Freedom of Expression on Face Book and its Aftermath....

Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora on Tuesday slammed the police for “acting in haste” by arresting two young girls for their Facebook post questioning shutdown of the city for Bal Thackeray‘s funeral and called for checks to prevent misuse of the IT Act.

“Question isn’t about amending 66A of the IT (Information Technology) Act, it’s about preventing misuse by the police, who clearly acted in haste and applied wrong sections of IPC & IT Act,” Deora wrote on social networking Website Twitter.

Police had on November 18 arrested 21-year-old Shaheen Dhada under section 66A of IT Act and section 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) for posting a message on Facebook questioning the shutdown in the city for Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray’s funeral.

http://www.firstpost.com/india/milind-deora-criticises-cops-over-fb-post-case-529419.html

Firstpost said - It is hard to see how Shaheen Dhada violated the two sections of the law under which she has been charged – Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (“outraging religous feelings of any class”) or even the draconian Section 66A of the IT Act (“sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.”) – with her contemplative post, or what crimes Renu Srinivasan committed in merely ‘liking’ the post.

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/arrests-over-facebook-posts-why-were-on-a-dangerous-slide-528537.html

The message posted by Shaheen read: “With all respect, every day, thousands of people die, but still the world moves on. Just due to one politician died a natural death, everyone just goes bonkers. They should know, we are resilient by force, not by choice. When was the last time, did anyone showed some respect or even a two-minute silence for Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev or any of the people because of whom we are free-living Indians? Respect is earned, given, and definitely not forced. Today, Mumbai shuts down due to fear, not due to respect.”

Now consider this - 

Mumbaites shutting down their shops and offices and sitting at home fearing violence is one thing, and more than 20 Lakh people actually marching in the funeral procession is another. 

Any political party cant bring 20 lakh people for a funeral procession, the economics is just not workable. So by that yardstick late Thackeray had earned public respect and support, and its but natural for his supporters to react or overreact when someone publishes a statement, even before the deceased's funeral pyre had not even stopped burning.
IPC Section 297 - Whoever, with the intention of wounding the feelings of any person, or.....with the knowledge that the feelings of any person are likely to be wounded,.... or offers any indignity to any human corpse, or causes disturbance to any persons assembled for the performance of funeral ceremonies,....

http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/indianpenalcode/s297.htm
The statement, which is the subject herein, is posted in the course of the funeral procession, and so section 297 IPC is applicable. And how would we expect the police to handle the situation, when the whole City is on its nerves; one wrong step and everything will fall down. We should admire how the situation in its totality was handled by the Mumbai Police. 

And again The Indian Constitution protects freedom of speech as a facet of fundamental rights under Article 19, subject to reasonable restrictions, including decency and defamation. What becomes critical therefore is balance: The fine equilibrium required between protecting freedom of speech, fair comment and criticism (including investigative journalism and whistleblower action) on the one hand and transgression into malicious defamation of a person for oblique or political purposes on the other.

IT Act 2002 Section 66A. Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc..- Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,-
(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or
(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will, persistently makes by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,
(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/validity-of-section-66a-of-it-act-challenged/article4116598.ece

In the case of Mr. Srinivasan he had tweeted that “karthick chidambaram had amassed more wealth than vadra” and the police arrested him on the basis of an e-mail complaint lodged by Mr. Karti.
The same IT act was used to arrest a person in Pondicherry who supposedly posted comments against Karthi Chidambaram. 
What was the media doing then ?

http://www.firstpost.com/india/it-act-should-not-be-used-to-throttle-dissent-says-sibal-528414.html

..... it is doubly perverse for Kapil Sibal to claim in all innocence that he is “deeply saddened” by the arrest of the two young women and to insinuate that the IT Act, which he was instrumental in passing, was being misused on grounds of improper implementation.
The fact of it is that the IT Act that he fathered, and particularly the notorious Section 66A, was deliberately worded to give maximum potential for mischief. There have been far too many egregious instances of its misuse by discredited governments and politicians for Sibal to claim that these are random incidents of misuse of the law. Just last month, Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti had a Puducherry businessmen and anti-corruption activist hauled up by the police for a Twitter post in which the businessman alleged that Karti had “amassed more wealth” than Sonia Gandhi‘s son-in-law. 

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/arrests-over-facebook-posts-why-were-on-a-dangerous-slide-528537.html
Now what's your take on this ?? 

Investigation Blunders in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case | Causes | theweekendleader.com l

How a vital clue in Rajiv assassination case disappeared into thin air | Causes |:
By Sam Rajappa
19 Nov 2012

The wages of crime is punishment. In the scheme of things of the Congress First Family, the wages of selective crime is reward. This has been brought out clearly in the latest book of K Ragothaman, chief investigation officer of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi: From the CBI Files.

MK Narayanan, then chief of the Intelligence Bureau, had suppressed a vital piece of evidence in the form of a video tape.

The Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency set up to inquire into the conspiracy behind Rajiv’s assassination has been hibernating for more than a decade (Photos Courtesy: Nakkheeran)

Vazhapadi Ramamurthy, then president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, had arranged with a videographer to record the entire election meeting Rajiv Gandhi was to address at Sriperumbudur on the fateful night of 21 May, 1991. It contained vital clues leading up to ‘human bomb’ Dhanu blowing up Rajiv, how she gained access to the sterile zone three hours before her gruesome act, and the people with whom she mingled freely during the long wait till the Congress leader arrived. It was handed over to Narayanan on 22 May itself and he wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister Chandrashekhar the same day stating that the tape was being scanned to “IDENTIFY THE LADY” (in capital letters). The lady referred to was the assassin. D Karthikeyan, chief of the Special Investigation Team, restrained Ragothaman from pursuing the tape handed over to Narayanan.

When Karthikeyan was asked in a TV debate why he did not allow Ragothaman to pursue the impugned tape, he pleaded amnesia but he could remember all other incidents connected with the assassination in minute details. Narayanan’s letter has become a part of the Justice Verma Commission Report. He cannot deny having written it.

Causing disappearance of evidence in a capital offence is punishable with imprisonment for life under Section 201 of the IPC. And if the offence is committed by a public servant, which Narayanan was, he could be prosecuted under Section 204 IPC as well. The sole charge against Suba Sundaram, one of the 26 accused in the assassination case and sentenced to death by the trial court, was attempt to suppress evidence. A leading news photographer of Chennai, one of his assistants, Haribabu, was engaged by the assassination squad to photograph Rajiv’s Sriperumbudur meeting.

On hearing Haribabu’s death in the explosion, Sundaram wanted to retrieve the camera. Before he could reach the spot a police man picked it up. The prosecution maintained that had Sundaram retrieved the camera, he would have concealed the exposed film roll which turned out to be the vital clue in cracking the case. He was never in possession of the film, yet the SIT managed to get him convicted under Section 201. The Supreme Court freed him after 11 years in prison. He died soon after his release.

Narayanan was in possession of the tell-tale video tape which he willfully suppressed from the SIT. Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, convinced of Narayanan’s culpability, not only superannuated him in 1992 but also ordered the CBI to register a criminal case against him.

Such was Sonia Gandhi’s clout with the government institutions even before she edged out Sitaram Kesari as Congress president and occupied his chair, the CBI could not proceed with Case No. 1 of 1995 registered against Narayanan.
The case was given a quite burial by Karthikeyan who has been taking instructions from Narayanan. After Narasimha Rao demitted office, Narayanan was brought back as National Security Adviser and when he and P Chidambaram, then Home Minister, fell out, he was elevated as the Governor of West Bengal, a sinecure he still enjoys.
Suppression of evidence was not the only misdemeanor of Narayanan in the assassination of Rajiv. From the time Sivarassan, leader of the assassination squad, reached Tamil Nadu in 1990, the Army intelligence had been keeping surveillance on his activities and the IB was kept informed. On 22 March, Sivarasan was asking Pottu Amman, LTTE intelligence chief in Jaffna, over the telephone, whether to try in Chennai or in Delhi. The taped conversation was promptly conveyed to Narayanan. Sivarasan was also in telephonic contact with Kittu, LTTE’s London representative.

On 7 May, Sivarasan and team conducted a dry run at a public meeting addressed by VP Singh in Chennai and kept Pottu Amman informed of its success. Sixteen pages of Sivarasan’s taped conversation with Pottu Amman made available to Narayanan were produced in court during the trial of the 26 accused. There is no record of any preemptive action taken by the IB in spite of the forewarning. To reward such a person, to say the least, is intriguing.

Immediately after the assassination, the Chandrashekhar government requested the Tamil Nadu Government to send a panel of three suitable names to select the chief of the SIT. K Mohandas, who had just retired as DGP (Intelligence) of the State police, was the first choice. Chandrashekhar showed the list to Sonia Gandhi. She rejected all the three names and asked for Devarayapuram Ramasamy Karthikeyan, a Karnataka cadre IPS officer who, like his mentor Mayankote Kelath Narayanan, had been a Gandhi family loyalist but with no record of any investigative achievement. Because of his proximity to the family right from Indira Gandhi’s time, he was given a three-year stint in Moscow as First Secretary in the Indian Embassy and a four-year stint in Sydney as Indian Tea Board representative.

After guiding the assassination investigation along the lines the Congress wanted, he was promoted to the coveted post of CBI Director and on retirement made the chief of the National Human Rights Commission. And as a crowning glory, he was awarded the Padma Sri.

At the time of the 1991 Lok Sabha election Tamil Nadu was under President’s rule. Governor Bhisma Narain Singh cautioned Rajiv against campaigning in the State for security reasons.


To whom did Sivarasan pay Rs.1.5 crore? One more question that begs an answer

The Congress had an alliance with the AIADMK and its leader Jayalalitha accepted full responsibility of campaigning for both the Congress and her party candidates and told Rajiv there was no need for him to visit the State. Rajiv conceded to the request of Maragatham, whom he called aunty, and even agreed to spend the night in Sriperumbudur, which was vetoed by the Governor. Sivarasan had given Rs. 5 lakhs to Lalith, son of Maragatham Chandrasekhar, Congress candidate for Sriperumbudur.
Lalith is married to a Sri Lankan woman who was staying with her parents in the Theosophical Society campus in Chennai before her marriage. Using this Sri Lanka connection, Dhanu, the human bomb, wormed her way into the Maragatham household and became a guest. The Statesman reported that Dhanu was a house guest of the Congress candidate. A criminal defamation case was filed against this newspaper and its correspondent in Chennai by Maragatham.
The case was dropped when documentary evidence was produced to substantiate the report. It is not the contention of this writer that Maragatham did everything that facilitated the assassination with any foreknowledge. But what made Karthikeyan cover up her tracks?

Karthikeyan has taken great pains in identifying the brand name of the nine volt battery used by Dhanu to detonate the belt bomb that killed Rajiv as ‘Golden Power’ and got the teenager, Perarivalan, used by Sivarasa as an errand boy to buy it from a shop in Chennai, the death sentence which was confirmed by the Supreme Court along with that of three other bit players. The battery containing cadmium compounds bound in zinc sheet was reduced to smithereens in the explosion, leaving hardly any trace.

But the SIT could not locate the hand bag found hanging on the shoulder of Dhanu seconds before the explosion. Sivarasan’s diary produced in the court had an entry showing he had paid Rs. 1.5 crore to some person and that Rs. 45 lakhs more was to be given to that person. The bomb Dhanu used to kill Rajiv had RDX which was supplied to military only and not available in the open market. Circumstantial evidence shows the Rs. 1.5 crore Sivarasan paid was to the person who supplied the RDX. Why didn’t Karthikeyan investigate this angle?

In any assassination of this nature, who benefited from it would form the main line of investigation which Karthikeyan and his team totally ignored. The moribund Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency set up to inquire into the conspiracy behind Rajiv’s assassination has been hibernating for more than a decade.

Will Manmohan Singh activate the MDMA? The nation wants to know the truth behind the conspiracy.

Sam Rajappa is Consulting Editor of The Weekend Leader



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Ireland's Inhumane Abortion Laws - From NYTimes.com

From India, Pressure on Ireland Over Abortion Laws By NIHARIKA MANDHANA
Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters A candlelit vigil outside University Hospital Galway in Ireland on Nov. 15, held in memory of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died at the hospital.

The death of an Indian woman in Ireland who was reportedly refused a potentially lifesaving abortion has rekindled the debate on abortion laws in the predominantly Catholic nation and has sparked outrage in India.
“We are shocked that such a death was allowed to take place in this day and age,” said Sudha Sundararaman, the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, by telephone. “We lost a life that could have been saved by medical intervention because of a religion-based law that goes completely against international laws.”
Reuters Savita Halappanavar in an undated family photo in Galway, Ireland.

Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who lived near Galway, Ireland, was 17 weeks pregnant when she was informed, on complaining of severe back pain, that she was having a miscarriage. Despite repeated requests for an abortion, she was told that Ireland is a Catholic country, said her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, and that it would be illegal to terminate a pregnancy while the fetus’s heart was still beating. A few days later, Dr. Halappanavar died of septicemia on Oct. 28 at the University Hospital Galway.

Protesters took to the streets of Ireland and New Delhi, raising banners and chanting slogans, in response to Dr. Halappanavar’s death, which many blamed on Ireland’s abortion laws, among the most restrictive in the world.

“I don’t think as a country we should allow a situation where women’s rights are put at risk in this way,” Eamon Gilmore, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, told Parliament on Thursday. “There is no question of equivocation. We need to bring legal clarity to this issue, and that is what we are going to do.”

Two inquiries have been set up to determine the cause of Dr. Halappanavar’s death.
On Friday, the Indian government too stepped in, promising to take up the matter with the Irish. “It is a sad issue,” said the foreign minister, Salman Khurshid, in a televised interview. “They have a legal framework that is rooted in religion. But there can’t be a bigger goal in religion than to save the life of a mother.”

The Irish ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin, met with M. Ganapathi, a secretary in the ministry of external affairs this afternoon. ‘He conveyed that there is a sense of angst in India caused by the fact that a life was cut short in its prime,’ said Syed Akbaruddin, the official spokesman for the external affairs ministry. The government of India also expressed hope that the probe would be thorough and independent, and that the Indian government would be kept informed about the progress and the outcome of the inquiry, Mr. Akbaruddin said. It was also conveyed, he said, that “we hope no other Indian meets the same fate.”

The Indian ambassador to Ireland also met with the Irish foreign minister on Friday. India will request that the Irish authorities share the results of the investigations. “We are taking one step at a time,” said Mr. Akbaruddin. “We want to first understand what the circumstances of the death were.”

But activists in India say there needs to be more action. “Minority and immigrant communities should lead a movement to protect their interests in the countries of their residence,” said Kirti Singh, an advocate in Delhi who works on issues of women’s rights.

The Indian government should also register a protest with the Irish authorities, she said, since an Indian did not receive adequate care from their medical system. “What happened was in violation of international law and our national laws,” she said.

The international position, she explained, is that a woman must have the right to an abortion if there is danger to her life. India’s abortion law, which was passed in 1972 and is broader in scope, allows abortions in several circumstances, including when the life of the mother is at risk, where rape is involved and even when contraception fails.

Ms. Singh advocates expanding abortion rights even further, arguing that women shouldn’t have to justify their decision to end their pregnancies. “When we are fighting for broader rights in India, how can we allow something like this to happen?” she said.

Ireland’s laws place a near ban on abortion, a fraught and emotive social issue in that country. In 1992, in what is known as the “X-case” involving a 14-year-old rape victim, the Supreme Court ruled that abortions would be allowed when there was a “real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother.” Since then, successive governments, reluctant to stir the pot on an issue that could alienate conservative voters, have dragged their feet on legislation that would lay down precisely the circumstances in which an abortion would be legal. As a result, thousands of women seeking to terminate their pregnancies travel to nearby England and Wales, which have less stringent abortion laws.

Whether or not Dr. Halappanavar’s case induces a change in Ireland’s legal system, many in India say that Dr. Halappanavar’s family and the Indian government must demand justice. “If the investigation shows that the death was a consequence of the law, then we need to fight at the international level,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an Indian parliamentarian. “Someone has lost their life. There must be accountability.”

This idea is not without precedent. In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights heard the case of a woman from Lithuania who was in remission from cancer and believed that there was a risk that her pregnancy would cause a relapse. She was also concerned about a risk to the fetus if she carried it to term.

Unable to get an abortion in Ireland, she decided to have one in England. She argued that by denying her an abortion, Ireland had violated her human rights by putting her life at risk. The court ordered Ireland to pay 15,000 euros ($19,000) in damages to the woman.
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The dangers of getting married in India (From Asian Image)

There is a sizeable number of British Indians in UK and often our folks with Indian background in UK travel abroad to get married in India. Although there is a certain expectation regarding what lies ahead, sometimes not all is as rosy as it may seem.

The Royal weddings of India are a thing of the past and the Arun-Hurley weddings are not for the mere mortals. Weddings in India are marred with certain dangers and this article addresses just one of those. In the early 60’s Indian Government passed a Dowry Prohibition Act. In 1983, Indian Government passed an amendment to the Indian Penal Code at section 498a against the dowry practices in India. At that time the Indian community hailed its creation and expected the law to end the concept of dowry. Although this law was meant to protect wives, it has been abused blatantly, more so in the last decade.

Section 498A makes the assumption that the husband and his family are presumed to be guilty of the alleged crime. The legal system considers all complaints filed by the wives to be genuine and immediately actionable. The same is achieved easily as this law is a Cognizable offence and hence Investigation agencies have little or no way of rejecting a complaint as else it may affect their jobs under the pressure of National & State Commission of Women.

There is a guaranteed loss of dignity, liberty and freedom of husbands and their families. Since, this Section has been made non-bailable, they are arrested and jailed immediately requiring neither a prima facie investigation nor presentation of probable cause to the magistrate.

It won’t be wrong to say that filing this case is as easy as ordering a Pizza in London. There is no penalty or fine for the misuse of 498a or any legal repercussions even if the allegations are found to be fabricated with a bunch of lies. This law enjoys the status of less than 5% conviction rate and hence almost in 95% cases, the accused family gets harassed for years financially, socially, and emotionally undergoing the trial.

The law can easily boast of having the record of putting infants and kids behind bars as well as putting aged senior citizens above 90 years of age behind bars too. There has been large number of cases of such misuse of law from all across the world, especially from the developed countries. Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and those who are Citizens of developed countries seem to be most vulnerable to this misuse.

They face demands of thousands of pounds to withdraw cases and are also known to be coerced to give visas to the wives’ and their families. The basic reason for this is the unfounded view in India that everyone in developed countries is rich and is an easy bait to extort money and get visas. Looking at numerous false cases against people from abroad, even the Supreme Court of India has labelled it as “Legal Terrorism”.

There have been many instances where the police have arrested elderly parents and even grandparents, unmarried sisters, pregnant sister-in-laws and even children without proper investigation. Indian women have started to misuse this law to harass husband especially when faced with strained or failed marriages. In most instances, such women make false allegations out of vindictiveness or to extort money out of the husband. Such large scale abuse of this law by some unscrupulous women and their families has taken a huge toll on the personal and professional lives of Indians residing in UK.

One such person is Dr Dharmesh Khatri (name changed) who had to suffer huge losses financially and professionally. He lost a portion of his training, something which had never happened in his professional career. His wife Rashmi (name changed) often threatened him with money extortion if he did not obey her wishes. The stress of being in the marriage was such that he started contemplating suicide and suffered raised levels of thyroid hormones and required specialist medical input. Although he has been separated, the threats of false 498A continue. The reason that it is currently threats only is primarily because he had transferred money into her account before and after marriage on numerous occasions out of goodwill gesture and has records of these.

Mr Harish Mehta (name changed), a British Resident went to India with his wife and son for Diwali. Mr Mehta came back earlier due to workcommitments and his wife stayed back with his son for some more time.
His wife disappeared with his son and was not traceable. With the help of police, and after searching for more than 6 months, she was found. She filed a child custody case, which she lost. She then filed the false 498a case followed by Domestic Violence case against Mr Mehta and his family.
Mr Mehta is still fighting for these cases and has to fly to India frequently while he is on leave without pay. He and his family have been deprived from meeting his son. This has not only affected his health, but also broken him down financially and emotionally.

The legal system in India considers all complaints filed by women to be genuine by default and hence this law is being used as a weapon to blackmail, extort money from or seek revenge on residents in UK. Some such residents who married in India have been arrested, ill-treated and exploited in the name of dowry laws.

The abuse of this law has hampered the progress of hundreds of such men and their families whose intellectual abilities and professional skills are highly valued all across the globe. Many such British Indians trapped in false cases have to travel to India, wasting their valuable time, efforts and money to fight these cases and even ending up losing Jobs and even Arrested under “Red Corner Notices” and even sometimes extradited as a Criminal. Due to the shoddy legal system in India, such cases drag for years on end.

Although the Supreme Court of India has labelled it as “legal terrorism” and has suggested altering the law, due to political pressures the law continues to remain as it is and continues to be abused. Although, there is no foolproof method that one can take to protect oneself and his family members, few proper precautions can be taken.

If a British Indian does wish to get married to a woman from India, there are certain steps he can take as a precaution.
(a) Keep a record of all gifts taken and received during and after marriage (signed by both bride and groom). The list needs to be as per the Dowry Prohibition Act norms in India.
(b) If you are travelling to India, make copies of your passport, visa (if applicable) and all credit cards. Leave these copies with a trusted friend or relative in UK.
(c) Do not give anyone your tickets or passport in India.
(d) Register with the local Foreigners Registration Office upon arrival in India and let them know your expected date of departure.
(e) Inform the British Consulate and/or Embassy in India about your travel plans.
(f) If you suspect that you may be a victim of this abuse, inform the British Consulate and/or Embassy in India and finally

(g) Although not legally valid in India; consider a prenuptial agreement.

A support group has been formed in the UK for those who have unfortunately been trapped and have been victims in past. The support group meets often all across UK and provides legal and moral support to such people and their families. The support group has started an e-petition to the UK government at:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/30913




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1984 anti-Sikh riots: MP to petition Australian parliament - Yahoo! News India - And a Brief Background gathered Online

1984 anti-Sikh riots: MP to petition Australian parliament - Yahoo! News India:

A lawmaker will present a 'genocide petition' in parliament calling the Australian government to recognise the horrific violence that took place against the Sikh community in November 1984 in India following the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi. At least 3,000 Sikhs were killed in three days in the Indian capital New Delhi following the killing of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on Oct 31, 1984.
Warren Entsch, an Australian federal member of parliament, will present the 'genocide petition' before the Australian parliament. It will be tabled before the House of Representatives during adjournment debate Nov 1, said a press communique from theSupreme Sikh Council of Australia. The petition will call upon Australian government to recognise that an organized campaign of horrific violence took place against the Sikh community in November 1984, and that these killings were "genocide" as per the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Warren Enstch, who is currently serving as the Chief Opponent Whip for the Liberal Party of Australia, said he decided to support the petition as he was "horrified" at the way Sikhs had been treated and at what is still going on today. "What drove me to act in particular was that the United Nations and world leaders, including the Australian parliament in February this year - have recognised an act of genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in 1995, when 7,000 men and boys were massacred due to their Muslim faith," the North Queensland MP explained. "I thought to myself, if something of that nature could be recognised so quickly by the world community, it seems unreasonable that the Sikh community has had to wait for so long." Official records show that a total of 35,000 claims of deaths and serious injuries were filed by Sikhs who sustained attacks during November 1984. Out of which more than 20,000 claims were from attacks that took place outside Delhi and in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir; Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, said the press note.


According to Harkirat Singh, general secretary, Supreme Sikh Council of Australia, the "Genocide Petition" has been signed by thousands of community members across Australia. The Sikh community in Australia has been a vibrant part of the Australian cultural mosaic since 1897. Hundreds of Sikhs will travel to Canberra from across Australia and will be present in the public gallery in the House of Representatives during the tabling of the petition by Warren Entsch, the press note added.

A Brief Background

As per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots - the 1984 Sikh Genocide[2][3][4][5] or the 1984 Sikh Massacre was a pogrom directed against Sikhs in  northern India in response to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, there were more than 3,000 deaths.[4] CBI is of the opinion that the acts of violence were well organized with support from the then Delhi police officials and the central government headed by Indira Gandhi's son,Rajiv Gandhi. [6] Rajiv, who was sworn in as the Prime Minister after his mother's death, when asked about the riots said "when a big tree falls, the earth shakes"

The Delhi High Court, while pronouncing its verdict on a riots-related case in 2009, stated:[33]

“Though we boast of being the world’s largest democracy and the Delhi being its national capital, the sheer mention of the incidents of 1984 anti-Sikh riots in general and the role played by Delhi Police and state machinery in particular makes our heads hang in shame in the eyes of the world polity. ”

In Delhi, 442 of the rioters were convicted by the courts. 49 of these were sentenced to the life imprisonment, and another three to imprisonment of more than 10 years. As of June 2012, one more case was pending in a Delhi court. 6 Delhi Police officers were punished for lapses during the riots.[41]

The charred and hacked remains of the hundreds that perished in Trilokpuri's Block 32 on the smoky and dank evening of 2 November 1984 were stark testimony to the unimpeded and seemingly endless massacre.Soon after news of Mrs Gandhi's killing by her Sikh bodyguards spread, Hindu mobs swung into action - like they did elsewhere in the city armed with voters' lists - in Trilokpuri against the low caste Sikhs inhabiting one-roomed tenements on either side of two narrow alleyways barely 150 yards long.With local police connivance they blocked entry to the neighbourhood with massive concrete water pipes and stationed guards armed with sticks atop them.For the next three days marauding groups armed with cleavers, scythes, kitchen knives and scissors took breaks to eat and regroup in between executing their bloodthirsty mission.

Sikhs were killed in the main railway station (Photo: Ashok Vahie)
When as a reporter then with the Indian Express newspaper I along with two other colleagues visited the area on the eve of Mrs Gandhi' funeral, both lanes were littered with bodies, body parts and hair brutally hacked off, forcing us to walk precariously on tip-toe. It was impossible to place one's foot flat on the ground for fear of stepping on either a severed limb or a body.Earlier in the day two policemen on a motorcycle had emerged from Block 32 and reassured us that shanti or calm prevailed inside it and no untoward incident had occurred.A few hours later on returning to the spot we saw that the entire area was awash with blood, a large proportion of it black coagulated mounds over which flies buzzed lazily. It was also piled high in the open drains on either side of the tenements, never efficient at the best of times, alongside other human remains.

From - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8306420.stm


The 339-page inquiry report by former Supreme Court judge, GT Nanavati, was tabled in parliament which said that recorded accounts from witnesses and victims of the rioting "indicate that local Congress leaders and workers had either incited or helped the mobs in attacking the Sikhs". The investigation found "credible evidence" against current Congress minister for non-resident affairs, Jagdish Tytler, "to the effect that very probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs".

The inquiry recommended further investigation into Mr Tytler's role. The investigation also found "credible evidence" against Congress politician, Dharam Das Shastri, in instigating an attack on Sikhs in his area. It also recommended examination of some cases against another Congress leader, Sajjan Kumar, for his alleged involvement in the rioting.

Mr Kumar had been cleared of leading a mob by a sessions court in Delhi in 2002 because of lack of evidence. The inquiry said there was "absolutely no evidence" suggesting that Mrs Gandhi's son, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, or "any other high ranking Congress leader had suggested or organised attacks on Sikhs". The report said that the police "remained passive and did not provide protection to the people" during the riots. "There was a colossal failure of the maintenance of law and order," the report said. Relatives of the victims of the riots who spoke to the BBC were sceptical about the investigation.
"What is the use of this report? It practically exonerates most of the Congress leaders we had accused of leading the mobs. Nothing will happen to the big leaders," said Gurdip Singh, whose father Harbhajan, was killed by the rioters.

From - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4130962.stm

In his final arguments, CBI prosecutor RS Cheema told the court that the riots which targeted a particular community were "backed by both the Congress government and police".

"There was a conspiracy of terrifying proportion with the complicity of police and patronage of local MP Sajjan Kumar," the prosecutor told Judge JR Aryan, who will eventually pass judgement in the case. Mr Cheema said that witnesses at the scene heard Sajjan Kumar tell a crowd that "not a single Sikh should survive".

Sajjan Kumar and five others on trial with him deny charges of being involved in the killing of six people at Delhi Cantonment - or military area - during riots that were sparked by the killing of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The trial began after a government inquiry found "credible evidence" that some Congress party leaders incited crowds to attack Sikhs during the riots and that they were not spontaneous.

from - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17811666
The case against Sajjan Kumar was registered in 2005 on a recommendation by Justice GT Nanavati Commission. CBI had filed two charge sheets against him and the other accused in January 2010. 

The trial court had framed charges against Sajjan Kumar and the five others under Sections 302 (murder), 395 (dacoity), 427 (mischief to cause damage to property), 153-A (promoting enmity between different communities) and other provisions of the IPC. Sajjan Kumar is facing trial along with five others - Balwan Khokkar, Kishan Khokkar, Mahender Yadav, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal - for allegedly inciting a mob against the Sikh community in Delhi Cantonment area.

From - http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/1984-anti-sikh-riots-sajjan-questions-key-witness-s-conduct_801596.html

Riots are always a blot on the conscience of any nation, and as much as we talk about the 2002 Godhra riots, the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 are also a bitter reminder of the bestiality that we, as a nation, are capable of. Twenty eight years have passed since the riots – that some reports suggest was orchestrated by the Congress. Yet victims who are fighting for justice, say precious nothing has been done to bring the guilty to book.
HS Phoolka, a senior lawyer who has been fighting the case for many years said that there has been very little actually done on the ground to ensure that justice is served, and said that there was every evidence to suggest that the guilty were protected – both then and now – by some very powerful people.” The cases were not registered at all. Even when they were registered, most of the cases were closed,” he told CNN-IBN.

Evidence suggests that several Congress leaders might have been complicit in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Will the victims get justice? AFP

Phoolka said that in addition to the paucity of cases that were actually filed, the investigations had been so badly conducted that even the courts had repeatedly criticised the police. He alleged that one of the prime accused, Sajjan Kumar was helped thanks to forged documents.

And the rot just didn’t stop at investigations and prosecution. The lawyer also referred to the Mishra committee report which clearly said that despite the availability of a 5000 strong army, they were not deployed to stop the riots. There is also evidence, according to him, that then Home Minister Narasimha Rao had agreed to call in the army to put an end to the carnage, but had been dissuaded by someone, possibly higher up in the Congress, to ignore the call.

From - http://www.firstpost.com/politics/1984-anti-sikh-riots-is-asking-for-justice-a-study-in-futility-512171.html

C-block, or the "widows' colony," as it is more commonly known, is where Surinder Kaur, 65, lives today after she sold her house in Sagarpur and moved next door to her sister Harjinder Kaur, 57, a few years ago. Every morning, the women have tea together in a two-room house, where the only picture is of a newlywed Harjinder and her husband, killed 25 years ago in one of the darkest chapters in Indian history.

The widows' colony in Tilak Vihar is a cheaply built and neglected cluster of homes, which were given by the government to hundreds of women and their children who survived what have become known as the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. But as the grim event's 25th anniversary nears at the end of this month, crime, addiction and prostitution have taken root in what was supposed to be a survivors' safe haven. Residents say this is because of the damage to the mental health of children who were witness to their parents' and siblings' murders and who grew up in impoverished homes and weren't given any medical help — physical or mental — for their problems. "They'll slice a blade right through you if they know you're new to the area," warns Harjinder. "Even the autorickshaw drivers refuse to come here."
Devender Singh, 26, an unemployed drug addict whose father was killed before his eyes in 1984, says his brother was murdered in the colony a couple years ago and that it's likely he'll meet the same fate. "We're all thieves and addicts here," he says. "When you get no work, what else will you do?" The lawless attitude of the young people is an echo, residents say, of India's broken justice system. The young people saw no punishment for the crimes committed against their families, so they see no justice for the crimes they'll commit in the future.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1931635,00.html#ixzz2C85VR1ym

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India's corruption scandals - From the BBC News

Mr Raja denies having undersold licences to mobile phone firms

BBC News - India's corruption scandals:

BBC news considers the major corruption controversies to have beset the government in its second term of office.
TELECOMS LICENCES

In February 2012, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecommunications licences awarded to companies in 2008.

The licences were issued by former minister Andimuthu Raja, who is accused of mis-selling bandwidth in what has been called India's biggest corruption scandal. He is alleged to have issued the frequency licences on a "first-come, first-served" basis instead of auctioning them. Mr Raja denies wrongdoing. In March last year, a former aide of Mr Raja, who owned a real estate company, committed suicide. Auditors estimate the alleged mis-selling of the licences cost the exchequer nearly $40bn (£24.5bn) in lost revenue in what some analysts are calling India's biggest ever scandal.

The scandal has claimed two other politicians: Mr Raja's colleague in the southern DMK party, MP Kanimozhi, was arrested last year in connection with the scandal; and Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maranresigned last year following allegations that he coerced the founder of the mobile phone firm Aircel to sell off his stake to a firm favoured by the minister. He denies the allegation. Police have also questioned

business leaders, TV bosses and political figures in connection with the alleged scam.

ARMY BRIBERY ROW
In March 2012, army chief Gen VK Singh said a defence industry lobbyist had offered him a bribe of $2.7m (£1.7m) if the army bought hundreds of trucks that the general considered "sub-standard".

The general's allegation, made in an interview with The Hindu newspaper, provoked outrage in parliament and Defence Minister AK Antony promised an investigation. He acknowledged the general had come to him with the allegation more than a year earlier and asked for a written complaint. The general did not put the complaint in writing and both men seemed to have dropped the matter. Two days after the interview came out, a letter from Gen Singh to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining that India's defences were largely obsolete and woefully inadequate was leaked, provoking more outrage in parliament. This, despite a multi-billion dollar procurement drive in recent years to modernise the army's equipment.

Analysts say the modernisation drive has been hampered by a lack of planning and acrimony between the military and the defence ministry.

WIKILEAKS: 'CASH FOR VOTES'There have been protests against the perceived rising tide of sleaze

There was uproar in India's parliament on 17 March 2011 after a leaked cable from the whistle-blowing Wikileaks website described how a senior Congress aide showed a US embassy official "chests of cash" allegedly used to bribe MPs to support the government in a crucial vote of confidence in 2008. The vote was over a controversial deal between India and the US which paved the way for India to massively expand its nuclear power capability. The government's left-wing allies withdrew support, but Congress narrowly survived the vote. Opposition parties at the time accused the government of offering cash for votes.

The Congress party and all of those named in the cable deny the allegations. The leak came just days after a new report by consultancy KPMG said that corruption threatened India's growth. It said that it wasn't simply the daily diet of petty bribes that hold back the economy, but the huge scams where billions of dollars are allegedly siphoned off by government and industry. In July 2011, two people - a politician's aide and a political activist - were arrested in connection with the scandal. The Supreme Court criticised the police for carrying out a "shoddy probe". A senior MP, Amar Singh, was also questioned after he was accused of offering to bribe opposition MPs to abstain from the vote. He denies the allegation.

ANTI-CORRUPTION CHIEF FORCED OUT
In early March 2010 the head of India's anti-corruption watchdog, PJ Thomas, was forced to resign by the Supreme Court on the grounds that he himself faces corruption charges. The decision was an embarrassment for Manmohan Singh because he chaired the committee that cleared his appointment and publicly supported him. Mr Thomas says the charges - which are 20 years old - are baseless. He has never been arrested and the charges have also never been tested by a judge in court.

MAHARASHTRA WIDOWS
In November 2010 Ashok Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra, one of India's most prosperous states, was forced to quit over his alleged role in a scam involving homes for war widows. Retired senior army officers and relatives of senior politicians are accused of helping themselves to apartments in the Adarsh Society building in Mumbai that were meant for war widows.

Mr Chavan denies any wrongdoing. He was ordered to resign by Congress leaders while the matter is investigated. In March 2012, a retired bureaucrat and two former army personnel were charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and criminal misconduct in connection with the case.

COMMONWEALTH GAMESSuresh Kalmadi and another chief were booed during the Games's opening and closing ceremonies

The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi were beset by more than poor organisation: police arrested various Games officials for alleged financial irregularities. The build-up to the event was overshadowed by revelations of sleaze, incompetence and missed construction deadlines. And in January 2011, yet another Congress party head rolled when Suresh Kalmadi, the Games organising committee chief, was removed from this post. He has been under investigation over claims of corruption and denies any wrongdoing.

In August last year, a report by India's state auditor tabled in parliament said preparations for the Games were deeply flawed, riddled with favouritism and vastly over budget. It said there were serious irregularities with bidding and contracts, and that the seven years organisers had to prepare were wasted. The games cost $4.1bn (£2.5bn) instead of the $270m (£166m) first estimated, while revenue was only $38m (£23m).

The government said parliament would reflect on the report and "decide what needs to be done".

MINING SCANDALSMining has become a source of corruption

BS Yeddyurappa of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quit as chief minister of the southern state of Karnataka in July 2011 after he was indicted in a mining scandal. An anti-corruptionreport alleges the scam cost the exchequer more than $3bn (£1.8bn) between 2006 and 2010. Mr Yeddyurappa denies any wrongdoing. Correspondents say illegal mining has been rife for years in Karnataka. The state produces about 45 million tonnes of iron ore a year and exports more than half of it to China.

The anti-corruption report on mining in Karnataka found that the promoters of privately-owned mining companies in the Bellary region - where most of the mines are located - paid off politicians, and then joined politics themselves, rising to positions in the state government.

These mining businessmen-turned-politicians exerted so much influence over the local officials that the Indian media began describing Bellary as a "new republic". In November last year, a report claimed that nearly half the iron ore exported from the western state of Goa was illegally mined. A draft report from government auditors that was leaked in March 2012 estimated that India lost $210bn between 2004 and 2010 by selling coalfields to companies without competitive bidding.

But the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said the draft report was still under preparation and "the details being brought out were observations which are under discussion at a very preliminary stage".

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Plight of the Farmers in Maharashtra - In the News

Unrest among Maharashtra State’s sugarcane growers

Police thrash a protesting Shetkari Sanghatana supporter in Indapur on Monday
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s casteist statement about Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader and MP Raju Shetty is an attempt to wean farmers of the Maratha community away from Shetty, who form the NCP’s voter base in western Maharashtra.

Pawar said Shetty was causing trouble in the sugar mills of leaders from other communities and sparing sugar mills run by his own community members in his constituency. There are three dimensions to this statement.

Firstly, western Maharashtra has been an NCP-Congress bastion. Leaders from both these parties have realised that the farmers’ agitation indicates their declining legitimacy.

Secondly, this stir has assumed such a proportion in western Maharashtra for the first time after 1980. Thirdly, both these parties have been trying to score political points over each other and ignored the real issue, which created space for the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana.

Earlier, Congress used these agitations to show NCP in poor light. But this time around, the agitators held a dharna in front of Congress leader and State co-operative minister Harshawardhan Patil’s residence at Indapur. It means both the parties are now feeling the heat of the agitation. Hence, Prithviraj Chavan and Pawar don’t want to resolve this issue.

The sugarcane rate of a particular mill is determined by several factors, including subsidies provided by the State and Central governments, development carried out by a sugar mill and the management of that factory. This doesn’t mean that the government has no role in deciding the rate. When the Chief Minister says that the issue is between the farmers and mill managements, he is playing politics.

Pawar’s remarks have been made out of fear that the agitation may erode his voter base. The NCP and Congress have won seats in the last Assembly elections in western Maharashtra by a margin of 10-20 per cent. A 10 per cent swing away from them may result in a debacle in the next elections.

The sugar mills that Pawar has named in his statement as falling under Shetty’s constituency are in their second stage of development. They have successfully installed co-generation plants, distilleries and other processing units. Sharad Pawar said that Shetty allowed mills in his own constituency to continue doing business while spoiling that of mills in others’ constituency.

This is a pure political statement as he himself had referred to a sugar mill run by S R Patil as an ideal example to Rahul Gandhi during the latter’s visit to this part of the sugar belt. Patil’s ‘ideal’ sugar mill incidentally falls within Shetty’s constituency. The sugar mills touched by the ongoing stir are still developing and Pawar wants to indicate that they will be crippled financially by this agitation. Hence, neither the stir nor Shetty is of any use to them. 

1. From -

http://www.punemirror.in/article/62/2012111420121114093504845cfb0e6a7/%E2%80%98Pawars-are-taking-Shetty-seriously%E2%80%99.html   As Prithviraj Chavan completed two years as Maharashtra chief minister, the number of farmer suicides this year rose to 624 with three more distressed peasants ending their lives Sunday, an activist said here. "Despite Dhanteras and the upcoming Diwali, and Prithviraj Chavan completing two years in office today (Sunday), the gloom and despair persists among the debt-trapped farmers of the Vidarbha region. Three more such farmers have chosen to end their lives," said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti chief Kishore Tiwari. The chief reason for farmers committing suicide is the failure of the main cash crops. 2. From - http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-12/india/35068125_1_kishore-tiwari-vidarbha-jan-andolan-samiti-vidarbha-region A farmer died in police firing at Nandre village in Sangli district of Maharashtra on Monday, police said. Comment - Rajendra Hardenia (Pipariya, MP, India) Farmers asking for justice, got bullet. Ganna ( sugar cane ) farmer gunned down. What sort of crime they were committing? They were asking better remunerative price for their produce. Sugarcane is such a crop which can not be stored in warehouse. After cutting from field it must be crushed because as soon as cutting of sugarcane is done, drying and other chemical process starts which leads to deterioration. This gives upper hand of sugar industry on farmers. It is approximately 12 months crop. The input cost has been shoot up many fold. Within two years the cost of fertilizer and pesticide sky rocketed. The cost of 50 kg bag of DAP in July 2010 was Rs. 550/- which is in July 2012 shoot up to 1275/- per 50 kg bag. Same thing is with urea. Even with such exorbitant price there is shortage of Urea. Agricultural machinery requires diesel to operate. Diesel prices gone up. Electricity for irrigation increased, farm labors wages increased, transport of sugarcane from farm to factory increased. Then why the farmers should not expect such remunerative price for sugar cane which may compensate the price rise. Government was silent when the agriculture input cost was increasing and farmers were in trouble. But when troubled farmers demanded justice and stared trouble to industry, the sleepy government came in action to rescue industry and opened fire. One can easily imagine what will happen when foreign companies under FDI deal with farmers, and in case of dispute which type of stern action farmers will have to face. 3. From - http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-12/india/35068053_1_raju-shetty-farmers-sangli   Several of the around 170 factories in the state have not yet cleared dues of last year's cane-crushing season, the organisation claims. Raghunath Patil of Sharad Joshi-led Shetkari Sanghatana which is also a part of the agitation, said the protest would intensify. "The Government should either lift the ban on sugar exports and remove the levy, or give farmers higher prices," he said. 4. From - http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=780617 Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetty of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, who has launched an agitation to stop the harvesting and transport of sugarcane to mills, demanded an advance of Rs3,000 per ton for farmers. “The sugar mills have begun operations without giving last year’s final rate and this year’s first advance to farmers,” he said. Last year, the state had announced a first advance of Rs2,050 per ton for Kolhapur and Sangli, Rs1,850 for Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur and Rs1,800 for the rest of Maharashtra. While Ravi Devang of the Sharad Joshi-led Shetkari Sanghatana demanded a first advance of Rs3,100 per ton for Pune and Ahmednagar and Rs2,900 for the rest of Maharashtra, farmer leader Raghunathdada Patil sought Rs4,500. “The mithai, medicine, soft drinks and confectionary sectors account for bulk of sugar sales. There is no need to give them sugar at low rates at the cost of farmers,” said Patil. Former deputy chief minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who heads the Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Sangh Limited, said, “The sugar factories and farmers must decide the rate.” Doing away with the 10% levy on sugar production will enable mills to give an additional Rs205 per ton to farmers, Mohite-Patil said.  5. From - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_poor-sugarcane-crop-behind-price-hike-demand_1764267 While chief minister Prithviraj Chavan held inconclusive discussions with Raghunath Patil, the leader of Shetkari Sanghatana, another farmers' organisation, SSS president and Hatkanangle MP Raju Shetty was remanded in 14-day judicial custody.  Shetty was detained by police on Monday, which had witnessed the death of two farmers, one of them in police firing, and three policemen getting injured in the agitation . Speaking to reporters before he was lodged at Yerawada jail, Shetty said, "The government wants to crush the agitation. I have lost my workers and, taking moral responsibility of the same, I have decided not to apply for bail. Let Pawar (Sharad Pawar) and his nephew celebrate Diwali. Also, I wish the chief minister a happy Diwali. For us, our struggle for justice continues".  Patil told reporters the meeting was inconclusive and that the farmers would continue with the agitation. "We asked the CM to implement the C Rangarajan committee recommendations. The CM agreed to the same and assured us that he would hold talks with the central government in this regard. However there was no concrete solution on sugarcane price. Hence we will continue our agitation" said Patil.  The C Rangarajan report recommends scrapping of major government controls on the sugar sector to move towards the reform process.  6. From - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maharashtra-farmer-tension-simmers/articleshow/17211639.cms While the police firing on farmers have pushed the ruling coalition into a corner, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar casteist remarks have added fuel to the raging controversy. While reacting to the ongoing agitation by sugarcane farmers over rates given to them by sugar factories for their produce, Pawar asked the audience while speaking in Baramati, "Why don't the agitators go and protest at Warna factory in Kolhapur. Check which community does he [independent MP Raju Shetty who has been spearheading the movement] and the members of Warna factory belong to. It is not fair to target other community's [Marathas] factories and leave one's own." While the Warna cooperative industry is controlled by Vinay Kore, who is a Lingayat, Shetty is Jain. Pawar has been critical of Shetty ever since the latter went on fast unto death last year at his home turf Baramati.  Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde criticised Pawar and said the NCP leader is trying to digress from the issue.  7. From - http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Maharashtra/Pawar-plays-caste-card-to-snub-farmers/Article1-958740.aspx Condemning the firing incident in which a farmer was killed in Sangli district, Shiv Sena today flayed NCP president Sharad Pawar over his remarks about a prominent farmers' leader in Maharashtra. Senior Sena leader Diwakar Raote said, "Farmers anywhere do not have caste." Pawar's remarks are "a ploy to split the farmers' agitation," he alleged. Raote's comments came in the wake of Pawar's remarks in Baramati yesterday that it was not fair to target sugarcane factories owned by a particular community. Cane growers in Maharashtra led by Independent MP Raju Shetty have been agitating over rates given to them by sugar factories for their produce. 8. From - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_shiv-sena-flays-sharad-pawar-over-remarks-about-farmers-leader_1764202   The agitation over a hike in the current Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane took an ugly turn with the torching of the official car of Maharashtra State Sugar Commissioner Vijay Singhal at his Pune residence in the early hours of Friday. The Shetkari Sanghatna has taken responsibility for the incident and said that the agitation will continue in the same manner unless the Maharashtra Government takes cognisance of their demands. These include not granting crushing licences to sugar mills till last year’s dues are cleared. According to Singhal, 28 of the 170 factories that were involved in crushing last season had not yet cleared farmers’ dues, and all of these were running at loss. “We have withheld crushing licences to these 28. Beyond this, I am not authorised to take action against them,” he said, adding that over 100 factories had been issued with licences so far, and around 85 had begun crushing. 9. From - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/price-stir-maharashtra-sugar-commissioners-car-torched/article4085559.ece?ref=wl_opinion Police arrested 152 farmers in Kolhapur on Wednesday after incidents of violence and clashes with the police occurred in Karvir and Radhanagri areas of Kolhapur district. The district administration has issued prohibitory orders throughout the district under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, in consideration of the protest. Members of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana had been protesting in western Maharashtra demanding better prices for the sugarcane crop. 10. From - http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/sugarcane-farmers-police-clash-in-kolhapur/article4094953.ece