“I do not want your charity: I only want a chance”. This was the slogan that Baba Amte gave to tens of thousands who were the most despised and shunned, even in a land that for centuries has exiled from hope and a chance, millions because of their caste, gender, faith and ethnicity: Reviled for an illness that broke away pieces of their limbs and faces, they were long oppressed even beyond the Dalits. Survivors of leprosy – a fully curable and among the least contagious of all aliments – confronted savage extreme prejudice because they were not allowed any work at all, and were rejected even by their families and loved ones. Their children were, until very recently, barred from schools, and they are still forced into sub-human ghettoes and a life made possible only by begging, by displaying their malformed limbs and unhealed wounds. It is for these rejected and lonely people that Baba Amte fought to ensure what he was convinced that no human being should be denied: a chance. He took them into his arms and heart, and toiled with them shoulder to shoulder to convert acres of wasteland into one of the most productive tracts in the region. My first encounter with Baba was when, as a young man, I took nearly four years off between college and employment, for my own ‘discovery of India’, visiting, living with and learning from rural projects for development and struggle. The one that most inspired me for a lifetime was Anandvan in Chandrapur district in Maharashtra. There I found hundreds of cured patients of leprosy, along with other disabled people, led by Baba Amte engaged in diligent work, on farms, looms and cottage workshops. There were schools and colleges where children of leprosy patients studied side by side with other rural and disabled children. There were experiments in low-cost housing and appropriate rural technologies. It was a place vibrant with lived love, with the dignity of work, and with hope. It was fittingly called Anandvan, or the Forest of Joy. There are few like it anywhere in the world. It is fitting that Baba lived to see centuries of prejudice against leprosy substantially vanquished. It is fitting that he breathed his last among those he loved most, this community of 5,000 people who had been condemned to the margins and fought back: leprosy disabled, visually and [...]
Archive for February 21st, 2008
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ARREST THE VIOLENCE
February 21st, 2008 
krishna As a fearful metropolis looked on, the Mumbai police were at long last given the green signal by a vacillating administration to arrest Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. This is something that should have been done on the very first day his inflammatory rhetoric against migrant workers from UP and Bihar galvanised his supporters to go on the rampage, destroying public property and wreaking violence on hapless citizens. One of the main targets of the MNS’s wrath was a Samajwadi Party rally following which SP Mumbai chief Abu Azmi retaliated. Azmi has also been arrested by the police. It was only when the violence spread to Nasik and Pune that the state government thought it fit to move. In the interim, even as his supporters were busy creating mayhem in the city; Raj Thackeray went as far as to thank chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for letting him walk free. Even now, it was only after the para-military forces were deployed and at least 1,800 preventive arrests made that Raj has been taken in. We may be forgiven for thinking that such lethargy in the face of violence against certain communities can only have been motivated by political compulsions. The state government seemed more worried about whether arresting him would make a hero of Raj Thackeray than in doing its duty, namely ensuring that law and order is maintained. No doubt, his supporters will try to cast Raj Thackeray as an upholder of Marathi pride who was willing to sacrifice his liberty for the cause. But none of this can be a consideration for the city’s administrators who are constitutionally bound to act against any offender without fear or favour. It is also puzzling as to why, apart from a few wishy-washy statements, stronger condemnation of this ugly and divisive politics did not come from the top brass at the Centre. Surely, when the state government decided to fiddle while Mumbai tottered under the MNS’s onslaught, the home ministry at the Centre should have made its displeasure felt. By cocking a snook at the state government, Raj Thackeray was clearly conveying the impression that leaders like him and their followers are above the law. This cannot be allowed to continue if we are to call ourselves a functioning democracy. The delay in arresting Raj Thackeray has caused incalculable harm to Mumbai, both economically and socially. The MNS’s shenanigans [...]
SAY NO! DR. RAMDOSS
February 21st, 2008 krishna When the news that British singer Amy Winehouse had mopped up five of the six Grammy awards she was nominated for reached Anbumani Ramadoss, he was not only appalled but his blood pressure shot up to a dangerous level. Any other Union minister would have had at least a sip of a drink or a puff of cigarette or even gurgled down a glass of roadside fruit juice to relieve the tension. But not Ramadoss. The fact that an internationally recognised and respected body like the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States had awarded Winehouse, someone who flaunted her drinking and substance habits, made the minister use a phrase that he hadn’t since he left the last Group of Ministers meeting that debated the pros and cons of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs. How could the 24-year-old singer of a song called Rehab who was caught on film having what seemed like crack cocaine, arid not to mention having a totally inappropriate surname like Winehouse, be feted, nay glorified in front of millions of youngsters? Ramadoss saw a vision of thousands of teenagers, both in India and elsewhere, taking this moment of Amy Winehouse ‘victory’ as a signal to drink, do drugs and shudder! – What else. And as if the song ‘Rehab’ getting the Record as well as the ‘Song of the Year’ Grammys wasn’t bad enough, this paragon of vices also got the Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance awards. What was it that the Grammy jury saw in this nasal voiced, tattoo- behooving, and swig-friendly woman? If there was any consolation, it was that Ramadoss’ entreaties that she not be given the Album of the Year for her album, Back to Black was listened to. Ramadoss managed to make pariahs out of drunkards like Ritwik Ghatak, Dylan Thomas and Billie Holiday. Why, oh why, did he fail when it came to Amy Winehouse?
BJETS PLACES RS 2,400-CRORE ORDER FOR 50 JETS
February 21st, 2008 Tejinder After circling around the aviation business for almost a decade, the Tata group, which pioneered aviation in India, took the plunge on Tuesday. The steel-to-salt conglomerate has picked up a ‘significant stake’ in Bjets-a business jet operator that plans to start aircraft charter and fractional ownership programmes. Bjets announced an order for 50 biz-jets, largely Cessna Citation CJ2s and Hawker Xps, worth about Rs 2,400 crore. The Singapore-based Briley Group is the majority shareholder in Bjets with Indian Hotels. The exact shareholding has not been disclosed. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. The business aircraft charter market in India is fragmented, with no single large player that offers corporates a mixed fleet of various aircraft types. Though the number of business jets being bought has grown exponentially in the past few years, most are being brought in by companies for their own use. The aircraft are being hired out only when owners don’t use them. Meanwhile, two other Indian companies-Club One Air and Chimes Aviation-also made ripples at the Singapore airshow with orders for small aircraft. Club One Air CEO Manav Singh announced the acquisition of ten Eclipse 500 Very Light Jets (VLJs).Also, Madhya Pradesh based flying school, and Chimes Aviation announced an order for twenty Cessna 172 Skyhawk single-engine piston aircraft. The three orders at Asia’s largest airshow, gave a new flavour to Indian aviation since commercial airlines have – hogged the limelight with multi-million dollar orders in earlier years. General aviation, the branch of the s airline industry dealing with business jets and training, that forms the backbone of the business overseas, e has been neglected for years. Speaking to ET about how Bjets will be different s from existing players, the company CEO Mark Baier said, “We will guarantee all our members an aircraft whenever they want it.” This can be possible only with a huge financial and operational commitment, he added. Bjets will have its Indian corporate office in Mumbai but its flight operations centre will be based at the new Hyderabad airport. “Bjets plans to get 15 planes to India in the first year,” Mr. Baier said. Corporate clients will have three different options- either to book aircraft on a Block charter basis, which e would be like chartering an aircraft with a commitment for a certain number of hours per year. This is for companies with a usage [...]
