Ganashakti
Friday, October 4, 2013
Declare Jharkhand Drought Hit: Left Parties - Shashikant
Declare Jharkhand Drought Hit: Left Parties
Shashikant
ON September 23, 2013, a delegation of the Left parties called on the Jharkhand chief minister, Hemant Soren, at Ranchi
The delegation included the CPI(M) state secretary Gopikant Baksi, CPI(M) state secretariat member and former MLA Rajendra Singh Munda, K D Singh of the CPI and Radhakant Jha of the RSP.
The memorandum submitted to the chief minister expressed concern over the sharply deteriorating law and order situation throughout the state, including the capital city Ranchi
The delegation demanded that the police must deal with the culprits sternly and a special task force be set up to deal with the crimes. The delegation demanded a CBI probe into the issue of gang rape and murder of two school girls in the Police Line at Deoghar by the wards of police personals during the third spell of president’s rule in Jharkhand in May 2013. In spite of the order of the state governor, a CBI probe has not yet been initiated.
The delegation drew the chief minister’s attention towards the concerted attempts being made by communal forces to disrupt communal harmony in the state.
The delegation said that several parts of the state were witnessing a dry spell due to irregular monsoon. It demanded that the government must declare drought in Jharkhand, immediately start relief programmes, waive the farmers’ loans, sanction them fresh loans without interest, increase the number of working days under the MGNREGA, supply 35 kg of foodgrains to the affected families per month at the rate of one rupee per kg, and supply essential commodities through the public distribution System.
The issue of 11.40 lakh beneficiaries of the additional BPL list, who were deprived of getting foodgrains for the last four months, was raised by the delegation. Restoration of the supply has since been demanded.
The chief minister discussed the issues raised by the delegation and assured to look into the matter. On the drought like situation, he said the government was constantly monitoring it.
Comrade Vinod Raina
Comrade Vinod Raina
Amit Sengupta
FORTY years back a young scholar with a fresh PhD in Physics from Delhi University
Vinod Raina passed away after a brave four year long battle with cancer in Delhi India
Vinod’s lifelong passion was education. His train journey to Hoshangabad was the beginning of his association with the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme. He was to later be part of founding Eklavya, a path breaker in the landscape of science teaching programmes in the country. Vinod’s vision and intellectual sweep ensured that initiatives that he was involved in did not remain limited as small NGO programmes. Eklavya soon became an example of how education can be both joyful and liberating, and its success left its mark on teaching methodologies across the country. His vision was always much larger, he set value to the transformative potential of education. Perhaps he would agree himself that the culmination of his life’s work was the enactment of the Right to Education Act by the Indian parliament in 2009. The RTE Act was very dear to Vinod and he fought relentlessly to shape the Act and to ensure a consensus around it.
The Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 saw Vinod in the forefront of the struggle for justice for the victims of the worst corporate crime in the history of India India India
Vinod remained rooted in his commitment to local struggles for democracy and rights throughout his life. While science and education were his first loves, he became a part of the environment movement and was one of the loudest voices speaking for the victims of capitalist development, who were forced out of their lands and lost their livelihoods. The Narmada Bachao Andolan, the anti-nuclear struggles in many parts of the country, and many other people's movements found in Vinod a tireless fighter and a comrade-in-arms.
Vinod would say that all his later day work was rooted in what he learnt from the simple village people in Hoshangabad district. He was to use this knowledge to work on a canvas that was truly global. Through Jubilee South, he became a crusader against the unjust global policies of the rich countries, and was in the forefront of the global struggle to cancel the unjust debts that were forced on poor developing countries. He was, for long, an International Council member of the World Social Forum and remained one of its prominent voices till his death. He was also one of the founders of the global Forum for Science and Democracy.
Vinod was a wonderful orator, both in Hindi and English – he had a way with words that could convert the most cynical opponents into believers of social transformation. He was also an accomplished singer and his melodious voice would often lift the spirit of activists as they gathered together at the end of a long and tiring day.
The Peoples Science Movement, the Literacy and Education movements, numerous people’s movements – all shall miss Vinod’s physical presence. But comrades such as Vinod do not die, they remain alive through their work and in the minds and the struggles of people he worked with.
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