Monday, April 6, 2026

Modi Happy To Be a ‘Bhagidar’ Of Poor

By
Mudit Mathur
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have taken the overall command of Uttar Pradesh to take the political battle from the Parliament to the streets of this crucial state. BJP is strategising to portray the image of Modi as a face of a transforming India and growing economy despite severe attacks from opposition across the country, especially from the traditional citadel of Nehru-Gandhi scion.

Sharply countering the attack from his opponents during thedebate on no-confidence motion, Modi openly drew parallel with Mahatma Gandhi. “As Gandhi Ji was never scared of residing with industrialist Birla family, I too find nothing wrong in associating with industrialists. I am not scared of doing so,” Modi was speaking at the inauguration of 81 investment projects worth 60,000 crores in Lucknow. Galaxy of top industrialists participated in the event to back up his industry-friendly efforts. Eminent industrialists including Kumar Mangalam Birla, Gautam Adani, Subhash Chandra, Sanjiv Puri, Yusuf Ali, B R Shetty shared their experiences.

Modi vowed, “My conscience is clear”, adding that even Mahatma Gandhi was known to have been in a long-term association with the Birlas as he stayed with the industrialist family on several occasions. Launching a veiled attack on the opposition, Modi added, “You will never see them in a photograph with industrialists but all of these industrialists have bowed down to them at their residences. They only meet behind the curtains.” “Amar Singh ji knows it better,” he smilingly stared at him in the audience.

The presence of saffron dressed expelled Samajwadi MP Amar Singh surprised everyone in the political circle about his new found love with the prime minister because he was once a trusted aide and master strategist of Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Recently, Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament had accused PM Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of “lying” to the nation about the truth of clandestinely done Rafale deal with a French company. He has accused the government of buying the fighter jets from France at three times higher cost than what the UPA government had paid in its tenure. The deal envisaged defence collaboration with the newly formed company of junior Ambani worth 35,000 crores for manufacturing Rafale aircraft, that job was earlier assigned to government-owned undertaking- Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd during the UPA regime.  

Taking jibe at Modi in the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, “A person who had pledged before the nation that he will uphold their trust as ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) has virtually betrayed and actually become ‘bhagidar’ (shareholder).”

Retaliating to Rahul’s comment at the Lucknow event, Modi said, “Now there are charges on me that I am not a ‘chowkidar’ but ‘bhagidar’. I accept these allegations. Yes, I am a ‘bhagidar’ in the pain of the poor people of India. I am a ‘bhagidar’ of every effort that provides employment to the youth of the country. I am the son of a poor mother, I have seen poverty closely and can understand it better.”

The Prime Minister also took a jibe at the previous regime of Akhilesh Yadav in UP as well as the recent controversy regarding his bungalow. Modi said, “The period from 2014 to 2017 since the Yogi Adityanath government was formed in the state was very tough. We kept asking the state government to build houses for the poor, we were giving funds too but the previous governments were not interested. Rather, they were interested in building their own bungalows.”

The BJP’s first Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee conceptualised the development model of Lucknow as its representative in parliament and inspired by his perception, Modi continued his vision in developing 100 smart cities in the different states of India. Marking the third anniversary of three key government initiatives related to urban development — Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Smart Cities Mission, he inaugurated 99 development schemes worth 3,897 crore on the occasion.

The political importance of UPcould be gauged from the fact that ever since BJP lost Lok Sabha by-election due to sudden formation of BSP-SP Congress alliance, Prime Minister organised five official functions to woo various sections of society to showcase achievements of his government and telling about his vision for common man. Modi had visited Sant Kabir Nagar, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Mirzapur, Shajhanpur and Lucknow districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Modi efforts to thwart the grand alliance against the saffron party in the upcoming election would be a challenge for him. The duo, Modi and Shah, are on the job to dismantle this deadly combination against their governance. It will be interesting to watch whether caste chemistry of united opposition will override the politics of communal polarisation. 

letters@tehelka.com

At 65, Rishi Kapoor still sparks in Bollywood

By
Archita Kashyap
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Helming this change is Rishi Kapoor, along with Amitabh Bachchan who has been enjoying the most interesting and engaging parts of his career. But it is Rishi Kapoor’s current career path that makes for the most visibly progressive story of change in Hindi cinema.

Rishi Kapoor will play a Muslim father whose son reportedly has links with Islamic terror in Mulk. When his son comes under scrutiny, the father, a law-abiding citizen and his family, face social estrangement, humiliation and have to fight a court battle to prove that they are not collectively engaged in acts of terror. The film co-stars Taapsee Pannu, a promising young star and Prateik Babbar. The lead role belongs to the sixty plus yesteryears star, as this statement film by Anubhav Sinha counts entirely on the strength of his performance to pull through a tough and potentially controversial look at social prejudices.

Kapoor seems to be flourishing at a time when most retire from acting. Roles worth his time and characters that challenge him as a performer have gradually begun to emerge since the past decade, making him visible to the present generation of moviegoers. Earlier this year, Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor starred together in 102 Not Out a super hit film that tackles the relevant social issue of poor treatment of ageing parents. Per se, the film isn’t artfully made and has clichés. But riding on the sheer performance of two of our best actors, this one touched a chord with audiences, bringing huge word of mouth revenues and staying on in theatres. Made on a low cost of under 11 crores, 102 Not Out went on to make more than 75 crores. Kapoor and Bachchan brought alive the sentiments and experiences that young stars can only imagine; such is their range and versatility.

Speaking to the media, Kapoor recalled that each time around when he works with Amitabh Bachchan, he learns something new. “We’ve played brothers, friends in the past in many successful films… This time, he plays my father. We are both disciplined professionals, and each time, since I consider myself a student of cinema, I learn something new from Mr Bachchan. This time around I learnt how easily and flawlessly he gets in character for a part.”

Kapoor’s comment is pleasantly surprising for it is well known to insiders and experienced journalists that both these movie stars never did get along. Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man persona was so overwhelming in the seventies, that Rishi Kapoor would
always have to play the part of a second lead. Despite great potential for intensity and emotion, he was relegated to playing a romantic hero.  Bachchan is the one that writers wrote a part for; Kapoor just came along to join in ensemble casts. Which is why, in his biography, Khullam Khulla, Kapoor has mentioned that while  Bachchan has often acknowledged the contribution of writers and directors in his meteoric rise and consistency as superstar, he has never spoken about the part that other co-actors, like Kapoor himself, have played in enhancing his films. A tone of bitterness is hard to miss in that statement.

That Rishi Kapoor feels left out from the race to the top in the peak of his career is obvious. Despite his debut as leading man in Bobby (he made his film debut as a young boy in Mera Naam Joker), a love story that broke all records and became the legend, Kapoor rarely got a chance to go beyond the mushy romantic hero. As he often states in interviews, filmmakers like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Shakti Samanta never cast him or even thought of him for meatier character parts. Instead, he would wear sweaters and serenade heroines in scenic backdrops in Kashmir, Ooty or Switzerland. Whenever he did get a chance to flex his acting prowess, he displayed a controlled performer way ahead of his time. In films like Karz, Ek Chadar Maili Si, Barood, Doosra Aadmi, Prem Rog and Damini, he tackled grey characters and progressive men with panache. Unfortunately, not many of these films did well.

It’s filmmakers that turned Thirtyish around the late Nineties that spotted the latent talent in Rishi Kapoor to bring heft and value to key characters. As he often fondly recalls, Zoya Akhtar wrote the part of Romy Rolly, a typical Bollywood producer with poor wardrobe tastes in her debut, Luck By Chance. He made the character his own. The film flopped but opportunities for this veteran star suddenly opened up. His hunger to play characters also inspired Rishi Kapoor to take up roles across a wide spectrum.

So he played an octogenarian keen to unite his family, and open to cracking a few dirty jokes with his grandsons in Kapoor & Sons; took up the role of a human trafficker with a strong personal code of morality in Agneepath; and the avuncular mentor to lost lovers in Love Aaj Kal and Shuddh Desi Romance respectively. In each of these films, he brought a touch of authenticity and credibility. His performances brought alive otherwise flat characters, making these films more convincing. He has had his share of forgettable parts too, but the monies that he makes today prove to be a strong motivation. When he has played negative characters in D-Day and Aurangzeb, he has done those parts with flair.

Amitabh Bachchan returned to acting with a vengeance after bankruptcy in 2000 nearly forced him to sell his house. His return to cinema opened up a gamut of possibility for filmmakers and writers to imagine, create and build solid ageing characters. As Rishi Kapoor often acknowledges, he led the way. Kapoor, with his signature acting style, has added depth to this evolution. Now with Anil Kapoor playing significant lead roles in Fanney Khan and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga at 61, the space for the veteran movie star has been carved out. Audiences continue to enjoy watching them in action and they bring value to parts based on instinct alone. They belong to an era when a bound script and character graph were almost non-existent. Now, when writers adopt an organised approach, and films draw from reality to get audiences there is potential for some truly great movies with Rishi Kapoor and his contemporaries leading from the front. More power to them!

letters@tehelka.com

What Does It Take To Be a Journalist In Kashmir?

By
Riyaz Wani
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On the night of July 25, some unknown assailants walked into the parking space of Srinagar’s Press Enclave and broke the windscreens of the vehicles parked there. Some vehicles were vandalised and the cabinets searched, although nothing was stolen.

The incident has followed a month after the killing of the senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari at the very enclave. Bukhari along with his two guards was also shot dead by unidentified gunmen moments after he came down from his office and got on to his vehicle to head to his home.

These are tough times for the journalists in Kashmir.  There are visible and invisible threats – more so, for the local media whose content becomes a subject of daily contention among the warring parties. And should any party choose to see anything wrong in a story, covert or overt threats follow.

Recently, a  journalist working for Kashmir Observer Auqib Javeed was summoned to New Delhi by National Investigation Agency for interviewing the woman separatist leader Asiya Andrabi. The interview was carried by a local magazine Kashmir Ink. Javeed was grilled over three days for the interview and subsequently, let off.

Javeed’s questioning generated an outcry by the international journalist organizations. “Questioning Auqib Javeed without a lawyer and trying to force Greater Kashmir to submit raw reporting material is a serious attack on press freedom in the turbulent state of Jammu and Kashmir,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator in Washington, D.C. “These attempts to intimidate journalists will only force the flow of news and information to grind to a halt.”

Similarly, in a statement, Indian Journalist Union president S N Sinha, who is also Secretary General and member of Press Council of India, Amar Devulapalli, and Vice-president Sabina Inderjit said the summons to Auqib Javeed amounted to an attack on freedom of the press and meant to intimidate journalists who were already working under difficult circumstances.

But such statements have made little redeeming difference to the prevailing scary state of affairs, as the mysterious breaking of the windscreens of the cars would have us believe. What is more, in recent past, security agencies have been keeping strict tabs on the content being published and trying to weigh it through the binary of “anti-national versus anti-national.”

Editors privately say they intermittently get notices about the content and are asked to explain it. Similarly, they can’t ignore the statements issued by the separatist organizations.

“In a sense, we are being victimized for just doing our job,” said an editor of a local daily. “In a conflict situation, you have to give space to every party and also tell stories of the people. One party shouldn’t and can’t expect us to stop giving coverage to another”.

What makes the situation further fragile is that there is still no knowing who killed Bukhari and why. Police has blamed Lashkar-i-Toiba and identified three of its militants who have allegedly carried out the murder. But Lashkar on its part has vehemently denied any role in the killing and compared police investigation into the case to a “Bollywood movie.”

This has created an uncertain and a dangerous environment for the journalism to operate in. “It is a fraught situation where danger lurks in the shadows. The actors involved are operating behind the scenes,” said another editor. “We expect all the parties to appreciate the difficult circumstances under which journalists operate in the state and how it is important to bear with us and allow us to objectively report the extraordinary situation prevailing on the ground.”

letters@tehelka.com

Fake Licenses Procured From J&K Help Buy Illegal Weapons In Many States

By
Riyaz Wani
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TO GO WITH STORY “INDIA-VOTE-CRIME-GUNS” BY TRIPTI LAHIRI
In this photograph dated 06 April 2007, Indian arms vendor Gulzar poses in his shop with a double-barrelled shotgun, in Kanpur, about 80 kms outside of Lucknow. Customers usually come from far and wide to buy rifles and shotguns from the dozens of tiny shops clustered in a bazaar in the ramshackle town of Kanpur, billed as the gun capital of India’s Uttar Pradesh state, 14 April 2007. But business has stopped. Arms sales have been banned as the country’s largest state — infamous for lawlessness — holds month-long polls under heavy security, halting one of the area’s most profitable sectors. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA

An investigation carried over months by the Anti-Terror Squads (ATS)of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh has revealed that the fake arms licenses procured from J&K have led to the proliferation of illegal weapons across several states. In the past six years alone, around 40,000 licenses have been issued in the state.  

The reason for this is that it is not difficult to get a license in the state, if you fake the identity of a security personnel:  that is, produce a forged letter from a commanding officer of an army unit and use a picture in the application form wearing an army uniform and grease the palms of the concerned officials.

What is more, most of these licenses have not been issued to the J&K residents but to the outsiders. This, in turn, has triggered an illegal arms trade in some states with thousands of people possessing arms on fake documents. Alarm bells so triggered have led to investigations by Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan ATS who are trying to reveal the extent of the scam.

The J&K government too has started a probe to be carried out by the State Vigilance Organisation. The state’s home department has ordered the divisional commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu regions to verify all cases of individual new arms licenses issued between January 1, 2017, to February 23, 2018, in eight districts of the state.

And pending this verification, the district magistrates of Kishtwar, Kupwara, Ganderbal, Leh, Rajouri, Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur have been asked not to issue any new individual arms license till further orders.

And also the district magistrates in the state have been directed to take urgent steps to revoke all such “individual arms licenses issued to various persons excluding the personnel of State Police, Army and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), which don’t meet all the conditions prescribed in Rule 11 and Rule 12 of the Arms Rules, 2016”.

According to sources, in the past year alone, 5000 arms licenses have been issued in the state, two-thirds of which are fake. The state has issued a total of 4,29,301 licenses  and only 10 per cent of the number are for the J&K residents. 

J&K Government’s order also requires the district magistrates to ensure “all such persons, whose licenses are revoked, to deposit their arms and ammunition with the officer in charge of the nearest police station, failing which action as warranted under law will be initiated”.

The probe has brought under its scanner the district magistrates from the various districts which have witnessed the issuance of the most of the licenses. 

“It is true that the district level officers are involved in the scam,” said a State Vigilance Organization official. “The investigation will pin the responsibility and help bring the guilty to justice.”

The lid on the scam was blown off after the Rajasthan ATS launched the ‘Operation Jubeida’ in May last year  into the inter-state arms racket involved in procuring fake arms licenses from J&K.

Alerted by the scale of the illegal weapons trade, centre has also moved to launch a National Database of Arms Licenses system in April next year and provide each license holder a unique identification number (UIN) for renewal and other purposes.

It will be mandatory for all licensing authorities in the country to enter data in the new system, any arms license without UIN would be considered invalid.

“In case a person applying for a license for restricted category of arms or ammunition was also a holder of a license for permissible category, or where the applicant applying for permissible category of arms or ammunition was also a holder of a license for restricted category, the licensing authority concerned shall issue a new license for restricted or permissible category of arms or ammunition under the existing UIN of the licensee,” the government notification has mentioned.

However, it is still around a year to go before the database is created. And it would be a painstaking process to provide each licensed item a UIN. But the problem now is tracing the illegal weapons procured through fake licenses in J&K.

“There are two dimensions to the problem. One is fixing the responsibility of the officials for issuance of fake licenses. Another is seizing the consequent illegally bought arms,” said an official. “The simultaneous investigation into the scam in several states has, however, created sufficient realisation of the need to take urgent corrective measures. And we hope we could get a handle on it in near future.”

letters@tehelka.com

Food Adulteration Becomes a Menace

By
M Y Siddiqui
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Notwithstanding with the people’s fundamental right to be free from hunger and to consume safe food, free from toxics, pesticides, other micro-biologicals, chemicals and physical contaminants, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat contain residues of pesticides. Adulteration of food is caused by sand, stone, chalk powder, mineral oil, coal tar, dyes, arsenic, lead, mercury, pesticide residues, larvae in food, rampant use of formalin in fish, infection by rodents, insects in the form of excreta etc.

Poor implementation of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 that created the food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), coupled with law enforcers (food inspectors) and deficiencies in the testing laboratories, lead to persistence of menace of food adulteration.

Over-use of pesticides in farming, its residue in food chain, poor sanitation in food market, cold storage, adulteration of food items including soft drinks, packaging and transportation are major threats to food safety. As a result, there are severe health hazards like rapid increase in serious diseases like cancer, ulcers, asthma etc. and deaths due to such diseases. All these because of unsafe foods. Common adulterants are urea/detergent powder in milk, animal fat in ghee, brick powder in red chilly powder, chicory in coffee, papaya seeds in black pepper etc. used by unscrupulous traders for sheer profiteering with the connivance of greedy and corrupt law enforcers that pose health hazards to consumers.

Even setting up of a regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has not been helpful except that there has been labeling of food items including processed foods and soft drinks indicating ‘FSSAI Approved’ with no further and continuous checks and balances. Consequently, manufacturers and traders continues to play havoc causing irreparable health hazards to the people. Food adulteration together with air and water pollution in the backdrop of very poor public health care infrastructure has dented people’s income and assets as major portion of their earnings is spent on medicare.

Extent and gravity of food adulteration can be gauged in the light of massive corruption in food business compounded by a rampant collusive culture of corruption at all official levels with no accountability, whatsoever. Both the Union and State Governments are lax with no public concern in the matter. Unless accountability of public servants is fixed by amendments in Article 311 of the Constitution of India, no fruitful public good can be expected in the present system. At the same time, a law of torts (negligence) be legislated to make people in all walks of lives accountable as also safety clauses in all laws which protect public servants for action taken in good faith be abrogated to make them accountable to the people at large, to stem the rots in public administration.

An inquiry in the union Ministries of Health, Food Processing, and Food & Consumer Affairs elicited nil response on the gravity of the growing menace of food adulteration in the country. Nevertheless, to improve the situation greater consumer awareness is called for. Consumer literacy needs to be increased for better awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities. Regular inspection of food outlets to keep premises free from infestations of food bacteria is need of the time. Mass media need to be tapped to make people aware of the menace of food adulteration.

Street food vendors are another source of adulterated food because of their exposure to air and water pollution over and above the normal food adulteration. Added to this, unsafe drinking water is a major health hazards and cause of food adulteration. Woe of food adulteration is continuing unabated as 30 mega food parks sanctioned long ago are yet to be functional across the nation to maintain a modicum of hygienic and unadulterated processed food. Even reverting to organic farming is no option as it is not remunerative to farmers and the cost of organic food products is too high.

There is need for scientific studies by the National Institute of Health & Family Welfare and Indian Council of Medical Research to find out dimensions of food adulteration and remedial measures with the FSSAI taking more and more samples for testing and punitive actions, lest it should be continuing all hunky dory paper work with no end to public suffering from food adulteration!

 

letters@tehelka.com

TMC, other political parties to approach EC demanding ballot papers for 2019 polls

By
Sunny Sharma
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According to reports, at least 17 political parties, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), are planning to approach  Election Commission of India (ECI), demanding use of ballot paper instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to conduct 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Sources in the opposition revealed that 17 political parties will meet the ECI next week. The Opposition claims that the machines could easily be tampered to manipulate election results.

On the use of EVMs Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said “The party leaders should be careful with EVMs. Party cadre should be on full alert. The central government is taking all systems, including the Election Commission into its control. There is a possibility of misusing the EVMs. Party should be very careful in this regard.”

While pitching for the use of ballot papers in polls Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, “Just one time, I want the BJP to head into elections with ballot papers and not EVMs. All the apprehensions will go away.”

The initiative to seek the support of all opposition parties on the same matter was taken by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on August 1, when she visited Parliament.

Six-member Trinamool Congress delegation detained at Silchar airport in Assam

By
Sunny Sharma
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A six-member Trinamool Congress delegation was detained by Assam police at Silchar Airport on Thursday. The delegation comprises six MPs and one MLA arrived in Assam to attend a public convention on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final draft.

TMC MPs Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Ratna De Nag, Nadimul Haque, Arpita Ghosh, Mamata Thakur and MLA Mohua Moitra, was led by West Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim, landed at Silchar airport on Thursday afternoon. They were detained and not allowed to exit the airport. 

The delegation was scheduled to attend a public convention organised by the local citizens forum in Silchar.

According to TMC MPs, “They were beaten up and not allowed to exit the Airport”.

BJP’s Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh blamed TMC members for the incident. He said, “They have no business going to Assam”

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, “If they try to create unrest in Assam, the management will take action. They should be forced out of the state.”

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday advised people not to harbour any trepidations about the updation process of the NRC. He also said, “He will not accept the provocation statements about NRC from the outsiders”.

Andhra Pradesh: Mob thrashes cops in police station over alleged harassment

By
Tehelka Web Desk
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A sub inspector and a constable from the Andhra Pradesh police were beaten up inside their own police station in Nellore District on August 1 evening by mob who barged in. The mob was angry that the sub inspector had called in three people for questioning at the Rapuru police station and beaten them up.

“We had detained one man because he was drunk and had sent him to the hospital to get a certificate to complete one formality. However, the locals questioned the move to send him to the hospital and picked up a fight. They attacked the police station and dragged the SI out. The SI suffered a head injury while 3 constables also suffered minor injuries,” Ram Babu, Deputy Superintendent of Police reportedly said.

DSP Babu said that Sub Inspector Lakshman Rao and three constables have been admitted to hospital after the attack.

DSP added, “We will take stringent action against all those who attacked the police station and the policemen.”

Locals say police brought Pichchaiah, Lakshmamma and Kanakamma on the complaint of one Ravi. Police reportedly beat them up, which angered relatives and other locals. Locals alleged that police has subjected them to third-degree torture in the name of interrogation.

All the action at the police station has been caught on mobile phones by some locals and another policeman.

Educating through stories

By
Neha Kirpal
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Edited Excerpts from an interview

Katha, a pioneer among publishing houses in India, completed 30 years this year. Tell us how the journey so far has been.

Children and stories make Katha’s universe. Enhancing the joy of reading is our mission. Since 1988, Katha’s vision is the singular idea that children can bring themselves out of poverty. We endow children with quality schools, rich storybooks. Result? Reader-leaders! Our more than 100,000 “graduates” prove this!

I took India’s 2,000-year-old storytelling/theatre/dance tradition to hone a powerful communication tool for teachers to reach joyful learning to diverse students. It inspires our storybooks. Over the last 20 years, my StoryPedagogy(TM) is used in the Katha Lab School, 500+ government schools and many nonprofits. Story makes Katha’s classes come alive, makes learning relevant and creative.

Since 1990, we’ve revitalized marginalized communities, attracting mass collaboration and involvement of women and girls — over 250,000 from Delhi’s street and slums alone!

Our I Love Reading (ILR) campaign won the Millennium Alliance Award for frugal innovation; I was named ‘Innovator’. ILR is now mainstreamed; it is going national. 

Katha’s work matters because every child reading well matters. Because every child counts! Katha hones the legacy of multiple literatures, the wealth of people, goodwill to build our capability. But it pains me to still see children dying of treatable diseases like diarrhoea and dehydration, something that had moved me 30 years back to create Katha. It is this urgency that vitalizes the continuous crusade to develop together, serve together.

Katha was recently asked to extend the Katha Lab School Model —StoryPedagogy — into Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools. Tell our readers about how the KathaInside model is transforming these schools with robotics. Also, tell us about the Pipal Ped Vatikas (PPVs).

Katha’s success with reading has brought the partnership with the Government of Delhi to replicate our children reading proficiencies in government schools. A MoU has been signed that will allow Katha to help government schools to ramp up Katha’s reading campaign. This took the reading campaign to 500 government schools. Our externally evaluated work was so good that the government has given Katha five schools to run in 2016!

A philosophy-driven organization, Katha’s MeWe Ideology that I put in place in 2001, fosters the idea that each student becomes a responsive, responsible citizen. Our students and teachers believe in loka samastha sukino bavanthu — may all life forms be in peace.

Our well-written and illustrated books take the Katha philosophy forward, focusing on girls, earth, equality and kindness; global warming and sustainable ecology.

Our schools proactively build the capacity and skills of our children to help their communities get out of poverty, sustainably. Our strategy is to transform every child into a community leader and every child willingly contributes to the community through sustainable urbanization and consumption they learn through the curriculum.

I came back to India in 1985 with an IBM computer and its 8 MHZ of power. I thanked it each day when I began Katha and was designing our magazine, Tamasha! Today, Katha has more than a hundred computers. And everything, from our administrative, accounting, design, teacher education and networking happen through computers, contributing enormously to my growth.

My insistence on technology from the late 1980s has led to our setting up computer labs, Robotics and Modern Applications for Children (MACH Hubs) in Katha schools for our women’s economic growth and our Shopkeepers Guild.

We earned the Tech Museum Laureate award at the Stockholm Challenge in 2001! We haven’t looked back since.

Katha has transcended physical boundaries with DigitalKatha. Our first-of-its-kind website for government school teachers (padhopyarse.net) serves as an online resource. We have trained 100 cloud gurus. Each is now in charge of tech-driven learning for clusters of government school teachers. In 2016, we launched our ambitious 300 Million Challenge, with technology as a lever.

Katha has more than 65 Community Owned & Operated Libraries (COOLs) or learning centres that have been set up in people’s homes in Delhi. Tell us more about the idea behind this.

We claim helplessness in the face of entrenched poverty. We talk about our innate goodwill for families in marginalized communities. We would never dream of cutting a branch that we are perched on; of engaging children in building the glass and concrete aspirations of modern India. But we — as individuals, as governments — exploit every loophole our inadequate child labour law allows.

The pre-primary and primary school children of today are going to be the workforce of the 2030s. But there are few programmes for early school goers. What the 21st century needs is creativity, innovation, problem-solving, entrepreneurship and a drive to excel. But basic education seems to be less important in the grand scheme of things than the mission of skilling the Indian youth by the lakhs.

So, we are not fazed by a UNESCO report of September 2016 that says, “India will be half a century late in achieving its universal education goals; hence, we will achieve universal primary education only by 2050; universal lower secondary education only by 2060; and universal upper secondary education only by 2085!”

The community libraries were set up with a simple idea behind it. Our grassroots volunteers came forward for the cause. They were happy to run these libraries. We did massive book donation drives and collected over 30,000 storybooks. 

Katha Khazana, Katha’s first reading app, has animation, games, characters and narration. Tell our readers what to look forward to in this app.

Katha Khazana uses the power of immersive storytelling as a legitimate pedagogical tool to help children from the age of 4 to 12 read for fun and meaning. The user-friendly app is entirely in Hindi and has six of Katha’s stories available as digital books, animated videos as well as interactive games. Free for all, it connects volunteers with children from under-served communities to enable digital learning. Based on Katha’s StoryPedagogy TM, the narrative revolves around themes of gender equality, inclusivity and
diversity and contributes to a child’s holistic growth.

Katha also has an interesting THINKBOOKS series for children on issues like global warming, environment, etc. Tell our readers more about this series.

Katha recently launched its Thinkbook series with an aim to draw the attention of young minds to big ideas such as kindness, climate change, gender, etc. The series comprises five books: My Big Book of Earth, My Big Book of Global Warming, My Big Book of Kindness, My Big Book of Girls and My Big Book of Dogs.

These are designed for easy reading and reference, with illustrations and photographs. These anthologies of fiction, non-fiction and poetry pieces will also provide useful material for classroom projects, debates and discussions.

The Thinkbook series project was generously supported by Ashoka Changemakers for the Public and Oracle Giving for young changemakers.

My Big Book of Kindness will help young readers understand the indispensability of being kind. My Big Book of Earth and My Big Book of Global Warming explore pertinent issues of environmental protection and conservation, and examine the effects of global warming. My Big Book of Girls is a book that challenges gender stereotypes and provokes with its galvanizing words and illustrations. Lastly, My Big Book of Dogs is all about our canine friends and their presence that can foster our lives with positivity.

Katha’s 300m Challenge campaign is aimed at making every child read. Tell us more about this campaign.

By the year 2030, India will have 590 million people — nearly twice the current US population — living in its cities. The youth segment of this population is expected to include 170 million workers. These are the preschoolers of today. And yet this very important constituent is practically overlooked in all our policy plans and pronouncements. So much so that in a 2016 UN report on world cities and their outlook (UN World Cities Report 2016: Urbanization and Development — Emerging Futures), “children” or “education” have not even a sub-section!

The best and brightest from more privileged backgrounds will choose to go abroad — despite Mr Trump. But we seem to have no plan and no real sense of urgency when it comes to those left behind.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. We, the people, can make a difference. We can question governments and advocate on behalf of children. I’ve met hundreds of compassionate individuals in the course of my work who believe that “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

A situation in which 50 per cent of three hundred million children in school can’t read, needs action. Now! And the call is more urgent when we know that 150 million of those children are 5 to 10 years olds.

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales,” said Albert Einstein. “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.”

That “tree” is Imagination and it is something we need to nurture for ALL our children. The elephant has been in the room for a while and it’s time we acknowledged its presence.

So, I end with some questions and a request:

What if our children had books that got them to think about compassion, kindness and caring for all life forms, including the many humans who have no voice of their own?

What if schooling helps break stereotypes and reiterate ideas of equity and equality, while enabling children to move away from the debilitating forces of mass media to a more gently critical culture? Let’s make testing more rigorous, but let’s ensure that passing/failing is a combined responsibility of children, parents and teachers.

What if educators were thought leaders who fill curricula and classrooms with imagination — fiction, nonfiction and poetry that originated in India, from our different bhashas, in translation into all school languages, so helping children culture link, understand where they come from, who they are — stories that will encourage them to delve into the depths of life’s predicaments, giving children the space to be confident, creative, critical thinkers.

What if our children then went ahead to create a nicer, more sustainable world for themselves through reading, supported learning, realizing the importance of gender equality, global climate change, sustainable consumption?

It is serendipitous that we have 150 million children who can read and 150 million who cannot. Each one teach one: what a simple elegant solution to a vexing conundrum (There is a reason why I am often called an eternal optimist!).

These goals are the motivation behind the 300 Million Challenge, developed by us at Katha, the “profit for all” social organization, with help from a group of incredible and passionate partners —spanning individuals, small to large nonprofits as well as the corporate sector.

We want to ensure that all 3 to 10-year-old children are reading well and for fun at an early age. School readiness is a critical factor for lifelong learning and sustainable education. We strongly believe that the government school system should be made more robust. And that all children need equitable quality; democratic education for sustaining our democracy. And that when children understand they can bring sustainable change to themselves, they begin to understand the emotional and the economic purpose of education, leading to sustainable lifelong learning.

Disruptive and collaborative innovation in primary education is possible only when we all join hands when we together make children’s sustainable learning happen! Let’s make it everyone’s business and our collective mission — to be a country where every child counts.

letters@tehelka.com

Challenges galore for Tripura’s Bru refugees

By
Nandita Sengupta
-

Just when 32, 876 refugees saw some rays of hope, a National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’ (NCPCR) survey conducted by Quality Council  of India (QCI) has revealed numerous challenges for Mizoram government to ensure a better future for nearly 7,000 Bru children who were born in relief camps in Tripura and grew up with poor facilities for education, healthcare, sanitation and living condition. An agreement signed on July 3 by Union Home Ministry with Mizoram and Tripura governments and Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBRDF), around 5,407 Bru refugee families will be repatriated to Mizoram by September 30 this year. What came as more worry is that almost one in every 10 children consumes alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. 

The study titled Devising Pathways for Appropriate Repatriation of Children of Bru-Reang Community have suggested that the Centre and Mizoram government needs to take extra measures to ensure that the children get education as per the Right to Education Act and healthcare provided for their better future.

The QCI selected a sample of 837 children, 12 per cent of the total children population, living in all six relief camps in Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions in north Tripura district, where they have been living since 1997 when an ethnic flare-up forced them to leave their villages in Mizoram and crossed over to Tripura for their lives.

Who are the Brus?

Bru or Reang is one of the scheduled tribes of Mizoram. Apart from Mizoram, Tripura, Assam and Manipur have Bru population who speaks Reang dialect of Kokborok language and which is locally referred to as Kau Bru. The tribe mainly practice agriculture and has been practising Huk or Jhum cultivation since long. Several attempts to repatriate the 5,407 Bru refugee families have got delayed, mainly due to lack of an agreement on the compensation to be provided for their rehabilitation.

In order to identify the challenges, QCI teams visited and captured the conditions of schools, health centres, Anganwadi centres and the skill centres.

Education

In most of the schools and non-residential special training centres, the QCI team visited during the survey, nearly 38 per cent respondents between 0 to 6 years said they were not enrolled in any educational facility. However, in the age group of 6-14, only 9.5per cent are not enrolled, but the percentage of out-of-school children was found to be 35per cent in the age bracket of 14-18. “The reason identified behind the increase in the percentage of out-of-school students in the age group of 14-18 is the absence of educational facilities for secondary education in the camps. A staggering 21.6 per cent of all the respondents said they are not enrolled in any educational facility,” said the survey report released recently.

Nearly 24 per cent of the students admitted in the government schools and 48per cent of the students admitted in NRSTCs said that they do not get books, for free, every year. About 36 per cent of the children going to government school said that they do not get the mid-day meal daily and 31per cent of the children going to NRSTC said that they did not have access to mid-day meal daily while another 20 per cent in government schools and 8 per cent respondents enrolled in NRSTCs said they did not receive mid-day meal at all. .

The QCI survey said the basic educational requirements of children, as defined in RTE Act, 2009, are not being fulfilled in the existing camps of north Tripura. Almost 40 per cent of the children studying in NRSTCs and Government schools of north Tripura do not receive books every year.

“Also, they do not have any educational institutions beyond grade V in or near the camps. And since as many as 7000 children are planned to be repatriated to Mizoram, it is expected to put a lot of strain on the existing resources in the proposed villages. Hence, existing educational institutions in the proposed villages in Mizoram should be assessed, based on parameters:

  1. The current number of educational institutions as well as their capacity in the proposed villages in Mizoram should be assessed to ensure adequate capacity to accommodate all 7000 children of Bru community along with the existing student population in the respective villages.
  2. Availability of basic requirements such as books, qualified teachers and infrastructure should be an important part of the assessment to ensure adequate resources and facilities in the institutions.
  3. Make-up classes and bridge courses should be organised to bridge the age-appropriate-class gap in the children of the community.
  4. As the mother tongue of the people of the Bru/Reang community is Bru language, the medium of instruction and the textbooks provided in educational institutions should be in Bru language as per the RTE provisions. Other languages such as English, Hindi and Mizo should also be taught in schools to enable them to study or work anywhere across the country.
  5. Teachers/education volunteers, from the community, should be recruited to work in the schools in proposed villages of Mizoram to ensure continuity and to bridge the language barrier.

Healthcare:

Of the three public health centres near the relief camps, two were found to be functional at Khedacherra and the Gachiram Para.

“The condition of healthcare is deplorable in the camps. Some of the common types of diseases prevalent in the camps are malaria, measles, respiratory diseases and diarrhea. Residents of the relief camps are entitled to receive medicines free of cost, but 97per cent respondents, said that they did not receive medicines from the authorities. Nearly 34per cent of the respondents said that vaccination had not been provided to their children during their growth years,” it said.

The survey recommended that mandatory tests and check-ups of the children of the community should be conducted after repatriation to identify the number of cases of Anaemia, Haemoglobin levels of children, the percentage of children who have received deworming etc. and it should be ensured that adequate remedies and healt hcare are provided to the children of the community.

Sanitation:

Ninety-eight per cent of the respondents said they do not have access to clean drinking water. Most of the respondents had temporary toilets built beside their homes. “There is no system for waste-disposal and as a result, daily waste is scattered across the camps, which might be leading to various diseases among the residents of the camps. It said that the the proposed villages for the Bru community in Mizoram should be assessed by a competent body based on proper sanitation, sewage and waste disposal facilities to ensure clean, hygienic and healthy living conditions for the community after their repatriation within six months and in case any deficiency is detected, necessary augmentation should be completed within a time span of 12 months. “Bru community members do not have adequate knowledge about the proposed villages in Mizoram and are prone to misinformation and rumours spread by stakeholders with vested interests in keeping the community in makeshift camps in Tripura. Hence, serious attempts should be made by Mizoram government to build confidence among the Brus residing in the camps,” said the survey report.

Listing security in Mizoram as one of the most important concerns of the community, the survey said members of the community should be included in different administrative committees at the police station, district and state levels in Mizoram to instill the sense of security.

Skills Development:

Majority of the residents do not have any vocational skills and those who are skilled are not certified, and this is hampering their employability. The QCI survey recommended that a mechanism should be developed to link the skilled labour with the prospective employers and fill the demand-supply gap between employers’ requirements and qualifications of the labour force. “Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) platform, under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), should be implemented to certify or provide bridge courses to the community members, to enable them to get better employment opportunities in the future. Government is recommended to encourage big industrial players to set up job fairs in these camps,” the report said.

letters@tehelka.com

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