Thursday, March 23, 2023
A voice of the voiceless
In the diverse fabric of Indian literature, Adivasi literature is a genre left untouched by most intellectual critics and writers. In the name of preserving Adivasi culture – our society has only romanticised their songs and dances, their clothes and costumes but they never felt an urge to stand beside them when they were evicted from their lands.
In the diverse fabric of Indian literature, Adivasi literature is a genre left untouched by most intellectual critics and writers. In the name of preserving Adivasi culture – our society has only romanticised their songs and dances, their clothes and costumes but they never felt an urge to stand beside them when they were evicted from their lands. Have they ever tried to protect the oppressed, helpless Santhali women? In the pitch dark sky of the Adivasis, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar emerged as a bright star. He gave voice to the voiceless, he made the inconspicuous marginalized world visible in his book “The Adivasi Will Not Dance” – which was published in 2015 and bagged the “Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar”. In spite of winning such a prestigious award, the book remained almost unnoticed throughout all these years.
“The Adivasi Will Not Dance” is a collection of ten short stories (such as “They Eat Meat”, “November Is the Month of Migrations”, “Blue Baby”, “Merely a Whore”, “The Adivasi Will Not Dance” etc.) where the writer dealt with subjects like hunger, poverty, displacement, imposition of culture, religion and language etc. Unlike the intellectual aesthete, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar scarcely paid any attention to the aesthetics of storytelling; rather he wrote and structured the stories with a harsh tone by portraying the strident reality of Santhals, to awaken the reader from slumber.
If we read the anthology chronologically, we will notice how Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar’s pen slowly intensified the plights of an unnoticed civilization with each story and how for the reader each story has become a distressful read. In the third story of the anthology – “November is The Month of Migration” – the author writes about Talamai Kisku – a twentyyear old Santhal girl who had to sell her body for fifty rupees and two cold bread pakoras to a RPF jawan. While she was moving to Namal from her village, a jawan offers her food and fifty rupees and Talamai gets ready to lie with the stranger because she was hungry. The author writes: “She just lies – passive, unthinking, unblinking – as cold as the paved ground she can feel through the thin fabric of the gamcha, as still as an inert earthen bowl into which a dark cloud empties itself.’’ The story is about hunger and utter poverty. Talamai’s plight is certainly a distressful read. We find ourselves helpless and speechless.
“Merely a Whore” tells the tale of a brothel. Many years earlier, the brothel-keeper, Jharna di was the mistress of a zamindar near Lakkhipur. After a devastating drought the farmers started moving away and the zamindars sold their properties to the mining farms. As a consequence, the outcast colonies slowly transformed into a red-light area. The author primarily weaves the story between two characters — Sona (a prostitute) and Nirmal (a regular customer). Nirmal was a regular customer of Jharna di’s brothel but never slept with any other girl. As time passed, Sona fell in love with Nirmal because no other customer used to talk and touch Sona as tenderly like Nirmal did. Sona dreamt that she would spend the rest of her life holding Nirmal’s hand. Her dream crumbled when Nirmal refused to give her the love she was asking for. Before getting married Nirmal visited Jharna di’s brothel but this time he chose the more attractive new girl Tina. Jharna Di understood everything and said to Sona in a sympathetic but stern voice: “Life teaches us lessons. Learn those lessons and move on.”
The book ends with the story named “The Adivasi Will Not Dance”. Written in the first person, the story is like the testimony of Mangal Murmu – who is a musician and a veteran farmer. He is writing the story sitting in a jail. He writes with rage: “We Adivasis will not dance anymore. We are like toys – someone presses our “ON” button, or turns a key in our backsides and we Santhals start beating rhythms on our tamak and tumdak.” Mangal Murmu’s detailed narratives dipped with his rageful emotion portray the miserable state of Santhals in Jharkhand. The coal mines in the suburbs of Jharkhand had evicted people from their villages in the name of development and painted everything black.
For Mangal Murmu, the colour black symbolizes the deplorable situation of his community – he writes: “Our children – dark-skinned as they are — are forever covered with fine black dust. When they cry, and tears stream down their faces, it seems as if a river is cutting across a droughtstricken land.” This short story is inspired by true events when Adivasi farmers were arrested and beaten black and blue by the police for protesting the building of the Jindal Power plant in Jharkhand, as then president Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone.
Mangal Murmu was invited to perform in front of the president. On the day of that event, Mangal Murmu climbed on the stage and addressing the president he said in an indomitable voice: “Unless we are given back our homes and lands, we will not sing and dance. We Adivasis will not dance. The Adivasi will not… –” The story ends here. The police did not let Mangal Murmu speak. His voice goes unheard and unnoticed like the rest of his community.
Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar wrote all these short stories in the last decade and they appeared in various periodicals such as The Four Quarters Magazine, The Statesman, Northeast Review etc. The writer had to pay a hard price for writing these stories. He was accused of portraying the Santhal women in an obscene manner and suspended from his job. It was the writer’s commitment towards the community he represents which kept him writing. Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar is a literary figure of contemporary times who is not trying to secure his place in the intellectual space; rather he is trying to give a literary shape to the plight of an unnoticed community through his pen.
Soumalya Chatterjee
Source: The Statesman, 20/03/23
For equality: The relevance of the Pasmanda Muslim discourse
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s enthusiasm to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims has made the non-BJP parties highly uncomfortable. Although the BJP has not yet introduced any concrete policy framework to address the needs of the Pasmanda communities, it has been successful in exposing the unclear and overtly ambiguous attitude of the Opposition on this issue. The BJP’s appropriation of the Pasmanda question has also increased the unease of a section of the upper caste/upper class Muslim elite. These segments have offered a few normative arguments to explain Pasmanda assertion.
First of all, there is an old Muslim unity thesis that is evoked to explain the BJP’s Pasmanda politics. It is argued that the sangh parivar is interested in dividing Muslims into Shia and Sunni, Sufi and Deobandi/Wahabi, and Ashraf and Pasmanda to destabilise Muslim unity. This line of reasoning relies heavily on the traditional Muslim politics of minority rights that does not have any space for discussing the internal fault lines among Muslims
The second argument is a bit sympathetic. Acknowledging the marginalisation of Pasmanda Muslims in a purely legal-administrative sense, a section of the Muslim political elite argues that the inclusion of these downtrodden communities in the established framework of affirmative action is justifiable. The BJP’s Pasmanda rhetoric is seen as a kind of deviation from the real plight of poor and marginalised Muslim communities. This legalistic argument is often exaggerated to overshadow caste-based inequalities and derogative practices such as untouchability.
Finally, there is a radical assertion that the entire Muslim community is facing an unprecedent crisis of identity in contemporary India. Therefore, raising the Pasmanda issue at this point of time is not at all appropriate. It is claimed that the Pasmanda Muslim discourse has been systematically nurtured by the sangh parivar to highlight the internal weaknesses of Indian Muslims. Hence, there is no difference between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-supported Muslim Rashtriya Manch and the organisations working for the Pasmanda cause.
No one can deny the fact that the BJP’s position on Pasmanda Muslims is unclear. The BJP leadership always claims that the party envisages castebased reservation simply as a legal-constitutional tool to reform Hindu society. For this reason, the party opposes the inclusion of Dalit and Pasmanda Muslims into the scheduled caste category. The BJP’s Pasmanda outreach, in this sense, might be seen as a strategy to pacify those Hindutva-synthesisers who do not fully subscribe to the party’s radical anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Two questions become crucial here. What is the relevance of the Pasmanda discourse in today’s India, especially when the public discourse is completely communalised and Hindus and Muslims have emerged as political identities? Should we treat the Pasmanda question merely as an internal matter of the Muslim community and stop talking about it in the name of Muslim unity?
In order to answer these questions, we must highlight three crucial aspects of the Pasmanda discourse: its capacity to explain the nature of Muslim sociological heterogeneity; its demand for complete secularisation of the affirmative action framework in India; and, finally, its adherence to the politics of social justice.
The term, ‘Pasmanda’, was coined by Ali Anwar Ansari, the former parliamentarian and leader of the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, in his book, Masawat ki Jung. Here, Pasmanda refers to a group of people who lag behind or could not maintain the pace of progress. In this sense, Pasmanda is a caste and religion-neutral concept, which tries to accommodate various forms of social stratification in its folds.
It is worth noting here that there is a hierarchical structure of Muslim caste-groups in India, especially in the northern and the western states. The foreign-origin Muslim groups, which preferred to called themselves Ashrafs (noble_born), became the upper caste, while the converted communities, the Ajlafs (lowly) and the Arzals (excluded), turned out to be the lower castes in this schema.
The Pasmanda discourse makes a serious attempt to redefine this categorisation. It questions Ashraf hegemony by highlighting the fact that Islam is an egalitarian religion that does not permit caste division (or, for that matter, any form of social stratification). At the same time, the non-Ashraf communities are described as Pasmanda Muslims and Dalit Muslims, respectively, to assert their dignified social existence as Islamic communities. This conceptual reworking expands the scope of the Pasmanda discourse and empowers it to accommodate those forms of social stratification that do not fit in the conventional Ashraf-Ajlaf-Arzal framework.
This brings us to the question of the secularisation of affirmative action policies. The Pasmanda groups problematise the communal nature of the SC category. It is well-known that Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are not entitled to receive the benefits of SC reservation. The Pasmanda intellectuals, especially Ansari, make a threefold argument in this regard. It is demanded that the SC category needs to be completely secularised to include all Dalit communities, including Muslims and Christians. At the same time, the need to increase the quota for SC reservation is also recognised to avoid probable internal contestation amongst the disadvantaged groups. Finally, the demand for reservation in the private sector is reiterated by underlining the adverse impacts of the privatisation of the economy on Pasmanda artisan communities.
The adherence of the Pasmanda political discourse to social justice and economic equality without deviating from constitutional secularism is rather exceptional. Pasmanda politics, in this sense, is still guided by the constitutional ideals of justice and equality. The popular slogan used by Pasmanda groups in their pamphlets and rallies, “Dalit pichda ek saman, Hindu ho ya Musalman (Dalit and backwards are the same, whether they Hindu or Muslim)”, highlights the fact that secularism of equality and justice is politically achievable.
In his famous book, Pakistan or the Partition of India, B.R. Ambedkar makes an interesting observation about the lack of social reforms among Muslims. He notes, “… the reason for the absence of the spirit of change in the Indian Musalman is to be sought in the peculiar position he occupies in India. He is placed in a social environment which is predominantly Hindu. That Hindu environment is always… encroaching upon him. He feels that it is de-musalmanizing him. As a protection against this… he is led to insist on preserving everything that is Islamic without caring to examine whether it is helpful or harmful to his society.” (http://www.columbia. edu/itc/ mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ ambedkar_partition/).
The Pasmanda discourse, it seems, follows the advice given to Muslims by Ambedkar. It questions the unethical social practices and, at the same time, demands justice and dignity.
Hilal Ahmed is Associate Professor, CSDS, New Delhi
Source: The Telegraph, 23/03/23
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
World Sparrow Day
On March 20, 2023, the world will once again come together to celebrate World Sparrow Day. This special day is dedicated to raising awareness about the conservation and protection of sparrows and other common birds whose populations have been declining globally. With the theme “I Love Sparrows,” the goal of World Sparrow Day 2023 is to encourage more people to appreciate the relationship between humans and sparrows.
History of World Sparrow Day
The idea for World Sparrow Day was born out of a casual conversation over tea at the Nature Forever Society’s office. The first commemoration of the day occurred in 2010, and it has been celebrated annually since then. The founder of The Nature Forever Society, Mohammed Dilawar, was named a conservation hero by TIME Magazine for his efforts to raise awareness about sparrows.
The goal of World Sparrow Day is to promote conservation efforts for the house sparrow and other common birds, as well as to commemorate the beauty of common biodiversity that we often take for granted.
Significance of World Sparrow Day
Sparrows are known to be an indicator of a region’s environmental health, and their declining populations are a cause for concern. The day is celebrated in a variety of ways around the world, including bird-watching, building birdhouses, and educational programs.
World Sparrow Day is a celebration of the human-sparrow relationship and a call to action to protect these beloved birds and their habitats. Sparrows have been human companions for thousands of years, but their populations have been rapidly declining in recent years. The goal of the day is to raise awareness of their plight and inspire people and organizations around the world to take action to protect them.
Quote of the Day March 21, 2023
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
Milton Berle
“अगर अवसर दस्तक न दे, तो स्वयं ही द्वार बना ले।”
मिल्टन बेरले
Current Affairs- March 19, 2023
INDIA
- Kochi fire: National Green Tribunal directed Kochi Municipal Corporation to pay environmental compensation of Rs 100 crore.
- West Bengal government plans to appoint 600 young ‘gajamitras’ to protect elephants.
- Uttar Pradesh to include millets in midday meals in schools and public distribution system.
- Karnataka launches Mysuru Cluster Seed Fund (MCSF), Mysuru Global Technology Centre (MGTC) and Karnataka Accelerator Network (KAN) to promote start-ups.
- Parliamentary panel has recommended analysing the feasibility of variable speed limits on national highways in the country.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina virtually inaugurated the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline.
ECONOMY & CORPORATE
- PM Gati Shakti programme: 156 critical infrastructure-gap projects identified.
- Union Finance Ministry has initiated the process to appoint a new Reserve Bank Deputy Governor in place of MK Jain.
- Government sets up centralised facility for voluntary closure of companies.
WORLD
- UN confirms extension of Black Sea grain deal for exports from Ukraine.
- 400,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked from US nuclear power plant.
- Indian Higher Education Meet 2023 inaugurated in Dhaka.
SPORTS
- Tennis: India’s Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden of Australia win Men’s Doubles title at Indian Wells Masters in California, US.
- Nikhat Zareen enters pre-quarterfinals in Women’s Boxing World Championships.
- Akshdeep Singh wins gold in men’s 20km Asian Race-Walking Championship.
Current Affairs- March 20, 2023
INDIA
- Asia’s largest Tulip Garden opens for public at Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.
- 2-day Labour20 (L20) engagement group’s inception meet, as part of India’s G20 presidency, began in Amritsar, Punjab.
- The Centre issued revised guidelines for COVID-19 amid a sudden surge in cases.
- 4th Defence Cooperation Dialogue between India and the Maldives was held in Male.
ECONOMY & CORPORATE
- Switzerland’s biggest bank UBS agrees to take over troubled Credit Suisse in emergency rescue deal.
- Dubai-based Emaar becomes the first overseas company to invest in Kashmir.
- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives in India to explore ways to boost bilateral ties in security, trade and high technologies.
WORLD
- India and World Food Programme sign MoU during Global Millets Conference.
- Governments approve a major new UN report on climate change amid conflict.
- March 20 is being celebrated as the International Day of Happiness.
- UK introduces smartphone emergency alert system for its citizens.
SPORTS
- ISSF World Cup Shooting Championship to begin at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
- Cricket: Australia defeats India by 10 wickets, level 3-match ODI series 1-1.
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