[Reader-list] endorsemement campaign for enquiry into lalit mehtas murder

[Asit asitreds]

Dear friends
telling the truth at the moment of the truth is the biggest historical
challenge we face in the present epoch when, momentous untruth is forced
upon the underdogs of the world by the corporate controlled mass media and
the powers that be. Iraq was devastated by the super imperial state in the
name of some non existent weapons of mass destruction. Today under the
neoliberal regime when the monopoly media is selling the dream of nine
percent growth and the rise of the great consuming Indian middle class the
Arnu Sen Gupta Committee report exposed this blatant untruth .In these
cynical times when the ruling classes have sold them selves to the the
imperialist masters it is the whistle blowers who try to salvage the truth
in a nation lost in the glitz of the IPL matches, bollywood and sprawling
malls and sezs. Few years ago, an engineer of national highway authority of
India lost his life because he exposed the corruption in the highway project
in Bihar. The national rural employment guarantee act was the much trumpeted
flagship  programme of UPA government when it dislodged the then NDA
government which was mired in total sellout to us imperialism with acute
agrarian crisis, the UPA in its common minimum programme promised to
mitigate this by increase in rural development expenditure, when the UPA
leadership was celebrating its fourth year in office in a high profile
dinner party at the prime minister's house. Lalit mehta a right to food
activist in Palamau Jharkhand was brutally murdered by contractors for the
exposing the malpractices and corruption. There is a saying in Bihar &
Jharkhand that if the elder brother is the District collector, the younger
brother is the landlord and the nephew is the contractor and they rule the
roost in rural India siphoning of the entire money allocated for rural
development. This incestuous relationship between decadent feudalism and
degenerate capitalism makes a total mockery of our grade claims of being
largest democracy in the world and the great slogan of gram swaraj. Mr Lalit
Mehta was murdered by the corrupt  mafia  composed of the contractors ,
landlords beurocrats and the politicians when he was trying the organize
social audit of NREGA along with the renowned  social scientist and activist
Jean-dreze in Palaumu Jharkhand. Even after ten days of his murder the
polices has not arrested any one person of Mafia. I am sending you a
signature campaign demanding CBI Enquiry for the Lalit Mehta murder please
endorse and also please forward it to your friends and other activists for
their endorsement. If possible please forward it to different websites and
list serves.

Regards
asit





*Signature Campaign  to demand CBI enquiry into Lalit Mehta's murder in
Palamau, Jharkhand, India*

*  'I endorse' that is what we seek in your solidarity reply    *

*Dear Friends and Handholders,*

* Yet another member of  young activists – public spirited, well educated
and highly committed – has been brutally murdered. Lalit Mehta, a full time
activist of Right to Food Movement and secretary of a local food rights
organization 'Vikas Sahyog Kendra' in Palamau, Jharkhand, India, had his
life snuffed out on 14 may,2008. He was barely 36. Lalit leaves behind his
activist and teacher wife Ashrita and their two sons aged four and
two. Lalit paid the ultimate price for raising his voice against corruption
in the implementation of the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Palamau.
At the time of this incidence, Lalit was helping a team of volunteers from
Delhi led by noted economist and Right to food activist Prof. Jean Derez to
conduct a social audit of NREGA works in Chainpur and Chatarpur blocks of
Palamau district.*

* Lalit was a committed activist, who fought relentlessly for the
implementation of  government programs – especially those related to food,
employment and child rights. He along with local people has been demanding
the implementation of the PDS, the NREGA and the Integrated Child
Development Scheme (ICDS) entitlements.*

*All these rights which the Supreme Court of India has declared to be
entitlements for the impoverished through various  judgments. Since the
social audit has been going on  in the area and it brought out the cases of
corruption and irregularities, there has been opposition to the idea of
 Social Audit from the local mafia. Contractors and the government officials
were not comfortable with the ways Lalit was determined to expose the
corruption through social audit. He was very active in 'Gram Swaraj Abhiyan'
which is a local platform created to carry out struggle to implement NREGA
and other food security related schemes.*

* Jharkhand is a typical, most backward state with incredible natural
resources matched only by the utter poverty of it's people. To a people left
with no hope and facing Drought, Poverty and hunger on a daily basis, NREGA
came as a ray of hope , holding out the promise of  livelihood for the
poorest of the poor.*

*It is indeed ironical that Rights- which are guaranteed by the constitution
and by various statutes, programs and budgetary allocations and reinforced
by the Supreme Court of India as legal entitlements-do not get implemented
by the authorities responsible for it.*

* In this situation, the task of implementation  often falls on the
shoulders of people, of rightholders and of civil society organizations. And
when such democratic forces seek the implementation of these Rights under
the 'RULE OF LAW' framework, then the vested interests gang up  with the
bureaucracy and commit such brutal murders and get away. *

*Lalit's murder  is not the first stance, many activists have lost their
lives for raising their voices against corruption and stand by poor people.
The list is long – Satyendra Dubey, Sarita and Mahesh, S. Manjunath,
Mahendra Singh, Chandra Shekhar – Lalit's death is a link to that chain
only. *

 *Now the time seems to be ripe to strike a decisive blow. Civil Society in
Jharkhand is very upset by this dastardly murder and is ready to participate
in a larger action programme; a state level platform has already been
formed. NGO activists who have been constantly facing threats from vested
-interest elements have openly started voicing their concerns. *

*Communities and activists at the grassroot level are also determined to
carry forward their mission to expose corruption through social audits. They
have decided to hold social audits continuously in the villages of Chatarpur
and Chainpur blocks of Palamau in the coming days/weeks and months.*

* **What We can do *

*We appeal to all human rights activists and masses to protest against this
atrocity, to demand effective intervention into the murder and to come
together in solidarity in the struggle for Justice.*

*Friends, if this murder was an act of intimidation, it did not succeed .
Friends and supporters from all over Jharkhand and other places came
together and have formed a state level platform namely ' Daman Evam
Bhrashtachar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti' ( Anti repression and corruption
struggle committee ). The samiti has launched  it's campaign against Lalit
Mehta's murder with a Dharna (Sit-In protest) in Ranchi, the state capital
 on 25th May, Sunday. On 26th a massive public hearing is being organized in
Chatarpur, where national level leaders, Anne Raja, Jean Drez, are joining
in. A massive public rally has been planned in June. And of course the
social audit process will go on…………. *

The immediate demands are :

CBI ENQUIRY INTO LALIT MEHTA'S MURDER;

   1. *STRICT ACTION ON ALL THE COMPLAINTS & IRREGULARITIES EMERGING *

*       FROM THE SOCIAL AUDITS ON NREGA.*

*  This letter is to seek your solidarity by supporting the demands. Please
sign in or endorse by replying a one liner 'I endorse' and take the
responsibility to collect more and more signatures. We plan to collect one
lac solidarity signatures by june 5th. These signatures will be submitted to
the Chief Minister of Jharkhand and the Prime Minister a spart of our next
action plan.*

* Yours in Solidarity,*

* Activists of *

* Daman – Bhrashtachar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, Jharkhand*

* 25.5.08tive intervention on caste issues*