Social media has clearly given people the means to stand up and speak their minds

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What is the link between Anna Hazare and the Arab Spring? Apparently none but on closer look one finds that they are bound by social media. Twitter was a key means of communication for protesters in the Arab Spring revolts this year. Facebook and twitter are the signposts of the Anna Hazare movement in India. Little wonder then that Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal has bought a stake in micro-blogging site Twitter for $300 million. This could well be touted as the next ‘revolution’. The Internet and mobile phone have become the tool of the new wave of social activism. If Subranshu Chowdhury sitting in Raipur can use the mobile phone to give farmers practical information, so can Anna Hazare supporters use Twitter and Facebook to mobilise society in the ‘India against Corruption’ campaign. With more than 90,000 ‘likes’ on the India Against Corruption Facebook page and thousands of others lending online support via twitter and their website, Anna Hazare has become larger than life.

The lesson to be learnt from the social media scene this year is that it is a means of communication and it is a means of commerce. Seen another way, communication has become interactive, allowing participants to voice their feelings and opinion on the ether as also doing business. This is a phenomenon that could potentially change the nature of humankind interactions. Across India, small businessmen and farmers are using mobile phones to do their business. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak discovered that shutting down the internet to curb the protesters’ ability to communicate had disastrous effects on the economy.

True, social media is the in thing and even ‘occupy wall street’ movement is a creation of this media, but it does not mean that one can draw a straight line and predict its course. For social media to be a mass mobiliser other factors must be at play. As is seen in the case of Anna Hazare, social media helped in multiplying the sentiments of the urban populations across India who feel that Hazare is giving direction to their pent up feelings. People are not only taking to the streets in huge numbers but are taking to Facebook and Twitter to state their case. So those who are at work and cannot go to India Gate can at least tweet their support! Recent events demonstrate that even governments are worried about the rapid spread in the use of social media. Of course, it can be monitored or stopped like the Chinese have done. But the power of communication is strong and transcends national boundaries. The only worry is that all positives do not emerge from the use of social media. The racial riots in London in 2011 were evoked by the use of private Blackberry messaging. It was the most popular medium through which the rioters communicated. Keep in mind that social media technologies today mean more than just text messages and tweets. Nearly 500 years ago, Martin Luther took the new media of their day – print – pamphlets, ballads and woodcuts, and circulated them through social networks to promote their message of religious reform.

Revolutions are of many kinds and the present one is indicative that technology can be a driving force. But it appears that in the Arab Spring, it was only a tool not the causative factor. Recent events in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and elsewhere in the Middle East are eruptions of popular feeling whose symbolic beginning can be traced to 2003 when the Iraqi people pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein. In other words, causative factors vary from time to time but social media gives those in the midst of the revolution the means to articulate their views. In Egypt, out of a population of 85 million, only five per cent people use Facebook and one per cent use Twitter.

The advantage with social media technology is that it allows users to replicate a particular message or cause manifold by simply pressing a button. Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia can immolate himself in protest of a corrupt regime and impact his own people as well as neighbours in Egypt – thanks to the ways in which video was captured and transmitted via mobile phones before being picked up by non-State-run television channels. A repeat of Tiananmen Square protests today would have a different story to tell altogether. Therefore, at the end of 2011 when we sit back and look at the score card, we find that on the balance, positives emerging from the social media revolution are quite high and present the new face of democracy. That social media has given people the means to stand up and speak their minds is now clear. The past tells us that each time such media are used change has occurred. However, the verdict is still out on whether this revolutionary tool can bring about regime change. (The views expressed by the author are personal)

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Bhagavad Gita controversy reflects the West’s inexperience in sustaining a multi-religious society

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The controversy over banning of Bhagavad Gita by Russia came as a shock especially when this scripture has never been used as a tool, globally, to instigate any feeling of hatred or violence. Consequently, it was followed by a series of protests in India.

Bhagavad Gita is a holy scripture for Hindus and a source of knowledge and wisdom for other communities in the world. Thus, the effort to malign it is not only an insult to a particular community but also displays feeling of religious intolerance. It all began when a petition was filed in June 2011 by a group associated with the Christian Orthodox Church in a court in Siberia’s Tomsk city to ban Bhagavad Gita on the pretext of it being an 'extremist' scripture that preaches war rather than peace. This comes as a contradiction to the Christian philosophy which is a widely practised religion across the West and is deemed as a religion of peace and tolerance by the followers.

On the hindsight, the entire scripture may be seen as a philosophy of war. But what the Russians missed out is that Gita is more about how an ideal life should be led and on the dilemma between the truth and the vice that a human faces in his daily life.

The West has always had a sense of disregard for other religions and relies more on half-baked reasoning. France has banned wearing head scarf for Muslim women. Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published the caricature of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). The court has suspended the petition till December 28 and it has referred Gita to Tomsk State University for examination. But the University currently has no experts on Hindu philosophy, culture, and religion.

Needless to say, there is an uproar in India and there are valid reasons for the same. Russia is India's close ally for decades. Ironically, the incident occurred at a time when prime minister Manmohan Singh was on a diplomatic tour to Russia. This controversy raises concerns with regard to minority rights and religious freedom in Russia in the long run. The West has on and off taken such steps fearing minority uprising and to curb any potential threat. Religious tolerance and diversity is perhaps one thing the East can teach the "knowledgeable" West.

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MNREGA and social service

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MNREGA can be a cost effective tool for disaster management in India

MNREGA in its present form is confined to the work of bricks and mud only. The ambit of the scheme involves construction of roads and digging ponds and lakes. However, the potential of the scheme has not been fully explored as yet. Since India does not have a well defined disaster management mechanism, the cost effective measures of disaster management can be seamlessly synchronised with the existing policies such as MNREGA.

It goes without saying that disasters come with heavy economic and social losses. As per a World Bank report, by the year 2100, damages from such calamities in India may go up to one billion dollars annually. And, here we have not taken into consideration the losses due to climate change. One can imagine the plight of Indians especially in a scenario when most of the mitigation measures are found grossly inadequate – more so for the rural India.

Around 3.3 million deaths have occurred directly due to these hazards in the last three decade. Despite government's interventions, losses have tripled in this period. As per the ministry of home affairs, cumulative loss from such natural calamities was around $48 billion during the same period.

It is a clear case of misplaced priorities resulting in displaced outcomes since government expenditures on preventive measures are significantly lower than allocations on disaster control and relief. Thus, it becomes imperative to develop an effective mechanism for prevention that can eventually lower vulnerability from such calamities.

The technology intensive model of disaster management practised by the developed world is still not practically viable in our country due to inadequate infrastructure. This is where the MNREGA scheme could be extremely beneficial. We can exploit our demographic dividend in mitigation efforts in all rural areas that are prone to disasters. This would not only be cost-effective but also allow timely intervention.

Take for instance the coastal areas of Kosi river in Bihar that are severely affected by flood every year. The pool of workforce under MNREGA could be used for the construction of dams, water reservoirs and digging more ponds in order to prevent floods. Similar activities should be replicated all across the coastal areas of India under MNREGA programmes. Similarly, to counter drought, projects like creation of canals and interconnecting rivers under could potentially be a breakthrough. Moreover, the presence of such a workforce at the local level would minimise post hazard losses.

MNREGA has only benefited people economically through job creation. It can be put to better use by using it simultaneously for disaster management and community services like waste management that can be performed by unskilled labours.

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Punjab's deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal proved his managerial skills..

Punjab's deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal proved his managerial skills when he commanded a demoralised Akali Dal-BJP alliance to power in the 2007 Assembly elections dislodging the Congress government headed by Capt. Amarinder Singh. As the state gears up again to go to the polls in early 2012, he exudes confidence in a conversation with Jagtar Singh

You had commanded SAD-BJP to victory in the last Assembly elections. In the Lok Sabha elections, too, your performance was above average. How serious is the challenge to retain power?

Elections are always a big challenge and I have always accepted challenges in my life. My strategy has always been based upon positive moves. In normal situations, I have distaste for negativism.

How do you view the situation?

In Punjab, it is a fight between pro-people and anti-people forces. Congress, ever since Independence, has been associated with excesses committed against Punjab and Punjabis. The list of excesses is long. On the other hand, SAD has always been regarded as a party of the masses, a symbol of Punjab and Punjabiyat. This is the cornerstone of the Akali Dal. Our party has always been in the vanguard of the fight to protect the interests of Punjabis. The present situation has to be assessed against the backgrounds of the two parties.

What would be the main plank of your alliance as you are also talking of Panthic issues like Sikh heritage memorials?

No community in the world can survive by neglecting its heritage. The history of the Sikhs, the most nascent religion in the world, is a saga of struggles and sacrifices. Our government took the initiative to preserve its heritage. We are going to the people seeking a mandate on our performance. The people should compare our performance with the five-year term of the last Congress government. We are much ahead in every sector of the economy.

Development during these five years has been unprecedented. 

Capt. Amarinder Singh has questioned both the vision of your government and performance.

It is ironic. It is his government that wrecked the education and health sectors. We inherited schools without teachers and infrastructure and hospitals without doctors. You may recall that the government used to openly talk of encouraging privatisation in these basic sectors. It used to be said people prefer private schools to government schools. We have reversed that situation. We have not facilitated private investment at the cost of public sector. We have tried to carry both the sectors along. We recruited doctors for dispensaries and teachers for schools. Our Adarsh school scheme has been emulated by the government at the Centre also. This would not have been possible had there been no vision and initiative.

The election campaign is becoming vicious and bitter with personal accusations and allegations.

We have always opposed such bitterness in electioneering. Campaigning has to be on issues. The problem with Capt. Amarinder Singh is that he and his party lack positive issues. My father has been in public life for more than 50 years and never has anybody heard any harsh word from him for political opponents. When our picture hugging each other appeared in a national newspaper, the signal that emanated was very positive. The people thought the bitterness was over and the next election would be contested on issues. However, Capt. Amarinder Singh thought it might weaken his campaign and within days, he reverted to his old style.

He has been accusing your family of corruption.

We faced court cases that were filed by Capt. Amrinder Singh’s government. It is the court which has discharged us. That only proves that the cases were politically motivated. After doing my Master’s in business management from the US, I ventured into business and succeeded. On the other hand, Capt. Amarinder Singh failed in business and defaulted on bank loans. The banks pasted a notice on the gate of his Moti Bagh residence in Patiala. It is he who owes an explanation to the people about the turnaround in his financial fortunes.

Do you perceive any threat from the People’s Party of Punjab of your estranged cousin Manpreet Singh Badal who has joined hands with the Communists and an Akali splinter group to form Sanjha Morcha?

Sanjha Morcha is no threat to the Akali Dal-BJP alliance. The support base of the Left has been shrinking over the years. None of these parties has representation in the outgoing Assembly. They are nonentities. Manpreet has no base of his own. Sanjha Morcha will be completely wiped out. Manpreet would not be able to retain even his own seat which he has won four times as the Akali Dal candidate. Going by past voting behaviour, his party might rather affect the Congress in the sense that the minuscule section of disgruntled Akalis, as is always the case with the ruling party, might vote for the Sanjha Morcha. They might have otherwise voted for the Congress.

How come you are so hopeful of breaking the pattern of the Akali Dal and Congress alternately returning to power in Punjab?

Our motto has been ‘Raj Nahin Seva’. The concept of Akali Dal has always been to serve the people and not rule over the state. Our government has provided dignified access to government services to the people through the all-encompassing Right to Service Act, which covers a total of 67 services which are now being provided to the people in a time-bound manner. No other state has enacted such a comprehensive legislation. There is a wave in favour of the SAD-BJP alliance.

ARE FILM FESTIVALS A WASTE OF TIME & PUBLIC MONEY?!

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As IFFI, Goa drew to a close on December 3, one heard veiled whispers of “Boss, mazaa nahi aaya; koi dhang ka Bollywood star tha hi nahin!” to “yaar, pata nahin kyun yeh festival karte hain! Do din baad, it's back to Bollywood, the hungama about The Dirty Picture and whether the Khans still rule supreme… kaun yaad rakhega these vague French, Belgian and Iranian directors? It's back to square one. What a waste of time and tax-payers' money! Mere hisaab se it's nothing more than a phoney, pretentious dikhawa of celebrating cinema as an art form and attracting global film personalities so that India can show the world that she too is capable of hosting big-ticket Film Festivals! Bakwaas! Sirf Carnival, picnic, drama, nothing else!”

Reputed, respected, veteran film critic Saibal Chatterjee – first off the block – refuses to keep silent and reacts with all cylinders firing! “It is these kind of brain-dead responses that instantly places and positions India as a solid Third World dump! How totally regressive and culturally-challenged!” Chatterjee explains with rare candour and knowledge. “Let's get one thing straight. Film Festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) were never meant for the aam aadmi, the hoi polloi umbilically wedded to mainstream commercial (Bollywood potboilers)! It was meant essentially as a B-to-B initiative… a celebration of the best of world cinema for the cognoscenti and film industry to expose them to every aspect of cinema as an art form, a vehicle that entertains and enriches even as it empowers. Students from film schools, technicians, writers and directors continue to throng those meets to see, awe-struck, what cinema can do to the human mind and where it has gone as a medium of stunning creativity.” Chatterjee believes that it started out right (in 1952, when India hosted her first international film festival in Delhi, a huge success !) and across decades has been solely responsible for giving us Rays, Ghataks and Benegals as well as the glorious parallel cinema of the seventies and eighties. Tragically, in the last few decades, changing times, crazy consumerism and the overwhelming influence of Bollywood has hijacked the heart – and focus – of these wonderful festivals, rendering them a kind of arty-look for a niche crowd looking for something away from mainstream. While that’s partly true, its basic intent to cater to professionals of the film industry and lovers of good cinema, seems to have gone under a cloud, inviting the kind of silly comments one just heard. It's sad that the guys who need to be exposed to quality cinema the most – Bollywood, whose idea of great cinema appears to be Rockstar and The Dirty Picture – are the ones who hardly visit, except for tokenism or publicity!

Kalyan Sarkar agrees wholeheartedly. The ex-FTII student (early 80s) of camera and direction – presently Dean, Cinema Studies AAFT, Noida – is shocked at the mindset of these anpadh ganwaars! “Waste of time and tax-payers' money? What do these people do with their precious time anyway… read crap, watch those dumbed-down TV serials or drool over the latest Bollywood entertainers? As for tax-payers' money, can you even begin to compare film festivals to the fabulous scams of recent times, (involving lakhs of crores) or the pathetic indifference to basic infrastructure like roads, power etc? And what budgets are we talking about? Film festivals cost a pittance compared to other (Commonwealth Games?) shows and bring so much cultural and intellectual value to their basic mission of exposing people to quality cinema from all parts of the globe. Initiating them into an alternative space, beyond the usual formulaic fare, which educates, informs, provokes and moves the heart while challenging the brain. Also, festivals offer a matchless platform to gifted – but struggling – directors, actors, writers, technicians (without any bloodline connect to the biggies of the industry) to showcase their talent and move on to bigger things.”

Collegian Vikram Behl begs to differ. “Art? Culture? Alternative space? What total humbug! Film festivals celebrate fakes and phonies who – with some exceptions – use precious funds to present their weird, whacky, tortured, crazed vision of life and the world to an unguarded audience who are scathed for life!” Behl believes most of it is neither entertaining nor remotely enriching but “just plain exercises in confusion-ridden, creative self-indulgence. Artistic masturbation! Scrap these damn festivals and National Awards frequently dotted with jury members with zilch qualifications and riddled with politics!

Gimme solid, unpretentious entertainment any day. As for figuring out the meaning of life and stuff, I don’t have to go to those peddlers of corny arthouse stuff, okay? Actually, these film festivals have become this big, cultural and intellectual fashion statement. It makes for great drawing room conversation and gives you this superior animal-aura – the zara hatke culturally-driven creature who views cinema as an agent of change!”

Strong words, huh? So what gives? Are film festivals really unnecessary, irrelevant, art-farty products that pop out once a year to cater to a niche crowd, living in a world of its own with its very special and unique vision, values and agenda? Or are they passionate, progressive symbols (amidst a dangerously complacent, self-congratulatory and regressive landscape) of liberal, humanitarian values embracing simple, startling solutions to an evolved constituency who have eyes to see, a mind to think and a heart to feel? Flashes of truth at 24 seconds per frame?Portraits reflecting sensitivity of the disfranchised of this world and reaffirmation of faith in the human condition....a cinema of artistic sincerity and social significance? Young Behl’s irreverent blast not withstanding (it is a free country, remember?!), if the crowds that throng these meets – across every city that holds their own film festivals – are any indication, these events are neither a waste of time nor money, but a relentless and focused movement forever trying to extract some semblance of order out of the chaos that seems to have totally corrupted the youngest of the art forms – Cinema!

More power to its effort!

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GRANTA: Horror and its many guises

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Granta 117: Autumn 2011

Horror

Distributed in India by Penguin

Edition: Paperback

Pages: 256

Price: Rs 699

isbn: 9781905881369

The usual chills and spills aren’t in the mix. Granta’s anthology dedicated to horror collates short fiction, memoir, reportage, poetry and art in order to understand the genre and its many manifestations primarily through the prism of literature.

It certainly won’t psych you out of your wits. It isn’t that kind of anthology. But you might find a sense of unease run down your spine occasionally as a new way of looking at horror takes shape in your head.

Granta 117: Horror is more David Cronenberg than Wes Craven. It proffers no elaborate Gothic effects nor does it place any emphasis on gore although some of the pieces talk about the centrality of blood in stories, films and real-life situations designed to shock us and throw us off balance.

Instead, it explores the horrors of disease, death, war, violence, personal loss, obsession, and the onset of dementia, among other things, through different forms of expression.

There are some fine writers here – Paul Auster, Sarah Hall, Stephen King (can a horror anthology be complete without the grandee of the genre?) and the late Chilean novelist and poet Roberto Bolano.

Not to say that the other contributors are any less significant. The writing is of a consistently high quality: original, insightful and, most importantly, gripping. And the range is quite astounding.

The Infamous Bengal Ming is darkly hilarious and wildly inventive. Taken from Indian-American writer Rajesh Parameswaran’s fiction debut, I am an Executioner: Love Stories, it is the tale of a tiger in a zoo (told from the perspective of the feline creature) whose love for his keeper triggers mayhem. He flees, strays into a nearby home and, despite his best intentions, ends up wreaking havoc.

Another unusual fictional piece is The Starveling by Don DeLillo. An inveterate moviegoer, Leo, has abandoned all vestiges of who he really is and has constructed a life for himself that exists and has meaning only within the darkened space of a movie hall. Each film is, for him, “a lifetime compressed”. Leo develops an obsession for an unnaturally thin woman who shares his passion and compulsively devours movies. He turns into a stalker and follows her around from theatre to theatre, movie to movie, with startling consequences. Booker nominee Sarah Hall weighs in with a chilling short story. She Murdered Mortal He. It catches a young couple holidaying in an African seaside resort. A bitter argument erupts. Matters come to a head. A break-up looms large. The woman stomps out of the salon tent in a huff towards the deserted beach. As she loiters around in the darkness, she sees a white apparition tailing her… Hall builds up the tension expertly.

The other notable fiction piece is by Stephen King himself. The Dune is about a 90-year-old retired judge, aware that “an old man’s body is nothing but a sack filed with aches and indignities”. It is a characteristic narrative with a sting in the tale that centres on a secret that the aged man knows about a tiny island off the coast of Florida.

The air of fear and foreboding that The Dune creates remains largely under the surface, but when the final twist hits home, the King touch comes into full play.

In an unusual essay, poet Mark Doty delves into an encounter between Bram Stoker and Walt Whitman, who, according to the latter’s biographer, was the inspiration for Count Dracula.

A reflection on love, death and blood runs like a thread through the other non-fiction pieces in the anthology. Among them is Will Self’s superbly realised False Blood, which is an account of the blood-letting (“two pints a week, eight pints a month”) that the writer must subject himself in order to live. A heroin addict for 20 years of his life, he dreads needles. He suffers from polycythaemia vera. He describes the ailment as “a disease that sounded like a Greek goddess spliced with an East End pub landlady”. Humour hides the gravity of the medical horror: the condition leads to the thickening of blood because of the overproduction of red corpuscles.

There is much else here. Ritualistic high-camp bloodbaths of Los Angeles’ Foam Weapon League are the subject of Daniel Alarcon’s The Ground Floor. Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo’s Deng’s Dogs describes the days of his growing up in the shadow of violence unleashed by the Shining Path guerrillas.

Tom Bamforth writes about being a part of UN mission to the parched and dangerous Darfur desert. Novelist Paul Auster on the death of his mother and Japanese-origin American writer Julie Otsuka presents a poignant portrait of her mother as she grapples with the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Granta’s stab at horror is a fine blend of the campy and the classy, the ingenious and the instinctive. It’s eminently readable all the way.

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India's most unique villages

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Of tantra and mantra

A small village near Guwahati is a stronghold of traditional magic finds out Dulal Misra from firsthand experience

Magic and Assam (or Pragjyotishpur as it was called in ancient times) have a strong connection. Scholars such as Mirza Nathan, Ibn-batuta and Sahabuddin have mentioned the tantra-mantra of Pragjyotishpur in their writings. According to Hindu mythology Lord Krishna fought a maya yudh (a war of illusions) with king Narakasura, father of Bhagadutta, empowered by spiritual powers. Shaktipith Kamakhya (in Assam) was the epicentre of tantrism in ancient times where Buddhist monks came to practice tantra. In time these monks scattered to various parts of Assam but were mainly concentrated in Hajo and Mayang.

Tantrism in Mayang can be traced back to the period of 8th to 9th century AD. Buddhist monks contributed to shaping it in the 12th century thus making the tantrism of Mayang a unique combination of Hindu and Buddhist gupta bidya (secret knowledge) of which black magic is the basis.

Modern day Mayang, despite being close to Guwahati is a world away. Manthir Saikia, ex- principal of Mayang H S School and a scholar of tantrism says, “Prince Maibong of Manipur set up the Kachari kingdom here. The name Mayang comes from the prince’s name. From ancient times tantrism was practiced in Mayang hence the Ahom rulers and later the British were afraid to challenge the Kachari kingdom. The tantrics used vashikaran mantra to dominate enemies.”

Tilak Hazarika, a black magician in Mayang says the power of magic draws from the potency of words. “Every word has its power. If somebody praises you, you will be pleased. If somebody curses you, you will be sad. Shabd (the spoken word) is Brahma. Hence since ancient times, mantras were in oral form. Practitioners (bez and kabiraz) were particular that the mantras not reach the common people. Hence, there was no interest in preserving these in written form. However the Kachari kings encouraged the magicians to write down the mantras. Today we have around 300 manuscripts of mantras written on Sanchipat and Tulipat (kinds of writing material) in the area.”

There are various types of mantras practiced in Mayang. Among these are -- mohini ban, sarpabishnasakh, baatbish, tekeli ban, bagh bondha, bikh ban, jhor ban, jui nibarani, pash and kam ban mantra. Each comes with special powers. This while a human can fly in the air with the udan mantra, the luki mantra can make one vanish in thin air while bikh ban mantra can kill an enemy and the kam ban can enhance sexual potency. Why, there is also a mantra to transform leaves into fish! Manthir Saikia, like other residents of Mayang, has memories of magic to share. “Once when I was a child my father was boiling paddy to make a special type of rice. But even after steaming for three days, the paddy could not be boiled. My father suspected that someone had put a ban on the dish. He called on a kabiraz and told him about the incident. The kabiraz thought for a while and ordered my father to disrobe. My father did so and the paddy was cooked in no time”, he says. Pranab Bezbarua is a kabiraz believed to hold magical powers which he demonstrates for us. We are asked to put out our hands. Bezbarua takes a fistful of sand and whispers a mantra onto it. The sand is then thrown on our hands and a strange itching sensation begins. We are told that the baral ban has been put on us. Another fistful of sand with a different mantra is thrown on our hands and the sensation stops.

Tantrism in Mayang is however dying due to a lack of preservation and practice. Only a handful of practitioners remain.

Lokendra Nath Hazarika, a native of Mayang says, “We are trying to preserve and rejuvenate this traditional art. Many manuscripts which were with individuals have been collected. We are in search of various archeological material that support this culture. In Roja Mayang, we have found a rock inscription, 3.8 metre long. But the text of this inscription has not been deciphered.”

Utpal Nath from the village is doing his PhD on Mayang’s traditional magic and medicines from Guwahati University. He is also the secretary of the Mayang village Museum and Research Centre set up in 2002, where a total of 47 manuscripts are housed. Nath has written to the director of the National Museum requesting him to send an expert team to visit the museum. A 15-day workshop on the preservation manuscripts is planned. The government of Assam has granted Rs 20 lakh for the museum.

The present day Kachari king Taranti Kanta Konwar says the art has been part of his family. “My grandfather Mina Sing was a tantrik. He went to nearby jungle every Saturday and worshiped Lord Shiva and Ma Kali. My father wanted to learn tantrism from him, but my grandfather refused because tantrism cannot be transferred.” The king hopes that the coming generations will show an interest in Mayang’s traditional tantrism and the culture will be analysed scientifically.

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Kewalajhir was once settled as a village for members of the Indian National Army

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Kewalajhir was once settled as a village for members of the Indian National Army. The soldiers have since passed away or migrated. Raju Kumar explores this unique MP settlement.

For those who believe Subhash Chandra Bose or Netaji's legacy is long dead and gone, a trip to Kewalajhir in Madhya Pradesh is worth its weight in gold. On the map, Kewalajhir has no distinct identity of its own, one of the many nondescript villages that dot Raisen district's skyline.

Off the map, appearances can be deceptive. Kewalajhir's novelty lies in the fact that of the millions of towns and villages in India, not one can claim to have settled so many of Bose's legendary Indian National Army (INA) officers and soldiers and to develop it like a military cooperative farm on the lines of a Soviet, as this. Undoubtedly other villages have a distinguished history of such familial recruitment, but here in Kewalajhir it is a deep generational attachment to that rag-tag army which Bose set up to take on the might of the British empire. There is no family in Kewalajhir, a village of about 1,000 residents, which has not served the INA and this includes Netaji's every-faithful driver Tarachand. Much like the master, folklore has it that Tarachand was the only one who could have told the world what happened to Netaji, but did not do so as he was under oath. In Kewalajhir today, there is no Tarachand, nor Gopal Singh, Vijay Singh and Chandgi Ram Malik, all comrade in arms fired by Bose's fiery motto `You give me blood I will give you independence', a cry loud enough to galvanise youngsters of an entire generation.

In this village deeply associated with the INA, only two veterans remain, 90-year-old Master Phool Singh and a relatively young 76-year-old Ramswarup, who continues to live in Kewalajhir.

Singh has relocated to his native Hisar in Haryana. He told TSI on phone,``We were in the Singapore jail when Netaji's stirring speeches electrified us. I worked with him for three years. After Independence, I was assigned to come to Kewalajhir and organise the village here but sad to say, our independent government has done little. It could have been developed as an ideal village, but that was not to be.'' Situated at a distance of 30 km from National Highway 12, the Kewalajhir lake provides the ideal backdrop to this hilly, picturesque and rugged village.

It is not easy to reach here though. In mild sunshine at 12 noon, former village official Khitab Singh Malik sits around distributing cards to friends. Pulling at a hookah, he states, ``It is a fauji village just in name. Of the original INA members, only four are left and three of them have relocated to their home state, Haryana. Only Ram Swarup lives here.''

We caught up with Ram Swarup. Reminisces the veteran, ``In 1951, Independent India's first commander- in-chief General KM Cariappa got 88 soldiers settled here. Of them about 20 were former INA. It was barren land which we made fertile. We did cooperative farming after two new tractors arrived from the Soviet Union. This became a military farm. Later land was distributed evenly amongst the soldiers. When Gen Cariappa came to see us, we apprised him of our problems and he gave assurances like construction of an irrigation dam, Barna bandh, which later, became the lifeline of this village.''

Says Narendra Singh, grandson of INA veteran Chandgi Ram Malik, ''All that are left are memories. My grandfather used to tell us that Kewalajhir was designed to be the ideal village, wide lanes, a dispensary, canteen, parks and schools but 60 years down the line, a lot of people have migrated because not much has happened here.'' Most of those who left have gone to Haryana, their state of birth. There was a time when village houses here were adorned with medals and certificates of appreciation. No longer now. All what remains are some off springs of these former soldiers ploughing a lonely furrow, literally sowing seeds of an uncertain future. Two years ago, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj came to Kewalajhir and assured the locals of much development initiatives. Since then, however, it has remained what it was when the village was settled: a bouquet full of empty promises.

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The spicy condiments rustled up by the pickle traders of two villages of Andhra’s Konaseema delta have warmed the palates of foodies across continents for several generations

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No typical south Indian meal is complete without a fiery, lip-smacking pickle to go with flaming hot rice livened up with an array of spices and a liberal helping of ghee.

And no pickle in this part of the world is quite as favoured as the one that comes from the storied and scenic Konaseema delta of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh.

The world loves the pickles that the twin island villages of Ankampalem and Narkedipalli in the above-mentioned district’s Atryapuram block make and peddle day in and day out. The villages are located 12 km from Ravulapalem, the ‘gateway’ to Konaseema.

For nearly two centuries, the two villages have been engaged in the business of exporting pickles made from mango and an array of other fruits and vegetables that grow in this coastal area.

The pickles, sold in both leak-proof polythene packets (for consumers within the state) and earthy jars (for export to other parts of India and the world), have brought Ankampalem and Narkedpalli much fame and prosperity over the decades.

Virtually every family in the twin villages makes a living by making and selling pickles. The cottage industry has an annual turnover of Rs 25 crore.

The demand for the Konaseema line-up of pickles was initially fuelled by Andhra Pradesh’s own doctors and engineers who left the state to work in other parts of India as well as in the West. As exports rose, the pickles found new takers and the villagers thrived.

Interestingly, the villagers here, known for their entrepreneurial acumen and networking skills, have never taken to farming, the most common vocation for people of the coastal region. “Farming was not at all lucrative. So the idea of selling pickles was contemplated nearly 170 years ago,” says Gopi Hanumanthu Balam of Narkedipalli village.

Back then, both East and West Godavari districts bore the brunt of frequent floods when the mighty river was in spate during the rains. Survival was a constant struggle against the elements for the people of the area. However, the scenario improved appreciably once Sir Arthur Cotton erected the famous dam across the river 150 years ago. The barrage unleashed a phase of prosperity.

Says Balam: “It was one Pitla Venkateswarlu of our village who pioneered the practice of making pickles that could be used throughout the year. Persistent famine conditions in the vicinity propelled him to get into the business. It was then adopted by his kith and kin, and later by the entire village.”

Seven generations on, the pickle industry here continues to flourish. “It is no more merely a trade, but as sacred as any of the traditional traits of rural Andhra,” adds Balam.

Time-honoured rituals mark the start of pickle-making season each year. As spring arrives, the villagers celebrate by worshipping the village deity - Ankalamma. Irrespective of caste and creed, they then begin making pickles of a wide variety with mango, lime, chili, ginger, tamarind, bitter gourd, aubergine and Indian gooseberry (amla). The mango pickle alone has 22 distinct varieties, the oldest and most popular of which is avakai.

The Konaseema pickle makers have benefitted from the government’s liberal stance in regulating the small scale processing industries that use fruits and vegetables. These units are governed by the Fruit Products Order, 1955 (FPO) under the Essential Commodities Act. No industrial licence is required for these domestic set-ups.

Yet, it isn’t smooth sailing for these pickle makers. Government officials allegedly lose no opportunity to harass these small-scale and traditional traders in connivance with the big corporate players that have permits in the pickle export sector.

The villagers understandably feel somewhat intimidated by any form of intrusion. Take the example of 30-year old Ganga Bhavani Nakka of Ankampalem. The compound in which her two-storey building stands tall turns a bright shade of red everyday as ripe red chilies are littered for drying. By the time her 40 employees turn up in pale polyester sarees, Ganga Bhavani has the chilies ready for grinding into a soft red paste. Business has been good but she is reluctant to share her story with TSI.

A little prodding reveals the reason. “We find it tough to compete with large-scale units like Priya Pickles of the Eenadu group though our pickles are cheaper and of a better quality,” she says.

Narasimha Murthy Garapati of Narkedipalli points out that they do not use any preservatives, essences and chemicals in their condiments.

The pickle makers of the twin villages also face problems of a social nature. The native spirit of accommodation does not allow for a cut-throat hire and fire attitude, but the pickle traders are usually hard-pressed to provide work to all of their employees.

Moreover, girls of the village, when they get married, take away knowhow of the traditional pickle trade to the villages of their husbands. Nearly 150 sons- in-law of the twin villages have over the years taken the cue from their wives and entered the business.

Mounting competition and other operational challenges have only strengthened the resolve of the younger generation in these two vuillages to eschew higher education after basic schooling so that they can help their families carry on the trade that their forefathers began many generations ago. The question, however, is: is this trend a boon or a curse? The villagers aren’t quite sure anymore.

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A piece of Portugal

In a nondescript Bengal village, the ancestry of the population links them to a small band of Portuguese mercenaries who saved the people from bandits in the 17th century, reports Snehangshu Adhikari

Mirpur, in Bengal’s East Midnapore district, is unlike any other village in the state. Many of its residents are of Portuguese descent.

The village has 140 Christian families, 90 of them Catholic, the rest Protestant. So in the two weeks before Christmas, Mirpur bustles with activity.

Preparations are on in full swing to usher in the Yuletide spirit.

The two cathedrals in the village – the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of North India – are being dressed up for December 25.

Residents tell us that Mirpur has another equally important annual festival – the birth anniversary of the Blessed Virgin Mary – on September 8.

Sitting on the steps of the Catholic Church, 13-year-old Bittu Nunez says: “We do celebrate Durga Puja and Kali Puja with our friends, but it is only for December 25 and sometimes for September 8 that we get new clothes.”

The free morning classes have just ended in the church as we enter the village. We find Bittu sitting on the stairs in the company of Simon Nunez (17), Saikat Tesra (10), Jacob Rosario (9) and a few others.

Francis Anthony, 43, arrives with a pot of tea in one hand and a plate of boiled eggs in the other. It’s time for a quick repast.

Francis was Benu Bhagat till August 5, 2005. He says: “It’s really tough to say when and how someone is drawn to Jesus. Eight years ago, my nephew embraced Christianity. He asked me to follow suit and something happened to me – I just offered myself to Lord Jesus. Today, I feel complete and happy.”

The residents of Mirpur do not look any different from the residents of neighbouring villages like the Muslim-dominated Shuklanpur and the Hindu-majority Bethkundu. And they speak the same language. Yet Thomas Tesra (13) and Nuno (52) are proud to grandly refer to themselves as ‘members of the Portuguese community’.

Legend has it that in the 17th century, a handful of Portuguese soldiers had arrived here to fight the borgees (a nomadic tribe of plunderers) and never went back. So, could Bittu, Augustine and Simon actually be descendents of those brave Portuguese warriors?

We ask village elder Anthony Rotha. “Yes, we are Portuguese,” he asserts without batting an eyelid. “But now we are all servants of Lord Jesus.”

His surname, he informs us, is a distortion of the Portuguese family name, Rocha, which literally means ‘rock’.

Both Anthony and his wife are bed-ridden, but he's all too willing to share with us his community’s chequered history. “I know only what my ancestors told me,” he says.
The story, clearly apocryphal, goes thus: many centuries ago, the ferocious borgees used to terrorise the villages in the region. The bandits would arrive on ships in bands of 50 to 100 and ransack the villages.

The people were at their wit’s end. It was either local ruler Queen Janaki or the King of Mahishadal – Anthony isn’t quite sure – who requested the Portuguese government to send some soldiers to fight the Borgees.

Portugal sent 15 men – basically convicts serving life terms – to protect the villages. The local Queen gave the mercenaries 100 bigha (about 35 acres) of land and the weapons that they needed for the fight. Astonishingly, this ragtag army sent the borgees packing.

Having done their job, the Portuguese soldiers unleashed their own reign of terror. They forcibly married local girls and made Mirpur their home.

“I love Lord Christ, so I don’t flinch from speaking the truth,” says Anthony. “I accept that my ancestors did resort to acts of tyranny... That’s a fact.”

As we part, he requests us to go and have a look at the space that he has booked in the nearby cemetery for tombs for himself and his wife. We cannot turn down what is clearly the final request of an infirm, dying man!

At the Roman Catholic Church, we speak to Father Michael Adesar. He tells us that after the Portuguese mercenaries settled down in Mirpur, a bishop followed and spread the faith. Many happily embraced Christianity.

But the prime debate is still alive, hovering around the dual identity of the ‘Portuguese Bengalis’. On one hand, they are known as children of dangerous pirates, and on the other hand, they claim to be a group of freedom fighters and saviours of the society.

However, today, most things have changed. Neither the royal gift of 100 bigha of tax-free land remains, nor does the Portuguese flavour. Anthony, mind you, can still utter a Portuguese word or two, though he does make heavy weather of it.

These days, the Hindus of the village join their Christian brothers to celebrate Christmas. Inter-community marriages are also common and perhaps love is all that matters to most to them anyway!

Previously, Mirpur was exclusively a Christian village. But later on, especially because of this tradition of intermarriage between different communities, the doors are now open for all comers. But the bitter truth is, while the Hindus from the vicinity are allowed to venerate the Christian palli of Mirpur, Muslims don't.

But given the enigmatic and mysterious beginnings of this quaint little Indian village, Mirpur, to this day, remains unique! The bloodline may well trace itself through oral tradition to a group of Portuguese convicts, and yet the soul, Christian or otherwise, remains unmistakably Bengali.

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Earn in UK, save in India

A luxury retirement village of NRI Patels doubles up as tax heaven, writes Manish Macwan

It’s a village unlike any other in India. Spread over an area of roughly five sq km its well-planned roads and prosperous houses speak of luxury and lifestyle no other rural hamlet can boast of. It’s far from any of the big metro cities. Yet, it has more banks than local grocery shops. And more stock brokers than a Delhi or Mumbai urban village can dream of.

In the last few years its population has risen from 15,000 to 25,000 yet the village remains what it is. But there is no shortage of necessary infrastructure and facilities. Everything is organized and in order. Not a single building is more than three stories high. Not a single shop or house is haphazardly constructed. Electricity and water is available round the clock. There is a modern English school and a ground that can accommodate the entire village on special occasions. A health centre and a grand temple. In short, its possible to mistake the place for a developed city block not a village.

Welcome to Madhapar Nava Vaas – situated on Bhujiyo Dungar (Bhujiyo hill) roughly 4 km off the Bhuj-Anjar road – an incomparable document of Leva Patel’s industriousness and economic success. The Leva Patels trace their origin to Saurashtra claiming that they migrated to Kutch some four hundred years ago. In the 1800s the oceanic trade provided opportunities in East Africa. Some of them went there as merchants, others as masons and carpenters or indentured labour to lay railway lines and work on plantations.

With passage of time a sizeable community of Patels settled in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), Somalia, Uganda, Congo and Rwanda. In the 1960s they moved again, taking their businesses to United Kingdom, Arab Emirates and the US.

Many of them kept close contact with their extended families and ancestral villages. Like Madhapar. But it was only in the early 1990s that Leva Patels took more active interest in ancestral land and started settling in what is now known as Madhapar Nava Vyas (lit., New Settlement) on the outskirts of the older village. In many ways it’s a ‘NRI retirement village’ – with 60 per cent of its populace above the age of 50.

There is an old age home here. It’s called ‘Apnu Ghar’ (Our Home) and includes a club. Spread over half-an acre it houses 17 inmates – all Leva Patel NRIs. These are the people that already own houses in the village but left to fend for themselves by children living in other lands, have chosen to live together as a community. Every evening they gather at the Sardar Patel Play Ground – to play games, walk or just swap stories with anyone wishing to listen.

Madhapar Nava Vaas has 17 banks. Nearly all regional, private and national banks have a branch here. Some years back, before the global economic recession hit the Patel businesses, it boasted of the largest amount of cash deposited by a village. In 2005 the banks reported that nearly 2,000 crore had been deposited by the NRIs in its coffers.

It is said that per capital income is not less than 13 lakh per annum. Says Bhavesh Parekh owner of a jewellery shop, “There must be a minimum of Rs 20 lakh per head in the banks.” Banks here face a unique situation while deposits are high there is not much that it lends. Says a manager of a PSU bank, “Last year we received Rs. 77 crore as deposit but we succeeded disbursing only Rs. 5 crore as loan.” It would look as if Patels prefer to put their earnings in Indian banks.

There is not a single day that a deposit is made in one bank or another. It is estimated that around Rs 10-15 crore is deposited as FDs annually by Patels that continue to reside in London, East Africa, Canada or the Middle East. “People are in the habit of saving here,” offers Parekh helpfully.

They spend& some of this money on building facilities in the village. Property prices are high and land not that easy to come by. A realty agent, on condition of anonymity says, “The current rate of land is around Rs. 35,000 per square metre and continues to rise.’’

A former officer with Axis bank, who now runs an electronics retail shop Vijay Rabadiya explains, “The NRIs here are not only prosperous but have a strong spending power. Most of them are interested in branded items.”

There is no shortage of high-end flat-screen TVs, washing machines or refrigerators in this village, since every house has an NRI member.

In 1990 when Joravarsinh Jadeja was elected for the first time for the post of Sarpanch (village head), the Panchayat office was a mud house. Six years down the line, the Panchayat office wears a modern look. It has comfortable AC rooms to sit in and state-of-the-art administrative machinery including computers.

Jadeja served as a supervisor at the Al Naser Arabian company in Oman before shifting back home. He says, “In our village everybody is like me. We have returned to our native land to serve.”

Interestingly, the 2001 earthquake that devastated nearby Bhuj did not affect Madhapur adversely. But the government nonetheless deposited Rs 2,000 crore for reconstruction with the Madhapar Postal Department. “No one has claimed it till date,” says Jadeja.

Could there be a more affluent village in India? We doubt.

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Brahmins of Mattur take on the task of reviving Sanskrit language in a small remote village

But the study of Vedas is reserved for the high caste males only, find Kumar Buradikatti and Smitha Ranganath

A small village of around 200 families has earned fame for reviving an ancient language no one in the modern day urban metros wants to speak. And it's happy about it.

Situated seven kilometres away from district headquarter, Shimoga and 285 kms from state capital, Bangalore, on the bank of river Tunga, Mattur is located in the middle of vast sky-kissing areca nut plantations and green paddy fields stretching as far as the eye can see. As you enter the hamlet, you feel as if you were walking down the streets of an ancient Brahamin Agrahara. On one hand you have a pristine river Tunga flowing. People can be seen taking a dip here and there. On the right side of the riverbank, stands a temple abutted by a yagna platform. The houses in the lanes front Sanskrit mantras painted on its walls. Tiny tots frolic in the green expanse. As you walk through the village you hear children reciting the Vedas It’s confusing. Has one walked into a Ramayana serial on TV??

Villagers shun western attire. A man wearing shirt and trousers is likely to be an outsider to the community. Everyone here wears a dhoti – white cloth around the waist – and a sacred thread slung across upper torso.

Muttur has produced number of scholars, some engaged in spreading and promoting ancient Hindu culture in far away places and some settling down in the village to teach the younger generation. The president of Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Padmashree Dr. Mattur Krishnamurhty hails from this village.

It all started when Samskruta Bharathi, an organization committed to promotion of Sanskrit, organized a 10-day workshop in Mattur to teach the language to villagers. Twenty-five years of hard work has started to yield results, Sanskrit today is the preferred language of most households here.

Muttur’s scholars practice the gurukul system with many teachers instructing a set of students at their own house.

Children from far and near come and stay with their guru till they complete their study. During their stay they are treated as members of the family and have to do the daily chores – washing clothes, fetching water or taking cattle for grazing in the fields. The gurus neither charge anything nor do they accept anything in return. “Western education system is expanding the horizon of job opportunities and English medium schools are mushrooming even in remote villages to cater to the people’s demands. If a parent resists the attraction of western education and allied benefits and agrees to send their children to a gurukul, it is a big thing. How can I expect anything more than this?” asks Dr. MS Sanath Kumar, one of the Sanskrit scholars in the village.

Dr Kumar has a PHD in Ancient Hindu Law and has a very good command over Hindu religious literature including the Vedas. At present four children from different villages are studying at his home. He has given them a separate room in his house. His wife, Savitri prepares food for all. The children take holy dip in Tunga early in the morning before setting off for day’s activities.

All the families in the village depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Some own two acres, others 20. Most grow areca nut and rice, both of which bring a good price in the market. Brahmins here don’t toil on their plantations preferring to engage the shudras from the neighbouring village to do it on wage basis. “We are able to concentrate on studying and teaching younger generation since we are free from physical labour,” says Dr. Sanath Kumar.

A visit to the only Veda Pathashaala meant exclusively for study of Vedas reveals 10 students studying at the school. Inside we find a reading room that has Vedic scriptures stacked one atop another. When asked whether or not women and the people of other communities are allowed to study the Vedas at the Pathashaala, Ranganath a student promptly replies, “Vedas are not meant for women and shudras. Of course, women can learn music.” Ranganath has been studying the Vedas here for six years now.

Dr. Sanath Kumar, one of the teachers at the school, appears to hold the same view, “Learning Sanskrit and studying Vedas are two different things. While the former is open to all, the latter is restricted to some.”

In the government run Sharada Vilaasa High School situated in the middle of the village, Sanskrit is a compulsory language till VII class and it is first language from VII to X standard.

Globalisation, however, has not left Mattur untouched. There are those that want English education for their children. Fortunately, it’s not at the cost of Sanskrit. The facts speak for themselves. Over the last five years the village has contributed some 150 odd students to the IITs and IIMs. 

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Kodinji Kerala: More than twin trouble

Kodinji, in Malappuram district of Kerala, has more than 270 pairs of twins in a radius of one kilometre, a fact that has become a source of irritation for many of its residents, discovers Kavalam Sasikumar

For geneticists, it is a matter of research, for laymen a matter of intrigue, for the media a source of stories, but the presence of an abnormally large number of twins in Kodinji has turned into a menace for the people of this otherwise sleepy village.

A tranquil oasis of green, Kodinji attracts tourists in hordes, many of them foreigners, eager to spot its many twins, 270 in a population of 13,000 as per official records.

While the national average of twins in India is only 8 per 1,000, in Kodinji it is almost four times the average. The reason though is yet to be pinpointed as no agency has conducted an official or biological study.

One Dr Sribiju, who conducted a study of the phenomenon twins in his personal capacity, notes, “Genetics is certainly one reason, but the environment is just as important. Though the majority of the population here is Muslim, the twinning effect is evident among the Hindus as well. Five families here have triplets and half of the twins in the village are females.”

In the Kodinji angadi (market), people easily list many twins but if you happen to ask them for help to organise a photograph, you will invariably be told to cough up Rs 1,000 for each pair of twins.

Since 2002, when the Kodinji twins first came to the notice of the world, national and international publications and news channels have been coming to the village regularly to record their story. Just a week before we went to Kodinji, a television crew from Japan had been there to film a documentary. Acting, shooting and posing have thus become an everyday and boring affair for Kodinji’s residents.

This is especially disturbing when demands for photographs are made during school hours. The PTAs (Parent Teachers’ Association) of the three schools in this village have decided in unison not to allow shooting or photography without the consent of the PTAs and a payment of a donation to the school fund.

Some villagers have taken it upon themselves to guide the visitors. There are allegations that these people are paid by the media. One story goes that the Japanese team paid as much as Rs 2.5 lakh to the students who cooperated with the filming.

A local student, Jabir, sees absolutely nothing wrong in this exchange of money. “If the twins get some money, it can be used for their long-term welfare provided the money does not go into the wrong hands,” he explains.

In 2008, an association named ‘Twins and Kins’ was formed to ensure that no one took undue advantage of the twins by secretly conducting a study on them. The association also organises health camps for the twins.

It was examination time when TSI was in Kodinji to probe the phenomenon and the school authorities were understandably reluctant to disturb the students for a group photo. Hence we could get together just three pairs of twins to pose for us - Jabuba and Jubana from Class 3, two-year-old Afra and Afna and six-month-old Afrah and Ansah.

Many Kodinji families have members in the Gulf. But not everyone here is well off. Yousef, father of Afna and Afra, is an autorickshaw driver who barely manages to make ends meet for himself and his family. He says, “The media makes money from our story. If only we could get a share of what they make, we could have a much better life.”

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Social networking sites: political implications

To allow or not to allow?

Iran suffered, Egypt is crumbling, China is shivering due to...

President Obama and his wife Michelle maintain a set of strict rules for their children – no computers, phones or television during the week. And yes, Sasha and Malia are also encouraged to avoid social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter... After all, the most powerful man in the world evidently knows the extent of power, sensitivity and panic that these social networking sites can generate – especially with respect to his political stances. But then, Obama is an old hand, being the first US Presidential candidate to have a dedicated Internet task force for mobilising voter support through the net.

But then, the questions are: one, are social networking sites really all that powerful? And two, how should countries manage them? Indubitably, from simply being mediums to be in touch with friends, to getting evolved as a platform to raise voice, attract followers and supporters to organise protests, social networking sites have attained a never before seen political face across continents. The recency effect of this cannot be ignored. The political power of these sites was recently evidenced in 2009, when over 200 Americans organised a protest through Facebook against British Petroleum.

Mir-Hossein Moussavi, the 2009 Iranian Presidential candidate, used the net to great effect, not only during the 2009 Presidential election campaigns but also after the election results were out. This in turn added western support (clearly misplaced, we rush to add, given Ahmedinejad's mass following) to his candidature. Tunisians used social networking to organise a march for overthrowing the autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. People in Egypt are following the same path now to overthrow the pro-America pro-Israel Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. So too in Yemen, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. And if there was any further doubt left, the only reason for WikiLeaks becoming a global powerhouse is because of how their tell-all documents are easily accessible to any person across the world.

Governments – both legitimate and otherwise – are very, very worried. YouTube is banned in China, Iran, Pakistan, Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia and Morocco. Google is banned in China and Cuba. Facebook is banned in Iran, UAE, Syria, China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Wikipedia is banned in China, Pakistan and Iran. What more; you cannot search for the term 'Egypt' in China. To added effect, accessing WikiLeaks is banned in all US government offices.

So should governments be allowed to control these social networking sites? While the pro-choice argument says that freedom of information should never be curbed, a report by Simon Wiesenthal Center reveals that there has been "a 20 per cent increase in the number of hate and terrorist-abetting web sites... over the last year." Even FBI and the Counterterrorism Internet Targeting Unit have expressed similar concerns. And one hasn't even started talking about demented paedophiles using these sites.

Thus, governments should necessarily control the use of networking sites, yet a grave line has to be drawn when the same is done for protecting one's political agenda. But who defines where the line is drawn? That's where the twain shall ne'er meet. Well, so much for our deep thought; it's not going to make much of a difference to paranoid governments, is it?

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Bankruptcy law indian version: BIFR-what's the full form?

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India is among those few countries that still lack clear bankruptcy laws. Unlike the West, India neither has any Chapter 11 nor does it have any similar provisions under which a corporation can file for bankruptcy. Yes, the government does takeover 'sick' private companies through the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (in conjunction with the Sick Industrial Companies Act, 1985). But the BIFR takeover is more like a death warrant and a Saturday "everything must go" shed sale than a hope for a restructured existence. And BIFR is purely to blame for such a pathetic situation.

Not only has BIFR failed in its duties to educate entrepreneurs and corporations about the various facilities it can offer, but it also has ensured that given its literally 'sickening' record of destroying companies taken over, not many loss making firms eventually even wish to apply to the BIFR for assistance. Worse, even for those companies that by hook, crook or palm greasing methods, get financial assistance from BIFR, the management of these sick companies is almost never taken to task.

Technically, any company that is five years old, has a factory license, 50 workers and where the accumulated loss is equal to or over its net worth can file for being classified a 'sick company' under BIFR. Today, BIFR has more than 5,500 companies registered as sick companies and has added 64 more companies in 2009 alone. Shamefully, BIFR itself does not have an updated list of 2010 cases on its website. A brief glance through even the till-2009 list of these companies will be enough to gauge that most of them are running in losses not because of skewed economic condition, but because of management indiscretions. Ironically, while pending loans and taxes are waived off and financial support provided through the tax payers' money, very rarely have the management of these so called 'sick' firms been pulled up. In most of the cases, the owners and promoters of these self-declared sick companies get away scot-free and are not even required to pay token penalty for mismanagement.

Without question, BIFR needs to re-craft their procedures. For instance, the owners seeking BIFR shelter to ward-off creditors and get their taxes waived-off must be taken through a due-diligence process through CAG-like agencies that absolves them of any wrongdoing. Additionally, along with BIFR laws, India needs its own version of Chapter 11, especially to give creditors a way to recover their dues and check any unnecessary and unwarranted filing.

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‘Sports bodies need A thorough overhaul’

The new Union minister for sports and youth affairs Ajay Maken means business. No sooner had he taken charge of the protfolio than he made it known that he was deadly serious about cleaning up the mess left behind by a corruption-ridden Commonwealth Games while being fully focussed on building on the gains that accrued from the event. In this exclusive interview to Syed Khurram Raza, the minister spells out his vision.

How do you find your new role?

It’s very challenging. This the first time that I have independent charge. Now I can enforce my vision. The sports and youth affairs department is crucial. India is a young country. Forty per cent of its population is in the 14 to 35 age group, with the average age being 27. We probably have the largest sports-loving population in the world. Therein lies the challenge: fulfilling the aspirations of such a large number of sports lovers and harnessing the nation’s youth force.

After CWG, we are apparently now a sporting nation. Expectations have increased.Have you drawn any road map?

Even when the reasons were negative, CWG brought sports to the forefront of public discourse. This is a huge opportunity. The infrastructure created for the Games can be tapped by sports persons. We have to convert this euphoria into creating a pool of good athletes. We have to train future champions and ensure that the benefits reach various regions of the country.

India is a cricketing nation. Other sports face neglect. How can this issue be addressed?

You can call India a cricketing nation today. But it was different 30 years ago. We had many other sports. As a student, I used to follow hockey, football and other sports. It was perhaps only after we won the World Cup that cricket took centrestage. Now we are champions in other disciplines too: shooting, wrestling, boxing, archery, badminton, tennis and football. The biggest potential that our country has in any single sport is in football. So I feel it is wrong to say our country is just a cricket-loving nation and that no other sport can thrive here.

Funds play an important role but sponsors are not coming forward to support other sports.

Sponsors will come forward only when they are confident that the money they are spending through sports federations will be spent well and not go into someone’s pocket. I think the challenge lies in reforming the federations. In BCCI, the tenure limit is three years. This isn’t the case in other sports federations. We have to understand why some federations have been able to deliver the goods while others have failed.

How can you end the practice of various federations’office-bearers clinging on to their posts for decades?

We have set up a National Sports Development Board. We need strong legislation. I’ve asked the department to prepare a draft legislation which we will put on our website by February 20 and seek public opinion. What I have said is that the International Olympic Association, in its own charter, talks about tenure and age limits. We should be very particular in this regard. We should adopt good legislative practices from other countries. The US has a law that grants athletes 20 per cent of the voting rights in a sports federation. Why can’t that be done in our country? Sexual harassment and anti-doping laws are also issues that need to be legislated upon. There are age frauds as well. Coaches reduce the age of their wards by four or five years and they let them participate in National Games and National School Games. So we also want to have an in-built age fraud deduction mechanism.

Payments for some foreign vendors of CWG are still pending. What is the position now?

Immediately after taking charge I asked the CWG Organising Committee to scrutinise the bills and release the payments within ten days. Of the 45 foreign vendors, 36 were paid Rs 114.84 crore by January 31. Part payments of the remaining nine vendors have been withheld because of non-performance. Around Rs 191 crore have been paid to these nine vendors and only a sum of Rs 17 crore has been withheld.

You have another important ministry, youth affairs. What is the vision that you have for Indian youth?

It is an important ministry. Unfortunately, schemes for the youth have not been implemented. We have the National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuvak Kendra Sanghatan (NYKS) and National Youth Corps. NSS has 37 lakh members all across the country. In NYKS we have 1.25 lakh clubs in 501 districts and very soon we are going to have 20,000 volunteers in National Youth Corps. We give them a stipend of Rs 2500 per month for the period of two years. We have deep penetration among the youth but we are unable to utilise them for various youth-related schemes. We have elaborate plans in place to develop sporting ability and other skills among the youth.

Congress fought the last election on the aam aadmi plank but now the common man is badly affected by high prices and corruption. It appears that the government has failed to address the issues of the aam aadmi.

Well, we have good and bad people in all set-ups. The challenge lies in taking strict and immediate action against all forms of corruption. No party can claim it is devoid of corrupt people. No one, whether in politics, bureaucracy, industry, judiciary and even the media, can claim that they are clean. So what is the way forward? The way forward is that as soon as any case of corruption is detected, instant action must be taken.