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Social Viciousness
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We are equally scandalised that those who are supposedly the protectors of the rule of law seem to be more partial to the perpetrators of violence than to its victims. Are we to assume that this is now the new definition of protecting the rule of law and of dispensing justice? Perhaps we need to turn our attention away from the daily chorus of our improving rate of growth and pay more attention to what constitutes the quality of our citizenship, a quality that seems to be rapidly eroding. The deafening silence on these physical assaults from those who are the arbiters of citizenship points in only one direction – that the values that we had associated with Indian citizenship are being shamelessly subordinated to the arithmetic of electoral politics. This can only portend the worst form of social viciousness that will come to govern Indian society. ANDRE BETEILLE, RAJEEV BHARGAVA, PARTHA CHATTERJEE, DEEPAK NAYYAR, ROMILA THAPAR Instead of dealing with the mass upsurge of the poor with sympathy and in a manner consistent with its own electoral promises, the state government has embarked on a futile and dangerous attempt to crush the movement. We appeal to the state government to desist from this course, we express our total solidarity with the mass upsurge of the poor for land, and we demand that the state government take immediate steps to distribute the 60 lakh acres of land which are in its possession according to the Rangarao Committee Report. ASHOK MITRA, AMIYA KUMAR BAGCHI, MALINI BHATTACHARYA, SASHI KUMAR, UTSA PATNAIK, JAYATI GHOSH, JAVEED ALAM AND OTHERS. Secondly, the editorial (in the last paragraph) gives an impression that the Naga issue is recent, about two decades old. The NSCN was formed in the 1980s, but the Naga issue is older than Indian independence. The NSCN cannot be seen in separation from the Naga issue. Such a construct at a time when the Nagas are making a serious Subscription
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Director : S L Shetty Economic and Political Weekly August 18, 2007 (Continued from p 3346) effort to solve the protracted Indo-Naga conflict by entering into a ceasefire gives a misleading impression. The commitment of the Nagas to the peace dialogue is demonstrated by their courage to carry on the talks despite the divisive and delaying policy of the government of India (GoI). Thirdly, interstate disputes and conflicts in the north-east region and other regions are common, a colonial construct that India inherited and continues to follow. The approach of the GoI and state governments of viewing these territorial disputes as mere property disputes rather than as territories of the ancestral domain of peoples has not only promoted ethnic conflicts but also conflicts between the peoples, and states. For instance, the recent call and march of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) at Geleky and Mariani to the Assam-Nagaland border area against the perceived Naga encroachment into Assamese territories was itself thwarted by the people living in the border areas of Assam, forcing the AASU to back off, is indication of the differences between the dominant approach and community understanding. Fourthly, the border issue vis-à-vis clan ownership of territories is confusingly presented. In case of the Nagas, the notion of land and territory is essentially confined within the premise of village territory. All Naga village territories have distinctive demarcated boundaries, viz, streams, rivers, ridges or stone. The concept of a clan’s land and an individual’s operates within the given village territory. However, the clan’s notion of owning land is absent in many Naga villages. Though there are inevitable inter-village boundary disputes, these are not Naga-specific. The editorial implies that conflict resolution at the community level is somehow uncivilised and that a court adjudicated resolution is superior, faultless and results in a satisfactory resolution of disputes, which is also not true. Fifthly, Kiphire is a district and not a subdivision. Also, it is well advised to take note that the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation clarified that there is no such demand for a state and requested the public not to be misled by such propaganda. U A SHIMRAY Bangalore Here are some guidelines fortake up to six to eight months fromthe address, day-time phone numbers andauthors who wish to make date of acceptance to appear in the email address. submissions to the journal. EPW. Every effort will, however, be made (The email address of writers in the toensure early publication. Papers with Special Article, Commentary and immediate relevance for policy would be Discussion sections will be published atEPW welcomes original research papers considered for early publication. Please the end of the article.) in any of the social sciences. note that this is a matter of editorial * Authors are requested to prepare their * Articles must be no more than 8,000 judgment. soft copy versions in text formats. PDF versions are not accepted by the EPW. Authors are encouraged to use UKbe processed. EPW invites short contributions to the English spellings (Writers using MS Word this along with the submitted paper. this poses challenges in processing. Readers of EPW are encouraged to send comments and suggestions (300-400 words) immediately on receipt with a reference * Graphs and charts prepared in MS * All submissions will be acknowledged Office (Word/Excel) or equivalent on published articles to the Letters column. number. Quoting the reference numbersoftware are preferable to material All letters should have the writer’s full name in inquiries will help. prepared in jpeg or other formats. and postal address. * EPW posts all published articles on its website and may reproduce them on CDs. * Every effort is taken to complete early processing of the papers we receive. Since we receive more than 35 articles Address for communication: EPW encourages researchers to comment every week and adequate time has to be Economic and Political Weekly, on Special Articles. Submissions should be provided for internal reading and external Hitkari House, 1,000 to 2,000 words. refereeing. It can take up to four 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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Social Viciousness
MMudigonda PoliceKillings
WLacking Objectivity
A(Continued on p 3432)
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