South Asia Citizens Web

Despite the successful legislative elections of 2002 and 2008, power has not trickled to the grass-roots. Panchayat elections are yet to happen in Kashmir. In this political vacuum, all power is abdicated to the security forces, who have trained for the past 20 years to define the problem only in terms of law and order. It is no surprise that casualties are high. The mob is fierce, the police understaffed, overworked and stressed. Eighty per cent of the J&K Police is used for security of politicians. The remaining 20 per cent that man police stations don’t have the equipment or the training to deal with angry mobs.

Vedanta has long been criticised by activists for what they claim is its cavalier attitude to environmental protection, worker safety and other issues at its operations in Africa and India, and every AGM since it was listed on the London Stock Exchange has been punctuated by protests. But as the Indian government comes close to issuing its final verdict on the mine, the protests have become noisier and more impassioned.

The revised wage structure for workers in the apparel industry ultimately points to the inherent apathy of the ruling class to workers’ welfare in Bangladesh

Given the considerable international interest in the progress of Naxalism on the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the wake of the 2008 Maoist revolution in Nepal, we are pleased to publish the following interview with Marxist and historian Jairus Banaji conducted on June 28, 2010.

It needs no expertise to assess how New Delhi is looking at what all has been happening in Kashmir over the past about three months. The arrival of planeloads of ‘additional’ contingents of central para-military forces in Srinagar, following chief minister Omar Abdullah’s recent visit to the union capital, tells it all. Central government’s approach in this case continues to be influenced by the entrenched militaristic mindset of the intelligence-bureaucratic establishment. There is no sign at all of any worthwhile political input into New Delhi’s decision making apparatus. Obviously no one over there feels any need for such an approach. Looking from here, it is clear beyond doubt that the central government, now in effective control of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, is on course to sharpen its coercive tools in dealing with ‘obstinate’ people of Kashmir.