The Denial of Right to Education

By Gladson Dungdung, Orissa Diary

The right to education is a fundamental right of every child in India. However, there are millions of children whose rights are neglected, denied and deprived. According to the Education Survey, only 50 percent children of the age of 6 to 14 have access to education, 35 millions children do not attend schools and 53% of girl children in the age group of 5 to 9 years are illiterate. The India government has enforced the ‘Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act’ on 26 of August 2009 with the prime objective of providing free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years. Ironically, it was enforced only after 62 years of Indian Independence, when the state realized about its failure in fulfilling the promises made in the constitution of India. The fundamental question here is does this legislation have comprehensive provisions to address the issues of denial of the children’s right to education?

According to a pioneer child rights organization the ‘Child Rights and You’ (CRY), the Act does not cover every child. The major argument is, since a child below the age of 18 has been considered as “child” in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, which has been ratified by the Indian government therefore the children of the age of 14 to 18 should be included in the Act. Similarly, the children below the age of 6 are also denied for free and compulsory education in the Act which needs to be reconsidered. The CRY demands on the budget allocation as 10 percent of the GDP for the education as the union budget has been reduced from 3.84 percent in 2008-09 to 3.03 percent in 2009-10. It also demands that there should be schools within a distance of 1 kilometer with quality teachers and basic amenities so that all children including girls (neglected in legislation) can be ensured their right to education. However, the question continues is will this legislation address the issues of right to education of the poor children?

Pada-yatra against Posco and Vedanta University projects

The anti-land acquisition leaders and the activists of various Jana Sangathans in Orissa have intensified their stir against the projects of Posco and Vedanta, the two big ticket investments in the state.
They have demonstrated their stiff opposition to these projects by starting a pada-yatra on Sunday from Dhinkia village in Jagatsinghpur district, the proposed site of the Posco project, up to Puri, the site chosen for the Vedanta University project.

The members of the Vedanta Vishwavidyalaya Sangharsh Samiti (VVSS), the organization spearheading the movement against the Vedanta University project have also thrown their weight behind these activists.

The pada-yatra comes at a time when the state government is making frantic efforts to woo the locals for the Posco steel project ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony for this mega venture scheduled for January 10 next year.

Farmers’ organisations under attack in Punjab

Punjab farmers block Railway traffic near thermal plant

Source: Radical Notes November 29, 2009 at 10:58 pm in India, Punjab, State Terrorism

By NK Jeet, President, Lok Morcha Punjab

The peasants’ organizations in Punjab have been in the forefront in the struggle against the anti-people new economic policies of globalization, liberalization and privatization. They have fought for remunerative prices for agricultural produce, its procurement by state agencies, writing off farm loans, and against arrests of farmers due to non-payment of farm loans advanced by Cooperative Societies, attachments and sales of their lands at the instances of Commission Agents and money lenders etc. They have also led glorious struggles against setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state, forcible acquisition of agricultural land for setting up giant industrial complexes, power projects, multi-lane roads etc. and against unbundling and ultimate privatization of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). Faced with stiff resistance from the farmers’ organization, the Punjab Government was forced to abandon or curtail many projects. Irritated at this, the Akali-BJP Government in Punjab launched a massive offensive against the organizations of the farmers. A large number of leaders and activists of these organizations were implicated in false criminal cases. On September 8 2009, when Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan) held a massive demonstration at Chandigarh to oppose unbundling of the State Electricity Board, 4 FIRs were registered against all of its State Office-bearers. The leaders of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union and Lok Morcha Punjab were also implicated in these cases. Hundreds of farmers were injured in the brutal lathicharge by the police. Their vehicles were badly damaged. As a result of the police brutalities, four persons lost their lives. The sacrifices of these farmers did not go in vain. Akali-BJP Govt was forced to postpone the unbundling/ corporatisation of the PSEB, till mid-December.

YSR responsible for killing several Maoists:TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao

Patel Sudhakar Reddy Killed in a fake Encounter

KARIMNAGAR: Former chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, by a quirk of fate, had to lose his life in the Nallamala forest as he was responsible for the killing of several Maoist leaders and cadre in the same area after inviting them to talks, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao has said.

And, he has atributed the huge loss of life and property in Kurnool, Vijayawada and Guntur in the unprecedented floods to the injustice being done in sharing the Krishna waters.Rao made these shocking observations at a media conference here Saturday.“Rajasekhara Reddy invited the Maoist leaders to peace talks and, later, he virtually eliminated hundreds of Maoists from the Nallamala forest. He had to pay a heavy price for that. Similarly, people in Kurnool, Vijayawada and Guntur had to face the wrath of unprecedented floods as projects like Pothireddypadu were constructed without any permision at the cost of Telangana people and region,’’ he alleged. The TRS chief ’s caustic tongue did not stop there. He described the leaders in the Congress who were opposing him and his programmes as “barking dogs who bark at their master’s instructions’’. He also charged the Andhra rulers and leaders with treating people in Telangana region as fools.

Chandrasekhar Rao, once again, mentioned the names of film personalities Nagarjuna, D Ramanaidu, real estate developer Narne Ranga Rao, late Rajasekhara Reddy’s brother and MLC Vivekananda Reddy as landgrabbers. The TRS chief flayed certain media organisations for washing their dirty linen in the public. EB

Narayanptna police firing: Protests mark bandh

Staff Reporter
It is against killing of two CMAS activists in police firing

Normal life not affected by bandh

Vehicular traffic hit at some places

Activists of several organisations staging a protest against Narayanpatna firing in Berhampur on Saturday.

BERHAMPUR: The dawn to dusk bandh call in South Orissa on Saturday did not hamper the day-to-day life in a big way. No untoward incident was reported.

The bandh call was given by CPI-ML (New Democracy), CPI-ML (Liberation), Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS), Orissa Forest Mazdoor Union (OFMU) and Malkangiri Adivasi Sangh (MAS). It was in protest against the police firing at Narayanpatna in Koraput district, which killed two activists of the CMAS. Over the same issue, other organisations observed protest day in different parts of the State. In Berhampur, activists of the CPI-ML (New Democracy), OFMU and some other social activists took out a protest march. They burnt the effigy of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Old Bus Stand square. Business and official work was not affected in the city. Protesters came out and blocked roads for some time near Shergarh, Taptapani, Badagada and Dharakote in Ganjam district for sometime in the morning.

Govt offensive will make us stronger: Maoists

New Delhi: Weeks before the government launches one of its biggest offensive against Maoists, the extremists have welcomed it saying this will strengthen their movement in tribal areas.

The Maoist thinktank believe that the government’s stand is responsible for their success in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. “The more destruction they (security forces) cause, the faster will our people’s army grow and our guerrilla war spread to other parts of the country. Thanks to the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, our war has achieved in four years what would have taken two decades. Now, thanks to home minister P Chidambaram, our war will expand to wider areas, mobilise more people and gather momentum,” said Azad, the spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist) in a document made available to DNA.

“Maoism teaches us that self-preservation is possible only through war. You cannot defend yourself against a powerful and extremely cruel enemy by submitting to him meekly. You have to choose the appropriate method to fight a relatively superior and powerful enemy and only by this can you ensure the preservation of your forces,” he said.

Operation Godavari: Maoist in Orissa Urges people to resist Suppression

Report by Deba Prasad Dash; Malkangiri: With the State and central Government seems determined to launch a massive joint operation against the Maoist rebels in the district soon after the Jharknhand assembly election is over, the red rebels have come up with posters against the alleged fake encounters and atrocity on innocent people in the district.

The Peoples Guerrilla Army (PGA) was renamed as Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA)formed in 2004 when the C.P.I(Maoist) took birth after the merger of both CPI(ML) Peoples War Group and Maoist Communist Centre of India(MCCI) . Sighted in the many villages in the district,the posters printed in Oriya arrest of has urged the people to resist the ongoing suppression by the state and central government in the name of “Operation Godavari”.In hundreds of posters,banners and leaflets , C.P.I(Maoist) Malkangiri Division Committee has demanded the unconditional release of all the arrested tribals .

Invitation For Convention Against War on People

Convention Against War On People

Venue: Speaker’s Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi

Date: 4 December 2009 (Friday) Time: 10 am—7 pm

Friends,

As you read this invite, Indian state’s ongoing war on people that began on the 1st of November, will already complete several weeks. The body-count of the adivasis –the prime victims of the Indian government’s ‘hunt’– also started to mount. As per the sporadic news from the Ground Zero trickles in through the media, the casualty is escalating by each passing day, as grow the number of burnt villages, persons displaced, injured or arrested. We hear of battalions of CRPF, COBRA, C-60, Grey Hounds, ITBP, Anti-Naxal Task Force and a whole assortment of armed paramilitary and police forces stepping up their operation in Dandakaranya and adjoining regions, backed by air force helicopters and US intelligence satellites, commanded by army top brass. As reports are pouring in already thousands of adivasis have been displaced from their homes as the ruthless state repressive machine has let loose a reign of terror in these areas. The renewed offensive by the joint forces in Lalgarh too has left hundreds of protesting adivasis homeless. There is every possibility that the number of dead and injured people, along with the displaced and destroyed villages will only mount in the coming weeks, if the Indian government does not call for an immediate halt to this all-encompassing military offensive. As has been the case with nationality movements in Kashmir and the North East, the Indian state’s endeavour to find a ‘military solution’ through war will only endanger the lives and livelihood of lakhs of citizens.

Indian government has been preparing for this massive military operation for months, lining up nearly one lakh troops and arming them with sophisticated weapons, mobilising the air force for aerial strikes and involving the Indian army not only for training and logistical purposes, but for operational command and even active combat if required. There are also reports of US intelligence and security officials ‘advising’ the Indian government in conducting this war. As reported by the media, the entire forested regions of central and eastern India have been divided into seven Operating Areas, which the government wants to ‘clear’ within the next five years of all resistance, including that of the Maoists and other Naxalite organisations. An outlay of Rs.7300 crores has already been earmarked for this war.

None is in illusion as to the objectives of this war against the people. This war is being fought by the Indian government at the behest of the corporates and for their benefit, targeting the life and livelihood of the adivasis. The worldwide imperialist economy presently faces its most severe crisis after 1929. The military-industrial complex, which includes multinational and Indian big business interests, is looking for wars that have the potential to artificially generate the much-needed demand for their products in a crisis-ridden market. Moreover, both domestic and foreign corporations desperately want to lay their hands on the minerals worth billions of dollars deposited in the vast forest regions of central and eastern India. Once accessed, this can guarantee the corporations super-profits for several decades. Hundreds of agreements and MoUs that allow free plunder of people’s resources have already been concluded by mining corporations with the central and state governments. The corporations easily cleared all the legal hurdles between themselves and the natural resources. The only barrier that now stands between them and their prize is people’s resistance, whether unarmed or armed. From Nandigram to Niyamgiri, Lalgarh to Dandakaranya, Koraput to Kalinganagar, Dadri to Narayanpatna, people have refused to be mere victims of state-sponsored policies of Liberalisation-Privatisation-Globalisation (LPG) in the name of ‘development’. After trying all forceful measures from police repression to Salwa Judum which have failed to deter the people’s movements, the Indian government is now waging war not only against the Naxalite and Maoist movements which have been termed as the ‘biggest internal security threat’, but against all people’s movements that challenge its policies. By doing so, it not only is trying to bulldoze all kinds of dissenting voices and democratic rights, but is also aiming to exterminate the aspirations of the exploited and oppressed people for a better society, a life with dignity.

Forum Against war on People invites you to this All-India Convention which is an effort to examine the ongoing war on people in all its dimensions. More importantly, it seeks to become a strong voice of resistance against this war. We urge you to participate in the Convention and make it an occasion to collectively demand that the Indian government must immediately and unconditionally stop this war, waged in our name against our own people.

Convention Against War On People

Venue: Speaker’s Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi

Date: 4 December 2009 (Friday) Time: 10 am—7 pm

Inaugural Address: Prof. Randhir Singh (Retd. Political Science, DU)

Speakers

Justice AS Bains

BD Sharma

Vara Vara Rao (Revolutionary Poet)

PA Sebastian (CPDR, Maharashtra)

Prof. Jagmohan (AFDR, Punjab)

Arundhati Roy (Writer)

Bullu Bahan, (Chhattisgarh)

Madhuri (MP)

Prof. Amit Bhattacharyya

Ajit Bhuyan (Editor, Asomiya Pratidin)

Prashant Bhushan

Shashi Bhushan Pathak (PUCL Jharkhand)

Bernard D’Mello (Deputy Editor, EPW)

Lachit Bordoloi (MASS, Assam)

Dr. N Venuh (NPMHR)

Sudhir Patnaik (Lok Pakhya, Orissa)

Prof N K Bhattacharya (Jan Hastakshep)

Malem Ningthouja (CPDM, Manipur)

Harish Dhawan (PUDR)

Shamsher Singh Bisht (Uttarakhand Lok Vahini)

Lateef Mohd. Khan (Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee)

Gautam Navlakha

Kavita Krishnan (CPI-ML [Liberation])

Sheomangal Siddhantkar (CPI-ML [New Proletarian])

SS Mahal (CPI-ML [New Democracy])

SAR Geelani (CRPP)

GN Saibaba

Prof. Jagmohan Singh (Voices for Freedom)

Santosh Mahapatra (Orissa)

Arjun Prasad Singh (PDFI)

Dr. Animesh Das (IFTU)

Raminder Singh (NBS)

Alok (KYS)

PUCL

JNU Forum Against War on People

DU Campaign Against War on People

Correspondence, Campaign Against War on People, Committee Against Violence On Women (CAVOW), Naga Students Union Delhi (NSUD), Navjawan Bharat Sabha (NBS), KRALOS, Krantikari Yuva Sanghathan (KYS), Manipur Students Association Delhi (MSAD), PDSU, PUCL, MKP, Campaign for Peace & Democracy Manipur (CPDM), DSU, CRPP, DGMF, People’s Front (PF), Mazdoor Ekta Manch (MEM), Left Democratic Teacher’s Front (LDTF), RDF, PDFI, CPI (ML) (Liberation), CPI (ML) (New Proletarian), Kashipur Solidarity Forum, Nari Mukti Sangh (NMS), Mehnatkash Majdoor Morcha (MMM), B D Sharma, Arundhati Roy, Tripta Wahi, Vijay Singh, Neshat Quaiser, Laltu and others

Forum Against War on People

Contact: stopwaroncitizens

Green Hunt:Homeless triblas wanderers in their own country

Internally displaced persons from Chhattisgarh’s Kistaram Panchayat before their shack of sticks and palmyra leaf in Andhra Pradesh’s Khammam.
Javed Iqbal

As Operation Green Hunt gathers steam in Chhattisgarh state violence is also going up steadily. The result is that more people, mostly tribals, in the state’s Maoist-dominated areas are crossing the border to find sanctuary in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh as Internally Displaced Persons.Each of them fled their homes either after a raid or because they feared for their lives. The stories these people tell of their ordeals are also beginning to provide a picture of the true extent of the destruction.Gachanpalli is a small village some 30 km from the town of Konta in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. According to witnesses, the security forces raided Gachanpalli sometime in late October. They allegedly killed Madvi Admaya, Madkam Sulaya, Madvi Joga, Kovasi Gangaya, Madkam Moiyi. Witnesses say four of the five men were past 60 and too old to escape into the jungle. Madkam Moiyi was apparently crippled and incapable of walking.

Judicial probe demanded into Narayanpatna firing

KalingaTimes Correspondent

Bhubaneswar/Koraput, Nov. 28: The activists of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha and several other organisations observed a bandh in the southern Odisha district on Saturday in protest against the recent police firing at Narayanpatna police station where two CMAS activists were killed.

The supporters of the bandh also demanded a judicial probe into the police firing.

The bandh, however, received partial response from the people in the districts of Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Gajapati districts. The passed off peacefully with no incidents of violence reported during the day.

In Berhampur town several mass organisations and political parties such as CPI(M-L) Liberation and CPI(M-L) New Democracy took out a rally demanding a judicial probe into the police firing that took place on November 20.

A large number of people who participated in the rally also burnt the effigy of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik condemning the police action against the CMAS activists who were agitating for securing land rights for the tribals in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon Blocks of Koraput.

Ghandy’s counsel alleges contempt of court by AP

Trust of India, First Published : 28 Nov 2009 02:25:16 AM IST:

KARIMNAGAR: Top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy’s counsel today filed an application seeking action against Andhra Pradesh police in a contempt case as it failed to implement the court orders.Ghandy’s lawyer filed a petition in Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate court here saying he was not allowed by the police to be present during questioning as directed by the court.

The magistrate asked the police to file a reply by December 4 and directed Karimnagar police to take Ghandy to Tihar Jail in New Delhi.On November 25 the court had granted one-day police custody of Ghandy, arrested by Delhi police in September, for questioning in cases registered against him in the district.While giving the custody the magistrate had directed the police to question Ghandy in the presence of his counsel if he so desired and not to subject him to any ill treatment.

Ghandy, who was produced before the magistrate after the expiry of the custody, told the court that during interrogation the police wrote some lines in Telugu on a paper on which his signature was taken.He further said the police did not allow his counsel to be present during the interrogation.Meanwhile a local court in Delhi today issued a production warrant against Ghandy in connection with a case registered against him in Karimnagar district in 2008.

Red alert sounded in Narayanpatna as CMAS observes protest day tomorrow

Express News Service, First Published : 28 Nov 2009 05:29:00 AM IST, Last Updated : 28 Nov 2009 09:02:14 AM IST

NARAYANPATNA (KORAPUT): Panic has gripped entire Koraput region, especially Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks, with Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) observing protest day tomorrow against recent police firing. With apprehension of retribution from tribals, police and the district administration have remained on their toes.

A red alert has been sounded in all parts of the tribal region.Though the panchayats of Kumbari, Langalbeda, Podapadar, Bijaghat, Balipeta, Tentulipadar of Narayanpatna have been on the boil for past nine months due to continuous tribal unrest, the areas have witnessed an unprecedented tension after CMAS attack on police station on November 20. Thousands of non-tribals have left their homes due to threat of CMAS and continuous violence in the region.

Reports said now both the police and members of CMAS are out to assert their supremacy in region. As of now, the CMAS is clearly on the backfoot with arrests of its 57 members and release of most-wanted list by the police which has the name of the outfit’s president Nachhika Linga.Reports said around 3,000 armed CMAS members have fanned out to 50 villages backed by Maoists of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and AP and they are likely to pose a tough challenge to police tomorrow. Intelligence inputs said several tribal leaders, who have gone underground fearing arrest, may appear tomorrow for the protest day.

In past one week there were at least two instances of exchange of fire between police and the CMAS members during the former’s crackdown on the latter and apprehending more such incidents police are sanitising the area. Sources said about 4,000 armed policemen are camping in the area to tackle any untoward incident.‘’We would not spare anyone violating the law of the land,’’ said Koraput SP Deepak Kumar. Meanwhile, Maoists leaders have condemned the police operation terming it atrocity against tribals. IE