The Asian Independent 16 - 30 Nov. 2019

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20 16-11-2019 to 30-11-2019 NEWS www.theasianindependent.co.uk Why have India’s elite institutions become murderers of Dalit Adivasi-Muslim scholars ? The suicide of bright young scholar Fathima Latheef at the IIT Madras is reflective of the brutal and atrocious caste order prevailing in these institutions which discriminate against Dalit, OBC, Adivasi and Muslim students. This suicide is an institutional murder where the masterminds and caste supremacists are well protected. The list is long in recent years as how bright young dynamic scholars particularly hailing from Dalit Adivasi Muslim background are being targeted not merely by the Savarna students but their faculties. It is difficulty for India’s racists savarnas to accept brilliant self respecting bright scholars from other communities who dont agree with them. These institutions who I term as Gurukuls now where a Droancharya is ready to cut the fingers of students from marginalized sections, are today becoming the hunting ground for these students who aspire high though their social location might not be that strong. Rohith Vemula was murdered in Hyderabad Central University Campus, Dr Payal Tadvi faced very similar pressure in her medical college in Mumbai while nineteen years old Fathima became the latest victim of this murder series. Fathima was a topper in the entrance examination. She topped in her earlier too. Hailing from Kollam district in Kerala, Fathima had big dreams when she got into Integrated MA programme in Humanities and Social Sciences at the IIT Madras. Her parents have accused Prof Sudarshan Padmanabhan for mentally torturing her. Fathima’s story is not alone. The caste forces have revolted with a vengeance everywhere. There are attack by targeting institutions and individuals. Look at the JNU and how the government and all others have joined hand to destroy this credible institutions. They are unable to break the spirit of the University and yet through media and the paddlers of lies, we are witnessing a campaign against provisions which ensure that children of all the communities who are the margin can enter into a credible and privileged institution. IITs and IIMs are actually much regressive in their Houston : Researchers have developed a speech-based mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to categorize a patient’s mental health status, an advance that may lead to a tool to assist psychiatrists in diagnosing mental illnesses. The study, published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin, noted that many people in remote areas do not have access to psychiatrists or psychologists, and others can’t afford to see a clinician frequently. The researchers, including those from the University of Colorado at Boulder in the US, said therapists base their treatment plan largely on listening to a patient talk which they said was an old, subjective and unreliable method. They developed a machine caste prejudices and that is why it is very difficult for girls like Fathima to survive there. Not long ago, a Ph.D award of a scientist who happened to belong to scheduled caste community was held up by the brahmanical faculty in IIT Kanpur, accusing the scholar of plagiarism, when everybody knew the track record of the senior scholar as brilliant. His father passed away hearing about the same that his son might not get his hard earned Ph.D. Finally, after much campaign by friends the IIT K appointed a committee and ultimately charges against him were dropped. learning technology that can detect day-to-day changes in speech which hints at mental health decline. As an example, they said, sentences that don’t follow a logical pattern can be a critical symptom in schizophrenia. Shifts in tone or pace may suggest mania or depression, and memory loss can be a sign of both cognitive and mental health problems, the researchers said. “Language is a critical pathway to detecting patient mental states,” said study co-author Peter Foltz from the University of Colorado at Boulder. “Using mobile devices and AI, we are able to track patients daily and monitor these subtle changes,” he added. The study noted that the new In the universities like JNU, despite all differences, the students from the margins can enjoy freedom to challenge the might but such freedom does not exists in any other institution. In fact, the brahmanical elite are now ensuring that other institutions do not go JNU way. I dont consider JNU revolutionary but given today’s circumstances, it is a model that the government could have adopted like Navodaya vidyalayas and spread across the country to ensure that persons from the marginalised sections participate in our nation building and contribute. How will they contribute when all these institutions are being made beyond their economic limit. The fees and other expenses at the IITs, IIMs and other medical institutions are deliberately being made such so that the students who hail from economically weaker background do not reach there. The social and cultural environment in these institutions is as such that the students from Dalit- Adivasi-OBC-Muslim community become mute and totally By Vidya Bhushan Rawat social and human rights activist isolated. They remain in atmospheric intimidation which I call criminal and oppressive environment which reminds students of their ‘social background’. Can the Ministry of HRD respond as what happened to the probe into Rohith Vemula’s murder ? What happened in the Payal Tadvi case ? What happened to Nazeeb’s murder ? And what is the progress in the investigation of murder of Fathima Latheef. These are institutional issues and need to be seriously addressed. If our institutions are becoming killing fields of the scholars from Dalit Adivasi- Muslim communities then it is time to have a serious look into their structure. Are there teachers from these sections in these institutions ? Are there enough students from these sections ? Are there enough staff from their communities ? If not then the students will always remain in ‘alien in wonderland’. Sad part is that there is no out cry. Political parties as usual remain silent as these are not issues for them. More criminal is the silence of those who ‘represent’ Dalit Bahujanminority communities. It is not the issue of making one statement. It is time, they develop their vision for education particularly how are they going to strengthen and encourage India’s huge Bahujan communities into these institutions. Fathima Lateef’s killing is the story of discrimination against Muslims too mobile app asks patients a 5- to 10- minute series of questions which they can answer by talking into their phone. The patients are asked about their emotional state, or to tell a short story, or to listen to a story and repeat it. The app also gives them a series of touch-and-swipe motor skills tests. It assesses the speech samples, compares them to previous samples by the same patient and the broader population, and rates the patient’s mental state. The researchers also asked doctors to listen to and assess speech samples of 225 participants - half with severe psychiatric issues and half healthy volunteers - in rural who are now increasingly feeling it at every level. Isolation, contempt and attempt to define them further. We must speak up against such efforts. You blame communities are being pampered. You blame them for not being ‘educated’ but what happens when the students come at their own. Fathima was not wearing ‘Burqa’ so by all the ‘standards’ of the brahmanical IITs, she was a modern Muslim girl and yet she was forced to die. The basic question is why Fathima died or was killed or allowed to be killed ? And the answers are simple and one need to read into what is happening in our campuses in the last six years. Institutionally, all of them are being restructured in such a way so that the Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi- Muslim students remain outside their domain or unable to make entry into them and if they are able to make an entry inside the brahmanical club, then it is ensured that they are isolated, depressed and compel to commit suicide. So these institutional murder will continue if we are unable to democratise our institutions and that will only be possible if they reflect diversity of India in these institutions and not merely brahmanical diversity but non brahmanical diversity too. Representation of India’s diverse religious and ethnic, caste groups is important for democratisation of our institutions. Will it be possible ? I dont think those who have enjoyed privileges and fruits of power for last so many years will easily leave it. The only way is political battle and our continuous struggle for social justice and human rights when political parties have failed to take up the cause of people. That is the most worrisome part in India but there is a reality and that is a revolution happens in the most frustrating situations and I am seeing that in India, people are feeling it. Will those who are socially excluded organised themselves not merely in the University campuses but also politically and outside the urban domain, in our villages too. If they do it, I can say, we will not have to see the sad and deeply painful lives of Fathima or Rohtih Vemula or Payal Tadvi, cut short by brahmanical crookedness. AI app may help diagnose psychiatric illness by listening to users Louisiana in the US and Northern Norway. When they compared the results to those of the machine learning system, they found that the computer’s AI models can be at least as accurate as the clinicians. The researchers called for larger studies with the app to prove its efficacy and earn public trust. “The mystery around AI does not nurture trustworthiness, which is critical when applying medical technology,” they said. “Rather than looking for machine learning models to become the ultimate decision-maker in medicine, we should leverage the things that machines do well that are distinct from what humans do well,” the researchers added.
www.theasianindependent.co.uk NEWS 16-11-2019 to 30-11-2019 21 Ayodhya verdict incomplete without bringing perpetrators of the demolition of Babari Masjid to justice The Ayodhya verdict is out. People are interpreting it according to their positions. A one thousand page verdict will have many point and perhaps would be useful for the scholars as a research material. There are things which make verdict the best possible solution in todays vitiated political climate. It is unambiguous that the court has been unanimous in ‘respecting’ the ‘sentiments’ of Hindus. While it suggested that it would put facts over faith yet reading the judgment and listening to the justification of various points, I would suggest it is a ‘settlement’ of a case and not really a ‘judgment’ which really uphold the sanctity of the law and our secular constitution. The verdict did not even take into consideration the Buddhist claims despite the known fact that Ayodhya is saket in many old texts and that circuit from Shravasti to Sarnath-Kushinagar till Lumbini is termed as Buddhist circuit. We know that the popular opinion too influence judges and they knew it well that this judgment cant be delivered purely on ‘technicality’ and that was the reason why the court wanted mediation. They knew it well that the situation would go out of hand if the Hindu parties lose the case and they wanted to ensure that Muslims should not be seen as ‘losing’ party and that is why while granting whole write of 2.77 acres of disputed land to Hindus, the court also asked the government to allot five acres of land to Muslims to construct a mosque. Muslim party is rightly aggrieved because the judgment is not really based on supremacy of law otherwise the courts would have stood strongly against the demolition of the Babari Mosque. They made important observations regarding the same. That idols Ram Lalla were surreptitiously placed inside the mosque in November 1948 and then the demolition of the Babari Mosque on December 6th, 1992, were against the rule of the law and illegal. Indian constitution is secular but the nature of Indian state remained brahmanical to say the least. It has not happened all of a sudden. The continuous failure of the secular politicians and politics has helped the Hindutva to get legitimized and courts cant be uninfluenced and unaffected with the political climate of the country. We need not to discuss things here but a chronology of events and court’s responses on many of the issues concerning civil liberty and human rights are a matter of grave concern. In wake of the Ayodhya judgment, the court actually did not hear many important petitions during the last two months. It is a fact that such cases of faith are difficult to evaluate when the dispute is over centuries. Frankly speaking court’s are not here to decide where a God is born. It is the faith and judges being human being realize the great responsibility on them. As a nation, we have not yet matured to accept any kind of verdict. The court verdict prove that India, though is constitutionally a secular nation yet it is defecto a Hindu state and sentiments of Hindus mattered more in this judgment. There is no doubt that courts observations are important and they have tried to analyse things in a very balanced way yet the judgment fall short of many things. I am sure Muslims as well as secular progressive liberal people would not have any issue with respecting the ‘sentiments’ of Hindus who consider Ayodhya as birth place of Lord Rama but the disturbing thing is that while accepting that the incidents of putting the idols of Rama Lalla in the mosque as well as razing of the Babari Masjid in 1992 was ‘an egregious violation of the rule of law”, very little is being done to punish the guilty of these two crimes. L K Advani, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalyan Singh; VHP leaders Ashok Singhal (deceased), Giriraj Kishore (deceased), Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Champat Rai Bansal; Shiv Sena leaders Bal Thackeray (deceased) and Moreshwar Save (deceased) are the main accused in the Babari Masjid demolition case along with many other BJP leaders as well as so called Car Sevaks who were present there and participated in the demolition of the historic mosque. 27 years have passed since the demolition of the mosque and CBI has not been able to do anything credible in the case. The political fortune of all the accused had grown disproportionately after the demolition of Babari Masjid and BJP tasted powers not only in various states but at the center also. It is important for the Courts to assert their power in such cases and direct for a time bound trial. Supreme Court must ask the government what has happened on the trial and why is CBI unable to expedite the case ? The court’s silence and merely passing reference does not do any justice to this. If the court were speaking on the entire issue of Ayodhya dispute and then it is important for them to speak up categorically that the perpetrators of the Babari Demolition have not done anything ‘heroic’ but attacked on the constitution of India and must be severely punished so that none can do such cowardly act in future. We must not forget the fact that after the demolition of the Babari Masjid, the then Prime Minister P V Narsihmarao promised the country that the masjid would be built at the same place. It was not a party promise but a promise made by the government. When the court is asking the government to expedite the temple building process, which means asking the government to build the temple, which in any secular society is not desirable then why nobody reminded them that there is a solemn promise of a government to build the Babari masjid. Though the court asked the government to provide the Sunni Waqqf Board five acres of land to build a mosque, it remained By Vidya Bhushan Rawat social and human rights activist silent on the government’s promise to the nation that Narsimharao made. If the temple is to be constructed at exchequer’s money then why not the mosque which was promised by the government. The third vital question is about future of such conflicts. Will the Ayodhya conflict end all other conflict or will it open up windows for more places. Will the court become adjudicator of the ‘birth’ places of various mythological gods. Should the court be doing this which is not their domain area ? We have thousands of mythological issues and every stone in our country has a mythological value, not necessarily historical. The Hindutva groups are not going to sit silently because now with this massive power, they will keep the pot boiling. The popular slogan that ‘mandir wahi banayenge, lekin taarikh nahi bataayenge’ can not be used as Supreme Court has ordered the process of temple construction. It means that next elections of Uttar Pradesh, temple remain the major issue. Though the court has categorically said that law and order and peace are important for the construction of Ram Temple, they failed to assure the nation that this was a very special case and in future, they would warn any citizen or political goons to take law unto his hand and demolish the place of worship of any community. History cannot be undone. If Babar had demolished a mandir and built up a mosque, which was highly unlikely, then the answer is not to correct this ‘wrong’ by demolishing the masjid and making the mandir at the same place. Will the slogan, ‘ abhi to ye bas jhaanki hai, kashi, Mathura baaki hai’, ( this is just a trailer, the issues of Kashi and Mathura will be settled later) disappear now ? My opinion is that the Supreme Court should have spoken categorically that it will not allow such frivolous and disruptive activities in the name of ‘history’ and ‘sentiments’. Whatever the verdict is and people are deliberating on it purely on legal basis, the responses from the Muslim community as well as common Hindus is a welcome step. If the building of Ram Temple help us resolve the bitterness between Hindus and Muslim, then we should welcome it. Fact is that attempt were made for a out of court settlement though the court appointed committee could not reach to a conclusion. The fact is the language of the judgment is balance which does not target the Hindus in harsh word though condemn the act of vandalism, at the same point of time assure Muslims their place in the country and equal treatment as per the constitution of India. Response of political parties is as usual. They all took shelter in the garb of ‘matter’ being subjudice. Now the matter is ‘resolved’, the political parties including the Hindutva forces should now focus on issues confronting the nation. It would be good if the court appoint a committee to monitor the process and not allow political parties to use it for their ulterior political motives. Now as the judgment has come, parties might seek review of it, but if the court has to do anything, I hope they must not allow attempt to use such toxic and vitiated campaign to vilify the minorities particularly Muslims who have been at the receiving end. We know, this case had gone into such a situation that it would not have satisfied all the parties. The best part is that the court must ensure that no future incident like this should happen again. Demolishing the place of worship of any religion needs not mere condemnation but also strong action against the perpetrators of the crime. It is in this context that we hope the criminals of the Babari demolition would be booked and brought to justice. Supreme Court has a duty to ensure that this task is done in a time bound manner as they did in the case. Let the court not allow this verdict to be misused by the same forces who demolished Babari Masjid, at the other places. The court has reemphaised on constitutional values particularly its secular character and it is important now that while faith is important, the constitution also mandate us including courts, to strengthen scientific thinking, critical inquiry and humanism in our people. All this will remain a pipedream if the religious rights dictate terms and conditions to us and all institutions buckle under their combine assault. This judgment has numerous important observations by the courts and we hope, it will be useful in strengthening our resolve for a secular, plural and liberal society. India need to move ahead now, learning its lessons from the failure to protect the constitution and should not allow such things to happen again which may endanger our social fabric and rule of law. Let the legal people understand the entire verdict reading its judgment carefully and take the necessary action. If the court hear anything in this matter, it must ensure that perpetrators of the violence and criminal assault on Babari Masjid should be prosecuted as soon as possible and for that the courts would do well, to monitor the CBI court’s proceeding and direct it for necessary action. A failure on that account will make this verdict incomplete and strengthen the perpetrators of the crime who are eyeing the other such projects and are in a celebratory mode. The Court must warn them and act. Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist. He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com twitter @freetohumanity Email: vbrawat@gmail.com
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The Asian Independent 16 - 30 Nov. 2019

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