Bihar fake topper Ruby Rai is not the culprit, but the victim

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/bihar-fake-topper-ruby-rai-nitish-kumar-bseb-government-jobsbicycle-campaign/story/1/11455.html

In another major embarrassment to the honourable chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, Ruby Rai - a girl from the state and formerly its Class 12 "topper" - has emerged as an icon of the state government's failure. This time it is on another crucial front - education.

During the campaign for Nitish ji last year, among many other things, I spearheaded the "Bicycle Campaign" led by a group of women cyclists in Patna.

These women were mostly the beneficiaries of Nitishji's scheme and used the same bicycles that he gifted them to do door-to-door campaign for him.

I had seen a generation of my own neighbourhood friends in village not go to school because it was far off and thus was not safe for women to travel.

I only wished they could continue because with time, I lost most of them - to marriages. They were married off and had kids in a year or two. With little to talk in common, we drifted.

So, when Nitishji started the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana in Bihar, I was supremely happy. Bicycle for millions of Bihari girls became a symbol of pride, freedom and an instrument to succeed in life.

Riding on it, confidently whizzing past the aaris (gaps between fields), girls had started going to school. I smiled each time I saw girls on the bicycle thinking they were symbolic of a generation set free.

But today, when I see Ruby Rai reduced to a joke on mainstream and social media, I feel pained. I feel sorry for a "system" that could not keep up.

I feel embarrassed at our collective failure, which even in its expression of addressing the concern, reflects a lynch mentality.

I cannot see Ruby at fault when she said yesterday, "I merely wanted to pass, not to top."

I do not see her as the culprit for she is a victim. And I cannot see her character being lynched so brazenly for she must already be so embarrassed and so singled out that I fear Ruby will lose her mind.

I share the same sociocultural reality as her. I am a Bihari woman who has lived a major part of my life in rural Bihar. So, I know how much agency she would have had earlier in deciding her fate. I also know what she must have been going through now after being reduced to a "fake" in the eyes of the world she comes from.

When one of my distant buas sang beautiful Sanskrit shlokas in front of my newly-wed mother, my mother requested her father to send her to school for formal education.

Also read - With such rotten education, Bihar toppers' ignorance expected

My grandfather refused flatly and said, "Ekra padh likh ke commissioner bane la to he na. Baad me chulha hi foonktai. Bas chitthi patri bhar seekh jaaye, bahut hai. (She does not need to be a commissioner. Ultimately she has to cook and clean. She should have basic literacy to be able to read and write letters)."

This story did not end with that generation. My own friends from village did not study much. Not because they could not but because they were not allowed to.

In the age of a changed marriage market scenario now, mere housework was not guarantee of a "suitable" marital alliance. Now grooms demanded education certificates or "degrees".

However, acquiring degrees and gaining real education do not fit the order of the day in a highly casteist and patriarchal society of Bihar.

Besides, girl education is meant to serve either of the twin purposes in my state - get any kind of government job and/or marry another government employee. There is no reason why a procured degree cannot fulfil this purpose.

In perfect collusion with the local administration, degrees have been churned at fixed rates with proper seal and signatures from education officials in the state.

In this context, are we being fair to Ruby?

Is it fair to single her out and point solitary fingers at her? Is it justified that those who are operating this "system" enjoy the daily dose of sarcasm and laughter at her expense?

Does Nitishji know how many Shiksha Mitras in Bihar who teach these students have genuine degrees? Does his education department know which universities in Bihar do not furnish illegal degrees?

Does Bihar administration not know the authenticity of the degree, before appointing employees in its system at lower levels?

The answers are all in affirmative. And sadly, that is where the problem is.

Bihar suffers from an epidemic of cheating to get on with education. Knowledge has gradually slipped away from the priority list of our system.

From a state which has one of the highest rates of teachers' absenteeism cases, what is the incentive of the students to come to school? How is Ruby responsible for knowing what to write on Tulsidas then?

Even if Ruby is punished and penalised, what do we achieve? Does her punishment prove a point about a brilliant system in Bihar? Does it absolve us of a collective sin?

Does it break the nexus between the system and the subject? And most importantly, does it assure that girls will be allowed to go out and study?

It is ironic that in the noise and din to "nab the culprit" in haste, symbolic lives have been butchered while the system stays on unrepentant.

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/bihar-fake-topper-ruby-rai-nitish-kumar-bseb-government-jobsbicycle-campaign/story/1/11455.html

Nitish ji, why does Bihar Police name rape victims and not stop crime?

http://www.catchnews.com/national-news/nitish-kumar-ji-why-is-bihar-police-naming-rape-victims-instead-of-stopping-crime-1467105103.html

 On 24 June, I wrote an open letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressing my anguish over the growing number of crimes against women in the state. I am from Bihar and had worked a communication consultant for Kumar during the last Assembly elections and I'm deeply disturbed by his inaction.

Three days later, Bihar Police chose to respond to my letter via a Facebook post.

Sadly their first response was to disclose the name of the rape victim, which was picked up by the local media. What followed was a hasty and shoddy attempt at damage control, wherein Bihar police deleted the post, and published an edited response.

Before I present a point-by-point rebuttal to their insensitive post, let me thank the Bihar government for taking cognizance of the letter. Let me also point out in the same breath that the insensitive response - both in content and form - cements my view thatjungle raaj has returned to my state.

I think the Nitish Kumar government's official response to rape cases in Bihar are:

1. Insensitive: By resorting to a public announcement - they turned a heinous crime into a routine administrative process. By mentioning monetary compensation in the name of relief, the state has shown it has scant regard for this emotionally, physically and mentally damaging subject.

My letter, though a political instrument, was an emotional outburst, written on behalf of hundreds of JD (U) women workers and is reflective of the collective angst of Bihari women. Instead of taking aggressive affirmative action to boost security for women, they have limited themselves to bureaucratic drudgery. Is Bihar government under the illusion that the solution to rape is monetary compensation or that merely registering cases of rape are enough? Is this what the Bihar model has been reduced to?

2.Incorrect, irrelevant data: The police letter quotes NCRB data from 2015 to show that Bihar has become comparatively 'safer' for women.

Considering there is dearth of basic security and safety, and that the number of cases of rape and molestation have shot up since the Nitish government came into power in 2015, that claim is ironic. My letter picked up alarming anecdotes from the month of June 2016 alone. In this context, how is this 2015 data relevant?

Forget about common women of the state or my friends or family, when JD(U) female workers call me and tell me, 'aap awaaz uthaiye, hum saamne se bol bhi nahi sakte' (speak on our behalf, because we can't), I feel helpless, enraged. I feel as wronged as they do. I feel as humiliated as they do. Will Nitish ji explain which data captures this fear, this angst and this helplessness among his own cadre?

3. Diverting attention: Not only is Bihar government chest thumping on a year old inaccurate data, they're resorting to cheap political gimmickry by comparing numbers from other states' NCRB data. Are women in Bihar supposed to feel safe just because other states have worse track record? This sort of comparison shows nothing but intellectual bankruptcy by the Nitish Kumar government.

4. Blind-siding the real issue: A gender-sensitive government and leader wouldn't dare claim "reported versus non-reported" cases to justify inaction like the Nitish Kumar government did when they pleaded ignorance of a particular case because it was not 'reported.'

Isn't it a known fact that not all cases of exploitation are promptly reported? Are they saying there are no instances of unreported crime in the state? In a country such as ours, there are socio-political taboos responsible for non-reporting of cases of crimes against women. Shouldn't Nitish sarkaar take responsibility for this grossly unrealistic interpretation that just because a case went unreported, crime doesn't exist in the state?

Does Bihar government really feel that a gangraped woman is in a frame of mind to deal with the trauma of 'reporting' the abduction of her daughters after her brutal rape? Did the government take any suo moto cognizance of that heart rending case? If it did, can it publicly announce the progress, therein? If it did not, would it explain why?

The official response in another rape case quotes medical reports claiming that the private parts of a survivor had not been mutilated. Let me remind Nitish ji that this is a mere 'perspective' from the government medical fraternity. As a woman, I counter that only the survivor can and should testify if her private parts have been mutilated or not. If not herself, a female member of her family should officially claim and/or approve and/or disapprove of the government's position.

We all know that official medical responses are highly manipulative and manageable. A brief conversation with any government medical professional in Patna will explain how politics often supercedes genuine medical opinion and influences the final reports.

By blaming the media for misreporting and falsely claiming that cases are 'made up', the government has further created a dent in the public-leadership connect. As a female journalist from Bihar, I thank my colleagues for reporting whatever information the stringer network churns. But as a reporter myself, I feel physically threatened. By gagging the fourth estate of our democracy through official proclamations , the government has issued an undeclared emergency.

The 'system' has used the state machinery for a long time to build a societal wall for a survivor to feel humiliated, threatened and even discouraged from discussing crimes of exploitation. In this case too, I fear that this official statement from the police may have broken the confidence and will power of the survivor to report the crime. Since the case has attracted nation-wide outrage in the media, the women of Bihar deserve justice. The arguments made by Bihar police on Nitish ji's behalf reek of misogyny, a hastily put-together 'research', political motivation and an administrative lethargy to report truth as it stands.

My letter to Nitish ji traced a very personal journey of not just me as an individual, but of the women in the state. It was a letter of spontaneous emotional outburst which came from my own personal journey from fear to strength to brutal betrayal - a journey gone wrong. To quote from my first letter, 'women in the state including myself feel that Nitish ji used 50% of Bihar's population - its women - simply as vote banks. Today, looking at the state of affairs, we feel cheated and betrayed. Due to the inaction of the government and its alliance with RJD, our worst fears have been proved right.

As a citizen of Bihar, I appeal to Nitish Kumar, the state government and the administrative machinery to not further politicise this issue, or deepen this feeling of emotional disconnect which the women of state feel for their once-favorite political leader.

We have shifted our allegiance and have been forced to embrace fear over something as abhorrent as rape.

http://www.catchnews.com/national-news/nitish-kumar-ji-why-is-bihar-police-naming-rape-victims-instead-of-stopping-crime-1467105103.html

Dear Nitish Kumar, regards, a disheartened daughter of Bihar

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/bihar-minor-rape-nitish-kumar-rjd-sexual-violence-crime-against-women/story/1/11363.html

Dear Nitishji,

I felt like writing to you for some time. But something stopped me. Perhaps I was fighting my own conscience. How do I confront the same man I campaigned for? But today, I need to break my own barriers.

I hail from Nalanda - your district. I have met you many times at cultural celebrations in the district. Recently, I worked for you as a communication consultant much against the wishes of my parents and my family. I patiently and silently celebrated the number of likes and shares and followers and retweets on your social media profiles which you so snidely derided as a mere chidiya, sometime back.

But today, like scores of other Bihari women, I feel cheated, robbed and helpless. Today I feel enraged, inflamed, hurt, helpless, extremely angry and very emotional. I am angry with myself. You might be interested in knowing why for I represent 50 per cent of your vote bank.

On June 23, a 10-year old girl was gangraped in Bihar. The very same day, a 21-year-old was raped at gunpoint and her private parts were mutilated with a pistol and wooden sticks. The suffering of the girl and the brutality of the crime led to comparisons with the Nirbhaya episode in Delhi. These might seem like one of those rare cases for an Indian state, Nitish babu. But let me take you through the incidents in this month alone.

On June 10, a man was killed for resisting and protesting the rape of his wife. On June 5, two daughters of a gangraped woman were abducted in Nawada. On June 2, a girl was raped in front of her brother at Madhaura in Bihar. On the same day, another rape was reported by a girl who was abducted and gangraped months ago. Remember, this is just half of June.

Nitishji, I was 12 years old when I was molested in a crowded bus by an adult from a specific caste. You might know which one and why I even mention the caste angle. But in this age of political correctness, let me say it for you and for my readers - because he had proudly proclaimed, "Jab Laluji gaddi par, to Yadavan ke kaahe ke dar". This was when I shouted amidst tears that I will lodge a police complaint.

My family decided when I was 14 or 15 that I should move out and I did - perhaps never to return.

But I did. I came back to work in the state for the state. My parents were happy, I was happy. You made us feel that we could lodge police complaints and that prompt action would be taken. You rebuilt that lost trust in the "system". I was thankful to you. Women across the state thanked you.

This adulation was not random and whimsical Nitishji. It was a thought over gesture built on concrete evidence and lived realities. It was a voice of your support. It was a way of telling you - keep doing the good work, we trust you completely. And you do know what I am talking about, don't you?

There was an air of threat and an air of insecurity even in the state capital, forget about districts far away from Patna, before you came to power the first time.

Even men did not feel safe in the state. We had forgotten to laugh in mirth openly. People avoided travel plans at night. Mothers were constantly praying till fathers returned from work if it was past dusk.

En masse migration of talent happened. All small and big successful businesses wound up. Professors left to teach in universities other than the state. Scenes of organised violence and fear in Gangs of Wasseypurseem normal to all of us in Bihar who grew up in the '90s, for it was normal and you do know that, don't you?

But things changed after you came in. For women like me, you fulfilled a dream. I could now have coffee in open spaces in Patna. I could roam around aimlessly, talk to strangers on the street and feel at home.

I could travel in crowded buses, fighting and conquering my inner demons. I could breathe in Bihar, Nitishji.

From a woman who had goosebumps when I moved out of the Hai Complex office for the first day at work in Patna because it was 8pm and I was never that late on Patna's streets while growing up to become a woman who confidently returned home at 3am all alone by the end of the campaign, it was a self assuring journey - both personal and political. 

But today Nitishji, that trust stands shattered. Women like me feel hurt, cheated and let me not beat around the bush, we feel molested and raped. You do know what I am talking about, don't you?

In every pre-election rally, you passionately appealed to the mothers and sisters of Bihar to vote for you. You said, "Go and vote on the election-day, first. Don't cook before you vote."

Women voted. And you also know that women stood rock solid behind you even while their own men protested your political moves. Women made you win. We trusted you. We felt we were safe and will continue to be safe till you are around.

I will share an anecdote here. I remember that in Madhubani, during the campaign, while I was staying at a friend's place, my friend's mother - a doctor married to an RSS swayamsevak, went out and voted for you much against the wishes of her husband. Do you know why? I will quote her for you: "Vote bhijua hota hai. Kya pata achha hi ho. Nitishji ne theek kaam kiya hai. Ek mauka aur deke dekhte hain."

Since, I worked with the Mahila Prakoshth of your party, Nitishji, I assume the voice of those women who might not have the advantages that I have to air their opinions in English and even in Hindi on national platforms. I assume this voice because this article is written after due consultation with more than a dozen women in your own party and more than hundreds in your state - some known very closely to you.

We all feel cheated. We feel as if we were taken for a ride. We feel as if we continue to remain your vote banks and nothing else. We fell for your raksha bandhan rhetoric in election rallies. We fell for the façade of this partial liquor ban to woo our en masse vote. Alcohol ban is a sham, Nitishji, if you could not flex your bureaucratic muscles in reining those that are more inebriated from power than by country made liquor.

Each woman who is looked at lasciviously by an emboldened man feels that your political manipulation molested her. Each teenage girl whose family decides to not let her stay in the state curses you for taking them for a ride. Each young woman entrepreneur who felt she could return and start something of her own for the state feels raped of choices in your new reign.

Nitishji, you were elected not for your social philosophy and your political revolutionary theories - Lalu fulfilled enough of that by giving the so-called voice to the voiceless. Scores of women oblivious to socialist theories voted for you because women wanted change. We wanted some peace - nothing else, for we knew that as Bihari women, we will handle everything else. We will build, rebuild, innovate, figure out, adjust and celebrate.

But you have taken us for a ride. You have cheated all of us. You have reduced us to a mere box on your checklist that you need to tick and "check" during the meticulous crafting your political strategies.

I am enraged at myself, I am livid at my stupidity and am aghast at your pretence.

A disheartened daughter of Bihar

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/bihar-minor-rape-nitish-kumar-rjd-sexual-violence-crime-against-women/story/1/11363.html

AIUDF wanting to 'sabotage' composite culture of Assam is worrying

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/assam-polls-aiudf-badaruddin-ajmal-muslims-kashmir-tarun-gogoi-secularism/story/1/9746.html

In its official vision statement published for public consumption on its website, the All India United Democratic  Front (AIUDF) till late on March 26 night asserted its primary vision statement - "to sabotage our millenial heritage and composite culture". The declaration of this statement needs to be deconstructed in the light of the electoral atomosphere in Assam.

Assam goes for the first phase of polls on the Apil 4, followed by the second phase on April 11.  By now, it is quite clear from the mood of the people of the state that they will choose a government which lays a roadmap for swift development. But even more important is the rather vexed question which a retired IPS officer in the state asked Home Minister Rajnath Singh during one of his official visits to Assam, "Development for whom?"

It is pertinent here to introduce a few statistics comparing the 2001 and 2011 census data for Assam:

1. In 2001, the Muslim population in Assam was 30.9 per cent. After a decade, it has risen to 34.22 per cent.

2. In 2001, there were six Muslim dominated districts in Assam. In 2011, this number has increased to nine - Barpeta, Dhubri, Karimganj, Goalpara, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Hailakandi, Nagaon and Morigaon.

3. Dhubri district has recorded the highest Muslim population of 79.67 per cent in the state, shrinking the Hindu population to 19.92 per cent.

4. The highest growth rate of Muslim population has been in Barpeta district, where it has grown at 11.73 per cent between 2001 and 2011. In this district, the Hindu population has declined to 29.10 per cent.

5. In Goalpara district, the Hindu population has remained stagnant at 34.50 per cent while the Muslim population touched 57.52 per cent.

6. Nagaon is another district where the Muslim population has grown by at least four per cent.

This statistical context is important in order to trace the root of these questions. The apprehension with respect to the development narrative of the state stems from a deep rooted psyche of regional sentiments in Assam. Some of my personal experiences involve being shocked at hearing a vegetable vendor at one instance and a cab driver in another articulate with fear and finality that Assam will be the "next Kashmir" in no less than a decade if the present condition continues unabated. When probed, all seem to refer to these hard census statistics.

In fact, it is within this deliberative framework that the last Assembly elections were fought in Assam. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi had asked, "Who is Badruddin Ajmal?" With this statement alone, he was able to consolidate those votes that till date, since the unfortunate Nellie massacre, most obviously gravitate on the borders of insomniac insecurity; that of indigenous citizens of the state losing their historical claim over Axomia Aai, that of being ousted, culturally, from their own homeland.

It is also within this framework that one needs to look at AIUDF's official website that claimed for as long as one year that articulated its vision "to sabotage our millennial heritage and composite culture". Their website was last updated in September 2015.

The vision of sabotage as articulated by AIUDF needs to be analysed as such:

1. "Sabotage" is an act of complete destruction for political and/or military intent. The question is: What does Ajmal want to sabotage? Whose culture does he mean when he uses the adjective "our"? Is it Indian, considering the ideology of his party AIDUF? Or is it Assam's culture that he wishes to destroy?

2. The Muslim question in Assam is starkly different from what it is in the rest of the country. In Assam, which is on the verge of a cultural civil war, as senior journalist Rajeev Bhattacharyya prefers to describe the situation as, the question of Muslim votes is divided into indigenous and foreign - xilonjia versus bidexi. To quote Wasbir Hussain, another senior journalist, "If you ask an Assamese Muslim man to choose between a Mumbai Muslim bride and an Assamese Hindu bride, he would choose the latter." The question, Wasbir says, is not religious in Assam but cultural. Therefore, when AIUDF says that its vision is to destroy the composite culture of Assam, it is worth a shudder down the spine of every indigenous citizen in the state.

3. The kind of clout Ajmal holds in those districts of Assam which share the porous international boundary with the state is disturbing. His vision statement is threatening. Fraught by the influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators, Assam's unique identity and history seems vulnerable and endangered. The condition invokes the legend of Lachit Borphukan's fight against the bidexis and heralds emotions only those sensitive to the nuances of Assamese culture will appreciate.

Ajmal, an MP from Dhubri, issued a clarification on March 26 lying blatantly that his official website was hacked. However, no aware citizen of India can agree to this false explanation for logical reasons:

1. A hacked website almost always has illicit content - commercial or explicit. AIUDF's website stayed untouched apart from that one defining word in their vision for the past one year. There is ample reason to believe that the act of letting this vision statement the party's priority for almost a year has been a deliberate attempt to polarise the Muslim vote base through an act of emotional appeal - almost militaristic and political in nature. Perhaps, the preparations for these Assembly elections were underway in the style of a classic articulation by Gogoi - grand understanding.

2. A hacked website does not suddenly guarantee the aggrieved user an access to its content. Ajmal's website was updated immediately when the controversy snowballed to prime time stories in Assam on electronic media.

It is to be noted that except India Today TV journalist Rahul Kanwal, no "famous" prime time journalist addressed the deep concern.

And this dear readers, is the problem with the Indian brand of secularism. I shudder at the thought of a BJP official website making a claim as grave as this - and that too at the run up to one of the most crucial Assembly elections Assam has seen post-independence.

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/assam-polls-aiudf-badaruddin-ajmal-muslims-kashmir-tarun-gogoi-secularism/story/1/9746.html

नहीं पूरे हुए गोगोई के 94 % वादे, ऐसा कोई कारण नहीं कि ब्रह्मपुत्र और बराक में ''कमल'' न खिले

http://www.namamibharat.com/2015-04-29-05-41-55/assam

अभी हाल ही में, बिहार चुनाव के समय, मैंने श्री नीतीश कुमार जी के कैंपेन में काम किया था. उसके पहले मैंने नरेन्द्र मोदी जी के चुनाव कैंपेन में भी काम किया. खेमे बदलने की मेरी क्या वजहें थीं, उसकी विवेचना के लिए एक नए आलेख की जरुरत होगी. अपने राजनीतिक विचलन के बाद मैं अब, भारतीय जनता पार्टी के साथ औपचारिक रूप से जुड़ गयी हूँ और निर्णय लिया है कि पार्टी को मेरी सीमित बौद्धिक सेवाओं कि जहाँ जरुरत पड़े, वहां पार्टी के काम आऊंगी. मेरा यह निर्णय काफी सोच समझ कर लिया गया विचारधारात्मक और सजग निर्णय है. फिलहाल, मैं असम में काम कर रही हूँ.

अगर हम असम की बात करें, तो हमें तमाम ऐसे कारण मिलेंगे जिसकी बुनियाद पर जनता पिछले 15 वर्षों से सत्ता में रही तरुण गोगोई के नेतृत्व की कांग्रेस सरकार का सामूहिक बहिष्कार करना चाहेगी. तरुण गोगोई के 94 प्रतिशत चुनावी वादे अब तक पूरे नहीं हुए. धात्व्य हो कि असम में कुल मिलकर 55 सालों तक कांग्रेस की सरकार रही है. आइये, अब कुछ तथ्यों से रुबरु कराते हैं।

 स्वतंत्रता के समय असम देश का चतुर्थ सबसे समृद्ध प्रदेश था. आज यह देश का पंचम सबसे गरीब राज्य है. असम की एक करोड़ से अधिक जनसंख्या गरीबी रेखा के नीचे है.

 ब्रह्मपुत्र की भूमि असम प्यासी है. यहाँ 96 प्रतिशत उपजाऊ जमीन में सिंचाई की व्यवस्था उपलब्ध नहीं है. सिंचाई के मामले में इस प्रदेश की स्थिति देश के सबसे चिंतनीय मुद्दों में से एक है.

 असम के 42 प्रतिशत से अधिक लोगों के पास पीने के लिए साफ़ पानी नहीं है. एक ऐसा प्रदेश जहाँ वर्षा अच्छी है, जहाँ नदियों की कमी नहीं है, वहां इस तरह की स्थिति शर्मनाक है.

 असम में 23 लाख से अधिक पढ़े लिखे युवा बेरोजगार हैं. पपोन और जुबीन का प्रदेश, जहाँ कलाओं के क्षेत्र में युवाओं ने पूरी दुनिया में झंडे गाड़ रखे हैं, वहां तरुण गोगोई के सरकार की सबसे बड़ी विफलता इन युवाओं की ऊर्जा और उत्साह को कोई माध्यम नहीं देना रहा है. न ये युवा सम्मानजनक रोज़गार के लिए असम में कोई आशा देखते हैं और न ही किसी प्रकार से इनकी प्रतिभा और महत्वाकांक्षाओं को पंख देने के कोई साधन उपलब्ध हैं.

 असम में मातृ मृत्यु दर देश में सबसे ज्यादा है.

 पिछले एक साल में असम में महिलाओं पर 19000 से अधिक हिंसा की घटनाएँ सामने आई हैं.

 साक्षरता दर के लिहाज़ से असम देश के 23वें स्थान पर है.

 मानव विकास सूचकांक के तहत असम देश के सबसे नीचे पायदानों पर 16 वें स्थान पर खड़ा है.

 बागान श्रम अधिनियम, 1951 के अंतर्गत चाय बागान में काम करने वाले मजदूरों को अच्छा घर, साफ़ सफाई, बच्चों के लिए क्रेच, विद्यालयों, अनाज और स्वास्थ्य सम्बन्धी सुविधाएं मुहैया करवाने की बात थी. आजादी के 65 सालों बाद आज तक इस अधिनियम को पूर्णतः लागू नहीं किया जा सका है.

 असम में एक करोड़ से ज्यादा चाय बागानों के मजदूर हैं. चाय बागानों की इस तीसरी पीढ़ी को आज तक न घर मिला न कोई सुविधा. हालत ऐसी है कि कोई भी जब उनके बीच समस्याएं सुनने समझने जाए तो आँखें नम हो आयें. अगर सरकारी तंत्र के तहत मजदूरों के शोषण का अध्ययन करना हो, तो चाय बागानों के मजदूरों की अवस्थिति एक अनन्य मामला है.

 चाय बागानों में 90 प्रतिशत मजदूरों के पास माध्यमिक विद्यालयों की सुविधा नहीं है. 50 प्रतिशत के पास प्राथमिक विद्यालयों की सुविधा नहीं है.

 चाय बागानों में 80 प्रतिशत माताओं की मौत केवल इसलिए हो जाती हैं कि उनके पास स्वास्थ्य सम्बन्धी कोई सुविधा आसानी से उपलब्ध नहीं है.

 70 से 90 प्रतिशत चाय बागानों के मजदूर खतरनाक अनीमिया के शिकार हैं.

 17 प्रतिशत चाय बागाओं के मजदूर तीव्र यक्ष्मा के मरीज हैं.

 2007 और जून 2014 के मध्य चाय बागानों के बीच 9500 से ज्यादा बच्चों की तस्करी हो चुकी है.

 95 प्रतिशत चाय बागान के मजदूरों के घर में शौचालय की व्यवस्था उपलब्ध नहीं है.

 1,25,000 छोटे चाय उत्पादक बिना ज़मीन पट्टे के काम कर रहे हैं.

 चाय असम की शान है. और अगर बीबीसी की रिपोर्ट की मानें तो एक चाय बगान मजदूर बाजार में चाय की कीमत का एक प्रतिशत भी नहीं कमा पाता. अगर कांग्रेस का विरोध केवल विचारधारात्मक तरीके से सिद्धांतों और मूल्यों पर करना होता तो बात अलग थी. पर असम में पिछले 15 सालों में व्यवस्थित और संस्थागत तरीके से जो भ्रष्टाचार हुआ है, उसका प्रमाण इन दो तथ्यों से साफ़ ज़ाहिर होता है:

 2001-2002 से 2013-2014 के बीच 58 विभागों के 11834.24 करोड़ रूपए के ग्रांट्स के उपयोगिता प्रमाण पत्र अभी तक केंद्र सरकार को नहीं मिले. इतने बड़े तादात में जनता के पैसों के घालमेल के लिए स्वयं मनमोहन सरकार ने तरुण गोगोई को डांट पिलाई थी.

 आज तक 822 निरीक्षण रिपोर्ट्स जिसमें 1,80,000 करोड़ रुपये की वित्तीय अनियमितताएं हैं उन पर भी तरुण गोगोई चुप्पी साधे बैठे हैं. इन सब से इतर भारतीय जनता पार्टी के दो वर्षों से भी कम समयावधि में असम के लिए जो विशेष कार्य किये गए, उनसे यह विश्वास जगता है कि एकमात्र यही पार्टी है जिसपर भरोसा कर जनमत अपने कल्याण की जिम्मेवारी श्री सर्बानंद सोनोवाल जी जैसे मुख्य मंत्री के हाथों सौंप सकता है. केन्द्रीय सरकार ने असम के विद्युतीकरण को लेकर जो लक्ष्य तय किये थे, वे शत प्रतिशत हासिल हुए. बराक की घाटी सिलचर से नयी दिल्ली तक रेल सेवा की शुरुआत कर आजादी के 69 सालों बाद असम के इस भाग को भारतीय मुख्यधारा से जोड़ने का निर्णायक कदम उठाया गया. असम के युवा उद्यमियों के लिए 64968.51 करोड़ रुपये केंद्र से निस्त्रित कर सरकार ने सुरक्षित, विकसित और सर्वश्रेष्ठ असम की नींव रखी है.

अभी हाल ही में संपन्न हुए दक्षिण एशियाई खेलों की मेहमानवाज़ी असम को सौंप कर केन्द्रीय युवा और खेल मंत्री श्री सोनोवाल जी ने जिस सफलता पूर्वक खेल जगत में अंतर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर एक कीर्ति स्थापित की और असम के स्थानीय गौरव गमोसा और तिखोर, भूपेन दा के गीतों को विश्व स्तर पर सम्मानित किया, उससे उनके जातीय नायक की छवि निरंतर मुखरित हुई. यह कहना अतिशयोक्ति नहीं होगी कि श्री सर्बानंद सोनोवाल जैसे युवा, जुझारू, कर्मठ, दूरदर्शी और साफ़ छवि के नेतृत्व में असम प्रगति करेगा.

एक सजग और पढ़ी लिखी भारतीय नागरिक होने के नाते मेरा यह कर्तव्य है कि मैं अपनी शिक्षा को एक ऐसी दिशा दे पाऊं जिसके ज़रिये समाज के दबे कुचले, गरीब, हाशिये पर खड़े लोगों को उनके विकास और कल्याण में मदद मिल सके, उन्हें वे सभी सुविधाएँ बराबरी के साथ मिल सकें जिसके साथ वे अपने उत्थान की बात सोच सकें.ऐसा कोई कारण नहीं कि ब्रह्मपुत्र और बराक में कमल न खिले.

http://www.namamibharat.com/2015-04-29-05-41-55/assam

Why I decided to be BJP's campaign manager in Assam

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/narendra-modi-assam-polls-bjp-tarun-gogoi-nitish-kumar-congress-upa-brahmaputra-act-east-policy/story/1/9222.html

I recently handled the campaign efforts for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and prior to that, those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's in 2013-2014. The decision as to why I chose to switch camps warrants another article. I have officially joined the BJP and have decided to work closely with the party in whichever way it finds my intellectual services useful. My decision to join the BJP is a very conscious and ideological one. I am working on my first assignment in Assam.

If we talk of Assam, there are plenty of reasons that one would want to boycott the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government that has been ruling the state for the last 15 years. For the record, the Congress has ruled for over 55 years in the state in totality. Now, let us look at some crude facts:

1. During the British rule, Assam was one of the highest revenue-paying states in India. It was the fifth most prosperous state during independence. Today, Assam is the fourth poorest state of India. More than one crore people in the state are reeling below the poverty line.

2. More than 96 per cent agricultural land in Brahmaputra region faces water shortage. There is an acute lack of irrigation facilities - the situation is, by far, the worst in the country.

3. More than one crore, or 42 per cent, of Assam's population have no access to clean and safe drinking water. In a land surrounded by rivers and blessed with rains, such apathy is appalling.

4. More than 23 lakh youth are unemployed in Assam. The government has not just failed to nurture the innate artistic finesse of Assam, a land of singers Papon and Zubin, it failed to provide dignified employment to one of the most talented pools of the country, failed to generate job opportunities in the state and failed to give the aspirations and hope of the youth a definite shape.

5. Assam has the worst maternal mortality rate of 353 per lakh. More than 19,000 cases of violence against women have been observed in less than a year.

6. Assam ranks a lowly 23rd in the country in terms of literacy rate.

7. It ranks 16th in terms of overall human development index, which is one of the lowest in the country.

8. Plantation Labour Act, 1951, was legislated to provide basic welfare rights like proper housing, child crèches, schools, subsidised foodgrains and basic sanitation. However, even after 65 years of Congress rule, this Act hasn't been implemented in its entirety.

As a conscious and academically sound Indian citizen, I would like to believe that my education needs a certain direction to see that the actual needy, disadvantaged, poor and marginalised get the facilities and the equal rights for their welfare and development. An overall look at Assam defeats the very purpose of any debate on Gogoi's abject neglect of the people of the state who kept voting him back to power every term. 94 per cent poll promises of Gogoi's government have not been fulfilled till date.

Let us look at some other facts in this respect:

1. There are more than one crore tea plantation workers in Assam. Ever since 1952, the Congress has treated tea garden labourers as a vote bank. In return, the Congress has done nothing for the welfare of these labourers. This is the third generation of tea garden workers now that does not have a single piece of land. These workers live in abject poverty with no access to basic amenities.

2. As many as 90 per cent of Assam's tea garden workers lack access to middle school, and 50 per cent lack access to primary school.

3. Out of all maternal deaths, 80 per cent of deaths of new mothers occur in tea plantations owing to the lack of immediate access to health centres.

4. In Assam, 70-90 per cent of tea garden workers suffer from severe anaemia.

5. 17 per cent tea garden workers in Assam are suffering from acute tuberculosis.

6. Tea plantation workers are becoming prone to child trafficking. More than 9,500 children went missing from different estates between 2007 and June 2014.

7. 95 per cent of tea estate workers have no access to proper toilets in their houses.

8. Tea is a symbol of pride for the Assamese people. However, the conditions of tea estate workers are deplorable. According to a recent BBC report, a tea garden worker gets paid less than one per cent of the market tea price.

9. More than 1,25,000 small tea growers are operating without land pattas.

If it were only the issue of governance and an argument made that well, philosophically, the ruling party - the Congress in this respect - is working on an ideological plank, it could have been a different debate on principles and ethics. But when one goes through the CAG reports submitted when the UPA was at the Centre (so as to take away the blame that Modi government is going on a witch hunt), here is what you find:

1. 19,671 utilisation certificates (UCs) with respect of grants amounting to Rs 11,834.24 crore, made to 58 departments of the state government during the period from 2001-'02 to 2013-'14, have been in arrears.

2. The CAG did not get replies of 822 inspection reports for more than ten years. As a result, serious financial irregularities involving Rs 1,79,755.12 crore lay pending.

On the other side, in a move of alacrity and swift governance, the BJP at Centre has proven to stick to its commitment on the Act East policy. Right from the organisation of the South Asian Games (SAG) in Assam to 100 per cent completion of its annual targets of electrification in the hamlets, to connecting Assam within and to the national capital through train services after 69 years of Independence, to expediting the process of constructing a bridge called Bogibeel, to empowering young entrepreneurs with funds of more than Rs 64968.51 crore, the BJP has not just emerged as a credible face to salvage Assam but has indeed led by example.

There is no reason why the lotus should not bloom in the Brahmaputra and Barak.

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/narendra-modi-assam-polls-bjp-tarun-gogoi-nitish-kumar-congress-upa-brahmaputra-act-east-policy/story/1/9222.html

Mr Kejriwal, think about Dalits at home before talking on Rohith Vemula's death

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/arvind-kejriwal-dalit-rohith-vemula-aam-admi-party-aap-dalit-rakhi-birla-hyderabad/story/1/8580.html

Dear Mr Arvind Kejriwal,

I write to you as an ex-supporter of the Aam Admi Party and also as someone who has been closely following your politics.

I am amazed that a chief minister of some other state is flying to Hyderabad all of sudden to champion himself as a Dalit rights' activist. Scratching below the surface of your façade one sees only hypocrisy.

There has been no regularisation of safai karamcharis in Delhi. No medical insurance has been put in place for them either. As the betrayer of many a Dalit dream after you came to office, what right do you have to indulge in politics over Rohith Vemula's death when you have killed the trust that the Dalits had reposed in you? Tell me, how many times did you or your cabinet or your party even mention the cause of the Dalits all this while, since you came to office?

It is extremely hypocritical to talk about the Dalit question in Hyderabad today when you have come up with absolutely no affirmative action whatsoever when it comes to giving a fair representation to Dalits in your cabinet, party or ministries.

In fact, Rakhi Birla who was a Dalit woman in your cabinet was sacked on grounds of corruption. You did not oust her from the party solely because she consolidates your voter base, still! By exposing another hypocritical decision, Mr Kejriwal, you showcased a sly motive that reeks of political opportunism and hypocrisy. By visiting Hyderabad in this context, Mr Kejriwal, you express your shamelessness to milk Dalits and the other oppressed sections of society for your sole motive of staying and continuing in power.

No chief minister in the country has flown down to Hyderabad with the kind of limelight management as you have done. I charge you, Mr Kejriwal, for your politics of selective Dalit and/or secular and/or anti-corruption outrage. If you were a true messiah of the oppressed communities, you would have silently fulfilled the debts Rohith died under and as a genuine tribute to the Dalits, regularised the services of some of the most marginalised communities in government offices.

If you were truly secular, Mr Kejriwal, you would have spoken as strongly against the Malda violence as you took to Twitter to express your secular credentials. But perhaps you would not, because your new-found affection for West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is driven by political arithmetic and vicious anti-Centre chemistry.

If you were a true anti-corruption activist Mr Kejriwal, you would have swiftly exposed the many files and papers against the former chief minister of Delhi, Shiela Dikshit, who suddenly seems expunged of all her sins, which when amplified, led you to the power you hold today.

No one holds you responsible, Mr Kejriwal, because you have an uncanny ability to keep media attention away from the real issues in Delhi. In your classic response to all controversies, you try to climb up the ladder of morality, easily washing away your sins, thinking the janta to be a fool who can be taken for a ride.

Dear Mr Kejriwal, as a citizen of Delhi, I am more concerned about the effects of your Tughlaqian politics like the odd-even scheme at a time when a top official of your government was under CBI scanner, than interested in knowing what you feel and express on an unfortunate incident still under investigation in Hyderabad. I want to see my leader more entrenched in visiting Nizamuddin Basti and Mehrauli slums than one who does graveyard tourism to bake his nascent political bread.

The year 2019 is quite far away, Mr Kejriwal. And after you got rejected on the national stage quite summarily, please have the humility to value what the people of Delhi have voted you for - the development and well-being of Delhi. Prove that as a leader you have the ability to make Delhi a truly secular and egalitarian space and perhaps then show the authority of your "expert" comments on events beyond the grasp of the nation at the moment.

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/arvind-kejriwal-dalit-rohith-vemula-aam-admi-party-aap-dalit-rakhi-birla-hyderabad/story/1/8580.html