Large parts of urban and especially metropolitan India are currently witnessing a renewed anti-reservation agitation spearheaded by medical students, doctors and certain other sections of the intelligentsia. While the central government has belatedly started talking to the agitating students, there is still no sign of an early end to the continuing standoff between the agitating students and the government. Apart from marches, meetings, hunger strikes and work stoppages, sporadic self-immolation attempts are also on. Barring a few different voices or ‘discordant notes', the dominant refrain in the mainstream media is evidently in tune with this movement. In fact, so overwhelming is the media's identification with the anti-reservationists that one could justifiably describe the dominant media as a veritable wing or component of the anti-reservation campaign.

What is the crux of the present debate? If reservation for OBCs as already implemented in the domain of government jobs is accepted as a settled policy, then there can be little debate over its extension to other areas like private employment or higher education as a matter of principle. The debate should then essentially focus on making higher education more accessible and affordable for all and on making reservation more effective as a means of affirmative action. Indeed many have already initiated and joined such a debate by demanding reservation in a dynamic context of expanding opportunities for all. Demands have also been raised for keeping the OBC elite or creamy layer outside the purview of reservation as well as for creation of a special quota for the economically weak among the upper castes.

The anti-reservation campaign, however, sees little merit in such a debate and wants nothing short of a total scrapping of the entire policy of reservation. And this is being done in the name of merit and, of all things, equality. Anti-reservationists project reservation as the biggest contemporary act of caste discrimination and not as a corrective answer, in however limited a manner, to centuries of social oppression and denial of opportunities. They would like us to believe that it is the politics of reservation which has kept caste artificially and anachronistically alive and that without reservation the entire system of castes would have been effectively demolished by now.

But the same students from medical and engineering colleges and management institutes who appear to be completely against the whole framework of castes often resort to gimmicks like sweeping streets or shining shoes to demonstrate their opposition to the government's reservation policy. In the name of protest, they actually end up demonstrating their social arrogance and contempt for menial labour and the people who are coerced by our oppressive class-caste order to do such labour for survival. Indeed, the anti-reservation agitation is heavily influenced by such arrogant assumptions and perverse attitudes and they must be rejected lock, stock and barrel by any society that wants to move forward.

A critical analysis of the anti-reservation agitation should however see more in it than mere upper caste backlash. There is a legitimate feeling of insecurity aggravated by cutthroat competition and diminishing opportunities; there is perhaps also a healthy disgust for caste as an anachronistic social baggage out of tune with today's rapidly moving world. But if those opposing reservation really want to seek an answer to these problems, they will obviously have to look beyond the question of reservations. There is no way one can expect greater opportunities without questioning and fighting the present pattern of growing commercialisation and privatisation of education. Has not the proliferation of private medical and engineering colleges charging exorbitant capitation fees already introduced a system of reservation for the well heeled and the well connected to the exclusion of the overwhelming majority of students with limited means?

To understand why caste continues to remain a major marker of Indian social reality, one again has to look beyond what is commonly described as the politics of castes. Caste continues to flourish in an environment marked by utter lack of social and economic mobility. In the absence of land reforms, old social structures of power and oppression still hold good in many parts of the country. Because of centuries of colonial subjugation and persistence of stubborn feudal survivals the process of industrialisation has also been very weak in content. It has given us some industries but has failed to modernise our social foundation. And now the policies of globalisation are further retarding and distorting the process of industrialisation and its modernising potential. It is the service sector which is driving the growth engine and without a developed agricultural and industrial foundation we have set ourselves the goal of becoming a knowledge-economy and a knowledge-society. No wonder this is ushering in a neo-Brahminical order while reinforcing our age-old social contempt for labour.

In the early 1990s two things had happened in close succession. VP Singh had implemented Mandal Commission recommendations to provide for reservation to OBCs in government jobs. This was soon followed by the advent of the economic policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. The Mandal wave generated a massive euphoria of social justice and successive governments took full advantage of this euphoria to push through the policies of globalisation. For the vast majority of India 's rural and agricultural population, globalisation has spawned starvation deaths, suicides and further displacement and dispossession. The globalisers now want to do away with the system of reservation much the same way as imperialist powers want us to stop all subsidies. Incidentally, reservation is being opposed not only in higher education but also in private industries. Like the empty rhetoric of ‘reforms with human face', the myth of ‘globalisation with social justice' is also fast coming unstuck.

Voice of Protest Mounting

Against Jharkhand's BJP Govt.'s Criminal Assaults on Right to Assembly and Protest

And For Withdrawal of Case on CPI(ML) Gen. Sec. Dipankar Bhattacharya

A number of democratic forces and prominent personalities have condemned the Jharkhand governemnt's conspiracy to chargesheet Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya with attempt to murder while he led a public demonstration before the Jharkhand Assembly demanding punishment to police officials guilty of killing dozens of people in successive firing incidents and termed this move an attack on the democratic forces struggling for the rights of the poor.

In Delhi , a signature campaign is being conducted to demand to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Arjun Munda to immediately withdraw thoroughly fabricated and politically prejudiced charges leveled on Dipankar Bhattacharya and others. CPI General Secretary A. B. Bardhan, Revolutionary Socialist Party leader and Member of Parliament Abani Roy, eminent journalist Kuldip Nayar, social activist Swami Agnivesh and PUCL President Justice Rajinder Sachar and many others have sent letters to the Jharkhand Chief Minister in this regard.

Justice Sachar has said in his letter to the Chief Minister that "PUCL strongly feels that filing such cases against personage for exercising their constitutional right of taking out procession and protesting against the police brutality are undemocratic and against law. I feel that the filing of chargesheet against Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya and others is a misuse of the authority of the Govt. I am able to say this with a little more confidence because I was personally involved in holding an enquiry into the police firing in which these 8 tribals were killed and many more injured."

He reminded that the Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights had constituted a Tribunal which was chaired by him to hold an enquiry into the killing and also to assess the impact of the Koel-Karo project on the lives and livelihood of Advasi people in the region. The Tribunal had recommended that the police cases against the people be dropped forthwith and that the State Govt. will take action against the erring police officials. "Unfortunately, it seems that instead of proceeding against the police, your Govt. has chosen to move against the leaders of the political movement of the stature of Com. Deepankar Bhattacharya and his colleagues", he added and further said, "I feel that the continuance of the trial will be a great injustice. I would, therefore, request you that in order to create a congenial atmosphere your Govt. should move the court for withdrawal of this case. The charges which have been framed are of the ususal type which police always apply in cases of any democratic protest either by trade unions, peasants or the poor tribals or slum dwellers. May I, therefore, request you to please ask your Public Prosecutor to examine the matter afresh so that he could take steps to move the court to withdraw the case against Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya and others."

A meeting was held in Ranchi on May 24 which was attended by Adivasi Adhikar Morcha leader and MLA Bandhu Tirki, prominent scholor and Convenor of Jharkhand Jan Sanskriti Manch Dr. V. P. Kesri, veteran left leader and PUCL's State Vice-President Tridiv Ghosh, Journalist Faisal Anurag, Social Activist Dayamani Barla, Aloka from IPTA and Jangal Bachao Sanstha, Indian Justice Party's Amjad Ali, Journalist Javior Kujoor, and many other cultural, Youth and political activists. It was decided to launch an agitation if the cases against Comrade Dipankar and four others are not withdrawn within fifteen days. It was decided to organise widespread protests and public resistance on this issue and on the issue of the assassination of Comrade Mahendra Singh. Both these cases stand testimony to the government's conspicuous protection to the killer police officials. The CBI status report submitted to the National Human Rights Commission also mentions in detail the irresponsible behaviour and laxity shown by the police just after the murder of Comrade Mahendra and points to the non-cooperation of the state authorities.

Bengal Peasants Refuse to Dance to “Brand Buddha” Tunes

With Buddhadeb Bhattacharya back in power with a massive majority, West Bengal is reportedly being flooded with a flurry of investment proposals. The investors have begun zeroing in with a long wish list and the first item on every list is land, in hundreds and thousands of acres. And without losing any time, the investor-friendly do-it-now government has launched a mega land acquisition drive to satisfy capital's hunger for grazing land. The other day representatives of Tata Motors were seen eyeing prospective pastures in Singur Assembly segment of Hooghly district. Not amused, local peasants gheraoed the Tata men, setting the alarm bells ringing at Alimuddin Street (CPI(M) headquarters in Kolkata).

CPI(M) state secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose blamed the electronic media for inciting the gherao action at Singur. In a press conference beamed live on television channels, he came down heavily on the electronic media, even issuing threats that were none too veiled. Jyoti Basu however criticised the state government for its lack of preparedness. He was emphatic that the Tata people should have never been allowed to go unescorted on such field trips without doing the necessary homework. What were the local party and Kisan Sabha (peasant association) doing, he asked and then revealed that the Kisan Sabha leader was apparently dozing at home!

Thus while Biman Bose directed his ire at the media, Jyoti Basu sounded the wake-up call for the party and the mass organisations to rise in defence of the government's land acquisition drive. If for the Left Front government the agenda of land reforms has now given way to land acquisition for the corporate sector, the peasant association is expected to play the role of real estate brokers. But if Singur is any indication, the Left Front government is not going to find it easy to bulldoze the Bengal peasantry on this score.

In spite of the CPI(M)'s massive electoral victory, the recent elections have also served a warning or two. The CPI(M) is, for example, wondering why it lost Bhangar in South 24 Parganas, a seat that communists had been winning since 1952! The party is probably smelling some factional feud in the organisation, but political observers cannot be unaware of the fact that Bhangar was the epicentre of peasant protests against the dubious proposal of handing over 5,000 acres of agricultural land to the Salim group of Indonesia.

Oppose Government's Dangerous Move Under WTO Dictates

After giving a free hand to the multinational companies in the purchase of wheat from the Indian market in this season, the Govt. has decided to procure 30 lakh tonnes of wheat from the international markets. This year's wheat production has exceeded previous year's figure by nearly 25 lakh tonnes. A deal for five lakh tonnes was already done with the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) in the month of March at a price of Rs. 970 per quintal. Although government offered only Rs. 700 to its own farmers as MSP against Rs. 750-825 offered by the private players including multinationals like ITC and AWB. AWB purchased wheat from the Indian market, now Indian government has shortlisted this company for the purchase of another 12 lakh tonnes of wheat. This is the same company which also supplied 20 lakh tonnes of wheat to India in 1998 at a rate much higher than the market rates prevailing at that time. Then a CBI inquiry was instituted to probe the allegations of bribes of US $ 2.5 million it paid to a bank account in Caymons Island, but later the case was 'closed' in 2004 by the prime investigation agency on the pretext that the Australian Govt. refused to provide the necessary documents it required.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told on May 19 in the Rajya Sabha, quoting figures from the Home Ministry's National Crime Bureau, that during 1993 and 2003, that 1,00,248 debt-burdened farmers committed suicide in the country. 90 percent of these suicides were reported from Maharashtra , Karanataka and Tamil Nadu. Accepting the grave crisis country's food producers have been pushed into, Agriculture Minister told the upper house that a package has been prepared and sent to the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry for consideration. The details of this are yet to be made public but an idea can be drawn from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech delivered at the International Conference on Agriculture for Food, Nutritional Security and Rural Growth on May 27 in New Delhi where he vehemently advocated for the entry of 'private-public sector' in Agriculture and a 'new wave of entrepreneurship' to fulfill his dream of 'second green revolution'. He avoided any reference to incomplete agrarian reforms. With this year's wheat procurement Indian farmers lost more than Rs. 100 per quintal to the big corporates and the Indian Govt. is willingly paying more than Rs. 200 per quintal to the corrupt multinational company, we have seen only a glimpse of this private-public partnership and the 'new wave of entrepreneurship'. This is bound to aggravate to agrarian crisis further. This must be thoroughly opposed.

Movement for Implementation of NREGS

As the governmental apathy continues towards proper implementation of Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Jharkhand amidst the fanfare of inaugurations by ruling politicians and propaganda by bureaucrats, a large number of rural poor in the state are still struggling to get the job cards and employment opportunity under the scheme. Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti (JMKS) has intensified its campaign for registering and to provide employment or daily allowance to every rural poor under the scheme in the state.

While pressure is building up on the officials and the government for issuing job cards and provide employment, the overall outcome is far from satisfactory and, at the same time, the bureaucracy-politician nexus is also launching its counter offensive by increasing state repression and police attacks on agitating people and their leaders. Recently, on May 25, a case was registered against CPI(ML) State Committee member Bhuvaneshwar Kevat and 700 protesters, at the behest of local BJP MLA, when they were holding a block gherao at Petarwar against non-implementation of the scheme. More than a thousand agrarian workers present in this gherao opened a parallel 'complaint and suggestion room' in one of the abandoned rooms in the block office after they found that there is no official present to listen to their complaints. The issue of holding panchayat elections in the state was also raised during this protest.

A three-day gherao was also held in the same office earlier on April 10-12 which was concluded after an agreement with the officials resulting in the distribution of job cards within a week. But this remained on paper. Office-blockades were also held in Gamia and Jaridih blocks on the issue of job cards and allotment of work. Such protests have forced authorities to issue job cards to some extent while rural poor are organising themselves on the issue of job guarantee.

Left Parties Protest against Governor's NGO in Uttaranchal

The State Secretaries of CPI(ML), CPI(M) and CPI have jointly sent a letter to the President of India demanding immediate removal of the Governor of Uttaranchal who is running an NGO from his official residence. The PS to the Governor is also the official Secretary of this NGO which has collected so far funds to the tune of nearly Rs. 7 crores. The list of donors include state government, many public sector undertakings and many individuals whose real intentions may be suspected. It has been reported that the Uttaranchal state govt. has given 50 lakhs, ONGC 40 lakhs and Baba Ramdev 25 lakhs to this NGO. One officer of Indian Revenue Services against whom a CBI inquiry is going on is also a donor to this NGO. Two industrialists associated with this NGO have been awarded Doctorates honoris causa in last convocation of Garhwal University . It may be noted that the Governor is also the Chancellor of this University. After the three left parties protested, the Governor, Shri Sudarshan Agarawal, has now resigned from the Chairmanship, but the NGO still continues to run under the protection of the Raj Bhawan.

New Cars for New Ministers

The Nitish Kumar Govt. in Bihar , which bears a burden of Rs. 42,000 crores as debt, has decided to provide each of its ministers a new luxury TATA Indigo and a Scorpio car in place of already running Ambassadors. This decision was taken after spending crores of rupees on rennovation of the houses of the ministers. For the Chief Minister, a new fleet of bullet proof Scorpios will be brought in to replace the bullet-proof ambassadors currently in use, this alone will cost Rs. 9 Crores to the fund starving state exchequer. This comes as a cruel joke to the people of Bihar who dethroned Lalu aspiring for proper use of funds for developmental activities and a crime free state .

Protest in Sonbhadra

CPI(ML) State Committee member and AICCTU National Secretary Dinkar Kapoor sat on a 48 hours hunger strike against the evacuation notices given to thousands of residents in Pipri Nagar Panchayat by the authorities. The situation is an outcome of totally irresponsible attitude of UP Govt. as the land has been transferred to a number of agencies during last fifty years without any accountability though residents on these lands are living for decades. Many persons have allotment letters but now the lease rent has also been raised to unaffordable levels. Now cases have been lodged against nearly a thousand people though a tripartite agreement was reached in August 2003 but this was never implemented. An open letter was also issued to the Chief Minister from the protest venue.

The Anti-Reservation Agitation Revisited