The perseverance of the Indian Government in going ahead with the nuclear energy program, inspite of the recent events at Fukushima and concerns of a large section of the population on the safety of nuclear fuel, is reminiscent of the story of a young monk who wanted to tame a tiger.
One day a monk was crossing the forest near his master’s monastery, when he came upon a new born tigers cub wailing by its dead mothers side. The monk took pity on the cub and carried it to the Monastery. Seeing the young man bring the tigers cub inside the monastery, the old master enquired on its presence. To which the young monk replied that its mother was dead and as the cub would surely die if left alone in the forest, he had brought it to the monastery for its safekeeping, he went on to say that he intended to raise it as along with the other animals in the monastery. The old master tried to dissuade his disciple from this undertaking, he told him, “Son, the tigers cub is a wild animal and it is against the law of nature for you to rear it as you would a cow or a sheep. It needs to learn to kill and live by killing, in denying it of these traits you are trying to work against the laws of nature. But, the young monk was adamant, he replied “Master, please let me bring up this cub I will feed it milk and other fruits and if it has never known the taste of meat or blood it will grow up as our other livestock. After all you have said so many times that it does not matter to whom a child is born what is of importance is how the child is brought up.” Realizing it will be of no avail to reason with him, the master agreed to the young monk’s request but made one provision that the cub was never to enter the living quarters of the monks.
The young monk, took good care of the cub, he reared it on milk, vegetables and fruits. It was allowed to roam along with the monastery’s other livestock. As the cub grew into adulthood and began filling up into a grown up tiger with its roar and the other livestock slowly grew to fear him and started to stay away from the tiger.
A few years later, the region was ravaged by storms, it rained for days as if the skies meant to empty the waters of the oceans. Finally the winds and rain calmed down and the Monks could venture out into the open. Some of them went to check on the livestock, as they neared the shed where the livestock were kept they could hear no bleating of the sheep or the mowing of the cows. Curious they entered the shed, and a ghastly sight awaited them, the tiger was lying on its side and scattered in the shed were the remains of the cattle. Hearing the monks the tiger got up and roared, where before the tigers roar was for the monks a friendly call it now seemed as if the beast was about to pounce and maul them. The monks got into a panic and ran out shouting into the safety of the monastery and shut its doors.
Hearing the commotion the old master came out of his room and enquired what the problem was. On hearing that the tiger had feasted on the livestock while the storm was underway he smiled and said. But, why are you scared now? The tiger you are running away from today is the same tiger you used to play with till a few days back. The monks started protesting saying that the tiger was not the same one, as the one they played with and reared was one that lived on milk and vegetables and fruits and not the fiend it had tuned into in the last few days. To which the old master replied, “No, the tiger is the same but what has changed is the way you look at it. At first you deluded yourself into thinking the tiger was tame like a cat but it was always an animal of prey. Only you never saw him as he is today you have realized that it has a natural instinct to kill and this has scared you. I knew this was bound to happen that is why in spite of you all asking it to be allowed inside our monastery I never permitted it. Now please let release tiger into the wild it will learn to forage for food on its own.
The moral of the story is “We believe man can tame wild beats but it is not so, God has made all animals and as it necessary that a fish learns to swim and a bird needs to fly so is it necessary that a tiger needs to kill to survive. If man thinks he can control and tame nature he is wrong. He has to respect nature and not play God.
Like the young monk in the story man today talks of taming and harnessing nuclear power to provide cheap electricity. The proponents of the Nuclear Energy, rub off all objections to it on the grounds of baseless fears and paranoia they try to justify the economic cost of nuclear energy vs conventional coal based energy.
Like the wild beast nuclear energy cannot be domesticated. It will always be a source of destruction and disease. We have had but a glimpse of the horror and suffering it could unleash, both in Chernobyl and in Fukushima. The devastation that Chernobyl caused has still not been assessed accurately. In a book published in 2007 by the New York Academy of Sciences under the title Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment. Dr. Yablokov, former environmental advisor to the Russian President, has estimated Chernobyl-related deaths, including stillbirths, to be around 1.6 million. The official data from Ukraine's Health Ministry, shows 530,000 died from radiation in the former Soviet state between 1987 and 2004. Studies show heavy transuranium elements — strontium-90, cesium-137 and plutonium, have started spreading from Chernobyl across Ukraine with underground water.
The effects of the Fukushima nuclear incident will take years if not decades to be confirmed. The radiation leakage has not only contaminated the population, but is bound to impact the lives of generations to come. The very fact, that breast milk of mothers in Tokyo was found to be radioactive, is a chilling reminder of the lethal effect of radiation even miles from the disaster site.
Leave alone Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, there have been a total of 350 incidents of radiation leakage in the world before Chernobyl, and the effects of these have neither been documented nor lessons learnt.
Following the Fukushima nuclear accidents, Germany has temporarily closed seven nuclear power plants which went online before 1980, and has decided to phase out all nuclear reactors by 2022.
Unlike the young monk in the tale who realized the folly of believing he could tame a wild beast, the Indian Government is hell bent on going ahead with its plans to build nuclear reactors in Jaitapur in Maharashtra, and in Kuvvada, in Srikakulum Andhra Pradesh.
The project will destroy the health and livelihoods of the people living near the projects, not just for this generation, but till eternity. A Nuclear power plant emits deathly radiation which causes cancer, birth defects, sterility and other terrible diseases, not just in this generation, but for thousands of years, as the radioactive particles released into the atmosphere have very long lives. This is the reason why governments in many countries are phasing out nuclear power plants, and the US and many European countries have not built a nuclear plant for the last 30 years
There are other abundant non-polluting and safe renewable energy substitutes for nuclear energy like wind power, solar power, geothermal power and biofuel. These are comparatively less expensive to harness and unlike the fossil fuels and nuclear energy safe to produce. The Indian Government needs to look at these as the answer to our energy deficit, rather than imperiling the lives of a million citizens, a majority of whom are yet to be born.
Like the young monk the Indian Government led by PM Dr.Manmohan Singh is hellbent on going ahead with the civil Nuclear program.The argument put forth with great verbosity is that Nuclear Energy is the only way out of our energy deficit. It is for the India of today to decide if it is willing to pay the price of continuous low level radiation which these reactors will emit along with the scepter of a nuclear accident in our backyards for a few buckets of geyser heated water, microwave warmed hot dinner or like the old master say NO to nuclear energy.
Neera Kishore
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
High time India stood by its citizens
"Well, let us understand one thing. There are about 1.8 lakh Indian students in the United States of America. And we are now talking about these 12 or 18 students who have been subjected to this treatment. I would appeal to the people of the country and to the media in particular, that we should look at it in the larger perspective of these one lakh and odd Indian students who are pursuing their studies in various universities."
These are the words of SM Krishna India’s Minister of External Affairs, on the radio tagging of Indian students, in Pleasanton, California. The Indian Government seems to have thrown the fate of the 1500 odd Indian students, held on charges of Immigration and visa fraud to the wolves. It is a sad day for the country when its Government turns its back to the rights of its citizens.
Immigration and visa fraud is a serious offence and needs to be punished, but there has to be a clear distinction between the victim and the perpetuator of crime and America has to realize this. The Indian students had gone to the US on valid visas issued by the US consulates, which we assume are given only after a diligent verification of the students education credentials and the legal status of the University. To a large extent the US administration has been lax in identifying and acting against sham Universities. If there was any shard of suspicion the students applying for admission to the Tri Valley University should have been warned of its suspect status.
If there is to be retribution then all three parties to the alleged fraud need to punished, the management of Tri Valley University which defrauded students to the tune of lakhs of rupees and is responsible for their present predicament, the US Administration for failing to detect and act against this sham University and the students who willingly took the risk of a US visa through the dubious route promised by Tri Valley and to a lesser extent the students who fell for the University’s promise of work visa’s. The Management of Tri Valley University with its band of lawyers is walking free, the US Administration has donned the garb of the victim and absolved it self of all guilt and the least culpable of the three the helpless and alienated students have been made out to be prime suspects and are being treated as common criminals, and tagged like animals and criminals and delinquents on parole.
It is high time the Government of India especially the Minister of External Affairs took up the cudgels on behalf of our students. Young people go in for higher education overseas to enrich their knowledge and experience, and to further their career and life goals. What they do not expect is to be harassed, detained, made out to be criminals and tagged under threats of confinement. The moral and psychological trauma these young people are going through can only be imagined. They are condemned to go through life carrying the scars of this humiliation.
India is ta major contributor of revenue to the American education Sector Indian students studying in the US contribute more than 10bn USD to US revenue. The US needs the Indian students as much as our students aspire for the US dream. It is time for India to take a stand and fight for the rights of its citizen the world over. India needs to make it clear to the American administration that if it does not remove the radio tags from the students and ensure they have access to their families and legal and medical help and financial redress for the trauma and the loss of money and an academic year, then it will have no recourse except to prohibit Indian students from taking admission in the US universities. This will have the desired effect on the world stage, and will carry the message to all nations that India can and will stand up for the rights of its citizens.
For long have Indians suffered racial abuse in Australia, UK, USA, Middle East and even Sri Lanka. It is high time the Indian Government took a strong stand against the atrocities committed on its people and ensure they receive the respect and dignity that every human being has a right to.
By Neera Kishore
Courtesy Hindi Milap
These are the words of SM Krishna India’s Minister of External Affairs, on the radio tagging of Indian students, in Pleasanton, California. The Indian Government seems to have thrown the fate of the 1500 odd Indian students, held on charges of Immigration and visa fraud to the wolves. It is a sad day for the country when its Government turns its back to the rights of its citizens.
Immigration and visa fraud is a serious offence and needs to be punished, but there has to be a clear distinction between the victim and the perpetuator of crime and America has to realize this. The Indian students had gone to the US on valid visas issued by the US consulates, which we assume are given only after a diligent verification of the students education credentials and the legal status of the University. To a large extent the US administration has been lax in identifying and acting against sham Universities. If there was any shard of suspicion the students applying for admission to the Tri Valley University should have been warned of its suspect status.
If there is to be retribution then all three parties to the alleged fraud need to punished, the management of Tri Valley University which defrauded students to the tune of lakhs of rupees and is responsible for their present predicament, the US Administration for failing to detect and act against this sham University and the students who willingly took the risk of a US visa through the dubious route promised by Tri Valley and to a lesser extent the students who fell for the University’s promise of work visa’s. The Management of Tri Valley University with its band of lawyers is walking free, the US Administration has donned the garb of the victim and absolved it self of all guilt and the least culpable of the three the helpless and alienated students have been made out to be prime suspects and are being treated as common criminals, and tagged like animals and criminals and delinquents on parole.
It is high time the Government of India especially the Minister of External Affairs took up the cudgels on behalf of our students. Young people go in for higher education overseas to enrich their knowledge and experience, and to further their career and life goals. What they do not expect is to be harassed, detained, made out to be criminals and tagged under threats of confinement. The moral and psychological trauma these young people are going through can only be imagined. They are condemned to go through life carrying the scars of this humiliation.
India is ta major contributor of revenue to the American education Sector Indian students studying in the US contribute more than 10bn USD to US revenue. The US needs the Indian students as much as our students aspire for the US dream. It is time for India to take a stand and fight for the rights of its citizen the world over. India needs to make it clear to the American administration that if it does not remove the radio tags from the students and ensure they have access to their families and legal and medical help and financial redress for the trauma and the loss of money and an academic year, then it will have no recourse except to prohibit Indian students from taking admission in the US universities. This will have the desired effect on the world stage, and will carry the message to all nations that India can and will stand up for the rights of its citizens.
For long have Indians suffered racial abuse in Australia, UK, USA, Middle East and even Sri Lanka. It is high time the Indian Government took a strong stand against the atrocities committed on its people and ensure they receive the respect and dignity that every human being has a right to.
By Neera Kishore
Courtesy Hindi Milap
Monday, May 23, 2011
Prayers for Aam Aadmi, Windfall for the Rajas
“I seek the blessings of Lord Indra to bestow on us timely and bountiful monsoons, I would pray to Goddess Lakshmi as well.”
With these words, India’s Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, wiped his hands off the fate of the Indian middle class, and went on to bestow his and the Government’s largesse on the new age rajas and rani’s of India.
The UPA government’s budget for 2011 -2012 has dealt the final blow to the already bleeding with high prices and inflation middle class. The expectations of this huge but largely overlooked population of the country was neither high nor unaddresable, its expectations from the budget were simple, address the issue of hoarding and price stability, and a small measure of relief in the taxation structure by making the direct taxes more realistic and in tune with the times. The Finance Minister has turned a Nelson’s eye and ear to the pleas and expectations of the Indian Middle Class. Forget lessening their burden, he has only added to their woes by levying a tax on Medical care!!
The middle class, that is fighting to hold on its last shards of dignity now has to protect itself from sickness and ill health, for to fall sick and be admitted to a hospital will mean he will now have to sell his soul to pay for the current exorbitant cost of medical care plus the tax on healthcare. The Finance Ministers gift for the middle class!!!
Forget, the relief the Finance Minister has made the burden of the common Man, heavier still, a whopping 130 items of every use like tooth powder, spectacles, packaged foods etc have been taxed. Not only this, the new tax structure has impacted the already reaching the sky cost of education by making stationery more expensive.
But, all is not lost for the common man, in case he/she survives the strain of meeting ends meet and can afford the increased cost of healthcare, to reach the age of 60, he/she will get an IT exemption upto Rs 2.50 lakh. And if they can manage to stretch a little longer to reach the ripe old age of 80 years, he/she will get an IT exemption of 5 Lakhs!!! Needless to say that it is the monied class, which is above the daily fight for survival like the middle class, that can aspire to live upto 80 years and enjoy the Finance Minister’s largesse.
And what of the monied class, the Rajas and Rani’s of the emerging India, the Finance Minister has filled their stockings with gold, silver and precious stones. Not only have these become less expensive but the Finance Minister has given them more moolah to splurge on these luxuries, by reducing the surcharge on domestic companies by 2.5 %.
As for the celluloid kings, the Chopra’s, Johar’s, Bhatt’s etc. the Finance Minister has bestowed a windfall on them by exempting the countervailing duty (CVD) on jumbo rolls of cinematograph films of 400 feet and 1000 feet.
One needs to applaud the Finance Minister who has with his foresight and vision taken another step towards making India an attractive investment destination for the FII’s. So what, if in doing so he has sacrificed the interests of the common man. After all, history is made of tales of sacrifice and valour. Only in India’s case it is the valour of the Middle Class to carry on against all odds and its determination not to succumb to mass depression no matter what blows the political and administrative class rains on its battered backs, that is to be appreciated.
by Neera Kishore
courtesy Hindi Milap
With these words, India’s Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, wiped his hands off the fate of the Indian middle class, and went on to bestow his and the Government’s largesse on the new age rajas and rani’s of India.
The UPA government’s budget for 2011 -2012 has dealt the final blow to the already bleeding with high prices and inflation middle class. The expectations of this huge but largely overlooked population of the country was neither high nor unaddresable, its expectations from the budget were simple, address the issue of hoarding and price stability, and a small measure of relief in the taxation structure by making the direct taxes more realistic and in tune with the times. The Finance Minister has turned a Nelson’s eye and ear to the pleas and expectations of the Indian Middle Class. Forget lessening their burden, he has only added to their woes by levying a tax on Medical care!!
The middle class, that is fighting to hold on its last shards of dignity now has to protect itself from sickness and ill health, for to fall sick and be admitted to a hospital will mean he will now have to sell his soul to pay for the current exorbitant cost of medical care plus the tax on healthcare. The Finance Ministers gift for the middle class!!!
Forget, the relief the Finance Minister has made the burden of the common Man, heavier still, a whopping 130 items of every use like tooth powder, spectacles, packaged foods etc have been taxed. Not only this, the new tax structure has impacted the already reaching the sky cost of education by making stationery more expensive.
But, all is not lost for the common man, in case he/she survives the strain of meeting ends meet and can afford the increased cost of healthcare, to reach the age of 60, he/she will get an IT exemption upto Rs 2.50 lakh. And if they can manage to stretch a little longer to reach the ripe old age of 80 years, he/she will get an IT exemption of 5 Lakhs!!! Needless to say that it is the monied class, which is above the daily fight for survival like the middle class, that can aspire to live upto 80 years and enjoy the Finance Minister’s largesse.
And what of the monied class, the Rajas and Rani’s of the emerging India, the Finance Minister has filled their stockings with gold, silver and precious stones. Not only have these become less expensive but the Finance Minister has given them more moolah to splurge on these luxuries, by reducing the surcharge on domestic companies by 2.5 %.
As for the celluloid kings, the Chopra’s, Johar’s, Bhatt’s etc. the Finance Minister has bestowed a windfall on them by exempting the countervailing duty (CVD) on jumbo rolls of cinematograph films of 400 feet and 1000 feet.
One needs to applaud the Finance Minister who has with his foresight and vision taken another step towards making India an attractive investment destination for the FII’s. So what, if in doing so he has sacrificed the interests of the common man. After all, history is made of tales of sacrifice and valour. Only in India’s case it is the valour of the Middle Class to carry on against all odds and its determination not to succumb to mass depression no matter what blows the political and administrative class rains on its battered backs, that is to be appreciated.
by Neera Kishore
courtesy Hindi Milap
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Andher Nagri Chaupat Raj
“Jehan kaan kaan per mobile phone rehta hai tanga, who bharat desh hai mera. Jehan har jhoopad ke upar laga hai dish TV ka chata, who bharat desh hai mera”
These lines reflect the India of today, a land of plenty. We are fortunate to be living in these exciting and wonderful times, all the luxuries and material possessions our parents and grand parents could only look at with aspiration and longing are within our grasp. We only need to reach out to own them. The once to be dreamed to goodies are all within the reach of the common man, a dream international vacation, a HD 32 inch LCD TV, a mobile for everyone in the house including the bai who does the cleaning and washing. But, the things our parents and grand parents took for granted like a belly full of food, milk in the morning, fruits in the evening are beyond our wildest imagination.
Today it is an achievement if a man can feed his family, and educate his children. Forget the roti’s dripping with ghee, his family is lucky if they can get chapatti’s roasted in a tea spoon of adulterated vegetable oil.
We are indeed living in strange and wonderful times, the cost of a return ticket to Dubai at fourteen thousand rupees, is more affordable than a month of food on the table for a middle class family of four. If only the family could live off relatives and neighbors for a month, one of them could visit Dubai or if they set their sights a peg lower two of them, could fly down to Colombo. This is not so difficult, as the Indian extended family is known for throwing farewell and welcome back parties, for anyone going to or returning from abroad. So what if by throwing this party, the host families home budget goes into a
tail spin and will take atleast six months of scrimping and cutting corners to recover.
Or if the thought of sponging on relatives and friends deters us, we can forego the foreign visit for a latest LCD TV or a refrigerator. The latest refrigerator model or a 32 inch LCD TV, available at a throw away price at around thirty five thousand is still affordable and within reach of a middle class family, compared to school fees reigning in the stratosphere at Fifty thousand plus per year, in a reasonable school. This is excluding the monthly incidentals on school projects and test and home work books, pens and pencils which cost upwards of a thousand rupees per month.
We have to thank our Government and its economic policies for making available to us the humble middle class, goodies that our parents could only dream about. Even as you watch the evil bahu hatch a scheme to usurp the family’s property, please send in a silent prayer to God, thanking him for blessing us with a leader who in his wisdom has steered our country to such prosperity. And if by chance your son refuses to be captivated by the cartoons chasing each other on the flat screen and cries out for milk, just wait a few minutes for him to calm down, as within a few minutes, an ad for milk supplements will be aired and he can go to sleep satiated. For with the prices as they are, it is the closest a middle class child will get to milk. We have to learn to be satisfied with our LCD’s and mobiles.
by Neera Kishore
Courtesy: Hindi Milap
These lines reflect the India of today, a land of plenty. We are fortunate to be living in these exciting and wonderful times, all the luxuries and material possessions our parents and grand parents could only look at with aspiration and longing are within our grasp. We only need to reach out to own them. The once to be dreamed to goodies are all within the reach of the common man, a dream international vacation, a HD 32 inch LCD TV, a mobile for everyone in the house including the bai who does the cleaning and washing. But, the things our parents and grand parents took for granted like a belly full of food, milk in the morning, fruits in the evening are beyond our wildest imagination.
Today it is an achievement if a man can feed his family, and educate his children. Forget the roti’s dripping with ghee, his family is lucky if they can get chapatti’s roasted in a tea spoon of adulterated vegetable oil.
We are indeed living in strange and wonderful times, the cost of a return ticket to Dubai at fourteen thousand rupees, is more affordable than a month of food on the table for a middle class family of four. If only the family could live off relatives and neighbors for a month, one of them could visit Dubai or if they set their sights a peg lower two of them, could fly down to Colombo. This is not so difficult, as the Indian extended family is known for throwing farewell and welcome back parties, for anyone going to or returning from abroad. So what if by throwing this party, the host families home budget goes into a
tail spin and will take atleast six months of scrimping and cutting corners to recover.
Or if the thought of sponging on relatives and friends deters us, we can forego the foreign visit for a latest LCD TV or a refrigerator. The latest refrigerator model or a 32 inch LCD TV, available at a throw away price at around thirty five thousand is still affordable and within reach of a middle class family, compared to school fees reigning in the stratosphere at Fifty thousand plus per year, in a reasonable school. This is excluding the monthly incidentals on school projects and test and home work books, pens and pencils which cost upwards of a thousand rupees per month.
We have to thank our Government and its economic policies for making available to us the humble middle class, goodies that our parents could only dream about. Even as you watch the evil bahu hatch a scheme to usurp the family’s property, please send in a silent prayer to God, thanking him for blessing us with a leader who in his wisdom has steered our country to such prosperity. And if by chance your son refuses to be captivated by the cartoons chasing each other on the flat screen and cries out for milk, just wait a few minutes for him to calm down, as within a few minutes, an ad for milk supplements will be aired and he can go to sleep satiated. For with the prices as they are, it is the closest a middle class child will get to milk. We have to learn to be satisfied with our LCD’s and mobiles.
by Neera Kishore
Courtesy: Hindi Milap
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Small incidents create history
The History of the world is a chronicle of small events that have triggered cataclysmic changes in the socio-political structure of society and redrawn national boundaries. Marie Antoinette’s “If they do not have bread, let them eat cake”, was the bugle cry for the French revolution, it led to the execution of King Louis XVI and sounded the death knell for the French aristocracy at the guillotine.
The spark for the Indian struggle of Independence was the rumored use of cow and pig fat in the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle cartridges. This was abhorrent to the religious beliefs of the Indian soldiers both Hindu and Muslim, as the cartridges had to be bit before being loaded. The fire ignited by the alleged bovine and swine lard ultimately drove away the British imperialists from the shores of Independent India 90 years later. The story of India’s Independence is entwined with that of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s humiliation and his subsequent fight against racism. In 1983 Mohandas was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to a third-class coach while holding a valid first-class ticket, this profoundly affected him and was the turning point in his life and the Indian freedom struggle.
The genesis of the American Civil Rights Movement, was the arrest in 1955 of Rosa Parks, a middle-aged tailor's assistant for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Her arrest led to protests against racial segregation in Montogomery, Albama’s bus services. The fight against discrimination in American transportation system, which started in Alabama finally culminated a decade later into the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave the US blacks their voting rights.
And even as we watch history is being made in the Middle East and Africa where totalitarian regimes are clinging to the tattered threads of power, which can give way at any moment. The catalyst for this was the self immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. Bouazizi a Tunisian street vendor set himself afire on December 17, 2010, in protest against the confistication of his wares and the humiliation of being slapped by a female municipal official. The flames that engulfed Bouazizi have ignited the Arab world and reduced to rubble the barriers of fear which were restraining the Arab mind. Bouazizi’s act is the catalyst of the Jasmine Revolution, which has toppled the Tunisian Government and ousted its President of 23 years Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The whiff of the Jasmine Revolution has spread across the entire Middle East. The first to fall is Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. He is fighting a losing battle to retain the reins of the Government. And even as Egypt burns rumblings of discontent can be heard emanating from Yemen, Libya, Jordan and even Saudi Arabia. The events in Tunisia and Egypt have sounded the warning bells for the Monarchies and self styled rulers of the Middle Eastern countries. Hopefully they will now be open to a more representative and democratic Government, the only way ahead if these rulers want to avoid the fate of Eli Ben. And if Bouazizi’s sacrifice has resulted in this radical change for the people of Middle East, then it has not been in vain.
by Neera Kishore
Courtesy Hindi Milap
The spark for the Indian struggle of Independence was the rumored use of cow and pig fat in the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle cartridges. This was abhorrent to the religious beliefs of the Indian soldiers both Hindu and Muslim, as the cartridges had to be bit before being loaded. The fire ignited by the alleged bovine and swine lard ultimately drove away the British imperialists from the shores of Independent India 90 years later. The story of India’s Independence is entwined with that of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s humiliation and his subsequent fight against racism. In 1983 Mohandas was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to a third-class coach while holding a valid first-class ticket, this profoundly affected him and was the turning point in his life and the Indian freedom struggle.
The genesis of the American Civil Rights Movement, was the arrest in 1955 of Rosa Parks, a middle-aged tailor's assistant for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. Her arrest led to protests against racial segregation in Montogomery, Albama’s bus services. The fight against discrimination in American transportation system, which started in Alabama finally culminated a decade later into the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave the US blacks their voting rights.
And even as we watch history is being made in the Middle East and Africa where totalitarian regimes are clinging to the tattered threads of power, which can give way at any moment. The catalyst for this was the self immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. Bouazizi a Tunisian street vendor set himself afire on December 17, 2010, in protest against the confistication of his wares and the humiliation of being slapped by a female municipal official. The flames that engulfed Bouazizi have ignited the Arab world and reduced to rubble the barriers of fear which were restraining the Arab mind. Bouazizi’s act is the catalyst of the Jasmine Revolution, which has toppled the Tunisian Government and ousted its President of 23 years Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The whiff of the Jasmine Revolution has spread across the entire Middle East. The first to fall is Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. He is fighting a losing battle to retain the reins of the Government. And even as Egypt burns rumblings of discontent can be heard emanating from Yemen, Libya, Jordan and even Saudi Arabia. The events in Tunisia and Egypt have sounded the warning bells for the Monarchies and self styled rulers of the Middle Eastern countries. Hopefully they will now be open to a more representative and democratic Government, the only way ahead if these rulers want to avoid the fate of Eli Ben. And if Bouazizi’s sacrifice has resulted in this radical change for the people of Middle East, then it has not been in vain.
by Neera Kishore
Courtesy Hindi Milap
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