Bihar's Opposition- condoning manslaughter?

A few days ago, the local newspapers in Bihar carried reports of a burn victim dying a painful death because the ambulance carrying her was caught up in a ‘traffic jam’ on the rickety Mahatma Gandhi Setu, the bridge that joins Patna to North Bihar.

The woman died because the Home Guards, an auxiliary security force, had blocked the bridge in protest. They were demanding benefits from the Bihar Government. These men turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the ambulance driver and the people who were in the ambulance. They wilfully obstructed an ambulance that according to law had the absolute right of way. If anybody is to be held responsible for the death of that woman, it is the organizers and the men from the Home Guards who were obstructing traffic. Logic says that a criminal case should have been slapped on them.

 It was sickening to read reports in the newspapers the next day, where the protestors, backed by the opposition BJP sought to blame the state government for the woman's death.  Was this a sick joke? By what stretch of warped logic could one come to such a conclusion? Worse still, the papers who faithfully carried the statement, so far haven't had the decency to question the logic even on the editorial pages!

 

Have our politicians sunk so low? Is heckling the government and encouraging others to do so their only game?  You condone uncivilized and brutish behaviour -such as the obstruction of an ambulance carrying a burn patient in a critical condition on a hot summer’s day - on the one hand, and complain of ‘Jungle raj’ returning to Bihar on the other!

 The BJP (and others in the opposition)  would have done the  honourable thing if they had strongly taken on  the government  for  going soft on the ringleaders, and failing to punish the fellows who were actually responsible for manslaughter because they obstructed the ambulance, with the full knowledge that the patient inside would die unless she received immediate treatment.

 

Why are two separate issues being muddied up? And why is the present government and the administration letting this happen? Why hasn't the Nitish Kumar administration really shown some 'testosterone' and booked a couple of those protestors for manslaughter?  

Why is it that whenever there is some 'political' support, a 'legitimate' protest becomes an occasion to threaten, beat-up, smash and vent anger on inanimate objects and harmless individuals?

 

The right to lawful protest is one thing, causing harmful obstruction and destroying government and private property are entirely different. They are cowardly, criminal offences.

 

Why are all political parties blind to this? 'This is an election year' isn't the right answer!

 

Author: Frank Krishner

Let Dalits who want reservation remain Hindus

A vocal section of the Catholic Church in India, has, for some two decades now trying to get ‘Dalit Christians’ recognized as one of the scheduled castes in India. Now, these scheduled castes are usually formerly untouchable Hindus who get certain privileges above ‘general’ citizens.



This is a stupid picture, isn't it? No? Think about it!

 Recently there have been anguished outpourings from no less than veteran media person and Indian Catholic leader John Dayal that  the present dispensation [read the government of India led by Narendra Modi] are going to ignore that longstanding demand.

 If the Prime Minister Modi once and for all totally rejects this impassioned plea, several thousand Christians would actually be pleased. Very pleased.

 This nonsense about caste -based reservations is political clap-trap. I maintain that the demand is totally un-Chrisian and subversive. Historically, and biblically, one does not deserve to become a Christian ‘the easy way’. If a Dalit chooses to join the church and be ‘equal’ to those high caste Christians who have literally ‘forsaken all’ to embrace the faith, then let him forsake the government benefits which are for Hindus. If he can’t do that, then what the dickens is he in it for? For free access to Christian educational and medical institutions? that shouldn’t be a problem anyway, because Christian, especially church run institutions are supposed to reach out to the poorest of the poor, no matter who they are.

Let the Dalits who want reservation remain Hindus. Those who want to 'convert' must reject reservation. It is a moral choice. I would say that we should encourage such wishy-washy chaps to opt for 'Ghar Wapsi'!

 

Let them choose between material benefit and spiritual benefit in the same way as several other high caste ‘converts’ have. When a Brahmin or a Rajput person decides to become a Christian, are the Christian  priests unaware of the great risks they take? Friends, and most importantly, their own families treat them as outcastes. Even so, knowingly, they accept the cross, both literally and figuratively. Its very interesting how the catholic  priests  and bishops are extremely careful when high caste people want to get baptized and publicly state that they wish to join the Church.  They actually discourage them.

 

This pro-Dalit casteism within the Catholic Church has rankled and continues to rankle many. The Church was built on the blood of martyrs. However misguided they may have been, it is the fact that hundreds and thousands of people were ready to lay down their lives rather than do a Ghar Wapsi. This ghar wapsi stuff was tried by the ancient Romans: recant your beliefs and here’s a life of luxury, follow this new ideology called Christianity and be torn apart by lions.

 

[By the way, Latin “christianus” meant cretin; the Romans used to throw Christians to the lions, and because the Christian martyrs refused to give up their religion, to run away, or even to fight back, they were thought to be acting like complete idiots.

 Throughout the Roman Empire (i.e. the civilised world), if someone was stupid, they were called “Christian”. The word meant that.]

Coming from a lineage that can claim that an ancestor or two was executed by Henry VIII rather than switch allegiance from the Pope, I find this pandering to the so-called  Dalit Christians particularly nauseating. What is more disturbing is the fact that there are a lot of chaps who are ‘officially’ getting government benefits as Hindus while masquerading as Christians and getting handouts from the Church as well.

In the Catholic Church there is no ‘Dalit reservation’ -- or is there a lobby  led by a few Jesuits and Diocesan priests that wants to give reservations to guys so that they become ‘dalit pastors’ even though they are morally, spiritually  and intellectually wanting? 

I have a great love for Dalits and want them to evolve as soon as possible into efficient, tax-paying citizens of the country, with dignity and without having to play the victim always. Being an agnostic, I have an unbiased attitude towards all religions, and do find it extremely silly when some of my Catholic priest friends become misty eyed over the perceived injustices to the Musahars, but are stone cold to the problems and the tribulations of the poorer sections of Christians such as those from Bettiah, Goa, or the Anglo-Indians.

 

The Modi government would do well to curb any more ‘reservations’. We’ve had enough. Modi should firmly deny any such benefits to the so-called  Dalit Christians.  If Brahmin and Rajput Christians don’t get minority benefits, why should they?

 

Author: Frank Krishner

Anglos in the wind ... not in the Lok Sabha ?

The winds of change blew in a brand new Indian Parliament, but has it blown away the Anglo-Indian representation as well?

It’s been almost a year since the Modi government came to power, and guess what? The 16th Lok Sabha has no Anglo-Indian member. There are usually two nominated members there, as per Article 331 of the Indian constitution.

It’s probably skipped the Prime Minister’s mind. After all, does this predominantly Christian, Angrezi speaking community, this micro-minority really matter? These half-caste, half-breed, beef-eating fellows aren’t the kind that should be taken seriously. And come on, they are just about 4-5 lakh in number, that’s all. Less than half a million!

Seriously, if a Supreme Court ruling says that the gays who are about 10 per cent of the Indian male population are ‘a miniscule minority’, do these Anglo-Indian fellows even come close?


The 16th Lok Sabha is completing its first year soon. The Narendra Modi government doesn’t seem keen (understatement of the year) to nominate two Anglo-Indian members to the Lower House. Well, that’s had the Anglo-Indian representatives asking President Pranab Mukherjee's to intervene.

They wrote to Modi in December last year, the Bangalore-based ‘Federation of Anglo-Indian Associations in India’. Well, fat lot of good that did!

 

Dr Charles Dias, a former MP from the community and federation president, has said several memoranda have been submitted to the Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah. Well, what happened?

 "But, there was no response from them so far. This is an injustice perpetrated on a microscopic and weak minority," Dias said in the memorandum submitted to President Mukherjee last week, saying the community is “anxious and eager” to know why their representatives are not nominated to the Lower House.

Really? haven’t seen any signs of restlessness or anguish among most of the Anglo-Indians of Bihar, nor Jharkhand for that matter. Do the Anglo-Indian 'youngsters' care a fig about what we're talking? Are any of the 'community' under 30 ever seen in the forefront of any civic action?

 According to Article 331 of the Constitution of India, if the President is of the opinion that the Anglo-Indian community is not adequately represented in Lok Sabha, he may nominate not more than two members of that community to Lok Sabha.

 “This Article was followed and acted upon all these years since independence. The community is forced to believe that this is yet another cruelty shown by the NDA Government towards a minority community,” the memorandum said.

 La,la,la,la,la…. who are these Anglo chaps anyway? The BJP should know. After all, a decade ago, it relied on the vote of the nominated member in the Jharkhand Assembly to ensure it remained in power during those very shaky initial days!

The Parsi community is tinier than the Anglo-Indian, but look at the clout it has.

It's not good enough for the Anglo-Indians to dream of past glory and how they contributed
to the workforce of modern India.

We are in post-modern, fluctuating times, which as Dylan says are-a-changing. And fast.

It's high time that the young Anglo-Indians sit up and smell the... well... the c-c-coffee!  Before the sh** hits the fan!

Just wearing a badge that reads 'Courage is Destiny' isn't enough. If you are indeed a community with intellect, education, and courage, then give us a sample. Introspect about the double standards and the prejudices within. Address them.  It's nice to recognize your  own rights, and stand in solidarity with others fighting for theirs. And rights have duties as well!

So if Modi and his government don't nominate your chaps to the Lok Sabha, what are you going do about it? And what if he's planning yet another tweak to the constitution of India, saying let's get rid of that redundant  article 331?

Any Political Party ready to shoulder you cause? H'm....?


Author: Frank Krishner also published on NEWSNET ONE

Bihar State AIDS Control Society doesn't give a damn about Mothers!

It’s Mothers’ Day today.

And what does a poor, sick mother in the boondocks of Bihar, desperately trying to ensure that her HIV positive orphaned child gets his essential daily dose of life-saving meds get? Insensitivity, buck-passing and indolence by the government medical fraternity and the Bihar State AIDS Control Society!

 On Thursday May 7, [incidentally observed as AIDS Orphans Day, part of the annual global aids awareness week], a desperate 25 year old widow in Chapra (Bihar state)was running from pillar to post in a frantic bid to obtain the next dose of ART for her 8 year old son. An HIV positive person needs to take the prescribed medicine daily, just like a daily insulin dose for diabetics. If the dose is missed, even for a day, the immune system of the patient starts deteriorating. The people at the ART dispensing centre were helpless, stocks were over. (The special ART formulation for children is given in a syrup form.) When the woman, in desperation went to submit a written intimation to the Nodal Medical Officer, pleading that the medicine be made available, she was brushed aside. The doctor refused to accept her application!

 The woman, a widow on her own, who somehow ekes out a living working in one of those hole-in-the wall ‘ private schools’, is distraught. For the past five days, she has abandoned her work, running to and from the dispensing centre. The irony is that the medication can only be obtained from the government centre and no private chemist shops in Chapra stock the medicine, which is very expensive.

 “I went to get the medicines on the 4th, a day before the last dose ran out. (This is the practice. Patients are given medicines for a month only, and they can’t ask for any advance stocks). There was no medicine available. My child is on ART since 2011. What’s worrying me is that in January, when a CD-4 count was done, his platelet count had dropped to 311 from 1100. I’m desperate,” she said over the phone.

 Exactly 14 days ago, I happened to visit the Chapra ART centre with RTI activist Sanjeet Singh, where the personnel us that stocks were low. “We are just not receiving adequate stocks from BSACS, and we struggle to do what we can,” they said.

 “The High Court has decreed that every ART centre should have a two month stock of ART medicines and medicines for opportunistic infections, but despite assurances from BSACS officials, see the situation!” says Sanjeet.

 In Chapra, the situation is overwhelming. 4200 registrations, ART 2,900 total counting. Last month 1748 patients received ART. There are about 150 children on ART. NACO guidelines are not met. BSACS has not appointed the required staff. Only 4 posts out of 14 are filled. No Medical Officer for the ART and ICTC centre, so obviously, no ‘accountable’ official! There is no CD4 testing machine, even though NACO funds were there for one unit in each district, it is said.


How does the State, and BSACS, which gets funding from the Centre ensure safe motherhood? Probably by twiddling their thumbs and looking the other way!

this is NOT a photo of the widow.... for representation only

BSACS is supposed to provide ‘safe delivery kits’ at all its PPTCT centres. Reality check: That doesn’t happen. Pregnant women have to buy their own ‘safe delivery kits’ from private stores in Patna because the hospital has no stock. “We advise them to take precautions, because many of them end up having home deliveries. Even when they have go to the government hospitals, if they bring along their own kits, it can pre-empt any refusal by the nurses not to deliver the babies for lack of safety kits,” said PPTCT Counsellor Sadhna. A kit costs about Rs 750, and add on the cost of a trip to the state capital, just to buy the kit!

HIV positive pregnant women are denied surgery at Chapra. This was told to me by the PPCTC counsellor. She said that because there is only one OT for caesarean sections in the district hospital, there would be ‘complications’ if an HIV positive C-section was performed. So the pregnant woman is told to be prepared to make the long trip to the Patna Medical College Hospital, over 120 kilometres away, in case a C-section is called for. When we asked the resident gynaecologist at the district hospital about this, all she said was, “I am aware that we have delivered babies from HIV positive mothers, and as for C-sections, so far, no such case has been brought to my notice.”

The woman says “My child is the only reason I am living, if he dies, I am nothing, I might as well destroy myself.”

Just as I was putting the finishing touches to this article, I received a phone call from Sanjeet Singh, the activist. The ART medicines have finally arrived at the Chapra centre on Friday. The 25 year old widow can breathe easy, for one more month… Happy Mothers’ Day!


But, for how long will the State Government and BSACS flout the orders of the High Court? Instead of getting on with the procurement of medicines, will they try to pass the buck if summoned to court once again?









Author: Frank Krishner

Throttle NGOs, snuff out dissent!

The Narendra Modi Government, rather like its forerunner the UPA (especially towards the end of its tenure), has trained guns on non-governmental organisations and people’s movements in general.

This began primarily as a crackdown on organisations protesting against the nuclear power projects in Kudankulam and Jaitapur. If UPA II barred a dozen NGOs from receiving foreign donations and contributions, the BJP led government has not only frozen NGO accounts but also blamed them for the economic ills of India!

An Intelligence Bureau report has apparently blamed NGOs for the slump in India’s GDP. So, NGOs are the major stumbling blocks tripping up Modi’s avowed pursuit of development.

There are also claims that some NGOs — (obviously) Christian NGOs — are engaging in proselytisation! The present government and its leading spokespersons never tire of reiterating their strange position on people who opt out of one religious practice and embrace another. They keep harping on the possibility of bringing forward a law to curb ‘conversions’. In other words, a citizen of ‘free India’ will need government permission to adopt a philosophy of life, and to exchange one set of superstitions for another! Mind control, mind it! Now to get back to the point I was making.

The crackdown on NGOs in terms of putting a freeze on foreign donations they receive, on the grounds of perceived Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) violations, is a manifestation of the dim view the government has of NGOs.

Is the government shooting itself in the foot? Must all those who may have a dissenting view be taken as enemies of the state? By freezing their accounts, the government has almost forced the closure of Greenpeace India, which was spearheading the movement against a power plant in Madhya Pradesh. Bank accounts of the Ford Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others are also seemingly under scrutiny.

India has some two million registered NGOs. India must also acknowledge the innumerable positive interventions made by NGOs, and their imprint on landmark Acts passed in Parliament. Whether it is about the Right to Food, Right to Education or the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and the most fundamental of them all, the Right to Information — which seeks to make the government accountable to the public on its decisions — several key pieces of legislation owe in no small measure to NGO interventions.

No doubt the crooked among them must be tackled firmly. They should be held accountable for their actions if they violate the law. 
The UPA attempts to muzzle NGOs were shoddy and shameful. But the NDA ‘sarkar’ has launched a reboot and upgrade: a sinister version. The sledgehammer treatment now being meted out to NGOs is intimidation and bullying. The clampdown is nothing short of an extreme step. In India today, the NGOs are the ones who form the public conscience. Narendra Modi appears to want no questions asked, no dissent to his ‘iron man’ rule. If that’s not fascism, what is?


Author: Frank Krishner

Kathmandu: from Playground to Chessboard?

“Kathmandu today is an entirely different city from the one almost levelled in 1934. It is now a densely populated home to almost 2.5 million people, many living and working in buildings that will not withstand a significant seismic event. An earthquake, experts say, could displace more than 1.8 million people, kill over 100,000 and injure a further 300,000. Sixty percent of buildings could be destroyed.” This is an extract from a report on the OCHA website, of an international conference, held in April 2013, when Nepalese and international disaster officials gathered to imagine ‘once again’ the humanitarian consequences of another earthquake, and to consider the response.

80 years after the disastrous 1934 earthquake, the warning signs were there. The meeting also worked out ways in which to mitigate the consequences of the earthquake. So why wasn’t Kathmandu ready?

Unfortunately, South Asian governments don’t seem to have the political will to  take tough decisions on proper planning, especially when it comes to ‘freak events’ like earthquakes. Nepal is the 16th poorest country in the world. It has had a decade of civil war,  that some believe was quietly abetted by its larger neighbours, but that’s another issue. The country hasn’t been able to redraft its constitution ever since it changed from a Hindu monarchy to a secular democracy. Then there is the matter of corruption and bribery that allows ‘unsafe’ construction to grow.

The 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR15), prepared by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) released in march 2015 by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, states that economic losses from disasters are now reaching an average of US$250 billion to US$300 billion annually.

In connection with the report’s findings, the Secretary-General said: “We are playing with fire. There is a very real possibility that disaster risk, fuelled by climate change, will reach a tipping point beyond which the effort and resources necessary to reduce it will exceed the capacity of future generations.”

Relief operations are on, but as an editorial in the Guardian put it, this ‘callous disproportion between Everest as a playground for a certain kind of privileged westerner and the poverty of their hosts is nothing new.’

The world has started to respond, and India and China are doing their ‘big brother’ bit. But this is only the beginning of a long and hard road.  An earthquake lasts mere minutes. But in the debris lie lifetimes of hopes and plans.

Nepal has always been poor and has been seen as a pawn by China and India, that’s no secret. The earthquake ensures that Nepal will need  support for years to come. But Nepal, like never before, will become a diplomatic chess board because international aid rarely comes with no strings attached.

Author: Frank Krishner