The Peoples struggle for Social Justice at NERIST,Arunachal Pradesh

Introduction

North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology(NERIST) was brought to standstill by organizations, namely, Students Union NERIST (SUN), NERIST Arunachalee Employees Welfare Association (NAE-WA), NERIST Employees Union (NEU) and NERIST Technical Staff union society with its indefinite strike from today, i.e.26 September 2008, demanding termination of Ashok Singh. “The academic activities and administrative functioning of NERIST were totally crippled due to indefinite strike” according to NAEWA sources, observed the Arunachal Times.

Why the NERIST Registrar Ashok Singh should go?

SUN, the student body of NERIST had submitted a memo to NERIST director demanding termination of Singh on Aug 25 last. It had demanded the termination of Singh from the institute within 30 days over the various charges. The SUN alleged that “the NERIST registrar did not fulfill the age criteria for the post at the time of his joining, got his son admitted into NERIST without proper documents, made himself the sole authority for taking law and order into his own hands directing police force to enter the institute and create havoc inside the campus and physically harassed the students through outside elements”. However, “the alleged is still in office while no determinate decision has been concluded by the committee formed to overlook the matter”, it said. Further, the Union said that “the indefinite strike will continue until Ashok Singh is terminated”.

View of the People’s Party of Arunachal (P.P.A)

According to the Arunachal Times, “the People's Party of Arunachal (P.P.A) appreciated what it termed the bold step taken by the NERIST Arunachalee Employees Welfare Association (NAEWA) by filing case against the Registrar, NERIST under Prevention of Atrocities Act and Rules”. “This move would set the example to tribal people who are subjected to various forms of racial discrimination and atrocities in other Central Institutions and other parts of India”, the party said. “The tribal people particularly Arunachalees face different kinds of racial discrimination and atrocities in mainland India and in various Central Institutions. The North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) is only one example where the tribal people are suffering atrocities from their authorities. This move is a kind of attempt to assert the dignity and self-esteem of the tribal people”, the party release added.

Conclusion

The revived Peoples’ Party of Arunachal, the first regional party of the state that had merged with Janata Dal (JD) in 1989, should start fighting right from the bottom to boost its support base as a real regional party. As such, its support for the Peoples struggle at NERIST is in the right direction. The honour that PPA receieved from the indigenous people of the land during the time of Late Bakin Pertin and Tomo Riba needs to be revived. To do it, the present leaders should not deviate itself from the peoples struggle. In doing so, definitely the young generations would follow their elders in keeping the fundamental basic human right to “live with dignity”.
Its fight should look beyond just competing the Parliamentary and State Assembly elections in 2009, to boost its support base. PPA should “stand for the interest of people” as it is a “Party for the people”. In maintaining so, obviously it will turn out to be a ‘Party by the people” because of its popular mass base. If the MNF in Mizoram, Nagaland People’s Front or the Sikkim Democratic Front can do well, “Why not the Peoples Party of Arunachal?” The coalition base politics in India has thrown up lots of opportunities which can be explored and tapped according to the “Peoples Interest”.

Reference
NERIST shut demanding registrar’s termination, The Arunachal Times, 26 September 2008

Arunachal Congress and the issue of refugee

The Arunachal Congress (AC) was born during 1995 because of the refugee issue in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. The then Chief Minister Gegong Apang in a public rally at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium at Naharlagun formed the AC with the support of the people. During this movment, all the Indian National Congress (INC) legislatures of the Arunachal State Assembly resigned from the INC membership and became part of the newly formed AC Party. The main objective for the formation of AC was to fight aginst the Indian Governments attitude towards the refugee issue in Arunachal Pradesh. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are fed up in giving shelter to the refugees for the last five or six decades. The refugees have started to marginalize and challenge the local indegenous people forgetting that they are the one who have sheltered them in times of trouble. The Indian Government was not in a position to shelter these refugees which can be seen from the fact that they were transferred from the Indian state of Bihar to its present location. The Indian Government had violated its own law by keeping away the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act 1873. Keeping this in mind, the Arunachal Congress celebrated its 13th Foundation Day vowing to continue the struggle against foreigners.
But a big question needed to be answered is “Whether its fight is genuine or not?” “Who is this Jivan Gurung whom they have appointed as General Secretary?” He seems to be a Gorkha or a Nepali. If he is a Gorkha, Gorkhaland is where he should play Politics not here. Nepali...Nepal is his homeland.
The Arunachal Congress should be very careful in doing its homework. Otherwise, its nothing but would be like selling off our own homeland in the long run. “Politics is the medium through which we unknowingly start to give legitimacy to what we actually are against.”

Reference
Tayeng,Ojing (2008),”Arunachal Congress vows to continue the struggle against foreigners 13th Foundation Day celebrated”, The Arunachal Times, 21 September 2008.

e-Arik for the farmers

e-Arik web portal connects rural farmers, The Arunachal Times, 16 October 2008.
PASIGHAT, Sept 15: Access to appropriate agricultural information is a difficult task for the rural tribal farmers of Arunachal Pradesh State. The region's geographical remoteness, inadequate transport and communication facilities in rural areas, difficult terrain and inadequate technical work force in the rural developmental departments make the information and advanced farm technological access of rural farmers become distant reality.
Considering dismal information dissemination scenario, the e-Arik (e-Agriculture), the DSIR sponsored research project of College of Horticulture and Forestry, Central Agricultural University, Pasighat hosted a web portal (http://www.earik.in/) for the rural farmers of Arunachal Pradesh. The portal provides information on agriculture, rural development, education, health, governance and other related areas. Further, weather forecasting link, market information, farm training and demonstration announcements.
Agriculture section provides information on khasi mandarin cultivation and management aspects, Bordeaux mixture preparation and their uses in khasi mandarin orchard, powerpoint slide show on integrated diseases management, post harvest technology of khasi mandarin, production and post harvest management of ginger. The e-Arik portal also provides information on developmental departments such as; agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and veterinary, fisheries, farmers training centre, state soil testing laboratory, district rural development agency. Education section provides information on central government scholarships for ST students such as; scheme of post-metric scholarships, central sector scholarship scheme for top class education for ST students, research fellowships and national overseas scholarships. Health section provides preliminary information on Aids awareness and malaria awareness. Governance section provides application forms for issue of income certificate, ST certificate, trade licence and building assistance. Extras section provides information on Telephone directory of East Siang district.

Traditional Gate

Entry gate sans aesthetics by D. Bosai, The Arunachal Times, 16 September 2008

ITANAGAR, Sept 15: The entry gate or welcome gate to any place is an important and significant structure. It depicts in brief the culture and identity of the people living in that place. Little wonder then, in depth research is necessary to select proper and right materials and the best architects of the land should be involved to construct such an entry gate.
Opinions and views of social scientists and academicians and thinkers should be sought before creating such an important structure. However, the entry gate to the state capital, Itanagar at Banderdewa is bereft of all aesthetic material that depicts the cultural identity of the tribals of Arunachal Pradesh. An entry or welcome gate must not only be a feast to the eyes of the beholders but must necessarily carry a meaningful message. No doubt, the structure at Banderdewa is huge and stands dominantly towering over the ambience of the place. Surely a huge amount must have been spent and great effort must have been put in to erect it. But the monumental effort apparently seems to be an effort in futility as the gate has little to offer in terms of displaying the spirit and life style of the tribal people of the state. In other words, this huge structure is serving little or no purpose. In fact many feel that in many ways the mithun gate at Itanagar was better than the present entry gate at Banderdewa.
There is no dearth of traditional artifacts in the state for inclusion in such a structure like podum (Nyishi head gear), ngama joan (traditional hat of the Monpas), pasong (spear of the Noctes and Wanchos), kong (gong of the Khamtis, Tangsas and Singphos), Nara (cane bag of the Adis) and traditional cane hat of the Gallos, Tagins, and Idu Mishmis. Inclusion of these traditional articles in the gate will not only enhance the beauty of the gate but will add meaning and substance. Even the exotic animals and birds of the state like mithun, yak, hornbill etc. can also be symbolically used as they are dear to the tribals.
Our engineers and architects need to take a leaf from the book of the Nagas. In Nagaland most private and government buildings and even churches are built with an ethnic touch. The traditional gates there need to be seen to believe. They are so magnificent and depict the Naga way of life very vividly. A casual glance at the entry gate to Kohima located between Dimapur and Kohima will tell you without doubt that you have entered Nagaland. The Nagas may be in news for all the wrong reasons today, but we must admit that they have preserved their tradition jealously and with great success. Sadly, we the Arunachalees do not have even a false pride of being what we are, leave alone genuine pride. Erecting traditional gates depicting the traditional practices of our society can be a small step to show to the world that ‘we love and care for our ethnic traditions’.

(The writer is a DIPRO, Khonsa)

Patkai Autonomous Demand Committee

The Tanee Brotherhood always supports the rights of indegenous people around the world for self-determination "within or outside a state or national boundaries". It is the fundamental human right of the indegenous people of Tirap and Changlang to demand for the Patkai Autonomous Council.
Therefore,the Tanee Brotherhood supports the Patkai Autonomous Demand Committee because it is their natural human right to determine for themselves "What they want ?" or "Where they ought to be ?"
After all, its their land.

Parivar's Plan

By VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNA, Frontline, Volume 25, Number 19, September 13-26 2008.

The Sangh and its affiliates have achieved greater coordination at this point of time.

PTI

Sadhus at the VHP-sponsored Dharam Sansad held in Allahabad in February 2006.

ON December 24, 2007, when top leaders of the Sangh Parivar were celebrating the remarkable thrice-in-a-row victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat under the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, its cadre attacked Dalit and tribal Christians in Kandhamal district of Orissa. The general reaction to the attacks was one of shock and disgust, but the higher echelons of the Sangh Parivar interpreted them as bearing a unique organisational message to the top leadership. Implausible as it may sound, it was felt that one of the Sangh Parivar outfits, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which was once described as the ideological sword arm of the Hindutva combine, was giving out a message that it was carrying out the tasks assigned to it in a larger Hindutva initiative.

“In a sense it was also a message from another Gujarati leader of the Sangh Parivar, VHP’s international general secretary Praveen Togadia, not to be carried away by the election victories scored by the other Gujarati, Narendra Modi,” commented a senior Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader from Uttar Pradesh. Togadia had fallen out with Modi during the run-up to the 2005 local body elections in the State on account of the Chief Minister’s refusal to accommodate some of the close associates of the VHP leader in the candidates list. Since then, Togadia steadfastly kept away from the BJP campaign in Gujarat, and the two leaders even stopped communicating with each other. Moreover, dominant sections of the VHP led by Togadia often subjected former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Modi to criticism for deviating from the core Hindutva ideological path. Togadia even maintained that these leaders had succumbed to the trappings of power and needed to make earnest attempts to overcome that.

“It was in this context that the symbolism of the December conflict in Orissa was perceived at various levels of the Sangh Parivar,” the RSS leader said. “It was as though the VHP was reminding the Sangh Parivar leadership that behind every election victory of the BJP, credited normally to the political sagacity of Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Advani or to the development initiative of Narendra Modi, there are scores of ideology-driven initiatives such as the one in Orissa,” he pointed out. The Orissa moves were led by Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, a veteran VHP leader, who was considered close to Togadia.

It is not known whether this interpretation of the Orissa riots was formally acknowledged by the Sangh Parivar leadership, but it is certain that there have been efforts in the past six months for a rapprochement between Togadia and Modi. The former’s comments about the Chief Minister during a visit to Ahmedabad in early August bears testimony to this. Togadia, who visited the city soon after the serial blasts, said he clearly supported the line pursued by Modi in addressing the threat of terrorism in Gujarat. When mediapersons asked him about the turnaround in their relationship, the VHP leader maintained that “fights take place between brothers and even spouses but ultimately they all belong to the same family”.

Jayanti Barot, BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha member, supported this argument by explaining that even when Togadia and Modi had differences of opinion, they worked to achieve a common goal. “What you see as differences are actually the varied streams of a unified strategy,” she added. Barot’s opinion is corroborated by activists of other Sangh Parivar outfits such as the RSS, the BJP and the Bajrang Dal.

According to the RSS leader, it is true that the Sangh Parivar constituents, especially the BJP, went through a period of intense ideological confusion and organisational upheaval in the last months of 2004 and a good part of 2005. “But all that has been more or less rectified, and the Sangh Parivar is functioning like a good orchestra these days. The rectification process was initiated between the last months of 2005 and early 2006 through a series of organisational initiatives. There may be some hitches even now in terms of fine-tuning, but the rampant confusion is a thing of the past and there is greater coordination among the different units at this point of time,” the leader said.

The course correction measures aimed at reviving coordination and concerted action among various Sangh Parivar outfits were launched by the RSS leadership after its October 2005 national executive at Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh. By the time the National Council (Pratinidhi Sabha) met in February 2006 at the organisation’s headquarters in Nagpur, these efforts had advanced considerably and the leadership even outlined an action plan (Frontline, March 10, 2006). The action plan signified a qualitative shift in emphasis from internal, organisational matters, which had manifested themselves as constant wrangling within the Sangh Parivar on ideological and organisational questions, to external socio-political goals, evolving in the form of a revived pursuit of the core Hindutva agenda along with a neoliberal economic agenda and attempts to exploit the differences among secular forces.

A series of programmes that were held at that time as well as some significant political interventions by the RSS exemplified this shift. The programmes included the VHP-sponsored “Dharam Sansads” (religious parliaments of sants and mahants) held in different parts of the country, including in Orissa’s Puri district, and the Shabari Kumbh Mela organised at Dangs in Gujarat. These programmes evolved a clutch of ideas and plans to advance the ideological, organisational, political and realpolitik interests of the Sangh Parivar. Each segment had diverse strategies, all cumulatively aimed at enhancing the Sangh Parivar’s support base.

The Dharam Sansad meetings – the Puri meet was held on February 18 and 19, 2006 – passed a 13-point Hindu charter, which was described by the Sangh Parivar leadership as the “core ideological blueprint” of Hindutva initiatives in the future. The charter included oft-repeated Sangh Parivar demands such as a ban on cow slaughter, purification of the Ganga, and imposition of the common civil code, but its central piece was the decision to develop a Hindu vote bank to counter the alleged Muslim vote bank. The plan was “to develop a Hindu vote bank to pressure all political parties to protect and advance the interests of the Hindu community, cutting across barriers of caste”. In concrete terms, this meant the creation of a block of Hindutva volunteers in each booth of the country, who would support and work for the candidate who gives in to Hindutva demands.

The Shabari Kumbh Mela was professedly an event “to promote self-respect and confidence among the Vanvasis [the Sangh Parivar terminology for Adivasis] as well as to resist and revert the conversions to Christianity engineered by missionaries”. The presentations at the mela argued that organisations of Muslims and Christians were working in a planned manner to effect a demographic shift. It was in the context of this conference that many RSS leaders, including sarsanghachalak K.S. Sudarshan, exhorted the Hindu community to ignore the concept of family planning so that India did not become a “society dominated by Muslims and Christians”.

Sudarshan also exhorted leaders of Sangh Parivar outfits to evolve campaign plans highlighting this issue. These campaigns were to follow broadly the blatantly communal slogan of the VHP, pehle kasai phir isai. Roughly it means the first priority is to tackle and coerce Muslims into submission and then Christians.

Organisationally, the initiatives undertaken between October 2005 and February 2006 witnessed repeated expressions of intent to enhance the importance of organisations such as the VHP and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and cut the BJP leadership to size. It was also decided to evolve a collective leadership in the BJP in order to ensure that the party did not lose its ideological moorings but at the same time adopted such political postures that it was able to wean away regional and smaller parties from the secular fold. This go-ahead for realpolitik also reflected a clearance to the pursuit of neoliberal policies opportunistically.

NEOLIBERAL HINDUTVA

RSS cadre at the Walpur Bagoria Mela grounds, about 60 km from the district headquarters of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh. The RSS has played a major role in the Bagoria festival in the tribal belt.

According to the Uttar Pradesh RSS leader, the evaluation of the Sangh Parivar leadership in early 2008 was that all the diverse political, organisational, ideological and realpolitik operations were going on more or less smoothly. Gujarat has shown that neoliberal Hindutva is a workable proposition. The realpolitik initiatives since February 2006 led to a significant political victory in Karnataka, too. There, the differences among secular parties were exploited well by the BJP to come to power on its own.

The Sangh Parivar leadership is also of the view that collective action has been facilitated to a great extent by the elevation of Rajnath Singh to the top leadership of the BJP and the dilution of the Advani-Vajpayee stranglehold over the political arm. Within the RSS itself, the authority exercised by sarkaryavah (general secretary) Mohan Rao Bhagwat over organisational and political matters is acclaimed to have contributed in a big way in setting things in order.

A number of Sangh Parivar activists, including veteran RSS leaders, told Frontline that the Sangh Parivar leadership had evaluated the Orissa project as one that was on course. The operations in Orissa were essentially following the Shabari Kumbh Mela’s directives and Togadia was closely involved in its execution. Here, too, a kind of neoliberal Hindutva is at work. “Gujarat was the original experimental lab of the Hindutva agenda. That has more or less stabilised as a Hindutva bastion under the able leadership of Narendra Modi, and now we are looking forward to Orissa. Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik belongs to a non-Sangh Parivar party – the Biju Janata Dal – he has been more than cooperative in helping us advance our agenda,” a senior RSS leader from Jharkhand told Frontline.

He added that in South India, the Sangh Parivar hoped to repeat in Kerala the big gains of Karnataka. The BJP has not been able to win even a single Assembly seat in Kerala so far. “Our students movement, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is making big gains on the campuses of the State and the number of people who are disgruntled with the corruption and infighting in the two mainstream parties of Kerala, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), is increasing day by day.” But the Sangh Parivar leadership’s clear assessment is that Orissa will be the first State to follow Gujarat as a Hindutva model.

See for a series of articles of the Sangh Parivar's violent campaign against Christians in Orissa as a part of a political project-

Frontline, Volume 25, Number 19, September 13-26 2008

Continuous violation of human rights in Taraso

Panchayat leader appeals for solution to boundary dispute, The Arunachal Times, 7 September 2008.

ITANAGAR, Sept 6: VI Taraso Zilla Parishad Member Nabam Eka appealed to the governments of Arunachal Pradesh and Asom to initiate steps to solve the problem of boundary issue permanently.
The people of Taraso are ready to support and cooperate with the two state governments in bring about an early out come.
Eka thanked the journalists of Asom for visiting the area to collect first hand information about the culture, economic and social aspects of the people living in Arunachal Pradesh.
Interstate journalists visit should be encouraged so that a unique bond of friendship and unity amongst the two states is strengthened, he said.
There is continuous violation of human rights in Taraso, the ZPM said and added that the government of Asom is terrorizing the peace loving people of the border area of Arunachal territory with police force, CRPF and Forest personnel.
Recalling the recent evection carried out in Dullung-Ramghat village under Taraso circle and the massive destruction of properties by the Asom Forest department along with the CRPF and Asom police, Eka said violation of human rights have been taking place repeatedly since 1992.
Despite such terrorizing act the people of Taraso is maintaining peace and harmony with the people of Asom by celebrating Nyokum and Bihu festivals jointly, he further added.
Though the natives of Taraso have been dwelling in the area before 1914 yet the government of Asom has been claiming the land, the ZPM said.
He further stated that the Asom government has never maintained status quo between the two states as agreed.

Tani Human Rights Council-http://tanibrotherhood.wordpress.com/

Culture of Taniland

Is it Westernization, Sanskritization or "Neo-Hinduism" ?

Innocent people of Taniland should not be fooled by the Sangh Parivar in the name of preservation of tradition and culture. Our identity is based on our ethnicity, not on religion as the Indian state do. The whole of North East India (United States of Asia) base their identity on ethnicity not on religion. So, you'll here the words like Meitei, Naga, Khasi, Kuki, Ahom, Bodo, Monpa...The Westerners might be Christians but when it comes to identity they are the German (Deutsche) and so on.

The partition of British India into Pakistan and India shows us how religious based identities can divide people of the same ethnic group. We Tani's should be aware of propagandas made by the Hindutva forces in Taniland, in the name of culture to divide us. Looking the future ahead, the Tanibrotherhood stands for fraternity and brotherhood among the Tani's, irrespective of whatever faith one belongs to.

We are Tani's, that's our identity.

Cultures grow and are not static.

Faith, religion, a personal matter.

Son and daughters of Tani, the first life known.

Let communal fascist forces come,but we are Tani's.

That's our Identity and need no preservation.

No preservatives required, we are not pickles.

An identity which won't perish, looking for.

We are Tani's, that's our identity.