[Assam] Sovereignty--cropper again?

[Ram Sarangapani]

>**** I do not know about the Naxalites. But successive Indian governments
have ensured that tribals are kept in an archaeological museum, by >not
being able to lift them out of 'reservation' after 6(six) decades; in fact,
they are putting more people into that shelter.


Uttam, could you expand on this a bit?  Have these successive Indian
governments perpetuated these 'reservations' by design (at the Center) or by
omission? Or are these things actually happening?

When we were going to school, the students from Nagaland, Mizoram, etc, had
all schooling paid for + lots of extra stuff. I am sure that goes on even
now. That does not seem in the least as keeping them in reservations or
subdued.

So, if you had a magic wand, what would you do?

My take is that most of the money poured into these states by the Center
are siphoned away immediately and shared among the powerful in the state.
Only very little is spent on the people. If that is the case, whose fault is
that? It is these people in the states who subjugate their own people. But
come blame time, the Central Government and Dilli are always at their
service.

On a side note - Before World War II, many rich Arab landowners would sell
their lands to the Jews. The Jews would then start developing these lands,
and the poor Arabs would naturally be pushed out of grazing grounds and
water holes (both very important). These poor Arabs would then complain to
the rich Arabs leaders about their plight. Guess what? The rich Arab leaders
would tell their poor cousins, that the Jew had usurped their lands, and
taken away the grounds and water. But not a word that the lands were sold.

This kind of scenario happened so often, that the amicable relationship that
existed between the poor Jews and Arabs, was slowly, but surely vitiated.
Insurgent groups from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan preach this kind hatred for
the Jews (and almost everyone else) in their madrassas and Mosques.

In today's politics, all some people need is a whipping boy. The whole NE
(including Assam), insurgent groups thrive because of this. They are able to
quickly convince some lost souls that their plight in life is solely because
the Center, State (puppet govt.) etc are at fault - and so they should rise
up and seek sovereignty.

Even in the US, in the land of plenty, there are some citizens convinced
that the US Govt. is taking away their rights, their guns, money,
everything, and then every now and then a Timmothy McVeigh is born (blew up
168 people in Oklahoma City). These are called militia groups, and the Govt.
takes a pretty dim view of these groups. If these groups try the stuff that
terror groups in the NE play out every day, the US govt. would have come
down on them hard, and finished them off a long time ago. There is a fine
balance between freedom of speech and taking up arms. If these groups try to
cross that, they are dealt with severely.

--Ram da


On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 8:35 AM, uttam borthakur
<uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in>wrote:

> >>>>>> Questioning the Maoists taking up arms, he said, "Show me one
> country
> in the world where poverty and injustice were wiped out by arms."
>
> **** With arms, you can only kill, maim, intimidate. But there are many
> instances, where arms were required for establishing 'peace', so that road
> to progress is made. Say, French Revolution, Russian revolution, Chinese
> Revolution, WWI & II. So, we have to see whether 60 years of no arms have
> alleviated the plights of the tribals.
>
> He gave the examples of Malaysia, South Korea and Mauritius where
> poverty was eliminated through socio-economic measures and not by
> armed struggle.
>
> **** It is kind of debatable. We have to consider land, population,
> resource etc. to make comparisons. It is stated that Malayasian stats. are
> subject to doubt because of the standards utilised for measurement. A
> quarter of the population did not have proper homes. May be extreme poverty
> meaning going without food has been reduced. Distribution of income and
> wealth would also come into consideration. We may examine the point raised
> by Chidambaram to see if what has been stated by him is true, and then find
> the genessis of these country's well being, and see what has gone wrong in
> Naxalite belt. It sure is a good point to ponder.  Frankly, I have to admit
> that I have not gone into this pointer earlier. Naxalites could not have
> conscripted in a vast area if the rebellion was not within the people
> themselves. This is also a point to be examined.
>
> >>>>>>  "Are they trying to create an archaeological museum in the tribal
> areas by keeping the tribals away from development," he asked.
>
> ***** I do not know about the Naxalites. But successive Indian governments
> have ensured that tribals are kept in an archaeological museum, by not being
> able to lift them out of 'reservation' after 6(six) decades; in fact, they
> are putting more people into that shelter.
>
>
>
> Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
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