[Assam] Sovereignty--cropper again?

[kamal deka]

>>>> 'democracy' in India
may not be the end of history; it has scope for great improvement. And
whether it is achieved through democratic means or otherwise would be
conjecture, let us not debate on the basis of conjectures about future<<<

Democracy cannot be the epicenter of all virtues.But it is by far the
best form of government.Who can create a change in a democracy? It is
you and I,combined together,can bring about the
change.But,unfortunately, it is not that people are full of resolve,
while the government alone is lacking in it. In this case, yatha
praja, tatha raja. As a people, we lack resolve, and find escape in
blaming the government for it. As evidence, check out the proceedings
in our House of the People where everyday brings fresh fracas over
trivia -- at a time when there is no dearth of issues to be tackled
across the nation. Yet, we continue to vote in the same people
election after election, and bemoan the lack of choice we have. If we
don't change our stripes, there's no point in expecting those we elect
to change their stripes.Therefore, the solution does not lie in
abandoning ship.
There are far too many people in the Northeast,who are not pushed by
the same  system into becoming terrorists.Aren't they,too,product of
the same society? Have the Maoists changed the fate of the tribals by
picking up guns?We know that the Maoists moved into Dandakaranya after
they lost ground in plain regions of Andhra Pradesh. Having failed in
this strategy and also having lost hundreds of leaders and thousands
of cadres, they withdrew into this thick forest zone. Maoism as an
ideological agency does not have comprehensive liberation and
developmental agenda for tribals. Even in China it did not liberate
and develop them, in spite of Maoism being in power for so long. The
Chinese tribals are not as much developed as our
north-eastern tribals..
The country needs to lift itself out of poverty and create 12 million
additional jobs every year to cope with the population bulge. This
requires wherewithal—financial, human, natural resources,
managerial,marketing and technological. The vast bulk of the country’s
mineral resources and headwaters of major rivers are located in Fifth
Schedule areas, where tribal people live. Are these not to be
exploited? The corporate world, both public and private, has been
dubbed predator—the Maoists have repeatedly attacked the National
Mineral Development
Corporation in Chhattisgarh.
KJD








On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 12:20 AM, UTTAM BORTHAKUR
<uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
> **** The question was whether armed struggle solved poverty. I had agreed
> that<< it was not the direct tool to solve poverty. However,the revolutions/
> upheavals referred to, whether palatable to hear or not, paved the way for
> huge reformation in the respective countries referred to. Kerensky
> government in Russia was apparently democratic. So was Sun Yet Sen's
> people's democracy. Yet there were revolutions. Now the question is whether
> India's democracy is vibrant. Had it been so, and the people really had
> their voice as it should be in a participatory democracy, then why the all
> pervading corruption, why the conflicts between groups, nationalities,
> classes, ethnicities vis-a-vis the State ,why the lackasidical income/
> wealth distribution, why the squalor that is sold by/ at the West, why the
> naxalites that rear their heads from time to time? For that matter, is it a
> proposition  that increase in literacy in India, especially among north east
> tribes, have kept all of  them away from the armed or secessionist path?
> There is no comparison between oyster and apple here; It would be
> interesting if some one could tell us the genetic structural difference
> between the two. People tell me that there is not much difference between
> that of the human and of the pig; is that  the reason why Vladimir Illyich
> said about the Russian democracy represented by the Duma that a ********* 's
>  parliament is a pig sty? We shall have to see what the Indian democracy is
> really like; you can throw so many stars at the Elephant's rear (Manoj Das's
> favourite expression), it is allowed. But, if you try to stop  Arcel Mittal
> or Bellary's loot, Chidambaram may not be so kind. So, 'democracy' in India
> may not be the end of history; it has scope for great improvement. And
> whether it is achieved through democratic means or otherwise would be
> conjecture, let us not debate on the basis of conjectures about future
>
>
>
> *deka* kjit.deka at gmail.com
> <assam%40assamnet.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BAssam%5D%20Sovereignty--cropper%20again%3F&In-Reply-To=%3Cv2t7b43066c1005060751mc95ab76fwbd0520f2e05c37a3%40mail.gmail.com%3E>
> *Thu May 6 20:21:09 IST 2010*
>
>
>   - I do not see any point in comparing apples with oysters.
>   The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of radical social and
>   political upheaval in French and European history. The absolute
>   monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years.
>   The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of
>   revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy
>   and led to the creation of the Soviet Union.
>   The Chinese revolution was a series of great political upheavals in
>   China between 1911 and 1949 which eventually led to Communist Party
>   rule. In 1912 a nationalist revolt overthrew the imperial Manchu
>   dynasty.
>   THEREFORE, WHILE THE COMMON PEOPLE DID NOT HAVE ANY VOICE PRIOR TO
>   THOSE REVOLUTIONS,INDIA,IN SHARP CONTRAST,IS A VIBRANT DEMOCRACY.
>   If the GOI has not adopted an overall development strategy for
>   tribals,then how about looking into the history of tribal development
>   in the Northeast, particularly Mizoram,Nagaland,Meghalaya and Manipur.
>   About 50 years ago, the tribals of this region were as illiterate as
>   those of Dandakaranya. But today Mizoram has 95 per cent literacy
>   (more than Kerala), Manipur has 68.87 per cent, Meghalaya 63.31 per
>   cent and Nagaland 66.11 per cent.
>   KJD
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