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.

Ex-telecom minister Sukh Ram speaks to Pramod Kumar in an interview

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“The money recovered was not mine”

Ex-telecom minister Sukh Ram speaks to Pramod Kumar in an interview

It's generally held that politicians cling on to politics till their last breath. Ghani Khan Choudhury is an apt example. But you seemed to have called it a day long ago...

I have had an active career as a politician for 45 years and wanted to continue. But I was fed up with the accusations. If I had not been maligned, I could have worked as a communication minister for a few more years and would have taken telecommunications in this country to newer heights.

The accusations such as giving undue benefits to Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited as well as favouritism in allocating circles are still going on...

I was let down by petty politics. There were people inside the party who ambushed me. The Parliament was standstill for 13 days. However, after intervention of the Supreme Court, I got reprieve. I am positive that the Supreme Court will surely deliver justice to me. It is long deserved.

But CBI did recover 'unaccounted for' money from your houses in Delhi and Mandi...

The money CBI recovered was not mine. Since the matter is subjudice, I can not make further comments. The party had asked me to rent out a few rooms at my houses in Delhi and Mandi for their use. I was going to UK for my wife's treatment. I gave them permission to use the rooms. I had no idea what those rooms were used for. I am paying the price for that for the last 14 years.

People find similarities between you and Raja vis-a-vis 2G spectrum issue...

This is not done. This is uncalled for. I brought the information revolution to this country. I brought Internet and cellular services. I made the first mobile call to Jyoti Basu and today the common man is reaping the benefit. I introduced a few policy changes. I started the process of awarding the bid to the lowest bidder. Prior to that, contracts used to be split between all the bidders. Because of the change in policy, I managed to fill the coffer of this country with Rs 2200 crore in one year. Raja, on the other hand, has siphoned off money.

How do you feel when you see the party you belonged to reeling under the accusation of corruption. Even the PMO has come into the line of fire...

When I was the minister of state for planning and implementation, Manmohan Singh was deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. We have worked very closely for a couple of years. I am of the opinion that he is an honest man with a progressive vision. It is expected that the Opposition will level charges. He has been a successful Prime Minister. The accusations about him are baseless. If a particular minister is corrupt, the onus lies on that minister.

You are praising Manmohan Singh while his government has been unable to contain rising prices...

In the recently held AICC meeting, the core issue was corruption. I was a bit bewildered. I would have expected price rise to be the core issue. I get surprised and pained in equal measures when I hear ministers saying that they don't have the magic wand to contain the prices. How can somebody give such a reckless and irresponsible statement? When I was in charge of the ministry of agriculture and public distribution, I successfully managed to distribute grains to all the states even though the country was reeling under drought. I was praised for this at an international conference too. But I don't see ministers concerned doing so today. That is why the Prime Minister had to intervene.

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Growth of corruption in the telecom sector

Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM

Sukh ram, pramod mahajan, arun shourie, dayanidhi maran, a. Raja... growth of corruption in the telecom sector has certainly kept pace with the fast growing subscriber base, feels Sutanu Guru. none of the corporate entities nor a single minister has been made to pay till now, he further points out

The more things change, the more they remain the same. I still remember the spring of 1996 when the name Raja had more traditional connotations. The cricket World Cup was on in the Indian sub-continent and fans were praying for Sachin Tendulkar to work his magic so that India could lift the Cup. The Central government - riddled, assaulted and besieged by scams and scandals - was paralysed and as lame duck as a duck can be lame. And of course, even as cricket fever was hotting up, Indian citizens were both horrified and titillated by a strange piece of news. Sukh Ram, who had presided over the first auction of mobile telephony services in India in 1995 as Union telecom minister till he was "reshuffled", was arrested for a 'telecom' scam. Forget the names of the other players involved; they really don't matter anymore. But guess what, the estimated loss to the exchequer was about Rs 1.7 crore. Yes, the money lost by the government was a paltry Rs 1.7 crore!

But you must remember, Sachin Tendulkar was then earning a pittance for endorsements compared to the upwards of Rs 100 crore he makes nowadays. And of course, like in 1996, India still adores its favourite cricketer as the nation hopes he will win the Cup for India. And yes, the cricket World Cup is back in the sub-continent. It is also spring and the season for the flowers to bloom. Of course, like 15 years back in 1996, it is also the season for scams and scandals to bloom in such a manner that the Central government appears more paralysed than a lame duck. The more things change, the more they remain the same. The only difference is what you and I can call the impact of 'inflation' while measuring the magnitude of the scams. In 1996, it was alleged that Sukh Ram was responsible for the State losing Rs 1.7 crore in revenue. In 2011, the CAG estimates that another former telecom minister A. Raja is probably responsible for the State to lose Rs 1.7 lakh crore — ten thousand times more than the loss in 1996. In a perverse way, you could use that to applaud the manner in which the Indian economy has grown in this era of crony capitalism masqeurading as liberal economic policies with a special emphasis on the aam aadmi.

In 1996, Sukh Ram was accused of changing rules and goalposts to favour companies close to him. In the 1995 auction of mobile phone services, a then unknown entity called Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (Sukh Ram belongs to Himachal Pradesh) had shocked India Inc. by bidding huge amounts for telecom circles. When it became clear that the company could not pay the license fee and stood to forfeit its bank guarantee, Sukh Ram allegedly changed policy in a way that a company could get only three circles. Himachal Futuristic is still a player in the business. It shot back into limelight last year when a group company Infotel successfully bid for 22 circles for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). Intriguingly, Infotel sold its majority stake soon after to a company controlled by Mukesh Ambani. Of course, you are quite familiar with how Raja bent, broke and changed rules to suit the interests of corporate houses he favoured. But did you happen to know that his predecessor and another DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran (whose brother controls the Sun Network) handed out 27 licences during his tenure and that 14 of them went to Aircel? Didn't I say that the more things change, the more they remain the same?

Let us take the Sukh Ram - A.Raja comparison a bit further. Sukh Ram was arrested in February, 1996, and eventually convicted in 2009. He is out on bail as his appeal is pending in the Delhi High Court. He still vociferously defends his controversial track record (See Exclusive Interview). A. Raja too has been arrested recently. The question is that will another journalist interview Raja 15 years hence in 2026 while he enjoys bail and vociferously defends his controversial track record? The way our Indian 'demonocracy' (an apt term coined by my editor-in-chief) is, don't be surprised if that scenario actually turns out to be true.

I won't bore you with the gory details of the 2G scam and the unending brouhaha that goes on around it. It is enough to realise that Indian democracy is in urgent and dire need of serious efforts and reform. My colleague interviewed N. Vittal - who was telecom secretary when Sukh Ram was telecom minister - in his modest apartment in Chennai (See Exclusive Interview). The 73-year-old Vittal, who created history as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner by posting the names of bureaucrats accused of corruption on the official CVC Website, is clinical as usual when he assesses the state of the State: "I had multiple problems in my body a few years back. Many experts coordinated their diagnosis and treatments for my recovery. India as a body politic now suffers a multiple organ failure of governance. 2G represents this."

There are a few things about the telecom scam you should know which have been sidelined in the run-up to the arrest of A. Raja, the voyeuristic tattles resonating in the media thanks to the leak of the Radia tapes and the persistent threats of Opposition parties to paralyse working of Parliament if their demand for a JPC is not met. Most interesting is the manner in which the BJP is acting holier than thou. Since public memory is short, let me remind you of a few interesting things that happened to the telecom sector when the BJP-led NDA alliance was in power at the Centre. Jagmohan was the telecom minister and even as he was being eased out from the ministry, the government changed the licence fee regime to a new revenue sharing regime in 1999. This was a highly controversial move then though there are many who still agree that freeing the mobile operators from the burden of paying huge licence fees every year to the government enabled them to lower tarriffs and trigger the real telecom revolution. That may be so. But when the late Pramod Mahajan was the telecom minister, Reliance made a blatant back door entry into the telecom sector in a manner everybody acknowledges was unethical and almost certainly illegal. Essentially, Reliance launched de facto mobile phone services across India without paying a single Paisa as licence fee even as other operators like Bharti, Hutch, BPL and others had paid thousands of crores as licence fees. This 'free' backdoor entry enabled Reliance to launch that famous campaign that promised a mobile call at 40 Paisa per minute. Pramod Mahajan was replaced by the so-called incorruptible Arun Shourie as telecom minister. In his tenure, Reliance was not penalised for its sins. It was just asked to pay a licence fee and continue operating as if nothing had happened. Basically, whether it is the Congress or the BJP, you could say that each had its own set of favourites and each bent and broke rules whenever convenient.

Another interesting thing about the fascinating telecom sector is the manner in which established business houses have clawed back into the game after losing out completely in the early years of mobile telephony in India. For a few years after mobile services were launched in India, the big players were BPL, Bharti, Max, Usha and a few others. The Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis were not considered serious players. But look at the secenario now. Barring Vodafone (which is a multinational and which has allegedly defrauded the Indian exchequer to the tune of $2 billion in unpaid taxes) and Sunil Mittal of Bharti, the big boys of Indian telecom are Ratan Tata, Kumarmangalam Birla and Anil Ambani (with Mukesh Ambani expected to join that big league soon with a broadband wireless access network). So, in a way, the Empire of India Inc. is striking back as seen in the case of the telecom sector. Analysts used to say that liberal economic policies led to a blossoming of entrepreneurs who had no chance in the earler era of licence permit raj. Sadly, discretionary and arbitrary decisions by minister after minister holding portfolio after portfolio seem to be getting worse forms of the license permit raj back into the picture.

The last thing I would like to highlight in this sleazy saga is a lament that will soon be forgotten. There is little doubt that Indian telecom has been a success story. From zero in 1995 to 700 million subscribers in 2011 is no mean achievement. But even as this sector blossomed, the two state-owned entities of MTNL and BSNL seem to be in terminal decline. They are taking suicidal decisions that are inexplicable and meant only to benefit private sector players.

And of course, as mentioned earlier, the telecom sector and the 2G scam is just an example and a manifestation. Similar examples abound in virtually every sector in India. In the coming weeks, watch out for a TSI story on how crony capitalism ensured that private airlines benefitted immensely even as the state-owned Air India - like BSNL and MTNL - followed a suicidal path towards destruction and bankruptcy. And do remember that like telecom, aviation is also considered a success story in India!

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The Bollywood Report Card

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Ever wondered how our tinsel town stars fared at the acting school? Anu Gulmohar caught up with Kishore Namit Kapoor, a little after his visit to Delhi to launch a franchise of Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting (Lab) Institute, and brought back anecdotes galore of stars who look up to him...

Who’s Kishore Namit Kapoor?

Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Imran Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Perizaad Zorabian, Mahima Choudhary are all better equipped to introduce Kishore Namit Kapoor, as he is the craftsman who helped chisel their talent, and is in part responsible for the stellar performances they have delivered on the silver screen. You might remember seeing him in films like Kranti, Ashanti and Sarfarosh. “In those days art cinema was in vogue, so I was doing a lot of art films. Along with this, for my survival, I started to teach. And that’s when I realised that I’m a better teacher than actor!” he revealed to me. This Post Graduate from Films and Television Institute of India has a rare combination of skills, as he is also a Post Graduate in philosophy. As thoughts of method acting crept into my mind, I asked him if his studies in pilosophy had enabled him to be a better actor, and was surprised by his reply. “I was asked this question by Yash Chopra during an audition. He’d said, ‘You’re a student of philosophy and a Post Graduate and now you want to be an actor?’ I’d replied to him, ‘Shouldn’t actors be educated? After all, you do have to study your characters. And because of philosophy, I can understand my characters very well, for one of the branches of philosophy is psychology, and I did three papers in that subject. Earlier, actors were only judged by their personalities, but today, we have to portray the personality of the character, so we have to understand the psychology of the character. It gave me an edge over others and helped me a great deal.”

Kapoor personally trains every student who comes to him. While he teaches acting, he allows other teachers to coach students in areas like dance, action, language etc. I asked him if everybody can learn to act, after all, the glamour and money associated with the film business does call out to most of us! “Nobody can learn to act!” he dashed my hopes in a second, and continued, “Unless you have the commitment, integrity and passion. And the crucial part is if you have the talent. Only if the seed is there can a tree grow out of it, or only if there is a diamond can it be polished,” he reasons.

The star students

Plenty of star kids have trained with him. I wonder how many starry tantrums he would have had to put up with. “You would be shocked, for on the contrary, because they are born and brought up in the industry they know that glamour is a by-product, and it involves a lot of hard work. Because they have grown up in this environment, they are very humble. They know that they have to learn acting and are very focussed, and very disciplined. On the contrary, I witnessed a lot of attitude in Ranveer (Singh), which is surprising!” A little further into the interview, he did let me in to some rare insight on the young Saif Ali Khan. “Saif in the beginning was very careless and irresponsible. It’s only because he was from the industry that he sustained, otherwise he would have been out. He was so ‘Chhote Nawab’, and initially I had given up on him. I could not work with Saif because he would not come. And when he did come, he would say ‘sir, you’re like a hypno-therapist, and I want to relax for a bit!’ So, he would go up and sleep for six hours straight, because he would have spent the previous night in the disco.”

The so-far undisputed all-time topper of Kishore Namit Kapoor’s class is Hrithik Roshan. Throughout the conversation, Kapoor would keep coming back to Hrithik. Speaking about Ranveer’s attitude he digressed, “I feel you should always be humble. Hrithik especially is very humble.” The exceptionally talented actor and dancer is also the one in whom he has observed the maximum improvement from when he first stepped into his institute. “I would say Hrithik because he was really lanky, he was not muscular, he used to stammer, he had two left feet, he had a back problem and was so self conscious. He is still growing. In Guzaarish, I think he has given one of the best performances ever. He studied this character so much. They’ve given the award for My Name is Khan – Shahrukh is a friend, he’s taken workshops in my classes – but it’s not an absolute character, to believe the kind of character he played to be so well-kept, I can’t understand that,” he trails off, leaving me to conclude the obvious – that in his opinion Hrithik had given the best performance of the year. When I asked him about his all-time favourite student, Hrithik had to finally share the praise with other actors. “Hrithik, Sonali Bendre, Perizaad Zorabian, Mahima Choudhary are among my favourites. They’re intelligent and focussed people. They know their mind. They’re

talented and passionate,” he opined.

Hrithik’s success didn’t surprise him though, whereas the band baaja for Ranveer Singh has taken him off-guard. “Success usually doesn’t happen in the industry for people without a godfather or family in films. I kept telling him to keep pursuing films. He is very capable and has won all the awards. This was his very first film. It’s a very pleasant surprise.” Vivek on the other hand, is the actor he laments hasn’t received his due from critics and audiences yet. “There’s a lot of internal politics in the industry. Vivek is a tremendous actor. I don’t know why he is not working.” Perizaad Zorabian is another actor whom he feels is underrated. “She is tremendous,”

he insists.

First impressions

With the hope of making cinema’s superstars more real and human to the public bedazzled by the razzle-dazzle of films, I couldn’t help but egg Kapoor on to reveal how the stars were when they took lessons in acting from him, beginning with Priyanka Chopra. “Priyanka was overconfident, always. She also does not acknowledge people. I don’t bother, for teachers don’t work for acknowledgement, but to also not acknowledge your secretary… She had an attitude from the very beginning.” Clearly, the lady wasn’t this teacher’s pet! Kareena Kapoor fares better in his books. “Kareena used to perform so well that I thought nobody could be more spontaneous than her. Kareena is very sharp. Today, she has confidence,” said Kapoor. This acting teacher has not many glowing words for Aamir Khan’s nephew Imran though. “If he didn’t have Aamir’s support, I think he would have had to struggle for a long, long time. He is not a great actor. For lead, I think Ranbir is a better actor. Imran’s good for romantic roles but he can’t handle other roles. Though he attended all the classes… I think it’s not the right age for him yet…”

Life lessons

“Act as though you are living your life, and live as though you are acting!” is the mantra Kishore Namit Kapoor shares with us. This student of philosophy went on to divulge to us his personal take on the ups and downs in the industry. “Actors are not responsible for flop films. Flops should not bother anybody. Pick up any actor’s record, see Amitabh Bachchan or Dilip Kumar. They saw such terrible periods in their careers. The difference is that these people bounce back. In fact, we show our students a film called The Peaceful Warrior, and everybody must see it. One has to keep moving and be in the present. Whatever happens, happens. No compromises on your work. Love what you do, and do what you love and leave the rest to God,” signs off Kishore Namit Kapoor.

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Subhash k jha reflects on the filmmakers who have captured the mumbai of their times in its many moods and hues on the silver screen

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One of the many remarkable things about Aamir Khan’s wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut in Dhobi Ghat is the way it uses the city of Mumbai as a central character. So evocative and palpable are the sights, sounds and smells of the city that filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who had moved out of Mumbai because of its noise and competitiveness, has actually moved back into the city.

Says Hansal, “I think Bombay is a city with a multiplicity of complex layers. Class, wealth, poverty, dreams, aspirations, heartbreak, failure, love, hate, crime, politics, division, unity and diversity all exist while seamlessly crossing paths and merging into one another. There are many characters and stories waiting to be told. For me, Bombay is one of the world’s most flawed yet interesting central characters. All my good films have dealt with Bombay... One of my favourite Bombay films is Muzaffar Ali's Gaman... And now Kiran Rao's Dhobi Ghat.”

Mumbai…the hub of dreams, the fulcrum of ambitions. It has been the focus of attention in movies of all hues. In the 1950s, Johnny Walker immortalised the city with the song Ae dil hai mushkil jeena yahan zara hat ke zara bach ke yeh hai Bombay meri jaan in Raj Khosla’s CID. Nearly 50 years later, when the topography and terror quotient, not to mention the city’s name itself, had changed beyond recognition, Nishikant Kamat titled his film on the unnerving aftermath of the 2006 train blasts as Mumbai Meri Jaan. Kamat, like Ram Gopal Varma before him, has located his films in the heart of Mumbai. Kamat’s Marathi film Dombivli Fast was planted entirely in the local trains of Mumbai. Said Kamat, “I’ve been a part of Mumbai’s cosmopolitanism since childhood. I understand the cultural contradictions and dynamics that infuse Mumbai with its furious flavour and energy. I couldn’t think of starting my career as a filmmaker outside my comfort zone.”

Neil Nitin Mukesh, who shot Pradeep Sarkar’s Lafangey Parindey on the streets of Mumbai, says the film gave him a chance to rediscover his city. “Since I live in South Mumbai, I’m mostly cut off from the rest of Mumbai. We shot Lafangey Parindey in the most crowded areas of Mumbai, often post-midnight. It gave me a chance to discover the city like never before, and it was fun.”

Neil sounds like a character out of the late L.A Abbas’s Bambai Raat Ki Bahon Mein, the city-adventure saga featuring Persis Khambatta. The film was one of the earliest attempts to explore the night-life in Mumbai.

Aamir Khan says being in Bandra he had never been to Muhammad Ali Road and Chowpatty before he shot there for his wife’s film. Mumbai does that to you. It creates several cities within the city. It’s up to the movies to project a microcosmic view of Mumbai. To get the city’s inner workings on celluloid, filmmakers often spend time in areas that are alien to them. Sudhir Mishra actually took Shabana Azmi and Om Puri to the slums of Dharavi for a film of that name. They stayed in the slums, got to know the locals first-hand, just like Danny Boyle and crew did many decades later for Slumdog Millionaire and Chandan Arora did for Striker, which was shot in the slums of

Malvani.

No wonder Sudhir proudly says, “My Dharavi was a precursor to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.”

Now, Sudhir shoots his films outside Mumbai, mostly in Delhi. The capital has lately become a popular venue for Bollywood locations. Habib Faisal, who wrote 2010’s hit rom-com Band Baaja Baraat and directed the critically-acclaimed Do Dooni Chaar, both located in the heart of Delhi, feels the influx of Delhi-based films is a sign of the expansion of the entertainment industry beyond the ‘concept’ of Bollywood. “I understand the rhythms language and flavour of Delhi. But tomorrow if I get a chance to make a Mumbai-based film like Shaad Ali’s Saathiya, I won’t hesitate.”

In the 1970s, the breezy comedies of Basu Chatterjee like Rajnigandha and Choti si Baat were shot on the streets and in the trains and buses of Mumbai. This was then known as romancing the middle class. Years later, Ram Gopal Varma shot the gritty and real Satya on the blood-soaked streets of Mumbai. By then Mumbai had become a sinister and dangerous place, as far as our filmmakers are concerned.

Sanjay Gupta, who produced the edgy real-time real-life Mumbai thriller Shootout At Lokhandwala says he likes the way ‘Bombay’ was portrayed before it became ‘Mumbai’.

Says Gupta, “To me, the ultimate portrayal of the city was in Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. In recent times, I like Nishikant Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan. I think these films have touched and showcased just the tip of the iceberg. Mumbai has so much to give. I am waiting for the film on Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City.”

While Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle is all set to adapt Suketu Mehta’s novel Maximum City to the screen, Paul Schrader will film X-Treme City for producer Anubhav Sinha. There are striking similarities in the two projects. Both are stinging takes on present-day Mumbai, its splendour and stench as seen in the same line of vision. The directors Danny Boyle and Paul Schrader have already visited Mumbai several times and also met Aamir and Shah Rukh, who have reportedly agreed to be part of the respective films.

Irrfan Kamal, whose Thanks, Maa captured the poignant odyssey of a little boy through the city looking for an infant’s mother, feels Mumbai is invariably the city of dreams. “Everyone comes to the city with dreams in their eyes. I genuinely feel there’s always so much more of Mumbai to put on screen. As a filmmaker I can never get enough of Mumbai. Or give enough back to the city.”

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Thousands of Oriyas engaged in Surat's textile industry return home as strikes and closures take toll on the poorly paid workers

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Pratap Sahu of Bhetamingi village under the Shergarh block of Ganjam district in Orissa left for the textile city of Surat in Gujarat in search of work. It was three years back. Though just a matriculate, he landed a job within a few days. Little did he know what was in store.

Life in the slums of Surat is tough for the workers from Orissa. The exploitative nature of the power loom owners and the extreme hard labour involving 12 hours of non-stop work in standing position take their toll. In some cases, workers hi-re rooms just to sleep for a couple of hou-rs. The unhygienic surroundings of the cupboard-like rooms make life worse.

Despite the hardship, people stuck it out. Income was handsome as per the standards of rural Orissa. The worker's family, back home, did not have to worry about feeding its members.

But it seems human endurance and desperation has seen its limits. Pratap Sahu, along with other young co-workers, disembarked at the Berhampur railway station on January 31, never to go back again. Many looms have been shut down since January 18 due to labour unrest. “We no more feel safe in Surat. Mill owners and local workers are hostile. The situation has become more tense following the killing of a worker from Mangalpur village in Ganjam,” he told TSI.

Pratap’s is not an isolated case. Thousands of young workers are coming back to their native villages. The following trains, Ahmedabad-Puri express and Okha-Puri express, bring majority of the migrant workers back to their native land. Thousands of youths with their bedding and luggage including trunks, typical of workers from Surat, are arriving at the Berhampur station every day.

A Berhampur station official told TSI that around 3,000 people arrived every day. Since the mass returns started from January 18 onwards, one can safely put the total number of the returnees at over 50,000. The number keeps growing with every passing day.

There is relief written on their faces. After all, they are back among their own in the land of their own. But there is an unmistakable layer of anxiety too, possibly in anticipation of an uncertain future for themselves and family members.

“Presently, the mill owners pay us just 85 Paise for every metre of cloth work. We demanded an increase of 15 Paise. The owners did not agree to our demand and closed the mills,” said Niranjan swain, another migrant who was returning back to his village of Bhetasinghi. More than two hundred of his fellow villagers had migrated to Surat, TSI learnt.

Workers went on strike from the middle of January. Work at more than 25,000 units was stopped. At a few units, workers demanded a 20 Paisa per metre hike. Some workers called off the strike on January 21 after a meeting with textile mill owners. But even after that, many have not returned to work. According to an industry estimate, Surat weaving units turn out three crore metres of cloth every day. That figure has plummeted.

Migration from Ganjam dates back to the 1860s after a great famine ravaged the land. However, over the last two decades, migration of workers has gone up manifold with the growth of the textile industry in Surat where around 30,000 power looms and more than 6,000 dyeing units are functional. Most of these units are located in the Katargam, Kapodara, Varachcha, A.K. Road, Pandesara, Sach-in, Kim and Bamroli areas of Surat.

District labour officials don't have proper data about their numbers. Ganjam district labour officer N. Misal told TSI that a majority of them migrated on their own through local agents and workers already working in Surat. He added that a large number of people migrated from interior pockets - from blocks like Beguniapada, Polasara, Hinjili, Shergarh, Belguntha, Kabisuryanagar, Purushottampur, Digapahandi, Khallikote and Buguda.

Informal estimates puts the total number of migrant workers in Surat from Orissa at around 9 lakh of which more than 6 lakh are from Ganjam alone. About 30 per cent of these people are seasonal migrants. Put together, these workers remit around Rs 3,000 crore to the state through local hawala channels every year.

“We earn around Rs 10,000 per month,” stated Mithun Pradhan of Koudia village in Shergarh block. Mithun, along with his 18-year-old brother who is illiterate, spent quite a few months in Surat. Surat is one place where they, without formal education and qualifications, can get reasonably well-paid jobs.

“We are now back as the power looms are closed down. But eventually, we will have to go back. We can’t earn that much in our village,” said Mithun while adding that they didn’t have any alternative though they owned agricultural land. With mounting migration, fertile agricultural fields are left unattended.

Migrant workers frequent brothels in Surat and some contract the killer AIDS virus. Around 5,000 Sex workers in Surat mainly live off migrant workers. The virus is fast spreading in Ganjam. More than 300 cases of death from AIDS have been reported so far from the district, making Ganjam one of the eight most AIDS-prone districts in the country.

Despite their huge remittances to native Orissa and contribution to the industrial growth of Gujarat, this labour force is denied civil and political rights. The Inter-State Migrant Workman Act of 1979 is not being enforced. Acts like Workmen Regulation Act and Bonded Labour Act, too, are not implemented effectively. Surat mill owners even do not allow the migrants to form any labour union there. “We face a lot of problems. We are not organised and, thus, lack collective bargaining power. No leader from Orissa has come to Surat to help us,” lamented Panchanan Gouda of Subudhipalli vilage under Buguda block.

According to the Gujarat labour department and state employee insurance planning department, only 1.25 lakh workers in the Surat textile industry are registered. It means that 80 per cent of the workers do not have recourse to any gratuity, pension or other retirement benefits. Only 1,200 workers are registered under the State Employment Insurance Scheme. “Some mill owners do not even pay bonus despite our hard work,” said Pushpa Kumar, another mill worker.

Wages vary too. Some mill owners pay the workers Rs 1.60 for a metre, some pay Rs 0.90 for the same. Typically a worker, who works on a simple machine, gets between Rs 7,000 and 10,000 per month. A Jecard machine worker gets between Rs 10,000 and 15,000.

A mill owner from Kapodara, a suburb of Surat, told TSI, “Though it was not the best of times as recession had just hit the sector, I gave my workers a hike of 10 Paisa per metre last Diwali. I had a hunch they just might strike work. I also wanted to keep them in my unit during the Diwali vacation as most of them go home for long vacations.”

Former deputy Speaker of Orissa Assembly Ram Chandra Panda feels that the mass return of migrants may lead to huge socio-economic problems in rural Ganjam. He also fears a possible spurt in crime. “The Orissa government should either negotiate with its Gujarat counterpart to rehabilitate these migrants in Surat or Orissa should take steps to engage the labour force in the upcoming industrial projects. After all, more than 50 memoranda of understandings have been signed,” the man advised.

The scale of the return of migrants has not gone unnoticed. The chief labour commissioner of Orissa took up the matter with his Gujarat counterpart last week and requested redressal of the Oriya labourers' problems. Pushpendra Singhdeo, Orissa minister for labour and employment, told TSI, “The government is taking this matter seriously and I have personally written to the Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, requesting him to address the issue at the earliest.”

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