SHAME SHAME Judges
Topic: human rights , media
S.O.S e - Voice For Justice - e-news weekly
Spreading the light of humanity & freedom
Editor: Nagaraja.M.R.. Vol.13..Issue.09........04 / 03 / 2017
· 27 atrocities against Dalits every day
· 13 Dalits murdered every week
· 5 Dalits' homes or possessions burnt every week
· 6 Dalits kidnapped or abducted every week
· 3 Dalit women raped every day
· 11 Dalits beaten every day
· A crime committed against a Dalit every 18 minutes·
Indian Match Fixing Corrupt Judges
http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/50-of-higher-judiciary-corrupt-says-ex-sc-judge-markandey-katju/story-Hfu8Ru8o9YfoGOjloboytN.html ,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Eight-chief-justices-were-corrupt-Ex-law-minister/articleshow/6568723.cms ,
http://justicekatju.blogspot.in/2014/08/corrupt-judges.html ,
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-court-sends-senior-judge-to-jail-lawyer-husband-court-commissioner-to-police-custody-2260018 ,
http://www.indiancorruptjudges.com/ ,
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bzO1Uw18aTg/WIpdlMZlaaI/AAAAAAAAGJc/0wE9uQGZukE7VKrye0_QWS1K8gWDoBQWgCLcB/s1600/Karnan%2527s%2Bletter.jpg ,
http://wakeupindia-designer.blogspot.in/2017/01/mumbai-27-th-2017-justice-chinnasamy.html ,
Editorial : Atrocities on Dalits by Judges - SHAME SHAME
- An Appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India, National Human Rights Commission & National Commission for Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes
The track record of apex court is not clean. There is secrecy involved in selection , promotion , transfer of judges to high court & supreme court. Supreme court judges take huge pay , perks from public exchequer ( now on the verge of getting triple fold increase in pay ) but are not accountable to public. They don’t give information to public , concerning judges and national security , public welfare.
Consider the case of Dalit judge of sukma , chattisgarh , he was removed for being honest , for upholding law ? Now, Justice Karnan a whistle blower is being victimized. Apex court is not looking seriously at issues raised by justice karnan but concentrating on silencing him.
When other high ranking judges ( having influence & belonging to upper castes ) were accused of more grave crimes like involvement in sex racket , sex crimes against women , national security crimes , etc , they were treated with kid gloves , cases hush hushed , white washed. Inspite of fervent appeals even apex court didn’t bother to conduct a public , transparent enquiry. Now apex court has initiated suo motto “contempt proceedings “ against Justice Karnan as he is a DALIT , without influence of powers that be.
When a poor dalit person or person belonging to weaker section , SC / ST builds a temporary hutment on government land , officials , police take suo motto action , evicts that person & razes down that hutment immediately. Where as when a rich person belonging to upper caste , having influence of powers that be builds huge buildings usurping government land , lake bed , etc no suo motto action by police . Officials , police don’t take action inspite of repeated appeals by concerned public. The courts of justice instead of upholding public cause , gives stay orders protecting rich land grabbers but in the same fashion judges don’t come to the rescue of poor dalit hut dwellers. Even when land grabbings were brought to the notice of apex court at the very early stage itself, apex court instead of preventing the land grabbing silently allowed the grabbers to continue with their land crimes. The enactments of laws by various state governments including government of Karnataka regularizing illegal land constructions is solely to benefit greedy , rich land grabbers belonging to upper castes. Inspite of repeated appeals the apex court has not annulled those illegal laws of various state governments.
Just consider the prison population in india , 80% of prisoners are under trials and majority of them are dalits, tribals , belongs to weaker sections , SC / ST. Most of them cann’t afford lawyers , most of them are implicated by their upper caste masters , land lords . Even within the prison , their rights are not respected by authorities , are treated worse than animals. Where as deadly criminals convicted of gravest crimes ( but rich , belongs to upper castes) enjoys many luxuries within the prison. It proves the vulnerability of the dalits , weakers sections in india.
So many dalits , weaker section people were cheated of their job oppurtunities in mysuru university , KSOU , Various Government Medical colleges , Government aided ITIs , Polytechnics in Karnataka state by scheming upper caste officials. Inspite of repeated appeals , why apex court has not taken legal prosecution to logical end and ensured justice to aggrieved dalits ? What action supreme court has taken against KPSC , VYAPAM members who denied job oppurtunities to merited candidates , dalit & weaker section candidates ? ? let alone take suo motto action . No action to logical end.
Day in day out there are rampant atrocities against dalits , weaker sections of people by public servants , judges are not doing their duties properly. Supreme court judges are enjoying lakhs of rupees pay , perks , 5 star bungalows , foreign trips , weeks long summer / winter paid vacations , proposed triple fold salary hike all at tax payer’s expense. These judges must be first booked for “Atrocities against Dalits , Weaker sections” under SC / ST Atrocities Prevention Act.
If at all , Supreme Court of India is impartial , without bias , let it come out clean :
1. To immediately stay contempt proceedings against Justice Karnan and Order impartial enquiry against judges accused of corruption , impropriety by Justice Karnan and all other issues raised by him. Take the help of Justice Karnan in collecting evidences.
2. Order impartial enquiry against almost half of former chief justices of india accused of corruption by NGOs.
3. Immediately give justice to past Sukma Dalit Judge who was unjustly removed.
4. Immediately give truthful , full information , answers to RTI questions sent to Supreme Court of India by our publication years ago. Inspite of several appeals , majority of questions are unanswered & for few questions got ambiguous answers.
5. Immediately take action to protect fundamental rights , human rights of whistle blowers , RTI Activists & Human Rights Activists.
6. Immediately take action against KPSC , VYAPAM members responsible for illegal recruitments , cancel all those illegal recruitments and conduct recruitments afresh with old candidates.
7. Immediately take action against KSOU , Mysuru University , Government Medical Colleges , Government Aided Polytechnics , ITI officials responsible for illegal recruitments , cancel all those illegal recruitments and conduct recruitments afresh with old candidates.
8. Immediately annul laws enacted by various state governments in india regularizing illegal constructions by land grabbers .
9. Make public the names of all land grabbers , majority of them belongs to upper castes and are rich , greedy.
10. Protect the rights of prisoners in india irrespective of their caste affiliations.
11. Ensure speedy justice , legal aid to under trials belonging to weaker sections , SC & ST.
12. Fix lower amount for bail surety or create a corpus to give bail amount to under trials belonging to SC , ST , Weaker sections , Dalits. Many dalits who are poor are unable to pay bail amount and suffer in jail for years much more than the legally stipulated punishment even if convicted.
13. Enforce uniform rules , uniform food , uniform health care , uniform prison cell to all prisoners irrespective of their caste , whether he is an ex chief minister , ex managing director of a big company , ex religious guru or an ordinary person , a dalit , a tribal. Ensure equality , equal treatment in prisons , jails.
14. Why NOT criminal prosecution of guilty judges who commited atrocities on dalits under SC / ST Atrocities prevention act is not taken , till it’s logical end ? are judges above law ? why such guilty judges are put behind bars for this non bailable offence ? only transfer or resignation of judges will not serve the purpose , they must be put behind bars & legally prosecuted for their heinous crimes . Is the not the apex court is also practicing double standards & indirectly aiding atrocities on dalits ? Read following sample cases of “Atrocities on Dalits committed by Judges”.
15. Immediately admit PILs presented before supreme court of india by our publication . Read full details at following web pages ;
Traitors in Judiciary & Police
https://www.scribd.com/document/329980170/Traitors-in-Judiciary-Police ,
Crimes by Khaki
https://sites.google.com/site/sosevoiceforjustice/crimes-by-khaki
FIRST Answer Judges Police
https://www.scribd.com/document/336585411/FIRST-Answer-Judges-Police
“There is a higher court than the court of justice and that is the court of conscience It supercedes all other courts. ”
- Mahatma Gandhi
“Contempt Proceedings” should not be used as a weapon to silence voices seeking justice , accountability of judiciary. Respect of judiciary doesn’t come out of fear rather spontaneously it comes out of a person’s heart when he sees a honest judge doing his duties honestly.
Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.
Your’s ,
Nagaraja Mysuru Raghupathi
Allegations of dalit atrocities and nepotism against CV Nagarjuna Reddy J. of Andhra Pradesh
The Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) has written to Chief Justice of India TS Thakur seeking initiation of in-house proceedings against Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy for alleged atrocities against members of Dalit community.
In a 9-page letter written on August 30 this year, the CJAR has detailed various allegations against the sitting judge including a detailed account of “criminal misconduct” against a dalit magistrate.
According to the letter, one Rama Krishna, a Principal Junior Civil judge in Kadappa District, was forced by Justice Nagarjuna Reddy to remove the name of Pavan Kumar Reddy from a dying declaration recorded by Rama Krishna when he was posted as a magistrate. Pavan Reddy happens to be the brother of Justice Reddy.
As per the dying declaration given by the victim, Pavan Reddy had doused the victim with petrol and set him of fire when he refused to sign on a blank paper.
“Soon thereafter, on 30.11.2012, it is alleged by Mr. Rama Krishna that Justice Nagarjuna Reddy rang him up, and directed him to remove his brother’s name from the dying declaration. Mr. Rama Krishna also alleges that he was threatened and abused by the said judge when he refused to accede to his request.”
It has also been alleged that the Magistrate was later summoned to Justice Nagarjuna Reddy’s house where,
“….Pavan Reddy and Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy abused him and beat him up. He further alleges that Justice C. V. Nagarjuna Reddy kicked him with his shoes and abused his caste”.
It is Rama Krishna’s allegation that he was victimised following this incident by “unexplained” transfers and suspensions.
Another allegation against the judge is the abuse of power to get that very Pavan Reddy appointed as Additional Public Prosecutor.
“Mr. Pavan Kumar Reddy was appointed as Additional Public Prosecutor in the year 2006 for a period of three years in contravention of the law that mandates seven years of continuous practice as an advocate prior to appointment as an Additional Public Prosecutor.”
Based on the above, CJAR has not only sought an in-house enquiry but has also asked for the suspension of judicial work assigned to Justice Reddy. Chief Justice Thakur has not responded to CJAR’s representation yet.
This is the second such allegation against a sitting judge of High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
In 2015, an Additional District judge from Andhra Pradesh had approached the Supreme Court under Article 32 alleging caste discrimination by a sitting High Court judge, Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy.
The Supreme Court had, however, refused to admit the matter with a Bench presided by then Chief Justice Dattu likening the case to a service matter and observing that the case was a grievance of an individual and cannot be considered as a case pertaining to Fundamental rights.
Impeachment Motion: Five Main Allegations Against Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy
December 9, 2016 8:45 pm
Sixty one Rajya Sabha members have moved a petition for impeachment proceedings against Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana High Court.
The following are the main allegations against the Judge
Misused his position as HC judge to ‘victimize’ a ‘Dalit’ Judge
The impeachment motion describes the allegation made by Mr. Rama Krishna, formerly Principal Junior Civil Judge, Rayachoty, Kadapa District, currently under suspension, that he was forced by Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy to remove the name of Mr. Pavan Kumar Reddy who happens to be the brother of Justice Reddy, from a dying declaration recorded by Mr. Rama Krishna when he was posted as Magistrate in Rayachoty. He alleged that Justice Reddy had summoned him to his home and when he refused to remove the name of his brother from the dying declaration, he kicked him with his shoes and abused his caste.
Charges of Dalit atrocity against spouse, daughter and brother
Another incident of alleged Dalit atrocity pertaining to the registration of an FIR by the ‘Dalit’ tenants against Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy’s wife and daughter, is also mentioned. There also allegations that Mr. Pavan Kumar Reddy commits these various atrocities against the Dalits community under the protective banner of his brother, Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy’s influence
Disproportionate income
The motion also alleges that Justice Reddy abused his position to amass several movable and immovable properties crores of rupees disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Non-Disclosure of Assets and Liabilities
Yet another allegation against Justice Reddy is that he has not disclosed his assets and liabilities in violation of the Code of Conduct that mandates declaration of assets of oneself and dependents by all the judges.
Misconduct when he was an Advocate
It is also mentioned in the impeachment motion that Justice Reddy committed misconduct while he was working as Standing Counsel, for the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.
India's courts 'condone' Dalit atrocities
Caste-blind judiciary fails Dalit victims as number of sex attacks are reported against former untouchables.
Twenty two years ago, in Bhateri village in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Bhanwari Devi was gang-raped by five men. The reason was neither lust nor just patriarchy. Devi’s fault was that as a lower-caste woman, she had dared to transgress the age old strictures of caste - by protesting against the practice of child marriage, which was a staple among the upper-castes. Hence, he was meted out a "deserving punishment".
When the matter finally reached the court, the judge acquitted all the five rapists, holding, among a host of other reasons, that since the upper castes practised strict untouchability, it was inconceivable that any of the five would touch a lower caste woman. Till today, Devi remains deprived of justice.
Now that there is a tidal wave of opprobrium and condemnation against the gang-rapes and murder at Badaun in northern Uttar Pradesh state and the gang-rapes in Bhagana, Haryana, the next question one is confronted with is - will justice be done? And if so, how?
While investigations are still on, and arrests have been made, it is only the first step. The final outcome in the courts is all that matters, and it is here that there is cause for much alarm and disappointment. For, India’s courts have consistently failed the Dalits (untouchables) by steadfastly refusing to acknowledge that sexual violence is perpetrated because of a woman's caste.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, commonly known as PoA Act, recognises rape and other forms of sexual violence as an "atrocity"- an aggravated offence, as opposed to the general crime of rape. The reason is that an atrocity, as philosopher Claudia Card defines it, is a "gross evil - the widespread toleration of wrongfully perpetrated intolerable harm to individuals".
Because Dalit women's bodies are stigmatised - they are considered expendable and justifiably available for recreational (pleasure-seeking) or punitive purposes of upper-caste men, the law seeks to bring in substantive equality by recognising the lived reality of the victims.
Therefore, it is imperative for courts to recognise that the sine qua non for the deeming rape as an atrocity under the law is that the violence was perpetrated on the ground that the victim hailed from a lower caste.
Tragically, it is here that the judicial record is one of abject failure. Not only have the judges refused to acknowledge the reality of caste, but have also attributed reasons such as "unrequited passion", "exploration of sexuality" and let off the accused. Even if there is a conviction for rape, an acquittal from the charges of atrocity renders justice not only incomplete, but also as a travesty.
Khairlanji village in western Maharashtra state stands out as the most infamous example in recent times. On September 26, 2006, four members of Suresh Bhotmange's (a Dalit) family were killed in the most gruesome manner. His wife and daughter were stripped, thrashed, and paraded naked through the village, before being subjected to a fiendish gang-rape.
Nothing was left....knives, iron rods, spikes of bullock cart wheels- everything was thrust in their private parts. Bhotmange's "crime" was the police complaint that he had lodged against the upper-caste Hindus grabbing the plot of land that was rightfully his.
The autopsy was done in the shoddiest manner - no efforts were made to test for rape, even though the naked bodies of the two women lay in the village for a considerable period of time. All the accused who were arrested were convicted by the trial court of murder and other offences, but not for rape.
Worse was in store in the Bombay High Court. In its 2010 judgement, the court put down the atrocities to reasons of personal rivalry and individual revenge. Shockingly, the court went to considerable lengths to hold that because there was no evidence, no rape had been committed - completely ignoring the harsh reality - that there would be no witnesses, and that the trial court had committed a glaring omission by ignoring evident facts. If the naked and badly mangled bodies of Dalit women did not stir the court to acknowledge sexual atrocity, perhaps nothing else could have. The appeal against the high court’s judgement remains undecided till this date.
The case of Hanamath was an appeal to the Karnataka High Court against the conviction of four men for gang-raping a 15-year-old Dalit girl. The court upheld the conviction of rape because it could have done little else - all the proof - eyewitness testimony and forensic evidence were stacked against the accused. But when it came to holding the culprits guilty under the PoA Act, the court not only demonstrated its blindness to caste, but took the "boys will be boys" line of reasoning, holding that the gang-rape was "a lustful act of misguided youth".
Leave aside convictions. How does one prove to the court that a rape was committed because the perpetrators wanted to exercise their upper caste power and pelf? There cannot be any rule of evidence, except that of social reality - that the caste system, in all its vicious manifestations, exists.
Hence, the Supreme Court's judgement in Ramdas (2006) rankles, and rankles hard. In the dead of night, three men dragged out a young woman of the low-ranking Pardhi caste and raped her. This was after she had refused to obey their summons, belonging to a landowning upper-caste, who wanted her to satisfy their carnal desires.
Of course, they wouldn’t have had the temerity to exercise the same obnoxious power on a woman of their own, or a higher caste, but then, Dalit women are fair game!
But the court was not inclined to accept this, and held - "The mere fact that the victim happened to be a girl belonging to a scheduled (lower) caste does not attract the provisions of the (PoA) Act."
When a judgement of the Supreme Court deals a body blow to the very foundations of the law which aims to protect, impunity will certainly continue, unabated.
Contempt notice shows Supreme Court's anti-dalit bias, says Justice S C Karnan
In what might be a first, Calcutta high court's Justice S C Karnan, facing a notice from the Supreme Court in a contempt case, has lashed out at the apex court, accusing it of harbouring a caste bias against him.
In defiance of the SC's decision and sharply escalating the confrontation with the apex court, Karnan accused the CJI J S Khehar-led seven-judge bench of uppercaste bias in initiating proceedings as he belonged to the Dalit community.
Karnan virtually alleged that the court order amounts to an offence under the law to punish atrocities against Dalits and tribals and challenged the court to refer his case to Parliament.
He said: "The suo motu order against me, a Dalit judge, is unethical and goes against the SC and ST (Prevention of) Atrocities Act. It is certainly a national issue and a wise decision would be to refer the issue to the House of Parliament."
The judge argued that since the order against him was "harsh", the contempt case should be heard after CJI Khehar retired or placed before Parliament if this was not possible.
In his anxiety to respond to the SC's February 8 judicial order, Karnan addressed a four-page letter to the SC's registrar general, a post that no longer exists as it was redesignated years ago as secretary general.
Karnan, who has been at the centre of several controversies, was issued a notice and asked to present himself in the Supreme Court on February 13 to explain "scurrilous" allegations against sitting and former judges.
In response to the apex apex court's contempt proceedings, Justice Karnan said: "The suo motu petition is not maintainable against a sitting judge of the HC... I have sent representations to various government authorities regarding high irregularities and illegalities occurring at the judicial courts.
I am also a responsible judge to control such high irregularities, especially corruption and malpractice. I have furnished comprehensive proof of unethical practices happening with the respective courts.
'Upper caste judges taking law into hands'
He had earlier written to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, levelling charges of anti-Dalit bias against the chief justice of the Madras high court in 2014 when he was a member of the bench there.
Referring to the February 8 order that also stripped him of judicial and administrative work, Karnan said: "The characteristic of this order clearly shows that the upper caste judges are taking law into their hands and misusing their judicial power by operating the same against a SC/ST judge (Dalit) with mala fide intention to get rid of him."
Referring to the "harsh order" passed earlier by a bench headed by Khehar, Karnan said: "Therefore, my deep request is to hear the suo motu contempt after retirement of the Chief Justice of India. In the meanwhile, my administrative work and judicial assignment could be restored.
My main contention is only to uproot the corruption prevailing at the Madras high court, and not to spoil the sanctity and decorum of the court."
"I (had) issued a list of the corrupted judges wherein an inquiry is mandatory, as such the suo motu petition is not maintainable. The order of the apex court in the suo motu contempt petition is erroneous and has been wilfully and wantonly and with mala fide intention was passed.
Therefore, these proceedings may be referred to Parliament, wherein I will establish the high rate of corruption prevailing with the judiciary at the Madras high court."
Indicating that he might not present himself before the seven-judge bench of the SC on February 13, he said: "The Supreme Court had not granted stipulated time (for him to respond to the contempt notice), which is highly irregular."
DALIT Judge dismissed for being HONEST ?
- An Appeal to Honourable Chief Justice of India
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Sukma District in Chhattisgarh state of India Mr. Prabhakar Gwal is a Dalit , from oppressed class. Being from an oppressed class , he best understood the sufferings of oppressed sections of society , sufferings of people , tribals displaced from forests to make way for big industries , MNCs. He understood the oppression of common public by police , state machinery resulting in common man’s human rights , constitutional rights violations. He understood the machinations of state machinery to favor big industrialists , also he understood the misuse of office by public servants all against the rule of LAW.
Sukma CJM Mr. Gwal sincerely did his constitutional duty , to uphold rule of law and earned the wrath of powers that be , Criminal Nexus , he was repeatedly interfered in his judicial duties , repeatedly transferred and now unjustly dismissed from service without ANY ENQUIRY giving a chance for Mr.Gwal to make out his case. Whereas some other selfish judges turned their blind eyes to the sufferings of public , violations of law by public servants , intentionally failed to uphold the law and got smooth sailing for their own career.
Hereby , We urge the Honourable Chief Justice of India to order the Chhattisgarh State Government :
1. To immediately reinstate Mr.Gwal into judicial service.
2. To make posting at the same place , same court of Sukma , so that he can complete the cases concerning the powers that be to the logical end.
3. To initiate criminal legal prosecution against district collector , police officials , public servants who directly & indirectly interfered in the judicial duties performed by Mr. GWAL.
4. To initiate criminal legal prosecution against Chhattisgarh High Court Judges who instead of upholding rule of law , supporting Mr. Gwal in his duties took sides with criminal nexus , powers that be and repeatedly transferred him and now dismissed him from service without enquiry.
5. To reopen all the buried cases which were dealt by Mr. Gwal and buried by transfer of judge Mr. Gwal. To take action against ministers , public servants involved in those cases.
6. To initiate criminal action against sukma district collector , police officials and Chhattisgarh High Court Judges on charges of Atrocities against DALIT Mr. Gwal who was repeatedly harassed by them.
7. To initiate criminal prosecution under anti terror laws , against present and past chattisgarh state government ministers , central government ministers , police officials , public servants who were and are responsible for creation of terror outfit SALWA JUDUM , it’s recent terror child salwa judum – 2. These public servants have indulged in terror acts of salwa judum , by aiding & sponsoring it , which is against law.
Date : 30.04.2016…………………………..Your’s sincerely
Place : Mysuru………………………………Nagaraja.M.R.
Chief Judicial Magistrate- Sukma district dismissed by Chhattisgarh Government
The Raman Singh government has dismissed Sukma district’s Chief Judicial Magistrate Prabhakar Gwal from service in “public interest”, following the recommendation of the Chhattisgarh High Court. Mr. Gwal, a Dalit Magistrate was dismissed on the basis of “available material” (not in public domain) without a internal/departmental inquiry.
On April 4 afternoon, Mr Gwal had updated the news of his termination via his Facebook account-
“DISTRICT COURT DANTEWADA (918982620495):- //ORDER//
F.No.3335/987/XXI-B/C.G./16
Raipur, dated 01.04.2016
“Government of Chhattisgarh state hereby, dismisses Shri prabhakar gwal, Member of lower Judicial Services, Civil judge class-I and Chief judicial magistrate, Sukma, from service in public interest with immediate effect.
District and sessions Judge
South Baster dantewada C.G.”
Earlier, Gwal had hit the headlines for alleging that a BJP legislator, Ramlal Chouhan, had threatened him after he convicted five people in connection with the leak of PMT question papers in 2011. His wife too had written to the President alleging harassment, claiming that Gwal was transferred to Sukma as a result of his judgment. Mr Prabhakar had accused a ruling BJP MLA of threatening him over the judgment.
Mr. Gwal has had a history of exposing corrupt officials and politicians. While Gwal was posted in Bilaspur, he had ordered an inquiry against government officials and Police officers, for the infamous ‘Bhadaura Land-Scam’. The land scam is known for involvement of a senior minister of BJP (Amar Agrawal). Similarly, he had ordered for inquiry of Bilaspur RTO officials. He was then transferred to Raipur, where he rejected to accept Closure Report in the case of IPS Rahul Sharma’s suicide. After that he was transferred to Dantewada. Recently his phone conversation with Dantewada Collector had gone viral, in which Collector had asked Gwal to consult him before ordering to file any case.
He is known for taking strong actions against the executive arm of the government and enjoys a public image of being an upright man. His dismissal comes after his wife filed a civil case against 19 people including judicial officers for harassing her husband. HC stayed that case, meanwhile his dismissal was recommended.
A Dalit officer being dismissed in such a one-sided, clouded, swift manner raises larger questions on the system itself. Was he an inconvenient man who didn’t understand the system and it’s ‘norms’? Did his voice against BJP MLA (Ramla Chauhan), Mr Amar Agarwal and Mr Neeraj Bhansod (for interfering in judicial work) made higher ups uncomfortable? These questions are being raised after his dismissal. The ball is in the judiciary and government court to clear and come out clean. A dismissal order by merely stating, that ‘it is in public interest’ doesn’t fit the democratic norms in 2016.
Protests greet Chhattisgarh government’s dismissal of Sukma’s Chief Judicial Magistrate
On 14 April, the Chhattisgarh government dismissed Sukma’s Chief Judicial Magistrate Prabhakar Gwal. A 2006 batch judicial officer, Gwal, belongs to the Dalit community and has questioned the manner in which the police have been indiscriminately arresting tribals in the conflict zones of Chhattisgarh.
On 8 February, the Sukma Superintendent of Police complained to the District Judiciary against Gwal stating that among other things he has been granting bail to naxal accused and such decisions have “adversely affected the morale of the security forces” and “weakens the judicial process”. It is based on such complaints that Chhattisgarh government dismissed Gwal on the grounds of “public interest” following the recommendation of the Chhattisgarh High Court. The Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), in a press release, has protested
against the dismissal of Gwal, calling it unjustified. It said: “Police high-handedness and harassment of those involved in the administration of justice is nothing new to the conflict zones of Chhattisgarh. Recently advocates of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG) have been forcefully evicted from Jagdalpur and pressure is being mounted on them by the police administration and police backed vigilante groups to cease their legal practice. JagLAG has been providing legal Aid to many tribals incarcerated in Jagdalpur and Dantewada. Similarly Social activists such as Soni Sori and Bela Bhatia and journalists like Malini Subramaniam,
Prabhat Singh, Santosh Yadav and Somaru Nag who have been raising issues of Human rights violations by the police administration have been threatened, attacked or even arrested. “ The IAPL has alleged that under the pretext of “Mission 2016”, i.e., the present offensive launched by the government to wipe out the Maoist movement in Chhattisgarh, the police in these areas have been taking steps to see that no alternate voice emanates from these areas. The IAPL has raised the larger issue of keeping the judiciary away from police interference , following this dismissal. “Chhattisgarh jails are filled with tribals who have been arrested,
several false and fabricated criminal cases are foisted upon them and they remain incarcerated for several years. Anyone who supports such tribals and questions the policies of the state are branded as “terrorists” or “anti-national”. In such a situation, the judicial system is their last hope. Hence, it is vital that the judiciary be allowed to carry on its functions in accordance with law and without any interference from the police”, it has said. That the dismissal coincides the recent briefing by the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval for the Supreme Court Judges at a retreat at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, has led to concern among the observers. If police excesses in the name of security concerns in conflict zones are to be tolerated by the judiciary, and the judiciary meekly accepts such advice from the Government, then the signs are ominous, according to an activist lawyer, who has been fighting cases involving civil liberties. The IAPL has alleged that executive interference in judiciary in this manner militates against the basic structure of the Constitution which emphasises separation of powers and independence of judiciary. Lawyers point out that if the Executive is unhappy wih Gwal’s decisions, it has the option to appeal against them in the higher courts. Dismissing a Judge, soley on the ground of his decisions which were in favour of citizens, is inconsistent with the concept of independence of judiciary, they suggest. IAPL has called upon all, especially those from the legal fraternity to resist these moves to prejudice the judiciary and also demanded the immediate reinstatement of Prabhakar Gwal as the Sukma CJM. The press statement has been signed for IAPL, among others, by wellknown advocate from Raipur, Sudha Bharadwaj.
Salwa Judum is illegal, says Supreme Court
In a blow to both the Chhattisgarh government and the Centre, the Supreme Court has declared as illegal and unconstitutional the deployment of tribal youths as Special Police Officers - either as 'Koya Commandos', Salwa Judum or any other force - in the fight against the Maoist insurgency and ordered their immediate disarming.
The ruling - issued on Tuesday by Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar on the writ petition filed by social anthropologist Prof. Nandini Sundar and others - strongly indicted the State for violating Constitutional principles in arming youth who had passed only fifth standard and conferring on them the powers of police.
The Bench said “the State of Chhattisgarh shall forthwith make every effort to recall all firearms issued to any of the SPOs, whether current or former, along with any and all accoutrements and accessories issued to use such firearms. The word firearm as used shall include any and all forms of guns, rifles, launchers etc., of whatever calibre.”
Writing the order, Justice Reddy directed the State of Chhattisgarh to immediately cease and desist from using SPOs in any manner or form in any activities, directly or indirectly, aimed at controlling, countering, mitigating or otherwise eliminating Maoist/Naxalite activities in the State of Chhattisgarh.
The court directed the Centre and the State of Chhattisgarh to provide appropriate security forthwith, and undertake such measures “as are necessary, and within bounds of constitutional permissibility, to protect the lives of those who had been employed as SPOs previously, or who had been given any initial orders of selection or appointment, from any and all forces, including but not limited to Maoists/Naxalites.”
The Bench made it clear that the State of Chhattisgarh should take all appropriate measures to prevent the operation of any group, including but not limited to Salwa Judum and Koya commandos, that in any manner or form seek to take law into private hands, act unconstitutionally or otherwise violate the human rights of any person.
The Bench said “the measures to be taken by the State of Chhattisgarh shall include, but not be limited to, investigation of all previously inappropriately or incompletely investigated instances of alleged criminal activities of Salwa Judum, or those popularly known as Koya Commandos.”
The Bench held that the policy of the State violated the rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of those being employed as SPOs in Chattisgarh and used in counter-insurgency measures against Maoists/Naxalites, as well as of citizens living in those areas.
The Bench was of the view that effectiveness of the force "ought not to be, and cannot be, the sole yardstick to judge constitutional permissibility. Whether SPOs have been effective against Maoist/Naxalite activities in Chhattisgarh would seem to be a dubious, if not a debunked, proposition given the state of affairs in Chattisgarh. Even if we were to grant, for the sake of argument, that indeed the SPOs were effective against Maoists/Naxalites, the doubtful gains are accruing only by the incurrence of a massive loss of fealty to the Constitution, and damage to the social order."
The Bench said "The primordial value is that it is the responsibility of every organ of the State to function within the four corners of constitutional responsibility. That is the ultimate rule of law.”
It said “Indeed, we recognise that the State faces many serious problems on account of Maoist/Naxalite violence.Notwithstanding the fact that there may be social and economic circumstances, and certain policies followed by the State itself, leading to emergence of extremist violence, we cannot condone it.”
The Judges said “The attempt to overthrow the State itself and kill its agents, and perpetrate violence against innocent civilians, is destructive of an ordered life. The State necessarily has the obligation, moral and constitutional, to combat such extremism, and provide security to the people of the country.”
Indian villagers 'crushed' between militia and Maoists
A controversial state-backed militia has been reincarnated to take on leftist rebels in central India.
The violence that took place in this village nearly a decade ago is still visible. Charred logs are all that remain of a razed home, and barren land has replaced a once-thriving forest.
Residents of Bijapur district, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, fear the prospect of more fighting as a once-banned militia, Salwa Judum, has been reincarnated to fight communist groups opposed to resource extraction in the area.
Chhattisgarh has witnessed armed conflict for several decades now, partly over the region's rich deposits of coal, iron ore, and bauxite. The Indian government, which uses these minerals for electricity generation and steel and cement production, has fought Maoist groups known as Naxalites.
They oppose large-scale mining, arguing it disrupts the socioeconomic fabric of the forest-dwelling tribal people and harms the environment. The Naxalites began their armed campaign in the 1970s because of what they say is an unequal distribution of wealth.
In 2005, however, after nearly three decades of fighting the Naxalites, the Indian government began arming a civilian group to fight its battles. This militia, Salwa Judum, had a better understanding of the terrain and the local language - and was more ruthless than Indian security forces. Many villagers were forced to join the militia.
"The state was making us fight its battles," said Rosan Nikam, a Bijapur resident for the past three decades, speaking of how civilians were armed. "That had never happened before. The security forces fought the Maoists, not common villagers."
Many Salwa Judum members were civilians who received arms training from the state government. The young tribal members who were trained by the government came to be known as Special Police Officers (SPOs) and Koya Commandos.
"It was clearly a state-sponsored counterinsurgency programme," said Nandini Sundar, an academic who petitioned India's Supreme Court against Salwa Judum in 2007, a case that led
.02to the organisation's banning four years later.
About 670 villages in the Bastar region were affected by the ensuing violence, and although the residents have by now rebuilt their homes, many of them remain destitute.
The Supreme Court of India banned Salwa Judum in 2011, in light of the human rights violations it found it had committed.
But in May this year, shortly after the Chhattisgarh government signed agreements to build massive steel plants in the Bastar region, a group called Vikas Sangharsh Samiti was launched by Chhavindra Karma, with the aim of continuing Salwa Judum's struggle.
Salwa Judum had been led by Karma's father, the late Mahendra Karma, a Congress party leader assassinated by Naxalites along with 12 others as their convoy traveled through a forest in May 2013.
Chhavindra Karma claims that the Naxalites have killed 93 members of his extended family.
"Salwa Judum started with peace marches in villages. The objective of these marches was to make the people aware of Maoist excesses," said Karma. "It is the state that began to train tribals with guns."
The militia's critics say it is impossible to think of Salwa Judum as separate from the state. The SPOs and Koya Commandos drew their salaries from the state, earning as much as 9,000 rupees ($138) per month.
The Supreme Court ruling banning Salwa Judum forbids the creation of similar groups, but Vikas Sangharsh Samiti hopes to get around this by using a different name and a different structure.
Authorities in the Home Ministry in Delhi and the state government in Chhattisgarh did not respond to Al Jazeera's repeated requests for comment.
Chaitram Attami was a central figure in Salwa Judum, and used to call the shots in the mineral-rich Dantewads region.
He is now a local politician and travels with four rifle-wielding bodyguards. Attami lives in the Kaasoli camp, which is covered with barbed wire on all sides and has armed paramilitary men manning the entry and exit points.
Given the public outcry against Salwa Judum's new incarnation, Attami is taking a cautious approach.
"We will try and make it peaceful," he said. He admitted that Vikas Sangharsh Samiti has begun to go into the villages to warn their residents against supporting the Maoist agenda - which is exactly how Salwa Judum began its activities.
Meanwhile, villagers who are not affiliated with Salwa Judum or the Naxalites say they have borne the brunt of the violence. Many people in the south Bastar region give dreadful accounts of how their lives were turned upside down during the Salwa Judum era.
"We haven't completely recovered from the violence unleashed on our villages a few years ago, and there is already talk of more violence coming our way," said a 26-year-old man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals from either government security forces or the Naxalites.
Nikam, the Bijapur resident, said: "My house was burned twice in 2007. Everything I had, including my land documents, grains, bedding and clothes, were burned down."
Today, he cultivates what he believes to be his land. He is not sure because he no longer has his documents. If the authorities decide to evict him from his land, he will have no proof to fight his case.
He said he does not dare to take on the security forces for fear of false arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings.
And the Naxalites have been known to turn violent when villagers do not support them with information, food, water, and shelter when asked to do so.
"I think we live between a rock and a hard place," Nikam told Al Jazeera. "Sometimes, one is softer than the other; but mostly, we are crushed."
Salwa Judum's war on the people
Will the Supreme Court's Commissioners, ordered to carry out a fact-finding inspection, be allowed to visit the cut-off villages in Dantewada and Sukma in Chhattisgarh, and engage with the people on a long-term basis? KAVITA SRIVASTAVA
The Supreme Court order of March 29, 2011 asking its Commissioners and the District Collector to carry out a joint inspection in the three villages of Tademtla, Morapalli and Teemapuram, in the Chintalnaar area of Dantewada District is very significant and let us hope that the Apex court engages with the situation in these villages on a more long-term basis so that relief actually reaches and the people can rebuild their ravaged lives.
It maybe recalled that these three villages were attacked and burnt down by COBRA and Koya Commanders and SPOs of the Chhattisgarh Police on March 11 and 16, 2011. The plan of the Government of Chhattisgarh is very clear, which is to use the front of the Salwa Judum and SPOs and push these people out from their villages into either migrating out of their homelands into the Salwa Judum camps or to join the IDPs in Khammam, AP or go deeper into the forest area and join the Maoists or stay in the village and die of hunger. This tactics is not new. All this is being done in order to shrink the mass base of the Maoists.
Documented state violence
This is how it was done in 2005 and the first report of the PUCL, PUDR, carried out under the leadership of Dr. Binayak Sen, called “When the State makes War against its own People”, clearly documented this. This was also highlighted in subsequent human rights reports by various organisations and individuals. After all, in the first phase of the Salwa Judum, they pushed people out of their homes, hearth, farms, fields from hundreds of villages. It is ultimately a game of who will actually control these lands. So, as it was then so now, prevent people from being accessed, cut all communication and supply lines to the village and let them either join “us” or “them” or “die”.
Thus it is a test whether the SC Commissioners will be allowed to go to the area by the Chhattisgarh Government as the five earlier attempts in the last one week made by people to reach these areas from the Raipur-Jagdalpur-Sukma route was thwarted by stage-managed obstructions. And if they do manage to go, will it be sustained by allowing supplies and communication from being established?
The latest in the series of preventing the affected villagers from getting any aid was that of the team of 10 Congress MLAs whose attempt of going on March 29 with relief supplies was obstructed by the same set of people with the support of the police.
Ex-Minister turned back
The Congress team was led by Ex Home Minister Nand Kumar Patel. They left Sukma with food supplies at about 10.00 a.m. and proceeded towards Chintalnar. This team too was stopped at the same village Polampalli, where the Collector was stopped on March 24, 2011, by a group of about 25 SPOs and Salwa Judum persons only. The IG, Long Kumar of Bastar who was escorting them, instead of stopping the hoodlums prevented the Congress MLA team from going, saying that he could not provide security to them as there was a risk involved in going to the villages of Tadmetla, Morapalli, Teempuram. When the MLAs insisted that they would go as they argued that this kind of resistance was routine for politicians, they were told they would not be allowed. The IG, instead of using his command and stopping the SPOs and Salwa Judum personnel from breaking the law, arrested and brought the MLAs to Dornapal, where they were released on personal bonds. The Congress MLAs left for Raipur by evening to raise the issue in the State Assembly.
A day earlier, on March 28, on the instructions of the District Collector, the Dornapal village Naib Tehsildar, Vijendra Patil, tried to take relief to the three villages. At around noon he was stopped and not allowed to proceed. When the ASI Dhruv tried to clear the obstruction at Polampalli he was stopped by an SPO.
In the police hierarchy the SPO would be at the lowest rung, but here they are the war lords. They even refused to take instructions from the District Collector and the Divisional Commissioner who tried to go there with supplies on March 24. They threatened the SDM who went ahead with the supplies, then on March 26, Swami Agnivesh was stopped twice, although he was being taken by the Additional SP Marawi in his own vehicle, they did not spare their own senior and threw stones and smashed the vehicle. It took the Additional SP two days of struggle to get an FIR lodged as the local police station would not lodge a case against the Salwa Judum and SPO lords of the region. And, of course, IG Long Kumar also does not want to exercise his control over them.
Which means that till now, all those who have attempted to visit those areas from the Sukma end have been prevented by the Government from going there. On March 20 and 21, the Times of India and The Hindu reporters were prevented from going to the area. They could only reach there through a longer and difficult alternate route. The All India team of members from the democratic rights organisations who went there on the same dates as Swami Agnivesh could reach and conduct a fact finding could do so because they took a third route to get there. This the first fact-finding team that visited the area after September 2009, since the PUDR team had gone to Gompad area when 16 people were killed by CRPF and other forces in its Operation Green Hunt intervention. And subsequently teams were not allowed to go to the affected areas (A women's team was not allowed to visit Samsetti village to study a gang rape case on December 15, 2009. Professors Nandini Sundar and Ujjwal Singh of DU were chased out of Dantewada and Sukma, were not allowed to stay in any hotel on the eve of the new year of 2010. Then Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey led a NAPM team of 40 people in early January, 2010 and they too were harassed and were not allowed to move freely into the areas to hear the woes of tribals and then in May 2010 a team led by Prof. Yashpal and 40 other intellectuals met the same fate).
Urgent questions
Now suppose the SC Commissioners are taken by chopper from Raipur to these villages, then they will have to go alone and not with a local team of journalists or villagers who can be objective local guides for such visits. And then having gone once will they be able to sustain the access of supplies with the help of the Supreme Court? Who will monitor it there? Till public access of these villages is not assured nobody will know what is happening there.
The news of how a Government lets its “lesser people” be killed, raped, their houses and granaries burnt, allows them to live in conditions of food scarcity, perhaps even die of starvation does not even make it to the national channels. Soon this will be forgotten, till the Maoists strike back and then we will only see channel after channel breaking news, calling the poor tribals, terrorists, monsters and killers. And the human rights workers will be verbally flogged with the pitch of the anchors going higher and higher on these very channels.
Would not the Chhattisgarh Government be responsible for that eventuality, if it ever happens? We should all raise our voices and stop this from happening.
Kavita Srivastava is a national secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan and is the petitioner in the Supreme Court in the PUCL petition on the Right to Food.
having gone once will they be able to sustain the access of supplies with the help of the Supreme Court?
Salwa Judum-2 is born in Bastar
Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma’s son Chhavindra Karma and former leaders of the anti-Maoist militia formed “Vikas Sangharsh Samiti” on Monday in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, which will carry forward the work of Salwa Judum in Bastar.
“I had invited all the leaders and workers associated with the Salwa Judum for a meeting on Monday. The new samiti will strive to bring peace to Bastar,” Chhavindra Karma told The Hindu .
Padyatra
Asked if it could be called Salwa Judum part two, Mr. Karma said, “Yes, you can call it so. The new outfit will undertake padyatra (marches) in various parts of Bastar to spread awareness against Maoism. We will seek the help of the State government so that our awareness campaigns would be followed by development works in the region.”
The Supreme Court had declared the Salwa Judum “illegal and unconstitutional” and had ordered its disbandment in 2011.
“Peaceful movement”
Led by former Congress leader Mahendra Karma, the anti-Maoist militia was blamed for large-scale “forcible displacement” of Bastar tribals and extra-judicial killings.
“The Salwa Judum part two will be peaceful. Our main aim is to finish Maoism in Bastar and bring development.
Already more than 18 village panchayats have banned the entry of Maoists in their villages,” claimed Mr. Karma.
Chaitram Mattami, P.Vijay, Sattar Ali and Sukhram Dadi, who had led Salwa Judum in their respective areas in its first edition, attended the meeting on Monday.
Chaitram Mattami, P. Vijay and Mr. Chhavindra Karma would be leading the new anti-Maoist outfit and its first major event will take place in Karma’s ancestral village Faraspal in Dantewada on the second death anniversary of Mahendra Karma on May 25. He died in a Maoist attack in 2013.
All Salwa Judum leaders from Konta block in Sukma to Bhopalpattnam block in Bijpur district of Bastar attended Monday’s meeting, claimed Mr. Karma.
In Chhattisgarh’s Bastar, a front similar to Salwa Judum is taking shape
A decade after Mahendra Karma launched Salwa Judum, the slain Congress leader’s son Chhavindra is trying to start another movement against Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
A decade after Mahendra Karma launched Salma Judum, the slain Congressleader’s son Chhavindra is trying to start another movement against Maoists in Chhattisgarh, looking for police and government support and raising fears of a rerun of the violence. Ashutosh Bhardwaj reports from Bastar
The coincidence is stark. Exactly a decade ago, on June 4, 2005, the Chhattisgarh government signed an MoU with the Tatas for a mega steel plant in Bastar, with Maoists being the only hurdle. The following day, Salwa Judum was launched to evict Maoists from the region, a move that went on to define the last decade of the insurgency.
Last month in Dantewada, in PM Narendra Modi’s presence, the Raman Singh government signed MoUs for an ultra mega steel plant and a rail line in Bastar. Meanwhile, a front similar to Salwa Judum has been taking shape. The earlier movement was led by the late Mahendra Karma; the new one, called Vikas Sangharsh Samiti, is headed by his son Chhavindra.
The beginning of the Samiti too sounds eerily familiar. In 2005, Karma began padyatras across South Bastar urging tribals to come out of their villages and live in camps for a decisive battle against the Maoists. Now, Chhavindra plans similar campaigns with former Judum commanders. He has sought government support and police protection, and said he is ready for any “qurbani”.
The possibility of what this will lead to chills many people. In the 30 months of Salwa Judum before it fizzled out in 2007, Chhattisgarh saw the deaths of 325 security personnel, 609 civilians and 165 suspected Maoists. That’s 1,099 deaths, or a death a day; Judum leaders say the number is far higher.
A little away from the Faraspal home of Karma stand a series of monuments built in the memory of his relatives. Near the home is Karma’s statute with folded hands.
“Including my papa, 95 people of my family have been killed in this battle. They say I am doing raajniti. I carry the family responsibility of freeing this area from Naxals,” says Chhavindra, 34. He insists there won’t be any violence this time, but with police already declaring support, he knows what he’s preparing for. “Is ladai men qurbaniyan deni hi padengi (this war won’t be won without sacrifice). Let the first bullet hit my chest.”
As of now, Chhavindra or the new front has little popular support or military strength. It hopes the government support will turn things its way. The plan is to go on padyatras and tell villagers to stop supporting Maoists — just like Karma had done once.
Remains of Salwa Judum
At its peak, Judum had around 100 major leaders. Just around 15 are alive today.
Mahendra Karma had three chief lieutenants heading a district each — Soyam Muka in Sukma, Chaitram Attami in Dantewada and Mahadev Rana in Bijapur. Rana was killed. Attami, uprooted from his village a decade ago, lives in a Salwa Judum camp, while Muka, also uprooted, says he has lost more relatives than anyone else. “You will find maximum Soyams in the list of the killed,” he adds, as he mentions his deceased elder brother Soyam Mukesh.
A primary teacher, Muka had picked up the gun at the call of his mama, Karma. Chhavindra wants him to join the new movement, but Muka says, “After Karma’s death, I lost faith. When he was alive I thought if he could defeat death, so could I.”
Another Judum leader, Sattar Ali, was in Karma’s vehicle when Maoists attacked the Congress convoy in May 2013. “When the Maoists opened fire, Karmaji came out. He offered his life and saved all of us.”
Chhavindra, who accompanied his father during the Judum campaigns, is banking on his father’s stature. “When Salwa Judum was on, whose statements were published? The CM’s? No, it was Karmaji’s,” he says.
During the assembly election campaign for their mother Devti, Karma’s sons had accused Raman Singh of betraying their father. “It was a mistake to have taken the support of the government during Salwa Judum. Raman Singh withdrew later,” they had said. Of late, Chhavindra has been making public calls for government support again.
The government imprint
Dantewada stands at the confluence of rivers Dankini and Shankhi, names with diametrically opposite meanings. Dankini means a sting, Shankhi the holy conch. Led by a Congress leader, supported by the BJP government, Salwa Judum too had dichotomy as an intrinsic part.
That continues. Dantewada BJP zilla panchayat member Chaitram Attami was on stage when Chhavindra, a Congress secretary, and others announced the formation of the new Samiti. Days later, Attami was overseeing laying of a helipad in Dantewada for PM Modi to land on.
Attami had controlled Judum operations in Dantewada the last time too, earning Z category security. Guarded by 16 cops, he lives with his wife and a baby in a camp at Kasauli.
Speaking at Karma’s death anniversary last month, Bastar IGP S R Kalluri declared his support for the Samiti. “The national media has misrepresented Vikas Sangharsh Samiti and wrongly compared it with Salwa Judum so that someone gets a chance to go to the court against it,” he said. Kalluri asserted Salwa Judum was not properly defended in court, and should anyone challenge the legality of the new front, he will defend it.
Chief Minister Raman Singh believed that “Salwa Judum was a people’s movement, a jan andolan.” He hinted at government support to the front: “On the issue of garnering consent among people, making them ready and creating a certain atmosphere — there should be awareness. If we stand up against Naxals on the streets and bring villagers along, I have to ensure they are protected.”
The state Congress has rejected the new campaign. “The Supreme Court banned special police officers. The Congress distances itself from this venture,” says PCC chief Bhupesh Baghel.
The forgotten camps
Across the road from Bastar’s first fortified police station, in Dornapal of Sukma, is the largest Salwa Judum camp. It once had over 25,000 uprooted tribals from 72 villages.
Tiny huts crowd narrow lanes. A wistful Janaki Kawasi, 32, rushes closer. “Have you been to Jagargunda? My village Milampalli is not far from there. How is it now?” she says. Then, her voice drops. “I know, nothing can be left now. It’s all deserted.”
Since she came here in 2007 with her husband, she has become a zilla panchayat member from the BJP. Yet she longs for home. “What’s here? Everything got left there.”
Over two dozen such camps came up in South Bastar as around one lakh tribals left their villages, not all of them by choice.
Most Judum camps came up along highways or roads, but the heavily fortified one in Jagargunda is in the wilderness. It houses over 4,000, who wanted to stay closer home and ended up vulnerable. Janaki’s father-in-law Kawasi Hadma was among those who stayed back. He was killed last November.
Vetti Meena recently gave birth to a son in the Dornapal camp and grieves that he is confined. Her husband was an SPO and is now posted 50 km away. She resigns herself to fate: “Policewale kabhi nahin laut payenge. Yahin marna hai ab (Policemen won’t ever be able to go back. We will die here.”
There are 184 families still at the camp where Attami stays, at least 100 of SPOs. The government has stopped providing rations. Guarded by police, they live in constant fear of attack. Maoists had attacked a Salwa Judum camp in July 2006 in Errabore, leaving 32 dead, including two babies. They had also abducted 42 and publicly executed six.
In the 2013 polls, which Karma’s wife Devti contested, his sons promised to ensure the return home of camp inmates. Eldest son Deepak calls the conditions in the camps Judum’s biggest failure. “Tribal girls faced the worst sexual harassment by security forces,” he says.
“How could my father have checked or foreseen that? It was the task of the government to run these camps. But the government stopped giving them even rations.”
The renewed fear
Salwa Judum had effectively given the Maoists a boost. Though present in Bastar for over two decades, they had limited dominance or military capacity. As Judum leaders pushed villagers out of their homes, the SPOs were accused of torture. At least 5,000 locals joined the Maoist ranks during those months. From small dalams, Maoists graduated to platoons, companies and battalions.
Kichhe Nanda is among the SPOs facing rape charges. He denies that at first, then lashes out bitterly, “We were young, given rifles, and told to hunt for Naxals.” There were “atrocities” from the other side too, he says.
Editor of daily Bastar Impact Suresh Mahapatra recalls the Rani Bodli attack of March 2007, when 55 policemen and SPOs were killed. “This incident was the defining point in my life. When I saw half-burnt and beheaded bodies, it occurred to me that this war had no rules now,” he says.
Attami, among the earliest SPOs to sign up, says: “You talk about police atrocities, but do you know what the Naxals did? Agar beta ko maarna hai to maa aur baap ko us par patthar marne ko bolte the (If they wanted to kill someone, they forced his parents to throw stones at him).” Accusing the Maoists of dragging them into battle, Attami adds, “They had a grudge against capitalists. Why didn’t they kill them themselves? We tribals knew nothing about the world, but they made us fight their battles. Is it janvaad?”
Sukhdev Tati reflects they were left with little choice: either become Maoists or fight with police. “We wanted it to be peaceful, but Salwa Judum had aggression. It failed as we could not tell people what our aim was.”
However, many of the tribals have no enmity towards the Maoists. “Adivasi log hi to mar rahe hain. Yahan bhi adivasi, wahan bhi,” says Janaki. Teacher Mandavi says it emphatically. “They (Maoists) are our own people. We don’t want this violence.”
“Once again the terror and oppression of Salwa Judum is going to start. Bastar could be protected only if this campaign is defeated,” said a recent Maoist statement urging people “to rise against the proposed Salwa Judum-2”.
Where they are now: Key survivors from Salwa Judum
Soyam Muka: Congress member, lives in Konta away from his Gaganpalli village he left during Judum. Farming. Moves without vehicle.
Karma family: Mahendra Karma’s wife Devti Karma is a Congress MLA, two of her four sons hold positions in the Congress.
Chaitram Attami: Dantewada BJP zilla panchayat member, uprooted from his village, lives in a Salwa Judum camp in Kasauli, Dantewada.
Sukhdev Tati: BJP member, farmer in Dantewada.
Sattar Ali: Contractor, runs trucks, lives in Jagdalpur.
Vikram Mandavi: Congress member, contested 2013 assembly polls from Bijapur.
O, JIHADIS, FREEDOM FIGHTERS, TERRORISTS & NAXALITES
INTROSPECT YOURSELF
Kashmiri militants claim they are fighting for kashmiris, when the very same kashmiris were suffering from loses due to earthquake why didn't the so-called jihadis didn't make any relief efforts? Why didn't their foreign master – Pakistan didn't make any relief efforts? Within the pak occupied Kashmir ( pok) itself, Pakistan didn't make appropriate relief efforts. It is government of India & international community who provided proper & timely relief.
The foreign powers are not at all interested in your well being. They are ready to spend millions of dollars for aiding terrorism, but not ready to spend a few hundreds for your education , health care or self employment schemes through NGOs. The fact is they don't want your well being, they don't want you to prosper, live peacefully. The ultimate objective of these foreign powers is to take you on the path of self destruction, destruction of your motherland & to finally usurp the power, to subjugate you into slavery in turn looting the resources of your country.
Ofcourse, in India there is rampant corruption. Still democracy is live & kicking in India, it is the best form of governance. You have got real examples of countries in Africa, latin America, wherein the countries have secured independence through separatist / terrorist movements. The terrorist leaders themselves have become prime minister / president of newly independent countries. Now, they are more corrupt & barbaric than their predecessors . even after getting independence, the lives of commonfolk has become bad to worse. By independence , only leaders have benefited. Will you lead another struggle ? this is endless, as the selfishness , greed of leaders knows no bounds.
In the past, government of India aided tamil separatists, Pakistan terrorists, etc, butchering innocents. The government of U.S.A aided terrorists in Africa, afghanisthan, latin America , murdering innocents. Various countries have aided terrorism while preaching peace. These barbaric acts were motivated by selfish, corrupt, ego-centric leaders. Now, in the bomeerang effects of their actions, innocents are dying in bomb blasts, etc.
Violence breds violence. Peace & compassion results in all round harmony, prosperity. Every human being must struggle against injustices in a peaceful & legal manner. The struggle must be against the corrupt system, for that peaceful struggle democracy is the best forum. Don't be pawns in the hands of foreign powers, politicians. They are not at all interested in your welfare, well being. At the end, it is the leaders who become ministers & amass wealth through corruption. The common folk like you will remain as fiddlings, minions forever.
Just imagine yourselves in the place of victims of delhi serial bomb blasts (29/10/2005) or Mumbai blasts of 26/11/08 . just imagine the plight of little child MOSHE who has lost both his parents , imagine Your mother & wife are crying, your children are dead , your father's hands & limbs are ripped apart in the blast. How does it feel to be one ? no religion, no god asks it's followers to cause destruction. All religions, gods are full of eternal love & compassion. Let that god shine his light, upon you all on the violent path.
Whether it is in india or else where , democratic system is best form of governance. The people in those countries suffer due to corrupt public servants . in all such cases , the legal , non violent fight must be against the corrupt people , corrupt police , corrupt judges , CORRUPT public servants but not against the system itself.
Let us build ram rajya of mahatma's dream through non violent means within the existing democratic framework . Jai Hind. Vande Mataram.
Your’s sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.
Imposition of Industrial Projects – Cause of Naxalism , SALWA JUDUM
India is a democratic country with self governance of people. Members of Legislative Assemblies and Members of Parliament are elected by people to be their representatives in the respective houses. These MPs , MLAs must represent the aspirations of people in their constituency in the floor of the house. They must not work against the aspirations of people , in that case representative role ceases. When a people say in bastar district doesn’t want a particular industrial project in their area and communicate it to the government through their MPs & MLAs , who the hell MPs , MLAs , State Government Ministers & Central government ministers are to impose it on those particular area people. It is illegal , breach of democracy. In these type of impositions , public servants take sides with big industries , MNCs which flout many laws and pays a pittance as compensation to people. Gross injustices are meted out to public , which raises discontent in public. Fertile ground of discontented public is used by criminal elements to raise terror out fits like naxalites , salwa judum , etc. Law must be held high , naxalites , salwa judum cadre must be dealt with the same footing on the same ground and root cause must be addressed by government. Any displacements of people , invite to big projects must be done as per the aspirations of people , if people don’t want a project , a skewed model of development , reject it. Who the hell government ministers are to impose it on people . Ministers are public servants not dictators to impose on people.
Naxalism a result of an oversight of statutes, says SC
Emphasising on validation of rights of tribals and forest-dwellers over the forest lands, the Supreme Court has said that Naxalism was a result of an oversight of constitutional provisions relating to administration of schedule areas and tribes of the country.
"Nobody looks at Schedules V and VI of the Constitution and the result is Naxalism. Urbanites are ruling the nation. Even several union of India counsel are oblivious of these provisions under the Constitution," said a Bench led by Justice A K Patnaik.
The Bench made a reference to Schedules V and VI as they contain various provisions relating to administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes in several parts of the country. These provisions apply to states like Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Rajasthan and Northeastern states such as Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Essentially these Constitutional provisions, with the help of plethora of judgments by the apex court, act as a guarantee to indigenous people on the right over the land they live in and its produce.
During a recent hearing on fresh guidelines over tiger reserves, the Bench made certain queries from Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising over the Centre's proposal to relocate indigenous people who were still living in the core areas of tiger reserves.
The ASG had informed the Bench there were around 43,000 families still residing in core areas of tiger reserves and that the plan was to gradually move them out after proper consultation with Gram Sabhas. On being asked about the legal provisions to support the argument, she also read out from the 2006 Forest Rights Act and the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act.
Asserting that all stakeholders should first ensure the legal rights of the tribals are not violated, Justice Patnaik said their rights must be settled in accordance with the provisions of the law.
"There is apparently no human-tiger conflict at least as far as these tribals are concerned. Everyone must remember that forests belong to forest-dwellers. British government considered forests of immense value and said through laws that all forests belonged to government. These people were brought down to poverty and they couldn't earn their living. They will be arrested for consuming the forest produce; such was their law," said Justice Patnaik.
His concerns were echoed by senior advocate Dushyanat Dave, who said forest-dwellers used to get arrested trying and collect wood or pick fruits from the forests.
The Bench, however, seemed satisfied with the promulgation of the 2006 Forest Rights Act and said this situation was sought to be reversed by the new legislation as it sought to identify their rights.
"One law can make a big difference. Zamindari abolition law is a good example how a law can reverse the situation," said Justice Patnaik, adding it was not the state but its forest departments' officers who did not want to give up their control over the forests.
At this, the ASG said the Centre was conscious of its duty towards protecting the rights of forest-dwellers and would relocate them after following the legal process.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG5hVPw0vnQ ,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKh-YWueYak ,
To,
Honourable Chief Justice of India ,
c/o Registrar,
Supreme Court of India,
New Delhi.
Honourable sir ,
Subject : - PIL Appeal To Honorable Supreme court of India For Writ of Mandamus ATROCITIES AGAINST DALITS IN KARNATAKA BY HONOURABLE GOVERNOR OF KARNATAKA
In Karnataka dalits are oppressed in various ways by the influential people ,
1. In the recruitment process at Karnataka State Open University , vice chancellor / vested interests recruited unfit candidates belonging to their own community sidelining the deserving dalit candidates .
2. In the recruitment process at Mysore University , vice chancellor / vested interests recruited unfit candidates belonging to their own community sidelining the deserving dalit candidates .
3. In the recruitment process at Hassan , Mandya , Mysore & Shimoga Medical Colleges , vested interests recruited unfit candidates belonging to their own community sidelining the deserving dalit candidates .
4. In the recruitment process of KPSC for gazetted officers , vested interests recruited unfit candidates belonging to their own community sidelining the deserving dalit candidates .
5. The Karnataka government officials immediately evict temporary hutments built by tribals , dalits on government land and demolish those hutments. Whereas they allow huge buildings , complexes to be built on government land by influential upper caste people. The government has kept those illegal buildings intact for years , allowed the encroachers to earn lakhs of rupees and now in the process of regularizing those illegal encroachments.
The honourable governor of Karnataka , instead of taking legal action and legally prosecuting the guilty has taken side with the guilty themselves. He has approved AKRAMA SAKRAMA scheme of the government , no action was taken against vice chancellors of KSOU & Mysore University, etc. This is nothing but indirect way of atrocities against dalits , by supporting perpetrators of atrocities.
As a result , Since years unfit people are working as KAS officers , unfit people are working in KSOU , Mysore University , Unfit people are working in medical colleges of Madya / Hassan / Mysore / Shimoga and earning thousands of rupees monthly salary. Influential upper caste people are earning lakhs of rupees as rent from land encroachments and are on the verge of becoming legal owners of encroached lands.
The poor dalits although talented & deserving are without jobs , without livelihood & shelter.
Hereby , we appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India ,
1. To criminally prosecute government of Karnataka chief secretary & governor of Karnataka , for all the above mentioned recruitment scandals , for their failure of duties.
2. To immediately evict land encroachers & prosecute them.
3. To recover monetary gains made by the encroachers.
4. To terminate the services of unfit candidates selected in the above mentioned recruitment processes.
5. To legally prosecute the recruiting authority officials in all the above recruitments.
6. To make proper appointments with due consideration to dalits , backward class people in all the above institutions.
Date : 01.02.2014 Your’s sincerely,
Place : Mysore Nagaraja. M . R.
To,
Honourable Chief Justice of India ,
c/o Registrar,
Supreme Court of India,
New Delhi.
Honourable sir ,
Subject : - PIL Appeal To Honorable Supreme court of India For Writ of Mandamus
LITMUS TEST for HONESTY of SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
AKrama Sakrama Project itself is an AKRAMA
AKRAMA SAKRAMA / REGULARISATION OF ILLEGAL LAND ENCROACHMENTS ILLEGAL LAND CONSTRUCTIONS BUILDING BYE-LAW VIOLATIONS
KIADB de-notification scandal , BMIC – NICE SCANDAL , MINING SCANDALS and Threats to RTI Applicant
Rich builders , crooks in their greed for more money ( knowing fully well the illegalities ) have constructed buildings on public land , constructed buildings violating the building bye-laws. Now , those crooks are earning lakhs of rupees rental income . The government law enforcement agencies were mum , didn’t demolish such buildings in time , allowing time for crooks to benefit from anticipated regularisation. However the same government agencies have not shown kind consideration to poor people who have constructed temporary hutments on public land . Those hutments were immediately demolished & people evicted. The government is not giving land / livelihood rights to tribal people living in areas bordering forests. The forest officials are slapping charges against tribal people who are living in forests since centuries , where as the same government is permitting resorts , hydel power companies in the same forests.
Whether in the cities , towns or in villages , the backward class people are struggling hard to earn their daily income , daily bread , let alone encroach government land & build a house. Even if they do , the local biggies , political chelas , panchayath members belonging to upper caste will immediately evict them & demolish the illegal structure.
Majority of illegal land encroachments in cities , towns & villages are done by persons having political influence , money power & belonging to majority upper caste communities , in their greed for money , wealth.
These building bye-law violators , Land grabbers are not poor people living below poverty line earning only rupees 32 per day as per planning commission of india. These rich crooks don’t deserve sympathy , kind consideration as they have committed the crime knowing fully well the illegalities and they can bear the loss due to the demolition of their illegal buildings. The government must also recover rent & other monetary gains made out of those illegal buildings by the builder.
The recent move of Government of Karnataka to regularize building bye-law violations & Public Land Grabbers amounts to :
1. Rewards for illegalities , crimes if one is rich.
2. Punishes , demotivates honest law abiding citizens.
3. Double standards in law – one set for rich & one set for the poor.
4. Favoritism of majority upper caste & oppression of backward caste people.
5. Total disregard to safety of people in those illegal buildings .
6. Total disregard to safety of people in the neighbourhood and people using roads passing by those illegal buildings.
7. The government of Karnataka move is a cunning ploy , to regularize illegal land encroachments by upper caste people in the name of helping oppressed backward class people.
8. The Karnataka Governor’s approval of Karnataka Government’s Akrama Sakrama scheme is nothing but appreciation of crime & rewards for criminals.
Hereby , we appeal to Honourable Supreme Court of India to annul the government of karnataka’s move to regularize illegal land encroachments.
Date : 01.02.2014 Your’s sincerely,
Place : Mysore Nagaraja. M . R.
KPSC scam: Hiremath urges CID for report
Convener of the Jan Sangram Parishad and social activist S.R. Hiremath on Friday urged the CID, which is probing the Karnataka Public Service Commission scam, to submit its final report at the earliest.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Hiremath said the CID was yet to complete its final report even four months after the submission of the interim report. Though he was full of praise for the comprehensive manner in which the interim report was prepared, he said action against the guilty could not be initiated based on that alone.
He urged the government to show its commitment to providing clean and corruption-free administration by taking action against KPSC former chairman Gonal Bhimappa and others allegedly involved in the scam. He demanded that charge sheets should be filed against them, besides arresting them. He also demanded that assets disproportionate to their known sources of income should be confiscated by the government. “The intention is to not only bring the guilty to book, but also to prevent recurrence of such incidents,” he said.
He urged the government to cleanse the KPSC by remodelling it on the lines of the Union Public Service Commission.
Expressing concern over the allegations that bribes to the tune of Rs. 70 lakh to Rs. 1.5 crore had been collected from the candidates by the KPSC members to give them posts of assistant commissioners, Mr. Hiremath said this would affect the fabric of the State administration.
CID submits report on KPSC recruitment scam
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which carried out a probe into the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitment scam, submitted its report to the Government on Wednesday.
The State Government had ordered a CID inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the selection of candidates for Gazetted Probationers Group A and B posts by the KPSC earlier this year. The Government order came after several candidates complained of corruption in the selection process.
CID sources said the inquiry report was submitted by the Director-General of Police, CID, Bipin Gopalakrishna, to the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary, Government of Karnataka. A copy of the report was also submitted to Director- General and Inspector-General of Police Lalrokhuma Pachau.
CID sources say that a draft chargesheet will be submitted to the government in a week's time to seek sanction for prosecution of the public servants mentioned in the report. After the government approval is received, a formal chargesheet will be submitted to the court.
The CID probe began after the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) lodged a complaint with the Vidhana Soudha police against a KPSC member, Mangala Sridhar, and her personal assistant for demanding bribe from an aspirant. The FIR also included the names of former KPSC Chairman Gonal Bhimappa, and two engineers of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).
The FIR was filed following a complaint by Mythri, an MD in Paediatrics and the topper in the ST category in the KAS exams, who had alleged that she was given low marks in the interview after she refused to heed the demand by a KPSC member for a bribe of Rs. 70 lakh for getting the post of Assistant Commissioner (Revenue).
U R Ananthamurthy May Write to Prez over Appointment of V-Cs
The controversy over the appointment of Davangere University vice-chancellor may reach the President of India. Dr U R Ananthamurthy, Chairman of the Search Committee constituted for the selection of vice-chancellor, is thinking of writing to President Pranab Mukherjee over the way the V-Cs are being appointed in the State.
Reacting to the controversy, Ananthamurthy told Express, “I will speak to the Chief Minister about the issue. I want the Chief Minister to take the up the issue, and if he doesn’t, I will take up the issue to President.”
“I know that we cannot change the appointment which is already made. But my wish is it should not happen in other appointments,” Murthy said.
He said he is disappointed with the way some members of the Search Committee behaved. “Some members wanted to send four names in the panel, which is against the rule. When I suggested a senior Kannada professor’s name, one of the members said, we need a person who is capable of bringing money from corporate sector as V-C and not the one who studied literature,” he said.
According to Murthy, some members had decided on who should be the V-C. “It is really an insult to me. I wanted the process to be transparent and merit-based. The Chancellor did not consult the government while issuing the order and the government’s consent was not taken,” he said.
However, when contacted, Prof N S Ramegowda, Governor’s nominee in the committee questioned Murthy’s stand.
“Once the panel report is submitted to the government, the responsibility and the role of the search committee ends. The final decision lies with the Governor as per rules. The Chairman of the committee did not raise any objection when the names were finalised. Why is he going to government now for one person. Is it not lobbying?”
“It’s between the government and Governor. The committee’s work is over,” he remarked.
CM Favours One Candidate, Guv Appoints Another
The Search Committee, headed by Jnanpith awardee and former V-C of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, U R Ananthamurthy decided to conduct interviews before finalising names for the V-C’s post. The committee met in the first week of November, shortlisted 16 candidates and asked them to come for an interview on December 17 with powerpoint presentations about their views.
After the interview, the committee finalised three names. The first name was Dr Janardhan, second was Dr L Gomathi Devi and the third was Dr B B Kalival. It submitted the list to the government.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah personally examined this list and considering the social justice and merit, he approved Gomathi Devi’s name and forwarded it to Governor and Chancellor. But on Saturday, without consulting the government or the CM, the Governor issued the appointment order by approving Kalival’s name.
‘I am Hurt’
Reacting to these developments, Gomathi Devi said, “I am really hurt with this. But I cannot question the decision of the Chancellor. I can say that I was capable and eligible (for the post).”
Governor seeks inquiry into Karnataka State Open University irregularities
MYSORE: Based on a request from department of higher education, the governor had directed the ?Governor seeks inquiry, Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) VC to inquire and submit a report on the alleged irregularities in the university on six counts. Issues which should be inquired into include marks card scandal and appointment of 21 regional directors causing illegal expenditure to the university to the tune of Rs 2 crore per annum.
Governor's secretary in his letter written on behalf of the former to KSOU VC had claimed that governor has directed him to seek comments if any in the matter in respect of six allegations.
First allegation is about marks card scandal in which the authorities under the supervision of deputy registrar have tampered the marks cards of degree students. "There are more than 300 incidents of tampering since 2006 to 2010," the letter noted adding that though a couple of officials have been sent home, deputy registrar HL Vishwanath under whose supervision the scandal took place has continued in his service and promoted to registrar's post.
Another major allegation is temporary appointment of 21 regional directors in violation of section 2(9) (3) of the general recruitment statute 2004 of Karnataka Universities Act and hiking their salaries resulting in serious financial burden on the varsity. Appointment and continuation of 21 regional directors is per se illegal, the letter said adding that the action has to be initiated against the concerned accused persons.
Letter also pointed out that KSOU illegally regularized the services of 28 temporary assistant professors in violation of the appointment norms, rules and regulations and these appointments are in contradiction of the UGC rules and directly contravened the Apex court judgment, the letter pointed out.
Letter revealed the bizarre violation of the rules by KSOU authorities in promotion of an electrician and a water supply operator as junior engineers.
Letter raised the issue of mass copying by students in the examinations and said action of the university to open centres outside Karnataka is in direct contravention of the Supreme court judgment in Yashpal case suggesting a detailed inquiry into it.
Governor said VC should send his comments on the issues raised in the letter with in 30 days and if he fails to respond he will be free to take appropriate decision on the irregularities on the basis of the records. These irregularities took between 2006 and 2013.
Hassan , Mysore , Mandya & Shimoga Medical College Recruitment scam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qh1QKincqA
Javare Gowda draws flak for ‘misusing' fast
Gandhiji's motives were altruistic, not Javare Gowda's: Chandrashekar Patil
MYSORE: Former president of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat Chandrashekar Patil has lashed out at writer and former Mysore University Vice-Chancellor D. Javare Gowda for defending his son J. Shashidhar Prasad in the university recruitment scandal episode.
Prof. Javare Gowda went on a fast in the city on Wednesday and defended Prof. Prasad, who is at the centre of a controversy surrounding the recruitment process in the university. Prof. Prasad was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore.
A one-man commission probed the recruitment scandal and pronounced Shashidhar Prasad guilty of violating University Grants Commission recruitment norms. But Governor H.R. Bhardwaj, who is also the Chancellor of the university, stayed criminal proceedings against Prof. Prasad on the grounds that it was illegal.
This resulted in vociferous reactions by students and staff of the varsity.
Pained by the series of agitations, Prof. Javare Gowda said the recruitment of candidates was approved by the university Syndicate and the Registrar, and hence, all had to shoulder collective responsible for the process.
This stance has incensed teachers.
Prof. Patil, who addressed a press meet here on Thursday, criticised the move to undertake the fast. “Being a senior writer, Prof. Javare Gowda should have maintained a dignified silence instead of blindly defending his son. Mahatma Gandhi used fasting as an instrument to pursue a noble cause, but Prof. Javare Gowda used it to serve a selfish end,” he said.
Prof. Patil, along with film actor Lohitashwa, staged a demonstration at Gandhi Square in condemnation of the fast.
Mr. Lohitashwa said the Governor should direct the Government to invoke the provisions of law against Prof. Shashidhar Prasad and uphold the sanctity of the University of Mysore.
Prof. Patil also took a dim view of a few writers who supported Prof. Javare Gowda and said the latter's love for his son was understandable, but the support of the writers was incomprehensible. Prof. Patil said if those responsible for violating recruitment norms in the university were not punished, a Statewide agitation would be launched.
ABVP plans Manasagangothri bundh tomorrow
Mysore, August 14, DH News Service:
Akhila Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) has called for Manasagangotri bundh on August 16 urging the State Government to file a criminal case against former vice-chancellor of University of Mysore, Prof Shashidhar Prasad for recruiting 162 persons by flouting rules and regulations.
In a press release here, K Vasanthkumar, divisional organising secretary of Mysore Division of ABVP said Prof Shashidhar Prasad, during his tenure, filled up 162 posts in teaching and non-teaching categories by not following any prescribed rules and regulations.
This is a biggest scandal and has been a black spot in the history of University of Mysore. The deserving candidates belonging to the SC/ST, backward classes and minorities, had been denied jobs. An committee headed by retired judge of Karnataka High Court, H Rangavittalachar, constituted to probe the allegations, has given a report that irregularities has been committed in the appointment of 161 persons. Besides, the committee had stated that roster has not been violated by the varsity.
Subsequently, the government directed the varsity authorities to book a criminal case against Prof Shashidhar Prasad.
He said later, the incumbent Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj, has written a letter to the vice-chancellor, Prof V G Talawar not to book criminal case against Prof Shashidhar Prasad. The governor who talks of corruption in mining, is trying to shield Prof Shashidhar Prasad who has been indicted by the inquiry commission. This has given room suspicion about the style of functioning of the chancellor’s office.
He said their demands are; filing criminal case against Prof Shashidhar Prasad, cancellation of all 162 appointments done by him, starting recruitment process afresh, action against members of Academic council and Syndicate who were equally responsible for recruitment.
The ABVP has planned post card campaign on this issue. It has requested all the students to send post cards to President Pratibha Patil seeking her intervention and directing the government to proceed with the criminal case against Prof Shashidhar Prasad.
Probe into lapses in medical college recruitment
Guilty will be punished, says Sharan Prakash Patil, Medical Education Minister, Karnataka.
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil has said that he will order a time-bound probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process in government medical colleges in Hassan and Mysore two years ago.
It is alleged that posts in the these medical colleges were filled during the tenure of Ramachandre Gowda as Minister for Medical Education in the BJP government without approval from the Finance Department.
Dr. Patil told presspersons here on Tuesday that Mr. Ramachandre Gowda resigned following the controversy but the officials concerned were not booked. Though an inquiry by the then Additional Chief Secretary was ordered, it did not take off as the officials had retired by then, he added. “I was surprised by the way the issue was handled. I will apply my mind and order a time-bound probe. The guilty will be punished,” he said.
Similarly, another scam — the submission of fake certificates in the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) — would be handed over to the Lokayukta, to abide by the recommendation of the committee headed by Gururajan, he said.
It is alleged that four senior staff members of MIMS produced fake experience certificates to get jobs in violation of regulations.
On the Rajiv Gandhi Super-Speciality Hospital Raichur, popularly known as OPEC hospital, which was closed down a year ago, he said that the government was particular about retaining the hospital in the government sector.
“If there is a technical problem, then will we think of having a private partnership,” he said.
Efforts are on to revive the hospital. A report had been sought from the hospital director on the condition of building and medical equipment. “Based on the report, the building would be refurbished. A sum of Rs. 1.20 crore has been set aside for this,” he said.
A walk-in interview would be held to fill vacant posts, he added.
With the contract between Apollo Hospitals and the government expiring, OPEC hospital closed down on June 1, 2012.
Eight persons accused in Dalit atrocity case in jail
The Nangli police in Kolar district on Wednesday arrested all the eight persons accused in a recent case of atrocities on Dalits at Kagganahalli in Mulbagal taluk. All of them were produced before court which remanded them in judicial custody till February 6, Mulbagal Deputy Superintendent of Police T. Siddaiah told The Hindu . The arrested were lodged in the sub-jail here. The situation in the village is peaceful now, Mr. Siddaiah added.
The Nangli police registered a case following a caste abuse complaint lodged by Nagabhushan, one of the members of four families which were facing boycott, on January 21.
Shankara Reddy, Keshavappa, Suresh, Krishna Reddy, Anjaneya Reddy, Srinivas, Narayanaswamy and Munivenkata Reddy are the arrested. A police team arrested the accused when they were on their way to get bail from court.
Boycott
Four Dalit families of Kagganahalli accused that upper caste people imposed a social boycott on them, prompting Social Welfare Minister H. Anjaneya to visit the village a couple of days ago. Mr. Anjaneya then warned that social evils such as boycott of Dalits cannot be tolerated and that action would be taken against the culprits.
MLA G. Manjunath, Inspector-General of Police of Civil Rights Enforcement Directorate Nanjundaswamy, Deputy Commissioner D.K. Ravi and Superintendent of Police Ram Nivas Sepat accompanied Mr. Anjaneya.
PRACTICE OF UNTOUCHABILITY BY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN INDIA
- VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF DALITS
In india , rich people belonging to forward castes form educational trusts , proclaiming that they want to serve the society by providing education to all irrespective of caste or creed. By this declaration they get Civic Amenity sites from government authorities at concessional rates. Further they get tax , duty
exemptions on materials , machines they import for the educational institution. However , while admitting students they are purely commercial minded , the highest bidder gets the seats.
IF AT ALL THE SOLE AIM OF THESE INSTITUTIONS IS COMMERCIAL – LET THEM BE REGISTERED AS COMMERCIAL BODIES , ASK THEM TO GET SITES AT COMMERCIAL MARKET RATES , ASK THEM TO PAY TAXES ON
MATERIALS , MACHINES & THEIR YEARLY INCOME. ENFORCE MINIMUM WAGES ACT , GRATUITIES ACT , P.F & ESI ACT TO THESE INSTITUTIONS WHO ARE PAYING A PITTANCE TO THEIR STAFF.
Some institutions like industrial training institutes ( I.T.I) , polytechnics , engineering colleges & medical
colleges run by trusts floated by forward castes lack basic infrastructure , to teach students properly , they only appoint staff belonging to thier castes. Dalits , minorities , weaker section people are not at all selected. They don't publicly advertise for vacancies. They fill all posts with thier own caste people & finally even get government grant in aid. How ? These institutions are getting affiliations , yearly approvals form the government , how ? actually they should have been shut. These trusts want government backing for tax exemptions , lands at concessional rates ,monetary benefits , etc , however the same trusts are not willing to implement the social welfare objectives of the government , by providing seats to weaker sections , by providing appointments to dalits few posts in all category of positions ( not just group D - dalits are also brilliant & capable of performing all jobs, they have proved it ).
Hereby , we urge honourable prime minister of india , government of india & honourable chief minister of karnataka , government of karnataka to :
1. before giving lands at concessional rate , tax exemptions , to any educational trusts the government must ensure that the trust must adhere to the social welfare norms of the government from day one.
2. Before giving affiliations to educational institutions the govt must ensure , are the institutions are providing sufficient infrastructure to students ?
3. Before giving grant in aid to any institution , the government must ensure have the management provided jobs to dalits , minorities , etc as per norms from the day one . if not grant in aid should be
rejected. Here there is no meaning in giving reservation of jobs in future appointments in those institutions , as all the posts are presently filled with forward castes , there is no expansion projects.
So , dalits have to wait for another 30-40 years to get the vacancies in those institutions after the retirement of forward caste employees , which is not at all practical or realistic .
4. In karnataka state , numerous Industrial Training Institutes ( ITI) have mushroomed , some don't even have basic infrastructure. Still they are running the show , how ? these ITIs run by forward caste people have appointed only their caste people to all posts , not even a single dalit is there. Still they have got government grant in aid , how ? we urge honourable chief minister of karnataka , to look into this & in future to provide grant in aid in aid to only those I.T.Is which have proper infrastructure & dalits , weaker section employees on their pay-rolls.
5. To order all educational institutions to make public announcement of vacancies in their institutions even though not covered under grant in aid , as they have already taken sufficient monetary
benefits from the government.
6. To order all educational institutions , to admit students as per government rates of fees. Some institutions are fleecing higher fees from the students , but are giving receipts for lesser amount only.
7. If any educational institutions don't agree with the government norms , those institutions must be asked to be registered as commercial bodies , no tax exemptions , lands at concessional rates ,
allotment of CA sites should be given to them by the government.
By these measures alone poor & weaker section people will get justice . you are aware of merited but poor students committing suicides year after year , CET fiasco - due to their financial inability to join medical or engineering colleges. Numerous similar cases are there with regard to admission to ITIs .
polytechnics. The greed & casteism of these educational institutions is reigning high. In the positive hope that you will be kind enough to put an end to this menace.
ELIMINATE MANUAL SCAVENGING BUT NOT SCAVENGERS
- an appeal to honourable supreme court of India
In India, since independence certain affirmative actions by the government like job reservations , reservations in educational institutions , loan facilities , etc are extended to the backward class , oppressed people. However , the persons who have economically, socially become stronger on the basis of these government affirmative actions are not letting their own brethren – scavenging community to utilize the same. The politicians are just making noises about sub caste reservation for scheduled castes & tribes , but doing nothing. As a result , today we find some sub-castes & tribes of SC / ST better off than their previous generation, some other sub-castes & tribes of SC / ST are reeling under utter poverty , social ostracism , etc.
A human being can be in a civilized form , healthy - if we have scavengers to clean our toilets , drainages , if we have barbers to cut our hairs. The very same people who keep us healthy & civilized are not treated in a civilized manner by the society , why ? most of the town municiapalities , city corporations are employing scavengers on daily wages without any statuotary benefits & are paid less than the statuotary minimum wages. every towns & cities in India are bursting with population growth , however the number of scavengers has not been increased in proportion to the growth of population , In most of the cases the existing scavengers are overburdened with the work load. , Most of them are suffering from occupational health hazards , are dying at young ages leaving their families in the lurch.
Hereby, we appeal to honourable supreme court of India to treat this as a PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION & to order government of India , all state governments , statuotary bodies
1. to regularize the jobs of all scavengers , to provide all statuotary benefits like ESI,PF, etc.
2. to take all necessary steps to eradicate manual scavenging – carrying human excreta on heads.
3. to take all necessary steps to protect their health & occupational safety.
Bottomline : all the citizens , the society must learn to respect their brethren who keeps them healthy , tidy & civilized. JAI HIND.VANDE MATARAM.
Your's sincerely,
Nagaraj.M.R.
KSOU ready to face any probe: Vice-Chancellor
Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) Vice-Chancellor K.S. Rangappa has said the university is functioning well within the powers assigned to it under the KSOU Act.
Rubbishing allegations made by Medical Education Minister S.A. Ramdas that the KSOU had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with dubious institutions to impart higher education, Prof. Rangappa said here on Tuesday that all transactions of the university were done in a transparent manner.
“The KSOU is prepared to face inquiry by the CID or even the CBI,” he said at a press conference here.
(The State government on May 11 ordered a probe by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against the KSOU in the backdrop of allegations of conducting technical and paramedical courses illegally.)
Mr. Ramdas has alleged that the KSOU did not obtain the permission of the Medical Council of India (MCI) to start paramedical courses in association with a certain institution here.
Prof. Rangappa said the collaborative institution had to obtain permission from the MCI, and not the KSOU. He said he was unaware as to why he was being “targeted” by Mr. Ramdas.
“Arbitrary and misleading” statements from persons holding responsible positions in the government could only tarnish the image of the KSOU and jeopardise the academic future of the over 3 lakh students enrolled with the university, he said.
The KSOU had entered into collaboration with over 100 institutions to impart distance education after the Governor, the Chancellor of the university, approved the statues.
The MoUs were signed with the institutions later. The KSOU was empowered to enter into contracts as well as recognise any institution of higher learning or studies for such purposes, the Vice-Chancellor said.
Prof. Rangappa said an expert committee would inspect the institutes to ascertain their credibility in terms of imparting higher education. Based on the committee report, the Academic Council of the KSOU would accord recognition for such institutions for collaboration, he said. The Governor had sought all details from the KSOU in the matter and he would submit them soon, Prof. Rangappa said.
The charge that more than 1 lakh paramedical students were “cheated” by the KSOU since the collaborative institutions did not exist was also not true as there were not more than 40 students enrolled in such courses, he said.
However, the Distance Education Council (DEC) had asked the KSOU to stop the B.Tech. course, but the university had moved the court, Prof. Rangappa said.
If the collaborative institutions failed to function, complaints could be registered with the KSOU. Contracts with such institutions could be terminated in the interest of the students, he added.
Registrar of the university B.S. Vishwanath and deans T.D. Deve Gowda and S.N. Vikaram Raj Urs were among those present.
University of Mysore’s new V-C facing a slew of allegations
Saturday, January 12, 2013 - 10:01 IST | Place: Mysore | Agency: DNA
DNA Correspondent
Be it charges of plagiarising his research thesis or pulling strings for his son’s college admission, rangappa has a lot going against him.
KS Rangappa, who was appointed as the vice-chancellor of University of Mysore on Friday, is facing the following charges:
Plagiarism
Rangappa has been accused of plagiarising a Osmania University research paper, published in an Indian journal, in October 2009 and getting the same published in an international science journal within a year.
Osmania University’s professors from the chemistry department - G Vijayalakshmi, M Adinarayana and P Jayaprakash Rao - had prepared a research paper ‘Kinetics of oxidation of adenosine by tert-butoxyl radicals: Protection and repair by chlorogenic acid’ in 2008. The paper was sent to Indian Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics on July 16, 2008, and revised on August 10, 2009. It was published in its edition of October 2006 (Volume 46).
Rangappa allegedly published the same paper in an international journal, Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry (Europe), in its April 2010 edition, with his name along with those of MN Kumara and DG Bhadregowda in addition to the names of the original authors. Besides that, the address for correspondence was that of Rangappa’s.
DNA had published a detailed report regarding the issue in its March 10, 2011 edition. Following the report, a PIL was filed at Mysore district court. The case is still pending.
Favouring his son
Rangappa’s role in favouring his son in order to get him admitted to Yuvaraja’s college was proved by a syndicate sub-committee constituted by the university syndicate. In 2006 Rangappa favoured his son Shobith to get a seat at Yuvaraja’s college by decreasing the eligibility to 45% when the actual eligibility was 55%. Surprisingly, Rangappa was one of the members in the committee constituted to take decision on decreasing the eligibility.
Shobith, who had not cleared his second PU exams, cleared them by taking the supplementary exam. After the announcement of supplementary exam results, the eligibility was brought down to 45%; some days later, the admission eligibility was raised again to 55%. By this time, Shobith had secured admission.
Dissent note by Thimmappa
Dissent note on the inclusion of professor KS Rangappa’s name in the panel for the post of vice-chancellor of Mysore University made by the search committee in its meeting held on January 4, 2013, reads:
1. A writ petition Nos. 11444/2012(GM-PIL) filed by Sri. KS Shivaram with serious allegations against professor Rangappa is pending before the high court of Karnataka and hence until the case is disposed off in favour of Professor Rangappa, it is prudent on our part not to consider him for the post of V-C at this stage.
2. Professor Rangappa is already functioning as vice-chancellor of KSOU and as there is no dearth of well-qualified candidates for the post of vice-chancellor in the large number of universities under general education, there is hardly any justification to consider professor Rangappa again for a second term. Incidentally, the KSU Act, 2000, ordains only one term for vice-chancellor.
Hence—Thimmappa MS, member, search committee, has stated—I am against including Prof Rangappa’s name in the panel.
Govt orders criminal cases against ex-VC of Mysore varsity
Bangalore, June 11, DH News Service:
The State government has ordered filing of criminal cases against former Mysore University Vice-Chancellor J Shashidhar Prasad for violating government and university rules while recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff.
This is the first time that the state government has given the go ahead for filing of criminal cases against a former vice-chancellor. The 162 appointments made during Prasad’s tenure are now in a limbo. The State government has issued directions to University of Mysore to file criminal charges against the former V-C as per Section 8 (4) of the Karnataka Universities Act, 2000.
In a separate order, the Government has sought details on the appointments made during Prasad’s tenure and their present status. Following complaints of violation of norms during the university recruitment process, a one-man commission headed by retired high court judge H Rangavittalachar was appointed to inquire into the allegations. The report submitted on September 30 last has been accepted by the government and on Wednesday gave the go ahead for filing criminal charges.
The Rangavittalachar commission had found that Prasad violated the University Grants Commission rules and the State government’s reservation policy while awarding marks during selection of candidates to the posts of professors, readers and lecturers during 2006-07.
In addition to the department-wise break-up of appointments made, the State government on Wednesday also sought from the university residential addresses of the appointee. According to highly-placed sources, notices would be served on these appointees shortly. Further action would be taken based on their responses.
Minister defends
Minister for Higher Education Arvind Limbavali said that the move was taken only after careful consideration of the issue. “We had an inquiry ordered to look into the matter. Only after considering this the Government has filed the criminal charges against the ex-Vice Chancellor,” he said.
Vice-Chancellor of VTU failed in 7 semesters
The head of Karnataka’s premier technical education umbrella institution, Visvesvaraya Technical University (VTU), failed in seven of the ten semesters of his undergraduate degree course in mechanical engineering.
He finally managed to pass the course, but only after many attempts, adding up to a total of 25 marks sheets. He now heads a university which has 200 engineering colleges functioning under it. And the HighCourt is looking at his claims that he passed in first class. The stack of marks statements of his shows that he passed only 3 semesters of the 10 without failing in any subject, making repeated attempts to pass some of the papers in the rest of the semesters. He could pass two subjects of the seventh semester only after he passed the 9th and 10th semesters.
While Maheshappa completed semesters nine and ten in 1982, he reappeared for two subjects of the seventh semester – machine design I and estimating, specification and engineering economics – in March 1983. In the ninth semester too he failed in two subjects – metrology and automatic control engineering – in Feb/March, 1982 and he cleared these papers along with the 10th semester.
Student at the Government BDT College of Engineering, Davangere affiliated to University of Mysore, Maheshappa obtained a post-graduate degree and doctorate from Bangalore University, where it was not mandatory to submit a degree certificate while seeking entry to a PG course or doctoral programme.
It is not mandatory for a person to have a first class degree to become a VC, but Maheshappa has been accused of making false claims before the search panel that selected him to head the VTU for three years from 2010. While he has claimed that he has a first class degree in BE, those who have filed a public interest litigation in the High Court have alleged that he has just a second class degree, and contrary to his claim did not guide any PhD student.
The University of Mysore, during 1980s, used award an engineering degree based on the scoring of the last two semesters. Maheshappa’s 10th semester marks card (August/September 1982) mentions that he obtained second class. He failed in two subjects and his total scoring was 393 out of 775.
He passed the subjects later. In the final semester, he secured 830 out of 1400. While the university awarded him second class going by the marks he had scored in the first attempt, he has claimed that after the second attempt he made in the 9th semester, the percentage crossed 60 per cent.
Copies of the marks cards, obtained under the RTI, show that the University seems to have committed an error in the column indicating ‘Total Marks’.
While the ‘Total Marks’ for the 9th semester was 775 in the statement of marks of Feb/March 1982, the same is shown as 770 in the final semester marks sheet, where both marks scored in 9th and 10th are mentioned.
The total scoring of two semesters stands at 830 out of 1400 (59.24 %). But it should be 830 out of 1425 (58.24%).
Maheshappa, in the CV submitted to the search committee, had stated that he had ‘guided’ four PhD students. But a document obtained under the RTI from VTU on January 5, 2012 has stated that no student has been awarded PhD under his guidance but he is only ‘guiding’ four students.
K Balaveera Reddy, two-time vice chancellor of VTU, told Deccan Herald: “Any university will go by the marks obtained by a student in the first attempt. The marks obtained by making subsequent attempts to clear a paper are not taken into consideration while declaring class or rank. In case of VTU, the last four semesters aggregate is taken into consideration for declaring class.”
KU scandal: Probe reveals murky links
Every year, the accused involved in the fake marks cards and answer scripts scam in Kuvempu University, “earned” lakhs of rupees through their illegal deeds. With the investigation taking shape, police have found answers to various questions like where did this money go, how was it utilised and more.
However, the police are perplexed as to why the University has not maintained the details of its answer sheets, blank marks cards and holograms, which were stolen by the accused. Interestingly, the accused have maintained detailed records in dairies and note books on the money and answer scripts received.
During the second raid, police recovered more documents on financial transactions and other details like the number of answer scripts received from a particular agent, registration numbers and the amount received from the agents. The documents collected by the police also reveal how the money was spent in the last two years. Main accused Devaraj invested more than `8 lakh in 10 chit-funds ranging from `1.5 lakh to `10,000 every month, which was mentioned in the dairy of his wife. They have also purchased gold jewellery and pasted the receipts on each page of the dairy.
Devaraj is a group-D contract employee. Now the police are discussing with legal experts and senior police officers on how to recover that amount, police sources said.
A senior police officer told Express that the recovered blank answer scripts, marks cards and hologram are not fake. But the University is behaving as if it does not know anything about this. It is not bothered about how many blank answer scripts, marks cards and holograms had been stolen from the University. During examinations, each examination centre would be given the answer papers and the in-charge of the examination centres should return the remaining answer scripts, which should match the total number of copies, to the University after the examination.
Investigation should also be conducted on whether the accused have stolen the answer scripts while transporting them back to the University or had stolen them from the University itself. If the examination centre in-charge had given the correct details of thecopies, then the University store keeper will have to face the music. Otherwise, the examination centre in-charge would also be held responsible for the scam, the officer said.
Degree certificate tampering scandal hits BU
Even while the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) is battling allegations of tampering of marks cards, Bangalore University (BU) has a similar problem in its own backyard. The varsity recently discovered that the degree certificate of a former student was fraudulently given away to another person during BU’s 41{+s}{+t}mini convocation .
Explaining the case, BU Registrar (Evaluation) R.K. Somashekhar said B. Sujatha, who graduated in 1998, took her marks card from the university but did not apply for her B.Ed degree certificate. When she finally did apply for a provisional degree certificate last year, BU authorities unearthed the scam where her degree certificate (bearing her register number) had been given away to another person named Joshwa Samuel. While the university has now withdrawn the degree given to Mr. Samuel and reconfirmed that the degree belonged to Ms. Sujatha, the whereabouts of Mr. Samuel is still not known.
The 30 Billion Dollar Medical Seats Scam
Fury gripped the grass-roots medical fraternity today as they vented their anger on Twitter's hashtag#SaveNeetPG in relation to the “Cash for Medical Seats” scandal. On the 3rd April 2013, the CNN-IBN admirable sting operation caught the following on camera in relation to “medical seats for sale”:-
• Medical colleges sell seats defying the Supreme Court order
• Officials demand Crores for Postgraduate medical [PG] seats
• Money Trumps merit: Will Future Doctors be incompetent?
• Legitimate students paid lakhs to vacate PG seats
• How colleges hire docs to fudge medical inspections
• Find out why your child may not get admission to medical college
• Medical seats for sale: Are colleges producing dummy docs?
• CNN IBN uncovers black market for PG medical seats
India's medical fraternity have demanded that the government acts immediately over this obvious corruption. One Indian doctor [ @DoctoAt Large] wrote
“You can't expect doctors paying 3 crores for PG seats to be ethical with patients. Start by eliminating corruption in admissions”
Following the sting operation, CNN-IBN submitted the film to the Medical Council of India [MCI]. Sadly, all authorities have been lethargic. The MCI's position on this issue is currently unknown. There has been no robust statement of reassurance to the media or the public. This is entirely unacceptable. Despite this clear and present danger to the public, the MCI refused to have a plan or be pro-active in this issue. Are they out of their depth?
Indeed, the true extent of threat to public safety not yet known, considered or addressed. This is broadly an unacceptable and shocking situation. The government and the MCI appears relatively unconcerned about the potential threat to patient safety. Moreover, it is unknown how many doctors have “bought their way” through medical school. The true extent of medical incompetence is also unknown. Moreover, this may have international implications as the number of doctors from this group may also be working abroad.
The current Health Minister appears relatively unconcerned about the potential for high mortality rate and threat to patient safety this may have led to or may indeed lead to. Moreover, this calls into question the number of competent students unlawfully rejected from medical school/post graduate education in favour of the elite who can pay their way through anything. The MCI and the current government' supine attitude to this serious problem raises the question as to whether they are implicated or complicit in these unlawful activities.
Buying a place in medical school is becoming a easy gateway to status, power and financial security. Long gone are ideas of patient safety and integrity. Clearly, the good doctors who have tirelessly worked hard against these serious obstacles will object to this unlawful behaviour that places the Indian medical fraternity under public scrutiny. How can the public now trust India's medical establishment with their lives? These activities will be causing an erosion in public confidence.
It is interesting that in April 2010, the President of the Medical Council of India [MCI] was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for taking a Rs 2 crore bribe to recognise a medical college in Punjab. The CNN-IBN investigation had also demonstrated how a cartel led by this man flouted the normal procedures of the MCI with the intention of making money. Moreover, students lacking a background in science were given places on MBBS courses and colleges with no proper infrastructure were granted licenses. At that point, the government had apparently dissolved the MCI and replaced it with a board of governors, but the situation has not changed at all.
To demand some kind of accountability, CNN-IBN Live's Mr Rajdeep Sardesai swung into action from his usual cricket viewing and dog walking to take another bite at this story. He questioned former MoS Health Minister Dinesh Trivedi on this matter.
Mr Trivedi admitted that every year more than $30 billion was involved in “buying” medical seats. During the interview he claimed that 100 or so medical colleges were being controlled by politicians and were involved in selling their PG medical seats. “The “big money goes to 100 colleges” Mr Trivedi said.
Trivedi blamed the conduct of the politicians saying
“It is the job of the government to create capacity whether in terms of hospitals or in terms of medical colleges, You just have many medical colleges, just like you've done for engineering colleges. Now there are no capitation fees. This is the gap that is created purposely kept”.
Former member of the Dental Council of India, Dr Usha Mohandas added
“It is a kind of well-established cartel. It is a beautiful network. The world can learn a lot from how strong this networking has been established for a wrong purpose. I would want the ministry to take absolute responsibility because the process of started and ending this is with the ministry, the other people in between are just via media. The ministry cannot wash its hands off and say that these are autonomous. If you ask the regulatory, they say we don't know anything you know, the minister asks us to do the same. This passing of the buck has to end.
All this is not new of of course. Over the last three years, CNN-IBN has been reporting on the corruption in the top most echelons of the Indian medical establishment with no action taken by the government.
The TV channel wrote
“CNN-IBN has also been showing how medical education regulators have been approving sub-standard medical and dental colleges and allowing them to flourish. The apathy, however, is leading to production of dummy doctors in the country”
Other incidences include as follows - In 2009, the Times of India reported that MBBS seats were being sold for Rs12 lakhs-40 lakhs by two private colleges in Chennai. At the time, the price of the seats were Rs 2 crore in radiology while Rs 1.5 crore for cardiology, gynaecology and orthopaedics. The hike in price was due to the reduced number of places available that year for the 32,000 graduates from medical school.
Times of India wrote
“Another senior expert, who has held prestigious posts at the national level, says he has urged the UGC to hold centralized examinations like JEE for admissions to both MBBS and PG courses. ``It's a national shame to commercialize education. Besides, death of merit affects the quality of medical education. When money is paid, these colleges ensure that the exit is definite. The students pass, qualified or not,''
By 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a doctor from Karnataka in the PGIMER seat for sale scam. This was the sixth arrest at the time. The mastermind's main area of operation were Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryna - where he along with his partners would text individuals for various examinations offering a seat for a certain price. The price of the seats ranged from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 80 lakh. Allegedly, seats were offered for AIIMS New Delhi as well.
In October 2011, Bangalore Police announced “A racket in sale of medical and dental seats for sums ranging from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 90 lakh has been busted in Karnataka with the arrest of 11 persons belonging to two gangs”. There were more complaints of medical seat fraud in Bhopal where a woman was arrested for allegedly taking money in exchange for medical seats.
By 2012, the CBI had been investigating more complicated allegations of medical school seat scam. This particular scam was elaborate involving a Tollywood producer.
The Indian Express wrote
“We are looking into the role of doctors in collusion with the accused and medical seat aspirants,’’ the sources said. Police suspect that the main accused collected huge amounts of money from the medical seat aspirants. “With the tainted money the producer is planning to make more movies in the near future,’’ a source said.
Of course, these are the few stories that were reported. There must be thousands of incidents that have not made it to the public eye. It is clear that corruption is widespread in India's medical training system. For now, we know that this is allegedly a $30 billion dollar scam, with the involvement of politicians who yet remain unnamed. While the current Health Minister passes the buck onto the MCI, it is interesting to note that he cleverly diverts the public gaze from the politicians who may well be ultimately responsible for this scandal. The MCI have no powers to hold politicians to account.
Not only have they placed the public at risk but the government faces allegations of illegal discrimination on a mass scale.
We do not know how long this unlawful behaviour has been ongoing, nor do we know the extent of incompetent unqualified people who have been allowed into medical school and have been allowed to practise in India or abroad.
We do not know how many patients have died as a result, nor do we know the true scale of this scam. If individuals can “pay” their way into medical school, to what extent does this dishonesty extend? Is this dishonesty at dangerous levels now given the endless lists of health related scams in India. The current health minister had limply stated that there would be an audit on health related scams “We have to have audits in future to check health-related scams, including NRHM scam”. So that would be the corrupt assessing the corrupt leading to a erroneous result then.
Lastly, how many innocent people are suffering because of the utterly shameful behaviour of the current government of India? The “Cash For Medical Seats” Scandal joins the endless list of Indian Scandals that the government has swept under the carpet by building a cosmetic façade of innocence.
The question is, how many people will die as a result?
NB Congratulations to the CNN-IBN team and their boss Rajdeep Sardesai for their superb sting operation and determination in exposing this wide ranging scandal.
Author : Dr Rita Pal, Follow her twitter.com/dr_rita39
Related Links
# Details of SaveNeetPG
# Times of India Medical scam just got bigger: PG seats for Rs 2cr
# CBI arrests Karnataka doctor in PGI seat scam
# More complaints in Medical Seat Fraud
# Medical Seat Scam. CBI To Quiz More Suspects
# CNN-IBN's Sting Operation-Medical Seats being sold
# IBN- Live on Medical Seats
# Bangalore Police Uncovers Scam in Medical Seats
# Lawyer held for Medical Seat Scam
# PVT Medical Colleges Sell Seats
# India's Biggest Scam
DVS alleges marks card scam in RGUHS, seeks Lokayukta probe
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, D V Sadananda Gowda on Thursday said that a massive marks card scandal was continuing in the Rajiv GandhiUniversity of Health Sciences (RGUHS).
Citing instances of two students, one of whom is from the Rajarajeshwari Medical College, Bangalore, Gowda said the university has been passing students, though they had failed in some subjects. Such a thing is happening at all the colleges affiliated to RGUHS, he added.
Gowda said that Harshitha of Rajarajeswari Medical College had failed in anatomy and physiologypapers in June 2012 examinations. Subsequently, she went for a re-totalling of the marks of the two subjects, but was again declared failed.
“However, when the marks cards were issued by the university in December 2012, Harshitha had passed in the two papers,” he said.
Appeal
The former chief minister appealed to the medical education minister to order a Lokayukta probe into the marks card scandal, which he said, is not limited to one or two students but involved several hundreds.
JD(S) leader M C Nanaiah said the government must study whether the administrative authorities of the university will come under the ambit of the Lokayukta Act before ordering any inquiry. Gowda also claimed that a Rs 266-crore scam had taken place in Karnatak University, Dharwad.
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