the second newspaper brands are clearly aimed
at tapping the changing needs of the consumer in the markets where
they operate. Says Shailesh Gupta, director marketing at Jagran
Prakashan: "The paper addresses the youth. It is written in a language
they understand -- Hindi interspersed with commonly used English
words. And no, I-next is not a flanking brand for us. It has its own
market." Gupta plans to grow I-next into a 10-15 edition paper in a
year's time.

Rajasthan Patrika's Daily News in Jaipur has been launched to cater to
the city's bustling student community. "The city is exploding with
management schools and hostels. Daily News meets the information and
entertainment needs of students at 50 paise a day," says Arvind Kalia,
marketing head at Rajasthan Patrika.

However, he adds that Daily News will also address the needs of
readers looking for "spicy" content. "Jaipur is prosperous and readers
can afford a second newspaper. Rajasthan Patrika is conservative,
while Daily News offers Page 3 content," says Kalia.

Analysts tracking the media at securities firm First Global say that
more newspaper publishers will launch second brands as there is an
opportunity to hook new readers. "Newspaper owners do not want to
dilute the content of their core brands. Dainik Jagran, for instance,
is not focused on the youth. So, I-next will target a separate
market," says an analyst.
Also, Hindi newspaper publishers are invading one another's
territories. "If some player spots a gap in the market, he will
promptly fill it. Clearly, the new brands will help them protect their
turf as well," he adds.
                                              ( Rediffnews.com,
Business Standard, December 28, 2006)

-- 
arshad amanullah
34,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.


From iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com  Fri Jan  5 08:16:48 2007
From: iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com (S.Shashidhar)
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 18:46:48 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
Message-ID: <20070105024648.26574.qmail@web32408.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

life is ment for consumption, let us all eat meat and drink human blood, A cow is holy so it should be spared but a poor goat can and will be eaten, there are a lucy few in the south who can eat cows.. Man thi was one grose thread


----- Original Message ----
From: Rahul Pandita <rahulpandita at yahoo.com>
To: Shivam Vij <mail at shivamvij.com>; sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Monday, December 25, 2006 4:59:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?

Aarti, what is unfortunate about it?
r

Shivam Vij <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
Jab chota kha liya to bade se kya pareshaani hain?

:)

On 12/25/06, aarti at sarai.net wrote:
> Dear Asapcoi,
>
> Unfortunately for us, cow slaughter is banned in Delhi, so we only get
> buffaloe meat which is sold as beef. However friends living down south are
> luckier, you can get good quality beef in Mumbai :)
>
> best
> Aarti
>
>
> Respected ma'am/sir, i was recently in Mumbai and to my surprise i found
> > that Mutton was being sold at a very cheap rate. I later found out that
> > mutton was being substituted with beef. I would want to know from you if
> > the same is done in Delhi?
> >
> > Is it true that buffalos, cows are slaughtered in Delhi too?
> >
> > I thought beef consumption, sale was banned in Delhi.
> >
> > Please write back.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger.
> > Download Now!
> > http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php_________________________________________
> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> > Critiques & Collaborations
> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> > subscribe in the subject header.
> > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
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-- 
http://www.blogbharti.com/
_________________________________________
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Rahul Pandita www.sanitysucks.blogspot.com Mobile: 9818088664


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From m.prabha_kar at yahoo.co.in  Fri Jan  5 01:35:17 2007
From: m.prabha_kar at yahoo.co.in (mprabhakar prabhakar)
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 20:05:17 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] No adminisrative decisions can and should prevail
	untill matter is subjudice. Amounts to contempt of court.
	Judiciary is supreme.
Message-ID: <890552.42793.qm@web7811.mail.in.yahoo.com>

  UGC selection committee issue hotting up. Court vs University Syndicate 
   
  Around 12 O'clock, 4th January 2007 in the Madras High Court of Mrs.Justice Prabhasridevan, the WP 469/2007 ( Madras University and UGC being respondents ) came up for admission  seeking stay on the controversial resolutions passed on 30th November 2006 by Syndicate Body of Madras University.
   
  Mrs.Justice Prabhasridevan was very furious on the Madras University Syndicate Body over the resolutions (copy enclosed) passed by Syndicate Body on 30th November 2006 concerning -

   
  1.approving the Selection Committee constituted by the college managements under the Private Colleges Regulation Act to appoint faculties (ignoring mandatory UGC stipulated selection committee),
   
  2. approving all the appointments made by college Committees as per the Private Colleges Regulation Act (undermining mandatory UGC Regulation 2000),
   
  3. withdrawing the Circular in this regard issued in August 2004 citing the UGC guidelines being recommendatory and not mandatory ( disrespecting the matter being subjudice in WA 1322/2006).
   
    The petitioner counsel Mr B.Ravi's contention was that the Syndicate has passed  resolutions wildly ignoring the fact that the same matter is  subjudice in the Madras High Court in WA1322/2006 in which Madras University is a party.
   
  He also contended that the same Madras University which has already adopted the UGC Regulation 2000 stipulated selection committee in totoo and admitted the same in WP 25433/2006 in the same court of Lordship  Mrs.Justice Prabhasridevan, now has taken an altogether different stand. 
   
  It is worthwhile to note that the same Hon'ble Justice Prabhasridevan passed judgement on 12-9-2006 in WP 25433 , uphelding mandatory nature of UGC selection committee. The WA 1322/2006 is the result of deafeat of Association of Private colleges in WP 25433.
   
  It is also worthwhile to note that the petitioner has already filed a WP 39564/2006 on 19th October 2006 in the Madras High Court of Mr.Justice Jyothimani who was pleased to grant an injunction on approval of qualification and appointment by Madras University and Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education respectively for 4 weeks later extended for two more weeks. The said appointment was made by an affiliated College by College Management committee and not by UGC selection committee.
   
  In WP 39564 the Hon'ble Mr.Justice Jyothimani has also called for all records relating to selection process and also ordered the said college to recommence selection process by duly constituted selection committee as per UGC Regulation 2000.
   
  Coming to Writ Petition 469/2007 the Hon'ble Justice Mrs.Prabhasridevan angrily intervened when petitioner's counsel read third resolution which cited the UGC Regulation as recommendatory and not mandatory. She furiously questioned Madras University's counsel's junior that who moved such a contemptitious resolution. On knowing the name she asked why and how it was done when matter is subjudice. Then she put up the question as to how syndicate assumed the role of judiciary in declaring the Regulation as recommendatory when matter is already decided and now also pending for consideration in many cases in Madras High Court. 
   
  On finding the Madras university's counsel's junior answerless but seeking for passing over of the matter, she herself called up the court officer to issue suomoto notice of contempt of court against Shri.Harish Mehta on her behalf and also ordered the Vice Chancellor to be present in the court by 2.30 p.m.
   
  On hearing this, Mr.Kandvadivel the counsel of Madras University appeared in the court seeking forgiveness, giving assurances that the irregularity will be set right by withdrawl of such resolutions. He also pleaded that he became aware of the issue just one day before. He also pleaded for rethink on the issue of contempt notice and presence of Vice Chancellor in the court by 2.30 a.m. Magnanimously accepting the repeated request from the counsel Mr.Kandavadivel, she passed an interim order asking the University to keep all the controversial resolutions in abeyance yntil the disposal of WA1322/2006.   
  
 
   
   function rmvScroll( msg ) {  var delta = msg.offsetHeight - msg.clientHeight;  delta = ( isNaN( delta )? 1 : delta + 1 );  if ( msg.scrollHeight > msg.clientHeight ) {   msg.style.height = ( msg.scrollHeight + delta ) + "px";  }  delta = msg.offsetWidth - msg.clientWidth;  delta = ( isNaN( delta )? 1 : delta + 1 );  if ( msg.scrollWidth > msg.clientWidth ) {   msg.style.width = ( msg.scrollWidth + delta ) + "px";  }  msg.style.overflow = "hidden";  msg.style.visibility = "visible"; } var msg = document.getElementById( "message" ); if ( msg & "undefined" != typeof msg ) { rmvScroll( msg ); }     She admitted the WP 469/2007. The Madras University's counsel had sigh of relief on stoppage of issue of contempt notice. She becoming furious over the contemptious, unreasonable resolutions is obvious because of this. The WP32958 challenging NET relaxation by UGC Reulation 2006 is also pending in her court only.
   
   
  Enclosure:
   
  The extract of minutes of Syndicate of Madras University meeting on 30th November, 2006 is as follows:
  Mr.Harish Mehta, Syndicate Member with due permission of the Chair, put forward a special resolution pertaining to the University&#8217;s Regulation with respect to approval of appointment of faculty in the affiliated and aided colleges of the the University. The existing practice of overlooking the Private Colleges Regulation Act which authorizes the college managements to constitute selection committee for appointment of the faculty and insisting that the UGC guideline of inclusion of Vice Chancellor&#8217;s nominee in the Selection Committee be followed for approval of appointments has led to bottleneck in the appointment of faculty to vacant position sanctioned by the Government of Tamilnadu. The Director of Collegiate Education pointed out that this anomaly existed only in the case of University of Madras and Manonmanium Sundarnar University, Tirunelveli. An appeal was made to Syndicate to pass a resolution to approve the selection committees constituted by the
 college managements under the Private Colleges Regulation Act as in the case of the other Universities in Tamilnadu. This was essential to facilitate appointment of faculty so as to enable the positions sanctioned against vacancies by the Government of Tamilnadu to be filled up by the affiliated aided colleges.
  In this respect, the Syndicate UNANIMOUSLY
   
  RESOLVED to approve the Selection Committee constituted by the college managements under the Private Colleges Regulation Act to appoint faculty in the vacant sanctioned positions.
   
  RESOLVED FURTHER that all appointments made by college Committees as per the Private Colleges Regulation Act, be approved subject to the fulfillment of the minimum eligible qualifications laid down by the UGC and followed by the University of Madras.
   
  Resolved also that the Circular in this regard issued in August 2004 be withdrawn in the light of the UGC&#8217;s guidelines being recommendatory and not mandatory.
   
  
 

 Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger. Download Now! http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php
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From t.ray at vsnl.com  Fri Jan  5 18:35:34 2007
From: t.ray at vsnl.com (Tapas Ray)
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 08:05:34 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
References: <20070105024648.26574.qmail@web32408.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <004d01c730ca$309cd4e0$7200a8c0@Tapas>

You are forgetting field rats. I have seen their meat hung out to dry from 
clotheslines in certain villages. As for human blood, before trying it, 
remember what Idi Amin is supposed to have said about human flesh - that he 
doesn't eat it, because it's too salty. Better still, ask oldtimers in a 
certain part of our country where, I believe, ritual cannibalism was 
practised in the past.

I suppose most people eat to live, not live to eat ... hence consumption (in 
the narrow, literal sense of eating) is for life, not the other way round. 
If there is a way to live without eating any living thing, whether plant or 
animal, I am sure many of us will gladly do so. Meanwhile, let us carry on 
joking or, even better, killing one another, over what we eat or do not eat.

From: "S.Shashidhar" <iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com>
> life is ment for consumption, let us all eat meat and drink human blood, A 
> cow is holy so it should be > spared but a poor goat can and will be 
> eaten, there are a lucy few in the south who can eat cows.. Man > thi was 
> one grose thread




From t.ray at vsnl.com  Fri Jan  5 18:48:48 2007
From: t.ray at vsnl.com (Tapas Ray)
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 08:18:48 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Fw:  Buff or beef?
Message-ID: <005601c730ce$8a510430$7200a8c0@Tapas>

And how could I forget the "Aghora" line in the Tantric tradition, in which 
cannibalism was part of the ritual in my own state, Bengal? Maybe still is, 
I don't know.

Being non-Tantric, we merely kill, not eat, one another in order to drive 
home the point that you must not kill cows.


> You are forgetting field rats. I have seen their meat hung out to dry from 
> clotheslines in certain villages. As for human blood, before trying it, 
> remember what Idi Amin is supposed to have said about human flesh - that 
> he doesn't eat it, because it's too salty. Better still, ask oldtimers in 
> a certain part of our country where, I believe, ritual cannibalism was 
> practised in the past.
>
> I suppose most people eat to live, not live to eat ... hence consumption 
> (in the narrow, literal sense of eating) is for life, not the other way 
> round. If there is a way to live without eating any living thing, whether 
> plant or animal, I am sure many of us will gladly do so. Meanwhile, let us 
> carry on joking or, even better, killing one another, over what we eat or 
> do not eat.
>
> From: "S.Shashidhar" <iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com>
>> life is ment for consumption, let us all eat meat and drink human blood, 
>> A cow is holy so it should be > spared but a poor goat can and will be 
>> eaten, there are a lucy few in the south who can eat cows.. Man > thi was 
>> one grose thread
>
> 



From ravikant at sarai.net  Fri Jan  5 18:19:34 2007
From: ravikant at sarai.net (Ravikant)
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 18:19:34 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Fwd: 10th Jan: History Dept Talk by
	Prof. Brij Lal
Message-ID: <200701051819.34570.ravikant@sarai.net>


- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: History Department Events < historyevents_du at yahoo.com>
Date: Jan 4, 2007 11:54 PM
Subject: 10th Jan: Talk by Prof. Brij Lal
To: historyevents_du at yahoo.com

                                              DSA Programme
 Department of History
                                             University of Delhi


                                                invites you to


*       *
                                                 A lecture by


                                            *Prof** . Brij V. Lal*


                                                      on

                         * 10th January *(Wednesday) at 2:30 p.m.

    Venue:* M.A. Final classroom, Social Science Building, Arts Faculty
*



*Abstract of the lecture: *
 Prof. Lal  will provide an overview of the  historical and cultural
experience of the Indian community in Fiji. Broad ranging in scope and
open-ended in approach, Prof. Lal will trace the contours of Fiji's girmit
experience, tease out its special features, examine the ways in which the
Indian social and cultural institutions once thought to be immutable were
modified or discarded in response to the exigencies of life on the
plantations, the ways in which an uprooted community, without leaders or
'cultural capital' of its own, fashioned a new identity in often
inhospitable and hostile conditions. The fate of the Indo-Fijians has not
been a happy one. They have long been the victims of colonial racism and
indigenous nationalism. Since the coups of 1987, over 120,000 have left for
new homelands, twice the number who came as indentured labourers between
1879 and 1916. From immigration to emigration may become the epitaph of
Fiji's Indian community.

 *About the speaker:*
 Prof. Brij V. Lal is Professor, Division of Pacific and Asian History and
The Pacific Centre, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The
Australian National University.


 *Coming Next: *
 *15 th January (Monday): Nita Kumar, * The Family-School Relationship in
Colonial and Postcolonial India, and Historiographical Matters Arising

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

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

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From ricardo.nas at terra.com.br  Sat Jan  6 22:51:08 2007
From: ricardo.nas at terra.com.br (Ricardo Nascimento)
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 18:21:08 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] want to quit
In-Reply-To: <0d7d476671e248eb2ce5b3a7f694ca5c@sarai.net>
References: <0d7d476671e248eb2ce5b3a7f694ca5c@sarai.net>
Message-ID: <7D9F63C1-8538-48F7-A670-330260B18665@terra.com.br>

List,

sorry to disturb with this but I tried the normal way and I can not  
quit the list.

What should I do?

I went to the website and put my e-mail. But  did not receive a  
cancel confirmation and I still receive the emails....

Tks.

R.


From gauri.gill at gmail.com  Sat Jan  6 15:58:19 2007
From: gauri.gill at gmail.com (Gauri Gill)
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 02:28:19 -0800
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Camerawork Delhi
Message-ID: <483456E2-8619-4800-B9C3-A86EDD90F835@gmail.com>

********************  CAMERAWORK DELHI  *********************
*******************            LAUNCH
*************************

You are invited to the launch of Camerawork Delhi, a new free
quarterly newsletter in print with a focus on photography in Delhi;
its practitioners, its consumers and its suppliers. It carries news
and information of local, national and international interest. The
first issue was organised by Gauri Gill, Sunil Gupta, Radhika Singh
and the print run was financially supported by Khoj.

Please join us for an informal drink and to share your images and
ideas. Photographers are encouraged to bring work (preferably in
print form), suppliers and marketing institutions like galleries and
agencies are asked to bring promotional material that they would like
to distribute.

The venue for the launch is:
First Floor,
3 Windmill Place, Khirkee Extension
a.k.a. the yellow door next to Khoj Studios
Date: January 8, 2007
Time: 5-7 PM
  
_______________________________________________
announcements mailing list
announcements at sarai.net
https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements

From komalm at himalmag.com  Sun Jan  7 16:27:11 2007
From: komalm at himalmag.com (Komal More)
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 16:42:11 +0545
Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?Himal_Southasian=27s_January_2007_is?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?sue_is_out!?=
Message-ID: <02cd01c7324a$98f10710$1900a8c0@komal>

Himal Southasian's January 2007 issue is out!

www.himalmag.com

 

COVER: "DEMOCRACY - OBJECT OF DESIRE"

In this issue's cover story, we present new research on the commitment of Southasia's people to popular self-rule - democracy - and their willingness to protect and to fight for this system of government against all odds. Where democracy is denied, the desire for it does not die, even after decades of autocratic rule. This and the added truth that the more people experience democracy, the more they are willing to fight for it, are confirmed by the report excerpted in the January issue. State of Democracy in South Asia was brought out by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi.

 

The January issue also contains updates from:

* Jaffna. . . Life in an open prison - Ammu Joseph

* Bangladesh. . . Contested elections - Commentary

* Tehri. . . The waters have risen in Tehri - photo feature by Harsh Dobhal

 

 In addition:

* The roots of Dalit rage - Sukumar Muralidharan

* Theatre serves the nation - Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta

* Finding Manipur's hidden war - V K Shashikumar

* Don't let the light go out - book review by Vijay Prashad

* Living with the bomb - Commentary

* The imperfect pure democracy of India's Panchayati Raj - Hartosh Singh Bal

* Breaking the chains of Muslim un-freedom in India - Aasim Khan

* The judicial activist - Shylashri Shankar

* Arriving at the Women Protection Act in Pakistan - Miranda Husain

* Fluid dynamics: A prediction for the 24th century - book review by Siddharth Anand



Plus: Other commentaries, reviews, essays, reports and reflections.



And, finally, Kanak Mani Dixit on the challenges of opening a container of pickle.





Continuing this month, Himal's Development Classifieds section offers a convenient bulletin board for vacancies in the development sector and related fields.

 

While you are at www.himalmag.com, check out our extensive, fully searchable archive of back issues, as well as a daily selection of editorials from major Southasian news sources, and a weekly round-up of the issues that are making waves throughout the region.

 

Himal is available at fine bookstores throughout Southasia. For subscriptions, go to our website, rightmost column. Or write to subscription at himalmag.com.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Komal More
Marketing Manager
Himal Southasian
Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur
Nepal
Phone : +977 1 5547279
Fax     :  +977 1 5552141
Email  : komalm at himalmag.com
URL   : www.himalmag.com 
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From vishal.rawlley at gmail.com  Sun Jan  7 17:11:01 2007
From: vishal.rawlley at gmail.com (Vishal Rawlley)
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 17:11:01 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Re: India's First Audio Copyrighting ?
In-Reply-To: <20061230164045.90375.qmail@web52801.mail.yahoo.com>
References: <20061230164045.90375.qmail@web52801.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <31d5ea920701070341h33cbed4s24308a34746ef240@mail.gmail.com>

Play the song listed at the link below.

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/hindustani_vocal/m/artist.210/

at the end of the thumri Gauhar Jaan signs off in english by saying
something like "...my name is Gauhar Jaan [this]is my song" (its not very
clear)

she is the first artist to be ever recorded in India. see below for her
detailed and fascinating history
http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/gauhar.htm

Doordarshan has recordings of Gauhar Jaan and i think they also have a CD
out.

Janakibai aka 'chhapan chhuri' also seems to be a fascinating character...
see below

>From worldspace radio - below is a list form their gandharva channel thats
worth checking out.
http://www.worldspace.in/voice/roundup.htm
*Gandharv Programme Director Geeta Sahai revisits five ancient and benchmark
Hindustani classical recordings that find regular airtime on her channel  *

   1. Gauhar Jaan *(Raag Jogiya*) – One of the first and finest legends
   of Hindustani music in the last century, Gauhar Jaan was the first vocalist
   to record with the gramophone company. This historic recording dates back to
   1902.
   2. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan *(Raag Bahar) –* The founder of the Kirana
   gharana, he was a visionary who was receptive to the idea of recording his
   music in an age when it was considered taboo. This is one of his earliest
   recordings dating back to 1906.
   3. Ustad Bundu Khan *(Raag Bhairavi) – *pioneer with conviction, he
   was the first musician to take the sarangi out of its 'accompanying
   instrument' role and went on to become the first soloist sarangi player. His
   new vision of the sarangi took the music world by storm in the 1930s.
   4. Janakibai of Allahabad *(Thumri: Rasili tori ankhiyaan *) – One of
   the most celebrated thumri singers, she was always shrouded in enigma and
   controversies. The tragedy of the 56 knife stabs by an admirer that earned
   her the name of 'chhapan chhuri' and her romantic ideals come alive in this
   thumri composed by her.
   5. Pt. Suresh Babu Mane *(Raag Bhairavi) – *Son of the legendary Ustad
   Abdul Karim Khan and hailed as a promising musical genius, he mysteriously
   disappeared into oblivion, poverty and early death. This rare recording is a
   poignant insight into all that Hindustani music world lost with his death.

Zindabad,

Vishal




On 12/30/06, Debkamal Ganguly <deb99kamal at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> *Debkamal Ganguly < deb99kamal at yahoo.com>* wrote:
>
> Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 08:36:23 -0800 (PST)
> From: Debkamal Ganguly < deb99kamal at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: India's First Audio Copyrighting ?
> To: readers-list at sarai.net
>
>
> I have some songs sung by Jankibai, one of the first few singers who
> recorded their songs on the disc, at the end of the song, Jankibai used to
> say 'mera naam Jankibai Allahabadi'. In Sarai archive one video 'Hawamahal'
> is there, made by us, where a song of Jankibai with that vocal
> 'copyrighting' has been used. I was specially attached to that
> self-utterance, as a claim of nascent state of subjectivity, material
> formation of the personalized artistic self in the scene of an unforeseen
> alienation between the performer and the audience.
>
> Can that vocal copyrighting be compared with the middle-age Bhakti poets
> who used to integrate their name in the end of the poem using a certain
> theme, rhythm and metre, which is called 'Bhanita'?
>
> Debkamal
>
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Flat - D-7, Chamundeshwari Apartments, 13th Cross Kalidasa Road, Vani
> Vilas Mohalla
> Mysore - 570002. Mobile - 9243581021, 9901417145 Landline - 0821-4256003
> Alternate Email - debkamal at gmail.com
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------
> Flat - D-7, Chamundeshwari Apartments, 13th Cross Kalidasa Road, Vani
> Vilas Mohalla
> Mysore - 570002. Mobile - 9243581021, 9901417145 Landline - 0821-4256003
> Alternate Email - debkamal at gmail.com
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
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>
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From pukar at pukar.org.in  Mon Jan  8 09:58:01 2007
From: pukar at pukar.org.in (PUKAR)
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:58:01 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] [announcements] Monday,
	Jan. 15: Talk by Dr. Caroline Whitzman
Message-ID: <00a701c732dd$6cbd8770$4e66c2cb@freeda>





 

Cordially invites you to a talk on

 
The GLOVE Project: Gender, Violence Prevention, 
and Local Governance in Victoria
by

Dr. Carolyn Whitzman

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning

University of Melbourne

 

 

Date:     Monday, 15th January 2007

 

Time:     6:30 PM onwards

 

Venue:  First floor, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai

 

 

This presentation will outline the GLOVE project, funded from 2006-2009 by the Australian Research Council in partnership with the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth).  The project is working with four Australian local governments (one inner suburb, one outer suburb, one regional centre, and one rural municipality) to develop integrated violence prevention strategies.  The presentation will provide the background to the work, including the policy constraints and opportunities to develop gender- mainstreamed integrated violence prevention at the local level. 

Dr. Carolyn Whitzman is an expert in the prevention of violence in urban areas, and co-author of "Safe Cities: guidelines for planning, design, and management" (1995), which has been adopted in planning and design subjects around the world.  Formerly the Coordinator of the City of Toronto Safe City Committee from 1989 to 1999, she is now a senior lecturer in Social Planning at the University of Melbourne, a Board member of Women in Cities International, and leads the Planning for Health and Well-being Project at the Planning Institute of Australia (Victoria). 

 


PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research)
 
Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001
Telephone:: +91 (22) 6574 8152 
Fax:: +91 (22) 6664 0561
Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in
Website:: www.pukar.org.in
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From mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com  Mon Jan  8 13:27:25 2007
From: mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com (mahmood farooqui)
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 13:27:25 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Greg Grandin at ICHR
In-Reply-To: <45A0E8DF.8010901@threeessays.com>
References: <45A0E8DF.8010901@threeessays.com>
Message-ID: <e3837d220701072357p4b3bd38cr3afd27ed4900548@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Asad Zaidi <info at threeessays.com>
Date: 07-Jan-2007 18:04
Subject: Greg Grandin at ICHR
To: Three Essays Collective <threeessays at gmail.com>



- -------- Original Message --------

Date:   Sun, 7 Jan 2007 14:48:50 +0530
From:   Aijaz Ahmad <aahmad2005 at gmail.com>
To:     info at threeessays.com, indu_chandrasekhar at yahoo.co.in



Greg Grandin, who teaches History at NYU, shall be speaking at the ICHR,
3rd floor, at 3:00 pm, on 9 January 2007, on "US Imperialism and Latin
Ameirca's Liberation Project."

Grandin is the author of Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United
States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (2006), which is, in my view,
the single most important general book on Latin America published in the
English language in at least a decade, if not more. Some very fine
recent books on individual countries come to mind but nothing else that
takes in the whole of the continent so very well.

Grandin has returned very recently from Venezuela where he was official
observer of the recent elections there. Previously, he has also served
on the United Nations Truth commission investigating
counterrevolutionary terror in Guatemala.

Please forward this email to your friends as well.

- --



Editorial Address:

Three Essays Collective
B-957 Palam Vihar, Gurgaon (Haryana) 122 017
India

Tel.: 91-124-2369023
Mobile: 0 98681-26587

email: info at threeessays.com
website: www.threeessays.com




- --



Editorial Address:

Three Essays Collective
B-957 Palam Vihar, Gurgaon (Haryana) 122 017
India

Tel.: 91-124-2369023
Mobile: 0 98681-26587

email: info at threeessays.com
website: www.threeessays.com


From monica at sarai.net  Mon Jan  8 13:39:23 2007
From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula)
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 13:39:23 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] "Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation"
Message-ID: <42967309-C4DD-4A50-8937-4557842D2777@sarai.net>

<http://latimes.com/gates>
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na- 
gatesx07jan07,0,4205044,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines>

A TIMES INVESTIGATION
Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation
By Charles Piller, Edmund Sanders and Robyn Dixon
Times Staff Writers

January 7, 2007

Ebocha, Nigeria — Justice Eta, 14 months old, held out his tiny thumb.

An ink spot certified that he had been immunized against polio and
measles, thanks to a vaccination drive supported by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation.

But polio is not the only threat Justice faces. Almost since birth, he
has had respiratory trouble. His neighbors call it "the cough." People
blame fumes and soot spewing from flames that tower 300 feet into the
air over a nearby oil plant. It is owned by the Italian petroleum giant
Eni, whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Justice squirmed in his mother's arms. His face was beaded with sweat
caused either by illness or by heat from the flames that illuminate
Ebocha day and night. Ebocha means "city of lights."

The makeshift clinic at a church where Justice Eta was vaccinated and
the flares spewing over Ebocha represent a head-on conflict for the
Gates Foundation. In a contradiction between its grants and its
endowment holdings, a Times investigation has found, the foundation
reaps vast financial gains every year from investments that contravene
its good works.

In Ebocha, where Justice lives, Dr. Elekwachi Okey, a local physician,
says hundreds of flares at oil plants in the Niger Delta have caused an
epidemic of bronchitis in adults, and asthma and blurred vision in
children. No definitive studies have documented the health effects, but
many of the 250 toxic chemicals in the fumes and soot have long been
linked to respiratory disease and cancer.

"We're all smokers here," Okey said, "but not with cigarettes."

The oil plants in the region surrounding Ebocha find it cheaper to burn
nearly 1 billion cubic feet of gas each day and contribute to global
warming than to sell it. They deny the flaring causes sickness. Under
pressure from activists, however, Nigeria's high court set a deadline to
end flaring by May 2007. The gases would be injected back underground,
or trucked and piped out for sale. But authorities expect the flares to
burn for years beyond the deadline.

The Gates Foundation has poured $218 million into polio and measles
immunization and research worldwide, including in the Niger Delta. At
the same time that the foundation is funding inoculations to protect
health, The Times found, it has invested $423 million in Eni, Royal
Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Total of France — the
companies responsible for most of the flares blanketing the delta with
pollution, beyond anything permitted in the United States or Europe.

Indeed, local leaders blame oil development for fostering some of the
very afflictions that the foundation combats.

Oil workers, for example, and soldiers protecting them are a magnet for
prostitution, contributing to a surge in HIV and teenage pregnancy, both
targets in the Gates Foundation's efforts to ease the ills of society,
especially among the poor. Oil bore holes fill with stagnant water,
which is ideal for mosquitoes that spread malaria, one of the diseases
the foundation is fighting.

Investigators for Dr. Nonyenim Solomon Enyidah, health commissioner for
Rivers State, where Ebocha is located, cite an oil spill clogging rivers
as a cause of cholera, another scourge the foundation is battling. The
rivers, Enyidah said, "became breeding grounds for all kinds of
waterborne diseases."

The bright, sooty gas flares — which contain toxic byproducts such as
benzene, mercury and chromium — lower immunity, Enyidah said, and make
children such as Justice Eta more susceptible to polio and measles — the
diseases that the Gates Foundation has helped to inoculate him against.

Investing for profit

AT the end of 2005, the Gates Foundation endowment stood at $35 billion,
making it the largest in the world. Then in June 2006, Warren E.
Buffett, the world's second-richest man after Bill Gates, pledged to add
about $31 billion in installments from his personal fortune. Not
counting tens of billions of dollars more that Gates himself has
promised, the total is higher than the gross domestic products of 70% of
the world's nations.

Like most philanthropies, the Gates Foundation gives away at least 5% of
its worth every year, to avoid paying most taxes. In 2005, it granted
nearly $1.4 billion. It awards grants mainly in support of global health
initiatives, for efforts to improve public education in the United
States, and for social welfare programs in the Pacific Northwest.

It invests the other 95% of its worth. This endowment is managed by Bill
Gates Investments, which handles Gates' personal fortune. Monica
Harrington, a senior policy officer at the foundation, said the
investment managers had one goal: returns "that will allow for the
continued funding of foundation programs and grant making." Bill and
Melinda Gates require the managers to keep a highly diversified
portfolio, but make no specific directives.

By comparing these investments with information from for-profit services
that analyze corporate behavior for mutual funds, pension managers,
government agencies and other foundations, The Times found that the
Gates Foundation has holdings in many companies that have failed tests
of social responsibility because of environmental lapses, employment
discrimination, disregard for worker rights, or unethical practices.

One of these investment rating services, Calvert Group Ltd., for
example, endorses 52 of the largest 100 U.S. companies based on market
capitalization, but flags the other 48 for transgressions against social
responsibility. Microsoft Corp., which Bill Gates leads as board
chairman, is rated highly for its overall business practices, despite
its history of antitrust problems.

In addition, The Times found the Gates Foundation endowment had major
holdings in:

•  Companies ranked among the worst U.S. and Canadian polluters,
including ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical Co. and Tyco International Ltd.

•  Many of the world's other major polluters, including companies that
own an oil refinery and one that owns a paper mill, which a study shows
sicken children while the foundation tries to save their parents from  
AIDS.

•  Pharmaceutical companies that price drugs beyond the reach of AIDS
patients the foundation is trying to treat.

Using the most recent data available, a Times tally showed that hundreds
of Gates Foundation investments — totaling at least $8.7 billion, or 41%
of its assets, not including U.S. and foreign government securities —
have been in companies that countered the foundation's charitable goals
or socially concerned philosophy.

This is "the dirty secret" of many large philanthropies, said Paul
Hawken, an expert on socially beneficial investing who directs the
Natural Capital Institute, an investment research group. "Foundations
donate to groups trying to heal the future," Hawken said in an
interview, "but with their investments, they steal from the future."

Moreover, investing in destructive or unethical companies is not what is
most harmful, said Hawken and other experts, including Douglas Bauer,
senior vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a nonprofit
group that assists foundations on policy and ethical issues. Worse, they
said, is investing purely for profit, without attempting to improve a
company's way of operating.

Such blind-eye investing, they noted, rewards bad behavior.

At the Gates Foundation, blind-eye investing has been enforced by a
firewall it has erected between its grant-making side and its investing
side. The goals of the former are not allowed to interfere with the
investments of the latter.

The foundation recently announced a plan to institutionalize that
firewall by moving its assets into a separate organization, the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. Its two trustees will be Bill and
Melinda Gates. The trust will invest to increase the endowment, while
the foundation gives grants.

"We've been operating under these principles for many years," said
Harrington, the foundation policy officer. "But having an official
separation makes it even more clear."

With the exception of tobacco companies, asset managers do not avoid
investments in firms whose activities conflict with the foundation's
mission to do good.

"Because we want to maintain a focus on the programmatic work,"
Harrington said in a written response to Times questions, "we have made
it a policy to not comment on individual investment holdings."

Finally, the foundation does not invest any portion of its endowment in
companies specifically because they advance its philanthropic mission.

Much of the rest of philanthropy, however, is beginning to address
contradictions between making grants to improve the world and making
investments that harm it. According to recent surveys, many foundations,
including some of the nation's largest, have adopted at least basic
policies to invest in ways that support their missions.

Major foundations that make social justice, corporate governance and
environmental stewardship key considerations in their investment
strategies include the Ford Foundation, worth $11.6 billion, the
nation's second-largest private philanthropy; the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation; the Rockefeller Foundation; and the Charles
Stewart Mott Foundation.

Moreover, nearly one-third of foundations participate directly in
shareholder initiatives, voting their proxies to influence corporate
behavior. A few have become shareholder activists. In recent years, for
instance, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, with an endowment of $481
million, has sponsored proxies to force corporations to address
environmental sustainability and political transparency.

Harrington said the Gates Foundation's investment managers vote proxies,
but declined to give any specifics. The foundation would not make its
chief investment manager, Michael Larson, available for an interview. In
May, Harrington told the Chronicle of Philanthropy that the Gates
Foundation did not get involved in proxy issues.

At the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, on the other hand, Michael J.
Smith, its chief investment officer, said voting proxies to improve
corporate behavior had become a fiduciary necessity.

"Companies that have good governance are generally well-managed," he
said, "and have a good record of profitability."

Even the relatively tiny Needmor Fund, with a $27-million endowment,
screens its investments to bar companies with poor environmental
records, antagonism to worker rights or tolerance for repressive
governments.

Leadership, however, is open to the Gates Foundation. It has unique
power to move the debate, said Bauer, of Rockefeller Philanthropy
Advisors. If Gates adopted mission-related investing, Bauer said in an
interview, the shift in the world of philanthropy would be "seismic."

The foundation did not respond to written questions about whether it
might change its investment policies.

Life in 'Cancer Valley'

AT a clinic in Isipingo, a suburb of the South African port city of
Durban where the HIV infection rate is as high as 40%, Thembeka Dube,
20, was getting a checkup.

Dube had volunteered for tests of a vaginal gel that researchers hope
will be shown to protect against HIV. The tests are part of a study
conducted by the New York-based Population Council, and funded by a
$20-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dube's boyfriend won't use condoms. She hoped the tests would show she
could use the microbicidal gel, called Carraguard, and stop worrying
about AIDS.

Research into prophylactics such as Carraguard can fight AIDS by
empowering women, Bill Gates told the International AIDS Conference in
Toronto in August. "Whether the woman is a faithful married mother of
small children, or a sex worker trying to scrape out a living in a slum
… " he said, "a woman should never need her partner's permission to save
her own life."

Two days before Gates spoke, Kyrone Smith was born only a few kilometers
from the Isipingo clinic. At the same time the Gates Foundation was
trying to help Dube, it owned a stake in companies that appeared to be
hurting Kyrone.

At six weeks, his lungs began to fail. Kyrone struggled to cry, but he
was so weak that no sound came out — just husky, labored breaths.

His mother, Renee Smith, 26, rushed him to a hospital, where he was
given oxygen. She feared it would be the first of many hospital visits.
Smith knew from experience.

"My son Teiago was in and out of hospital since the age of 3," she said.
"He couldn't breathe nicely…. There are so many children in this area
who have the same problems."

Two of the area's worst industrial polluters — a Mondi paper mill and a
giant Sapref oil refinery — squat among the homes near Isipingo like
sleepy grey dragons, exhaling chemical vapors day and night.

The Sapref plant, which has had two dozen significant spills, flares,
pipeline ruptures and explosions since 1998, and the Mondi plant
together pump thousands of tons of putrid-smelling chemicals into the
air annually, according to their own monitoring.

In 2002, a study found that more than half of the children at a school
in nearby Merebank suffered asthma — one of the highest rates in
scientific literature. A second study, published last year, found
serious respiratory problems throughout the region: More than half of
children aged 2 to 5 had asthma, largely attributed to sulfur dioxide
and other industrial pollutants. Much of it was produced by companies in
which the Gates Foundation was invested.

Asthma was not the only danger. Isipingo is in what environmental
activists call "Cancer Valley." Emissions of benzene, dioxins and other
carcinogens were "among the highest levels found in any comparable
location the world," said Stuart Batterman at the University of
Michigan, a coauthor of both studies.

The Gates Foundation is a major shareholder in the companies that own
both of the polluting plants. As of September, the foundation held $295
million worth of stock in BP, a co-owner of Sapref. As of 2005, it held
$35 million worth of stock in Royal Dutch Shell, Sapref's other owner.
The foundation also held a $39-million investment in Anglo American,
which owns the Mondi paper mill.

The foundation has held large investments in all three companies since
at least 2002. Since then, the worth of BP shares has shot up by about
83%, Royal Dutch Shell shares by 77% and Anglo American shares about
255%. Dividends have padded the foundation's assets by additional
millions of dollars.

The foundation has gotten much more in financial gains from its
investments in the polluters than it has given to the Durban microbicide
study to fight AIDS.

Sapref said it had cut sulfur dioxide emissions by two-thirds since 1997
and spent more than $64 million over 11 years on environmental
initiatives. It said lead in its gasoline and sulfur in its diesel fuel
were reduced a year ago. Plant officials said: "Sapref does not accept
any responsibility for any health issues in South Durban."

Mondi said that its Merebank paper mill had cut "chemical oxygen
demand," a key pollutant, in 2005, and that it was cutting its sulfur
dioxide emissions. But by the company's own estimate, the mill still
releases about three times the combined amount of sulfur dioxide
produced by Mondi plants in five other nations, and the other plants
operate at nearly six times the capacity. Merebank uses a coal-fired
power plant, while the others burn cleaner fuel.

Just as the Gates Foundation investments in Mondi, BP and Royal Dutch
Shell have been very profitable, so too have its holdings in the top 100
polluters in the United States, as rated by the University of
Massachusetts, and the top 50 polluters in Canada, as rated by the trade
publication Corporate Knights, using methods based on those developed by
the university.

According to the foundation's 2005 figures, it held a $1.4-billion stake
in 69 of those firms. They included blue chips, such as Chevron Corp.
and Ford Motor Co., as well as lesser-known companies such as Lyondell
Chemical Co. and Ameren Corp.

At the same time, the foundation held a $2.9-billion stake in firms
ranked by the investment rating services as among the worst
environmental stewards, including Dominion Resources Inc. and El Paso  
Corp.

Without double-counting companies flagged by both the University of
Massachusetts and the rating services, the combination totals an
investment of about $3.3 billion.

The Gates Foundation did not respond to written questions about its
investments in companies that were high polluters or those rated as poor
environmental stewards.

Drugs out of reach

NEARLY every morning, a 56-year-old retired soldier named Felix makes a
short trek from his house on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria, to a
factory to purchase a 40-cent block of ice.

Felix has a pressing, private reason to get the ice: He needs it to keep
his medicine from melting.

Two years ago, Felix's wife died from AIDS, and he learned he was
HIV-positive.

He told his six children, now 16 to 24 years old, but no one else. He
was afraid of the stigma of HIV. He agreed to be interviewed only if he
was identified by his first name alone. "I thought the world had come to
an end for me," Felix said. "Everyone believes that once you have it,
you're a living ghost."

He took antiretroviral drugs and felt better. But his treatment was
interrupted frequently because he could not afford the cost: $62 a
month. His pension as a former staff sergeant was $115 a month, and the
money came sporadically.

Worse, his body soon stopped responding to the drugs. His kidneys began
to fail, and his count of immune cells crucial to fight off infections
plummeted.

In May, Felix began taking Kaletra, a second-line AIDS drug — needed
when the first round of treatments fail.

His health rebounded, but it came at a cost.

Gel capsules of Kaletra melt in Nigeria's sweltering climate, where
temperatures often top 100 degrees. Felix kept his Kaletra in a small
chest filled with ice.

Each day, he had to go get more ice. And each day, he had to take
Kaletra precisely at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. These things made it difficult
for him to work, even at odd jobs.

A new version of Kaletra does not require refrigeration. But his
physician, Dr. T.M. Balogun, who helps run the AIDS program at Lagos
State University Teaching Hospital, told him not to get his hopes up.

The hospital is helped by the Nigerian government, which gets money from
the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fund has
been awarded $651 million by the Gates Foundation. Yet the hospital does
not offer the new Kaletra. It is too expensive.

In August, private pharmacists said they could sell it for $246 a month.
But that was far out of Felix's reach.

Kaletra is made by Abbott Laboratories. As of this September, the Gates
Foundation held $169 million in Abbott stock. In 2005, the foundation
held nearly $1.5 billion worth of stock in drug companies whose
practices have been widely criticized as restricting the flow of key
medicines to poor people in developing nations.

On average, shares in those companies have increased in value about 54%
since 2002. Investments in Abbott and other drug makers probably have
gained the foundation hundreds of millions of dollars.

Drug makers say they need price protection for research and development.
"Our global needs and global systems are in conflict," Miles White,
Abbott's chief executive, wrote in the Financial Times last year. "This
threatens to harm one goal, innovation, in the name of another, access
to medicine."

In 1994, however, the drug makers, with other research-intensive
businesses, lobbied hard and successfully for the international
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights,
which made it harder to move from costly brand-name drugs to cheap
generics. The agreement protected new-drug monopolies for 20 years or  
more.

This meant no low-priced generic for Kaletra. The pact locked in Abbott
as its sole supplier, and Abbott set prices for the world.

Under pressure from activists, Abbott and other companies cut prices for
key AIDS drugs in poorer nations. In Guatemala and Thailand, the new
Kaletra costs $2,200 per patient per year, plus taxes and fees — a
fraction of the more than $8,000 it costs in the United States. In
poorer Nigeria, the official price was $500 a year.

But this was still too costly for most patients, including Felix.

The industry's approach "has the effect of making medicines available
only to a narrow spectrum of a rich elite in a developing country," said
Brook Baker, an intellectual property expert at Northeastern University.

He called it "pharmaceutical apartheid."

Drug companies say critics overlook billions of dollars' worth of drugs
they donate to developing nations. Abbott says it has given AIDS drugs
to 25,000 patients, along with millions of test kits, and has
underwritten a major project to improve AIDS services in Tanzania.

In emergencies, critics welcome donated drugs. The problem, they say, is
that donations scare away generic suppliers. Donations, said Ellen 't
Hoen, who directs a drug-access program for Doctors Without Borders,
"remove the prospect of any stable supply."

And when the free drugs are gone, patients die.

Most medicines are reliably profitable. In the most recent quarter,
Abbott posted a gross profit margin of 59% of sales, and recently paid
its 331st consecutive quarterly dividend. A congressional analysis shows
that during the first six months of 2006, the 10 largest drug companies
earned $39.8 billion in profits.

The Gates Foundation's top priority is stopping AIDS, Bill Gates told
the International AIDS Conference in August. Since its inception, the
foundation has donated more than $2 billion to fight the disease.

The foundation did not respond to written questions about the problems
of patients who cannot obtain needed AIDS drugs due to pharmaceutical
company policies.

Meanwhile, the foundation holds its grant recipients to a far higher
standard than the drug companies on which it bets large portions of its
endowment. Its grant form says it expects recipients "to exercise their
intellectual property rights in a manner consistent with the stated
goals of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote the …
availability of inventions for public benefit in developing countries at
reasonable cost."

Some critics say the foundation's failure to use its own investments "to
promote … public benefit in developing countries at reasonable cost"
might trace back to the source of most of its money — Microsoft — which
Bill Gates serves as chairman.

Microsoft monopolies in computer operating systems and business software
depend upon the same intellectual-property and trade-law approaches
favored by drug companies.

"The Gates Foundation is in a position to change the dynamic, to make
sure that drugs get first to the places they are most needed," said
Daniel Berman, deputy director in South Africa for Doctors Without
Borders. "But it conflicts with the interests of Microsoft."

In response to written questions, Harrington, the Gates Foundation
policy officer, said the foundation tried to guarantee that grantee
discoveries made in partnership with for-profit companies trickled down
to people in developing nations.

"The foundation's goal is to help ensure that new scientific knowledge
is broadly shared … and that lifesaving health advances are created and
made available and affordable to those most in need," she said. "We also
recognize that private industry needs adequate incentives to develop new
drugs."

The foundation's pharmaceutical company investments, Harrington said,
"are completely separate from what's being done on the programmatic side
to help spur the development and delivery of drugs/vaccines."

charles.piller at latimes.com

edmund.sanders at latimes.com

robyn.dixon at latimes.com

Sanders reported from Nigeria, Dixon from South Africa and Piller from
San Francisco. Times staff writer Doug Smith, data analyst Sandra
Poindexter and researchers Maloy Moore and Robin Mayper contributed to
this report.
About this series

This series is based on more than 90 interviews and hundreds of
documents, including thousands of pages of Gates Foundation grant
descriptions and policies, evaluation reports, tax forms, filings to the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission through September 2006 and lists
of endowment holdings from 2002 through 2005.

Information was used from four leading services that provide guidance
for investors regarding corporate performance: Calvert Group Ltd.,
Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, KLD Research & Analytics Inc. and
Oekom Research. None of the companies was directly involved in The
Times' assessment of the Gates Foundation portfolio; they have taken no
position on The Times' conclusions.

The research groups consider companies in context and weigh their
efforts to improve. The Times tally of Gates investments in companies
that contradict its goals included only those firms that were ranked
among the worst by the investment rating services.

Companies among the 100 highest-polluting in the United States were
derived from rankings by the University of Massachusetts Political
Economy Research Institute. These rankings consider total air pollution
released, toxicity of pollutants and the number of people at risk of
exposure. The top 50 polluters in Canada were rated by the trade
publication Corporate Knights, based largely on the University of
Massachusetts approach.

The Times used several studies that reviewed or evaluated actions of the
pharmaceutical industry regarding intellectual property rights, patents
and drug pricing in developing nations. A preliminary list of relevant
companies was drawn up using studies or evaluations conducted by
Innovest, KLD, Oekom, the nonprofit medical group Doctors Without
Borders, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, a
coalition of 275 faith-based institutional investors that includes
religious groups, pension funds, endowments, hospital corporations and
colleges.

The list was refined and validated in interviews with experts and
through a review of more than 40 technical papers and analyses,
including studies by the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
Those sources were supplemented with reports and announcements from the
pharmaceutical companies and the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, a leading trade group.

Companies in the sub-prime industry were compiled from National Mortgage
News and Inside Mortgage Finance, leading trade publications.

Information about proxies was gathered from the EthVest database,
sponsored by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. The data
were supplemented by interviews with officials from various foundations.

The overall figures in this series may significantly understate the
volume of Gates Foundation investments that tend to conflict with its
charitable goals. The Gates Foundation did not provide details for about
$4.3 billion of investments it characterizes as loans.
_______________________________________________

Monica Narula
Raqs Media Collective
Sarai-CSDS
29 Rajpur Road
Delhi 110054
www.raqsmediacollective.net
www.sarai.net




From ravis at sarai.net  Mon Jan  8 17:53:39 2007
From: ravis at sarai.net (Ravi Sundaram)
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:53:39 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Giorgio Agamben Lecture at CSDS
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20070108175141.03837a20@mail.sarai.net>

The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 
(CSDS)cordially invites you to the 11th B.N. Ganguli Memorial Lecture

The Power and the Glory by Professor Giorgio Agamben

Thursday 11th January 2007. 5:30 p.m., 29 Rajpur Road Delhi-110054

Professor Mrinal Miri will chair the Session


Please join us for tea 5 p.m.
R.S.V.P (regrets only
Tel.: 23942199  Fax: 23943450
E-Mail: riyal at csdsdelhi.org




B.N.Ganguli Memorial Lectures are instituted in 
memory of the distinguished 
economist-intellectual Professor B.N.Ganguli, 
former Chair CSDS Board of Governors. Earlier 
speakers in the series include Professors Charles 
Taylor, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Raimundo Panikkar, 
Bhikhu Parekh, Ernest Gellner, Ali Mazrui, 
Roberto Unger, Michael Walzer, John Keane and Amit Bhaduri.


Giorgio Agamben, renowned philosopher, engages in 
particular with language and social conflicts, 
teaches at the Università IUAV di Venezia, 
Collège International de Philosophie, Paris. 
Among his books are: Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power 
and Bare Life, Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness 
and the Archive and The Open: Man and Animal. His 
most recent works are: State of Exception, and 
The Time that Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans.

Mrinal Miri, eminent philosopher, former Director 
Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla & 
Chair Indian Council of Philosophical Research. 
Among his books are: Philosophy of 
Psychoanalysis, Tribal India: Continuity and 
Change and Five Essays on Kant. His most recent 
book is Identity and the Moral Life.




From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com  Mon Jan  8 18:01:37 2007
From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah)
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 18:01:37 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?=93International_Conference_on_Dal?=
	=?windows-1252?q?its_and_Muslims_would_herald_a_new_social_awakeni?=
	=?windows-1252?q?ng=94=3A_Ram_Vilas_Paswan=2E?=
Message-ID: <2076f31d0701080431h457a5ab7n6c123add3515a815@mail.gmail.com>

"International Conference on Dalits and Muslims would herald a new
social awakening": Ram Vilas Paswan.



Ram Vilas Paswan is a popular name in both Dalit and Muslim
communities. After Jagjivan Ram he is considered a messiah of the
down-trodden people. He founded Dalit Sena in 1983 to the cause of
Dalit emancipation and welfare. It was at his initiatives that the
neo-Budhists or Dalit Budhists were included in the Article 341 of the
Constitution during the regime of V P Singh in 1990. He organised the
first international conference on the issues of Dalits and Muslims in
1994. After 12 years he is holding another international conference on
Dalits and Muslims on December 27-28. At a time when the atmosphere is
agog with the talk about Sachar Recommendations, this conference has
enthused special interest in Dalits and Muslims. He has made his
mission to serve the backward sections. That's why irrespective of his
association with any political party, he continues to be a trusted
leader of the excluded sections of the society. In the following
exclusive interview to A U Asif, Editor, fanawatch.com, he talks in
detail about his concern for the excluded sections and his ensuing
international conference on Dalits and Muslims.

Born on July 5, 1946, he spent early years in Shaharbanni village in
Khagaria district of Bihar. His legislature career began in 1969 with
his election to the Bihar state assembly in 1969 on the ticket of the
Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP). In 1974 he came closer to Loknayak
Jaya Prakash Narayan. He was also closely associated with Karpoori
Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha. He remained in jail during
Emergency. After getting released in 1977, he was elected to the 6th
Lok Sabha for the first time on the newly formed Janata Party ticket.
Since 1977 he continues to be a member of Lok Sabha. He became a Union
Minister first time in 1989 in the cabinet of V P Singh. Then he held
the portfolio of labour and welfare. Again in 1996-98, he served as
the Union Railway Minister in the cabinets of Deve Gowda and I K
Gujral and as the Union Communications Minister in 1999-2001, and Coal
Minister in 2001-2002 in the cabinet of Atal Behari Vajpayee. He
became the Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers in 2004
in the present regime of Dr Manmohan Singh. He is President of Lok
Janshakti Party (LJP) since its inception in 2000.

Following are the excerpts of the exclusive interview:

Question: At a time when Sachar Report is out but there is a hue and
cry over it from a section of the society, you have called an
international conference on Dalits and Muslims?

Answer: This hue and cry is political. This is actually the politics
of weakening the country. It is my firm belief that our nation can't
progress until the weaker sections get justice. Dalits are poor by
both mind and stomach because they have lost power of thinking.
Similarly, there is found a feeling of insecurity in the Muslim
community which is very harmful. Sachar Committee has actually done
the work of presenting these realities related to Muslims.

As is obvious, Muslims, Christians or Dalits have not come from
outside. They all are of this soil and even a few people, who came
from outside, too gave sacrifice for this country and became a part
and parcel of the land. It is said that disgusted with the social
injustice, some people converted into other religions. Most of them
were poor. The people who changed their religion ultimately got social
security but the economic backwardness remained there.

The Constitution of our country doesn't make any differentiation on
the basis of religion. It makes the economic and educational
backwardness the basis of uplifting the backward sections of the
society. The question is: If special provisions can be made for
Dalits; seats can be reserved for them in Parliament and state
legislatures and if these facilities can be provided to the Dalit
Sikhs also, then why it can't be done for the Muslims?

The situation is that 50 per cent of the total population of the
Scheduled Castes is reserved. It is true that Muslims were kept within
the purview of Mandal Commission but they are not getting benefit from
it. Therefore, it is my demand that reservation should be given to the
Muslim community for its backwardness as a whole, besides quota for
'Ajlaf' under Article 341 of the Constitution in Parliament and state
legislatures as well as government services. The section of the Muslim
community coming under the provisions of Mandal Commission should get
reserved seats separately. Similarly, economically backward Muslims
should also be provided 3 per cent quota.

In my view, only reservation should not be meant enough to uplift
these backward sections of the society. The reservation is, in fact,
just a step in this direction. It would play the role of a catalyst.
There is also a similar need to earmark a portion in the budgets of
all schemes and plans of welfare and education in proportion to the
population of different minorities. It is also my view that the fund
of Rs 1800 crore earmarked for the welfare and education of minorities
and SCs and STs is like a peanut. The Muslim community should be
allocated a fund for its welfare and education in proportion to its
population.

 However, it does not mean that we want to divide the Muslim
community. Our only objective is that economically backward Muslims
should also get a separate quota like those Muslims coming under the
provisions of Mandal Commission. This can be done through a
Presidential Ordinance like those of Sikhs in 1956 and Neo-Budhists in
1990.

Besides, we should also ponder over the facts that the much talked
about reservations in Kerala and Karnataka are enforced for several
years on the basis of religion and there has arisen no controversy or
objection over it. Therefore, the hue and cry of a particular
political group that is opposing tooth and nail the reservation for
the Muslim community, saying any reservation made on the ground of
religion would be against the spirit of the Constitution, is
politically motivated and not up to the mark.
It is to point out that Andhra High Court has not declared
unconstitutional the five per cent reservation given to the Muslim
community by the state government. Rather, it has only stated that
substantial evidences/ data were not properly collected.

So far as this international conference on Dalits and Muslims is
concerned, it is not my first effort. In this connection, I have been
working for about 40 years. However, this is the most opportune time
for such a conference. An alliance coming into being in the name of
safeguarding Secularism and establishing justice is now in power at
the Centre. Its National Common Minimum Programme comprises all the
points related to the above objectives.

Question: What makes it different from the conferences held on this
issue in the past? Is there anything new and special?

Answer: This international conference on Dalits and Muslims being
organized on December 27-28 is different in many ways from such
efforts, including the one convened by me in 1994, in the past. The
earlier efforts were actually for creating a congenial atmosphere. Now
the atmosphere has already been created. The time for action has now
come. The government has to move for 'inclusion of the excluded
sections of the Indian society' and the oppressed communities have to
take advantage of it.

Question: Is it not connected to the ensuing assembly elections in
Uttar Pradesh and other states?

Answer: No, not at all. Its agenda is quite clear. It has nothing to
do with politics and elections.. That's why 80 per cent of the
participants to this conference would be from academic, welfare and
activist circles as well as NGOs. They would be the real
representatives of these sections. This conference would also prove
that Dalits and Muslims are united in their struggle for progress and
development. It would give the message that these sections would no
longer remain neglected. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would
inaugurate it. Besides a number of Union Ministers, over a hundred
Dalit and Muslim delegates from about 15 countries as well as
thousands from inside the country would participate in the two-day
conference.

Question: Other highlights of the conference?

Answer: There would be presented two status papers before the
international conference---one on Dalit situation by P S Krishnan, a
former Secretary to the Government of India and former
Member-Secretary of the National Commission for Backward Classes,
headed by late B P Mandal, and the other on Muslim situation by Qurban
Ali, a media celebrity. These status papers by two experts in their
arena would be the basis of entire discussion on the issues concerned
in the two-day conference
The outcome of the international conference would herald a new social
awakening, leading to empowerment of the disempowered sections and as
a whole help develop India into a strong and self-reliant country so
that it can play a decisive role of a super power in the century that
has just begun.

(http://fanawatch.com/index.php?do=news_view&id=189)


From anu at mz9.net  Tue Jan  9 22:09:41 2007
From: anu at mz9.net (Anupama Sekhar)
Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 22:09:41 +0530 (IST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Chennai launch of National Museum of Women in the
	Arts (India)
Message-ID: <20070109163944.D8C2828DA20@mail.sarai.net>

DakshinaChitra,
Sunita Kohli, Chairperson, National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), 
India
& NMWA (India) Trustees

Cordially invite you to 
EXPLORATIONS
Programs to mark the Chennai launch of the NMWA India 

Fluid Signs: Perceptions & Identity
&
Explorations 
Exhibitions
Date: 14-20 January 2007
Venue: Lalit Kala Akademi (Regional Centre), Chennai

Identity and Authenticity within the Indian Framework: Globalisation and 
the Indian Art Market
Lecture by art critic Rasna Bhushan 
Followed by panel discussion
Date:     15 January 2007
Time:     4:30 PM 
Venue:  Lalit Kala Akademi (Regional Centre), Chennai

The World of Tamil Women Poets
Poetry reading in Tamil and English
Followed by discussion
Poets: Kutti Revathi, Malathy Maitri, Perundevi, Sukiertha Rani & Vatsala
English readings: Indrani Krishnaier
Date:     17 January 2007
Time:     6:30 PM 
Venue:  Alliance Francaise Auditorium, Chennai

The World of Women in Dance
Demonstration and panel discussion
Speakers: Lakshmi Vishwanathan, Leela Samson, Malavika Sarukkai & Padmini 
Chettur
Moderator: Sharada Ramanathan
Date: 19 January 2007
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: Kalakshetra, Chennai

The mission of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (India) is to 
highlight the contributions of women artists to the culture of India. 
Conceived as a sister organization to the National Museum of Women in the 
Arts, Washington D.C., NMWA (India) plans to celebrate the diverse artistic 
achievements of women in architecture & design, crafts, literary, 
performing and visual arts. The main center of the Museum will be in New 
Delhi. 

Board of NMWA (India) Trustees: Dr Kusum Ansal, Sharan Apparao, Kavita 
Bhartia, Devika Bhojwani, Sofia Blake, Pheroza Godrej, Dr. Jutta Jain, 
Naina Lal Kidwai, Kohelika Kohli, Anuradha Mahindra, Deepa Mehta, Poonam 
Muthreja, Meera Nair, Rajshree Pathy, Priya Paul, Priti Paul, Dr. Gowher 
Rizvi, Smriti Ruia, Malavika Sanghvi, Rakhi Sarkar, Malavika Sarukkai, Dr. 
Shika Sharma and Dr. Deborah Thiagarajan

EXPLORATIONS is being organized by 
DakshinaChitra
NMWA�s Museum Partner in South India
Address: Muttukadu, East Coast Road, Tamil Nadu 603 118
Telephone: 044-2747-2603/2783
Email: mcfdak at md3.vsnl.net.in
Website: www.dakshinachitra.net




 





From alice at tank.tv  Tue Jan  9 15:52:20 2007
From: alice at tank.tv (Alice O'Reilly)
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 10:22:20 +0000
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] tank.tv 'I am Future Melancholic'
	event at Tate	Modern, 20th January 2007, 7pm.
Message-ID: <442eb4460701090222w36909612yc1aef61a78f636b8@mail.gmail.com>

tank.tv / Tate Modern
"I am Future Melancholic"

Tate Modern / 20th January 2007 - 7pm
www.tank.tv / 15th January - 28th February 2007

This show presents moving images by artists whose practice reflects a vision
of tomorrow. The structures and systems of reality are examined to reveal
glimpses into what we call 'the future'.
This ineffable and intangible concept, that constantly haunts the present,
here provokes a wealth of musings and imaginings.

In 'Bruxelles 4023', Mathieu Delvaux & Xavier van Huffel perform street
interviews to ask the public what they think Brussels might be like in 4023.
The answers, as varied as the people themselves, reveal the concept of the
future as a screen for hopes, fears and fantasy. A starting point into an
exploration of tomorrow…

Challenging, doubt-inducing and transformative aspects of 'the future' can
be perceived in Vito Acconci's repetitive acts, recorded in a super8 film
'Break-Through' or in Philippe Meste's detonative video 'LHRB'.
Rachel Reupke's 'Infrastructure' is born of a fascination with movie special
effects and narrative devices.
And Carsten Höller's 'One minute of doubt' and 'Punktefilm' induct a
representation of our 'timeless everyday', and magically echo the playful
nature of his present turbine hall installation.
Laurent Montaron shows us a fictive exploration of time and travel through
his `Readings', while Matthieu Laurette's impressive cocktail of celebrity
lookalikes brings us into confusion at a blured vision of the limits between
performance and observation.
Mai Yamashita and Naoto Kobayashi's star, in 'When I wish Upon a Star' gives
us time we need to wish upon…

Artists include: Erwin Wurm, Haris Epaminonda, Xavier Veilhan, Carsten
Höller, Philippe Meste, Susanne Bürner, Laurent Montaron, Chris Cornish,
Mathieu Delvaux & Xavier Van Huffel, Bernard Gigounon, Matthieu Laurette,
Rachel Reupke, John Latham, Vito Acconci and Mai Yamashita & Naoto
Kobayashi.

Artist Mathieu Delvaux, Matthieu Laurette and Susanne Bürner with musician
Steve Trafford (ex member of the Fall / member of Tycoons Follies), will be
present at the Tate Modern screening to introduce their work.

"I am Future Melancholic" is at Tate Modern at 7pm on Saturday 20 January
2007 (www.tate.org.uk) and online on www.tank.tv from 15 January to 28
February 2007

Curated by Anne-Sophie Dinant and Laure Prouvost for tank.tv.


"I am Future Melancolic" is kindly supported by:

Cobra Beer

Goethe-Institut London

Ambassade de France/Institut Francais


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For press inqueries please contact: Alice O'Reilly alice at tank.tv
 tank.tv / Tank Magazine  49-50 Great Marlborough Street London - W1F  7JR -
UK - Tel: +44 (0) 207 434 0110

-- 

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

Alice O'Reilly
tank.tv
5th floor
49-50 Great Marlborough street
London W1F 7JR

alice at tank.tv
T +44 (0)207434 0110
F +44 (0)207434 9232

http://www.tank.tv

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

tank.tv is an inspirational showcase of contemporary moving images /
dedicated
to exhibiting and promoting moving images, www.tank.tv acts
as a platform for the new, innovative work in film and video
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From pukar at pukar.org.in  Wed Jan 10 10:40:42 2007
From: pukar at pukar.org.in (PUKAR)
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:40:42 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] [announcements] New Website of the
	Gender and Space	Project
Message-ID: <001601c73475$aeff8db0$4e66c2cb@freeda>



Dear Friends,

 

As you may have read in our last e-zine the Gender & Space project completed its research in September 2006. We are in the process of writing a book based on this research.  

 

We now have website dedicated to the project -- please check:  www.genderandspace.org  The website can also be reached via the PUKAR website:  http://www.pukar.org.in/pukar/genderandspace/

 

This website outlines the research undertaken; the pedagogic and activist efforts and the publications and products that have emerged from the project. 

 

Please do check out the website and email us with you comments at: genderandspace at gmail.com 

 

Best,



The PUKAR Gender and Space Team



PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research)
 
Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001
Telephone:: +91 (22) 6574 8152 
Fax:: +91 (22) 6664 0561
Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in
Website:: www.pukar.org.in
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From newsletter at wrocenter.pl  Wed Jan 10 02:40:22 2007
From: newsletter at wrocenter.pl (WRO Art Center Team)
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 22:10:22 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] 12th International Media Art Biennale
	WRO 07: CALL	FOR WORKS
Message-ID: <23E0BC87-53D7-4C6E-ABAB-3C8DD90E66F9@wrocenter.pl>

12th International Media Art Biennale WRO 07CALL FOR WORKS

WRO Center for Media Art Foundation in Wroclaw/Poland, announces an  
international competition open to any work created using electronic  
media techniques, exploring innovative forms of artistic communication.

The competition welcomes creators of artistic projects of diverse  
forms such as screenings (video art, computer animation),  
installations, objects, performances, multimedia concerts and network  
projects from all over the world. The main prize is 5000 euro and the  
total prize money awarded is 8000 euro.

Biennale: the new strategies and territories of digital artistic  
communication; Artists in the face of high culture's permeation with  
popular culture; global with local culture; commercial with  
independent culture; the role of individual artistic attitudes in the  
midst of global tendencies; the metamorphosis of an artistic  
experiment in the light of a spectacle society culture. Media arts  
that de-interpret the cultural context stemming from civilization as  
well as interferences into the code that steers behaviors within the  
social space. The creation and record of a changing picture of culture.

The deadline date for entry submission is 15.02.2007.

Presentation of works selected to the very final along with the  
international jury's announcement of competition results will take  
place during public screening at the WRO 07 Biennale.

Agenda:

16 - 20 May 2007 competition, special events, symposium;
16 May - 17 June 2007 exhibition
Places:

National Museum in Wroclaw;
WRO Art Center
The competition regulations and entry form are available in  
downloadable format at http://wro07.wrocenter.pl. Requests to receive  
the regulations and entry form by post can be made at  
print at wrocenter.pl.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The International Competition WRO 07 is organized by The WRO Art  
Center. The competition is open to any work created using electronic  
media techniques, exploring innovative forms of artistic  
communication. The main prize is 5000 euro and the total prize money  
awarded is 8000 euro.
Every participant may submit up to three works, completed after  
01.01.2005., for the competition. The works may be submitted by  
artists, producers, distributors and other persons or organizations  
holding rights to the submitted works.
Every work should be followed with a legibly filled-in entry form,  
synopsis, short biography and screenshot or graphics in TIFF or JPEG  
format. If it's required by the specificity of the work, the  
submission shall be followed with an additional description or  
appropriate technical information.
The deadline date for entry submission is 15.02.2007
There is no entry fee.
The submitted works are selected by the organizers. The authors of  
works qualifying for the competition will be individually notified  
about the selection. Additionally, the list of qualifying works shall  
be published on the internet website http://wro07.wrocenter.pl. Works  
qualifying for the competition will be judged by an international  
jury during public screenings at Biennale WRO.
Contact: WRO Art Center, ul. Kuznicza 29a, 54-137 Wroclaw 16, P.O.  
Box 1385, Poland, tel.: + 48 71 344 83 69, tel./fax: + 48 71 342 26  
91, http://wrocenter.pl, info at wrocenter.pl

	

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From arsagar at gmail.com  Tue Jan  9 16:51:03 2007
From: arsagar at gmail.com (Vidya Sagar Pancholi)
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 16:51:03 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Regarding research on jamshedpur
Message-ID: <de019aea0701090321h3aced831vf35383e83d2c9fdc@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Moderator / Operator,

I am student od planning in CEPT University, Ahmedabad. I am doing a
research on "Management of Urban services and role of private sector" (A
case of jamshedpur city). I have gone through some of your posting by Mr.
Kalyanayan. I guess he is also doing research on the same city but with
different objectives. I will be highly thankful if i can get the concerned
person's mail address or if you can forward my mail to that fellow. (Mr.
kalyan nayan). Basically I wanted some inputs from his side and also any
sort of data which he can make me availabe......

I'll be highly thankful to u.

Warm Regards
Vidya Sagar Pancholi
student-Maters of Plannig
School of Plannig and Public Policy
CEPT University
Ahmedabad-380009




-- 
"MUSAFIR HOON YAROON"
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From aarti at sarai.net  Thu Jan 11 14:43:11 2007
From: aarti at sarai.net (aarti at sarai.net)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:13:11 +0100 (CET)
Subject: [Reader-list] Review: Sarai Reader 06: Turbulence
Message-ID: <49518.203.101.19.125.1168506791.squirrel@mail.sarai.net>

Dear All,

The first review of Sarai Reader 06: Turbulence is out in the Himal. I am
pasting below with the link.


Enjoy! and if you haven't bought or downloaded your copy yet, what are you
waiting for ?? ;)

love
Aarti


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fluid dynamics: A prediction for the 24th century
http://www.himalmag.com/2007/january/review3.htm

by | Siddharth Anand

These are warning signs, the end of the world is nigh.
– Kavita Pai, Turbulence

Sarai Reader 06:Turbulence
edited by Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Ravi Sundaram, Jeebesh
Bagchi Awadhendra Sharan and Geert Lovink
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 2006

In a clue so cryptic as to discourage even the doughtiest crossword
zealot, Turbulence, the latest Reader from the New Delhi-based new-media
initiative Sarai, gestures towards a fast-forward future – one that has
already arrived, and is very chaotic. Dubbed “a practice for and of a time
that has no name” by an editorial collective based in Delhi and Amsterdam,
Turbulence is the sleekest, edgiest and grittiest avatar yet of the Sarai
Reader Series.

Now in its sixth year, the Reader has acquired a reputation of being the
wild child of the publishing calendar. It has become known for collections
so ambitious and diverse that each preface over the years has included a
defence of ‘eclecticism’ – and every review has chosen to comment on it.
While proving that it is possible to be both eclectic and consistent,
Turbulence seeks to push the boundaries beyond a mere celebration of
communicative diversity, by setting out to map terrain that is, at times,
unnerving.

The title of this new volume is perhaps the most intriguing of any Reader
to date. Turbulence, as any student of science knows, is a crucial factor
of fluid dynamics, and refers to the opposite of the phenomenon of
‘laminar flows’ – an ordered flow of fluid such that information about
future behaviour of that flow can be predicted by determining the exact
nature of the present.

Turbulent flow, on the other hand, while proceeding in the same general
direction as laminar flow, has to contend with the additional complexity
of randomly fluctuating velocities. A further engagement with physics
reveals deeper, more profound, metaphors: turbulence is the transition
from order to disorder; turbulence increases with an increase in velocity;
turbulence increases with friction and grittiness, and remains one of the
unsolved problems in physics. However, it is by only the most veiled of
gestures – the cryptic clue mentioned at the beginning of this review –
that Sarai Reader 06 reveals its intention to serve as an
atlas-cum-almanac for the exact point of transition into turbulence: 2300
AD.

This is, admittedly, a long shot. But as the opening quote of art writer
Cédric Vincent’s “Mapping the Invisible: Notes on the reason of conspiracy
theories” states, “there is no such thing as a coincidence 
 Nothing
happens in this universe 
 unless an entity wills it to happen.” Apart
from signalling the dawn of the 24th century, 2300 also happens to be the
critical value of another scientific term – the ‘Reynolds’ constant’, at
which a fluid normally shifts from laminar to turbulent flow. Hence, ‘Re
2300’ is the point at which turbulence is achieved in a fluid system under
normal conditions.

Ideological and obdurate
Turbulence clarifies its intentions with R Krishna’s opening piece, “The
Time of Turbulence”. From that point on, the collection sucks the reader
into a compelling and chaotic world of pirates, profiteers, hyper-textual
encounters and “modernity’s fractally germinating, ever questioning
bastards”. Vincent’s succinct unpacking of the concept of the conspiracy
theory sits shoulder to shoulder with anthropologist Michael Taussig’s
excellent “Cement and Speed” – a text that somehow speaks simultaneously
of the love of craft, the violence of development, and the collapse of
time, space and distance.

The Reader itself is divided into short sections that are both internally
coherent and chronologically cohesive. Both Taussig’s and Vincent’s texts
are found under the first section, “Transformations”. In the “Weather
Report” section, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina lies alongside a
first-person account of the tsunami that struck Southasia’s southern
shores in 2004. A funeral party mourning the killing of a 16-year-old girl
in Kashmir by security forces is witness to the fury of the almighty in
“Zalzala”, meaning ‘earthquake’.

“Strange Days” is one of the most engaging sections of the Reader, and
provides a historical context to the present-day flux. Ground-level
texture from the ghadar of 1857 sits uneasily alongside Bangladeshi
journalist Naeem Mohaiemen’s account of the deification and contested
legacy of Shiraj Sikder, the leader of Bangladesh’s violent leftist
Sharbahara Party. Meanwhile, Delhi literature professor Debjani Dengupta’s
text is a narrative carefully pieced together around the Direct Action Day
that took place in 1946 in Calcutta.

As with the Sarai Readers that preceded it, Turbulence moves beyond the
purely textual, with images by Ravi Aggarwal and Monica Narula, among
others. “Like Cleopatra”, a graphic series by the Delhi- and Assam-based
artist Parismita Singh, stretches the fabric of street-survival and
alienation to breaking point, as it builds a seemingly innocuous narrative
of life in Delhi University’s North Campus.

Sarai Reader 06, like the rest of the series, works precisely because the
contributions seem to have been edited by a thoughtful and light hand.
Each text speaks out for itself, unburdened by the baggage of its
neighbours. The Reader’s single underlying theme, if there is one, is
probably best summed up by Berlin-based computer wizard Frank Rieger’s
closing text. “If we don’t enjoy taking on the system, we will get tired
of the contest,” he notes. “And they will win. So instead of being angry,
ideological and obdurate, let’s be funny, flexible and creative.”



From aarti at sarai.net  Wed Jan 10 20:38:48 2007
From: aarti at sarai.net (Aarti Sethi)
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:38:48 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Readings from "The Tenth Rasa: An
	Anthology of	Indian Nonsense"
Message-ID: <A4141488-FE1B-4E88-85FE-A4240F60F8BA@sarai.net>

Dear Friends,

We welcome in the New Year with an afternoon of nonsense verse, "wit,
wordplay and riotous rhymes". We hope to see you there for an
afternoon of serious fun :)

Warm wishes for 2007!

Aarti

===============================================
===============================================



Readings from: "The Tenth Rasa : An Anthology of Indian Nonsense"
Penguin India, 2006
Edited by Michael Heyman, Sumanyu Satpathy and Anushka Ravishankar

3:30 P.M., Saturday, 13 January 2007
Interface Zone, Sarai-CSDS


For the last eighteen hundred years Indian arts have been seen in
terms of strictly classified emotional effects known as the nine
rasas. 'The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense' celebrates,
for the very first time, the final, unacknowledged rasa--what Sukumar
Ray called the 'spirit of whimsy'--through the topsy-turvy,
irreverent, melodic genre of nonsense literature.

This selection of poetry and prose, brilliantly translated from
seventeen Indian languages across India, includes works by
Rabindranath Tagore, Sukumar Ray, Vinda Karandikar, Gulzar, Dash
Benhur, Manoj Das, Navakanta Barua, Mangesh Padgavkar, Sri Sri,
Vaikom Mohammad Basheer, Kunjunni and other known, lesser-known and
first-published authors.  In forms as varied as Bollywood song lyrics
and medieval court verse, lullabies, folk tales,stories and songs for
children and adults, the writers open doors to wildy imaginative
worlds populated by peculiar characters and fantastical creatures,
where only nonsense makes perfect sense.

Crackling with wit, wordplay, and riotous rhymes, this immensely
entertaining collection is a treat for nonsense-lovers of all ages.


The Editors

Michael Heyman, head editor, is an associate professor of English
Literature at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, USA.

Sumanyu Satpathy, editor, is a professor of English at Delhi University.

Anushka Ravishankar, editor, is the only Indian nonsense writer
published
in English in India.


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From avinash at csdsdelhi.org  Thu Jan 11 14:59:17 2007
From: avinash at csdsdelhi.org (Avinash Jha)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:59:17 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Radical politics and the knowledge question
	-invitation for dialogue
Message-ID: <02e601c73561$bf304520$2d01a8c0@avinashjha>

 
Invitation 

This is to invite you to a discussion on what constitutes emancipatory resistance to the New Empire. Is   radically opposing American wars in Afganistan and Iraq central to it? Will fundamental opposition to the policies of the WTO, and in the process standing with the peasants and workers of the world, open a radical path? Opposition to Empire at this juncture is being interpreted as opposition to America (of course not the people of America). The two world wide focuses of such opposition today are: one, Islamic militancy and two, the World Social Forum (WSF). Where as the Islamic opposition is centered in West Asia and mobilises Muslims all over the world, the WSF is polycentric and derives its leadership (and main strength) from the emerging left in many countries of Latin America. The gathering of people in hundreds of thousands in many cities across the world in solidarity against war in Iraq and opposition to WTO in Seattle, Cancun, Prague etc have found enough media coverage. These are largely guided by liberal and welfare thought. Add to these the innumerable local resistances all over the world against expansion of the multinational corporations and for control over natural resources by the local population. Many of these have a large place for Gandhi in their way of thinking. This perhaps broadly sums up the scene of resistances.
The resistances have all steered clear of both the reality and the language of Information and Communication technologies. There is no doubt that the American wars, the international trade under WTO and multinational corporation's grab of the natural resources constitute very real issues threatening life and subsistence on a world wide scale. But should radical politics not pay attention to the reality and discourse around 'knowledge' which is fast changing the themes, criteria and paradigm of all kinds of concerns and discourses, political, social, philosophical, scientific, all. Is it also not true that the key instrument which is making such exploitation of men , women and nature possible is the new Information and Communication Technology and the world of Internet? Is this instrument socially and politically neutral (in the ultimate analysis) or is it also a carrier of a new ideology of reorganisation of the world in which the majority shall again remain deprived, marginalised and oppressed? Is the radical politics taken in by the speed , manner and extent of the organisation of  knowledge? Is it left far too behind by the speed of the new Communication? Does it have no ideological wherewithal to confront the 'charm' of the new connectivity and  the virtual world? Is the sacrifice of countless numbers in the struggle for social justice and genuine rights destined ones again to produce a variant of the capitalist world? 
This call  for a dialogue in the Nairobi WSF is a call to address questions regarding radical politics in a world increasingly dominated by the Computer, the Mobile and the Internet. If we want to stand consistently against the trade practices of WTO, against the American wars and against the tightening claws of multinational corporations and if we wish to produce an image of a new and different world , then should we not be discussing the relation between knowledge and politics in this New Age, as it is shaping and as it ought to be in the human interest.
Join us in this dialogue for emancipatory search. 


Vidya Ashram, Sarnath, Varanasi
The Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi
Indigen Research Foundation, Pune

A longer document prepared for the workshop, which attempts to outline the background against which the question of radical politics and knowledge can possibly be discussed, can be found here

http://www.vidyaashram.org/kd2_nairobi.html

Please read and respond.



from:

Avinash Jha



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From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com  Thu Jan 11 22:16:28 2007
From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 22:16:28 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] MEET AT JANTAR MANTAR ON THE NITHARI ISSUE
Message-ID: <2076f31d0701110846x2286a50ds610ef16f496d9c14@mail.gmail.com>

LET US MEET AT JANTAR MANTAR ON 14TH JAN. AT 5 PM TO LIGHT CANDLES FOR
THE VICTIMS OF NITHARI.

          The year 2006 ended with the shocking revelations of
"NITHARI'S GRUESOME KILLINGS" – appropriately being labeled as
'India's shame' - the blot that may never be easy to erase from our
history.
The Nithari murders have shocked the world and generated unparalleled
anger among the citizenry. What is making us ashamed and angry is that
for two years the media kept on bringing out stories of missing
children of the deprived and marginalized people and we failed to
raise our voice - and if we did it was not 'loud enough' to save the
lives of many innocent poor children. In any case, we should have
never left it to our netas, babus and police, who slept over it.
We must no longer watch from the sidelines silently. Along with the
media the citizens of this country have a moral responsibility to
launch a sustained campaign for accountability.
Let us all meet at Jantar Mantar on Sunday, Jan 14 at 5 p.m. to launch
a sustained 'campaign for accountability of the authorities' and
express our solidarity with the bereaved families of Nithari. We want
to seek information and explanation for the callousness of the
authorities who are there to protect the citizens, especially innocent
children and who failed in their duty for two long years.
The time has come to fight for upholding our constitutional rights in
letter and spirit.

 Coordinated by:
JOSH (Joint Operation for Social Help)
www.josh4india.org, josh4india at gmail.com
Phone:9811872752


From mohaiemen at yahoo.com  Fri Jan 12 11:15:32 2007
From: mohaiemen at yahoo.com (NAEEM MOHAIEMEN)
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 21:45:32 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Come See The Game
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1168513203.7338.reader-list@sarai.net>
Message-ID: <403304.61870.qm@web50301.mail.yahoo.com>

Updates on the unravelling "democracy" "crisis" in
Bangladesh.

Democracy in Crisis
http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/01/bangladesh_a_de.html

Wounded Nation, Still Dreamer
http://thedailystar.net/2007/01/12/d701121502120.htm

Quick Summary
http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/01/11/quick-summary/

[The Title comes from Shishir Bhattacharjee's painting
series during the 1981-91 military junta "Khela Dekhe
Jan Babu" (Mister, Come And See The Game)]


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Have a burning question?  
Go to www.Answers.yahoo.com and get answers from real
people who know.


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Any questions? Get answers on any topic at www.Answers.yahoo.com.  Try it now.


From safar.delhi at gmail.com  Fri Jan 12 15:56:36 2007
From: safar.delhi at gmail.com (Safar Delhi)
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:56:36 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] workshop on RTI
Message-ID: <eb8d7580701120226s5cc3eb2bp60ec65354b1be50@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Friend

We all know that for the past couple of years we have a tool namely "Right
To Information Act" through which now people are unearthing  various scams
and state conspiracies against its own mass. At the same time we are also
feeling that still the act is not being used enough. Why? Because general
public (even the middle class) has no idea about its know how. Since safar
works in a few middle and working class localities in Delhi on various
issues and witness the apathy of govt machinery towards the poor. We have a
feeling that a little sensitization of the people can change their lives
tremendously. and Right To Information is a good issue to start with. That
is why we are going to organise a workshop on the 'Right To Information Act'
in a north Delhi residential colony.

One can also ask why in a residential colony? Very simple, Do you ever see
any thing being organised in colonies except JAGRANS and DIWALI MELAS?
Answer will be again very simple, no. So don't you feel the need of people's
awareness on different issue in a city like delhi, which consumes our time
first and then to our human values ... Safar beliefs that people in the
residential colonies, especially the women can play a very significant role
in sensitizing the community. If you are want top discuss the question in
detail, please write to us. Meanwhile, let me invite you on the above
mentioned workshop, details of which are as follows:

Workshop on Right To Information Act

Time: 11AM,
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Venue: Manoranjan Kaksha
Delhi Administration Flats
Timparpur, Delhi 110054

Hope your participation will help us to understand the issue in a better
way. In case you find any difficulty
please call @ +91 9811 972 872. The nearest Metro Station is Vishwvidyalaya
(Delhi University)

Since 13 January is a holiday many of you can manage to attend the same.


Warm Regards

safar team



-- 
SAFAR a collective journey of researchers, journalists, students, lawyers,
activists, cultural practitioners and performing artists with a deep
commitment to the ideals of social and gender equality. This an open space
for the dialogue, betterment and empowerment of the marginalized.


http://www.safarindia.zoomshare.com
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From patrice at xs4all.nl  Sun Jan 14 16:47:53 2007
From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens)
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 12:17:53 +0100 (CET)
Subject: [Reader-list] Hub Culture Ahoy!
Message-ID: <8728.195.169.149.4.1168773473.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl>

The brouhaha about creative/ global cities and their ever changing ranking
goes on... This site tops it all (fttb)!:

http://www.hubculture.com/

Hub Culture is a place where the world's progressive urban people
integrate to elevate.
The Center of the Universe (no less! -PR!)

It's 2007, and the look and feel of the decade is in full swing. The idea
behind the hub zeitgeist ranking is that at certain times in certain
places, there is a veritable "center of the universe" a place where
innovation, change and vibe combine to create the place of the moment.
Earlier we looked at this from a historical perspective as we prepared our
first ranking of hubs and their impact on hub culture.   Yes, its
arbitrary, and no its not scientific, but it does reflect a combination of
influences on a global basis. It does not reflect ultimate power or
coolness, but some combination that reflects "right now" better than
anywhere. Presenting the 2007 Hub Zeitgeist List:



Hub Culture's 2007 Zeitgeist Ranking



1. Los Angeles

A controversial choice? Sure it's big, but LA is finally hitting on all
cylinders: fashion, tech, entertainment, and overall groove.  American
Apparel is changing fashion with vertically integrated manufacturing. LA's
skull and bones indie rock fashion dominates globally.  Myspace culture is
taken for granted, everywhere. New walking areas and urban regeneration
projects, from downtown to Malibu to Hollywood, make the city much more
palatable than before, despite the endless crush of traffic.  Entourage
and other shows, from the OC (while over, which started it) to Laguna
Beach, have moved the collective consciousness west.  All in this and more
help make LA the city of the moment: the energy is positive, its power is
on the rise, and people everywhere have LA on their mind.


2. Berlin

As contemporary art begins to dominate the mainstream, Berlin has emerged
as the identity for a fun young Europe.  With Merkel putting Germany on
the mend and the World Cup of 2006 having shone the spotlight on the city,
Berlin has spiffed up - a lot.  Real estate is booming, but there is still
an undercurrent of gritty, rough urban experimentalism that resembles
London during its moment.  It's rough, but richer. So hot its nearly
establishment, but not quite yet, which makes it a serious contender for
the top spot.

3. Mumbai

The center of global attention seems to have shifted off China and onto
India, and Mumbai (or as we should say outside, Bombay) is the hot spot in
India.  Its mix of Bollywood and technology lend well to the Youtube era,
and the rich, infectious Indian attitude is becoming a global cultural
force.  The clubbing in Mumbai continues to improve, but its the people
who make it - the sense of optimism here dominates.

4. Istanbul

Somehow Istanbul has managed to balance its location with style and grace.
Those in the know swear by the city, with its speedy speed boats on the
Bosphorous, continually improving scene tempered by an ingrained respect
for Islamic tradition. Istanbul is about the only place where Christian
and Muslim seem to blend to create a sum greater than their parts - it is
evocative of the world we want, and a symbol of where a truly global world
can co-exist.

5. London

London is about to overtake New York in some areas of the financial world.
On constant alert, it remains confident and open, unlike the American
attitude. One of the most expensive cities in the world, it has come to
dominate the international cultural life, and remains a center of the
world in wide areas of business.  London can feel a bit stale at times but
its power is omnipresent, like New York before 911.

6. Buenos Aires

So hot! The Argentinian financial crisis has faded, but the incredible
value of Argentina as a destination remains.  This is fueling a buying
boom in urban real estate as Europeans and North Americans establish
summer homes and secondary residences here.  Business remains slow, but BA
is the hot spot of Latin America.  Panama and Sao Paolo have heat, but BA
sizzles.  It's the hottest "second city" in the world.

7. Beijing

Beijing's big Olympic moment is not until next year, so the city feels
like it is totally under construction. But its a wonderful moment for
creative development and business risk taking in China's capital.  Beijing
always had a stronger underground feel than neighbor Shanghai, which has
soaked up much of China's glory lately, but Beijing is very interesting -
it is a cultural crucible in a darker, more definite way than Shanghai,
and while quieter, its architectural projects, from the new CCTV tower to
the Olympic bird nest stadium, are teeing up the city for its big moment
to come.

8. Dubai

Sure, it's a giant construction zone. Sure, the Palm is sinking and
traffic is a nightmare.  But Dubai is finally attracting the international
professional elite in a serious way, and that's a very recent development.
 The city feels a bit like Hong Kong 20 years ago - where opportunity
calls for young people hungry for a hit.  One & Only, Jumeriah, and even
the W are transforming the city into a sleek holiday party town, and
despite the alcohol restrictions, it offers a different, more positive
vision of the Middle East than is commonly accepted.  It may be crass, but
this city of the future is evocative.

9. New York

The big apple has its stride back, but it has been so sanitized that the
cultural revival of the city feels as if it has been outsourced to
Brooklyn.  But Brooklyn is still part of New York, and New York still
dominates in advertising, finance and international business.  This hub of
hubs seems to be following the leader - in architecture, in culture, and
in innovation, but it is still completely critical for processing other
advances into the mainstream, and as the city moves farther from its 911
nightmare, sprouts of change are seen... from the revival of the speakeasy
to a sudden interest in poetry and drama to the new dominance of the Lower
East Side over Meatpacking. One hopes that NYC can survive its own
mallification.

10. Geneva

Geneva is an odd selection but here for a very real reason.  Much of what
people in hub culture have been talking about lately involves a search for
authenticity - this rebellion against mass consumer culture and
cookie-cutter cities.  Quiet, laid back Geneva is just what it claims to
be, and it is not trying to be much else.  It's authentic and original, a
city that refuses to go with the global grain.  Somehow Geneva is
evocative of this sense of authenticity, and deserves recognition. It is
very in, without trying to be.  Perhaps it is the fact that wealth is
always in, and Geneva is certainly wealthy, but in an era of shouting from
everywhere, Geneva's quiet reserve stands it in good stead.

So, that's the top 10... and following are the rest of the top 20 - cities
that for various reasons stand out - from Shanghai's frenetic pace to
Seoul's growing confidence and tech leadership (Cyworld cometh!), San
Francisco's new role in Energy, Tokyo's rising yen, Hong Kong's outlying
growth, Sydney's easy pace, Seattle's growing philanthropic leadership,
Mexico D.F - so big and so crazy, and Rome - strangely hot after years of
neglect.

11. Shanghai

12. Seoul

13. San Francisco

14. Tokyo

15. Hong Kong

16. Sydney

17. Seattle

18. Moscow

19. Rome

20. Mexico City



Aaaaah! Kolkata is still missing out!!! -PR
;-)





From yukihiko at s6.dion.ne.jp  Sun Jan 14 16:50:39 2007
From: yukihiko at s6.dion.ne.jp (Yukihiko YOSHIDA)
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:20:39 +0900
Subject: [Reader-list] THE BIRTH OF Homeless Dance Company
Message-ID: <200701141120375351560002MA63@nm02mta.dion.ne.jp>

Hello from Tokyo,

Here is news from Tokyo,
I added their website to the message.

Yukihiko Yoshida

THE BIRTH OF Homeless Dance Company
http://www.homelessdance.com/
HOMELESS DAVCE COMPANY Is a by-product of the Little Asia Dance Exchange
Network Tour of 2004.Identifying the need for maintenance of international
relation ships in dance we conceived the idea of Homeless Dance Company, a
biannual meeting of the LADEN 04 participants over 10 years in their
respective countries.

Choreographers/ dancers :  Daniel Yeung    [ hong kong ]
                       Chan, yu -Chun  [Taiwan]
                       Motoko Ikeda    [Japan ]
                       Jung, Young- Doo [Korea]
                       Natalie Cursio    [Australia]
Manager/Producer         Anna Cheng     [Hong Kong ]

Homeless Dance company aims to :

    * Capitalize on and extend the life of the experience that LADEN offers.
* Present performances, workshops, classes and forums which provide
challenging and inspiring opportunities for the core members of the company
and local guests.
    * Maintain existing international relationships and fertilize new ones,
encouraging            
    cross cultural activity in the dance sector and beyond.
    * Gradually develop a repertoire so that the work may be presented in
countries    
    other than those inhabited by the core participants. 

Tour Schedule:
Melbourne (mid April to 1st week of May - 3 weeks(15 april to 5 may?), and
Hong Kong rehearsal and performance 2 weeks ( 6 May to 19 May) Then Taiwan
will be 20 May to 27 May (three performances and one post talk)



From delhi.yunus at gmail.com  Sun Jan 14 23:15:07 2007
From: delhi.yunus at gmail.com (Syed Yunus)
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:45:07 +1000
Subject: [Reader-list] The Cry for a call: Helpless city
Message-ID: <db23393f0701140945j19124dadkdaa92b82e9251961@mail.gmail.com>

Nithari event has been shown on national media and the because of the
complexities involved it is creating a lot of pressure on various
groups.. and creating a lot of opportunities for various( welfare
organisations) groups to show their presssure and presense. for
example the less known child rights organisations are creating public
awareness and demanding justice, the well know orgaisations are
designing new projects  to protect children from trafickers and organ
trade, the 'ill known organisations' are looking at it to gain their
lost image, and mental health professionals are giving their
justificatification and theories and lobbyng for their space in varous
deparments.. in short like 'ME' everybody has something to say.
And  I  sometimes look at this city as helpless and try to draw
certain pattern. for example in last on week I met represetatives of
three different organisation working with children. Drawing from all
the confusion I gathered from them I came to know that everybody is in
pressure. The CBI has a task to perfom, the Ministry for women and
children  has announced anganwadi and creches for Nithari and suddenly
Delhi has been decorated with helpline  boards of  'childline 1098'
the DTC buses has been painted with its AD, a campaign has been
launched by the child rights organisation for two minute silent
condolence on 25 january, so on and so forth.
Similar announcements were made By Minister Renuka chaudhry after the
amendment in child labour regulation and abolition act oj 10 october,
when the question of  rescue and rehabilitation of child labours was
raised by the'civil society'. she said that "we have the 1098
childline to take care of rescued children". the answer was good
enough to reslease the pressure mounted on state.
Following my gut feeling I went to the childline office and came to
know that pretty soon a childline will be set up in NOIDA. a friend
said that " It has nothing to do with the investigation of Nithari but
we are going to visit and search some good organisations tommorrow''.
these cues only make my belief more strong that helplines are used  by
the state as  'safety valve' . you might remember that similar crises
helpline was set up nationally to console farmers affected from the
agrarian crises, that time numerous sucides by the farmers in vardha &
other areas created a similar panic . However the onus was put on the
farmers as individuals with 'less stress coping skills' and the
exploitative agricultural policies were given a clean chit.
It is assumed that just by openeing a helpline for a particular issue
all the help required  will be provided to the needy. so at every time
of crises dont cry for help! but CRY for  a CALL.


-- 

Change is the only constant in life !


From ssrindia at gmail.com  Sat Jan 13 22:30:08 2007
From: ssrindia at gmail.com (Society for Social Research)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 22:30:08 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Workshop on European and Non-European
	Paradigms
In-Reply-To: <5c011a160701130852i69f9956ei24841ec464fc5f74@mail.gmail.com>
References: <5c011a160701130852i69f9956ei24841ec464fc5f74@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <5c011a160701130900s724be18esedf3bec0d13732bd@mail.gmail.com>

Department of Sociology, Delhi school of Economics, University of Delhi

and

Society for Social Research, Delhi

invite

you to a workshop

on
 European and Non-European Paradigms
Date-18th and 19th January 2007
Time- 9.30 a.m. onwards
Venue- Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, DU

*EUROPEAN AND NON-EUROPEAN PARADIGMS*

* *

Since the turn of the last century, European thinkers have been filled with
a sense of foreboding when they address the issues of the fate of Europe.   And
they have been also aware that the fate of Europe implicates the fate of the
globe as we know it.  The struggles of the non-European nations to escape
European imperialism of the not too distant past have been more or less
aware of the crisis of Europe and the importance of this for their own
future.   In their struggles non-European nations have related ambivalently
and equivocally to the European intellectual heritage, that they have
simultaneously addressed as the cause of their bondage and the possibility
of their liberation.   They have drawn selectively from both the European
tradition and their own native traditions to forge an identity capable of
withstanding the European intellectual and moral onslaught somehow
implicated in their dependence and bondage to Europe.



As the European crisis becomes deeper and wider in its influence with the
dismantling of political colonialism and as the moral weight of missionary
European modernism loses its imperative force and coercive possibilities, an
intellectual vacuum begins to manifest itself and confusion looms large and
impending.   To explore this crisis and to enter into the terms of its
self-understanding, holds possibilities for philosophies and orientations of
the future.

It is therefore proposed to arrange a discussion on the theme of 'European
and non-European Paradigms' to enter into and explore the intellectual
dimensions of this crisis and the question of alternative orienting visions.
  It will be held on 18th and 19th January 2007.  It is hoped the
deliberations will provoke debate and consideration in wider circles if we
are able to rise to the challenge of the occasion, and contribute, if not to
orienting visions, at least a greater clarity about the issues involved than
that which currently prevails.

*18th January, 2007***

Time : 9.30a.m.

Shankaran- Gandhi, Dipesh Chakraborty and the Eurocentrism of the once
colonized.



Navjyoti-Future of Knowledge: Towards Exact Humanities.



11.00 a.m.  Tea –Break



11.30 a.m.

His Excellency, Hans-Joachim Kiderlen-Faith Paradigms in Public Discourse in
Europe.



Avinash Jha - Science as Pramana Sastra: Reflections on the science and the
order of knowledge.

1.00p.m. to 2.00 p.m. (Lunch Break)



2.00 p.m.

Amit Sharma- Gandhi and the west.

Anuradha Shah- Pluralism and the vernacular face of identity.

Rabindra Ray- High modernism and the deceptive plebeianizastion of culture.

5.30 p.m. - Film to be screened and title to be decided.

*19th January, 2007***

9.30 a.m.-

Anwar Alam- Muslims, Multiculturalism and Liberal State: A  Comparision of
India and Western Europe.

Katharina Fleckenstein - Beyond Dichotomy - The Flexibility of Paradigms.



11.00 a.m. Tea Break



11.30 a.m.

JPS Uberoi- Mind and the world in modern European Sociology

Shridhar Tilve- Questioning European Paradigms.

5.30 p.m. - Film to be screened and title to be decided.
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From safar.delhi at gmail.com  Mon Jan 15 14:39:10 2007
From: safar.delhi at gmail.com (Safar Delhi)
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:39:10 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Second Legal Aid Camp in Trilokpuri
Message-ID: <eb8d7580701150109i7d4d0ec5ide72006699c1d8c8@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Friends

Safar is going to orgainse its next legal aid/awareness camp in Trilokpuri,
in the East Delhi, on Sunday, 21 January 2006. We are working there not more
than 6-7 months and this is our second camp in the locality. During our
previous camp we got cases of following nature:

police atrocities,
domestic violence,
job related,
caste discrimination and non-availability of caste certificate, and
matrimonial disputes

Besides, the above mentioned cases, the locality has a lot of other
problems, most of them related to ration and lack of basic
amenities.Ifpossible for you to help in these cases in anyways, please
do contact us @
safar.delhi at gmail.com
or call Chander @ 9899870597.

The detail of the camp is as follows:

LEGAL AID/AWARENESS CAMP
SUNDAY,  21JANUARY 2007
TIME: 12.30-3.30 PM
VENUE: CORNER OF T POINT,
NEAR MOTHER DAIRY & GAS AGENCY
BLOCK NO 2, TRILOKPURI
DELHI-110091

Looking forward to your cooperation


warm regards
safar team

-- 
SAFAR a collective journey of researchers, journalists, students, lawyers,
activists, cultural practitioners and performing artists with a deep
commitment to the ideals of social and gender equality. This an open space
for the dialogue, betterment and empowerment of the marginalized.


http://www.safarindia.zoomshare.com
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From zigzackly at gmail.com  Sat Jan 13 17:39:05 2007
From: zigzackly at gmail.com (peter griffin)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:39:05 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Prix Ars Electronica 2007 - Call for Entries
In-Reply-To: <20070112191621.DBD1CFFB2@bender.aec.at>
References: <20070112191621.DBD1CFFB2@bender.aec.at>
Message-ID: <4d145a50701130409y4dca4418xbdc8d15bcd619cbe@mail.gmail.com>

This would be if interest to many on this list.

Good luck.

~peter

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: communities at prixars.aec.at <communities at prixars.aec.at>
Date: 13-Jan-2007 00:46
Subject: Prix Ars Electronica 2007 - Call for Entries
To: 00000003 at bender.aec.at

Dear friends and participants of Prix Ars Electronica!

The 21st Prix Ars Electronica 2007 - International Competition for Cyberarts
has a few new features.

The new Hybrid Art category, a new prize for Media.Art.Research, and the
integration of Net Vision into Digital Communities are the most visible
signs of the intensive work that is being done on the definition of the
competition's categories. As always, the aim is to continually keep the Prix
Ars Electronica updated in line with leading-edge developments in the
dynamic field of cyberarts.

Prix Ars Electronica 2007
Online Submission Deadline: March 9, 2007

Computeranimation / Film / VFX, Digital Musics, Interactive Art, Hybrid Art,
Digital Communities, u19 - freestyle competition, [the next idea] grant,
Media.Art.Research Award

All details about the categories and the online submission
are available online only at: <http://prixars.aec.at>

Total prize money: 122.500 Euro

DIGITAL COMMUNITIES
The "Digital Communities" category will honor important achievements by
digital communities well as innovative artistic approaches towards web-based
communities. This category focuses attention on the wide-ranging social and
artistic impact of the Internet as well as on the latest developments in the
fields of social software, ubiquitous computing, mobile communications
andwireless networks. Special attention goes to community-related "net.art".
"Digital Communities" spotlights bold and inspired innovations impacting
human coexistence, bridging the geographical as well as gender-based digital
divide and cultural conflicts, sustaining cultural diversity and the freedom
of artistic expression or creating outstanding social software and enhancing
accessibility of technological-social infrastructure. This category
showcases the political and artistic potential of digital and networked
systems and is thus designed as a forum for the consideration of a broad
spectrum of projects, programs, artworks, initiatives and phenomena in which
social and artistic innovation is taking place, as it were, in real time. A
Golden Nica, two Awards of Distinction and up to 12 Honorary Mentions will
be awarded in the Digital Communities category in 2007.

MEDIA.ART.RESEARCH Award
Ars Electronica and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research (
media.lbg.ac.at) are  pleased to announce the establishment of a prize for
outstanding theoretical work on the subject of media art to be awarded in
conjunction with the Prix Ars Electronica. The Prix Ars Electronica
Media.Art.Research Award includes a EUR 5,000 cash stipend. The 2007 theme
is "Net-based Artforms." Of particular interest this year are theoretical
analyses of the medial configuration and history of artistic interventions
in electronic networks, elaborations on the social aspects of artistic
encounters in and with the Internet, as well as discussions of research
being done by scholars of art history on these media art genres.

Please feel free to forward this to all interesting/ed parties.

best regards
Iris

Contact: Iris Mayr
Project Manager Prix Ars Electronica

AEC Ars Electronica Center Linz
Museumsgesellschaft mbH
Hauptstraße 2
A-4040 Linz
Tel. ++43.732.7272-74
Fax ++43.732.7272-674
info at prixars.aec.at
http://prixars.aec.at

If this e-mail has been sent to you by mistake or if you'd like to have your
name removed from our mailing list, please send an e-mail with the word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line to the following address:
info at prixars.aec.at
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From vivek at sarai.net  Tue Jan 16 02:53:56 2007
From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 02:53:56 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Announcing: The 2007 Sarai-CSDS Independent
	Fellowship Projects
Message-ID: <45ABF0EC.8010109@sarai.net>


SELECTED SARAI-CSDS INDEPENDENT FELLOWSHIP PROPOSALS: 2007
(list is alphabetical by last name; please enable Unicode on your 
computer to read the Devanagiri fonts)


Priya Babu, Chennai. Performance in the Aravani (Transgender) Community 
in Tamilnadu

Dwaipayan Banerjee, Delhi. Towards A Postcolonial Code

Smita Banerjee, Delhi. Cinematic City: A Study of 1950s and 1960s 
Popular Bangla Cinema

Julius Basaiawmoit & Renee C. Lulam, Shillong. The Changing Faces of 
Democratic Spaces in Urban Cosmopolitan Shillong

Mithun Narayan Bose, Kolkata. Tracing Life from the Stroke: Documenting 
the Rickshaw-Painting of Kolkata Streets

Pritham Chakravarty, Chennai. Urban Sabha Dramas

Arnab Chatterjee, Kolkata. Beyond Private and Public: New Perspectives 
on Personal and Personalist Social Work

Neelima Chauhan, Delhi: ब्लॉगित हिन्दी जाति का लिंकित मन: ब्लॉगों में हिन्दी 
हायपरटेक्स्ट का अध्ययन (“The Linked Mind of the Blogged Hindi Jati: A 
Hypertextual Study of Hindi Blogs”)

Raman Jit Singh Chima, Bangalore. The Regulation of the Internet by the 
Indian State through Legal Structures and Mechanisms

Burton Cleetus, Delhi. Urbanisation, Western Medicine and Modernity: The 
Rockefeller Foundation in Travancore

Ajit Kr. Dvivedi, Delhi. मीडिया की नज़र में सीलिंग बनाम पुश्ते का विस्थापन 
("Media Study: Comparative Reporting on Ceilings and Displacement from 
Jamuna Pushta”)

Anuja Ghoshalkar, Mumbai. Papa Aajoba.

Ranu Ghosh, Kolkata. The Changing Industrial Landscape of Kolkata: Jay 
Engineering Works

Sukanya Ghosh, Mumbai. Animation and the Development Ideal: The Idea of 
Nation, the Socialist Impetus and Animation Film Design in India

Rajeev Ranjan Giri, Delhi. सरस्वती की सार्वजनिक दुनिया (“The Public World 
of the Journal Saraswati, 1900-1920”)

M.S. Harilal, Thiruvananthapuram. Adopting Modernisation, Negotiating 
Modernisation: Modern and Traditional Ayurvedic Sectors in the Context 
of Transformation

Zaigham Imam, Delhi/Allahabad: सपनों की रेल (“Railways of Dreams”)

Santana Issar & Aditi Saraf, Delhi. Old Dog, New Tricks: Rethinking 
Animal Activism in an Urban Context

Vivek Kumar Jain, Delhi. दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के रेहड़ी खोमचेवालों का ज़िन्दगीनामा 
(“A Study of Social and Cultural Spaces on the DU Campus”)

Deepak Kadyan, Delhi. Popular Musical Traditions and the Configuration 
of Jat Identity in Haryana

Ram Ganesh Kamatham, Bangalore. Vikram and Vetal: A Contemporary Urban Play

Shahnawaz Khan, Srinagar. Entertainment Ghosts in Srinagar: A Tale of 
Cinema Halls in the City

Arvind Kumar, Delhi. Caste Violence in Urban Maharashtra: A Study of the 
1974 Worli Riots and the Dalit Panthers Movement

Ramesh Kumar, Delhi. Film Exhibition Spaces in Delhi

Gyaltsen Lama, Gangtok, Sikkim. Shamans in the City: Research and 
Documentation for a Comic Book

Madhura Lokohare, Pune. Exploring the ‘Vartaphalak’ Culture in Pune City

Nalin Mathur, Delhi. B-Grade Engineering College Culture

Meena Menon, Mumbai. Recovering Lost Histories: Riot Victims and 
Communal Polarisation in Mumbai

Yateendra Mishra, Allahabad. आत्मीयता के इर्द - गिर्द अयोध्या ("The Intimate 
Ayodhya”)

Sayandeb Mukherjee, Hyderabad. Corridors: The Psycho-Acoustics of 
Corridor-Like Spaces

Shubhra Nagalia, Allahabad. Representation of Communal Riots in the 
Hindi Media: The Case of the Mau Riots

Sugata Nandi, Kolkata. Eventful Adolescence, Memorable Youth: The 
Politics of Personal Reminiscences in Kolkata, 1947-67

Gauri Paliwal, Indirapuram. क्योंकि हर ब्लॉग कुछ कहता है (“Because Every Blog 
Has Something to Say”)

Bipul Pande, Delhi. रेज़ीडेंस प्रूफ (“Proof Of Residence”)


Vijay Kumar Pandey, Meerut. मेरठ का प्रकाशन उद्योग (“The Publishing 
Industry of Meerut”)

Zubin Pastakia, Mumbai. A Photographic Study of Bombay’s Cinema Halls as 
a Cultural Experience of Space

Gopaljee Pradhan, Silchar. हिन्दी साहित्य में उत्तर -पूर्व (“The North-East in 
Hindi Literature”)

Alok Puranik, Delhi. बाज़ार -भाव रिपोर्टिंग उर्फ़ मिर्ची भड़की और सुस्त टाटा स्टील 
(“A Historical Study of Bazaar Reporting in Hindi Newspapers”)

Mohit Kumar Ray & Soma Ghosh, Kolkata. Heritage Ponds of Kolkata: A 
Contemporary History

P. Jenny Rowena & Carmel Christy, Hyderabad. ‘Where Some Autorickshaws 
Run, Others Burn’: Caste, Class and Gender in the Urban Space of Keralam.

Inder Salim, Delhi. Towards Maha-Performances.

Abhik Samanta, Kolkata. The Visual Art of the Gita Press

Surojit Sen, Chandannagar, Hooghly. Chandannagar and the Displacement of 
Prostitutes

Yoginder Sikand and Naseemur Rahman, Delhi. The Shaping of Muslim 
Identities and the Role of Muslim Publishing Houses in Delhi

Surya Prakash Upadhyay, Mumbai. Guru on the Air: Televised Hinduism in 
Contemporary India

Shiju Sam Varughese, Delhi. The Public Sphere as a Site of Knowledge 
Production: Negotiations Over Tremors, Well Collapses and Coloured Rains 
in the Malayalam Press

T. Venkat, Chennai. Building the Indian Dream: Living and Working 
Conditions of Migrant Workers on Chennai’s IT Corridor

Chitra Venkataramani, Mumbai. Hygiene and the City: A Graphic Novel

Shafia Wani, Srinagar. Aesthetics of Resistance and Women in Kashmir

Ranjan Yumnam, Imphal. Imphalwood: Digital Revolution and the Death of 
Celluloid

-- 
Vivek Narayanan
Sarai: The New Media Initiative
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road
Delhi 110 054




From yasir.media at gmail.com  Tue Jan 16 04:08:37 2007
From: yasir.media at gmail.com (yasir ~)
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:38:37 -0800
Subject: [Reader-list] 9pm ricksha
Message-ID: <5af37bb0701151438q10076a33sefff3961f3d3cdc7@mail.gmail.com>

dreamy ricksha

http://picasaweb.google.com/mediaport/9pmRickshawDrive

enjoy the ride !


From yoursfrankly at rediffmail.com  Tue Jan 16 01:34:46 2007
From: yoursfrankly at rediffmail.com (RONALD REBELLO)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 01:34:46 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] We condemn Supreme Courts attitude towards the RTI Act
Message-ID: <00f901c738e1$0babbd30$0201a8c0@robin>

----- Original Message ----- 
From: JUSTICE CORPS 
To: Supreme Court of India ; Supreme Court Bar Association 
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 9:30 PM
Subject: We condemn Supreme Courts attitude towards the RTI Act


JUSTICE CORPS

(Action group for Judicial Transparency, Justice Reforms and Human Rights)

 

C/o Add:  28 Sunrise (552), Samta Nagar, Kandivali (East), Mumbai 400 101

Mob: 9869 828 619. Email: justicecorps at gmail.com 

 

"Nothing rankles more in the human heart than a brooding sense of injustice. Illness we can put up with, but injustice makes us want to pull things down". - Justice Brenan.

 

 

To

The Chief Justice and all Judges,                                                          January 10, 2007.

Supreme Court of India

New Delhi.

 

Sub: Supreme Court should not adopt double standards - on one hand passing numerous judgments upholding citizens' right to information and on the other hand shying away from the Right to Information Act, 2005. 

 

Dear Sirs, 

 

We learn through media reports that the Supreme Court is not receptive to the Right to Information Act and the SC wants to be exempted from the RTI Act for any information which, in the opinion of the Chief Justice of India or his nominee, may "adversely affect or interfere or tend to interfere with the independence of the judiciary or administration of justice". In addition, the SC has recommended that a decision by the CJI under the Act should not be subjected to further appeal before the CIC. 

 

We are of the opinion that the above hostility towards the RTI Act of the Supreme Court amounts to double standards adopted by the SC, of late. In the past on numerous occasions, the SC has delivered many landmark judgments upholding citizens' right to information and has even stated that the right to life as enshrined in Article 21 includes the right to information.  

 

We therefore condemn this irresponsible attitude of the Supreme Court towards the Right to Information Act. We want to remind the judges that they are not Lords provided with any special exemptions. They are public servants meant to serve the public and are very much accountable to the people. In fact they owe much more accountability to the people because atleast corrupt, derelict, inefficient, uncouth politicians can be thrown out by the people every five years during election time, but corrupt, derelict, inefficient, uncouth public servants like IAS, IPS, and Judges rule over the public for more than 25-30 years.

 

The judiciary must know that it too is being watched by the public and it too is accountable to the public, being one major pillar of democracy. Like bureaucrats who wanted to escape file notings, if the courts prefer to escape the Right to Information Act, then all the judgments of various HCs and the SC on right to information will be nothing but mere pontifications. 

 

The present Chief Justice of India, Mr. Y. K Sabharwal and the incoming Chief Justice of India, Mr. K. G Balakrishnan, both have been supporters of the Right to Information Act. Mr. Sabharwal, in fact delivered a full speech on impact of the Right to Information Act on Administrative efficiency, Public Accountability and Constitutional Governance, in December 2005. Therefore, the present stand by the SC vis-à-vis RTI Act smacks of inconsistency and sends a wrong message to other Govt. institutions. For example, the UPSC and CBI and Delhi Metro too, for specious reasons want themselves out of the ambit of RTI.  At this rate the good law itself will be defeated and it will be status quo ante deluvian. 

 

The Right to Information Act is a tool to ensure transparency in every public functionary. Mere transparency in the functioning of the judiciary cannot compromise its independence and the SC should not feel insecure about it. 

 

Stated frankly and Pro Bono Publico

 

 

 

Ronald Rebello         Sanket Kashid             Ganesh Sodaye           Hemant Morajkar

Founder                      Co-Founder                   Member                        Member

 

9869 828 619               98699 46890                  24032751                      9819 4121 33

            

 

 

Copies to:

  1.. Minister of Law and Justice, Govt. of India 
  2.. Dept. of Public Grievances, Govt. of India 
  3.. Central Information Commission, New Delhi 
  4.. All High Courts 
  5.. University Professors and Students 
  6.. Print and Electronic Media





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From alice at tank.tv  Mon Jan 15 17:32:03 2007
From: alice at tank.tv (Alice O'Reilly)
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:02:03 +0000
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] 'I Am Future Melancholic at Tate
	Modern' 20th	January 2007 7pm
In-Reply-To: <442eb4460701150353g59077182wb8284651da00df98@mail.gmail.com>
References: <442eb4460701150353g59077182wb8284651da00df98@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <442eb4460701150402k8b942c4h98d8fa7e52efe4d1@mail.gmail.com>

    [image: tank.tv] <http://www.tank.tv>
    <http://www.tank.tv>
 <http://www.tank.tv>
Matthieu Laurette, Déjà Vu: The 2nd International
Look-alike Convention at Castello di Rivoli (2001-2002)
Courtesy Matthieu Laurette - Blow de La Barra
 * I Am Future Melancholic
* *Tate Modern / 20th January 2007 - 7pm
www.tank.tv / 15th January - 28th February 2007 *

  This show presents moving images by artists whose practice reflects a
vision of tomorrow. The structures and systems of reality are examined to
reveal glimpses into what we call 'the future'. This ineffable and
intangible concept, that constantly haunts the present, here provokes a
wealth of musings and imaginings.

In 'Bruxelles 4023', Mathieu Delvaux & Xavier van Huffel perform street
interviews to ask the public what they think Brussels might be like in 4023.
The answers, as varied as the people themselves, reveal the concept of the
future as a screen for hopes, fears and fantasy. Astarting point into an
exploration of tomorrow...

Challenging, doubt-inducing and transformative aspects of 'the future' can
be perceived in Vito Acconci's repetitive acts, recorded in a super8 film
'Break-Through' or in Philippe Meste's detonative video 'LHRB'. Rachel
Reupke's 'Infrastructure' is born of a fascination with movie special
effects and narrative devices. And Carsten Höller's 'One minute of doubt'
and 'Punktefilm' induct a representation of our 'timeless everyday', and
magically echo the playful nature of his present turbine hall insta llation.
Laurent Montaron shows us a fictive exploration of time and travel through
his `Readings', while Matthieu Laurette's impressive cocktail of celebrity
lookalikes brings us into confusion at a blured vision of the limits between
performance and observation. Mai Yamashita and Naoto Kobayashi's star, in
'When I wish Upon a Star' gives us time we need to wish upon.

Artists include: Erwin Wurm, Haris Epaminonda, Xavier Veilhan, Carsten
Höller, Philippe Meste, Susanne Bürner, Laurent Montaron, Chris Cornish,
Mathieu Delvaux & Xavier Van Huffel, Bernard Gigounon, Matthieu Laurette,
Rachel Reupke, John Latham, Vito Acconci and Mai Yamashita & Naoto
Kobayashi.

The Artist Mathieu Delvaux, Matthieu Laurette and Susanne Bürner with
musician Steve Trafford (ex member of the Fall / member of Tycoons Follies),
will also be present to introduce their work.

"I am Future Melancholic" is at Tate Modern at 7pm on Saturday 20 January
2007 and online on www.tank.tv from 15 January to 28 February 2007

Curated by Anne-Sophie Dinant and Laure Prouvost



"I Am Future Melancholic" is kindly supported by:




 www.tank.tv
 www.tate.org.uk<http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/film/7362.htm>


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

Alice O'Reilly
tank.tv
5th floor
49-50 Great Marlborough street
London W1F 7JR

alice at tank.tv
T +44 (0)207434 0110
F +44 (0)207434 9232

http://www.tank.tv

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

tank.tv is an inspirational showcase of contemporary moving images /
dedicated
to exhibiting and promoting moving images, www.tank.tv acts
as a platform for the new, innovative work in film and video

-- 

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

Alice O'Reilly
tank.tv
5th floor
49-50 Great Marlborough street
London W1F 7JR

alice at tank.tv
T +44 (0)207434 0110
F +44 (0)207434 9232

http://www.tank.tv

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

tank.tv is an inspirational showcase of contemporary moving images /
dedicated
to exhibiting and promoting moving images, www.tank.tv acts
as a platform for the new, innovative work in film and video
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announcements mailing list
announcements at sarai.net
https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements

From nc-agricowi at netcologne.de  Tue Jan 16 17:31:39 2007
From: nc-agricowi at netcologne.de (JavaMuseum)
Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:01:39 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] =?iso-8859-1?q?=5BAnnouncements=5D_Call_for_proposa?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?ls=3A_a_+_b_=3D_ba=3F?=
Message-ID: <20070116130139.38FF2523.F54249B4@192.168.0.4>

Call for proposals
--->
Deadline 2 July 2007
Theme:
a + b = ba ?
[art + blog = blogart?]

--->

JavaMuseum  - http://www.javamuseum.org
is starting its 2nd phase
by publishing on open call focussing on the question
whether blogs and/or blogging can be tools for creating a new type of net based art.
The launch of this new project in September 2007
is planned to be also the occasion for re-launching
JavaMuseum after a phase of re-structuring since 2005.
.
JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technology in Contemporary Art,
founded in 2000, realized during the 1st phase (2001-2005)
18 show cases focussing on  Internet based art in a global context,
including more than 350 artists from 40 countries.
In this way, JavaMuseum was able to show for the first time the dimension of Internet based art
as a new  and individual art genre, even if it is continously said to be dead.
.
For a + b = ba?, JavaMuseum is inviting
artists to submit such an art project in form of a blog.

The entry details, regulations and entry form can be found on
http://netex.nmartproject.net/index.php?blog=8&cat=54

--------------------------------------------
JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technology in Contemporary Art
http://www.javamuseum.org
JIP - JavaMuseum Interview Project
http://jip.javamuseum.org

--------------------------------------------
This call is released by
NetEX - networked experience
http://netex.nmartproject.net
powered by
[NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne
www.nmartproject.net -
the experimental platform for art and New Media
operating from Cologne/Germany.
.
info& contact

_______________________________________________
announcements mailing list
announcements at sarai.net
https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements

From mario at breakthrough.tv  Wed Jan 17 13:23:46 2007
From: mario at breakthrough.tv (Mario D'Penha)
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:23:46 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] TRI Continental Film Festival - 2007
Message-ID: <019001c73a0c$9fb13d80$0a01a8c0@Mario>


The TRI Continental Film Festival - 2007, presenting the finest Human Rights Cinema from the global South returns to Delhi this January!

 

The TRI Continental Film Festival will showcase 24 award-winning and critically acclaimed films!

 

Watch out for us at:

Delhi: 18th - 21st January 07 at the India Habitat Centre & Alliance Française; 

Konkona Sen Sharma will inaugurate the Festival on January 18  at 6.45 PM 

at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre

 

Invitations are available at the venues.

 

Please check the attached schedule and visit our website to know more about the films and to watch their trailers.

 

www.breakthrough.tv

 

In collaboration with: 

Uhuru Productions, FFSI, Habitat Film Club, Alliance Française de Delhi, JACIC, Cine Central, Swayam, Bangalore Film Society, Alliance Française de Bangalore & Air Sahara

 

RSVP:

Alika Khosla / Mario D'Penha

Breakthrough

#104, Blue Apartments, 

Safdarjung, Ring Road,

New Delhi - 110029

Ph: 2617 6185



Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road 

 

      Date 
     Time
     Film
     Duration
     
      18-Jan
     6:45 PM
     Inauguration by Konkona Sen Sharma
      
     
      18-Jan
     7:00 PM
     John & Jane
     83 mins
     
      18-Jan
     8:30 PM
     Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror'
     27 mins
     
       
      
      
      
     
      19-Jan
     6:45 PM
     Leila Khaled Hijacker
     58 mins
     
      19-Jan
     7:50 PM
     Between the Lines: India's Third Gender
     94 mins
     
       
      
      
      
     
      20-Jan
     6:45 PM
     One Day of War: Frontlines
     30 mins
     
      20-Jan
     7:15 PM
     Hearts and Minds
     112 mins
     


 

Bhartia Auditorium, Alliance Française de Delhi, Lodhi Estate

 

      Date 
     Time
     Film
     Duration
     
      19-Jan
     10:30 AM
     Mitumba - The Second Hand Road
     53 mins
     
      19-Jan
     11:30 AM
     City of Guilt
     24 mins
     
      19-Jan
     12:00 PM
     Betrayal
     56 mins
     
      19-Jan
     1:30 PM
     To Disobey
     80 mins
     
       
      
      
      
     
      20-Jan
     10:30 AM
     Lost Children
     98 mins
     
      20-Jan
     12:15 PM
     Inclusion: Makes Everyone Happy
     1 min
     
      20-Jan
     12:20 PM
     Froth
     10 mins
     
      20-Jan
     12:35 PM
     The Worst Job in the World
     29 mins
     
      20-Jan
     1:30 PM
     Bushman's Secret
     65 mins
     
      20-Jan
     2:40 PM
     Between Midnight & The Rooster's Crow
     66 mins
     
      20-Jan
     3:50 PM
     Endless Fallout
     54 mins
     
      20-Jan
     4:50 PM
     Venezuela Rising
     65 mins
     
       
      
      
      
     
      21-Jan
     10:30 AM
     The Immigrant
     90 mins
     
      21-Jan
     12:05 PM
     Say Amen!
     65 mins
     
      21-Jan
     1:30 PM
     Q2P
     54 mins
     
      21-Jan
     2:30 PM
     Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
     90 mins
     
      21-Jan
     4:00 PM
     Our America
     84 mins
     
      21-Jan
     5:30 PM
     First Lesson In Peace
     56 mins
     

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From mail at shivamvij.com  Wed Jan 17 19:48:52 2007
From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam Vij)
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:48:52 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] O+ Liver donor wanted
Message-ID: <9c06aab30701170618p14bdf1d5k56485e2c22e8acea@mail.gmail.com>

This is a friend's friend. If anyone can help, please do.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bhuvan Jain <bhuvan.jain at gmail.com>
Date: Jan 17, 2007 6:10 PM
Subject: Ref : Anamika's friend Vibha

Vibha Mishra is a person with life and energy. I have seen her pursue
tirelessly with her creative spirit in area of theater and creativity
in personality development in children and theater for street
children. In a skin drafting surgery for major burn injuries which she
bravely survived, she got contaminated blood transfusion which
infected her. She, her doctors and friends working in a team could
make her survive for twenty long years in which she worked heartily in
workshops for children.

She is facing a critical situation of liver failure and we need
someone to come forward and donate a part of their liver for this
cause. Liver donation is a safe practice where a part of a healthy
person's liver is transplanted, and it grows back after a while.
However, the person would need to take out 10 days for the surgery.
Vibha's blood group is O POSITIVE.  Unfortunately, no one in Vibha's
family can't donate because her sister's blood group isn't matching,
her mother is too old to donate and there is no one else in her
family. For more on the same process, please check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_donor_liver_transplantation

 More About her achievements and awards :

She passed out from National school of drama, Delhi, worked with Rang
Mandal, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. She is an outstanding theater person
and is recipient of several awards for excellence in performance and
fellowships. She has made over 13 films for the television on famous
artists and literary persons and she also runs a group for children's
theater. She was on the Indo-French collaboration where she also
played the lead role of Play Fedra. She has worked with leading
directors in India and abroad.

Her numerous achievement and dreams makes her life precious.

If you think you can help, please contact : bhuvan.jain at gmail.com ; or
call +91 22 22020437

Warm Regards,
Bhuvan


From m.prabha_kar at yahoo.co.in  Thu Jan 18 07:56:25 2007
From: m.prabha_kar at yahoo.co.in (mprabhakar prabhakar)
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 02:26:25 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] Victims of UGC Regulation 2006 crying for social and
	natural justice. UGC `apathy&#8217;
	dims future prospects of unfortunate those victims.
Message-ID: <357880.32801.qm@web7802.mail.in.yahoo.com>

   Victims of UGC Regulation 2006 crying for social and natural justice. UGC `apathy&#8217; dims future prospects of unfortunate those victims.
   
  Scores of Temporary Management Staff / adhoc Lecturers working in aided / Govt., (also self financing) colleges on poorly and hourly pay basis awaiting their M.Phil exams (as they have registered as M.Phil scholars from Jan.2006 onwards only after having come to know about constitution of Dr.Mungekar NET Review committee on 14th Nov. 2005) are sore over the continued ``APATHY'' of the University Grants Commission towards their plea for providing small time limit upto 31-06-2007 to clear their M.Phil program to be eligible for appointment as lecturers in reular vacancies in colleges and universities. It is noteworthy to mention that equally unqualified NET failed M.Phil holders were declared as qualified on 14-06-2006 by UGC Regulation 2006 upon interim recommendations by problem solving exercise of NET Review committee.
   
  
  As the various State Governments have announced filing of regular lecturer post vacancies, the application by these unfortunate teachers have been already rejected for want of M.Phil and is bound to be rejected for left out vacancies until they clear their M.Phil program. It is irony that even less experienced equally unqualified (until 14-06-2006) M.Phil holders are getting appointed where as unfortunate teachers who regularly kept attempting the only obligatory NET are mercilessly shown the exit door inspite of more than 5 years of experience.
   
  
  These unfortunate teachers have been fighting for the past 8 months ( from 16th May 2006 when the Hon&#8217;ble UGC Chairperson first time accepted in principle NET relaxation then later made official as UGC Reulation 2006 on 14-06-2006)over the issue of discriminatory NET relaxation (which was introduced in 1991 later relaxed for upto 1993 M.Phil and Ph.D holders only) for M.Phil and Ph.D holders but kept the same mandatory for post graduates upon interim recommendations of NET Review committee - a problem solving exercise. Remember until 14-06-2006 M.Phil after 1993 was not mandatory and considerd as a mere pay incremental element only, that too if appointed on regular vacancy.
   
  
  The inconsistency in Qualification policy seem to have become a common practice by UGC. Rightly reported in News reports as a commission of ommission or Useless Governing Commission. Earlier the Ph.D scholars kept fighting in vain for the 2 years over a similar U turn by the UGC, through a directive in April 2000, when it withdrew its own earlier notification, which allowed the universities to exercise their discretion on granting exemption to Ph.D degree holders from NET or SLET for being eligible to be appointed as lecturers.
   
  
  Then such UGC's move was widely seen as a retrograde step as it would ``devalue'' the Ph.D degree and ``discourage serious research.'' Research scholars then complained that the UGC's stand on the issue has been ``inconsistent.'' The affected scholars had sigh of relief only when Calcutta High Court quashed the UGC&#8217;s subsequent withdrawl of exemption notification.
   
  
  The UGC, through a notification in September 1991, made it obligatory for candidates to clear NET or SLET to become eligible to apply for the post of lecturers.
   
  
  Through subsequent notifications, candidates who submitted their Ph.D thesis or passed M.Phil examinations in the subjects concerned before December 31, 1993, were exempted from the norm.
   
  
  In December 1998, the UGC stated it would be optional for universities to exempt Ph.D degree holding candidates from having to clear NET. But the same facility was not extended for M.Phil. Such an attitude of UGC did not enthuse the future teacher aspirants to go for non mandatory M.Phil but compelled them to get seriously inclined towards clearing mandatory NET. This inclination has costed them dearly leading to loss of a life time chance because by the time they get qualify all the vacancies will be filled up.
   
  
  The December 1998 regulation was withdrawn by UGC through the April, 2000 notification. It stated that any relaxation in the prescribed qualifications could only be made by the UGC in a particular subject in which NET was not being conducted or enough number of candidates were not available with NET qualification for a specified period only.
   
  
  Later the the thread of exemption story continued in Aug 2004 when it was made more stringent. An official communication F, 1-1/2003(PS) Meeting signed by then Under secretary Mrs.Shashi Munjal sent to Registrars of all universities and Education Secretaries dated Dec 9, 2004 provided that the commission at its meeting held on 13th Aug, 2004 considered the recommendations of the Exemption Committee and approved and decided that NET Exemption is not allowed hereinafter and candidates must clear NET for lecturership, however exemption may be granted in view of clearly spelt out circumstances that no NET exam is conducted in the subject or qualified candidates are not available when proper selection interviews were held. Moreover such candidate should not be appointed unless prior approval in prescribed form is obtained from UGC and appointed candidate should clear the NET within a period of two years. The letter clearly spelt that appointment letter shall not be issued
 until relaxation letter is obtained from UGC. On seeing such a circular any rational human-being will conclude that NET clearance as the only solution to enter teaching profession. Barely in next 20 months creeped scrapping of NET through UGC Regulation 2006.
   
  
  In this complete qualification exemption story exihibiting many controversies, U turns and inconsistency, no one would have wondered that M.Phil will become a qualification in June 2006 bypassing and relaxing mandatory NET. Now when finally decided to grant M.Phil holders the status of Qualification, why the same is denied to Teacher cum M.Phil scholars - a group for whose creation the negative credit goes only to UGC and the responsibility lies solely on inconsistent policies on qualification criteria. One should not be surprised if UGC takes yet another U turn, again restoring NET as only mandatory for teacher qualification dumping M.Phil and Ph.D once again as pay incremental element, more so still awaiting final report from Review committee.
   
  
  Such ``inconsistent'' notifications have resulted in needless discrimination against regular teacher aspirants currently working as management staff / adhoc teachers on hourly basis (performing the role of regular UGC pay scale lecturer) whose position is no way better than casual laborers. Hundreds of such temporary teachers are pursuing M.Phil Program and their employment prospects have been adversely affected due to the UGC's latest of many discriminatory direction.
   
  
  Employment opportunities in Tamilnadu as now existing by phase 1 and as expected by phase 2 if once get exhausted will result in more pitiable and worst situation for these poor teachers and also for their dependant families. If these opportunities were made difficult for them, it would adversely affect their career.
   
  
  The lack of consistency over the issue has caused much damage, confusion and resulted in exclusion of these teachers in academic, social and economic society. The issue needs an urgent solution as current developments in Tamilnadu indicate towards recommencing of selection process as per Court direction not only in Govt., colleges but also in aided colleges as discrepancies noted in selection process in appointments already made (awaiting approval) in the colleges affilited to universities in the state.

 				
---------------------------------
 Here’s a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers 
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From vimlendu at gmail.com  Wed Jan 17 19:14:36 2007
From: vimlendu at gmail.com (vimlendu jha)
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:14:36 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Call for Nominations - Youth Yatra
In-Reply-To: <484e47d0701150446r67fe7d0of034858d49deae16@mail.gmail.com>
References: <484e47d0701150446r67fe7d0of034858d49deae16@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <484e47d0701170544i527a994dl561c6a82b43f370c@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Friends,

Please find the 'Call for Nominations' for this very interesting project we
are doing this year. We plan to undertake a *Yamuna Yatra*, yet again - this
time with diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Participants would
primarily be from 4 countries - India, Sri Lanka, Finland and UK- and should
be a *young journalist or a community worker*.

Having said that, we are in the process of selecting people for this journey
and the project. If you know of someone who would be interested in this or
would be able to gain something from this endeavor, please forward the mail
to them. Interested organisations could nominate someone for the project
too. We just have *six *positions in India and need to freeze it at the
earliest.
Please spread the word around, and feel free to get back to me for any
clarification!

Regards
vimlendu




<http://www.britishcouncil.org/>
<http://www.swfc.org.in/><http://www.alli.fi/><http://www.sarvodaya.org/><http://www.unltd.org.uk/>



*YOUTH YATRA*

*Be the change you want to see around you *



Uncover your potential to be a change maker!  Join an *international group *of
young people who want to make a difference… Go on a River Yamuna journey and
let it change your life…



You need to be open to other cultures, you need to be up for a challenge,
you need to be willing to spend three months (during February to September
2007) of your life from reflection to action…



The Youth *Yatra project for Reflection and Action for Change* is funded by
the *European Union *and managed by the *British Council* along with
partners in Finland , (*Finnish Youth Cooperation Allianssi*) India (*Swechha
We for Change Foundation *), Sri Lanka (*Sarvodaya Shramadan Movement*) and
the UK (*UnLtd*).  The project aims at building the capacity of young people
(between *18-30 years*) to create a culture of sustainability through
inter-cultural dialogue.



*We for Yamuna*, is managing the project in India.



*IF*



   - You are interested in issues of sustainability, culture and dialogue

   - Can give dedicated time to the project from *mid March to mid April
   07 *
   - have experience of writing, fund raising, networking, or working in
   sustainable development initiatives
   - have good written and spoken English language skills
   - and want to build your skills to make a change, influence your peers
   and also meet young people from different countries and cultures



This is an opportunity waiting for you!



Send in your applications to be a part of this exciting project.



*To apply:*



   - Send a short CV (of no more than 4 pages)
   - Write your personal perspective on "Is it important to create a
   culture of sustainability through multiculturalism?   Why/Why not?"  (in
   not more than 1000 words)





Please write to vimlendu at gmail.com or visit www.youthyatra.in for more
details.

*Last Date:  21st of January, 2007. *

-- 
www.youthyatra.in
Vimlendu Jha
Executive Director,
SWFC Foundation (We for Yamuna),
Mob- 09811812788
www.swfc.org.in



-- 
www.youthyatra.in
Vimlendu Jha
Executive Director,
SWFC Foundation (We for Yamuna),
Mob- 09811812788
www.swfc.org.in
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From info at kitabmahal.org  Thu Jan 18 14:23:02 2007
From: info at kitabmahal.org (Kitabmahal, The Fourth Floor)
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:53:02 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Shibu Arakkal's Photography
	exhibition at Kitab	Mahal, Fort from 15th - 25th January 2007
Message-ID: <9dc29617913201595e67bc1063fc8245@husky.ymlpcom.com>

Gallery Art Resource Trust

  invites you to 
Abstract notions photographs

 by 

 Shibu Arakkal 
15th January 2007 to 25th January 2007 
at 
Kitab Mahal, 4th Floor, 192, D N Road,

 Fort, Mumbai 400 001. 

 Phone : 22079119 / 22071771

_____________________________
Change address / Leave mailing list: http://ymlp.com/u.php?fourthfloor+announcements at sarai.net
Hosting by  YourMailingListProvider

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From anivar.aravind at gmail.com  Fri Jan 19 09:50:03 2007
From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind)
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:50:03 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Launch of Draft IT Policy & Discussion Portal
In-Reply-To: <eoo7vv+qj1r@eGroups.com>
References: <eoo7vv+qj1r@eGroups.com>
Message-ID: <35f96d470701182020u22d4df9dp4aee9af406aec529@mail.gmail.com>

Please see the new ICT policy at
 http://www.itforum.kerala.gov.in/discussion/index.htm

 Press Release

  Launch of Draft IT Policy & Discussion Portal

 The Draft IT Policy of the Government of Kerala was launched by the
 Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri V.S. Achuthanandan on 17-01-07.

 The Draft IT Policy document provides a comprehensive view of ICT as a
 transformation force which can turn Kerala into a knowledge based,
 economically vibrant, democratic and inclusive society. The draft
 document has been formulated in the background of emerging trends and
 changing requirements.

 The Hon'ble Chief Minister has also launched the web portal for public
 consultation on ICT Policies. Through this portal, the Government
 would like to invite all the interested people from around the world
 to participate in the public consultation. This Policy drafting
 process will be a model for using the new ICT technologies in building
 public policy through public participation. It may perhaps be the
 first time in India that such an exercise is being initiated.

 Salient features of the Draft IT Policy

 1. The Policy envisions transformation of the state into a
 knowledge society with a sustainable economic growth, social harmony
 and high quality of life for its citizen
    2. Ensure that all sections of the society are included in this
 transformation process. Conscious and positive steps will be taken in
 this regard.
    3. Creation of a favourable environment for increased economic
 activity and investment in ICT, ITES and other knowledge based
 industry sectors to significantly enhance direct and indirect
 employment opportunities.
    4. Spreading IT literacy and setting up of service delivery points
 to add value to the daily life of the common man residing even in the
 remotest part of the state
    5. Improving the quality, transparency and access of governmental
 service delivery through application of ICT to public services
    6. To take advantage of Free Software paradigm for the
 comprehensive development of ICT sector and to make Kerala the Free
 Software industrial destination of the country.

 In order to create an increased awareness as well as facilitate
 participation by all section of society, the Government proposes to
 conduct three regional work shops by mid February. The inputs received
 during the work shops and from the portal will be taken into
 consideration while drafting the final Policy Document.

Some news Reports

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/01/18/stories/2007011801800700.htm

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070117/43/6b93w.html

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/21095.html


From monica at sarai.net  Fri Jan 19 23:50:16 2007
From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula)
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:50:16 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Counterinsurgency Manual
Message-ID: <95D525F6-BC2D-4BFA-88B1-321646B6673A@sarai.net>

FYI :-)
(cross posted from incom list)
---------------------------------------------------------------

Counterinsurgency Manual
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf

In December 2006 the U.S. Department of the Army
issued a new counterinsurgency manual, the first in 25
years.FM 3-24 is a very interesting document, even if
you just skim some of the 280 pages. Where else might
you find quotes from The New Yorker, T.E. Lawrence's
27 Articles from the Arab Bulletin of August 1917, a
discussion of social network analysis, and solatia
(payments to a victim's family as an expression of
condolence).

It  of course draws lessons from Algeria, Vietnam,
China, Colombia, Malaya, and present day Iraq. Given
the falling level of support by most Americans, it may
be too late to be applied very effectively if the
conflict is primarily a civil war.  However, for those
whose interests lie with NGOs and development in
general, it may provide insights in the way civil
assistance intertwines with counterinsurgency
strategy. At least that is the goal of the U.S. State
Department and its "transformative diplomacy."

=============================================

Monica Narula
Raqs Media Collective
Sarai-CSDS
29 Rajpur Road
Delhi 110054
www.raqsmediacollective.net
www.sarai.net




From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com  Sat Jan 20 09:02:03 2007
From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah)
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:02:03 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] A Girl Madarsa alleges rape of two of its students
Message-ID: <2076f31d0701191932q3f482775ka5457590a7b5fbb4@mail.gmail.com>

               **A Girl Madarsa  alleges rape of two of its students **


LUCKNOW, JANUARY 19: Two teenaged students of an Allahabad madarsa,
run by the brother of Varanasi blast accused Waliullah, were allegedly
abducted and "appeared to have been raped," police said.

Both live and study at the the Madarsa Zamiat-Us-Salihat-Al-Islam for
girls, run by Wasiullah, brother of Waliullah who is in prison.

According to details gathered by police, armed youths arrived at the
madarsa posing as CID police at about noon on Wednesday and forced
their way in. They held warden Sadum Nisha and peon-cum-gatekeeper
Abdul Haq at gunpoint, and took the girls away forcibly, police said.

Two hours later they dropped both victims near the madarsa and
escaped, police said. "From the description given by madarsa staff to
the police of the state in which the girls returned, it appears they
were raped. But without medical examination, we can't say with
certainty they were raped," said Circle Officer Rahul Srivastava.

Allahabad police claim that the victims have not recorded their
statements and are unwilling to go for a medical check-up. Security
has been provided to the madarsa.

"An FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons by the madarsa
manager Wasiullah. We have also issued him a notice, asking him to
assist police in the investigation," said Allahabad SSP B D Paulson.

Investigating officer Rajesh Singh said it was a resident of the area
who informed them of the incident. "The FIR of molestation and rape
has been lodged but will be confirmed after the medical report," he
said.

(http://www.indianexpress.com/story/21337.html#)

arshad amanullah
new delhi-25.


From swadhin_sen at yahoo.com  Fri Jan 19 01:50:29 2007
From: swadhin_sen at yahoo.com (Swadhin Sen)
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:20:29 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Wari-Bateshwar,
	Media Archaeology in Bangladesh and archaeological evidence as
	legal testimony
Message-ID: <45923.24055.qm@web52211.mail.yahoo.com>

Archaeological evidence as legal testimony
M.S. GANESH, RABINDRA K. HAZARI and SHEREEN RATNAGAR


[Notes by the sender:

The excavation at Wari-Bateshwar has started again this season. We have noticed the upsurge and hype in 'media coverage' and 'the representation of past' in Bangladesh. Many people may think that this media coverage will make archaeology popular among the public and consequently, a lot of good will be done to the virtually neglected discipline of archaeology in Bangladesh.

But the position regarding the 'uncritical', 'unscientific' and 'abuses' of archaeology suggests us to reassess the entire process of archaeological research around this site. 

Inferences and interpretations of 'evidence' from the past have been under serious scrutiny these days throughout the world. When we can't even be 'accurate' about our interpretations of present, the interpretations about the past requires much more patience and rigorous methodology informed by the recent critiques and understandings of archaeological practice, ideology, representation of the past and politics of the past.

Huge proportion of academic and popular papers are available these days for comprehending the fact that archaeology, from its beginning and throughout its subsequent transformations, has been manipulated for personal gains, for promoting racism, masculinity and nationalism, for establishing particular narratives of religious supremacy, etc. Nazi archaeology in Germany, Racist archaeology in Yugoslavia, Hinduttvabadi archaeology in India, colonialist archaeology by the British in India and US are a few examples where explicit manipulation of past and archaeological evidences have been identified. More implicit and nuanced varieties could be found in 'neutral' and 'objective' archaeological practice for gaining fund, status and fame and moreover, for provoking nationalistic sentiments. Past has always been a space for seeking validation of and emancipation from the present, for establishing a particular idea and ideal of the future.

We must show a positive gesture to the role of media in circulating and transmitting Wari-Bateshwar archaeology. However, I must point at the fact that the media has remained alarmingly silent to the possible abuses and underlying causes of these abuses in the case of Wari-Bateshwar archaeology. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that any archaeological excavation must have periodic reports guided by disciplinary principles, no excavation report has been published except one in 2001. Final report many need considerable time, but preliminary reports with initial stratigraphic understanding have been part and parcel of any proper and methodologically correct archaeological excavation. Inamgaon, a site in India which has been known for Pit-dwelling and which was referred to in connection to Wari-Bateshwar last year didn't have such a kind of media coverage. The excavation report was a very good one and was published several years of excavation. Moreover, the case of Inamgaon
 is different in many cases than Wari-Bateshwar. For example, it is a huge site and several academic researches with serious technical and methodological details were done before the final excavation report.

As I have referred to in some of my papers before, the 'grand inferences' about the 'past' of Wari-Bateshwar must be verified within the scientific and critical methodology of archaeological excavation, recording and interpretations of archaeological evidence.

We may find 'pleasure' and 'pride' in thinking that 'we have a civilization as old as the Harappan civilization' or that 'we have been civilized since a long time'. However, nationalistic pride and glory shouldn't be exchangeable for disciplinary honesty and methodological principles. The image of the professionals and scientific practice of archaeology in Bangladesh, wont be better through such an approach dominated, controlled and legitimized by narrow nationalistic pride. Please note that such approaches regarding the Harappan civilization in Pakistan and so-called 'Swaraswati Civilization' in India have had their pitfalls and grave consequences.

We hope that media will play a more critical and responsible role by going beyond the nationalistic and glorious invocation of the past, which has been termed by a famous historian 'the golden age hallucination'. The 'other' voices arguing for the essentiality of disciplinary dignity and principles should not be marginalized by terming them as 'too difficult and technical to be comprehensible by the Public' and 'as utterance of professional jealousy to stop a "good work"'.

Those who are interested in looking at the things differently may read the following paper written by lawyers and archaeologists together on the case of Babri Masjid arhaeology in India, and find thoughtrpovoking resemblance between the problems about manipulation of past in India and Bangladesh.

This paper can also be found at http://www.india-seminar.com/2003/522/522%20ganesh,%20hazari%20&%20ratnagar.htm]




AMONG the places of worship that certain political parties wish to ‘reclaim for Hindus’ is the site of the now demolished mosque at Ayodhya. A combination of circumstances prompted some archaeologists to announce to the public that they had ‘proof’ of the existence of a medieval Ram temple preceding the construction of the mosque by Mir Baqi. The High Court of Allahabad is currently hearing a case that will decide, among other things, whether this archaeological claim is true, and whether Hindus have been worshipping at this very spot as the birthplace of the deified Ram ‘since time immemorial’. The dispute is over the religious character the site has possessed over the centuries. The matter assumes a particular degree of piquancy as no one knows what actually lies under the mosque.

As one of the aims of this collection of papers is to distinguish the present political efforts to rewrite history from historical practice within the social sciences, we set out to ask, in this paper, in what manner the distinction emerges when a controversy is debated before the judiciary. We need also to write about court deposition as a learning experience for scholars who see themselves as mainstream liberals.

If an individual were, in the public interest, to go to court to plead, say, that a particular site had certain features that merit its inclusion in the list of protected monuments, that court might declare its lack of competence in this sphere and direct the petitioner to the concerned state authority. But when there is a dispute over a place with contested religious claims, and it is your word against mine, the court has no choice but to hear both sides. (We hasten to point out here that the High Court has not been called to decide where Ram was born.)

The resolution of a controversy in the court is founded on the burden of proof. The burden of proof in any suit lies on that person who makes an assertion as to a fact – on the party who would fail should no evidence at all be given on either side. In this instance, the burden of proof lies with those who assert that there was a temple under the mosque and thereby claim the right to build a temple on the site.
 
 
Not everything needs to be proved to a court – not, for instance, the laws in force, geographical divisions, seals authorized by law, etc. But for the rest, a court resorts to appropriate books or documents of reference. It may refuse to take judicial notice of any fact cited by a litigant unless and until such books or documents are produced. Opinion witnesses are thus called in. At the outset their credentials are spelt out to establish the value of their testimony as specialists in the concerned field. All facts that either support or are inconsistent with the opinions of the experts are relevant. The scholarly assessment of such facts by experts is heard out, but it is the court, the non-expert, who will adjudicate on the issue, on what had once been a set of internal or intra-disciplinary issues.
Once adjudication occurs and findings of fact are recorded, the ‘true factual position’ is taken out of the hands of the scholars concerned. History stands ‘rewritten’ by the court, under the sanction of law.1 Until such a court decision is reversed or neutralized by a superior court, or revised at a time when another suit comes up, this ‘history’ is final. Scholars may only comment on the decision. They cannot contest history as settled by the court.
With such an intriguing outcome ahead, where does the specialist (in this case the archaeologist2) find him/herself placed? Bits and pieces of material from a dig here or a scratching of the soil there, flaunted in seminars and popular writing as ‘proof’, fail to count in court if it transpires that the circumstances of recovery (say, the digging was unauthorized) are suspect. However, technicalities are not the only points of interest, and even the scholar who sees him/herself as being true to the discipline, experiences a process of self-discovery. A new consciousness emerges of the strengths and weaknesses of routine procedures of academic argument that are otherwise taken for granted.
 
 
Most academics learn, over the years, how to counter uncomfortable questions or challenges to their interpretations. But when the debate moves out of the orbit of scholarly journals, seminar rooms and the media, they cannot take the audience for granted, or assume that the starting assumptions are known to all concerned. They are speaking neither to like-minded persons (‘our gang’, gathered here to cheer rather than to criticise), nor to an adversary in a television studio, nor to a lot of young, uninformed minds at a university, from the superior position of their academic rank. Instead, the debate has moved into the hearing of informed and critical, though non-specialist, legal minds whose academic status, assumed or bestowed by the peer group or by society, is besides the point. It is the nature of the evidence produced before the court, the internal logic, and the validity of arguments that count.
 
 
In contrast to an academic conference, a court of law adjudicates a dispute so that expert witnesses face a novel, adversarial situation, war by other means. While no university seminar or workshop would presume to establish a conclusion to an existing debate, or to decide who ‘wins’ or who ‘loses’, court decisions are indeed conclusive and there are only limited grounds for appeal against them. And thus the rules of argumentation are different. Your rights and liabilities are the concern of the court. Experienced lecturers may go unprepared to a class or meeting and speak extempore to an audience whose questions can be side-stepped or overridden, but in court one is compelled to answer each question fully (and truthfully) without prevarication, on oath.

It is a salutary lesson to be debarred the luxury of countering a (hostile) question with another question, an old trick of the seminar circuit and conference routine. Further, precision of language becomes important as never before. Imagine the reaction of a court if one were to pronounce that a shopping centre is a ‘space that combines hegemony with harmony and simultaneously displays the positioning of women as objects of knowledge!’ Professional jargon about sections, foundation trenches, etc. has to be correctly and concisely defined, on demand. And you cannot get away with informing the non-specialist that if he does not understand your jargon, the problem lies with him.3 What is more, there is no room for the extended analogies or anecdotes that teachers use with great effect in their lectures as explanatory and discursive devices. In court, brevity is the soul not only of wit but of prudence.
 
 
However learned an expert witness, it is the knowledge, reputation, and skills of his advocate that matter. A witness will ordinarily present his case not in his own way, but one mediated by a trial lawyer, who will decide what aspects shall be highlighted and how, and what needs to be relegated to the background in the building up of a case. The lawyer’s is invariably the last word on the content of the deposition, not least because every word of it will be rigorously scrutinized by opposing counsel during cross-examination. The trial lawyer is a ‘translator’ who imbibes the wisdom of one discipline and transposes it into the language of another. If an archaeologist should fail to understand this, (s)he pays for it in the witness box. It is the trial lawyer who develops the skill of not only assimilating the material of a discipline like history, but gauging its import.

To be effective, trial lawyers need to know the work and professional backgrounds of the witnesses and to assess whether they have the authority to speak on a particular point. They need to be familiar with a field so as not to be swayed or intimidated by its jargon, and to instantly recognize inconsistencies in argument. Further, they need to be able to assess the reliability of the evidence cited, and also be aware of changing views and approaches in a particular discipline.

For their part, scholars work in a social milieu. They interact in various personal ways with their colleagues. Friendship, departmental affiliation and political conviction colour these interactions. In a book review one may refrain from challenging a senior scholar, or, because of friendship, avoid pointing out an error across the conference table. A professor may advise a student that he is not certain about a particular matter, but that, if Dr. X has dated a feature so, the student may accept that dating for the time being. Yet, it is quite another matter to announce, as a court witness, that if Dr. X has said something, it must be correct – that is tantamount to stating, ‘Y is correct because X said so.’ Outside the academic circuit, then, unthinking and spontaneous loyalties carry the risk of projecting a disagreement over evidence and mode of reasoning to the level of two ‘camps’ pitted against each other. The bottom line is that certain findings of others may be
 accepted as working hypotheses, but scholars do have the responsibility of either going into such matters themselves, or distinguishing clearly between their own findings and those (of others) that are taken on trust. The finer points of intellectual integrity thus unwittingly get exposed in court.
 
 
When a scholar writes or reads a paper for the peer group, the parameters are defined. The academic value of the paper, in fact, depends largely on how a problem has been constructed or structured. But in the courtroom the parameters are set by others. The scholar often has to do some quick adjustment to an unfamiliar – sometimes incomprehensible – frame of reference. In the process, emphasis on a kind of positivism comes to the fore, so that the ‘primacy of primary sources’ takes pride of place. Let us consider how.
 
 
The reinterpretation of material and the application of newly constructed theories to known material, are acceptable practices. In fact, dozens of history and archaeology books cast in this mould are considered milestones in their disciplines. But when we need to win friends and influence the organizers of the next international conference, it may be inappropriate to ask a learned professor if he had read his Puranic sources on a deity in the original, or if he could explain the context in which a particular Sangam poem makes reference to sailing boats. Archaeologists avoid asking colleagues whether they have themselves drawn the sections of their sites. And no archaeologist visiting the excavations of a colleague would be so tactless as to drop a pebble down the side of a trench to check whether the section is vertical, much less go and sieve the dumps! And so, scholars do get away with conclusions that they have no right to make.

Contrast this with a court procedure in which a witness emphasizes the importance of a newly-discovered inscription, and makes categorical statements about its evidential value. If it turns out (on questioning under oath) that (s)he has never made a sustained study of palaeography or Sanskrit, and is not academically qualified to interpret the inscription, the outcome may only be acute discomfiture.

Yet, in this context there is another kind of problem. The primacy of first-hand acquaintance with a site or trench may be repeatedly argued, to imply that the only reliable testimony comes from ‘those who were there’ and excavated that particular site. It is admittedly a handicap not to have worked in a trench or seen a mosque for yourself. But there are ways and ways of ‘seeing for yourself’. Can a witness recall the location or dimensions of certain features? Did (s)he observe a certain detail? If not, of what use is that first-hand testimony?
 
Second, surely no excavator of a site is granted the privilege of being the sole arbiter of its interpretation. If we were to push that logic too far, we would have to make the absurd statement that Professor X has no right to publish a book on the megaliths of the southern Deccan, because he himself has dug no more that a dozen of them (they exist by the thousand). Third, in the history of Indian archaeology, some of the most stimulating work has been polemical in nature. It includes a radical critique of the Archaeological Survey’s published results of field work in Kathiawad in the 1960s and the questioning of the published chronology of Kausambi (a key iron age site near Allahabad) on the basis of a re-analysis of the published section and stratigraphy, both critiques by scholars who themselves never did the original exploration, excavation, or section interpretation.
The assumed superiority of the views of ‘one who was there’ need not stand for long in court. We cannot take positivist logic to extremes. After all, field archaeologists the world over know that site directors are often absent from their excavations at the time when crucial finds have been unearthed,4 and thus have not seen their stratigraphic context for themselves. (In archaeology, the latter – house floor or pit, for instance – comprises a critical component of the data.)

By the same token, if an archaeologist went to a site days after an accidental discovery was made there, it is as good as not having ‘been there’ – because the context has been lost. There is no professional to vouch for the precise find spot, only hearsay. It then follows that in court it is only universally established procedures of data recovery and data recording – basic issues, unfortunately often neglected in peer-group discussions – that stand up to questioning. This can force a welcome degree of awareness on one deposing in court.

Material that is recovered by methods that subvert the basic principles of data recovery, principles that apply wherever archaeology is practised, does not count as evidence. Further, in the social sciences we adhere to the proposition that nothing is ever proved by us with finality, because we cannot replicate past situations by experiment. Yet social scientists also hold that any hypothesis can be refuted by exposing its internal inconsistencies or its methodological and evidential inadequacies, or else when new finds come up that point to other conclusions. Thus chance finds can say only so much, as all serious students of archaeology will acknowledge.
 
 
Obviously, having to testify in a court would be bad news for post-modernists in the habit of rushing to agree with their critics when things get hot for them at conferences. All academics have at one time or other preached to their students about changing historical paradigms and shifts in starting assumptions, but it may be difficult to convince a court that both their own statement and a contesting statement by the opposing party are true. While doubt, probability, and reasonable inference are the obligatory ingredients of social science reasoning, we need, in Andre Beteille’s words, ‘a disciplined as against a self-indulgent attitude towards facts.’ Essential as it is to point out that the Critical Edition of the Ramayana cannot be regarded as the urtext, it requires conviction and confidence to insist that a trench section can be drawn and read in only one way and that stratigraphic sequences do not admit of multiple views.
 
 
Politically motivated interpretations are always literalist. Its practitioners are uncomfortable with concepts, abstractions and theory. They argue that an adversary may have substantial excavation experience, but none in ‘northern India’, and hence cannot be a reliable witness on the stratigraphy of a site in the Gangetic belt. They do not think in terms of methodology, leave alone universal methodological principles. Surely the methodology underlying archaeological data recovery is neither geographically circumscribed nor culturally embedded!

Again, it is a literal approach that holds that the place where a particular ruler’s inscription has been found can be no other than one where that ruler organized construction activity – literal, because no question is asked about other reasons why that inscription could have been left or placed there in the past. It is like arguing, ‘the book lies on this table; the book is mine; therefore this table is mine.’ The legal process, instead, stresses the importance of ‘chains’ and ‘links’ between disparate pieces of circumstantial evidence.

Aside from vulgarizing the concept of proof, reactionary projects also resort to wholesale disregard of academic traditions (such as historical linguistics in the case of the Aryan problem) and wishing away of treatises that refute their theories. At academic conferences, speakers with greater influence tend to receive a closer hearing than others do. But the legal system is a levelling one. Imbued as court proceedings are with solemnity, discipline and a certain etiquette, courts, in their attempts to give equal opportunity to both sides, can be those institutions in which positions inconvenient to those in power can be expounded.

We suggest that the biggest casualty of the court experience is the propensity of the mystifiers, revisers, and repressors of the truth to assume the ignorance of non-specialists and to believe that they can thereby get away with fabrications. It has become a habit for a few with lung power and political patrons in the highest quarters to cut corners and to dumb down. Sweeping claims about the discovery of ‘incontrovertible proof’ have been endlessly repeated, almost as a habit. To those ensconced in authoritarian situations it must come as a shock to find their categoric statements being questioned down the line in court.

As for mainstream practitioners, we hope that university departments raise an awareness amongst students about the misuse of the concept of proof, and the dangers of taking refuge in an assumed mystique. It would not do any harm to the cause of professional history/archaeology for academics to laugh at the tricks of their trade. And we can press afresh for a genuinely liberal spirit – starting with self-censorship on what people see as ‘cronyism’ and a greater openness to criticism – in academia.

Once an academic controversy is taken through the portals of a court, it stands withdrawn from the perimeters and constructs of the concerned academic disciplines and is placed squarely in the domain of law for its resolution. In that event, evidentiary proof of facts comes to be differently construed. Experts may think they have the last word, but it is the court that will sift the documentary evidence as well as the expert opinions. Thus it is really the court that has the last word on the last word.
 
Footnotes:
1. It is, of course, possible that the court may conclude that nothing decisive can emerge from the contrasting and contradictory testimonies recorded. It may thereby dismiss the suit.
2. The argument about a temple having been demolished to make place for the mosque, and the argument that there is no such evidence, are both essentially archaeological in nature.
3. This is a defensive device that archaeologists resort to a little too frequently, in the presence of historians, geographers, and other social scientists.
4. The Archaeological Survey of India has found it necessary to include a clause, in its permits for excavation, specifying the maximum period a field director can spend away from his site while excavation is going on.
 



Swadhin Sen
Archaeologist
&
Assistant Professor
Department of Archaeology
Jahangirnagar University
Savar, Dhaka
Bangladesh
Ph. 880 2 7708774 (res); 0172262345 (mobile)
 
---------------------------------
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From p.hatzopoulos-alumni at lse.ac.uk  Sat Jan 20 23:07:59 2007
From: p.hatzopoulos-alumni at lse.ac.uk (p.hatzopoulos-alumni at lse.ac.uk)
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 17:37:59 -0000
Subject: [Reader-list] The promise of the commons - part II
Message-ID: <D5CB1B02D5978A4EBC2604CD0547EDAB015FB15E@EXA1.lse.ac.uk>

New online journal Re-public (www.republic.gr/en <http://www.republic.gr/en> )   <https://exchange.lse.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.has/>  has just published the second part of its special issue "The promise of the commons ". The issue explores the openings that the concept of the 'commons' presents for democratic theory and practice . Articles include: 

 

Lawrence Lessig – Creative Commons: 4 years on  (http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=96 <http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=96>  )

One of the founders of Creative Commons reviews the success of the licences that have become a simple way for authors and artists to express the freedoms they want their creativity to carry. 

  _____  

Gunther Teubner - The private/public dichotomy: After the critique?  (http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=99 <http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=99> )

Gunther Teubner proposes that the originary distinction of public/private should be replaced by the notion of polycontexturality.   

  _____  

Diomidis Spinellis - Open source as a paradigm for evolving complex systems (http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=97 <http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=97> )
Τhough the open source development model is not a panacea, it opens exciting new possibilities for expanding our society's commons, argues Diomidis Spinellis.  
  _____  

Tom Steinberg - Public data, the commons, and democracy in the UK ( http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=98 <http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=98> )
Freeing access to public data is a step towards a better functioning democracy, argues Tom Steinberg. 

  _____  

All articles of Re-public are published with a Creative Commons license and can be re-printed freely, by acknowledging their source. 


From nmajumda+ at pitt.edu  Sun Jan 21 01:04:40 2007
From: nmajumda+ at pitt.edu (Neepa Majumdar)
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:34:40 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Reader-list] The Steady March to War on Iran
Message-ID: <Pine.SOC.4.63.0701201432130.8413@unixs2.cis.pitt.edu>


The Steady March to War on Iran:
What It Would Take to Stop It
By VIRGINIA TILLEY
Johannesburg, South Africa

http://counterpunch.org/tilley01182007.html

>From its inception, the US occupation was a lose-lose proposition. Simply 
rolling into Iraq -- a society of which the Bush neocons had so distorted 
a conception and US occupation commanders and foot soldiers had no grasp 
at all - was a formula for doom. But US policy in the Middle East has now 
advanced to a new stage and the risk to the rest of us has changed. For 
stopping an attack on Iran, which is the only way to avert final regional 
disaster, may require action in Washington that falls outside the 
parameters of what is normally politically possible.

For the first two years of the occupation, the US dilemma was plain to 
everyone. On the one hand, pulling out "prematurely" promised an internal 
Iraqi melee for power and the quick collapse of the feeble pro-US Iraqi 
government. On the other hand, the ongoing presence of American troops and 
the inevitable brutalities of occupation could only inspire more armed 
resistance, progressively wreck US legitimacy, and make things worse. As 
it staggered forward, wreaking tens of thousands of direct Iraqi 
casualties (and possibly hundreds of thousands in indirect ones), the US 
occupation fed an unprecedented surge of anti-US and anti-western 
militancy. As a result, three short years later, five decades of largely 
uncontested US hegemony in the Middle East are collapsing into the same 
clouds of dust now engulfing Iraq's national society -- the World Trade 
Center towers going down in slo-mo.

Yet in a sense, the occupation has already done its work on the support 
structure, as the US occupation has already combusted on social forces 
that its architects never comprehended even as they manipulated them. From 
the beginning, the Bush neocons viewed the region through an Orientalist 
lens, and therefore saw tribes everywhere, as mentors like Daniel Pipes 
encouraged them to do. Viewing the Middle East also through an Israeli 
lens, they saw ethnicity as the best way to break up national and pan-Arab 
solidarities. Their staggering ignorance of the region was perhaps best 
exposed by their early faith in the charlatan Ahmed Chalabi, who promised 
a pro-Israeli Shi'a-led Iraqi government. On such rampant idiocy were 
their enthusiasm and deceitful arguments for war fueled.

Predictably, their neocolonial efforts to foster and employ ethnic divides 
- e.g., creating Shi'a militias to attack Sunni neighborhoods to root out 
Baathi insurgents -- have resulted in blowback. The soaring death count 
(at this writing, some 100 Iraqis are dying daily) is grim testimony of 
the country's slide out of the US's hammy hands. Every day, old norms of 
Sunni-Shi'a ethnic coexistence are transforming further into mutual fears 
and murderous mutual hatreds. With every death, the Iraqis' own ability to 
reconcile this deepening ethnic bitterness dwindles. Every day the US 
stays in the country, the ethnic militias grow in size and legitimacy. The 
US capacity to contain them has withered to nothing. One might think the 
US military architects would grasp their fatal blunder and try to amend 
their ethnic machinations, but the latest US plan is to send Kurdish 
troops to patrol Baghdad, on the insane premise that a third ethnic force 
will somehow defuse the other two. (Kurdish naivety in collaborating in 
this fatal plan is equally impressive.)

The report of the Iraq Study Group gets several things wrong, but its 
appraisal of what must happen now is credible and widely accepted. The 
only way to salvage US standing in the region, they argue, is to withdraw 
as fast as possible, while obtaining essential Iranian and Syrian help in 
multi-lateral efforts toward forging a new national consensus in Iraq. 
>From the Iraqis' perspective, too, the only hope is an immediate US 
withdrawal, which can allow them to begin tortuous negotiations toward 
national reconciliation. This effort cannot be started as long as the US 
is there, not only because the US still controls practically everything in 
the country, making genuine domestic politics impossible, but because the 
US presence itself will inevitably distort and discredit any new political 
process or leadership that tries to arise.

Still, in setting out its package of recommendations, the supremely 
pragmatic Iraq Study Group neglected one glaring political fact. It 
assumed that the package was a real possibility -- i.e., that the Bush 
administration could muster the necessary energy and faith to engage in 
the multilateral diplomacy essential to it. The Bush neocons have no 
talent or faith in multilateral politics and indeed openly deride them. 
And they are still in charge, whatever the changing political climate in 
Washington and mounting popular hostility to the Iraq war. The Great 
Decider is still the president. Mr. Cheney is still the Vice-President. 
All the old villains, like Douglas Feith and David Wurmser and the scary 
Michael Ledeen, are still in government or guiding events from Isengards 
like the American Enterprise Institute. They have exactly two years to 
complete the agenda they formulated in the 1990s: that is, reshape the 
entire Middle East, in the interest of Israel and their own construction, 
security, and oil companies, by taking out any regional rival to Israel's 
uncontested military hegemony.

Hence we have increasingly clear signals that, far from withdrawing 
troops, the US plans to take the next disastrous step in their program: 
bomb Iran's nuclear facilities and, they hope, change Iran's regime.
Long in the making, a US attack on Iran has been maturing over the past 
year. Most graphic, although not catching much public alarm until now, was 
the transfer last year of two US naval carrier groups to the Persian Gulf 
(each flanked by nuclear submarines and battleships, carrying fleets of 
attack jets, and holding special Marine landing forces). Now some staff 
changes in the US security and command staff are drawing worried comment. 
One change is the replacement of General Abizaid (who did not favor a 
troop increase) with the Pacific theatre's top naval commander, Admiral 
Fallon, hitherto in charge of those same carrier groups (which were posted 
in the Pacific). Another signal, less widely noted, is that Director of 
National Intelligence John Negroponte, who downplayed the nuclear threat 
from Iran, has been replaced by Vice Admiral John Michael "Mike" 
McConnell, also a Navy man seen as much more compliant (having already 
facilitated the Bush administration's programs to monitor international 
financial transfers).

It is over-obvious that, while the Navy is a vital support to US 
operations throughout the Middle East, a massive carrier build-up in the 
Gulf cannot possibly assist the US occupation in Iraq. But it is 
absolutely pivotal to launching an attack on Iran and containing Iran's 
retaliation. In this context, even Bush's proposed troop "surge", 
otherwise puzzlingly meaningless, may be intended to support an attack on 
Iran, as the US will need more ground troops to consolidate its 
transportation lines in the event of Iranian or allied Iraqi-guerrilla 
reprisals. (That the "surge" itself can only prolong and worsen Iraq's 
suffering and further demolish US standing in the region is relatively 
unimportant.)

Bombing Iran will cast the Middle East into such a frenzy of violence, 
however, that desperate editorials denouncing it are starting to appear 
all over the world press. But the Bush neocons -- and, of course, Israel - 
also have utter contempt for world opinion and indeed any analysis outside 
their immediate crazed circle. Certainly the little question of 
international law, which makes a preemptive strike on Iran entirely 
illegal, does not figure for them in the slightest. (It did not stop them 
from raiding and seizing Iranian consular staff and archives in Arbil, 
which was also entirely illegal and has recklessly imperiled US consular 
relations globally.)

The only hope of stopping a US strike on Iran is therefore the Democrats, 
who now control the purse strings for US war-making and are already 
sending signals that the troop "surge" might be in trouble. Whether they 
have sufficient spine to stop the attack on Iran is universally 
questioned. But even if a US attack is somehow stalled by domestic action, 
Israel can always strike Iran instead. It is still not widely debated 
that, over the past few years, Israel has purchased a cluster of advanced 
German Dolphin submarines, which would allow sea-based missile launches on 
Iran from the Indian Ocean, as well as a new fleet of attack jets and 
thousands of "bunker-busting" bombs. Or that last year Israel was running 
test bombing runs on a mock-up site of the Natanz reactor, well ahead of 
its recently revealed long-distance bombing test flights to Gibraltar.
Why such a dangerous US-Israeli alliance in such a clearly crazed mission? 
The old necon strategy of A Clean Break is one obvious answer. But the 
goals may go further. A strike on Iran by Israel might be the magic bullet 
for the sinking US neocons and their stumbling military global mission. No 
Democrat now breathing is going to vote to withhold the US funds necessary 
to "defending Israel" from an Iranian counter-attack. Generating a direct 
threat to Israel may indeed now be their only way to ensure that war 
funding continues to flow lavishly.

If an Israeli attack is indeed pending, only something close to a coup in 
Washington can stop it. The real question now, therefore, is whether the 
same pragmatists who entered US politics unbidden to comprise the Iraq 
Study Group (led by Baker but representing the old Cold-War guard, 
including now-frightened Pentagon officers, desperate State Department 
experts, and even alarmed oil men) will conclude that the US national 
interest is indeed in such imminent peril that they must launch emergency 
political measures to preclude a US or Israeli attack. This effort could 
take several shapes, but the normal options are not promising. Hearings to 
expose White House malfeasance (lying, fraud, graft) in the Iraq war, 
leading even to an impeachment process, could fatally cripple the attack 
plan, but would take more time than we have and would not stop Israel in 
any case. Hearings to expose Israeli espionage and discredit Israel's role 
in US foreign policymaking could stymie an Israeli attack, but the 
AIPAC-saturated Congress would never countenance them. Normal Washington 
peer pressure, represented by the Iraq Study Group, has demonstrably 
failed. More urgent methods, that might be pursued in other countries 
facing such a crisis, are precluded in the US by very potent political and 
military cultures that preclude any open revolt against a sitting 
president or the civilian command. (Recall General Powell's quiet 
capitulation to lies, deceit, and foolery that he could not possibly 
support.) No one wants the US to operate otherwise.

The challenge to the US political system is therefore now extremely grave: 
somehow to retake rational control of US foreign policy, from people known 
to be lying criminals, within as little as two months, yet with no 
precedent for doing so. It should not be impossible. Insider Washington 
pressures must should now become ultimatums. But insider operations 
require political backing that can only be obtained through a pincer 
strategy: rapid public revelations of White House criminality by serving 
officials, with responsible headline coverage by the national press 
sufficient rapidly to cripple White House foreign policymaking. This 
political rebellion would require rare political will.

The US occupation of Iraq has appeared since its inception like a large 
and cumbersome truck driven into a swamp. We have been watching, in 
horrified fascination, as it slowly sinks. In recent months, we have been 
certain that even the drivers must soon surely abandon the truck, jump for 
shore, and try to preserve some shred of dignity as it goes down. Instead, 
we are seeing those drivers flinging out ropes around everything in sight 
and getting ready to haul, apparently in the hope of dragging the whole 
carcass back onto solid ground and rolling on to glory. That they can only 
strangle the rest of us, and bind everyone into the swamp with them, must 
finally inspire decisive collective action. Washington insiders and key 
players in the new Democratic Congress, with political backing from an 
alarmed electorate and frantic international allies, can still stop the 
neocons' rush to disaster. But it would require rare determination, 
initiative, transparency, and courage, and it would have to happen fast.

Virginia Tilley is an alarmed US citizen now working at the Human Sciences 
Research Council in South Africa. She can be reached at tilley at hws.edu.


From nilanjan at khetro.net  Sun Jan 21 14:48:37 2007
From: nilanjan at khetro.net (nilanjan at khetro.net)
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:48:37 +0530 (IST)
Subject: [Reader-list] film on Singur
Message-ID: <1193.59.93.194.188.1169371117.squirrel@www.khetro.net>

Dear Friends,
A film focussing on the Singur debate in West Bengal has been made
recently. I think it deserves your attention and support.
regards,
Nilanjan Bhattacharya

WHOSE LAND IS IT ANYWAY?

The film is about an ongoing peasant movement in Singur village, to save
their farm land (1000 acres) from being acquired by the state government
of West Bengal in India for a factory by an industrial giant. This land is
fertile and produces at least 4 crops per year. Wasting it on industry
will completely destroy the bio-diversity and ecology of the land and rob
50000 people of their livelihoods. The larger area surrounding the land
will also be affected adversely. The new factory is scheduled to employ a
maximum of 1000 people. The govt. has not given the people any
information, at all, about the proposed factory and land-use. The people's
right to information is being violated at every step. It is refusing to
listen to protests by affected peasants. It has unofficially banned media
reports on the real crisis, using the media as a propaganda tool. The real
voice of the people is not being allowed to be heard. The govt. is using
police and para-military forces to brutally quell any kind of protest by
the farmers and others. The issues are made even more interesting by the
fact that the state government of West Bengal is a coalition of Left
parties and the fact that India is the world's largest democracy.

The 40 minute, English video documentary film aims to bring this movement
to the world for everyone to see how human rights are being violated and
many other socio-economic issues completely mauled. It is the result of
about 6 months of keeping a camera - eye on the crisis and is an effort to
bring peasants' voices to the awareness of the world.

DVD: Rs. 150/= and VCD: Rs. 125/=

We would appreciate if you would see the film and support the cause by
buying copies and sharing it with as many people as possible. Please
contact the film maker Ladly Mukhopadhay at (0)9830028621 or co-director
Ananya at (0)9433033372 or <freebirdproductions at gmail.com>

Thanks,

Ladly

--------------------------------
FreeBird Productions
4/68 Chanditala Lane
Tollyganj
Kolkata 700 040, India.
Tel: (91 33) 24815075
      (91 33) 24818520
E-mail:freebirdproductions at gmail.com


From nr03 at fsu.edu  Sun Jan 21 20:35:31 2007
From: nr03 at fsu.edu (Nicholas Ruiz III)
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:05:31 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Kritikos V.4 January-2007
Message-ID: <20070121150530.UDBV29900.aa08.charter.net@LAPTOP>

Kritikos V.4 January-2007

Žižek! A conversation with Paul A. Taylor (editor of The International
Journal of Žižek Studies)...(p.a.taylor and n.ruiz)

http://intertheory.org/taylorandruiz.htm



 Europe, Open for Business: Victoria de Grazia's Irresistible Empire:
America's Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe...(p.stasi)

http://intertheory.org/irresistible.htm





Dr. Nicholas Ruiz III
http://intertheory.org








From iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com  Mon Jan 22 11:28:47 2007
From: iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com (S.Shashidhar)
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:58:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
Message-ID: <233088.25917.qm@web32401.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Looks like the joke turned on me! 

I was at the Ardh Kumbh, where i met people who eat all kinds of things, some of them true other so much like me. But BOSS Tapas, there was this whole crowd of people from Germany , who live on only an apple a day and there was a certain head of the congregation who had not consumed any food or water in the last so many years. And these were not like the indian joker fakir's they lead very productive capitalist lives. Working in factories and schools. 

It is possible to live without many things, least of all food... untill we find the way let us all hunt and gather

Getting a little fatter by the day 

Shashi

----- Original Message ----
From: Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com>
To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Friday, January 5, 2007 6:35:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?


You are forgetting field rats. I have seen their meat hung out to dry from 
clotheslines in certain villages. As for human blood, before trying it, 
remember what Idi Amin is supposed to have said about human flesh - that he 
doesn't eat it, because it's too salty. Better still, ask oldtimers in a 
certain part of our country where, I believe, ritual cannibalism was 
practised in the past.

I suppose most people eat to live, not live to eat ... hence consumption (in 
the narrow, literal sense of eating) is for life, not the other way round. 
If there is a way to live without eating any living thing, whether plant or 
animal, I am sure many of us will gladly do so. Meanwhile, let us carry on 
joking or, even better, killing one another, over what we eat or do not eat.

From: "S.Shashidhar" <iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com>
> life is ment for consumption, let us all eat meat and drink human blood, A 
> cow is holy so it should be > spared but a poor goat can and will be 
> eaten, there are a lucy few in the south who can eat cows.. Man > thi was 
> one grose thread


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From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com  Sat Jan 20 19:39:41 2007
From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf)
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 06:09:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Jashn-e Basant in Delhi
Message-ID: <20070120140941.93313.qmail@web51406.mail.yahoo.com>

You are cordially invited to
Jashn-e-Basant
A festival of spring with music, dance, films, and more
At India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
between January 21-25, 2007

Jan 21st, 2007
9:00am | Heritage Walk | Basti Nizamuddin
Kishore Kumar Singh & Ayushman Chowdhary from KLOD.B lead a heritage walk
with a focus on Sufi Basant. We revisit the historical locations in the
Basti of Nizamuddin, where the legend of Amir Khusrau and Nizamuddin Aulia
is celebrated every year. We meet in front of the Nizamuddin Police Station
(on Mathura Road). Prior registration for the walk is mandatory with Habitat
Centre.

Jan 22nd, 2007
7:00pm | BASANT BIOSCOPE | Gulmohar, IHC
Screening of films on Sufi Spring and kite-flying, followed by a discussion.
The Films being screened are
    * Basant (Delhi's Sufi Basant) by Yousuf Saeed, 12 mins
    * Mela Basant Bahar (Lahore’s Basant) by Samina Aslam (Pakistan), 23 mins
    * Portraits Of Belonging: Bhai Mian by Sameera Jain, 30 mins
    * The Train to Heaven (India's Popular Islam) by Yousuf Saeed, 7 mins.

Jan 24th, 2007
7:00pm | DANCE | Basement theatre, IHC
Basant In Bharatanatyam: Amir Khusrau’s tarana, kalidasa’s Ritu Sanharam and
traditional pieces, by Kalaiyin Kovil Natya Sudha choreography Raani
Shinghal

Jan 25th, 2007
7:00pm | BASANT RAAG | Stein Auditorium
Classical, semi-classical and Sufi compositions by emerging artists of
Delhi – Monika Jain, Vidya Shah, and Dhruv Sangari

Jan 20- Feb 28, 2007
Photo Exhibition | EXPERIENCING SPRING | at Delhi O' Delhi, IHC
Photographs on Basant by Ajay Mahajan

Jashn-e Basant conceptualized and coordinated by Jaya Iyer, Yousuf Saeed,
Lokesh Jain, Ayushman Chowdhary, and Ajay Mahajan (at Mandala and Ektara)
For more details, please visit www.ektara.org
Contact us at 9810379016 or 9968249346 or write to junglejaya at gmail.com
In partnership with KLOD.B, Natya Sudha and Pravah


 
---------------------------------
Don't get soaked.  Take a quick peak at the forecast 
 with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.
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From anivar at gaia.org.in  Mon Jan 22 12:32:14 2007
From: anivar at gaia.org.in (Anivar Aravind)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:32:14 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] ADB loan question looms over Kerala
In-Reply-To: <35f96d470701212301v24a2ac76ve9629f1bb0dec98c@mail.gmail.com>
References: <LOEGILNJNLKFFIKKPGICIEIFDMAA.bennyk@focusweb.org>
	<35f96d470701212259w4d2b25dfq376a3c1e1e569659@mail.gmail.com>
	<35f96d470701212259h4f338ad1l3a868bf0b3724959@mail.gmail.com>
	<35f96d470701212301v24a2ac76ve9629f1bb0dec98c@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <35f96d470701212302n2c39699by6401155c509b2712@mail.gmail.com>

EDIT-OPINION

The Loan That Looms Over Kerala

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main26.asp?filename=op012707The_Lone.asp

Is the Asian Development Bank pushing the state's Communists into the
market's lap? And what's the CPM doing about it?

Nilanjana Biswas

The story of the Asian Development Bank's (adb) loan to Kerala for
urban development is getting curiouser and curiouser. The recently
signed $316.1 million (Rs 1,422 crore) loan agreement between Kerala's
Left Democratic Front (ldf) government and the adb has been attacked
by none other than the man leading the ldf: Chief Minister VS
Achuthanandan who claims that the deal was struck without his
knowledge.

Even as the debate in Kerala rages on how much (or little) the chief
minister knows, the loan documents of the proposed Kerala Sustainable
Urban Development Project (ksudp) are being widely scrutinised. And
two facts have emerged: one, that the adb deal is fraught with
substantive problems; the other, that it has the ldf in Kerala deeply
divided, with one newspaper even describing it as the "government's
death knell".

The ksudp loan targets the five municipal corporations of Kochi,
Kollam, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur for urban
infrastructure development, services improvement and capacity
building. The money for the project will come from three sources:
principally, an adb loan of $221.2 million (Rs 995 crore), a
Government of Kerala contribution of $59.8 million (Rs 269 crore) and
a further $ 35.1 million (Rs 158 crore) from the five civic bodies.

Kerala's external debt is already over Rs 40,000 crore which, by the
Catch-22 logic of international finance, makes the state even more
credit-worthy. Adding to the overhanging debt, the ksudp loan will
follow the tried and tested privatisation strategy — a standard
prescription of international banks like the adb and the World Bank
that works to keep Third World countries in the stranglehold of
spiralling debt.

To ensure privatisation, the ksudp loan agreement outlines a
"multi-faceted" approach. This includes the creation of an "enabling
framework" and developing technical and managerial skills within
municipal corporations to formulate and manage private operations.

Other privatisation measures include:

    *
      Conversion of existing street taps to metered connections with
no budget for new installations, as per policy that the Kerala
government "will" formulate by no later than March 2007;
    *
      Increased tariffs and new user charges with no exemption for
those living below the poverty line;
    *
      The hiring of international private consultants, as per adb
guidelines, for project formulation, management and supervision at a
cost of $10.2 million (Rs 46 crore);
    *
      Full cost recovery from the public for operations and maintenance work;
    * The mandatory introduction of service tax and/or other revenue
mobilisation to meet revenue shortfalls.

Going by the terms of the project, families living below the poverty
line will now have to spend up to two-and-a-half days' wages for
drinking water, drainage, sewerage and other urban services. For the
urban poor who already face acute water shortage and sanitation
problems, two tariff hikes on the anvil over the next five years are
likely to turn their battle for survival into a relentless war.

The adb is the second largest development bank in the Asia-Pacific
region, next only to the World Bank Group. Although adb's involvement
in India did not start until the late 1980s, today India is the
largest borrower in South Asia, and the second largest, after China,
in Asia-Pacific.

As in the case of Kerala's recent loan, adb loans are tied to policy
conditions. These include:

    * Adopting legislations and regulations that favour private sector
involvement in key sectors;
    * Market-friendly restructuring;
    * Corporatisation and privatisation of public enterprises and utilities;
    * Creating a flexible labour force;
    * Commercialisation of agriculture and
    * Trade and investment liberalisation.

On December 28, 2006, more than 100 organisations came together under
the banner of the People's Forum against adb (pfaadb) to petition
Kerala's chief minister to annul the ksudp loan. The petition points
out adb's dismal record in urban development, citing two previous adb
projects in Karnataka, the 1995 Karnataka Urban Infrastructure
Development Project (kuidp) and the 1999 Karnataka Urban Development
and Coastal Environmental Management Project (kudcemp), which are
replete with design flaws, poor quality of construction, prolonged
delays in completion and non-disclosure of project information to
local councillors.

According to the pfaadb, adb-funded projects in India and elsewhere
have led to weakened environmental regulation, increased unemployment,
cuts in spending on primary care and essential services, a widening
gap between the rich and the poor, often leading to an absolute
increase in poverty.

The petitioners who include people's movements, environment groups,
women's organisations, trade unions, human rights groups and dalit
organisations, all agree that urban services needed overhauling but
not through financial institutions that could potentially undermine
the country's democratic framework.

The petitioners say, "The possibilities of internal resource
mobilisation are many in Kerala; they include commodity taxes on
consumer expenditure, addressing tax evasion in the gold market,
collection of tax arrears and mobilising the domestic savings of the
state (including foreign exchange remittances) which runs into
thousands of crores of rupees."

As a result of the pfaadb campaign, the central committee of the cpm
referred the adb loan issue to the Kerala State Committee and starting
January 8, 2007, a three-member team is expected to study the loan.
The Kerala State Committee is, however, deeply divided on the issue.
Discussions on the ksudp loan were started back in 2002 by the
Congress-led United Democratic Front (udf) government. Notably, the
Left, which was in opposition then, fiercely criticised the proposed
loan on the grounds that it contained harmful conditionalities.

Rifts within the ldf, since it came to power, have emerged sharply
with a neo-liberal faction represented by cpm state secretary and
Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, Local Self-Government Minister
Paloli Mohammed Kutty and state Finance Minister Thomas Isaac pushing
for the loan while Chief Minister Achuthanandan says it lacks cabinet
approval. The cpm Central Committee, in the meanwhile, has reprimanded
the State Committee for taking to the streets what it considers should
have been a matter for internal debate.

But is it just a matter of inner party debate? Many would disagree.
For CR Neelakantan, a veteran social activist from Kerala, the loan
conditionalities represent a major departure from the ldf's stated
policies; a departure that must be explained and discussed.

Some time ago, the cpm's political organisational report took the
stand that while external loans were unavoidable, certain compromises
must never be made. According to the report: "Whenever our governments
hard-pressed for funds but duty-bound to provide relief to the people
are offered loans by imperialist agencies and Western governments, the
party should consent to such loans only if it does not weaken its
fight against the imperialist-dictated policies. In all cases, where
the party agrees to such loans from international agencies like World
Bank, adb, dfid, jbic etc, it must take the people into confidence and
explain to them the justification for taking such loan…In no case
should we go in for loans which involve structural adjustment
programmes. Such programmes entail conditionalities like privatisation
of certain sectors, downsizing staff, cutting subsidies and fiscal
conditionalities." The policy is clear: no diktat; no structural
adjustment; complete transparency. The ksudp loan clearly fails on all
three counts.

cpm general secretary Prakash Karat recently stated that external
loans are acceptable if there are no strings attached. The debate in
Kerala, however, is about what exactly is attached to the ksudp loan:
a string or a hangman's noose?

Biswas is a Bangalore-based freelance journalis

Jan 27 , 2007

Anivar Aravind

From freestspirit at yahoo.co.uk  Mon Jan 22 16:38:14 2007
From: freestspirit at yahoo.co.uk (Bikram Jeet Batra)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 11:08:14 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] censorship
Message-ID: <111226.98633.qm@web23305.mail.ird.yahoo.com>

Two news pieces from the BBC website today - both from
Australia. Read together. 

----

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6285665.stm
Australian anger at flag controls

Organisers of the Big Day Out said they feared a
repeat of "racism
disguised as patriotism" at last year's event, which
came weeks after
race riots in Sydney.

Politicians and veteran groups have strongly condemned
the move.

PM John Howard said the "proposition" that the display
of the flag
should ever be banned "is offensive and it will be to
millions of
Australians".

The Big Day Out is Australia's biggest outdoor rock
concert, held in
Sydney and other major cities around the country.

It often features some of the world's most well-known
bands, and
tickets for this year's concert sold out in a matter
of hours.

Angry veterans

In a statement on the Big Day Out website, organisers
said, in recent
times, there had been an "increased incidence of flags
brandished
aggressively and this has led to increased tension.

"With all this in mind and the aim to create a happy,
peaceful,
musical event, organisers would like to request that
fans please leave
their flags at home."

The concert has already been brought forward 24 hours,
to take place
on Thursday, the eve of Australia's national day, to
avoid any
nationalistic overtones.

Event producer Ken West said he was concerned by the
use of the flag
by white mobs during race riots on Sydney's Cronulla
Beach in December
2005, and by some fans at the Big Day Out concert a
month later.

"The Australian flag was being used as gang colours,"
he was quoted by
The Daily Telegraph newspaper as saying. "It was
racism disguised as
patriotism and I'm not going to tolerate it."

He also said he was disturbed by clashes at last
week's Australian
Open tennis tournament in Melbourne between ethnic
Croatian and
Serbian fans.

The saga has prompted protests across the political
spectrum - and
especially from Australian war veterans, who say the
flag is a symbol
of national unity rather than division.

Don Rowe, president of a veterans group in New South
Wales state, said
the event organisers were trying to bar a symbol which
had served
through two world wars.

Prime Minister John Howard added: "The event
organisers should not ram
their peculiar political views down the throats of
young Australians
who are only interested in a good day out."


AND

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6285971.stm

Flight ban for anti-Bush T-shirt

A passenger barred from a Qantas airlines flight for
wearing a T-shirt
depicting US President George Bush as a terrorist has
threatened legal
action.

Allen Jasson said he was sticking up for the principle
of free speech
by challenging the decision by the Australian flag
carrier.

Mr Jasson was stopped as he was about to board the
flight from
Melbourne to London last Friday.

Qantas said the T-shirt had potential to offend other
passengers.

The T-shift features an image of President George W
Bush, along with
the slogan "World's Number One Terrorist".

'Principle'

The 55-year-old computer specialist, who lives in
London, had
encountered difficulties with the same T-shirt on an
earlier Qantas
flight in December.

After clearing the international security checks at
Melbourne Airport,
he reportedly approached the gate manager to
congratulate him on the
company's new-found open-mindedness.

At that point, Mr Jasson was ordered to remove the
T-shirt after being
told it was a security threat and an item which might
cause offence to
other passengers.

He was offered the chance to board the flight wearing
different
clothing, but refused.

"I am not prepared to go without the t-shirt. I might
forfeit the
fare, but I have made up my mind that I would rather
stand up for the
principle of free speech," he told Australian media.

A Qantas spokesman defended the airline's decision,
saying: "Whether
made verbally or on a T-shirt, comments with the
potential to offend
other customers or threaten the security of a Qantas
group aircraft
will not be tolerated".



	
	
		
___________________________________________________________ 
New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. Plus: play games and win prizes. 
http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://mail.yahoo.net/uk 


From t.ray at vsnl.com  Tue Jan 23 02:14:52 2007
From: t.ray at vsnl.com (Tapas Ray)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:44:52 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
References: <233088.25917.qm@web32401.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <007301c73e66$2b2d16b0$6600a8c0@Tapas>

Shashi,

I would give an arm and a leg to learn their secret. But are you sure that 
secret doesn't consist in being stoned out of one's mind most of the time, 
so as not to notice that one is eating or drinking anything, or even that 
one has a body?

Sorry, Shashi, your German pals sound too much like our Indian jokers.

Tapas


> Looks like the joke turned on me!

> I was at the Ardh Kumbh, where i met people who eat all kinds of things,
> some of them true other so
> much like me. But BOSS Tapas, there was this whole crowd of people from
> Germany , who live on
> only an apple a day and there was a certain head of the congregation who
> had not consumed any food
> or water in the last so many years. And these were not like the indian
> joker fakir's they lead very
> productive capitalist lives. Working in factories and schools.

> It is possible to live without many things, least of all food... untill we
> find the way let us all hunt and
> gather

> Getting a little fatter by the day

> Shashi



From avinash at csdsdelhi.org  Mon Jan 22 16:09:58 2007
From: avinash at csdsdelhi.org (Avinash Jha)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:09:58 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Discussions on Radical politics and the knowledge
	question
Message-ID: <001f01c73e0f$cdc156e0$0801a8c0@avinashjha>

Friends,

I had previously posted a link to the document 'Radical Politics and Knowledge question' at http://www.vidyaashram.org/kd2_nairobi.html

A document prepared for a workshop Dialogues on Knowledge in Society IV at WSF Nairobi. It so happens that none of us could travel to Nairobi.

There has been some discussion, however, on this document recently at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/knowledge-dialogue/

You can read the discussions (without joining the group) or join the discussion (after joining the e group).

-avinash
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From zainab at xtdnet.nl  Tue Jan 23 18:57:33 2007
From: zainab at xtdnet.nl (zainab at xtdnet.nl)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 17:27:33 +0400 (RET)
Subject: [Reader-list] Bangalore bytes!
Message-ID: <52146.125.22.4.100.1169558853.squirrel@webmail.xtdnet.nl>

23/01/2007

I was out of Bangalore, traveling.
Received news about riots in East Bangalore from a friend in Bombay.
She asked if everything was okay.
I wondered if everything was okay at all?
Sent a text message to an acquaintance in Bangalore asking if all was well.
He replied saying that you Bombay people become paranoid when you hear
about riots.
I yelled back saying and what about you Bangalore people, you are
indifferent to trouble.

(A boy was killed in East Bangalore in a procession condemning the hanging
of Saddam on the first day of the month of Muharram. I still don’t know
the details 
)

ENTER SHIVAJINAGAR this morning 

It is about 12:00 PM. The sun is shining bright. It has been my intention
to walk around Shivajinagar market and begin the year’s writings from
here. So here I enter Shivajinagar, amidst an odd silence and a white
Rapid Action Force (RAF) van zooming past me. The place might appear
normal. But certainly this silence is not normal. Some tension is looming
in the air. The normalness is not about the silence; it is about the
tension.

Standing in his shop is a young Muslim boy, dark skinned, running the
machine to serve sugarcane juice to a waiting customer. I ask for coconut
water. He seems like a pleasant, amiable fellow. As I sip the coconut
water, I ask him if there is tension in the market. “Raada idhar mein nahi
hua, udhareech hua, mere ghar ke paas!” I asked him if he was suggesting
that the trouble broke out in Cantonment area and not in the market and he
said that was the case. The trouble broke out close to his house. “Abhi
baraah baje maloom padega kya hua!” I paid him and went off inside the
market.

I am not sure how to map out the market to you. It’s a vast place,
incompatible with what I had imagined it to be. It has various hues and
colours, perhaps many histories, memories and of course, there are
multiple identities here. I see Muslim women walking, Christian women
walking, and South Indian women walking. There are police vans and army
vans near the Ave Maria church. I am quite surprised that these are
stationed here instead of around the Jumma Masjid which is also in the
market. But then, I have never understood the logic of security and
protection.

Shivajinagar is made up of several streets. There is the Central Street.
There is a Chettty street which I avoided today. I went all around the Ave
Maria church to discover a world within Bangalore which I was unaware of.
I walked down from Central Street and watched all the shops and their
wares. There were lots of clothes, some in shops, some outside the shops
on the streets. There were hawkers, some stationery, some mobile. One
hawker had displayed his minimum wares on a motorbike parked in the street
and was negotiating with a customer from that space. The back side of the
wall of the Bowring Hospital is occupied by hawkers who have displayed
their clothes-wares on the wall. There are Tibetan women sitting there,
selling woolens. On the opposite side are cane crafts and furniture shops,
engaging in export and import of their wares. I can’t say that the density
here is that of Bombay markets, but there is a peculiar sense of time that
I feel here, a time of the past, a present of that past, a future 

perhaps 
 who knows!

I emerge out of the market by moving towards the bus stand. Opposite me is
‘Singapore Wares Shop’ selling Chinese goods and a little distance away is
the Bombay Chowpatty Kulfi and Bhelpuri. A little away is a poster
carrying Saddam’s picture saying something to the effect of:
“Saddam is the friend of India
We pray for World Peace
Down with George Bush, Tony Blair and global imperialism!”

As I walk out from Central Street, I notice yet another white RAF van. All
through this visit to Shivajinagar today I have navigated through
feelings. And here, with another RAF van passing by, I ask myself if I
feel a sense of numb indifference, a product of the memories of the Bombay
riots of 1992-1993, watching several RAF vehicles then. Who knows! It’s
either paranoia or indifference 


Towards the end of Central Street is a wall with posters of South Indian
films. One of the film posters has an English subtitle saying ‘feel of
flow’. Yeah, perhaps walking through this city will give me a feel of the
flow.

A Pakistani acquaintance had once said to me that you Bombay people don’t
walk; you simply look for transport. As the year commences, I am testing
the strength of my feet, the tenacity of my heels. (And then in the BMTC
bus which I board to go back home I find a boy sitting in front of me, his
feet naked, caked with dirt, perhaps finding solace in the bus ride).
Let’s see how far I can write with my feet.

Adios!

(For those following my citybytes blog, it is live again! Testing the
strength of my feet, the tenacity of my heels!)



Zainab Bawa
Bombay
www.xanga.com/CityBytes




From aarti at sarai.net  Wed Jan 24 01:42:18 2007
From: aarti at sarai.net (aarti at sarai.net)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:12:18 +0100 (CET)
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Invitation to "Barn Owl's Abandoned
	Opera"
Message-ID: <52657.59.180.118.39.1169583138.squirrel@mail.sarai.net>

You are cordially invited to the Barn Owl's Abandoned Opera,
based on ' The Barn Owl's Wondrous Capers',
second graphic novel by Sarnath Banerjee, published by Penguin India,
supported by The British Council.

8 pm , Wednesday, 24th January, British Council Auditorium.
17, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001

THE BARN OWLS ABANDONED OPERA, a performance in two parts:

ACT I
Comics in the theatre...
Performed by Rashid Raza
Motion Graphics : Tanya Varshney
Sound : Sophea Lerner

ACT II
A Live Audio Visual Act by Jean-Pierre Dangmann and the Jalebee
Cartel in the Charbagh

Preview: www.sarnathbanerjee.com

NB - DOOR PROCEDURES
Due to security arrangements for getting into the British Council you
will need to bring the invitation with you, please download and print
the invite here:
http://www.sarnathbanerjee.com/images/images/invitation.gif

or RSVP to get your name on guest list

by Text: (9818080507)
by Email (sarnathb at gmail.com)
by Phone: Savita Alagh -26494401(ext 411) Mon-Wed



Download this as a file



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From announcer at crit.org.in  Wed Jan 24 22:42:18 2007
From: announcer at crit.org.in (Gnowledge Project)
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:42:18 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Science,
	Education and Learning in Freedom (SELF)
Message-ID: <1169658738.21841.173.camel@nowhereman>

Dear Friends:

A one day conference on "Science, Education and Learning in Freedom
(SELF)" is being organised by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education
(HBCSE), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on FRIDAY 2
FEBRUARY 2007 from 9.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M. at the Homi Bhabha Auditorium,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Colaba, Mumbai, India.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are drastically
transforming human society into a very different world. Perhaps no other
human invention introduced such a transformation, except may be
agriculture. However, not many among us are aware of another parallel
revolutionary under-current that is shaping up as a novel cultural and
political movement, tiding under the waves of the ICT revolution. This
movement is growing at an unprecedented pace influencing the way how
science, software and other kinds of symbolic forms are created,
published and distributed. This culture is often called copyleft,
identified with the Free Software Movement, because this movement took
off by an innovative use of existing copyright law by Richard Stallman,
who founded the movement by publishing software under a copyleft
license. This license is essentially about giving four fundamental
rights to the user of the software published under the copyleft license:
to use it for any purpose, to understand how it works, to make
modifications, and to distribute the modifications.

One of the major outcomes of this revolution is the GNU/Linux operating
system (popularly known by its misnomer, Linux). This copyleft movement
is currently transforming other fields of human creativity as well --
science, poetry, music, cinema and other symbolic forms. Of these, the
most popular success story is Wikipedia http://www.wikpedia.org , the
largest multilingual encyclopedia of the world. We are variously
bombarded by most media, often exclusively, about the various aspects of
ICT revolution, but very little awareness is commonly found about the
copyleft movement. The main purpose of this conference therefore is to
bridge this gap and generate awareness about this revolution, and also
invite far greater participation from all sections of the community. The
conference will inform about the copyleft movement in general, and its
relation to science and education in particular. At this conference
distinguished speakers from around the world will talk about free
software, free knowledge and open standards, specifically in the context
of science and education. 

The conference will take place from 9.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M. on FRIDAY 2
FEBRUARY 2007, and will have four main sessions:

* Inauguration and Launching of the community portal,
http://gnowledge.org
* Introduction to "SELF: Science, Education and Learning in Freedom"
European Commission Project, http://selfproject.eu
* Copyleft in Science, Education and Culture
* Protecting Knowledge: Open Standards and Copyleft 

The conference is now open for registration. Please read the full
announcement, list of speakers, schedule, venue and registration details
at http://self.gnowledge.org Please register online before Saturday 27
January 2007. Registration fees will be Rs. 200, which will be collected
at registration desk on the day of conference. Please circulate this
information to your friends and colleagues, and put it up on your notice
boards. For more information, kindly contact us on
selfcontact at gnowledge.org

Thanks, 

SELF Conference Team
Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE)
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai


_____

CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai
Announcements List

http://www.crit.org.in
http://lists.crit.org.in/mailman/listinfo/announcer
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announcements mailing list
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From ced.vincent at wanadoo.fr  Thu Jan 25 00:26:02 2007
From: ced.vincent at wanadoo.fr (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?C=E9dric_Vincent?=)
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:56:02 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Call for Submissions ~Night at the
	Indies~
Message-ID: <34576567-9DB7-4974-8070-4D6E42DDAC77@wanadoo.fr>

~Night at the Indies~
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Toronto Women's Bookstore and Meow Films invite you to submit feature  
films, documentaries, short films and videos for our ~Night at the  
Indies~ series.  Please include a brief synopsis and a short bio of  
the key creative team.

Our intention is to have the producer, director, or director of  
photography attend the screening in order to communicate with other  
filmmakers and the audience.

* * Submissions must be in DVD format. Please include all contact  
information on your one page synopsis and be sure to address how your  
project speaks to the communities that TWB and Meow Films represent.

Screenings are run every third Wednesday of the month at Meow Films  
from 7-10pm. Our next screening is February 21st, 2007. All selected  
films/documentaries/shorts/videos are invited to be sold on  
consignment at the Toronto Women's Bookstore.

Please send submissions to:

Meow Films
868 Dovercourt Rd.
Toronto, Ontario-M6H 2X5

If you would like your film/documentary/short/video sent back to you  
please provide a SASE in your package. If you need more information  
please call Meow Films at 416-519-9800 or email us at  
meowfilms at gmail.com

As the series is ongoing we are always accepting submissions.

A token honorariums will be provided to the filmmaker after their  
film has been screened in appreciation.

The goal of ~Night at the Indies~ is to showcase filmmakers/producers/ 
directors from the feminist, anti-oppression, anti-racist,  
differently-abled, first nations, people of colour and the LGBTTQ2S  
community who are willing to share/educate about their work and  
provide audience members with an opportunity to discuss their  
creative process, challenges, rewards, etc.

TWB and Meow Films are both anti-racist, anti-oppression based  
community organizations that wish to support work that is based on  
these principals.

Thank you for your time and commitment to film!
TWB & Meow Films

-- 
Meow Films is a growing production company that makes documentaries  
of an educational and motivational nature to inspire social change  
and empower marginalized communities.  We hope to empower our  
community by telling untold stories.  This company was formed with  
the intent to support local community artists and to work with other  
like-minded organizations to foster local cultural ties within this  
city.  We want to connect and work with artists that are working for  
similar goals such as building community-based art, music, theatre,  
film and media.  We hope to build a strong community that allows for  
every individual to explore their creativity.

www.meowfilms.com
www.youtube.com/meowfilms
www.myspace.com/meowfilms
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From contactus at indiaifa.org  Wed Jan 24 16:50:17 2007
From: contactus at indiaifa.org (contactus)
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:50:17 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] IFA Programme Announcements
Message-ID: <A136AC90-2FF4-4D34-9B9F-2B124CD8DB7A@indiaifa.org>

New Performance Programme

Are you a performing artist or group? Are you seeking funds to  
develop an innovative new production in theatre, music, dance or  
other forms of performance art? If so, this programme is addressed to  
you. Please read on.

Scope

This programme supports exciting new productions in the performing  
arts. These productions could straddle different genres in the  
performing arts, explore multilingualism in performance, use new  
media innovatively, or address subjects that have not been widely  
explored in performance. These are only examples, however, and do not  
exhaust the possibilities offered by this programme.

Application

Applications under this programme can be submitted for consideration  
at any time. You may write your proposal in any Indian language  
including English. You can expect to receive a reply from us within  
one month, indicating whether your proposal falls within the  
programme’s scope and budgetary limits.

To apply, please send us a short note describing

Your existing practice, and your concerns and interests as a  
practitioner.
The nature of the production for which you are seeking funding and  
how it addresses our programme.
Your plans for performing the work when completed.
Please also remember to include the following with your proposal:

Reviews and recordings (if available) of your work.
Your bio-data or background information about your institution.
Your address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address.
A work plan, specifying the duration of the project.
A budget.
You may also wish to include two references from senior artists in  
your field.

You may seek support to cover costs relating to the mounting of your  
production. These could go beyond technical production costs to  
include pre-production research and other costs. You can also include  
costs for the first performance of the production in your budget.

You are welcome to develop your proposal through dialogue and  
interaction with IFA staff. You may write to us or post an online  
letter of inquiry describing your project idea briefly. You may also  
use the online letter of inquiry to communicate with us on any matter  
pertaining to this programme.

Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if you are an Indian national, a registered  
non-profit Indian organisation, or have been resident in India for at  
least five years. Your collaborators, if any, should also fall into  
one of the above categories.

Send your queries and proposals to contactus at indiaifa.org or write to:

The Executive Director
India Foundation for the Arts
‘Tharangini’, 12th Cross
Raj Mahal Vilas Extension
Bangalore – 560 080
Tel/fax:080 - 2361-0584 / 2361-0583

======================================================================== 
=============================================

Extending Arts Practice

Are you an artist or arts group interested in extending the  
possibilities of your own practice or those of your field? Are you  
seeking a fresh direction or vision for your work? If so, this  
programme is addressed to you. Please read on.

Scope

This programme supports artists and arts group to undertake projects  
that help them to extend their own practice or challenge prevalent  
practices within their fields. For instance, you may want to work  
with new materials or explore alternative methods for producing art.  
You may want to experiment with an untried form, a fresh style or a  
new idiom within your discipline. You may be interested in expanding  
your practice through engaging with other art forms/practices or  
working with other artists. You may wish to acquire new techniques,  
skills or knowledge to develop your practice. Or you may wish to  
challenge ways of thinking, imagining and creating within your field.  
Further, you may want to work in unusual environments or in response  
to challenging new social and political developments.

Application

Applications under this programme can be submitted for consideration  
at any time. You may write your proposal in any Indian language  
including English. You can expect to receive a reply from us within  
one month, indicating whether your proposal falls within the  
programme’s scope and budgetary limits. We will help you to develop a  
budget for your proposal if it is accepted for funding.

To apply, please send us a proposal describing

a)     Your existing arts practice, and your concerns and interests  
as a practitioner.

b)     The nature of the project for which you are seeking funding.

c)     How this project extends, builds on, sharpens or critiques  
your existing work and/or how it stimulates new developments within  
your field.

d)     The proposed outcomes of the project.

Please remember to include the following with your proposal:

a)     Samples of your work, and those of your collaborators, if  
yours is a collaborative project.

b)     Your bio-data and those of your collaborators, if any.

c)     Your address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address.

d)     A work plan, specifying the duration of the project.

If you wish, you may also include two references from senior artists  
in your field.

You are welcome to develop your proposal through dialogue and  
interaction with IFA staff. You may write to us or post an online  
letter of inquiry describing your project idea briefly. You may also  
use the online letter of inquiry to communicate with us on any matter  
pertaining to this programme.

Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if you are an Indian national, a registered  
non-profit Indian organization, or have been resident in Indiafor at  
least five years. Your collaborators, if any, should also fall into  
one of the above categories.

Send your queries and proposals to contactus at indiaifa.org or write to:

The Executive Director
India Foundation for the Arts
Tharangini, 12th Cross, Raj Mahal Vilas Extension
Bangalore - 560 080
Tel/fax:080 - 2361-0584 / 2361-0583
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From cahen.x at levels9.com  Thu Jan 25 04:17:47 2007
From: cahen.x at levels9.com (xavier cahen)
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:47:47 +0100
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] pourinfos Newsletter / 01-24 to
	01-31-2007
Message-ID: <45B7E213.6090505@levels9.com>

pourinfos.org
l'actualité du monde de l'art / daily Art news
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 From Wenesday January 24 to Wenesday January 31 2007 (included)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
(mostly in french)


@ 001 (24/01/2007)
Meetings : first edition DORKBOT PARIS #1, Wednesday January 24 at Ars 
Longa, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34218-tit--premiere-edition-DORKBOT-PARIS-1-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 002 (24/01/2007)
Residency : The CRIR apartment, CRIR, Copenhague, Danemark.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34265-tit-Residence-The-CRIR-apartment-CRIR-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 003 (24/01/2007)
Residency : digital artists residency, Lower East Side Tenement Museum 
offers digital artists residency, New York, Usa.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34266-tit-Residence-digital-artists-residency-Lower
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 004 (24/01/2007)
Publication : Travel Book, Aipotu - Andreas Siqueland & Anders 
Kjellsvik, Dasein editions Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34271-tit--Travel-Book-Aipotu-Andreas-Siqueland-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 005 (24/01/2007)
Publication : Reste et ressentiment (le Paradis), Christian Globensky, 
Metz, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34272-tit--Reste-et-ressentiment-le-Paradis-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 006 (24/01/2007)
Publication : Issue 6: Surplus of the Arts, Framework: The Finnish Art 
Review, Helsinki, Finland.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34273-tit--Issue-6-Surplus-of-the-Arts-Framework-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 007 (24/01/2007)
Publication : Game, Peter Sutherland, Nieves edition, Zurich, Switzerland.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34274-tit--Game-Peter-Sutherland-nieves-edition-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 008 (24/01/2007)
Publication : Erfahrungsräume – configurations de l’experience, 
transversale 2- 2006, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34275-tit--Erfahrungsraume-configurations-de
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 009 (24/01/2007)
Exhibition : Jean Le Gac, Foundation espace ecureuil, Toulouse, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34278-tit--Jean-Le-Gac-Fondation-d-entreprise
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 010 (24/01/2007)
Various : Sell Heating for studio : kerosene stove ZIBRO SRE 158 E 
Laser, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34281-tit-Divers-Vend-chauffage-pour-atelier-poele
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 011 (24/01/2007)
Various : projet PRISM, Master l’institut Ingemedia et de l’IUP Satis, 
pôle Medias Belle de Mai, Marseille, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34282-tit-Divers-projet-PRISM-Master-l-institut
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 012 (24/01/2007)
Various : Prize of contemporary drawing 2007 of the Foundation Daniel 
and Florence Guerlain, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34283-tit-Divers-Prix-de-dessin-contemporain-2007-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 013 (24/01/2007)
Various : News site site dedicated to contemporary art, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34284-tit-Divers-Nouveau-site-dedie-a-l-art
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 014 (24/01/2007)
Various : studio-house to rent at 15 kms au sud d'Angoulème, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34285-tit-Divers-Maison-atelier-a-louer-dans-un
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 015 (24/01/2007)
Various : Le Cipac en 2007, Lyon, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34286-tit-Divers-Le-Cipac-en-2007-Lyon-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 016 (24/01/2007)
Various : You engage! Support the Brigade! , Non-profit-making 
association, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34287-tit-Divers-Engagez-vous-Soutenez-la-Brigade
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 017 (24/01/2007)
Various : Cité internationale des Arts : closing... Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34288-tit-Divers-Cite-internationale-des-Arts-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 018 (24/01/2007)
Call : Developing Interactive Narrative Content Seminar, sagasnet, 
European MEDIA 2007 Programme, Stuttgart, Germany.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34289-tit--Developing-Interactive-Narrative-Content
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 019 (24/01/2007)
Call : Critical Connections International Conference, Centre for 
Community Arts Research & Practice, QMC Queen Margaret

College, Edinburgh, United Kingdomi.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34290-tit--Critical-Connections-International
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 020 (24/01/2007)
Call : Anonymous Drawings 4, Call for Entries, Raum fuer Kunst, Berlin, 
Germany.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34291-tit--Anonymous-Drawings-4-Call-for-Entries-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 021 (24/01/2007)
Call : “Ritual”, a word is withdrawn randomly in the dictionary,, 
Sos-art.com, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34292-tit--Rituel-Un-mot-est-tire-au-hasard-dans
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 022 (24/01/2007)
Call : WPAC Experimental Media Series - ColorField Remix, Washington, Usa.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34293-tit--WPA-C-Experimental-Media-Series-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 023 (24/01/2007)
Call : The Architecture, Planning and Design Program of NYSCA Grants, 
New-York, Usa.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34294-tit--The-Architecture-Planning-and-Design
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 024 (24/01/2007)
Call : PhotoEspana 2007, Madrid, Spain.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34295-tit--PhotoEspana-2007-Madrid-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 025 (24/01/2007)
Call : LABCYBERSPACES PROJECTS @ Laboral Art,and Industrial Creation 
Centre, Gijon, Spain.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34296-tit--LABCYBERSPACES-PROJECTS-Laboral-Art-and
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 026 (24/01/2007)
Call : Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, the netherlands.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34297-tit--Jan-van-Eyck-Academie-Maastricht-Pays
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 027 (24/01/2007)
Call : International Short Film Festival Detmold, Detmold, Germany.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34298-tit--International-Short-Film-Festival
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 028 (24/01/2007)
Call : Futurevisual, Futuresonic 2007, Manchester, United Kingdom.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34299-tit--Futurevisual-Futuresonic-2007-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 029 (24/01/2007)
Call : Contest photo 2007, Pixelcreation, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34300-tit--Concours-photo-2007-Pixelcreation-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 030 (24/01/2007)
Call : Announce for Festival Nouveaux Cinémas, Cine Fac association, 
Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34301-tit--Annonce-pour-Festival-Nouveaux-Cinemas-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 031 (25/01/2007)
Meetings : Alain Bublex, Entretiens sur l'art , Thursday January 25, 
2007, Foundation of Ricard company, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34174-tit--Alain-Bublex-Entretiens-sur-l-art-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 032 (27/01/2007)
Exhibition : Morgane Tschiember, Zoo Galerie, Nantes, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34239-tit--Morgane-Tschiember-Zoo-Galerie-Nantes-
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 033 (29/01/2007)
Screening : Grizzly Man de Werner Herzog, Monday January 29, 2007, 
Documentaire sur Grand Écran, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34235-tit--Grizzly-Man-de-Werner-Herzog-lundi-29
--------------------------------------------------------------------

@ 034 (30/01/2007)
Rencontres : Le réenchantement du monde...Michel Maffesoli et Nicolas 
Bourriaud, Mardi 30 janvier 2007, Galery 13SÉVIGNÉ, Paris, France.
http://www.pourinfos.org/art-34268-tit--Le-reenchantement-du-monde-Michel

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https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements

From kaiwanmehta at gmail.com  Thu Jan 25 11:36:54 2007
From: kaiwanmehta at gmail.com (kaiwan mehta)
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:36:54 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation - Talk By Paulo V Gomes - "Strange
	Bedfellows"
In-Reply-To: <2482459d0701242158p4f29a316q672dec69d08a787f@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2482459d0701242158p4f29a316q672dec69d08a787f@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <2482459d0701242206h46fe2022xbc60230666ded0e3@mail.gmail.com>

*Invitation  *



You are cordially invited to a talk by



*Paulo Valera Gomes*

**

Titled

*Strange Bedfellows: Architectural History, Architectural Practice and
Politics. *

*(The American historian George Kubler (1912-1996) and Portuguese
architecture: a case study) *

**

On Friday 2 February, 2007 @ 11 : 00 am



Venue: Auditorium, Rachna Sansad's *Academy** of Architecture*, Prabhadevi,
Mumbai.





The American historian *George Kubler* (1912-1996) and Portuguese
architecture – a case study:

It is about how a very famous American architectural historian, trained in
the history of pre-colombian American architecture, ie non-European
architecture, wrote a book about Portuguese 16th-17 th century architecture
reading it as partially non-European, which book was appropriated by left
oriented historians and architects in Portugal in the 1970s and 1980s in
order to present Portuguese architecture of the past and of the present as
unique and "non-aligned" with European styles.



*Paulo Varela Gomes* is an architectural and art historian teaching at the
Department of Architecture of the School of Science and Technology of the
University of Coimbra, Portugal. His current subjects of teaching and
expertise are the history of European and euro-colonial architecture in the
16th and 17th centuries. But he has also worked on the history of 20th
century architecture and he regularly wrote articles about contemporary
architecture for journals and newspapers, besides curating Portugal 1991
architecture exhibition in Brussels, Belgium. He is the author of some books
and many papers on architecture and art and he is the editor of MURPHY, a
journal of architectural history and theory published in Portuguese and
English by the University of Coimbra.



*Note:* The *Let's Talk feature in  * *Indian Architect & Builde*r 's
January 2007 carries an interview with Paulo V Gomes.



Supported by:

Rachna Sansad's Academy of Architecture

Indian Architect & Builder


-- 
Kaiwan Mehta
Architect and Urban Researcher

Senior Lecturer - K Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and
Environmental Studies, Mumbai

Assistant Editor - Indian Architect & Builder

11/4, Kassinath Bldg. No. 2, Kassinath St., Tardeo, Mumbai 400034
022-2-494 3259 / 91-98205 56436

-- 
Kaiwan Mehta
Architect and Urban Researcher

Senior Lecturer - K Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture and
Environmental Studies, Mumbai

Assistant Editor - Indian Architect & Builder

11/4, Kassinath Bldg. No. 2, Kassinath St., Tardeo, Mumbai 400034
022-2-494 3259 / 91-98205 56436
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From sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in  Fri Jan 26 00:37:25 2007
From: sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in (S Fatima)
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:07:25 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] film Khayal Darpan at "the Attic"
Message-ID: <305467.53648.qm@web8407.mail.in.yahoo.com>


Yousuf Saeed's film Khayal Darpan 
(on the classical music in Pakistan) is being screened


at the Grey Zone Film Club, The Attic, Regal Building,
Connaught Place at 6:30 pm, on 28th January, 2007,
Sunday, Duration: 105 mins

The director will be present for a discussion
afterwards

Entry is free for the members of Grey Zone Film Club. 
Others may make a contribution of Rs.55 per person for
the show. Audience seats are limited. You may check
with Saif about the availability of seats 9810617477

=========

You are also welcome to attend some of the following
screenings of "Khayal Darpan" in the near future 
(kindly confirm the exact time/date of the screening
with the concerned organization):

February 5th, 2007 (Monday): ITC-Sangeet Research
Academy, Kolkata (check/confirm timings)

February 7th, 2007 (Wednesday): Goethe Institut (Max
Mueller bhavan) Kolkata, at 6.30 pm

February 9th, 2007 (Mumbai Vikalp monthly screening)
at 6:30 pm, at Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan, 85 Sayani Road
(diagonally across from Rabindra Natya Mandir),
Prabhadevi, Mumbai

February 24th, 2007 (Saturday): Gallerie Alternatives,
A 22/8 DLF Phase II, Gurgaon

Check www.ektara.org for more details about Khayal
Darpan.




		
__________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/


From mail at shivamvij.com  Sat Jan 27 15:10:40 2007
From: mail at shivamvij.com (Shivam Vij)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:10:40 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Nominate your blog for the 2006 Indibloggies
Message-ID: <9c06aab30701270140k79224b53x89495e1e32f0ac16@mail.gmail.com>

The Indibloggies, India's first and foremost blog awards would be
unveiling its annual nomination process for the 2006 event on 26
January 2007. This is the fourth year of the Indibloggies award,
organised by Pune-based blogger Debashish Chakrabarty.

The nominations would be open in 16 different award categories for
Indian blogs from all around the world from 26th January until 5th
February. At stake are prizes worth more than Rs 85,000.

The IndiBlog of the Year award, the top honor at the event, went to
Jivha (http://www.jivha.com, now defunct) in 2003 and to Atanu Dey of
Deeshaa ( http://www.deeshaa.org) in 2004. "The Indibloggies are a
sincere effort to showcase the best Indian blogs. Just going through
the nominations can be a process of discovery. It fulfils a greater
function that just being an annual awards program", said Amit Verma
whose blog India Uncut (http://indiauncut.blogspot.com ) won the
"IndiBlog of the Year" award at the 2005 event.

"Indibloggies is not only about showcasing the best of the Indian
Blogosphere, its also about bringing the unsung blogs to the fore",
said Debashish, "Indibloggies has been successful in recognizing the
outstanding bloggers year after year, for example Sonia Faleiro, who's
blog (http://soniafaleiro.blogspot.com) was adjudged the Best Topical
Blog last year went on to win the CNN Young Journalist award in 2006."

The award process at Indibloggies is three fold.

In the first phase anyone could nominate any number of blogs for any
category by bookmarking their site at the popular social bookmarking
website del.icio.us (http://www.deli.cio.us) using some custom tags.
The nomination phase for the 2006 event would be open from Jan 26
until 5th February. Details on the nomination process would be posted
at the Indibloggies website at http://www.indibloggies.org.

For the second phase, a jury comprising of prominent bloggers has been
roped in to rate the nominated blogs. The peer review would result in
short listing blogs for each of the 16 categories who qualify for the
final phase. This phase is expected to be over by Feb 11, 2007.

The final phase of the event, expected to commence on Feb13, 2007
would be the Public Poll where the short-listed blogs will be open to
weeklong public voting and the one with the largest votes will be
declared the winner in each category.

The winners will be announced on Feb 22, 2007.

Indibloggies has 16 award categories as follows, with the categories
on Food, Travel, Podcast, Humour and Entertainment making a debut this
year.

   1. IndiBlog of the year
   2. Best Humanities IndiBlog (Blogs on Humanities, covering
Art/Craft, Literature, Paintings, Poetry/Fiction)
   3. Best Entertainment IndiBlog (Blogs on Music, TV, Movies, theatre)
   4. Best Sports IndiBlog
   5. Best Science/Technology IndiBlog
   6. Best IndiBlog directory/service/clique/network
   7. Best Topical IndiBlog
   8. Best Designed IndiBlog (Blogs with original designs or with
major visible customizations to existing themes)
   9. Best Food IndiBlog
  10. Most Humorous IndiBlog
  11. Best IndiPodcast
  12. Best Travel IndiBlog
  13. Best New IndiBlog (IndiBloggers who began blogging on or after
July 1, 2006)
  14. Best Photo Blog
  15. Best Group/Community Blog
  16. Best Indic blog (Blogs written using Indic scripts, for example
Devanaagri script for Hindi)

Indic Blogs is a category that Debashish has special affinity for; he
has been one of the earliest blogger in Hindi and foresees a bright
future for language blogging. "With new and easier tools, reading and
writing on web in Indian languages has become much easier." he told.

The winner of the IndiBlog of the Year will get a scrapture trophy
worth Rs. 15,000 made by another blogger, Delhi-based Arun Verma
(http://www.arunverma.com).

Although sponsorship offers are still open, prizes worth Rs 86,000
have already been committed from various Bloggers and Organisations
such as Creativegarh, Microsoft, Tehelka (http://www.tehelka.com),
Sarai-CSDS (http://www.sarai.net), Techgoss (http://www.techgoss.com)
and GoHindi (http://www.gohindi.com), among others. Prizes in various
categories include a copy of Windows Vista, Blogjet Blog client,
Books, CDs, Publications, Gift certificates, Web hosting package apart
from cash-awards.

Debashish observes that the community feel is rampant at the awards. "
More than anything else, sponsors involvement with the event signifies
the ethos of the Internet and the blogosphere", he said.

India has seen a tremendous upsurge in the IndiBlogging scene.
According to a recent Windows Live Spaces survey the number of active
bloggers in India was put at 3.5 million with 39% of the 25 million
Indian internet users being aware of blogs."We are trying to broadbase
the awards as much as possible in keeping with the expanding nature of
the Indian blogosphere," said Delhi-based blogger Shivam Vij
(www.shivamvij.com), one of the jury members at the 2006 events.

Coinciding with the nomination phase Indibloggies will also hold a
small blog survey which is expected to shed some light on the oddities
of the Indiblogdom.

For additional details, please visit http://www.indibloggies.org.

- End -
Issues by Debashish Chakrabarty
Mobile: 09890509558


From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com  Sat Jan 27 15:27:28 2007
From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:27:28 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
In-Reply-To: <2076f31d0701270154o5fa17d9fnb1dfbde6ec313e89@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2076f31d0701270154o5fa17d9fnb1dfbde6ec313e89@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <2076f31d0701270157g2c905989m7ce8997e31076814@mail.gmail.com>

                                     A Step Towards Progress

The Nikahnama issued by the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPB)
seems to be a more progressive document than the one issued by the All
India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB). Though the latter represents
the entire diversity of Muslims in India, it had been caught in a time
warp. The AIMPLB had shown a lot of frigidity in terms of moving with
the times. For instance, the AIMPLB has not been able to dilute its
stand on the 'three talaq' (triple divorces) issue and has remained
steadfast on its legally binding effect in matters of dissolution of
marriage. This is despite the recognition that it was extremely
disapproved by the holy Prophet, peace be upon him. Moreover, the
nikahnama in this case was a voluntary document while the Shia Board
has made it mandatory for the two sides to sign it.


The new document issued by the Shia Personal Law Board at its
convention on November 26, 2006 makes it mandatory for the bride and
the groom to sign a legal contract declaring their credentials,
qualification, job and income etc. It allows the women to seek a
divorce if the husband cheats her; if she is barred from exercising
her right to education; if he disappears for two years; if he does not
provide her maintenance for months together; or, if he forces her to
have sexual liaisons with other men. Conversely, the Shia wives have
been prohibited from making such 'wasteful expenditure' that would
result in indebtedness of the husband. The AIMPLB nikahnama had only
laid down the conditions of cruelty and impotence of the husband for
the wives to proceed for the divorce.


Though it is still within realm of doubt as to how representative is
the AISPB of the Shia sect of Muslims, it is indeed painful that the
AIMPLB could not measure up to the expectations of all sections within
the community in matters of reforming the Personal Laws. The AIMPLB
has been following the credo of 'status quo' on personal law without
taking adequate note of the fast changing socio-economic realities
within the community. The Board has neither a research and study cell
for assessing the changes in the status of women due to the advent of
new technologies, social trends and economic factors, nor does it
consider it worthwhile to look at the reforms being affected in the
Muslim world.

(http://islamicvoice.com/January2007/Editorial/)


arshad amanullah
new delhi-25.


From vrjogi at hotmail.com  Sat Jan 27 23:46:15 2007
From: vrjogi at hotmail.com (Vedavati Jogi)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:16:15 +0000
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
In-Reply-To: <2076f31d0701270157g2c905989m7ce8997e31076814@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <BAY121-F12BA9E4310ADFF6026FD19C0A10@phx.gbl>


basically why do muslims need separate law? why can't they accept uniform 
civil code?
why can't they accept rule of the land?
why do all secularists prefer to keep mum when it come to uniform civil 
code?

vedavati

>From: "arshad amanullah" <arshad.mcrc at gmail.com>
>To: reader-list at sarai.net
>Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
>Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:27:28 +0530
>
>                                      A Step Towards Progress
>
>The Nikahnama issued by the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPB)
>seems to be a more progressive document than the one issued by the All
>India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB). Though the latter represents
>the entire diversity of Muslims in India, it had been caught in a time
>warp. The AIMPLB had shown a lot of frigidity in terms of moving with
>the times. For instance, the AIMPLB has not been able to dilute its
>stand on the 'three talaq' (triple divorces) issue and has remained
>steadfast on its legally binding effect in matters of dissolution of
>marriage. This is despite the recognition that it was extremely
>disapproved by the holy Prophet, peace be upon him. Moreover, the
>nikahnama in this case was a voluntary document while the Shia Board
>has made it mandatory for the two sides to sign it.
>
>
>The new document issued by the Shia Personal Law Board at its
>convention on November 26, 2006 makes it mandatory for the bride and
>the groom to sign a legal contract declaring their credentials,
>qualification, job and income etc. It allows the women to seek a
>divorce if the husband cheats her; if she is barred from exercising
>her right to education; if he disappears for two years; if he does not
>provide her maintenance for months together; or, if he forces her to
>have sexual liaisons with other men. Conversely, the Shia wives have
>been prohibited from making such 'wasteful expenditure' that would
>result in indebtedness of the husband. The AIMPLB nikahnama had only
>laid down the conditions of cruelty and impotence of the husband for
>the wives to proceed for the divorce.
>
>
>Though it is still within realm of doubt as to how representative is
>the AISPB of the Shia sect of Muslims, it is indeed painful that the
>AIMPLB could not measure up to the expectations of all sections within
>the community in matters of reforming the Personal Laws. The AIMPLB
>has been following the credo of 'status quo' on personal law without
>taking adequate note of the fast changing socio-economic realities
>within the community. The Board has neither a research and study cell
>for assessing the changes in the status of women due to the advent of
>new technologies, social trends and economic factors, nor does it
>consider it worthwhile to look at the reforms being affected in the
>Muslim world.
>
>(http://islamicvoice.com/January2007/Editorial/)
>
>
>arshad amanullah
>new delhi-25.
>_________________________________________
>reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>Critiques & Collaborations
>To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe 
>in the subject header.
>To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>

_________________________________________________________________
Latest from the world of gadgets and gizmos 
http://content.msn.co.in/Technology/Default.htm



From vrjogi at hotmail.com  Sun Jan 28 18:15:29 2007
From: vrjogi at hotmail.com (Vedavati Jogi)
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 12:45:29 +0000
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
In-Reply-To: <966201.23562.qm@web51413.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <BAY121-F7ECCBA8D7FB2A271F10A1C0A00@phx.gbl>

in uk or usa too people don't speak same language, don't eat same food, 
don't follow same customs in their personal lives but every body accepts 
rule of the land. why can't it happen in 'secular india'?


>From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
>To: Vedavati Jogi <vrjogi at hotmail.com>, arshad.mcrc at gmail.com
>CC: reader-list at sarai.net
>Subject: Re: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
>Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:29:50 -0800 (PST)
>
>Why can't all Indians speak the same language, why can't all Indians eat 
>the same food, wear the same dresses, worship the same god, live in the 
>same kind of houses, look exactly the same?
>
>
>Vedavati Jogi <vrjogi at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>basically why do muslims need separate law? why can't they accept uniform
>civil code?
>why can't they accept rule of the land?
>why do all secularists prefer to keep mum when it come to uniform civil
>code?
>
>vedavati
>
> >From: "arshad amanullah"
> >To: reader-list at sarai.net
> >Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
> >Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:27:28 +0530
> >
> > A Step Towards Progress
> >
> >The Nikahnama issued by the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPB)
> >seems to be a more progressive document than the one issued by the All
> >India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB). Though the latter represents
> >the entire diversity of Muslims in India, it had been caught in a time
> >warp. The AIMPLB had shown a lot of frigidity in terms of moving with
> >the times. For instance, the AIMPLB has not been able to dilute its
> >stand on the 'three talaq' (triple divorces) issue and has remained
> >steadfast on its legally binding effect in matters of dissolution of
> >marriage. This is despite the recognition that it was extremely
> >disapproved by the holy Prophet, peace be upon him. Moreover, the
> >nikahnama in this case was a voluntary document while the Shia Board
> >has made it mandatory for the two sides to sign it.
> >
> >
> >The new document issued by the Shia Personal Law Board at its
> >convention on November 26, 2006 makes it mandatory for the bride and
> >the groom to sign a legal contract declaring their credentials,
> >qualification, job and income etc. It allows the women to seek a
> >divorce if the husband cheats her; if she is barred from exercising
> >her right to education; if he disappears for two years; if he does not
> >provide her maintenance for months together; or, if he forces her to
> >have sexual liaisons with other men. Conversely, the Shia wives have
> >been prohibited from making such 'wasteful expenditure' that would
> >result in indebtedness of the husband. The AIMPLB nikahnama had only
> >laid down the conditions of cruelty and impotence of the husband for
> >the wives to proceed for the divorce.
> >
> >
> >Though it is still within realm of doubt as to how representative is
> >the AISPB of the Shia sect of Muslims, it is indeed painful that the
> >AIMPLB could not measure up to the expectations of all sections within
> >the community in matters of reforming the Personal Laws. The AIMPLB
> >has been following the credo of 'status quo' on personal law without
> >taking adequate note of the fast changing socio-economic realities
> >within the community. The Board has neither a research and study cell
> >for assessing the changes in the status of women due to the advent of
> >new technologies, social trends and economic factors, nor does it
> >consider it worthwhile to look at the reforms being affected in the
> >Muslim world.
> >
> >(http://islamicvoice.com/January2007/Editorial/)
> >
> >
> >arshad amanullah
> >new delhi-25.
> >_________________________________________
> >reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> >Critiques & Collaborations
> >To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with 
>subscribe
> >in the subject header.
> >To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> >List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Latest from the world of gadgets and gizmos
>http://content.msn.co.in/Technology/Default.htm
>
>_________________________________________
>reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>Critiques & Collaborations
>To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe 
>in the subject header.
>To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
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From nicheant at yahoo.co.uk  Sun Jan 28 23:46:44 2007
From: nicheant at yahoo.co.uk (Nishant)
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:16:44 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] First Kashmiri Digital Feature Film at IHC
Message-ID: <20070128181644.88768.qmail@web27904.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>

_________

The Habitat Film Club presents Akh Daleel Loolech (A Story of Love), the first Kashmiri digital feature film. It is subtitled in English. Please find the details below:

Akh Daleel Loolech
(A Story of Love)
Launguage: Kashmiri, with English subtitles
Duration: 80 minutes
Director: Aarshad Mushtaq
Music: Raja Bilal
Producers: Tariq Javaid, Tanveer Javid and S Y Firdous
Venue: Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Date: 29 January 2007, 7 PM.

About the Film:

Akh Daleel Loolech is a love story against the backdrop of late 19th century Kashmir when jagirdari (feudal) system and begaar (forced labour) was prevalent. The story weaves into its main plot, which is a story of a boy and a girl trying to cut across the class distinction and follow their dreams, a story of an agricultural village and its inhabitants battling hard realities of their survival.
 
Background of Kashmir Cinema

Ideas which shape the existence of a society is mirrored deep down in the psyche of its citizens and is shaped through various ways and means. These ideas have to be disseminated through different mediums of expression. In Kashmir we have not been able to explore the possibilities of multimedia to its fullest. The ideas that float around are usually lost in the dust of shooting starts circling the orbits around. The external influences are numerous but it does not mean that we lose our identity to them. The assertion has to start. 

 Cinema has never found its roots in Kashmir when it comes to the language cinema, which would have been indigenous and mirroring the society. The need is felt for the initiative and this medium can have a positive role to generate it. 
   
We might have missed the bus when the art of cinema began elsewhere, but it is never too late for us to make a beginning now. The non-existence of cinematic art or films in Kashmir does not mean that it should not be tried. 

 Akh Daleel Loolech is a small attempt to grab the attention of the people instigating the brains in this field of art to come up with many more such   ventures so as to fill the void where there are no artistic impressions burnt on a film roll. 



		
___________________________________________________________ 
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From gowharfazili at yahoo.com  Mon Jan 29 13:23:30 2007
From: gowharfazili at yahoo.com (gowhar fazli)
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 23:53:30 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress...why do Muslims need a
	separate law.... because US and UK...
Message-ID: <455858.94095.qm@web60623.mail.yahoo.com>

Why would you not let them (believers) make that
choice for themselves?  Why do you have a problem if
Muslims choose to maintain a separate personal law? 
Rules of the land are made by people and people make
choices about what law they should adopt... 'land' by
itself makes no law!  What do you want the secularists
to do?  Be more vocal in defense of freedom of
choosing personal law or to oppose it?  I personally
feel that we should collectively negotiate the law we
want for ourselves but would like to respect the
choice of  certain religious people to continue with
their differences if they choose to do so as long as
they please... It does not trouble me like you... only
as long as they do not oppress their own members
through that difference.... or prevent individual
members from opting out or opting in.

Why do you think the law of the 'land' is so
sacrosanct? And why do you think all secularists have
to believe that only one kind of law for all kinds of
people is the right thing to do?  Why do you want
every one to be the same and think the same?  Do you
want the world to be simpler for you to comprehend?  

Genetics suggests that diversity is the very mechanism
by which species evolves and has better chances to
survive in a dynamic world.  Perhaps extending that
logic to the notion to truth... in wake of the
collapse of all absolutes... it is better not to
modernise all or convert everyone to the same faith.

Have i off-shot? Do you have specific problems with
non-uniform (customised!) personal laws? 


Why do you suppose uk and usa are divine examples???
We are no longer colonies... and can differ.

"why can't it happen in 'secular india'?" Heard that
song "It only happens in India"!!   :)
 


Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares.   
      
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. 

Peter Ustinov


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Don't pick lemons.
See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos.
http://autos.yahoo.com/new_cars.html 


From ravis at sarai.net  Mon Jan 29 17:05:03 2007
From: ravis at sarai.net (Ravi Sundaram)
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:05:03 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] "TV interview of accused can count as evidence"
Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20070129170419.032cc010@mail.sarai.net>

TV interview of accused can count as evidence: SC
Dhananjay Mahapatra TOI, 29th January, 2007

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/TV_interview_of_accused_can_count_as_evidence_SC/articleshow/1501784.cms



NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has added a new, and significant, chapter to 
the conservative criminal jurisprudence and given a role to the media 
in criminal trials by ruling that interviews given by an accused to 
TV channels could be considered evidence by courts.

The country's criminal jurisprudence, which presumes innocence in 
favour of the accused and goes by the principle that a 100 guilty 
could escape the clutches of law but not a single innocent should be 
punished, had not recognised role of media in a trial.

In this light, the apex court's January 22 order that the trial court 
could consider admissibility of statements given by an accused to 
media, is not only a significant leap in law but also a trend-setter. 
This has wide implications for sting operations, the recent 
"entrapment" of MPs seeking bribes for local area development 
contracts being a case in point, as such interviews may become key 
evidence in corruption trials. Also, those accused who seek to use 
these interviews to influence investigation need to watch out.

The televised confession of Ravinder Pradhan to the murder of Meerut 
lecturer Kavita could now have a different connotation. The process 
began right at the trial court stage in Gujarat. In a murder incident 
of 2000, the accused Sajidbeg Asifbeg Mirza was allegedly beaten up 
by police during his custodial interrogation. When Mirza was admitted 
to a hospital in Surat, a local TV channel interviewed him.

As what he said in the interview, being relevant to prove his guilt, 
the prosecution moved trial court requesting it to summon the 
videographer as witness to prove contents of the interview.

The accused and his counsel objected saying extra-judicial 
confessions before media cannot be cited as evidence during the trial 
in a criminal case. The trial court did not agree with this plea and 
summoned the videographer to depose before it as a witness.

The accused moved Gujarat High Court to appeal the summoning order 
and cited the SC judgment in the Parliament attack case, which 
narrated that Ram Jethmalani, appearing for SAR Geelani, had cited a 
TV interview given by Mohammed Afzal to a TV channel purportedly 
confessing to his guilt but absolving Geelani.

The HC said the apex court, in the Parliament attack case, had 
rejected the admissibility of Afzal's statement to the TV channel as 
it became apparent that the interview was arranged by the police and 
recorded in their presence.

The HC, agreeing with the trial court, held that the SC has not laid 
down any principle about admissibility of confessional statement by 
an accused to media, if it were given suo-motu and without any 
pressure from the police. Mirza carried his appeal to the Supreme 
Court. A Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and SH Kapadia 
dismissed Mirza's petition saying, "There is no merit in it."

However, it said,"It goes without saying that the relevance and 
admissibility of the statement, if any, given by the accused before 
the mediapersons shall be considered at the appropriate state in the trial."

Once the "shall" word is used in the direction, then the trial court 
will definitely consider the admissibility.




From rahul_capri at yahoo.com  Mon Jan 29 20:04:43 2007
From: rahul_capri at yahoo.com (Rahul Asthana)
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:34:43 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress...why do Muslims need a
	separate law.... because US and UK...
In-Reply-To: <455858.94095.qm@web60623.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <430269.75238.qm@web53615.mail.yahoo.com>

(This topic was started by Ms Jogi last year as well(I
think) and people had provided responses to her.This
is  mine, which I reproduce from my mail archives.)

Questions on a better line would be
1)Why is it not the whole country's responsibility
that Muslims have come to be represented by
organizations like AIMPLB? Historically it was
congress who sought the alliance of hardline muslim
parties at the time of partition.
2)Now since the issue of UCC has been hijacked by the
likes of RSS and BJP(because of the communal politics
of Congress,in my opinion) who talk of Hindu
Nationalism, are the muslims to be blamed for feeling
like playing into their hands  if they concede to this
demand? 
3)Are the muslims a monolithic entity so that they can
be collectively blamed for Muslim personal law? Can
the same criteria be applied on every other citizen
for every other law?

Finally, this is notwithstanding the importance of the
debate that should take place on how and why all the
muslims can be represented by archaic and undemocratic
organizations like the MPLB.Even going ahead with the
existing laws but having their interpretation done in
regular courts by scholars of Islamic law, would be a
great step ahead.
--- gowhar fazli <gowharfazili at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Why would you not let them (believers) make that
> choice for themselves?  Why do you have a problem if
> Muslims choose to maintain a separate personal law? 
> Rules of the land are made by people and people make
> choices about what law they should adopt... 'land'
> by
> itself makes no law!  What do you want the
> secularists
> to do?  Be more vocal in defense of freedom of
> choosing personal law or to oppose it?  I personally
> feel that we should collectively negotiate the law
> we
> want for ourselves but would like to respect the
> choice of  certain religious people to continue with
> their differences if they choose to do so as long as
> they please... It does not trouble me like you...
> only
> as long as they do not oppress their own members
> through that difference.... or prevent individual
> members from opting out or opting in.
> 
> Why do you think the law of the 'land' is so
> sacrosanct? And why do you think all secularists
> have
> to believe that only one kind of law for all kinds
> of
> people is the right thing to do?  Why do you want
> every one to be the same and think the same?  Do you
> want the world to be simpler for you to comprehend? 
> 
> 
> Genetics suggests that diversity is the very
> mechanism
> by which species evolves and has better chances to
> survive in a dynamic world.  Perhaps extending that
> logic to the notion to truth... in wake of the
> collapse of all absolutes... it is better not to
> modernise all or convert everyone to the same faith.
> 
> Have i off-shot? Do you have specific problems with
> non-uniform (customised!) personal laws? 
> 
> 
> Why do you suppose uk and usa are divine examples???
> We are no longer colonies... and can differ.
> 
> "why can't it happen in 'secular india'?" Heard that
> song "It only happens in India"!!   :)
>  
> 
> 
> Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a
> super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing
> potential for nightmares.   
>       
> Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look
> which becomes a habit. 
> 
> Peter Ustinov
> 
> 
>  
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
> Don't pick lemons.
> See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos.
> http://autos.yahoo.com/new_cars.html 
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and
> the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to
> reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the
> subject header.
> To unsubscribe:
> https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list 
> List archive:
&lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
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From knsunandan at gmail.com  Mon Jan 29 21:33:40 2007
From: knsunandan at gmail.com (Sunandan K.N.)
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:03:40 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Secular?
Message-ID: <2a1c900c0701290803h50d7c583ja7f4baa1ab8f345f@mail.gmail.com>

In USA the Chritisn groups (majority) do not believe or accept the
constitution.. they work against abortion rights guaranteed by the
constitution, against gay marriage and so on.
In India the hindu fundamentalist are the one who are not accepting
the 'rule of the land'. As per the 'rule of the land' (constitution of
India) people believing in different religion can follow different
rules. But Hindu terrorists want their law to be 'law for all' and
they dont mind taking law into their hand.
Fortumately India is more democratic than US  in the sense that the
majority religion still has not completely gained full control in
Indian government. In US iIt is not a secret that Bush government is a
chriatian goverment and it openly acts like that. In India fortunately
the minority communities are strong and so that the hindu
fundamentalists are not able to introduce hindu or christian civil
laws as 'common civil code'... I like to know what will be Vedavati's
openion making Muslim civil code as common civil code. We can expect
what will be the answer from a person who believe that Narandra Modi -
one of the most  dreadful terrorist India has produiced - is a hero of
the nation..


Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 12:45:29 +0000
From: "Vedavati Jogi" <vrjogi at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
To: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com, reader-list at sarai.net
Message-ID: < BAY121-F7ECCBA8D7FB2A271F10A1C0A00 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

in uk or usa too people don't speak same language, don't eat same food,
don't follow same customs in their personal lives but every body accepts
rule of the land. why can't it happen in 'secular india'?


From ysaeed7 at yahoo.com  Sun Jan 28 09:59:50 2007
From: ysaeed7 at yahoo.com (Yousuf)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:29:50 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
In-Reply-To: <BAY121-F12BA9E4310ADFF6026FD19C0A10@phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <966201.23562.qm@web51413.mail.yahoo.com>

Why can't all Indians speak the same language, why can't all Indians eat the same food, wear the same dresses, worship the same god, live in the same kind of houses, look exactly the same?
    

Vedavati Jogi <vrjogi at hotmail.com> wrote:
  
basically why do muslims need separate law? why can't they accept uniform 
civil code?
why can't they accept rule of the land?
why do all secularists prefer to keep mum when it come to uniform civil 
code?

vedavati

>From: "arshad amanullah" 
>To: reader-list at sarai.net
>Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
>Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:27:28 +0530
>
> A Step Towards Progress
>
>The Nikahnama issued by the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPB)
>seems to be a more progressive document than the one issued by the All
>India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB). Though the latter represents
>the entire diversity of Muslims in India, it had been caught in a time
>warp. The AIMPLB had shown a lot of frigidity in terms of moving with
>the times. For instance, the AIMPLB has not been able to dilute its
>stand on the 'three talaq' (triple divorces) issue and has remained
>steadfast on its legally binding effect in matters of dissolution of
>marriage. This is despite the recognition that it was extremely
>disapproved by the holy Prophet, peace be upon him. Moreover, the
>nikahnama in this case was a voluntary document while the Shia Board
>has made it mandatory for the two sides to sign it.
>
>
>The new document issued by the Shia Personal Law Board at its
>convention on November 26, 2006 makes it mandatory for the bride and
>the groom to sign a legal contract declaring their credentials,
>qualification, job and income etc. It allows the women to seek a
>divorce if the husband cheats her; if she is barred from exercising
>her right to education; if he disappears for two years; if he does not
>provide her maintenance for months together; or, if he forces her to
>have sexual liaisons with other men. Conversely, the Shia wives have
>been prohibited from making such 'wasteful expenditure' that would
>result in indebtedness of the husband. The AIMPLB nikahnama had only
>laid down the conditions of cruelty and impotence of the husband for
>the wives to proceed for the divorce.
>
>
>Though it is still within realm of doubt as to how representative is
>the AISPB of the Shia sect of Muslims, it is indeed painful that the
>AIMPLB could not measure up to the expectations of all sections within
>the community in matters of reforming the Personal Laws. The AIMPLB
>has been following the credo of 'status quo' on personal law without
>taking adequate note of the fast changing socio-economic realities
>within the community. The Board has neither a research and study cell
>for assessing the changes in the status of women due to the advent of
>new technologies, social trends and economic factors, nor does it
>consider it worthwhile to look at the reforms being affected in the
>Muslim world.
>
>(http://islamicvoice.com/January2007/Editorial/)
>
>
>arshad amanullah
>new delhi-25.
>_________________________________________
>reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>Critiques & Collaborations
>To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe 
>in the subject header.
>To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
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Latest from the world of gadgets and gizmos 
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From gora at sarai.net  Mon Jan 29 22:24:10 2007
From: gora at sarai.net (Gora Mohanty)
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:24:10 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Secular?
In-Reply-To: <2a1c900c0701290803h50d7c583ja7f4baa1ab8f345f@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2a1c900c0701290803h50d7c583ja7f4baa1ab8f345f@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <1170089651.10440.4.camel@anubis>

On Mon, 2007-01-29 at 11:03 -0500, Sunandan K.N. wrote:
> In USA the Chritisn groups (majority) do not believe or accept the
> constitution.. they work against abortion rights guaranteed by the
> constitution, against gay marriage and so on.
> In India the hindu fundamentalist are the one who are not accepting
> the 'rule of the land'. As per the 'rule of the land' (constitution of
> India) people believing in different religion can follow different
> rules. But Hindu terrorists want their law to be 'law for all' and
> they dont mind taking law into their hand.
[...]

I suggest that you review your knowledge of both constitutions. Neither
one provides the guarantees that you claim (it is a matter of law, not
enshrined in the constitution). Also, while I completely agree that the
people pushing one law for all are quite likely religious bigots, and
are using that banner to push their own agenda, I have no problems with
the principle of a single law of the land.

Regards,
Gora



From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com  Sat Jan 27 15:24:37 2007
From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:24:37 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] A Step Towards Progress
Message-ID: <2076f31d0701270154o5fa17d9fnb1dfbde6ec313e89@mail.gmail.com>

                                           A Step Towards Progress


The Nikahnama issued by the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPB) seems
to be a more progressive document than the one issued by the All India
Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB). Though the latter represents the entire
diversity of Muslims in India, it had been caught in a time warp. The AIMPLB
had shown a lot of frigidity in terms of moving with the times. For
instance, the AIMPLB has not been able to dilute its stand on the 'three
talaq' (triple divorces) issue and has remained steadfast on its legally
binding effect in matters of dissolution of marriage. This is despite the
recognition that it was extremely disapproved by the holy Prophet, peace be
upon him. Moreover, the nikahnama in this case was a voluntary document
while the Shia Board has made it mandatory for the two sides to sign it.


The new document issued by the Shia Personal Law Board at its convention on
November 26, 2006 makes it mandatory for the bride and the groom to sign a
legal contract declaring their credentials, qualification, job and income
etc. It allows the women to seek a divorce if the husband cheats her; if she
is barred from exercising her right to education; if he disappears for two
years; if he does not provide her maintenance for months together; or, if he
forces her to have sexual liaisons with other men. Conversely, the Shia
wives have been prohibited from making such 'wasteful expenditure' that
would result in indebtedness of the husband. The AIMPLB nikahnama had only
laid down the conditions of cruelty and impotence of the husband for the
wives to proceed for the divorce.


Though it is still within realm of doubt as to how representative is the
AISPB of the Shia sect of Muslims, it is indeed painful that the AIMPLB
could not measure up to the expectations of all sections within the
community in matters of reforming the Personal Laws. The AIMPLB has been
following the credo of 'status quo' on personal law without taking adequate
note of the fast changing socio-economic realities within the community. The
Board has neither a research and study cell for assessing the changes in the
status of women due to the advent of new technologies, social trends and
economic factors, nor does it consider it worthwhile to look at the reforms
being affected in the Muslim world.

(http://islamicvoice.com/January2007/Editorial/)


arshad amanullah
new delhi-25.
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From knsunandan at gmail.com  Mon Jan 29 23:21:30 2007
From: knsunandan at gmail.com (Sunandan K.N.)
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:51:30 -0500
Subject: [Reader-list] Secular?
Message-ID: <2a1c900c0701290951k4ac58bc7ra2f64fa4296346fa@mail.gmail.com>

Gora thank you for enlightening me and I completely agree with You.
But still I don't believe in a single law unless there is situation
where everybody wants  that.. In India it is not at all the
situation..
Sunandan


From iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com  Tue Jan 30 15:13:22 2007
From: iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com (S.Shashidhar)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:43:22 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?
Message-ID: <424933.52111.qm@web32403.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Dear Tapas,

There are only few in this world that can create a nuclear bomb, that does nt mean that the science behind a boms is fake or irrelavant. Most of the knowledge of yoga is copied from the nature itself, there are trees which grow without water for ages, and spring back to life. There are animals who hibernate in the winter months and their heart beats only 30 times during the entire period. There are examples of many himalayan squirrels who do so. a winter for a squirrel is like a life time for a human.

The essence of yoga is never suppression, but that of realisation. The goal of yoga is never to live without food or water for days to gether, but it is a by product of the acts undertaken. 

My friend if people flew planes in the ancient days, why are we still being pulled in bullock carts. They must have been stories of fantasy...

As far as condeming something, or allowing something, the scriptures have never done it, they have never even suggested anything. They mearly speak of experiences. What you are talking of especially the Aghora thing, had a very different settting in Bengal. There was a cult called as Thuggis, They were something else..

Regards,

Shashi

----- Original Message ----
From: Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com>
To: S.Shashidhar <iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 2:22:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?


Shashi,

I can see that you have a deep regard for these people, and are upset by my 
flippant remark. Please accept my sincere apologies.

But I fail to understand how one can survive without food and water for many 
years. Certain indigenous peoples know the use of plants - such as coca and 
hoodia - for hunger and thirst suppression. But even these have their 
limits. As for yoga, I am sure it can do a lot of things, but cannot 
overturn the laws of nature whereby your body needs nutrition and water to 
survive.

Of course there are yogis - the ones you know, for instance - who have 
nothing to do with substances that are called drugs in secular society (such 
as marijuana and datura) or alcohol. But there are others who do. In fact, 
the use of these things is part of their religious practice. I am just 
stating facts and not making a value judgement here. Whether one can call 
them yogis or has to call them something else - say, sadhus - is another 
matter. Maybe there are rules/conventions about these things within the 
relevant religious tradition. I do not know.

Claiming miracles by reference to ancient Indian texts would seem to play 
into the hands of the most obscurantist elements, don't you think? I have 
heard people say that we had aeroplanes in Puranic times. Or that a certain 
sadhu is a thousand years old. I don't think that sort of claim merits any 
serious discussion.

Just a qualification - claims like these have nothing to do with local, 
native knowledge, which modernist science discounts but has a strong 
validity, having been tried and tested over thousands of years.

Tapas


> Tapas,

There guys are never stoned, they have learnt it from ardent study of 
eastern texts the good beginig fo ryou would be in seach of secret india by 
paul brunton, if you knoew, telugu i would have suggested many more, my 
knowledge of hindi is very limited but i am sure that there are many texts 
available.

The practice of Yoga, primarily means no intake of any substance which 
alters the state of mind, and none of the yogis that i know of consume any 
form of a drug. I have my self seen people who live on just a fruit a day, 
there are examples in the modern day of jains who go into a fast unto death 
and they last for about 1 year easily, before their will power caves in. I 
know that the jain thing was a stupid example.

My entire contention was that food, is no longer visualised as a source of 
enery, but that of comfort, good food that people speak of is not good food 
according any of the manuals of either science or spirituality. As far as 
any being a joker, I am the biggest, if not for me they would stiil have 
been practising their art witout being mocked at, a small verse penned by 
vemana in telugu.
Uppu Kappurambu nokka polika nundu
Chooda chooda ruchulu jaada veru
Purushulandu Punya purushulu veraya
Viswadhaabhiraama, Vinura Vema
Salt and camphor look alike
With familiarity, the paths of their taste is different
Among men, virtuous people stand apart
Beloved of the Bounteous, Vema, listen!
Poem courtesy wikipedia!.

Regards,

Shashi


----- Original Message ----
From: Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com>
To: S.Shashidhar <iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 6:36:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?


Shashi,

I would give an arm and a leg to learn their secret. But are you sure that
secret doesn't consist in being stoned out of one's mind most of the time,
so as not to notice that one is eating or drinking anything, or even that
one has a body?

Sorry, Shashi, your German pals sound too much like our Indian jokers.

Tapas


> Looks like the joke turned on me!

> I was at the Ardh Kumbh, where i met people who eat all kinds of things,
> some of them true other so
> much like me. But BOSS Tapas, there was this whole crowd of people from
> Germany , who live on
> only an apple a day and there was a certain head of the congregation who
> had not consumed any food
> or water in the last so many years. And these were not like the indian
> joker fakir's they lead very
> productive capitalist lives. Working in factories and schools.

> It is possible to live without many things, least of all food... untill we
> find the way let us all hunt and
> gather

> Getting a little fatter by the day

> Shashi



----- Original Message ----
From: Tapas Ray <t.ray at vsnl.com>
To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Friday, January 5, 2007 6:35:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Buff or beef?


You are forgetting field rats. I have seen their meat hung out to dry from
clotheslines in certain villages. As for human blood, before trying it,
remember what Idi Amin is supposed to have said about human flesh - that he
doesn't eat it, because it's too salty. Better still, ask oldtimers in a
certain part of our country where, I believe, ritual cannibalism was
practised in the past.

I suppose most people eat to live, not live to eat ... hence consumption (in
the narrow, literal sense of eating) is for life, not the other way round.
If there is a way to live without eating any living thing, whether plant or
animal, I am sure many of us will gladly do so. Meanwhile, let us carry on
joking or, even better, killing one another, over what we eat or do not eat.

From: "S.Shashidhar" <iwasthere2000 at yahoo.com>
> life is ment for consumption, let us all eat meat and drink human blood, A
> cow is holy so it should be > spared but a poor goat can and will be
> eaten, there are a lucy few in the south who can eat cows.. Man > thi was
> one grose thread


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From jeebesh at sarai.net  Tue Jan 30 21:53:25 2007
From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 21:53:25 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] blog by seby
Message-ID: <EA3684C6-087D-4642-91ED-915ADDB116B2@sarai.net>

This is an blog written by Sebastian Rodrigues
http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=17

He has been traveling extensively and writing. His notes on Jharkhand  
are worth looking at.

best
jeebesh



From rana at ranadasgupta.com  Tue Jan 30 22:50:43 2007
From: rana at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:50:43 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] another video: we. featuring the words of arundhati
	roy]
Message-ID: <45BF7E6B.5010601@ranadasgupta.com>

cross-posted from Undercurrents.

R


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[undercurrents] another video: we. featuring the words of
arundhati roy
Date: 	Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:25:57 -0500
From: 	Gita Hashemi <gita at ping.ca>
Reply-To: 	undercurrents at bbs.thing.net
To: 	Undercurrents <undercurrents at bbs.thing.net>



i've only seen a few clips of this video an am looking forward to seeing
the whole thing particularly for some of the very interesting historical
footage in it...  i find the remix concept, the form of circulation, the
network created around it, and the 'anonymous' status of the artist all
refreshing...  meanwhile, one of the questions of documenta 12 is "what
is to be done?"

be well.

gita

----

http://www.weroy.org/

we. featuring the words of arundhati roy

We is a fast-paced 64 minute documentary that covers the world politics
of power, war, corporations, deception and exploitation.

It visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous Come
September speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror,
corporate globalization, justice and the growing civil unrest.

It's witty, moving, alarming and quite a lesson in modern history.

We is almost in the style of a continuous music video. The music used
sets the pace and serves as wonderful background for the words of Ms.
Roy and images of humanity in the world we live all in today.

We is a completely free documentary, created (and released) anonymously
on the internet.

There are many ways to download and view it online. If you'd like a TV
quality copy, a DVD-R disc can be obtained for a small donation.
Read the About This Project page for more information about the
documentary and this web site.

---

About The Film

     "This is an unusual kind of underground production. An anonymous
sympathiser has edited a video recording of Roy's speech over 64
minutes, interspersing an impressive array of archival footage to
illustrate themes and specific historical events. Contemporary music
overlaid throughout the piece shifts the mood and quickens the pace. The
result is a visual essay rather than a traditional documentary,
perfectly suited to its creator's intentions, which is to spread the
anti-imperialist, social justice politics of Arundhati Roy everywhere."

"We" is a free documentary produced by an anonymous producer in New
Zealand.  He goes by the name "anon". It was released for free on the
Internet and first appeared at an Australian web site called resist.com.au.

Geoff, the webmaster of resist.com.au, says he received the film
anonymously in the mail one day with a simple note that read:

     Feel free to pass this on to others who you know will be interested
in its relatively unique content and perspectives (either by copying
this DVD, dubbing to VHS, by dissemination through internet download,
holding private screenings etc). Using the technology of this
information age you have the freedom to be as imaginative as you like in
the different ways which you can choose to make this accessible to others.

After seeing the film, we felt it was very important, cool, and overall
just fantastic piece of work. So a couple months ago, weroy.org was
created to assist the efforts that others put forth in getting this free
documentary seen by the citizens of the world.

November 2006 Update - We got a Q&A with "anon"! We'd like to thank him
for taking the time to answer some questions and being so open. If you'd
like to know more about the film and its creation, check out the interview!

Arundhati Roy
Ms. Roy has been acclaimed for her courage and her eloquence. Her
writing has been described as "a banquet for the senses" by Newsweek.
She has found a readership among fiction enthusiasts and political
activists. Please support Ms. Roy by purchasing her publications! For
Ms. Roy: If you're reading this (or if you're someone who knows her)
please get in touch. We'd love to know your personal opinion of this
documentary.

The Music
A lot of feedback about the film consisted of "wow, what song is that?"
In response, a list was added to the site listing much of the music that
could be indentified. If you enjoy the music, visit your local music
store or favorite digital music site like iTunes.com to purchase the
individual songs and support the artists.

Distribution
"We" is mainly distributed for free on the internet. The majority of
viewers catch it at popular video sharing sites like YouTube and Google
Video. The DVD-R available here was created for those who wanted a TV
quality copy of the film and a disc with a nice menu system. It is not
available for commercial resale or distribution, and there are no plans
to mass-produce the disc. Quite frankly none of the sites promoting this
film have the funds to do so. We're under the impression that "anon"
intended this to be a simple non-profit/educational grassroots project,
directed at the younger people of the world who may not be interested in
speakers like Ms. Roy (and the topics she discusses) unless "cool"
music/visuals accompany it.

Each DVD-R disc produced by weroy.org is burned, labeled and mailed by
hand with supplies purchased from Staples (ink, labels, DVD case, etc),
thanks to your donations.

Anything that is left from those donations goes to our involvement with
Kiva, a wonderful organization that allows anyone to directly help those
in need.

How can I help and be a part of something cool?
Tell all your friends about thie film and this site. Burn your own discs
and pass them out. There are lots of ways to help. Visit the share it
section of the site for more information.



From rana at ranadasgupta.com  Tue Jan 30 22:57:05 2007
From: rana at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:57:05 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] an imagined dialogue from the favelas of Brazil
Message-ID: <45BF7FE9.9030705@ranadasgupta.com>

THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (from Harper's Magazine, December 2006)

 From a column by Arnaldo Jabor, in the form of an imagined interview 
with an unnamed Brazilian prisoner, published May 23 in the newspaper "0 
Globo". The interview was believed genuine by some readers, and the 
interviewee was widely assumed to be Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, 
known as Marcola, or "Playboy," an inmate in a penitentiary outside Sao 
Paulo and the leader since 2002 of the Primeiro Comando da Capital, a 
prison gang founded in 1993. Brazil's prisons house approximately 
360,000 inmates, the fourth largest total in the world. Over four days 
in May, the PCC staged riots in Sao Paulo resulting in more than one 
hundred deaths. Translated from the Portuguese by Valeria Mogilevich.

Do you belong to the PCC?

I'm more than that: I'm a sign of the times. I was poor and invisible. 
For decades you never bothered to look at me. It used to be easy to deal 
with poverty. The diagnosis was obvious: rural migration, income 
inequality, a few slums. But the solution never arrived. What did they 
do? Nothing. Did the federal government ever allocate funds for us? 
People only heard about us when the slums collapsed, or from romantic 
music about "the beauty of the favelas at sunrise," stuff like that. Now 
we're rich, thanks to the multinational cocaine trade. And you guys are 
scared to death. Weare the late blooming 'of your social conscience. You 
see? I'm well read. I read Dante in prison.

But the solution would be ...

There's no solution, man. Even the idea of a "solution" is a mistake. 
Have you seen the size of the 560 slums in Rio? Have you flown over Sao 
Paulo's outskirts in a helicopter? A solution would require economic 
growth, a revolution in education, general urbanization - all executed 
by an "enlightened tyranny" that would leap over the paralyzed secular 
bureaucracy, its legislative accomplice, and the judiciary that 
obstructs punishment. This would cost billions of dollars and imply a 
deep psychosocial change in the country's political structure. Which is 
to say, it's impossible.

Aren't you scared of dying?

It's you who's scared of dying, not me. In fact, you can't come and kill 
me here in jail, but I can send people to kill you out there. We're 
man-bombs. In the slums there are a hundred thousand man-bombs. We're at 
the core of what is beyond solution. You guys are in the right, and I'm 
in the wrong, and in the middle is the frontier of death, the only 
frontier. We're already a new species, a wholly different animal from you.
For you, death is a Christian drama: you die in a bed from a heart 
attack. For us, death is commonplace: we're tossed into a ditch. Didn't 
you intellectuals speak of "class wars"-"Be an outlaw, be a hero"? 
That's right: here we are! Ha, ha. You never expected these cocaine 
soldiers, did you?
My soldiers are anomalies, products of this country's twisted 
development. There's no more proletariat, no pitiful or exploited 
masses. There's a third thing growing out there, cultivated from the 
mud, schooled on absolute illiteracy, graduating from prisons, like an 
alien monster hidden in the city's cracks. A new language has emerged.
We're on the edge of a kind of postmisery that has begotten a new 
murderous culture, propped up by technology, satellites, cell phones, 
the Internet, modern weapons. It's shit with chips and megabytes. My 
soldiers are a mutated social species, they're the fungus grow¬ing on a 
big dirty mistake.

What changed in the margins?

Dough. We have it now. Do you think someone with $40 million doesn't run 
things? With that kind of money, prison is like a ho¬tel, an office. We 
are a modern company, we're rich. You guys are a bankrupt state, 
dominated by incompetent people. We have agile management methods. You 
are slow and bureaucratic. We fight on our own turf. You're on foreign 
soil. We don't fear death. You're dying of fear. We are well armed. You 
have a .38 caliber revolver. We're on the attack. You are on the 
defensive. You are obsessed with human rights. We are cruel and 
merciless. You have transformed us into superstars of crime. We have 
made clowns of you. The people in the slums help us, out of fear or out 
of love. You are hated. You are provincial. Our arms and drugs come from 
abroad-we're global. We don't forget you - you're our clients. You 
forget about us as soon as an outbreak of violence subsides.

But what should we do?

I'm going to let you in on something, even if it's not in my best 
interest. Hit the coke barons! There are representatives, senators, 
generals, even former presidents from Paraguay involved in cocaine and 
weapons traffic. But who will catch them? The army? With what money? 
They don't even have money to feed the recruits.
I'm reading Clausewitz's On War. There's no success in sight. We are 
ravenous ants with access to antitank missiles. The only way to finish 
us is to drop an atomic bomb on the slums. Can you imagine, a 
radioactive Ipanema?
You can succeed only if you give up defending normality. There is no 
normality anymore. You must be critical of your own incompetence. But, 
to be frank, you don't have an out. Just shit. And we already deal in 
shit. Listen, brother, there's no solution. As the divine Dante wrote, 
"Abandon every hope." We are all in hell.

-- 
Rana Dasgupta
www.ranadasgupta.com


From felipefonseca at gmail.com  Tue Jan 30 23:49:05 2007
From: felipefonseca at gmail.com (Felipe Fonseca)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:19:05 -0200
Subject: [Reader-list] an imagined dialogue from the favelas of Brazil
In-Reply-To: <45BF7FE9.9030705@ranadasgupta.com>
References: <45BF7FE9.9030705@ranadasgupta.com>
Message-ID: <b8a0fad50701301019i2bc7e190p9cf3c7d2ac1e19c@mail.gmail.com>

Indeed, a great deal of the connected elite tought
it was for real. Arnaldo Jabor is an idiot, but this
time he got it right. Marcola exists, and he does
read in prison, but his organization, PCC, is not
interested in revolutions or social justice (if the
prisoners were well-treated, PCC would cease to
exist).

f,
from Brasil

On 1/30/07, Rana Dasgupta <rana at ranadasgupta.com> wrote:
> THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (from Harper's Magazine, December 2006)
>
>  From a column by Arnaldo Jabor, in the form of an imagined interview
> with an unnamed Brazilian prisoner, published May 23 in the newspaper "0
> Globo". The interview was believed genuine by some readers, and the
> interviewee was widely assumed to be Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho,
> known as Marcola, or "Playboy," an inmate in a penitentiary outside Sao
> Paulo and the leader since 2002 of the Primeiro Comando da Capital, a
> prison gang founded in 1993. Brazil's prisons house approximately
> 360,000 inmates, the fourth largest total in the world. Over four days
> in May, the PCC staged riots in Sao Paulo resulting in more than one
> hundred deaths. Translated from the Portuguese by Valeria Mogilevich.
>
> Do you belong to the PCC?
>
> I'm more than that: I'm a sign of the times. I was poor and invisible.
> For decades you never bothered to look at me. It used to be easy to deal
> with poverty. The diagnosis was obvious: rural migration, income
> inequality, a few slums. But the solution never arrived. What did they
> do? Nothing. Did the federal government ever allocate funds for us?
> People only heard about us when the slums collapsed, or from romantic
> music about "the beauty of the favelas at sunrise," stuff like that. Now
> we're rich, thanks to the multinational cocaine trade. And you guys are
> scared to death. Weare the late blooming 'of your social conscience. You
> see? I'm well read. I read Dante in prison.
>
> But the solution would be ...
>
> There's no solution, man. Even the idea of a "solution" is a mistake.
> Have you seen the size of the 560 slums in Rio? Have you flown over Sao
> Paulo's outskirts in a helicopter? A solution would require economic
> growth, a revolution in education, general urbanization - all executed
> by an "enlightened tyranny" that would leap over the paralyzed secular
> bureaucracy, its legislative accomplice, and the judiciary that
> obstructs punishment. This would cost billions of dollars and imply a
> deep psychosocial change in the country's political structure. Which is
> to say, it's impossible.
>
> Aren't you scared of dying?
>
> It's you who's scared of dying, not me. In fact, you can't come and kill
> me here in jail, but I can send people to kill you out there. We're
> man-bombs. In the slums there are a hundred thousand man-bombs. We're at
> the core of what is beyond solution. You guys are in the right, and I'm
> in the wrong, and in the middle is the frontier of death, the only
> frontier. We're already a new species, a wholly different animal from you.
> For you, death is a Christian drama: you die in a bed from a heart
> attack. For us, death is commonplace: we're tossed into a ditch. Didn't
> you intellectuals speak of "class wars"-"Be an outlaw, be a hero"?
> That's right: here we are! Ha, ha. You never expected these cocaine
> soldiers, did you?
> My soldiers are anomalies, products of this country's twisted
> development. There's no more proletariat, no pitiful or exploited
> masses. There's a third thing growing out there, cultivated from the
> mud, schooled on absolute illiteracy, graduating from prisons, like an
> alien monster hidden in the city's cracks. A new language has emerged.
> We're on the edge of a kind of postmisery that has begotten a new
> murderous culture, propped up by technology, satellites, cell phones,
> the Internet, modern weapons. It's shit with chips and megabytes. My
> soldiers are a mutated social species, they're the fungus grow¬ing on a
> big dirty mistake.
>
> What changed in the margins?
>
> Dough. We have it now. Do you think someone with $40 million doesn't run
> things? With that kind of money, prison is like a ho¬tel, an office. We
> are a modern company, we're rich. You guys are a bankrupt state,
> dominated by incompetent people. We have agile management methods. You
> are slow and bureaucratic. We fight on our own turf. You're on foreign
> soil. We don't fear death. You're dying of fear. We are well armed. You
> have a .38 caliber revolver. We're on the attack. You are on the
> defensive. You are obsessed with human rights. We are cruel and
> merciless. You have transformed us into superstars of crime. We have
> made clowns of you. The people in the slums help us, out of fear or out
> of love. You are hated. You are provincial. Our arms and drugs come from
> abroad-we're global. We don't forget you - you're our clients. You
> forget about us as soon as an outbreak of violence subsides.
>
> But what should we do?
>
> I'm going to let you in on something, even if it's not in my best
> interest. Hit the coke barons! There are representatives, senators,
> generals, even former presidents from Paraguay involved in cocaine and
> weapons traffic. But who will catch them? The army? With what money?
> They don't even have money to feed the recruits.
> I'm reading Clausewitz's On War. There's no success in sight. We are
> ravenous ants with access to antitank missiles. The only way to finish
> us is to drop an atomic bomb on the slums. Can you imagine, a
> radioactive Ipanema?
> You can succeed only if you give up defending normality. There is no
> normality anymore. You must be critical of your own incompetence. But,
> to be frank, you don't have an out. Just shit. And we already deal in
> shit. Listen, brother, there's no solution. As the divine Dante wrote,
> "Abandon every hope." We are all in hell.
>
> --
> Rana Dasgupta
> www.ranadasgupta.com
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>


-- 
FelipeFonseca
           .''`.
         : :'  :
         `. `'`
           `- Orgulhoso ser MetaRecicleiro
http://fff.hipercortex.com
http://metareciclagem.org


From eye at ranadasgupta.com  Tue Jan 30 16:53:06 2007
From: eye at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta)
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:53:06 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] another video: we. featuring the words of arundhati
	roy]
Message-ID: <45BF2A9A.7090501@ranadasgupta.com>

cross-posted from Undercurrents.

R


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[undercurrents] another video: we. featuring the words of
arundhati roy
Date: 	Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:25:57 -0500
From: 	Gita Hashemi <gita at ping.ca>
Reply-To: 	undercurrents at bbs.thing.net
To: 	Undercurrents <undercurrents at bbs.thing.net>



i've only seen a few clips of this video an am looking forward to seeing
the whole thing particularly for some of the very interesting historical
footage in it...  i find the remix concept, the form of circulation, the
network created around it, and the 'anonymous' status of the artist all
refreshing...  meanwhile, one of the questions of documenta 12 is "what
is to be done?"

be well.

gita

----

http://www.weroy.org/

we. featuring the words of arundhati roy

We is a fast-paced 64 minute documentary that covers the world politics
of power, war, corporations, deception and exploitation.

It visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous Come
September speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror,
corporate globalization, justice and the growing civil unrest.

It's witty, moving, alarming and quite a lesson in modern history.

We is almost in the style of a continuous music video. The music used
sets the pace and serves as wonderful background for the words of Ms.
Roy and images of humanity in the world we live all in today.

We is a completely free documentary, created (and released) anonymously
on the internet.

There are many ways to download and view it online. If you'd like a TV
quality copy, a DVD-R disc can be obtained for a small donation.
Read the About This Project page for more information about the
documentary and this web site.

---

About The Film

     "This is an unusual kind of underground production. An anonymous
sympathiser has edited a video recording of Roy's speech over 64
minutes, interspersing an impressive array of archival footage to
illustrate themes and specific historical events. Contemporary music
overlaid throughout the piece shifts the mood and quickens the pace. The
result is a visual essay rather than a traditional documentary,
perfectly suited to its creator's intentions, which is to spread the
anti-imperialist, social justice politics of Arundhati Roy everywhere."

"We" is a free documentary produced by an anonymous producer in New
Zealand.  He goes by the name "anon". It was released for free on the
Internet and first appeared at an Australian web site called resist.com.au.

Geoff, the webmaster of resist.com.au, says he received the film
anonymously in the mail one day with a simple note that read:

     Feel free to pass this on to others who you know will be interested
in its relatively unique content and perspectives (either by copying
this DVD, dubbing to VHS, by dissemination through internet download,
holding private screenings etc). Using the technology of this
information age you have the freedom to be as imaginative as you like in
the different ways which you can choose to make this accessible to others.

After seeing the film, we felt it was very important, cool, and overall
just fantastic piece of work. So a couple months ago, weroy.org was
created to assist the efforts that others put forth in getting this free
documentary seen by the citizens of the world.

November 2006 Update - We got a Q&A with "anon"! We'd like to thank him
for taking the time to answer some questions and being so open. If you'd
like to know more about the film and its creation, check out the interview!

Arundhati Roy
Ms. Roy has been acclaimed for her courage and her eloquence. Her
writing has been described as "a banquet for the senses" by Newsweek.
She has found a readership among fiction enthusiasts and political
activists. Please support Ms. Roy by purchasing her publications! For
Ms. Roy: If you're reading this (or if you're someone who knows her)
please get in touch. We'd love to know your personal opinion of this
documentary.

The Music
A lot of feedback about the film consisted of "wow, what song is that?"
In response, a list was added to the site listing much of the music that
could be indentified. If you enjoy the music, visit your local music
store or favorite digital music site like iTunes.com to purchase the
individual songs and support the artists.

Distribution
"We" is mainly distributed for free on the internet. The majority of
viewers catch it at popular video sharing sites like YouTube and Google
Video. The DVD-R available here was created for those who wanted a TV
quality copy of the film and a disc with a nice menu system. It is not
available for commercial resale or distribution, and there are no plans
to mass-produce the disc. Quite frankly none of the sites promoting this
film have the funds to do so. We're under the impression that "anon"
intended this to be a simple non-profit/educational grassroots project,
directed at the younger people of the world who may not be interested in
speakers like Ms. Roy (and the topics she discusses) unless "cool"
music/visuals accompany it.

Each DVD-R disc produced by weroy.org is burned, labeled and mailed by
hand with supplies purchased from Staples (ink, labels, DVD case, etc),
thanks to your donations.

Anything that is left from those donations goes to our involvement with
Kiva, a wonderful organization that allows anyone to directly help those
in need.

How can I help and be a part of something cool?
Tell all your friends about thie film and this site. Burn your own discs
and pass them out. There are lots of ways to help. Visit the share it
section of the site for more information.


From dwaipayanbanerjee at yahoo.co.in  Tue Jan 30 01:10:47 2007
From: dwaipayanbanerjee at yahoo.co.in (Dwaipayan Banerjee)
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:40:47 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Exploring Masculinities: A Travelling
	Seminar
Message-ID: <20070129194047.4123.qmail@web8912.mail.in.yahoo.com>

  Exploring Masculinities: 
  A South Asian Travelling Seminar 
   
  Date: 13-14 February 2007 
  Time: 9:30 to 6:00 
  Venue: Department Of Sociology, University of Delhi (North Campus) 
   
  The concept of 'masculinities', informed by recent feminist thought and the women's movement, has emerged as a means of renewing feminist discourse by encouraging a more relational approach to masculinities and femininities. This also allows for the investigation, problematisation and interrogation of masculinity equally with femininity. Not withstanding these enabling possibilities, however, "gender" is still essentially deployed in contemporary social science discourse as a synonym for women, its relational aspect obscured and the invitation to interrogate masculinities largely ignored. This is unfortunate because a textured understanding of the diversity of South Asian men's experiences, attitudes, beliefs, practices, situations, sexualities and institutions is essential to not only challenging the social dominance of men over women but for building a more humane world. 
   
  The travelling seminar on masculinities has been conceived from the position that the study of masculinities is important in that it is 'simultaneously a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and women engage that place in gender, and the affects of these practices in bodily experiences, personality and culture.' (Connell R.W, 1994:71). The seminar is both an academic exercise in generating interest for further research on masculinities as well as a campaign to form a network of university communities that are willing to take up issues of gender equality. 
   
  Organised by Aakar (www.southasianmasculinities.org), the seminar, as the title suggests, will travel to ten universities across south Asia. Conceived as a cross disciplinary event, the seminar comprises of academic papers; personal and activist narratives and; films/theatre/art on the theme of masculinities. The seminar at each location is held in collaboration with a university department. In Delhi, the Department of Sociology, University of Delhi is the co-organiser of the seminar. Dr. Deepak Mehta from the Department is co-ordinating the seminar. 
   
  The speakers and discussants at the seminar to be held on 13/14 Feb 2007 in Delhi include: 
  Dr. Jani De Silva, International Centre For Ethnic Studies, Colombo: Naradha's narrative: constructing subjectivity and masculinity through student politics. 
  Dr. Rubina Saigol, Lahore Pakistan: Nation and Masculinity Superman Imagery in Muslim Nationalist Poetry 
  Imtiaz Saikh, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka: Learning By Doing: Masculinities, Healthy Behaviour and Young Men’s sexual practices in Dhaka 
  Rubina Khilji, Department of Gender Studies, University of Peshawar, Peshawar: Discussant 
  Dr. Patricia Uberoi, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi: Discussant 
  Dr. Mary E John, Centre For Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi: Discussant 
  Dr. Shail Mayaram, CSDS, Delhi: Discussant 
  Dr. Sanjay Srivastava, Deakin University, Melbourne: Pedestrian Desires: ‘Footpath Pornography’, Masculinities cultures, and the Aesthetic of fluid species 
  Dr. Nivedita Menon, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi: Discussant 
  Dr. Radhika Chopra, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi: Title Awaited 
  Dr. Deepak Mehta, Department of Sociology, University of Delhi: Words that wound: Affects publics and the production of Hate in Bombay. 
  Shudhabrata Sengupta, Sarai, Delhi: Discussant 
  Shankar Ramaswamy, University of Chicago: Togethering Contra Othering: Male Hindu-Muslim Inter-Relations In Proletarian Delhi 
   
  For more information contact: 
  Dr. Deepak Mehta 
  Email: Deepak.em at gmail.com 
  Rahul Roy: khel at vsnl.com www.southasianmasculinities.org 
  9810395589 

 				
---------------------------------
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From aasim27 at yahoo.co.in  Wed Jan 31 19:11:49 2007
From: aasim27 at yahoo.co.in (aasim khan)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:41:49 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] Vanishing foreign correspondents
Message-ID: <918732.93362.qm@web8705.mail.in.yahoo.com>

Hi,

Perhaps the emotion here find a resonance in the
hearts of scribes on the list.

I want to add my own bit of reflection; a lot now
comes out in form of narratives published as
non-fiction. So is the Publishing cashing on the
talent made redundent by the Press? Non-fiction mostly
but even fiction .

Will be interesting to find out how many chinese
scribes are now rummaging through the streets of the
globe? And have they already outnumbered the Yankee
Corps?

One things is for sure; the TIMES they are changing.

Regards
Aasim

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



Fred Hiatt is disheartened about America's shrinking
foreign reporting community

Dawn
Monday, January 29, 2007

By Fred Hiatt

Washington --- When my wife and I worked as foreign
correspondents for The Post in Tokyo 20 years ago, we
befriended and competed against a host of other
American reporters, including two talented writers
from the Boston Globe, Colin Nickerson (still a Globe
foreign correspondent) and Tom Ashbrook (now a star of
public radio).

The reporting corps had diverse views on the central
questions of the time, and even on what the central
questions were, and the reports we sent home reflected
that. Readers benefited from the diversity and
competition.

I thought of this last week when the Globe, now owned
by the New York Times Co., announced that it would
close its remaining three overseas bureaus, which no
longer include Tokyo, to conserve resources for
coverage of local news.

The announcement punctuates what seems to be an
accelerating trend. Journalist Jill Carroll, studying
foreign news coverage for a report published by the
Shorenstein Centre at Harvard University last fall,
found that the number of US newspaper foreign
correspondents declined from 188 in 2002 to 141 last
year. (If you include the Wall Street Journal, which
publishes editions in Europe and Asia, the decline was
from 304 to 249.)

I find it disheartening that a fine newspaper such as
the Globe would feel compelled to diminish itself in
this way. But maybe that's the nostalgia of a
dinosaur. After all, there are some very smart
business people who see no harm in newspapers cutting
back on foreign reporting.

Jack Welch, for example, the former chairman of
General Electric Co. who has expressed interest in
buying the Globe, said earlier this month on CNBC,
"I'm not sure local papers need to cover Iraq, need to
cover global events. They can be real local papers.
And franchise, purchase from people very willing to
sell you their wire services that will give you
coverage."

Brian Tierney, who bought the Philadelphia Inquirer
last year, expressed similar views in a November
interview with The Post's Howard Kurtz. "We don't need
a Jerusalem bureau," he said. "What we need are more
people in the South Jersey bureau."

Yet in an era when clan structures in Somalia or
separatist movements in the Philippines may have a
direct bearing on US national security -- when the
people who run multinational companies such as GE
regularly complain that Americans don't understand the
world -- we should all worry about who, if anyone,
will report from abroad.

Date Posted: 1/29/2007



		
__________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/


From monica at sarai.net  Wed Jan 31 20:06:49 2007
From: monica at sarai.net (Monica Narula)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 20:06:49 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Call for Contributions to Sarai Reader 07: The
	Frontier
Message-ID: <97AEF518-83AF-4822-AB85-B6E8AB85290D@sarai.net>

  Call for Contributions to Sarai Reader 07: The Frontier

I. Introducing the Sarai Reader

Sarai (www.sarai.net), an interdisciplinary research and practice  
programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies,  
invites contributions to Sarai Reader 07: The Frontier

We also invite proposals to initiate and moderate discussions on the  
themes of the Sarai Reader 06 on the Reader List (http:// 
mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list) with a view to the  
moderator(s) editing the transcripts of these discussions for  
publication in the Sarai Reader 07.

For an outline of the themes and concerns of Sarai Reader 07, see the  
Concept Outline below (section II). To know about the format of the  
articles that we invite, see 'Guidelines for Submissions' (sections  
III and IV) below.

This year, like last year, the Sarai Reader has been invited to  
participate in the 'Journal of Journals' magazine project of  
Documenta 12. (see http://www.documenta12.de/magazine.html?&L=1).  
Content from Sarai Reader 07 will be selected by the Sarai editorial  
collective to be published online on the Documenta 12 Magazine webpage.

The Sarai Reader is an annual publication produced by Sarai/CSDS  
(Delhi). Previous Readers have included 'The Public Domain: Sarai  
Reader 01', 2001, 'The Cities of Everyday Life: Sarai Reader 02',  
2002, 'Shaping Technologies: Sarai Reader 03', 2003, 'Crisis/Media:   
Sarai Reader 04', 2004, 'Bare Acts: Sarai Reader 05', 2005 and
'Turbulence: Sarai Reader 06', 2006. All the Sarai Readers are  
available for free download at http://www.sarai.net/journal/journal.htm

The Sarai Reader series aims at bringing together original,  
thoughtful, critical, reflective, well researched and provocative  
texts and essays by theorists, practitioners and activists, grouped  
under a core theme that expresses the interests of Sarai in issues  
that relate media, information and society in the contemporary world.  
The Sarai Readers have a wide international readership.

Editorial Collective for Sarai Reader: Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula,  
Ravi Sundaram, Ravi Vasudevan, Awadhendra Sharan, Shuddhabrata  
Sengupta, (Sarai, Delhi) and Geert Lovink (Institute of Network  
Cultures, Amsterdam)

II. Concepts and Questions for Sarai Reader 07: Frontiers

Frequently at frontiers we are asked, 'Anything to declare?' The  
wisest thing to do when faced with the scrutiny of a border official  
is to say that you have 'Nothing to declare', and quickly move on.  
Crossing borders usually entails an effort not to say too much, or at  
least to get by with saying very little.  A degree of reticence is  
the mark of the wise and experienced traveller.

Sarai Reader 07: The Frontier, seeks to turn this ethic of reticence  
on arrival at a boundary, at any boundary, on its head. This time,  
the Reader will consider limits, edges, borders and margins of all  
kind to be sites for declarations, occasions for conversation,  
settings for the staging of arguments, debates, recounting and  
reflection. We invite you to consider the frontier as an open door, a  
chute into something new, or the rediscovery of that which has been  
obscured, a hidden tunnel that crosses under a mountain, a porous  
membrane of liminal possibilities, a zone of contact and contagion.
We want to think of the frontier as the skin of our time and our  
world, and we invite you to get under the skin of contemporary  
experience in order to generate a series of subcutaneous reflective  
possibilities. For us, the frontier is a threshold waiting to be  
crossed, a space rife with the possibility of seductive transgression.

The feeling of being on the edge of something has persisted for most  
of our lifetimes. The twentieth century was an exhausting journey  
into a receding future, and the first decade of the twenty-first  
continues to entrance us with the seduction of what seems to be  
forthcoming forever. We are all pioneers now, chasing and being  
chased by the shifting border-posts of the frontiers given to us by  
history. Yet our enterprises of pioneering do not necessarily carry  
with them any longer the confidence of self proclaimed 'avant  
gardes'. We are scouts sent in to scan the lay of the land of the  
territory of uncertainty. Our reports are the dispatches that  
chronicle, not our conquest of, but our continuing bewilderment  
about, the times we inhabit.

We are not talking here only of actual, physical borders (though of  
course we are interested in physical and political borders) which are  
usually the residues of war, but also of the borders between  
different temporal registers, between languages, between different  
ways of doing things, between different bodies of thought and  
conviction. Looked at this way, the frontier is more a condition than  
a site, more a way of being and doing things, than a constellation of  
border posts on the ground.

The DMZ of the present, straddling the recent past and the immediate  
future, is the most striking frontier of all, inviting us to consider  
the continuities and ruptures, revolutions and restorations that  
litter the landscape of all our histories like bunkers and  
watchtowers on either side.

We could also consider the borders between faith and doubt, between  
technology and technique, between history and memory, between art and  
science, between literature and reportage, between the empirical and  
the speculative.

We are interested in all forms of expression that straddle these  
spaces, especially in those that make forays into those zones of  
exception, such as prisons, detention camps, sites of remand and  
quarantine that maintain human beings at the edge.

Here we see the relentless production of states of exception by power  
in a way that constantly redefines the boundaries of what might be  
considered normal. With each passing day, the normal condition of the  
world comes to resemble yesterday's state of exception, and today's  
state of exception seeks to lay the foundations of tomorrow's  
normality. This tension between the exception and the rule is another  
kind of frontier, which we hope will provoke new investigations.

Today, we live in cities that expand by evacuating people from  
centres and relocating them onto empty hinterlands. The shifting  
locus of infrastructural renewal in megacities constantly generates  
new urban frontiers. Here, in these liminal spaces which resemble  
maps and grids more closely than they do actual spaces for  
habitation, the question of what it is to be urban in the time of  
evictions is asked with a violent, daily urgency.

A rough list of questions and concepts that Sarai Reader 07 wants to  
take on could be as follows:

1. The tension between exceptions and rules as the necessary mark of  
a frontier of the human condition today. Ways in which architectures,  
instruments and devices to do with the regulation of social,  
political and personal life, of ethics and politics, re-define the  
boundaries of our being and consciousness. The tightening and  
loosening of the armour of society and politics.

2. Reconsidering lines that cannot be crossed - in political, social,  
ethical and aesthetic terms. The idea of taboos, transgressions and  
the forbidden, especially in the light of what has come to be termed  
as 'political correctness'.

3. The shifting frontiers and outposts of legality in everyday life.

4. The borders between practices - such as software and art, or  
performance and contemporary social ritual, or between forms - such  
as between cinema and the internet, between digital and analog  
technologies, or between different registers of reflection - such as  
history and literature.

5. Connections and contacts, especially between things and ideas that  
would seem at first to be distant or adversarial in relation to each  
other. Hybridities, Contagion and infections - between belief systems  
(sometimes generating heresies), languages and ways of doing things

6. Reflections on the idea of the 'urban frontier' wherever it may be  
found. Here by 'urban frontier' we mean those new and transforming  
edges where the limits of the urban condition are being tried and  
tested through eviction and resettlement.

7. Architectures of separation, exclusion, inclusion and connectivity.

8. Mobility and obstacles. Is the internet any longer a borderless  
space?

9. The border between the real and the virtual, the physical and the  
mental, role-playing and reality

10. Activities that involve unusual kinds of border crossing -  
smuggling, immigration, illicit and unconscious trade, globalization  
from below

11. The border as a feature of a fluid political geography - walls  
(like at the Mexico US Border), fences (like on India-Bangladesh- 
Pakistan borders), demilitarized zones (like in Korea), buffers,  
enclaves, outposts and other unstable units of space.
Histories and accounts of frontier areas, and of shifting borders.

12. Frontiers of the imagination. Space Travel, Science Fiction,  
Utopias, Alternative Realities and their continuing presence in our  
lives.

We want to invite practitioners and others, some of whom may be  
audacious even as others may be tentative, wherever in the world they  
may be located, whether in the domains of theory, research,  
contemporary art, media, information and software design, politics or  
commentary to join us in the making of Sarai Reader 07.

You are invited to contribute through essays, dialogues, arguments,  
interviews, photographs, image-text combinations, comics, art-works,  
diary entries, research reports, commentaries and manifestos that can  
evoke the idea of the frontier in all its myriad dimensions.

SARAI READER 07 and documenta 12

This year (like last year) the Sarai Reader has been invited to  
participate in the 'Journal of Journals' magazine project of  
documenta 12. "documenta (with a lower-case 'd') is an exhibition of  
modern and contemporary art which now takes place every 5 years in  
Kassel, Germany. It was founded by Arnold Bode in 1955 .The more  
recent documentas feature art from all continents and are perceived  
to have been some of the most significant contemporary art  
exhibitions to have taken place internationally. documenta 12  
features a ‘journal of journals’ project that invites leading  
critical and reflective publications from all over the world to  
participate in a collaborative curatorial and editorial exercise to  
generate a global frame of contemporary discourse."
For details, see http://www.documenta12.de/magazine.html?&L=1

III. Guidelines for Submissions

Word Limit: 1500 - 4000 words

1. Submissions may be scholarly, journalistic or literary - or a mix  
of these, in the form of essays, papers, interviews, online  
discussions or diary entries. All submission, unless specifically  
solicited, must be in English only. Submissions may also be only  
images or images and text. The Reader is printed in black and white.

2. Text submissions must be sent by email as .rtf, or as word  
document or open office attachments. Articles may be accompanied by  
black and white photographs or drawings submitted in the first in  
the .jpeg format accompanying the text (if any) and then in .tif  
format if there is decision to print. Ftp server details will be made  
available if needed.

3. We urge all writers to follow the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) in  
terms of footnotes, annotations and references. For more details  
about the CMS and an updated list of Frequently Asked Questions, see  
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/cmosfaq.html

For a 'Quick Reference Guide to the Chicago Manual of Style',  
especially relevant for citation style, see http:// 
www.library.wwu.edu/ref/Refhome/chicago.html

4. All contributions should be accompanied by a three/four line text  
introducing the author, and an email address they are willing to make  
public.

5. All submissions will be read by the editorial collective of the  
Sarai Reader before the final selection is made. The editorial  
collective reserves the right not to publish any material sent to it  
for publication in the Sarai Reader on stylistic or editorial  
grounds. All contributors will be informed of the final decisions of  
the editorial collective vis a vis their contribution.

6. Copyright for all accepted contributions will remain with the  
authors. Sarai reserves indefinitely the right to place any of the  
material accepted for publication on the public domain in print or  
electronic forms, and on the internet.

7. Accepted submissions will not be paid for, but authors are  
guaranteed a wide international readership. The Reader will be  
published in print, distributed in India and internationally, and  
will also be uploaded in a pdf form on to the Sarai website. All  
contributors whose work has been accepted for publication will  
receive two copies of the Reader.

IV. Where and When to send your Contributions

Last date for submission: 15th May 2007. Please write and send as  
soon as possible, preferably, latest by the 30th of March, 2007, a  
brief outline/abstract, not more than one page, of what you want to  
write about. This helps in designing the content of the reader. We  
expect to have the reader published by August 2007.

Please send in your outlines and abstracts, and images/graphic  
material, to reader at sarai.net


Monica Narula
Raqs Media Collective
Sarai-CSDS
29 Rajpur Road
Delhi 110054
www.raqsmediacollective.net
www.sarai.net




From lindrasi at yahoo.com  Wed Jan 31 15:53:52 2007
From: lindrasi at yahoo.com (L. Simhan)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:23:52 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Tehelka Personal Histories Submissions
In-Reply-To: <45BF7FE9.9030705@ranadasgupta.com>
Message-ID: <148445.29332.qm@web52203.mail.yahoo.com>

Hello all, 
   
  I’m writing to extend an open invitation for submissions for Tehelka’s Personal Histories page. For those of you unfamiliar with the paper, Personal Histories is a section where people recount or examine a transformative life experience, tell some kind of significant personal story, or express opinions candidly, almost as a sort of public diary. Subjects range from parents, family, yoga, sex, drugs, violence, work, therapy, assault, travel, friendship, etc. It’s very open and flexible, and if you’re interested, we’d enjoy hearing from you. 
   
  The word limit is always about 1300 words. Please feel free to send us stuff anytime you wish and to pass this information around; we need these every week. 
   
  They can be emailed to me at lakshmi at tehelka.com, or lindrasi at yahoo.com. 
   
  You can find past submissions on the web at www.tehelka.com. If you’re interested and have specific questions, please feel free to email me. 
   
  Thanks for your time. 
   
  Best, 
  
Lakshmi IndraSimhan
Tehelka Features

 
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